Does Privacy Even Exist?

How do we know if what we are saying in a private conversation is actually private and not heard by others? The TED talk that I found brought the most light to this major issue in society was done by Finn Mystrad

He uses the example of the Kayla doll, a blonde innocent looking little girl doll, but it was anything but that. The doll used speech recognition technology in conjunction with a smart phone app to recognize a child's speech and perform conversations with the users. 

The companies could harvest masses of personal information while your family could be chatting in the safety of their homes. The companies could then use these recordings for target advertising. It is the biggest false sense of security; families believe this harmless doll can act as a friend but then could be secretly spying on them. 

Even when someone who is not in the room of the doll if they are close enough to it and have the app on their phone, no password needed; they too can connect to the doll and even talk through the doll. This raised major red flags because kidnappers or buglers could manipulate the child into giving them information or even meeting up with them. 

The doll has been banned in Germany and was taken off the shelves for businesses like Walmart and Amazon. The doll is currently in the Spy Museum in Berlin. 

Everyday people are exposing themselves to the threat of their privacy been taken advantage of by just simply connecting to the internet every day. When living in a society that is ruled by technology it really makes you think how much of your own information is out in the world, that you do not even know about. Apps and websites get you by getting you to agree to the terms and conditions because, who ever really reads all the terms and conditions of every app and website they visit. 

Finn used a very good example when he put his theory to test. He got a dating app and made a profile, but little did he know in a small little check marked box it said that he was agreeing to give them access to his personal photos on Facebook. It also was saying that all his dating history that was shared privately, could be used in third parties for all time. 

I do not know about you guys, but I think it's safe to say I will never use a dating app ever and will always think very closely before I share my personal information out on any type of app/social media. 

EOTO Presentation learning

 During the EOTO presentations, we were told to blog about one technology that we learned about from someone else. I have chose to talk about the postal service. Although people might not think of the postal service as a form of modern technology, the postal service is something that has always been a way that people send letters, packages, and etc. 

In 1775 when the second Continental Congress established the first post agency, appointing Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general. A postmaster general was an overseer of all operations and ensuring that the agency fulfills its' public service mission and maintains financial sustainability. 

From 1829 to 1971 the postmaster position was a part of the presidents cabinet. Whenever the Post Office Department was recognized into the independent U.S Postal Service which meant they were chosen by the USPS Board of Governors.

In 1776 the would deliver mail by horseback riders or slaves walking on foot. They soon evolved to horse-drawn wagons, which allowed the person delivering to be more comfortable and be able to deliver bigger items or more items. In 1820 they started using boats to deliver mail over large bodies of water. The invention of the bike changed the mail delivery world upside down, even though it wasn't a high paying job at the time it was very time efficient with speeding up the processing of getting more mail delivered. The bike did slowly die off as automobiles were invented but it wasn't until 1986 that the iconic mail truck we see in todays society was created.

The postal service is something that has given many advantages to us in life but like everything else it does have cons. When you are sending a letter or package to someone you expect for it to be seen by those persons eyes, well that is not always the case because there is a major problem with people opening other peoples mail and it is then never guaranteed to get to the person it was entitled for. People have also been caught drug smuggling, which is a major problem in the mail and many other forms of transportation. 

The postal service is something I believe will never go out of business because it is one of the biggest ways people communicate and online shopping exists. Although many competitors have tried to challenge the postal service, they just aren't even close and are quickly losing money in the process. They did lose a lot of business during Covid, people have moved their forms of communication to technology. They will forever have business especially due to mail in ballots. 

I loved learning about the postal service because I feel like people my age do not use it as much because they do not know enough information about it, specifically how it works and how to send letters. Hopefully the postal service is around forever because they strive to make it available and affordable to everyone. 

The History of Streaming Services

Before streaming services and renting services were available for people to use, people would go to movie theaters, or they would have to wait till the film had been showed on the television. (I know so hard to believe people would actually go out). In the late 1970s, early 1980s VHS's (Video Home System) were available to be rented and then later in the 1990s DVD's (Digital Video Disc) followed. To get these rentals, people would go to movie rental places like blockbuster and Family Video.

The first known renting service that was located in Los Angeles, California, was Video Station. Video station was founded in December 1977 by George Atkinson. Although Video Station was one of the first rental services it was not by far the biggest, that award goes to Blockbuster. Blockbuster was the biggest rental service from its founding date in year 1985 till the early 2000s until Netflix came along.

When you rented a movie from one of the renting services, you had to make sure the movie was returned on time or you would get fined with ridiculous late fees, which still happen today in the world. After Reed Hastings was charged a $40 late fee from Blockbuster, for returning "Apollo 13" late, he had decided that he wanted to invent a renting service that didn't charge you late fees for returning the movie in late. Later him and Marc Randolph came up with the idea of Netflix, which didn't start the way you know it today. Netflix started as a mail in DVD-by-mail service. 

In 2007 after YouTube launched their online video sharing company, Netflix had decided to make an upgrade where you can instantly stream movies and TV shows from the digital library with just a click of a button. 

Blockbuster had attempted to launch their own online rental streaming service to keep up with the trend. Their effort to stay in business was a good one but they were unfortunately too late, so many people had already transferred their business to Netflix, so Blockbuster officially filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Other companies had entered the race since then like Hulu in 2010, Prime Video in 2015, Disney + (releasing movies that were released by Walt Disney studios) in 2019, and finally HBO Max in 2020. As surprising as it is none of these seem to be a threat to each other as many families have either one or even multiple in their homes. 

Netflix and other streaming services have to make sure they are keeping up with the latest trends and making sure they are streaming shows that are very popular because we live in a society where we expect our modern needs everywhere we go. If a store or website does not have exactly what we want we will leave and go to another one until we find exactly what we are looking for, because somewhere will have it. 

Now as we all love to watch our favorite shows and movies on our free time, over 70% of those watching series on Netflix are binge watching. Binge watching means watching multiple episodes of a show in rapid succession. Those who are binge watching are engaging on the site for an average of 6 hours a day. That is 1/4 of your day spent staring at a screen and potentially ruining your eyes. 

Stanford University did a study in 2013-2015 that showed that the overuse of Netflix and other streaming services can lead to issues such as sleep deprivation, weight gain, hormonal imbalance, and slight brain damage. 

Binge watching can also lead to gradual relationship breakdown and a decreased ability to form new relationships. About 10% have reported issues within their relationships and about 72% has said it has no impact at all in their relationship. I personally feel like no matter if the issue is so small or not everyone's relationships have been changed by streaming services and people just do not want to admit that they are allowing technology to effect the relationships they have with others.

Streaming services have turned our world upside down, is it for the better? I am still trying to figure out an answer myself, but I believe they will forever be around and evolving and adapting alongside us. It is sad to see that people do not go to the movies as much because it is more isolating to stay inside but, Covid also had a major effect on that as well, so its unclear why people have stopped going to movie theaters and hopefully one day they make a come back.