Blogging and Anonymous

Upon watching the film, We Are Legion, there was one story in particular that stuck out in my mind. The first major hack that was explained in the movie was the story of Hal Turner v. Anonymous. I felt that I could relate to the reasons behind attacking the self-proclaimed neo-nazi radio-show host and blogger. He had done something wrong to the friends and members of Anonymous, and the online hacktivists decided that they would no longer stand by and watch their friends be bullied. Behind a computer screen the victims could remain safely in their homes, and not have to deal with the mental or physical strain of fighting. People from all over the world bombarded his website, forcing Turner to pay for hours of unnecessary bandwidth usage. As much as I appreciate Anonymous sticking it to the man and showing the higher-ups that we are capable of finding the loopholes in our society and economy, a part of me feels that the attacks are too intense. There are other ways to undermine the social norms without ruining people’s lives, whether we agree with their beliefs or not.

Anonymous did not start out with the intention to ruin the careers of popular and biased people. It was a movement that started through new new media. According to Levinson, new new media is described as a medium in which anyone can contribute and express themselves. 4chan.com incorporates different forums for bloggers to discuss whatever they want. The Anonymous/hacktivist movement started through 4chan, where people worldwide organized themselves to make a statement. They played pranks in the virtual world for the “lulz”, or for a laugh. The motive evolved from a fun and mischievous one, into the thought of actually being able to make a difference in the world. It is obvious that there are many people in this country that are unhappy with the government and economy. It can be seen daily by watching FOX news, or The Daily Show (although contrasting shows, they both scream unsatisfaction). It seems as though many of the people that participated in Anonymous attacks were trying to make a statement, and they succeeded.

It is interesting to see how new new media has influenced our culture and world. As Sherry Turkle discusses in her TED talk, entitled “Connected, but alone?”, we are constantly craving human connection. New new media sites such as 4chan.com allow us to connect with other people without having our full attention on them. Now that we are used to social media and communicating through a screen primarily, speaking face to face with a new person scares us a bit. At least with the new generation, they are growing up in a time where electronics rule their lives. Young children today cannot even imagine a world without a computer, Xbox, and smartphone. As danah boyd discusses in her NAIS conference presentation, for many people who participate in online blogging and role-playing games, the appeal is the customization and tweaking that you can do before you post your pictures or thoughts online for everyone to see and judge. It is a fresh start; a new chance to create yourself. However, the lack of a physical human connection is an issue. It scares me to think that I may only speak to other humans through the computer, but for some people this is normal. Using new new media, the members of 4chan.com were able to start a worldwide phenomenon based on their own need for human connection. What may have been a heated conversation in a forum has grown into an enormous activist movement.

We Are Legion- Hal Turner v. Anonymous

“We Are Legion” is a video that explains the origins of the hacktivist group Anonymous. Having not known much about Anonymous before the video, I found it intriguing and interesting to learn about how the group developed into such a large force. The video points out the major hacks and attacks that Anonymous has been the cause of, one of the first being against Hal Turner, a self proclaimed neo-nazi, radio show host, and blogger.

Turner published the home phone numbers of several prank callers from 4chan.org. Anonymous, having originated and operating through 4chan, decided that retaliation was necessary. They provoked Turner in many ways, including overloading his website and forcing him to pay a large amount of money to compensate for the bandwidth usage. Turner refused to back down and continued to provoke Anonymous, saying that they would pay for what they did to him. The reason for attacking Turner had transformed from retaliation for fellow 4chan members, to winning a war. The group needed to prove to Turner that they were a force to be reckoned with. This can be seen in most other initiatives led by Anonymous. The focus is to offend people simply because they can. They do not care who they are offending or why, but only that they are doing it.

Every person has different opinions on the war between Anonymous and Hal Turner. I was able to pick out three distinct opinions that I can relate to. There are of course people that share the neo-nazi beliefs of Turner and therefore are in support of him. I personally do not agree with that, but everyone is free to their opinions.

“Frankly, I have only admiration for you guys who fight back!..Getting mad and being able to do something about it is sometimes a very positive thing!” (Microdot 1/1/07)*

“Lemme get this straight, we hate haters who hate us but love to hate them back? Awful lot of hate involved here.” (Sepp 1/1/07)*

“What’s to stop them from targeting your bank’s website and hacking your account? Or hacking DoD computers and sending defense satellites spiraling into the ocean?” (Anchorage Activist 1/1/2007)*

Each comment above is unique, the first instilling support in the group. The second comment points out that we are fighting fire with fire, which doesn’t necessarily work all the time. However, I think that the people participating in the movement got their point across clearly. The last comment brings up a very important point. Anonymous can hack into any computer at any time, which could cause much more damage than we could ever dream of. Although I agree with the initial aim of Anonymous, the actions taken by the group have become over-the-top in a bad way. I am all for proving that you can disregard the rules of society and demolishing a terrible person’s reputation, but when it comes at the cost of ruining many people’s lives, it should be stopped.

 

*http://historymike.blogspot.com/2006/12/racist-thug-hal-turner-facing-wrath-of.html

 

Sherry Turkle v. danah boyd

Upon viewing presentations by two prominent women in the field of new media, significant differences can be seen between the stances taken by them. Both professors of media and technology, Sherry Turkle and danah boyd are extremely knowledgeable and profound speakers. In Sherry Turkle’s TED talk, entitled “Connected, but alone?”, she delves into the consequences that media has on the general person’s everyday life. danah boyd, in her presentation at the 2013 NAIS annual conference, focuses more on the digital age gap that divides society, where children today cannot imagine a world without technology and parents do not understand the social boundaries of the internet-driven world.

It is obvious from the get-go that Turkle takes a more professional stance on the topic, while boyd instantly comes across as more laid back. A viewer will judge the editing and quality of each video and the physical appearance of each woman without even realizing it. Immediately, I noticed that Sherry Turkle was dressed very professionally and spoke in a slow and thorough manner, allowing the audience to understand that she is highly educated and prepared. Her video was obviously professionally recorded and edited, as it included multiple angle shots as well as brief interruptions by quotes and photos from her powerpoint presentation. On the other hand, the presentation given by danah boyd was comprised of a video stream from one camera and no special effects. Although boyd turned out to be an extremely intelligent and insightful, her physical presentation was not up to the standard that Turkle set with her performance.She dove right into the point and spoke extremely rapidly, which threw me off from the topic quite a bit. Although the women had great views on new media and how it affects our society, most people forget to note how slight differences in presentation can affect the overall message. Initial impression is everything in this world filled with new new media, and it clearly influenced me while watching these two videos.

Sherry Turkle’s message was that we, as a society, are alone together. By this, she means that we want a certain degree of interaction without taking on the responsibility of being fully present with that person. We constantly fall back on our digital devices in times of doubt or uncomfort. Instead of dealing with these problems head on, we back away into some remote corner of the world wide web. She notes that parents even fall into the trap during meals, when they are constantly checking their emails instead of conversing with their children. We expect comfort from technology instead of each other and that is a major issue. I can definitely relate to her message. Whenever I feel lonely or sad I begin to scroll down my Facebook news feed. I always regret the decision, as it makes me feel even worse about myself. When I see that online friends are getting straight A’s through college, just found the perfect boyfriend, or are spending quality time with their family, I start to feel bad about all of the things that I am currently not doing correctly. I crave the periodic security that Facebook allows me to have, but always feel even worse when that security vanishes.

danah boyd emphasizes the fact that new media is an issue mainly for the youth. She points out that the youth are being criticized by potential employers for posting inappropriate things online. boyd explains that although this new development in job hunting is great for employers, it restricts the privacy of today’s youth. She also explains how it is nearly impossible to pick and choose who you are completely available to and who you are not. Even if you are not friends with a person, they can still view your current profile picture, along with your name, school, and any other recent posts that have been made on your timeline. The lack of privacy online allows the older generation to believe that it is acceptable to snoop on their children’s profiles. The older generation simply does not understand the social etiquette that is required when surfing the web and social media. The divide between the digital generation and the old media generation is large and obvious. You can observe the divide at any point in time, as it is present within almost every snooping parent and employer.

Overall, I agree with the points that both danah boyd and Sherry Turkle argued, and when combined we can see a fairly cohesive and concise description of the problems that new media is causing our society.

 

Mini Essay 1

While growing up, I remember being allowed to use the computer for educational purposes only. Whether that be typing up an essay, printing pictures for a poster project, or playing math games, my parents made sure that I did not wander to the mysterious and infinite world wide web. When I reached my pre-teenage years, I was instructed on how to use the internet for research for essays and projects. It was not long until all of my peers were bragging about their new myspace profiles. I begged my parents to let me create a Myspace page, and when they said that I couldn’t, I decided to make one anyway. Although i resented my parents at the time for trying to limit my time online, looking back I can appreciate the time I spent away from the screen. I finally jumped on the Myspace bandwagon as Facebook was taking over. My Myspace profile was subpar at best, so I deleted the profile, and focused on picking the perfect profile picture for my new Facebook page.

As I became online friends with many of my offline friends and started communicating via Facebook, I realized that the site allowed for easy sharing of thoughts, pictures, and videos with friends. I took to posting funny quotes and pictures on different friends’ walls and could even post statuses about my thoughts or feelings in the moment. I eventually received requests from people that I was friends with very early in my life, and realized that the site would make it extremely easy to stay in touch with old friends and keep updated on their lives.

Recently, Facebook has largely become a source of real-time news for me, as explained in Paul Levinson’s New New Media. Whenever I log onto Facebook and scroll down my news feed, I learn something new. Whenever a celebrity dies, an amazing movie comes out in theaters, or the newest viral video is discovered, I am bombarded with status updates about the newest fad. Facebook members are constantly posting their opinions and having debates on current events for all to see and contribute to. Before I even have a chance to check other websites, Facebook updates me with everything that I need to know. I know that if I ever have an obscure question that cannot be found through Google, I can post the question on Facebook and the answer will be quickly answered by one of my many hundred friends. The sheer amount of people that are members of Facebook contribute to the perks of being a member. It’s almost like having a giant email database of everyone in the world that you can access any day, any time for your own personal gain. Facebook is revolutionary and will be around for many more years to come.

Twitter became a popular social media site a few years ago. For some reason, I never understood the attraction to a site that was focused around posting short snapshots of your day to day life. If I ever posted my thoughts on facebook, it was a heated rant about something that had happened to me or heard about in the news. I was never one to post short status updates about my incredible pancake breakfast or how many calories I burned at the gym today. Recently, I caved into the peer pressure and created a Twitter account. Although I am not obsessed with the site like some of my other friends, I do enjoy checking the site to see what celebrities and my friends are thinking about. I like knowing that people take pleasure in reading my posts.

As explained in New New Media, Twitter relays information immediately. A few days ago I was notified via Twitter that classes would be cancelled due to excess snow and ice before I recieved any emails or text messages through the SB Alert system. This further proves how immediate the relay of information through Twitter is. If a person types a few sentences on Twitter, the message will be sent immediately to all of that person’s followers. Email requires slightly more effort, because the user is forced to type the emails of every person that he wants or needs to alert. Facebook is just as immediate as Twitter, however Twitter limits the character count of each message, forcing each update to be short, sweet, and easy to scroll through. Facebook posts can be bulky and large, forcing a person to scroll down many pages before reaching the update that they were looking for.

Facebook and Twitter are both great resources for news, media, and social purposes. Both have pro’s and con’s, but in my opinion are beneficial to society.

First Assignment- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Blogs

Chapter 2- Facebook

“Facebook more than any other social medium has grappled with the complex nature of online friendship, and has attempted to fine-tune online friendships to better correspond to their offline realities.” (page 15, Levinson)

The above sentence summarizes the chapter well. From my own personal experiences with Facebook, I have experienced all of the types of online friends that Levinson talks about. Current and old friends are the obvious choices while deciding who to send friend requests to on Facebook. It is extremely convenient to give your thoughts or send pictures to selected groups of people and connect with people who you have never met in person, but share the same interests as you. Although online and offline friends share similarities, online friendships are largely made possible by social networking, especially Facebook.

Chapter 3- Twitter

“…Twitter is not only the most immediate written medium in history, but it is also the most integrated combination of interpersonal and mass communication.” (page 31, Levinson)

I must be the last person in the world to have never used Twitter. I just do not see the appeal in giving updates on how much I toasted my bagel this morning, or how much I loved the pasta dish that I just devoured. Regardless, Twitter is definitely focused around providing information immediately to the public. It also incorporates direct messaging, which is an important component of communication (if you only want to share something with a certain person). I feel that this sentence encompasses everything that I know about Twitter into a simple and concise sentence.

Chapter 4- YouTube

” The amateur or unknown YouTube producer can point the camera at himself or herself, friends, the general public, or celebrities (if they’re close at hand) with almost equal facility.” (page 50, Levinson)

I believe that this is the most important quality of YouTube. Yes, YouTube enables us to watch music videos of our favorite celebrities and clips of movies with ease, but it also allows anyone with an internet accessible device to post any video, as long as it doesn’t interfere with a copyright. This can give enormous exposure to musicians, artists, and other talented people all over the world. Many of today’s stars were discovered because of YouTube, the most prominent being Justin Beiber. This aspect of YouTube coincides with Levinson’s definition of New New Media to a tee.

Chapter 6- Blogging

“The personal control that the writer has over his or her blog means that the blog can be about any subject, not just news.” (page 83, Levinson)

Of all of the topics that Levinson covers in the blogging chapter, the “Blogging About Anything, Forever” section stood out to me. Blogs are all about writing and sharing about what you are interested in and have a passion for. If that means that your blog is a bunch of recipes and cooking tips, then that’s great and you will find just as many people interested as if your blog was discussing theories as to how How I Met Your Mother will end. Regardless, it is important that when it comes to blogging the writer be able to discuss whatever topic they want.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog for Writing for the New Media (WRT 302), Spring 2014! I am currently a Junior Biomedical Engineering student here at Stony Brook and I love to sing. I will be posting different essays and assignments here throughout the semester, as well as anything else that I think is interesting and thought-provoking.