Blog Assignment #5

The internet has opened the door to may different forms of communication and information sharing. Most of it has been positive, allowing for people all over the world to communicate more effectively, yet one big negative that has stemmed from internet connectivity is illegal file sharing and file torrenting. Something that can be done so anonymously like illegal file sharing is hard to regulate, and with more and more sites providing illegal file downloads becoming available to the public the government needs to start implementing some different strategies to help draw people back into paying for things such as music and movies.

1. Incentives - In my opinion, giving customers different incentives for buying a product rather than illegally downloading it is my most recommended solution to this problem. People cannot obtain incentives by illegally downloading files, and depending on what the incentive is, it could really help drive people to legitimately buy the products rather than steal them. Incentives could even help promote the company and lead to more sells, thus being great all around.

2. Price Reduction - While it may lead to a decrease in profit, reducing the prices of things like music and movies could help increase the amount of people actually buying the product rather than stealing it. For example, people consider the prices of individual songs on sites like iTunes to be a bit too expensive for their taste, even though iTunes is a safe and easy way of getting most any music someone would want. By dropping the price a bit, people have more reasons to purchase the songs on iTunes, leading to increased purchasing patterns and better sells after a while.

3. Stricter Internet Surveillance: While most likely a bit difficult to implement, if ISPs devote more time to surveying customer internet use to scour for illegal torrenting then they could help prevent illegal downloads. ISPs already run all internet use through their servers searching for this type of activity, but a larger focus in refining the system and issuing out punishments for doing these activities can help shut down the practice of illegal downloading.

Blog Post #4: Privacy and Enhanced Personalization

The discussion on privacy regarding the Internet is more relevant now than ever before due to the increased use of social media and new technology used to track our location and recommend different products to us based on what we have searched. Alfred Kobsa's article from 2007 brings up a lot of big issues about privacy, such as what information is disclosed to companies and other internet users and how much control users have on what information is used. The points brought up by Kobsa really brings one's thoughts into perspective; everyday we provide so much information on the internet for companies and possibly other users to take advantage of. Being more of a Privacy Pragmatist, I am not terribly concerned with what I provide on the internet because I am careful with what I post and am mindful of what I search, but I along with many others want to be informed of how our information will be used. Kobsa's discussion on personalization and control of privacy settings resonates well with me and I agree wholeheartedly that individuals should not only be provided the tools to personalize what information is used and stored but also control how information is being used and by who. One thing I'm very concerned about is location tracking technology; I find it to be a bit too intrusive and it makes me feel uncomfortable always being tracked. When Kobsa starts discussing the technology for Personalized Systems I start to get a bit confused. The Normative Approaches are easy enough to understand; there are different laws and principles accepted by others that can be used to help keep anonymity when using the internet. I feel the technology on the other hand is a bit hard to understand without actually seeing it in action. Take the Client-side Personalization, for instance. I understand that all the users' data is stored on their side rather than on the server, but I don't understand exactly how it works. Do people allow their information out on the internet whenever they feel and just retract it back when they're done? The collaborative filtering part is a little easier to understand, yet the four parts of the filtering techniques all interact very similarly and differently when it comes to information sharing and again I feel it would be easier to understand if I saw it in action. My question is: what is an idea you have heard recently that deals with helping to provide privacy or that makes it easier for users to see how their information is being used?