EOTO Reax

My classmates all gave very informative and interesting presentations on many different things through their EOTO presentations. Some specific areas that I would very interesting was the presentation on was the Five Eyes. before this presentation I had no idea what the Five Eyes were, or even heard of them for that matter but this presentation taught me well. 

Some things that I learned was that the Five Eyes are an intelligence alliance that are made up by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Together they make a combined intelligence group that not only monitors the electronic communications of citizens in their countries but they also monitor electric communications from foreign governments. There was an entire book just teaching about how the Five Eyes was caught spying and how New Zealand played a large role in the world's biggest intelligence network. I have listed the source below.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-book-on-five-eyes-spying-club-explains-nzs-role-in-worlds-largest-intelligence-network/ZNKREVGKDGBCLDFADILA2DRZKU/

This organization's whole purpose is to secretly allow secretive intelligence agencies to spy on the local people all around the world. I thought our privacy was in danger because of audio tracking in phones, and surveillance tracking our everyday lives, but now that I know that there is an alliance of multiple different countries who's main objective is to spy on the world, I am more concerned than ever. The Five Eyes is not only for spying but for so much more. Some of their jobs include, conducting interceptions, collection, acquisition, analysis, and also decryption activities and not only this but they share all the data among each other so that many more people around the world are aware of the people's private information. I have listed some sources down below to back up what I have learned through the EOTO presentation. 

https://privacyinternational.org/learn/five-eyes

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/the-five-eyes-the-intelligence-alliance-of-the-anglosphere/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-56970640

https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/fv-cntry-mnstrl-en.aspx

Blog Post #8

The problems that are brought up in the Ted talks (that I will leave the links to below), are all large issues that our society faces at a whole. Our rights to privacy are slowly being taking away and we aren't aware of it. One of the main threats is surveillance systems. Surveillance systems are constantly tracking you 24/7.  Storage spaces are constantly growing which is making it easier and easier to store large amounts of data. Companies like Google and Amazon own large factories with rows and rows of data storage units, where the main goal is storing and keeping data from surveillance on you and your family. 

The police along with the government have access to these types of servers and they choose to keep major amounts of data of your everyday life that you don't even know they have. Surveillance cameras from the street, local stores, and even in phone cameras and computers are able to track you along with where you go. There was research done that found that drivers plate scanning machines were keeping track of your daily routines and could see where you were going and what you were doing. This didn't apply only to criminals that were being suspected for crimes, this was doing to innocent everyday people. The police are collecting this data on people who are innocent and have families, and choose to keep it on file, just in case they need to look at it in the future. These type of private tracing are so advanced that they can see if you are going to a food store, to the therapist, to the hospital, or even can track where you drop your kids off at school. This information has no reason to be kept by anyone, even the government because it violates the privacy of the people. I have added some sources down below. 

https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/license-plate-readers-just-dont-keep-data-innocent

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/09/flock-license-plate-reader-homeowners-association-safe-problems

These issues are very intrusive to my everyday life and I personally feel as if I am being stalked by the government when I haven't done everything wrong. The thought that every time I walk by a surveillance camera means my personal whereabouts are being tracked and stored by a data storage source leaves me feeling very disturbed and as if my right to privacy is being taken away. My family and friends are all living honest lives and the fact that they are being watched like criminals doesn't seem right and just to me. The government shouldn't be allowed to just store data of myself and the people around us, they should be giving us the respect and trust we deserve by not storing every step we take. They should be respecting our privacy and need to stop watching and storing everything we do in front of a surveillance camera, if what we are doing is legal. The only precautions we can take to ensure our own privacy is to cover the cameras on our computers, and petition for the ban of surveillance cameras where they are not necessary. 

Blog Post #9

Why should I be afraid of Machine Learning? This is a question that I am going to dive into throughout this blog post. To begin we need to understand what exactly is Machine Learning? Machine Learning is a computer software that uses algorithms and statistical models with nothing else in order to expand its intellectual understanding of data. In order for it to be considered a true example of Machine Learning there needs to be no human interference during the learning process. To try and simplify what this means I like to give the example of the popular movie Avengers Age of Ultron. This movie starts with the armored hero, Iron Man and his artificial intelligence, (which is very important to understand and I will be getting more into detail about this later in this article), but this artificial intelligence that Iron Man uses serves as a mechanical butler in a sense, giving Iron Man data and suggestions for what to do to help humanity during an emergency. Jarvis is nothing but a machine that Iron Man built and this machine uses machine learning to sort through data to give itself a better understanding of what is going on and in real-time what to do to solve any issues Iron Man faces. This sounds like a great use of technology that would improve society as a whole, but as we get further into the movie we see Iron Man try to upload Jarvis into a new form of Artificial Intelligence which is when we see the movie go sideways. This new form of artificial intelligence had a mind of its own and after machine learning, by learning through going through and learning data in the internet, had the ill intent to kill everyone on earth and create an army of robots to rule over the world.

Here you can find some sources for my thoughts: 

https://hbr.org/2021/01/when-machine-learning-goes-off-the-rails

https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/blog/three-risks-in-building-machine-learning-systems/

Now obviously this is just a movie and I am not trying to imply that this is destined to happen if Machine Learning keeps advancing I am just bringing up one of infinite possibilities that this advancement in technology could lead to. There are many benefits of Machine Learning in both everyday practice and in advancements. Machines hold certain capabilities that humans don't. Machines don't need to eat, sleep, or have time off. A machine can be programmed to work around the clock and if Machine Learning acts like the human brain, with learning capabilities then an around the clock think tank would improve society with new technology, weapons, and medical discoveries. There is no down time when it comes to code and metal and therefore Machine Learning may be a very good thing, as long as humans don't use it for the wrong reasons. 

Now what exactly is A.I.? How is it different from Machine Learning? A.I. stands for Artificial Intelligence and it is when a software is used to think like a human and perform tasks without needing any help from a human, whatsoever after it is engineered and programmed. Machine Learning on the other hand is how a computer system is actually capable of developing its intelligence. 

Another area where Machine Learning may come in handy is with jobs that are far too dangerous for a human to do. Things where a human's life is at risk has the potential to be done by a robot if machine learning gets the point where it is advanced enough to think like a person. Some places where this would hold true would be working on an oil rig, serving in the military, even some dangerous construction jobs could be done by a machine if it had the ability to think. The around the clock with no breaks needed would apply to be useful here too because of how time efficient a machine would be at constructing new buildings or working somewhere hazardous, the possibilities are endless. 

Here are some sources for my thoughts: 

https://www.automate.org/blogs/how-robots-are-taking-on-the-dirty-dangerous-and-dull-jobs

https://robotsdoneright.com/Articles/robots-are-taking-over-dangerous-jobs.html

Blog Post #7

My piece of technology that I will be analyzing is Amazon. Amazon is a website where you can go to order anything and everything directly to your house, with cheap and speedy shipping. It is a huge company and I think it will be interesting to dive into it in comparison to the Diffusion of Innovations theory. Personally, I don'y know a single person who doesn't use Amazon and I personally don't think it will be going anywhere for a very long time. While this is my personal opinion I still believe, like all sources of technology, eventually it will crumble down the diffusion of innovations chart and I will now discover why by using this chart. Here you can find some sources for what I am talking about. 

https://crm.org/articles/diffusion-of-innovations

https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/mph-modules/sb/behavioralchangetheories/behavioralchangetheories4.html

 

Before we dive into where Amazon lands on this model I will fist talk about why and how this chart works. To begin we need to understand that all pieces of technology takes a ride on this chart, if it's a successful and beneficial piece of tech that has a large following. For example the creation of the computer. The computer started as a piece of tech that was only used by the innovators who had the access to the early models of the device. Then we have the early adopters who could afford it and thought that it was worth the price tag of the tech. Currently I would say we are in the Late Majority because everyone I know has a computer, most people actually have more than one computer. It's vital for academics along with working in business and there isn't a rivaling piece of tech that is competing against it, therefore I feel as if it's safely still placed in it's prime. Even people who are older and started out being against the idea have adopted the necessary piece of tech to stay up to date with everything, especially after the recent pandemic lockdowns where you needed to stay in the home. Here are some sources to back up my findings. 

https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/29913/Diffusion_Innovation.pdf

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/diffusion-innovation-strategy-adoption-computer-vision-khandekar

That's just a basic rundown of how the Diffusion of Innovations theory works so now I will talk about how it fits in with Amazon. Amazon hit one of its highest peaks during the corona virus, it was one of the only companies that actually was able to still make a profit because everyone was stuck at home, and since many small businesses were closed, Amazon was people main way to get the home items they needed, such as food, toiletries, etc. So does this mean Amazon has shot by the innovators, early adopters, and early majority? The answer to this is yes. Amazon is currently sitting in the chart at the late majority. I know this because of a study done by big commerce which said that in 2018 Amazon's. share of the US e-commerce market hit 49%. This means that Amazon alone was responsible for 5% of all retail spent across all of America. Some are nervous because it doesn't seem like it's possible for Amazon to keep being able to grow since it now has most of the majority involved, putting it into the late majority. I personally feel that it's biggest competition is eBay but an article by fool.com has said that within doing research they found that in 2021 amazon's revenue was 469 billion dollars which was 67% higher than two years prior in 2019, so the company will continuously continue to grow. Below are some sources to credit my information. 

https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/amazon-statistics/

https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/04/06/3-charts-that-show-why-amazon-is-an-unstoppable-gr/

Amazon was able to catch on and spread because of how convenient it made it to acquire things without even leaving the house. There are so many options for everyday options on amazon, and with its reliability and low prices it wasn't hard for Amazon to build traction. The people that are late adopters were the people who liked the old way of doing things, like going to the store and being able to actually hold and see what they were buying. The negatives in Amazon is that it has seriously hurt small businesses because of its easily accessible 2 day shipping with the unbeatable prices they are able to offer because they buy their supplies in bulk. The positives do outweigh the negatives though because of the easy and affordable options they can offer for all the items that you need.