#pacificu

[collegesagainstoppression-blog]

Pacific University’s Center for Gender Equity had an amazing time at the Women’s March on Portland, OR! About 100,000 of us marched in solidarity for women’s rights, donning handmade signs and pussy hats! The love and support for the rights of all genders was overwhelming, and has charged us with new energy for activism. How did you spend the Women’s March? Submit your pictures to us and use the CollegesAgainstOppression tag!

[janeteastmanjournalist]

Rare cars compete at the Forest Grove Concours d'Elegance July 15 (photos)

The Forest Grove Concours d'Elegance on Sunday, July 15, will zoom you up close to more than 300 desirable automobiles and motorcycles, many rarely seen in public.

[bellabarcellonaphotography]

Happy #graduation to the amazing Bijoux! I had a blast taking your pictures on Pacific's campus. ConGRADulations! #grad #pacificu #classof2017 #chemistry #college #university #gradphotos #capandtassle (at Pacific University)

[bellabarcellonaphotography]

Spent a wonderful afternoon on the Portland waterfront with the lovely Lorraine who will be graduating from Pacific University this May! ConGRADulations! #pacificu #grad #classof2017 #pacu #portland #forestgrove #gradpics #graduation #congrats #photography #polysci #politicalscience #major #undergrad #getthatdegree #happygraduation #studygoals (at Tom McCall Waterfront Park)

[alwaysalexandra95-blog]

It is here that I lost myself and found the person I was always meant to be. #BoxerNation #PacificU #TourGuides #SeniorYear #WeDaBest (at Pacific University)

[guyt5179]

Syrian Electronic Army (Media Outlet hacks, 2013-2014)

Authors: Kimberly, Orion, Drew, Juliana

Who are they?

The Syrian Electronic Army are a group of hackers that formed in 2011 to show support to the government of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. They use spamming, malware, change websites, phishing and denial of service attacks to target western news sources, political opposers, human rights groups, and websites that are neutral to the Syrian conflict. The Syrian Electronic Army, called SEA, are considered hacktivists because of the fact that they are pro-government and attack popular media sources, like the New York Times and the Huffington Post UK. Created in 2011, there’s a group of about 20 hackers that work from Syria and work under president Bashar al-Assad. They interact mainly on websites, like Facebook and Twitter, and it is unknown at the moment if they meet face to face. They all share a similar goal, however, and that is to have a public internet army to cyber attack enemies online. Their history is relatively unknown, only surfacing onto the Internet in 2011. The concept has always stayed the same, which is to online attack places that don’t agree with president al-Assad and his regime. Their goals are to get people involved through these attacks and educate those who aren’t familiar with what is going on in Syria. They’ve attacked Harvard, the U.S. marines, Twitter accounts, various news sources, and though they are successful, they don’t mean anything. They just tell the websites they’ve hacked “you’ve been hacked” and leave it as that. They claim to have seen important information but never choose to use it, so it’s mostly for show with them in regards to hacking. They don’t communicate with the Internet directly, they instead hack important Twitter and news sources to promote themselves, often saying “follow us for the truth”, suggesting that the news sources people follow aren’t the truth about what’s going on in Syria. The culture that exists around them is obviously the Syrian culture, but they don’t often use that as a reason for what they do, it’s for their president al-Assad and wanting to get the “truth” about what’s going on in Syria and the war. It tells us that they are loyal to their president and his regime, and that’s about it. They really aren’t a threatening force to people and are often seen as a joke. Their attacks have cause embarrassment on their movement, and they have dropped the stock market at one point, and have leaked false information about President Obama, otherwise they seem harmless. They have claimed to have important information but have not chosen to leak it, and whenever websites do get hacked it’s normally fixed easily and forgotten about. They may have a strong reason for what they are doing, but the way that they are going about it is non-threatening.

The Hack/Operation:

The Syrian Electronic Army is an interesting organization. Most of the attacks are typically low tech. However these attacks are very effective- theoretically they have stolen large amounts of data and have costed millions in damage. The data they have taken is usually personal information, but they do not use this data and rarely put it on social media. The millions in damage come from the cost for investigations and damage repair of these organizations. Some of the attacks have been on  Harvard, CNN, Turkey, ITV, Qatar Foundation, Twitter, Skype, US Marines, NY Times, Associated Press, Financial Times, Al Jazeera, France 24, and other media sources worldwide. Other damage consist of embarrassment, leaked information, and once a drop in the stock market due to the attack on AP Twitter. This attack caused panic in the stocks by claiming bombs in the White House went off, hurting President Obama. The goals of the SEA mainly are propaganda and financial support. There does not seem to be much influence in these hacks or conditions in which they are seeking. Their attacks do not highlight or expose any top secret files. These attacks usually play out by a website or profile being defaced by the redirecting of the DNS- domain name system. Some attacks lead to pop ups stating “You’ve been hacked.”  Organizations handle being hacked by repairing the damage and letting individuals know their information may have been taken. Because the damage is not serious, many organizations only repair how the hacked happen and pay no further attention to it.

Context:

Hacking groups are just like political movements. They have different skill sets and target different areas of the Internet but do it for typically the same cause. They have chat rooms set up to talk about what their next moves will be and to combine the skill sets in order to combat the person or the group they have decided to target. Hackers believe in the right to freedom of speech and believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn by exercising this right. This is their political stance and why their messages come as political. They want to use their rights and have others join them by using their rights as well. Another viewpoint on a hacker’s is that they are considered an immune system. They don’t always work for the best reasons or you get sick and they don’t work to help you but, they also find and stop things that you can’t see. This gives them a great amount of power to be used for good and to stop something bad to happen, but some abuse their power and this causes issues and break things just because they can.

Analysis:

Hacking falls under coding and security as well as privacy. Hackers use coding and algorithms in order to have the ability to get to what they want and have the ability to control sites and the Internet in general. The security of the Internet is at risk due to these codes and anything that is put online. This puts everyone who connects to the Internet at risk because hackers can get ahold of any of your accounts that have been put online as well as anything put onto that device. This security breach can cause issues for not only an individual but for governments. They can get into secured files as well as documents on computers with information that should not be seen by most people. This can also be a good thing because it allows hackers to see what is going on in some parts of the world or even stop a country's Internet use like what happened in North Korea not to long ago. Hackers shut down the connection to the Internet for most of the entire country and set the government back due to the loss of Internet. The hackers invade privacy because of the issues with security. If a computer can track you without your knowledge, think of how a hacker can go through your entire cyber life without you knowing. Hackers typically use their power for good though and spread the idea of free Internet without censorship. They keep sites open and alive for individuals to explore and see what actually lies on the Internet. 

These things listed above are what allow hackers to keep control over what they feel is necessary. They have allowed for freedom on the Internet, released information that is needed to be seen, and help keep censorship away from what they truly believe in. They are the center for change on the internet by exploiting weaknesses and the only way to get rid of hacking and security breaches through the internet, are to have them pointed out to us so that we can see what the issue is a fix it. These hackers could have already taken whatever they wanted to make sure that they would live a healthy life with no need to ever work, but they choose to put in the hours to teach individuals about issues that need to be addressed and to stop dictatorships from controlling the freedom everyone deserves. Hackers and hacktivism is the future and all most of them want to do is help create a free and better life especially on the Internet.

Sources

Anon. 2013. “TSG IntelBrief: Syrian Electronic Army: Hacktivists On the Battlefield.” Retrieved January 21, 2016 (http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-syrian-electronic-army-hacktivists-on-the-battlefield/).

Elazari, Keren. 2014. “Hackers: The Internet's Immune System.” Keren Elazari:Hackers: the Internet's immune system. Retrieved January 21, 2016 (https://www.ted.com/talks/keren_elazari_hackers_the_internet_s_immune_system?language=en).

Coleman, Gabriella. 2011. Hacker Politics And Publics. No. 3. Public Culture. 

Coleman, Gabriella. 2013. “Geeks Are the New Guardians of Our Civil Liberties.” MIT Technology Review. Retrieved January 21, 2016 (http://www.technologyreview.com/news/510641/geeks-are-the-new-guardians-of-our-civil-liberties/).

Katerji, Oz. n.d. “The Syrian Electronic Army Talks About Hacking The 'Guardian' and Their Obama Bomb Hoax.” Retrieved January 21, 2016 (http://www.vice.com/read/the-syrian-electronic-army-almost-crashed-the-dow-jones). 

Anon. n.d. “Syrian Electronic Army | Akamai.” Syrian Electronic Army | Akamai. Retrieved January 21, 2016 (https://www.akamai.com/us/en/resources/syrian-electronic-army.jsp). 

Anon. n.d. “Syrian Electronic Army.” Wikipedia. Retrieved January 21, 2016 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/syrian_electronic_army).

Winkler, Ira. 2014. “Syrian Electronic Army: Their Methods And Your Responses.” YouTube. Retrieved January 21, 2016 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg3tybm7jqm). 

[guyt5179]

Do Not Track: Day 7

Episode 1

I input where do you get your news: Theglobeandmail.com and where do I waste my time: Tumblr. On the news site there were 10, and on tumblr there was only one. The two sites had no connections. Trackers store data about the sites a user visits so behavioral advertisers can profile and target, all without the users knowledge. Third parties sell data to gain power; they also gain power by influencing what you see. Third parties also store data to compare people. These comparisons are used to make assumptions about not only you but other people as well. Trackers operate on American profiles so that they can optimize the amount of products sold. Your data footprint impacts you as well as others. Assumptions are made about you and others in response to what data is collected.

 Episode 2

The Internet was free to access in the past and people wanted to make a profit, so what is called the original sin was committed. Pop up ads and cookies were invented so that tracking could be made easier. In order to compete with TV and other entertainment industries, online companies and sites needed to know more about their consumers than other companies.

 Cookies are text files that remember the user the next time they come back to a site. This helps build a user profile that companies use in order to obtain a profit. Cookies are used to target the ads people see every day. The method that cookies use are considered not to be like wire tapping and is permissible. The Internet may seem like it is free, but users pay with their data. First part cookies are useful to the site an individual is visiting. Third party cookies are cookies from sites other than the one an individual is on but that are still collecting data. Zombie cookies reinstall themselves even after they have been deleted.

In order to cater to the individual, the data collected is processed. Websites then communicate this information to one another to optimize what products and advertisements are put out to the viewer for consumption. Pop up ads were a success for a short amount of time. People then began to ignore pop up ads because they were in a different window and could easily be closed. Online advertising has evolved by specifically targeting individuals and tracking them in order to make educated guesses about what ads would be most effective. Tracking being ruled as not an invasion of privacy was the main enabler of this. The use of tracking enabled online advertising to dramatically expand and improve. 

The Internet is now aiding companies in turning over a large profit by catering to individuals and showing them effective ads. There is now a large presence of economy on the Internet, which before was not true. Companies were not sure how effective putting ads for their products on the Internet would be, and now, it’s surprising if a successful company does not utilize online advertising. One could block cookies in their browser, use an add-on, or avoid the Internet. No other alternatives were mentioned, but I do not doubt there are other options I am unaware of.

I am extremely cheap, so I wouldn’t want to pay for alternatives. If I had to, I wouldn’t pay more than $20 for a yearly alternate to Google or more than $5 for Facebook.  The thought of paying for services on the Internet is outside my social norm and so it makes me uneasy to imagine that as a reality.

 Episode 3

Many things can be deduced using data collected including, but not limited to, one’s character, sexual orientation, political opinion, race, gender, and IQ. Some traits it can pick up include personality, happiness, sexual promiscuity, obesity, and how likely you are to smoke or vote.

Agencies like Lenndo use this information to decide if they should give out a loan to an individual based on how reliable they seem to be and how likely they are to pay it back based on their social media account. As of right now there are no health insurances that work by analyzing individual’s social media, but some believe that this is a tactic not far from the future. The purpose was to show how information you provide online can be interpreted and can affect you in the future. It analyses how likely you are to do something based on who you are and who you associate yourself with then takes action according to the perceived risk. Banks can deduce if you are likely to repay a loan and insurance companies can deduce how likely you are to engage in risk taking activities. 

Algorithms are said to show your character. Some analyze what profiles look similar to the one provided while others figure out how people are connected. The man in the video from Stanford believed there are social benefits to algorithms. He said that people with o credit, no financial past will benefit because banks can assume what type of person they are from their social media despite their lack of financial past. He also says that It will help discourage stereotyping due to gender, race, or sexual orientation.

We can control our second digital self to a small extent, as much as we can control our real self. However, the significance is great because it links all that we do online to who we are when we are in the flesh and offline. It seems as though we are not protected well; the laws in place do very little to protect users. In fact, there have been efforts to have even less strict laws in place. The laws have not been modernized and are calling for change.

Episode 4 

Apps are described as being like little spies in your pocket that observe and report where you are and what you’re doing. There a few things apps need from you to function. First, they need to be downloaded. Then they need you to accept the terms and conditions. Next, they need you to grant permissions.

I said I have about 10 apps downloaded which was below average of 26. Then I said I would trust some friends with my phone which translated to me being concerned about my privacy. Lastly, I said I would be really bummed if I lost my phone and that it’s happened to me before. The response was that they hoped it wouldn’t happen again. At first I thought that was a kind comment, but the more I thought about it the creepier I believed the comment was.

Google said that they “use various technologies to locate you including ip address, gps signals, and other sensors that allow us to identify particular devices by wifi access points access points in cell towers in the vicinity”. This tracking can be disabled but it doesn’t delete what has already been collected and doesn’t stop wifi from sharing your location. Information like where you are, what your interests are, and many other things that help decide what ads you should be shown can be found in this data. This paints a picture of who you are and how you interact with the world around you. Free wifi spots send out a lot of information about you and creates a story of who you are. This enables companies to know their consumer better and figure out who they are, how they move around, and what for.

Jokes often have been put into the terms of use. The terms of use also often include subtle grants to various parts of your phone, such as access to your photos and location.

By layering different forms of tracking, your identity can be found. Also, those who wish to know more about you can infer and discover by combining things like your social media and texts with your contacts and location to know what you are doing.

Participants in a peaceful protest in Russia received a text that acknowledged and recorded that they were a part of the illegal activity. The individual can be tracked and moderated. Their context can be recreated and intentions can be deduced. Behavior and identity are being tracked. Behavior is tracked more than identity because one can figure out identity through behavior.  

There are pretty much no opportunities to opt out of this. One can either accept that they are being tracked and use a phone, or avoid being tracked and not use a phone. Industries compete for who is able to track us. However the answer should be that no one should be able to track us.

 Episode 5

Algorithms track and categorize. They can potentially show who we are. They compile and analyze information to do things like predict crime, advance our society, and produce and store information. A new economy has emerged where currency is the exchanging of data, which is sorted through algorithms.

Google Instant search defines big data as “a broad term for data sets so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate”. It is a new way to understand the people around us, and the data they provide about themselves and others. Many people believe the myth that big data is when there is more data than we know how to deal with. Others falsely believe that with more data any problem can be solved. It is problematic because people assume anything can be accomplished with data and so we need to collect as much as possible. In reality, it’s more important how data is cleaned and analyzed and by whom this is done by.

They relate because algorithms are what help show correlation. People are categorized, sometimes incorrectly to the disadvantage of the individual. There is great risk for those who are in the minority for discrimination. Some people are even criminalized.They are related to advertising by helping shape stereotypes in the media as well as appealing to certain people in specific ways due to generalization.

I watched a video about babies and how all their vital signs are recorded and stored. In the second data point connection, I read about how Nicholas Cage and drowning can appear to be correlated if there is enough data, proving that more data doesn’t always mean more accuracy.

The interpreters give data a voice. The data means nothing until someone gives it a meaning and a purpose. Personal bias and misinterpretation can lead to data sending the wrong message about a person, place, or thing. In the future, algorithms could be used for crime prediction, assumptions for how healthy someone will be in the future, guessing how well people will get along before they meet, and many other uses.

Episode 6

A filter bubble is when what you see on the Internet is altered depending on personalization. This personalization is created by who your friends are, what you like, what your views are, and how you choose to be informed, among other things. It very heavily impacts what we see online. Your version of the truth is different than the truth someone else sees. It is constructed based on who you ‘like’ and similarities with friends among many other factors. It utilizes who your friends are, what your interests are, what you want to see, and how you want to see it. It impacts the truth because when you only see a select view, you will not be able to make an informed decision about the truth because in order to do that one must view and be educated on both sides. We miss out on views that are in opposition to our own as well as information that could help change out mind. We also miss out on what we may not be interested in or aware of, but should know about in order to make an informed decision. Additionally, we miss out on how different people view the same event. People put filters over what they post that shift how the post is perceived.

What we view is what we want to see and what we view from our friends, meaning that we chose what we want to see and not editors. We no longer are restricted to what we see, and yet we restrict ourselves. Optimization is what gives the viewer the best thing that they can and should view. However this optimization can change depending on what people are optimizing toward. I believe we are optimizing for clicks and traffic more than we are for an informed public. People would rather view the world through rose-colored glasses and see only what they want to see more often than they would like to understand the entirety of a situation.  

People form a social norm of almost always only viewing things one-way without considering the other side of the argument. If individuals were to spread information for the better of the community and not to show how you feel or to promote your own biases, we would have a much more educated public.

Episode 7

People believed that the Internet would improve life, inspire change in everyday life and thoughts and that it could even lengthen life. It was also believed that any service or any bit of information could be moved online and that despite this, the Internet was user controlled. Lastly, people believed that the globe would come together to form a more unified and powerful society. In reality the Internet has created a machine for spying. It’s odd to think the NSA uses the same Internet that you do to look up funny cat videos to watch your every move. 

Edward Snowden showed the world this reality of corrupt Internet. He made others understand that the Internet was not as safe, secure, and private as we once had believed. Unique IDs have been given out; mobile identifiers, or what we call cell phones encapsulate who we are and how we live, while simultaneously broadcasting that information under our noses. Everyone can be identified by his or her usage and data. The market has gained increasing profit and the government is gaining increasing control, both because of increased surveillance and data collection. They give each other information in order to create a fuller picture. That way, the situation is better understood.

After 9/11 people were highly in favor of more surveillance in order to be safer. People believed that if the government was able to watch over their people, then they would have security, which they were willing to give up their privacy for. However, one should come with the other. We should be able to have both, not just one or the other.

I would say that is that security is knowing that you are able to have your privacy and trusting that what you keep private is also something that would not need to be checked as secure.

Top-down use of data is when people look down and admit there is a problem then try to fix it in a way they see fit without sharing the problem with the public or asking the public for their solutions. Bottom-up use of data is when people can view their own data and be a part of a change that takes place, making their own informed decisions and not letting large companies keep them blind and outside of the decision making process.

I would say that we have the capacity to build a society we can be proud of, but at the moment we are embrassing the fact that “ignorance is bliss”. Many people would rather stumble blindly away from an issue than purposefully take off their blindfold of ignorance and help to make a change. I think what we can do is become informed about the problems the world is facing and then instead of just acknowledging that there are problems and then going back to our daily lives, we should instead make a change in the way we live and inform others about what you’ve learned.

The future that I was assigned was “Big Brother” which basically was having constant surveillance in hopes that the government will protect the population. My result does worry me a bit. Before I had seen this series I was aware that I was being monitored, but I was not aware of the extent to which I have been monitored.  I hope that now that I am more educated on the subject, I will be able to make better decisions in the future, therefore changing my future.

Reflection

I think it is extremely important that the public understands what they are involved in, and view the world in many dimensions rather than just the one we think best fits us. It is better to be informed than to be ignorant. I think people should know about what information we are allowing to be spread about us, even without our knowing. I think it is also important not to become overwhelmed with this newfound information but rather to be inspired to evoke change. The world is not necessarily what we want and assume it to be; we need to take action to make sure it becomes and stays what we want it to be.

Final

[guyt5179]

Jan 11th Resources

http://www.slideshare.net/FinsPurnama/new-media-12058413

http://www.slideshare.net/FinsPurnama/new-media-12058413