United States of Secrets

I just finished watching "United States of Secrets" part 1 & 2. This has been a revelation to what I had already known about what was revealed by Edward Snowden. I knew there were serious overreaches in certain areas like email and some text messages, but I am in shock. Phone calls, recording of conversation, pictures, emails that are casual... EVERYTHING! This discredits the U.S. Government completely. I understand the need for national security, but as the movie said, there needs to be ways to use the privacy protections to "anonymize who it's listening in on". I have mixed feeling about Edward Snowden. On one hand he could have put thousands of lives at risk buy revealing this information that is classified. I don't think he had a choice to do it, but maybe not as much. On the other hand, as a Army solider, he made a promise to "support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic". There is the greater good, and at the end of the day he said the purpose was to open conversation about "These things need to be determined by the public, not by somebody who’s was simply hired by the government. This is the truth. This is what’s happening. You should decide whether we need to be doing this". I agree it needs to become a public debate. I know that my information, not matter how careful I am, will get out there somehow if I use modern technology. What people need to do is take preventative measures to ensure their privacy and security. They should read all the terms and conditions, check the privacy settings of Facebook and  be mindful of what and how they post, share and use the technology. 

1. President Obama's reversal on FISA, refusing to uphold his promise of Federal transparency, is the reason why Edward Snowden became a whistleblower. a. True

2. "Metadata" refers to b.email and text message content.


3. President Obama commissioned a committee to investigate the NSA, giving them free reign to assess every aspect of the agency's behavior, as long as their investigation did not
c. interfere with his Constitutional oath in defending the United States of America.

4. Snowden's interview and revelation of the NSA's surveillance techniques that violate the IV Amendment rights of Americans brought the President to the point of justifying efforts in the balance of b. freedom and privacy.

5. What kind of access were internet companies such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft, and Apple giving the NSA? a. Unknowing access to their physical data streams. b. Enforced secret compliance through a National Security Letter.d. Both a and b.


6. The NSA modeled their internet data and intelligence gathering after a. social media's marketing algorithms.

7. Prism was not only the code name for a data-collection program of the Federal Government but was the actual method through which the NSA was copying internet data from AT&T's internet backbone in San Francisco. a. True

8. Google, Facebook, Amazon, YouTube, Apple, Microsoft and and others were amassing huge data troves on their users, just like the NSA was amassing on US citizens, resulting in a. surveillance for advertising instead of law enforcement.

9. ________ messages are scanned for content much in the same way the NSA scans data for meaning. c. Gmail

10. The NSA piggy-backs on _______ developed by social media companies to surveil US citizens. c. tracking cookies

The Future of Learning.

The public education system is going to have to change. It is not a matter of "if", but "when". Young kids today are using the internet was a way to get information, but are not really learning anything. This is where the changes need to be made. I think that standardized testing needs to be eliminated. I am currently experiencing this as I prepare to take the Graduate Requirement Exam (GRE) for grad school. The test does not determine your knowledge, intellect or your experience, but how well you learn to take their GRE test. This I see is the problem with the current educational system. Having a cookie cutter, one size fits all style of education, and then using that same system to test your ability to remember and regurgitate that information is flawed. The current tests force you to remember what is going to be on a test and not understanding the concepts. This also goes for standardized scoring of GPA's. GPA's are society’s way of measuring your ability to follow the instructions, coloring in the lines and do what "they" expect. Not that there shouldn’t be a way to measure ability, but if your whole life revolves around remembering what needs to be on the test to get the good grade, then you have missed the point. I know that when I have to incorporate a concept into my life, how does it relate to me and how will I use it in the future, I will have it with me forever. The saying goes "give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime". This is true in our world. Helping students to learn and understand the concepts and measuring on that understanding instead of a test to see if they remember what was written down, would prove to be a greater benefit.

Follow the Dots...

Where are people finding all of these people with all this stuff? That's a great question in our society, especially when you start to consider the vastness of the Sharing economy. Collaborative consumption as it is also known, is a system build around people coming together to share resources. These can be cars, houses, farm equipment and even their own food. The ability to get the information out there and on the web is through apps, data collection and personal disclosure. 

We focused on the term "Stuff", which resembles the day to day items that we use and definitely take for granted. This can be things like your rakes, shovels, your books, art, toys and even clothes. But how is this information help others. You can post on an App that you have a particular item that you can lend out, have a particular skill that you have knowledge about, or even access to stuff. Also if you have a need, or a want. People now have the ability to find someone with that thing, skill or same desire. They do this by posting or liking an event and their profile and information becomes available. 

Another thing that helps people find you, or you find then is the location information that you share from your phone. This helps people know what is available around them, but can and has been used for more sinister plans. If you are posting pictures from your house, would be thieves, stalkers and predators can see and know where you live, what you have and who you are with. Monitoring your dots will help you to be actively involved with the groups that you want to be and also have that safeguard to protect yourself

Never Having To Explaind Yourself

I think what this boils down to the old saying "Say what you mean and mean what you say". It seems that so many people are either having vague generalities like josh is saying to get attention, or they not really trying or wanting to get their point across. There seems to be so much context missing from everyone’s story and that can be eliminated by adding context. Give us some back story, throw us some bones here! I’m not a mind reader, especially when it comes to females in my life (wife, mom, sisters, etc.), so I need something more. If people really meant what they said, and/or said what they meant there would be less confusion. In addition I think that people need to be consistent. This is where a lot of the confusion comes in. If you are saying that you are against same sex marriage and then you post a "equals" sign as a profile pic, or you are against medical marijuana, but make pro-posts about Washington and Colorado, then it sends an unclear message. If I agree for or against some cause or belief and enough evidence comes to light to change that thought, then make it clear. "I felt this way, and now after I feel this way". There would be no "having to explain yourself" when you post something that contradicts your original beliefs. People know your new position. DONE, Move on!

Facebook Page Intro

Facebook Page: on: St. George Running Tips 
https://www.facebook.com/st.gerogeutrunningtips

Mission Statement and Description: St. George Running Tips is a group dedicated to help runners gain knowledge about running in Southern Utah. Southern Utah, home of the St. George Marathon, offers some unique challenges for runners of all levels from around the world. We offer tips, tricks, hacks and advice to new, intermediate and advanced runners. Please feel free to ask questions, offer advice and share your experience in one of the best places to run in the world.

Person 1: Jen, 23 year old mother of newborn twins, is wanting to get rid of some of the "baby weight" and regain her fitness. Having lived in Northern Utah all her life, she is unfamiliar with the local area and some of the popular running trails. In addition, Jen is wanting to broaden her friend group and find runners that may match her pace but also her running schedule

Person 2: David, a longtime local has been running in the Southern Utah heat all his life. As a member of the 10 year club for the St. George Marathon, David has guided several runners to new personal records. His experience with high heat and demanding conditions give a unique perspective for runners wanting to up their game.  

Person 3: Steve, the owner of the local running store has been running for years and loves his business. As new products come out, he adds it to the inventory, but really doesn’t try or use them as much as he should. Why should he? He is a creature of habit, and he likes certain things. Trying to get a feel for what his customers like and don’t like, he offers up some of his products for testing and relies on the feedback from the users to help tailor his products with the demands of his customer base in Southern Utah.

Action Plan: The action plan consists of three areas. The first will be an question and answer portion that will have various questions about topics. These questions can include things like favorite race, trail, time of day to run, ect. This will also be running tips for the local area that can include tips for hot weather and elevation. The second will be articles shared from other sources like runners world, running blogs, studies. This will be an aggregation of studies and content that is already created. Lastly is a product review from local running outlets. This will have products that are for sale at local stores that are real world tested and how they hold up to the local elements. These areas will include some videos, pics, links and polls.

Boko Oh No!!

With all the news about the recent attacks in Paris, a recent terror attack seems to fly under the radar. This is not surprising considering it occurred in African Nigeria. The attacks were performed by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram in the town of Baga. With the amount of killing that happens in other countries, why do we hear about some and not others?

I think the main reason we didn’t hear about Baga is because of its competition. The competition in the news media played a big part of this. Terrorist attacks in developed countries like France, England, and The United States do not happen very often. Because of this fact, that is where most of the mainstream media was able to focus on. This is an event that was captured on camera by various people, and was spread around the world via social networks. Having this kind of publicity was the main driving factor. 

In countries like Nigeria, where social media and internet access is not as accessible, this automatically gives it less of a chance. In addition to the access, in an area that is so socially controlled by the Boko Haram, it is hard to verify the attacks with much accuracy. How many people were really killed? Was there any footage? In the movie "Training Day" Denzel Washington says to Ethan Hunt "It’s not what you know, it's what you can prove". This fits for this example because there is so little evidence and publicity. These events have become the norm in these war torn third world countries. Because it has sadly become the norm, it takes more killing and destruction to actually make the news. We have seen this in cases like the abduction of over 300 girls from a local school and a social movement with the trending tag of #brignbackourgirls. About 50 or so of the girls have escaped or been returned but the rest are still missing. These kinds of events were able to get the social recognition and help bring some media to Africa, but most cases it doesn’t happen. 

Despite the fact that most stories don’t make the mainstream media, they are still happening and as consumers of information, we have to take a proactive role to seek out these unknown, lightly reported stories and help share the message, when others won’t.

Social Networking and Stabilization.

I think that social networking and social media has already made a dramatic change in our lives and our children’s lives. Social Networking Sites (SNS) have been at the forefront of many of the latest political movements this decade. We can see this in 2010 with the demonstrations and protest in the Middle East and Northern Africa as the "Arab Spring". The use of SNS allowed many demonstrators to communicate even when the governments of some of the countries (Egypt) shut down news and radios channels. Recently in the last six months two main events have shaped the world and hopefully stabilize it. 

The first was the Ferguson Missouri shooting of a black youth that brought police use of deadly force, overuse of police force, and the militarization of police in the mainstream media. Hashtags like #iftheygunnedmedown, #handsupdontshoot and #icantbreath have all been associated with these types of incidents.

The second would be the terrorist attacks by extremist Muslims in Paris France on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper headquarters. These attacks have created an increased awareness of terrorist who travel and train in foreign countries and then come back and preform attacks as sleeper cells. America’s attacks on September 11th started the major push for security, but countries like France and England have not tighten their forces until now. Seeing these attacks on the news and in SNS have made the world feel smaller, more intimate and gives the realization that this can happen anywhere to anyone. 

The use of SNS has reinforced globalization and the notion of a "shrinking world". This is a good thing. It lets Americans know that we are not alone, not the center of the universe and I believe helps humanize former enemies of our country. This can be beneficial if we are willing to embrace a global world and try to become united.