Essay on Pop Culture Argument: Social Networking

In this modern age, the majority of society has adapted to social media and the newest technology to fit around our lives. Technology provides tools that are imperative to the making and the use of other tools. It is a tool in itself. Technology is changing rapidly; so rapidly, in fact, there can be cultural gaps between generations. The construction of social media has enabled access to innovative phenomenon, broken barriers, changed our perspectives on ideas, and has even opened doors to new opportunities.

Since September 11th, due to the use of powerful cryptography to hide the planning the terrorist actions, America has dropped its views of privacy technology as a defense against an intrusive government.  Instead, it appears that all of American society is now ready to allow many infringements of civil liberties in order to create a false sense of security.

Another Important milestone in the new privacy paradigm was the revelation of the NSA’s surveillance program, PRISM. On June 5th, 2013, Edward Snowden leaked documents that revealed the National Security Agency’s surveillance program. The documents revealed that the NSA was tracking information from nine major Internet companies, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Apple. PRISM could collect about 600 million communications a day and store them for up to 30 days. Through the use of various methods, the NSA was able to intercept communications in real time (“Edward Snowden Leaks” 2014). With the implementation of PRISM, the United States government was able to covertly monitor information. The program was used to collect information from the Internet, but it was also used to obtain information from allies. One of the major issues with this program was the ability to monitor citizens without them ever becoming aware of the intrusion. PRISM was a drastic shift from the policies implemented in the eighties. Certain companies were cooperating with the NSA, many willingly handed over records. While these programs were implemented over a decade ago they have shaped the way the government views privacy. New policies are implemented which extend the government’s ability to gain access to information. This increase in power is problematic to the Internet user because it has restricted the rights of people. Internet privacy has been limited under the new paradigm in order

For example, criminal activity would be spotted faster and so will terrorist actions but this is against our fourth amendment. We should not be watched over or looked into without a search warrant this opposes to our individual rights. In 2001, George W. Bush passed the Patriot Act. This act allowed the government to interfere with normal American citizens computers or phones without a search warrant. Those type of searches would occur if a person was accused of being terrorist or being a part of terrorist actions. Later on in 2015 president Barack Obama got discarded this act because he knew it was unfair and not right. In 2007 Obama said, “"I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom. That means no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient" (Barack). This was a great thing to do because it showed how free the people were and how trustworthy this country

By spying on people who are helpers and assistants to these groups, but don’t have a criminal record in the United States, we can gain more information on the terror abroad (Sulmasy, 1). Another reason is to catch thieves, burglars, and murderers in the US. Implementing CCTV has lowered the amount of shoplifting and robberies (Bledisoe, 20). It has been proven that people are more likely to do the “right thing” if they are being monitored, and less likely to question authority, which will lead to lower crime and less public disturbances (Villines, 1). Another reason for the increase in surveillance is the increase in online activity. New technology makes it easier than ever for people all over to world to set up websites and profiles for sharing information, including terrorism plans, information, and funds for setting up these operations (Sulmasy, 2). However, there is also new techniques to stop surveillance from catching these criminals plans. Anonymous browsers like TOR and the Deep Web make it more difficult for people’s information to be intercepted (Grossman, 2). The NSA is trying to intercept and manage to collect data from these networks using better technology than ever. New data mining software is in use to try and capture wanted criminals, such as the NSA’s prism program (Greenwald, 2) . The PRISM program allows the NSA to ‘tap in’ and read data off social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and Youtube (Greenwald, 2).

In many states all around the world pictures are being posted, friends are chatting online, and everyone is meeting new people. "How is this happening?" one might ask. The answer is simple, social networking. There is many different types of social networking or media that suites anyones tastes or needs. For example, if you want to share pictures with your friends and see how many likes you can get, Instagram is for you. If you want to send pictures for only a few seconds to just one of your friends, then Snapchat is for you. Each of these forms of social networking have few things that maybe could be approved upon or considered harmful, but all of the ways that they are helpful greatly out weigh them. Social networking helps to connect to

After watching the movie The Social Network, the first thing I did was to search for Mark Zuckerberg’s real life experiences to see which parts are facts and which are fictions. As a matter of fact, this Harvard genius that founded the world’s first social network was not as childish as the movie portrayed. At least he didn’t write programming for getting into elite Harvard “Final Clubs” or for retaliating his girlfriend. During Mark’s high school, Microsoft and AOL tried to purchase the music player that he built and also invited him to join them. However, Mark decided to enroll in Harvard for further education. From where I stand, although the movie is fictional, it can easily

Main argument: There are many contributions brought by the easy access social media provides as different groups can keep in contact in just a matter of a click. Social media is available to anyone at any time and those who are the most influential (teenagers) fall victims to the propaganda and ideas the Iraqi group tell them. Social media give these groups easy access to spread their ideas and beliefs, contact people, trade goods, and plan within a group how to collaborate and expand. My main argument focus on the dangerousness of social media that we tend to ignore since we usually think technology is just a first world problem associated with the decrement of social interaction, but it is worst then that and these middle east groups are way more in advance then western countries, impacting in political matters and recruiting teenagers/young adults, contracting to

Our freedoms are undeniably more honest than those of an Orwellian society, yet some people argue our information is not kept

We cannot let the government take our personal liberty for national security. Other people may say that we can trust the government because we have nothing to hide. The government has lied to us several times and after multiple incidents, we cannot trust them. They stated that they wanted to reduce our personal liberty for a stronger national security. According to Weisbrot, “These programs were never about terrorism,” ‘wrote Snowden in a letter to Brazilians on Dec. 17, noting they are really about’ “economic spying, social control and diplomatic manipulation. They’re about power” (Weisbrot). However Americans found out that there personal privacy was being used for unjustified reasons. The government lied to us and they were really using our liberties for unjustified things such as tapping on phone calls on activists such as Martin Luther King. They harassed and blackmailed him. In addition, the Pew Research Center stated, “ ... Americans want to control their personal information, but few feel like they are able to” (Gao). Many people want to control their data but only 9% say they have a lot of control over how much information is collected about them (Gao). According to the Pew Research Center, “A majority of American disapprove of the U.S. government’s collection of telephone and internet data as part of anti terrorism efforts...”(Gao). This could

President Abraham Lincoln once said, “ America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves”. This quote is timeless, and made me realize how important it is to maintain the freedoms set forth in the constitution because it is very unlikely America will ever be destroyed from outside means like modern terrorism. Instead we will decay from the inside by straying away from freedom and equality until the whole system collapses. Because of government corruption, economic inequality, and a corporation dominated free market I think it truly is the worst of times to be an American.

Social media started becoming normal. Everyone was using it. Mainly for email, games, and business. But soon Social Networking sites would take over.

Social network sites (SNSs) such as such as Friendster, CyWorld, and MySpace allow individuals to present themselves, articulate their social networks, and establish or maintain connections with others (Ellison, 2007). These sites could be used for work related situation, romance, connecting with individuals with shared interest, or creating a connection amongst college students. Facebook enables its users to present themselves in an online profile, accumulate ‘‘friends’’ who can post comments on each other’s pages, and view each other’s profiles (Ellison, 2007). Individuals can write on the wall of friends, send private message, comment on posts, as well as chat via instant messaging. Much of the early research on online communities assumed that individuals using these systems would be connecting with others outside their pre-existing social group or location, liberating them to form communities around shared interests, as opposed to shared geography (Ellison, 2007).

Social media is everywhere, you see it on YouTube videos, food products, television commercials, or stores persuading you to, “Follow us on Instagram.” or “Like us on Facebook.” Today, it has become increasingly common for kids to own smartphones at a young age and have Instagram accounts. Wherever you go, you see kids checking their phones and seeing if the picture they posted has enough likes. A few decades ago, not many people had phones, social media has made it possible for unlimited information and communication to be easily accessible and shared. However, social media creates body image for girls and boys and may lead to cyberbullying.

Social networking is a way for people to connect and share information with each other online.