Facebook in Privacy Breach

Facebook is a phenomenon that has breached people everywhere. It is an easy connection from friends and coworkers to other friends and coworkers anywhere and everywhere. Besides the social network that is Facebook, it is also a place where users can control and choose to share information with people they are familiar with. But recently, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found that some Facebook applications have been exposing users' personal information to an outside party.

"Many of the most popular applications, or "apps," on the social networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information -- in effect, providing access to people's names and, in some cases, their friends' names -- to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found."

I believe I can speak for many others when I say that I use Facebook a lot. It is the main type of social networking that many people use these days. It has replaced myspace and personally, I use it more than I use instant messaging. I always believed that I could surf the web anonymously and use Facebook without a third party accessing my personal information. I think I can openly say for a lot of people that they would like to keep their personal information private while using Facebook. According to the investigation made by Wall Street Journal, popular applications "have been transmitting identifying information." This is very shocking because Facebook applications are overwhelmingly popular. Applications such as Farmville and Restaurant City have attracted millions of Facebook users and these users are unaware of their names or their friends' names being sent to advertising and Internet tracking companies. Facebook is indeed a growing social networking website that people everywhere appear to have connected with. Facebook should continue to strengthen its privacy functions so that users can continue to be anonymous and use the social networking site freely without their personal information being breached by third parties.

Reference:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558484075236968.html?KEYWORDS=facebookKEYWORDS%3Dfacebook

Picture:

© Facebook

Rapper T.I. going back to prison for 11 months

On October 15, 2010, Grammy Award winning rapper T.I. also known as Clifford Harris Jr, was ordered back to prison for 11 months due to illegal drugs uses. When he was first arrested for suspicion of drug possession last month in California, he was on probation. He was ordered to do 1,000 hours of community service hours. The community service hours included talking to schoolchildren about the dangers of gangs, violence of drugs.

Unfortunately, during his probation, he had clear possessions of drugs and had take the ecstasy drug three times since leaving prison. During the trial, the rapper pleaded with the judge to keep him out of prison, but the judge did not give in and sentenced him to 11 months of serving in prison.

The issue with drugs is clearly very serious. I believe that U.S. District Court Judge Charles Pannell Jr. was reasonable in his decisions. The rapper T.I. had clearly been given a sentence of doing community sentences in hopes that he would face redemption and stay away from drugs. As U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates says, "We had hoped that this would be a new, innovative opportunity. We're not giving up on Mr.Harris, but... if you veer off from the road of redemption, there are consequences." Like she says, Harris had been given his second chance already for his crimes, but since he had access to drugs and was caught again, he was expected to face the consequences.

I believe that the court ruling and the Judge's decision are all very fair. The Judge is practicing fair justice by not succumbing to the rapper's plead for mercy when he is clearly guilty of his actions even after a fair warning. His orders from his first offense was very clearly laid out. "As a condition of his release earlier this year, he was ordered not to commit another federal, state, or local crime while on supervised release, or to illegally possess a controlled substance. He was also told to take at least three drug tests after his release and to participate in a drug and alcohol treatment program."

But now he is being sent back to prison for 11 months for violating his probation. He had even submitted diluted urine, according to Yates. His further breaching of his court orders as well as his dishonesty should be a sure enough path to prison. There are always consequences for actions and Harris had already been given a second chance. Therefore he is expected to surrender voluntarily to authorities by Nov 1, according to Associated Press.

References:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39691531/ns/today-entertainment/

Google test cars that can steer without drivers

A surprising article came out on October 10, 2010 about the Google test driving cars that can be steered without humans. These cars are so advanced that it can travel a total of 140, 000 miles all on their own without a human driver steering the wheel. The goal of producing self-driving cars is "help prevent traffic accidents, free up people's time and reduce carbon emissions," says project leader Sebastian Thrun. Apparently, the cars are programmed to know speed limits, traffic patterns, and road maps. They use video cameras, radar sensors and lasers to detect other cars. That is definitely very high tech compared to humans who don't have built in video cameras, radar sensors and lasers to detect other cars.

There are two main points in the article. The first is how there are working self-driving cars that are already on testing mode by Google Inc. The company is so overflowing with cash, that it is able to focus on projects outside of its browser expansion. If there are self-driving cars that can function all on its own based on highly advanced technology, then supposedly, consumers will have more time to browse the web, as Google is a browser of the Internet. According to engineers, they consider the self-driving cars to be safer than when humans drive the cars manually themselves. Humans are prone to distraction, whereas technology is not. Car accidents are one of the leading death causes to humans and the production of self-driving cars could potentially eliminate or lessen this problem. Already, humans rely heavily on technology, so allowing cars to drive us is much like how we rely on technology anyway.

This leads up to the second point mentioned in the article. By having cars that can drive itself, according to Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group in San Jose, California, "driverless vehicle will make computers more like robots imagined in the 1920s, rather than tabletop data processor we use today." The possibility of robots assisting humans have always been around. Now it seems like the science fiction seen in movies is becoming a reality. How long will it be before self-driving cars hit the market and replace manual cars? Technology has definitely come a long way, since people's imagination are becoming a reality. Self-driving car? Wow.

References

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39606282/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/

After heated debate, Catalonia bans bullfighting

In all of Spain, bullfighting is a sport that is seen as tradition. Finally, in the month of July in 2010, Catalonia becomes the first city in Spain to ban bullfighting.

There was much debate to the controversial sport before the ban in Catalonia. According to the article from LA Times, "Lawmakers in catalonia's regional assembly approved the ban after emotional speeches that mixed expressions of support for maintaining tradition with denunciations of bullfighting as institutionalized cruelty."

Conservatives have said that banning bullfighting would "undermine Spanish unity", and seeing it as a "gratuitous attack on one of the country's most hallowed tradition." Others who are for banning bullfighting believe that this traditional sport of Spain's is "not a tradition seeped in romance, but a barbaric practice seeped in blood."

Bullfighting can be seen to be an act of animal cruelty in that innocent bulls are brought into an arena and provoked to anger by bullfighters. The professional bullfighters, called toreros, practices maneuvers on the bull at close range, while risking their own lives getting trampled. Although this risk is minimal compared to the bull's sure death. The bullfight usually concludes with the toreros stabbing the bull with a sword. This kind of sport is considered a blood sport that involves animal cruelty because according to the Spanish style of bullfighting, a picador will enter the arena and first stab the bull's morillo, which is muscle in the neck. This will change the behaviour of the bull in that the head will lower. Next, three sharp sticks will be inserted into the bull's shoulder. This will result in the bull to become angry and make the fight more "exciting" for fans. The last act that ends the bullfight, is the stab through the heart and between the shoulder blades. This is called the estocada.

Bullfighting is criticized by many people as a bloody sport because the bull suffers a slow, torturous death and yet its death is seen as entertainment. The bull is practically defenseless against the bullfighters which continues to weakens it before the final kill is issued. It is not like that the bulls are angry so that they attack the bullfighter, but that they are in agony. Their cause of agony is due to the bullfighter's attack towards weakening it. During the last stage, when the bullfighting pulls out a traditional red flag to drive the bull towards him, he is further provoking the bull, not by the colour, but by the movements. This act appears to be mocking and used purely for entertainment and provocation before the bull's death by a sword through the heart and between the shoulders. No wonder, anti-bullfight activists are enraged. Bullfights are used to entertain the blood-lusted audience with no consideration for the animal itself.

And thus, continuing even today, the sport of bullfighting created a heated debate for friends and foes of bullfighting. Protests supporting and refuting the issue stood in front of the parliament building, pressing their case against bullfights.

Haven't you ever heard Mom say, "Don't play with your food?"

References:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/28/world/la-fgw-catalonia-bullfighting-20100729

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfighting#Spanish-style_bullfighting