Cyber Network Dangers

As we discussed in recent lecture, cyber socializing can be extremely dangerous if you are not careful. Facebook and Twitter have become absolutely huge in recent years. Facebook has over 300 million users and Twitter has around 60 million members. Ashton Kutcher (aplusk) has 4,577,798 followers on Twitter. We as the Y generation are growing up in a society where we face new dangers. These dangers were never present in the pre-Internet era. These dangers can cost you jobs, your pride, and sometimes your safety.

There are many precautions that we must take in order to remain safe while using cyber socializing sites. First of all, we should make all of our profiles private. Facebook has done a very good job of making this extremely simple. You can make every single action that you perform only viewable to specific people or groups. Also, if someone posts something on your wall or "likes" your status, you can make the only accessible to certain people as well. With all of this being said, a majority of people's profiles are completely public. This is not a good idea at all.

People of all ages should be extremely cautious with what they post online. The Internet is a public place; everyone that has access to the Internet can view it. I have heard of many stories from friends and others who have posted information of illegal events they are attending, for example a drinking party where underage kids will be present, online. The police are starting to use Facebook and other network socializing sites to help them get a step ahead and prevent anything that might be illegal or dangerous from occurring. Now I'm not saying that the police sit on their computers flipping through Facebook pages until they find something. They obviously have better things to do with their time, but they do use this tactic from time to time. You can learn a lot about a person from looking at their Facebook. The police and government are not stupid. They also know this and are using it to their advantage.

Employers are also using Facebook and other similar sites as part of their background checks for potential employees. If you have anything that an employer doesn't like on your Facebook profile, you are not going to get the job. If you have a bunch of pictures of you drinking and being reckless, regardless if you are underage or not, an employer is going to think that you are reckless and will not be a good employee. We must be very careful with what information we make public. We should make our profiles private and do not post anything that can be used against you in any way.

I believe that parents must teach their children at a young age the dangers of network socializing sites. Besides the fact that there are predators that pretend to be teenagers online and prey on real teenagers, the police, the government, and employers are using the Internet to gather information about certain people and events. If you do not want anyone to know your personal information, then do not post it on the public Internet.

Blog 1- Music's Future

The act of illegally downloading music has officially spread throughout the world. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), 40 billion (billion!) songs were illegally downloaded in 2008 and about 95% of all music downloads in the past 2 years have been illegally downloaded. This is how I see it: As long as people can get away with illegally downloading music, these numbers will continue to grow into the future. The music industry in my opinion is in trouble. Every single person in the music industry will be affected by these illegal download numbers in the future, if they are not already feeling tremendous effects from it right now.



The new talent of music is suffering, and will continue to suffer. This up-and-coming talent are finding it extremely difficult to break into the business and make it big themselves thanks to record companies' revenues declining every year.


Although the actual music industry might suffer, music fans might benefit. Since the music industry does not have as much money as in the past, it is possible that only the elite artists will actually make it. This would result in the actually quality of music improving.

I am not saying that recorded music will disappear altogether. Music is far too popular this to happen. Plus, as the amount of illegally music downloaded rises, the amount of legally downloaded music will increase too. The music industry will never make the money it did in the "pre-illegally downloaded music era," but it will still make money. Recording companies will never again be monopolies of the industry, but recorded music in itself will never completely disappear.

The future of recorded music is without a doubt not as bright as it was just a few years ago, but music will always be around and will always be popular. With music being downloaded illegally it will be harder in my opinion to get a record deal, but with "American Idol" and other music shows present, new talent (elite talent) will be introduced every year to the world. The music industry will never stop making music and recorded music will always be around.