One of the newest smart device that has been introduced into our society is the Ring Doorbell. The purpose of this device is to be able to see who is at your doorbell, and also to ensure no one is stealing your packages. With privacy concerns regarding other smart devices, you might be wondering, should I be concerned about this as well? The answer is, like other smart devices there are positives and negatives.

The positives of the Ring Doorbell are:

1. you are able to answer your doorbell through your phone
2. You can see who is at your door at all times (YAY, no more having to answer solicitors!)
3. You do not have to change batteries
4. It can collect with your Alexa

The negatives of the Ring Doorbell are:

1. there are no restrictions on sharing data with third parties
2. potential privacy vulnerabilities since it is connected to home WiFi
3. high cost

When looking at the positive and negatives there are more positives than negatives, but looking at the context of each one is when you have to decide what is important to you? The main takeaway you should know is yes it will make your life easier, but it also does open doors for hackers. So, what did you decide?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/11/23/before-buying-ring-wemo-roku-consider-privacy-issues/4260851002/

Ring Doorbell Elite: Pros And Cons

As we all know too well, we have heard of stories across any media form about artificial intelligence performing some task it should not, or was not, programmed to do. But we are now starting to hear about AI making people think about things they should not, and weren’t intending to look for.

This all came in to fruition when YouTube implemented artificial intelligence to curate people’s advertisements towards what they had been clicking on or watching. Sounds like a great idea, right? If the web is going to track and sell ads to us, they might as well be ones we are interested in. Well, YouTube’s AI took it a bit too far.

If someone was watching a Trump rally on YouTube, advertisements for white supremacist rallies, holocaust denials, and other videos of that nature came up as advertisements or on the “Watch Next” tab on the other side of the screen. People watching videos about jogging then returned results and suggestions about running multiple marathons.

The problem here is that the AI machine was encouraging viewers to the most radical standpoint. In today’s world, we know this is exactly what we are trying to move away from – we do not need AI to lead us back in that direction even deeper than we already are today.

Julia Riccio – jmr17e – https://www.quantamagazine.org/artificial-intelligence-will-do-what-we-ask-thats-a-problem-20200130/

Hackers finding new ways to steal all your information through ultrasonic waves. The human ear cant hears the frequency, but your phones can. They can hack your phone from over 30 feet away without the user even knowing.https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200227143752.htm

Keeping their children safe on social media is the primary concern for most parents when discussing the internet. And they have every right to be worried, the internet can be quite terrifying. The following article lists 6 helpful tips for parents to keep their child safe.  https://mashable.com/2014/09/21/social-media-safety-kids/

Safety Is Important

In today’s time, the internet and social media are everywhere. It is completely accessible to everyone which means that the worst type of content and people have the opportunity to poison the minds of young ones. It is very easy to discuss the benefits that comes with social media and ignore any safety issues. Many people often like to sweep these issues under the rug, stating that social media companies are taking great responsibility in monitoring  their content and providing helpful privacy options which eliminates dangerous activities. While I am extremely pleased with the safety measures Facebook, and other social media organizations have taken, I am convinced that safety begins and ends with the parents/guardian of children. It is still a very important lesson to teach. 

Learning about the dangers

My favorite tip that the article mentions is tip 3. Talk to your kids about the dangers and consequences of social media. This is a simple yet vital task that must not be overlooked. The only way a child can understand how dangerous social media can be is if you tell them. You definitely don’t want to scare your child, but it should be made clear to them that bad people are on the internet and that they can learn a lot of information about them based on what they post. Stories and examples are also helpful when explaining this. Also remember not to gloss over cyberbullying and fake news. Remind your kids to report hurtful comments and to not believe everything they read.  

Safety is for Adults too 

Lastly, safety is not just for children and teens. Adults need to take all the same precautions and preventive measures. According to an article written by Matt Tatham, adults between the ages of 55-64 are more likely to fall victim to dangerous romance scams. And adults between the ages of  35-44 often fall victim to purchase scams. So make sure that you follow the same advice you give your children. Always check your privacy settings, always be suspicious when sending money, and realize that anyone has the potential to view what you’ve posted. You can view the mentioned article and more information here: https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/you-may-be-surprised-whos-getting-scammed-the-most/. 

“No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, you know being black in America is tough.”(LeBron James)

In 2017 James set in front of cameras to discuss racist graffiti that was spray painted on the front of his gate house and was later painted over. Many media outlets since then have questioned James “toughness” as it equates to his multimillionaire status as to why the slur holds so much weight.

These are reminders that the everyday living for many black Americans in the U.S. is still a very disturbing reality despite having a huge celebrity presence. These are continuous reminders to never get comfortable with racism and hate that some people in this country choose to express. In fact, these hateful actions aim to keep us afraid and distracted from the good happenings in the world.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/03/lebron-james-rich-famous-racist-hatred

China is currently deploying the most complex surveillance systems on earth and is using AI to help monitor all the data it is collecting. Infrared images track people’s temperature as they move through public spaces and those with a fever are automatically marked using facial recognition technology and flagged for quarantine.  From there potential carriers of the disease are placed on forced quarantine with salience systems ensuring they don’t leave their home. The government is even able to pull historical data about where individuals have been so those who came in close contact with the carrier can be notified. To learn more about potential issues with this system and concern about privacy read on.

This article gives 5 tips – some of them I agree with and some I heavily disagree with.

I agree with four tips: using action verbs, using precise diction, using the action imperative form, and using sentence-style capitalization. All of the tips and reasonings make a lot of sense. I wholeheartedly agree with them. Especially using action verbs – it makes the article much easier to read.

However, the fifth tip, using task-specific language, is something I disagree with. This is because I don’t think it matters that much whether you use “submit” or “publish” regarding reviews. I think it’s easy to say that you submitted a review – the example they used really doesn’t make a difference. I feel like “submit” makes a good catch-all word and, in this scenario, saying publish actually might turn people away. They might wonder whether or not their review is good enough to publish; reviews tend to be very casual. For these reasons, I do not consider the tip worth agreeing with or implementing.

The emails that people receive, whether it contains order receipts, documents, pictures, or other private information, are meant to be kept confidential. Email is something that we use everyday to communicate so knowing the ways to secure your email account could be beneficial.

One of the easiest ways to have a more secure account is to create a strong password. You can do this by having a mixture of different cases, letters, numbers, and special characters so that your password is more difficult for a hacker to guess. Using secure information as your password, such as your birthday, is also not a good idea. Another way to create a more secure email account is to ask tough security questions. When you are able to create your own security question, make it about a random piece of information that only you would be able to know. If choosing from a pre-selected list of questions, use false information and just keep track of the answers that you put.

For more tips on how to create a more secure email account, click here.

t’s no secret that social media usage has been increasing quite fast in the past few years. It has transformed the way people communicate and he views the rest of the world and ourselves. Personally, over the years, I have come to the conclusion that social media does more harm than good if you let it. This goes back to one of the first articles i read in this class about social media. Does social media have some bad aspects to it? Yes. Can you avoid them? Yes. It all depends on how you look at everything. If i come across something i don’t like to see on my feeds then just block the user or block the hashtags that were associated it with each post. There’s been times that social media has made me feel bad about myself or has distracted me from schoolwork and work. My solution was just to delete the apps. But I can see why this isn’t the best solution. So what are your thoughts?

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/02/webinar-examines-social-medias-impact-young-people