http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25092895-5013044,00.html
The rapidly growing Facebook.com has been the latest thing on a very long list that law enforcement is looking to use as evidence against people in criminal cases. With facebook becoming as popular as a cell phone as a means of communication, it may not be all that unlikely to see people's facebook accounts being tapped by law enforcement in the very near future. I can see law enforcement's point of view here as they are looking to stay as in touch with the technology as the people they are trying to bring down are.
My question is: how stupid can people be? Are there really people out there talking in detail (or at all) about illegal activities over facebook? Apparently there are even though it seems amazing.
I think the biggest point to take out of this is that it would be really hard for law enforcement to use any of this facebook activity in a court room because it is so easy for electronic information to be messed with so it might be something that would get dismissed in court from the defendant's side.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Tough Economy Hits Online Health Care
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/15/AR2009021501284.html
This article from the Washington Post is about how Congress has had a plan in the making which will make America's health care records available online. This plan has an estimated bill attached to it of about 150 Billion dollars.
As an economics major, I find this article interesting as it ties in the struggling times in our economy with an issue of internet law. I imagine that 2014 date will be pushed back, I don't know, maybe 10 years? That seems about right given our current crisis but who knows.
The issues that online health care creates is interesting as well. It will obviously need a very strong security so the information does not get into the wrong hands. Also, who decides who gets to see who's documents?
When this issue is more in the spotlight after this economic crisis passes it will be interesting to see how people react to this.
I personally am for online health care being available - but I am also for pretty much everything utilizing the internet. We have this technology at our disposal, so why not use it?
This article from the Washington Post is about how Congress has had a plan in the making which will make America's health care records available online. This plan has an estimated bill attached to it of about 150 Billion dollars.
As an economics major, I find this article interesting as it ties in the struggling times in our economy with an issue of internet law. I imagine that 2014 date will be pushed back, I don't know, maybe 10 years? That seems about right given our current crisis but who knows.
The issues that online health care creates is interesting as well. It will obviously need a very strong security so the information does not get into the wrong hands. Also, who decides who gets to see who's documents?
When this issue is more in the spotlight after this economic crisis passes it will be interesting to see how people react to this.
I personally am for online health care being available - but I am also for pretty much everything utilizing the internet. We have this technology at our disposal, so why not use it?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Online Pharmacies: A Growing Problem
http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=105830
The above article details a pretty scary situation that is going on in North Dakota at the moment, but I'm sure the problem is even more widespread than this.
The number of people addicted to painkillers is rapidly on the rise and many of these cases are coming from people obtaining them online from bogus pharmacies.
It is a federal law that you cannot give out a prescription without an in-person doctor's visit but they have only been choosing to look at major cases thus far. I think with the rise of this problem that's about to change.
It's really scary if you think about it that things like this can happen.
What this story boils down to is: we need to learn to govern the internet better. Of course we are still in a transition phase where we are still getting used to this technology being a huge part of our society, but we need more laws governing this new world.
The above article details a pretty scary situation that is going on in North Dakota at the moment, but I'm sure the problem is even more widespread than this.
The number of people addicted to painkillers is rapidly on the rise and many of these cases are coming from people obtaining them online from bogus pharmacies.
It is a federal law that you cannot give out a prescription without an in-person doctor's visit but they have only been choosing to look at major cases thus far. I think with the rise of this problem that's about to change.
It's really scary if you think about it that things like this can happen.
What this story boils down to is: we need to learn to govern the internet better. Of course we are still in a transition phase where we are still getting used to this technology being a huge part of our society, but we need more laws governing this new world.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Facebook: Safe or not?
Facebook.com is used by millions of people around the world. It is becoming more and more popular each day.
What people don't know is the potential dangers that lie within the user agreement that I'm sure 90% of Facebook's customers never even read.
As a customer of Facebook.com you completely give Facebook the rights to all material you upload and post on the site. This really includes EVERYTHING. It would be terrible to see a company like Facebook take your ideas that you posted to the site and profit on them and then you wouldn't see a cent.
Not only this, but also all your material that you post on the site is totally not private. Everything including messages to other individuals is the property of Facebook.com and can be released at any time without your approval because you waived those rights by clicking 'I Accept' on the user agreement.
This brings me to my next point...
I think in this new age of technology it has become almost second nature to accept user agreements on many websites and softwares.
Users need to become more aware of what it is they are agreeing to because that is no different than signing a contract. You wouldn't sign a contract without reading it would you?
Hopefully these scary facts about Facebook.com makes people more aware about what they are doing on the internet.
What people don't know is the potential dangers that lie within the user agreement that I'm sure 90% of Facebook's customers never even read.
As a customer of Facebook.com you completely give Facebook the rights to all material you upload and post on the site. This really includes EVERYTHING. It would be terrible to see a company like Facebook take your ideas that you posted to the site and profit on them and then you wouldn't see a cent.
Not only this, but also all your material that you post on the site is totally not private. Everything including messages to other individuals is the property of Facebook.com and can be released at any time without your approval because you waived those rights by clicking 'I Accept' on the user agreement.
This brings me to my next point...
I think in this new age of technology it has become almost second nature to accept user agreements on many websites and softwares.
Users need to become more aware of what it is they are agreeing to because that is no different than signing a contract. You wouldn't sign a contract without reading it would you?
Hopefully these scary facts about Facebook.com makes people more aware about what they are doing on the internet.
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