online predators

I was poking around cnn.com and I found a great article on steps parents should take in order to help protect their children from online predators and since I'm writing my paper on this topic, I decided to read through it. The article gives tips such as making sure the computer is in a high traffic area of the house and monitoring the child's use. Parents need to be more aware of what their children are doing when online and setting guidelines explaining what the computer and internet should be used for. This article could really help parents realize how volunerable their children are to online predators and just how involved they need to be in order to keep their children from becoming victims of these predators.

In a related article, a federal judge in Philidelphia ruled against a 1998 U.S. law that makes it a crime for commercial Web site operators to let children access "harmful" material. I completely agree with the ruling. There are many tools out there for parents to monitor and filter the content their children are viewing on the internet and it's not the commerical Web site operators' responsibility to censor the sites content. All the web sites with adult content have a warning advising the viewer that they are about to see material that may not be appropriate for children under 18 and a parent can simply put a block on this site by clicking a button. The bottom line really is that parents today have to be aware of the potential dangers of the internet and to teach their children how to be cautious and aware when browsing the web.

Google v.Microsoft (and the rest of the world)

I don't know if any of us really think about the copyright aspect of Google. Many of us use it daily. Constantly putting in keywords and trying to find a website or picture but I'm pretty sure not too many people stop to ask themselves if Google is legally giving you these things you are searching for. But this is exactly the reason why Microsoft and several other companies are fighting against Google's copyright policies. Google's policy is that everything can be copied unless the copyright owner tells Google to stop. This may or may not make sense but let's delve deeper.

Think about why one copyrights something. It's to keep someone from copying or taking that item or material and passing it off as their own (whether it just be showing or selling). Know think about what Google does. You put in the name of something you want to find and Google shows you where to get it. It doesn't say the thing is their own and they don't tell you that they own it or that you should credit them with what you get. Nor do they claim any responsibility for errors or mishaps with the website, picture, or items you are presented. Is this copyright infringement? Perhaps the reason Microsoft is going after Google is because Google has just recently decided to expand into the business software market which would make competition for the 15-year dominant software provider, Microsoft.

youtube.com

Why shouldn't people be able to post videos they have on Youtube? We see things like this everywhere. Look at a friend's myspace page and changes are you'll find a cheesy montage of pictures over some sappy song or a picture of their favorite movie or singer/band. Why is it ok to post pictures on a website for others to see but not videos? Or why is it ok to post videos on myspace but not Youtube? This question has yet to be answered. People who put up a music video or a clip from a television show on their websites or myspaces are doing the same thing as people who post music videos or television clips on Youtube.

There are many reasons why Youtube is considered a bad thing. First there's the fact that none of the videos are really filtered. Obviously you can not go on there and find a porn clip but there are videos of bullying and break-ups and scams and riots. Don't believe me? Go to Youtube.com and type in Umass Riots. There are quite a few videos of the riots that occurred just last semester after our football team lost to Appalachian State plus more of riots of the past. Put in school fights and you'll find a few videos by classmates video taping fights happening at school or after school. Type in bullying and you'll find videos of actual bullying and even videos mocking bullying. For this reason, I find it's appropriate that people have a problem with Youtube because it is so open and there is no real filtering.