Civil Rights in the Information Age

The information age brings new and exciting things, but it brings problems too. With people breaching people’s privacy and separate laws being taken out purely because they need to stop people intruding into others person al things. With recent scandals like the phone hacking one being brought to the public eye, it is in no doubt that it has been brought to the country’s attention.

Phone Hacking

Phone hacking was recently brought to the public eye when Rupert Murdoch’s ‘News of the World’ was caught phone hacking various celebrities and people just to get stories for their newspaper, this is illegal to do this. Phone hacking is linking into someone’s calls or voicemail without the person knowing so, or giving consent- doing this is a clear violation of their privacy and is not legal. Due to the phone usually having a pin and many users not wishing to change this, it makes it easier for their phone to be hacked. Although in sight of the recent controversy with the phone hacking through ‘News of the World’ they have changed their system so that this cannot happen anymore.

The ‘News of the World’ controversy with the phone hacking brought light onto the situation which could be happening to many people, it allowed people to see how easy it is to access their phones. They targeted many people, some members of the Royal family were targeted through this. They even went to horrible lengths of hacking Milly Dowler’s voicemail, which lead to this interfering with the investigation.

Phone hacking is a clear breach of one persons privacy and completely shows that in some cases people cannot have any privacy.

The Data protection act

The data protection act is a list of laws in which are put in place to show people that if someone does invade their privacy then they can be punished for it and shall not be able to get away  with it. They are in essence rules that have become known due to the development in the information age;

-Data must not be disclosed to other parties without the consent of the individual whom it is about, unless there is legislation or other overriding legitimate reason to share the information (for example, the prevention or detection of crime). It is an offence for Other Parties to obtain this personal data without authorisation.

-Individuals have a right of access to the information held about them, subject to certain exceptions (for example, information held for the prevention or detection of crime).

-Personal information may be kept for no longer than is necessary and must be kept up to date.

-Personal information may not be sent outside the European economic area  unless the individual whom it is about has consented or adequate protection is in place, for example by the use of a prescribed form of contract to govern the transmission of the data.

-Subject to some exceptions for organisations that only do very simple processing, and for domestic use, all entities that process personal information must register with the Information commissioners office.

-The departments of a company that are holding personal information are required to have adequate security measures in place. Those include technical measures (such as firewalls) and organisational measures (such as staff training).

-Subjects have the right to have factually incorrectinformation corrected (note: this does not extend to matters of opinion)

Phone Tracking

Phones can now be installed with tracking devices so that either the police or someone’s parents know where they are, but in some cases the person who owns the phone does not know they possess this information. Phone tracking is a device which is inserted into the phone and through GPS they are able to see where the person is, through this device. It is usually a small chip which is inserted in the phone. It is good in some ways for people who want to know where their children are if they go missing, they can get their position, it is also bad because it cannot always be accurate. 

Crime Prevention and Cyber Crime

Cyber crime prevention

With the growth in the information age and the ways in which it operates, it is no surprise that the systems are being checked or used to help detect or prevent crime. Many crimes are committed through the internet which is used vastly throughout the world; many of these crimes are making some money. The internet is increasingly getting larger and many more people are now beginning to trust the internet with their details and other important things which online criminals would be able to do damage with. The information ages also allows crime prevention not just online with the police forces using software such as finger printing, face recognition, CCTV, Number plate recognition and many other things which have only recently become available in preventing crime.

Cyber Crime

The internet is growing rapidly and with this constant growth comes a large increase in online crimes. The internet is a place which is predominantly reasonably safe, although in some cases it is not as safe as it is made out to be. The most common crimes done online are fraud where people steal people’s money, identity and other personal things they have. Although a extremely common crime which is constantly happening is illegal downloading, where people download a range of multimedia without paying for it.

Online theft is by far the biggest crime that currently goes on through the internet. Many criminals now find it easier to obtain the data about someone they need to either copy their identity or steal money from their account. Many of these are done frequently and it is becoming a problem. Major online money services such as PayPal are usual targets to hack due to the high amount of money which is put through the system everyday.

Phishing is a problem online too because many criminals will ensure that what they do looks highly professional and you’re extremely likely to fall for it. They will usually send out emails which give you a link to a website similar to your banks, you will click on it and fill in your details believing that it your website, the fraudster will then have access to copious amounts of information about your account and yourself leaving you vulnerable to fraud.

Another form of cyber crime is people hacking others computers and putting viruses into their computer. Many people create viruses either for fun, so they can make money in making a software to fix it or so they can get revenge on someone. Viruses can slow down the computer and in some cases break it completely. They are usually sent through emails as a link and once clicked on begin to ruin your computer, in some cases they’re found online through websites. Viruses are all over the internet and they can be extremely harmful to computers, people make them purely to mess up a computer and this is what they do.

I personally am lucky in the respect I have never experienced and of these problems, but many people do and they can cause a lot of stress and hassle for the person who has to deal with them.

Crime Prevention

With the information age making many things throughout the world done by technology it is no surprised that the police have begun using all types of technology to solve crimes. They have begun using finger printing, CCTV, Face recognition, number plate recognition and many more to help prevent or detect crime.

Finger Printing is one major way that people have begun to detect crime and prevent it. The police now take people’s finger prints if they’re being held for a crime, so given with forensics they get a fingerprint all they have to do is match it with someone’s on the database. This is a great way of finding someone and getting their information. Finger printing is a use of technology which helps make things safer and helps catch criminals faster, it allows us to get to them quickly. They are able to easily scan and upload criminals to the database so that if they commit another crime it is easily able to detect them.

CCTV is another way in which technology has developed. They now use CCTV in most places; shops, car parks, streets, the list goes on. CCTV allows you to catch things on camera, mainly crime such as shoplifting can be caught on camera and easily detected. It helps prevent crime and solve crime, people are less likely to commit crime if they know that the chance of them being caught is higher than before, and if they do then the camera shows their face and they can see the person if they have done it, or not. Face recognition can also come into this because through the databases used if they are caught on CCTV then they can use the picture of their face to detect who it is, both of these are extremely useful in policing and allow them to detect crime easier than before.

Number plate recognition helps a lot with an extremely common problem of people speeding throughout the country. The camera’s which are set up throughout the country allow the car which is speeding to be detected and then through the use of the database you’re able to find out their details to issue them which ever punishment they deserve. It is extremely useful in cracking down on the growing problem of people breaking the speeding limits throughout the country. 

Entertainment in the Information age

Entertainment in the information

Entertainment is a main aspect of the information age which continues to develop throughout the years. The way that entertainment has become such a large spectre of the modern world is an accurate representation of how technology is continuing to move on through the information age. You now can access different forms of entertainment throughout the world, it is really conventional. Many people dispute whether all this development with technology is healthy, and that we rely heavily on technology, which is true but technology makes many things run smoother.

Gaming in the information age

The games industry is a huge significance of where the information age has moved on, it has progressed a lot. Whereas 30 years ago the main form of entertainment was board games, or playing a physical game, you can now play games like football and tennis online. New game consoles have been developed recently such as Nitendo Wii and PlayStation move in which you can now play games such as cricket or bowling through these consoles. Technology has been developed an undeniable amount to the extent that you can almost do anything on games. Many of the games have been developed so that all ages can play them, such as games such as brain training on the Nitendo DS which can cater for most ages, from young adults to older generations. Whereas you have other games which have been specifically designed for younger people, such as Guitar Hero which is one of the best-selling video games in the history of video games, it is extremely successful throughout the world. The game was so successful that they have made many different versions of it, and guitar hero 3 being the best-selling video game ever, and Call of Duty being a close second. Video games are sold throughout the world and they are becoming increasingly popular throughout the years and with the information age it is only certain that it will carry on progressing.

Advantages:

-          People can have fun in the comfort of their home

-          You can enjoy it as a family

-          You only have to buy the console and games then you can play for as long as you want

Disadvantages:

-          Less interaction with real people

-          You are more reliant on technology

-          Some have said it is dangerous to your health

-          People can get addicted to such games and they become heavily reliant on these virtual worlds to have fun

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/mar/21/tom-bissell-video-game-cocaine-addiction

I personally use this kind of technology and I believe it is great for many things, it has moved things on quickly. The technology is a great way of having fun and gives you the opportunity to do things which have yet to be done before. Although this may hinder other entertainment industries such as film or music, it is unlikely it will stop growing in the near future.

iPod’s, iPad’s and MP3 players

Music use to be all done through CD’s and radio, larger objects which now are considered out-dated. The music devices now are smaller than most people’s hands, and they are a lot different to what they were a few years ago. Music devices continue to get smaller and smaller, with Apple and their iPod’s being the smallest devices for having music on, with their iPod shuffle being just a little bit bigger than a finger, but being able to store so many songs.

Furthermore they have also combined it with Nike to create Nike ID, this allows the music on your iPod to change music to the pace you’re going. It is planted in the shoe, and it reacts. Music and the technology that came with it is developing every single day. Little devices can hold thousands of songs, whereas you’d use to of had a CD with 10-15 songs on.

Advantage:

-          They use less space

-          They’re more convenient

-          You can have many songs to carry around with you

Disadvantage:

-          The music is not of as good quality

-          If it is too loud then you can cause damage to your ears

-          As it is accessible to download from the internet meaning CD’s are not sold as much and it is more likely to illegally download music for free.

iPod’s and other MP3 devices are extremely useful. I use them most of the time and could not live without one.

Films in the Information Age

The films in the information age are changing a lot now. You now have 3D tv’s, cinema and even 3D games consoles are now becoming 3D. 3D TV has only recently been introduced, but 3D cinema viewing has been around a couple of years. The 3D idea allows you to watch films in a different format to your usual one, many people like 3D but others disagree. It means that the images on the TV are projected out of it and you almost feel as if you’re part of the screen. The 3D effect makes things almost “pop out” at you, with popular images such as water, throwing things out and others it looks as if it will hit you.

Advantages:

-          It is different to the kind of TV you view every day

-          It is something modern and in some cases makes films more fun

-          You’re more inclined to feel as if you’re part of it

Disadvantages:

-          You have to wear glasses

-          Some people receive headaches from watching things in 3D

-          It is substantially more to watch something in 3D or buy 3D televisions

Films like this are common to be in 3D due to the action in it: 

I personally have used this technology and feel as if it is a revelation. It is great to watch action movies on because the things jump out at you and it makes you feel more part of it. It is a lot different to usual cinema or TV and I liked that.