QotW5: Identity crisis

As communication becomes a major activity in our lives, identity as well as identification becomes important as well. To fully comprehend and evaluate an interaction, it is essential to know the identity of those whom which we communicate with. Identity is usually known as the distinct personality or characteristic by which a person is recognized. With virtual communities becoming more widespread among us, the identity that we take on online becomes vital. An online identity is a social identity that network users establish in online communities. (“Online identity”, 2007) There are a few ways in which one can identify themselves with. Some might choose to use their real names, while others might choose to use pseudonyms. Avatar – an icon-sized graphic image – can also be used to represent one-self. As technology advances, there are many channels (e.g. forums, instant messaging, blogs, and email) that allow one to take on a virtual online identity. As for me, email would be the one virtual online identity that I own and am most familiar with.

I am pretty sure that email is no stranger to all who has access to the Internet. As for myself, I had my email account since I was in secondary school which is more than eight years ago. From then, I have been email hopping. Started out with having one Hotmail account, till today, I have three email accounts; one Hotmail, one Yahoo mail and one Gmail. However, my main email account would be the Gmail. The most straightforward form of identification is the account name. (Donath, 1996) With no difference, the first form of identity for the email would be the user’s account name. In order to start having an account, one would have to sign up and that requires a user/login name and password. Every user/login name is unique which makes one’s online identity exclusive. For myself, I made use of my first name and year of birth “joanne85” to create my own online identity. Other personal information is kept under the “Settings” function.

As with what most people do with email, I too used mine to create, send, store and receive messages from people. It is a great way for me to keep contact with relatives and friends who are overseas. Other than that, I use my email to receive newsletters and updates from forums and other services such as iTunes store and eNets. It is easier to store an attachment – a document, picture or even an audio file – using an email as compared to using a disk or memory card. A single click of your mouse moves messages out of your Inbox into a secure archive where you can quickly find them with a simple search. (About Gmail, 2007) With such a function, one need not be worried over losing important emails and attachments. Apart from the basic use of email, Gmail also allows users to chat instantly with friends using the “Gmail Chat” function. Sometimes when the Instant Messaging service is down, this feature would come in useful. It is an alternative for me to chat with my friends without going crazy over not being to sign into my Instant Messenger. Additionally, Gmail makes the online identity even more exclusive. The “Gmail Pictures” function allows users to add a face to a name. Users can choose to put up a photo for themselves or for their contacts. This photo has the plays the same role as an avatar.

(gmail.com)

Compared to the physical world, it is relatively easy to pass as someone else online since there are relatively few identity cues. (Donath, 1996) It is certainly possible for one to break into and steal someone’s email account. With the availability of information of ourselves online – through weblogs, friendster, facebook and other social networking site – it is not impossible for one to collect vital information about us and use it to hack our accounts. As stated, “impersonated postings are made simply by signing the target’s name” (Donath, 1996). With the given information, impersonating someone is not that hard after all. The dangers of such break in are high. Other than stealing our identity, these thieves would be able to get their hands onto mails with other login names and passwords that we have. From there, they would be able to compromise our other accounts and it would be terrible if they managed to get information about our banking accounts. The Gmail Help Center provides methods and ways that can help users to secure their accounts. If in any case, a user’s account has been compromise, it would be best to inform the Security Center where they would investigate the matter and to change the password immediately. Other than that, Gmail also does its part in fighting phishing. Gmail uses the detail of phishing messages to help identify possible phishing attacks. (Gmail: Help Center, 2006) The image below is an example of how Gmail would alert users of suspected phishing.

(gmail.com)

As we spend more time online, we are indirectly putting ourselves in danger of being robbed of our identity. Identity theft is the crime of the information age. (Schneier, 2005) Although the law and service providers are helping to protect us and our online identity, we as users have to do our part in preventing identity thefts as well. Simple acts such as being aware of the information that we provide online and changing passwords regularly would benefit ourselves in the long run.

References:

Donath, J. S. (1996). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Chester, A. (2004). The Real Me Online: Identity Play on the Internet. Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://www.odr.info/unforum2004/chester.htm

Schneier, B. (2005, April 15). Schneier on Security. Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/04/mitigating_iden.html

Email (2007, January 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 21, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=E-mail&oldid=103248299

Online identity (2007, February 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 21, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Online_identity&oldid=108207999

Gmail. (2007). “Gmail: Help Center”. February 21, 2007, from https://mail.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=1563&security=1

Gmail. (2007). “About Gmail”. February 21, 2007, from http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en/about.html

QotW4: Free and out there

From its earliest days, gift economy has already found its roots and planted itself within the society. What started off as gifts being passed on or exchanges – foods, services, favors, etc. – physically (face-to-face interaction) eventually found its way into the virtual world. It has manifested itself into our lives. Almost everyone that gets online will be involved with the gift economy. It is only a matter of them realizing it or not. Uploading photographs onto public domains, posting videos, participating in fan clubs and even joining forums are part and parcel of the gift economy.

The gift economy is one of those economies that are founded on the bases of giving. As known, “a gift economy is sometimes referred to as a “sharing economy”” (“Gift Economy”, 2007). The main purpose of posting information or goods online is to share them with others. Without sharing there would not be any learning. As stated, “you wouldn’t know anything was happening unless you were hooked in, unless you were participating, offering something yourself” (Phillips, 1997).

For most of its users, the Net is somewhere to work, play, love, learn and discuss with other people. (Barbrook, 2005) With the presence of online gift economies, there has been an increase in the number of forums. People who share similar interests gather at such forums to share information with each other. As mentioned, “when people pass on free advice or offer useful information, the recipient is often unknown to them and the giver may never encounter the recipient again” (Kollock, 1999). In other words, it means that not everyone would be obligated to follow the rule of reciprocity. There would be people who enjoy sharing their knowledge and also, people who just take in the knowledge. Of course there are exceptions; those that give and take.

It is only with giving then there is taking. Without these people who contribute advice or information, there would not be any information to take at all. There are a few possibilities that cause these people to provide valuable information to the groups or forums. One of which is the anticipated reciprocity. This means that when a person contributes certain valuable information to the group or forum, he or she would expect to receive additional information in return.

Another possible cause would be reputation. This reputation refers to the credibility of the user in the group or forum. It is only through contributing information that would increase the credibility of the user. For example, one of the forums that I belong to, values credibility of the users. In this forum that I belong to, there is a section whereby it allows users to join sprees. Mostly the sprees would be on apparels or cosmetics. However, there are certain requirements set by the moderator of the spree. And to be part of it, one must meet the requirements. One of the requirements is that the spree is only open to regular users who have a minimum of 100 posts.

(http://forums.cozycot.com/)

In other words, one must first participate actively in the forum to be able to receive the benefits of joining activities such as the sprees. In a whole, these people who contribute towards the economy are often driven by some form of self interest or selflessness.

There are many examples of online gift economies. One of the more popular gift economies would be YouTube. This particular economy allows free video sharing. The users of this site are allowed to upload and share videos with others. Other than that, users are also allowed to rate, comment and subscribe to videos, join groups and even invite friends to join in as well. As some of the videos are set as private videos, one would need to add the user as a friend so as to enjoy the videos. Being an avid drama serial addict, I belong to this site as well. Though I do not have any videos to share with others, but I certainly do subscribe to several videos. As noted, “gifts economies are driven by social relation” (Kollock, 1999). Being friends with the other users allows me to receive information or news from them about the videos that I would like to keep track of. Other than that, it allows us to discuss about the shows and even leave comments on the profile page. Even non-users of the site are allowed to view the videos as long as they are made public.

Although there are many people out there who do not mind sharing their knowledge to the rest of the world, there are also quite a number of those who only enjoy taking without giving. If we want to continue having an economy like “free economy”, then we would have to start learning to participate in it. You have to participate for it to be real: a gift economy. ((Phillips, 1997)

References:

Barbrook, R. (2005). The Hi-Tech Gift Economy. First Monday. Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue3_12/barbrook/

Kollock, Peter (1999). The Economies of Online Cooperation; Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace. Communities in Cybrespace. Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

Gift Economy (2007, February 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Creative_Commons&oldid=105069529

Pinchot, Gifford (1995). "The Gift Economy" Retrieved February 6, 2007 from http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm

Phillips, E. (1997, June 2) Gift Economy. Rewired. Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://www.rewired.com/97/0602.html

http://www.youtube.com/

http://forums.cozycot.com/

QotW3: Both should compromise

Ever since printed materials became a major mass medium, concerns regarding the unfair copying of such materials were raised. Due to widespread literacy, such concerns became a bigger issue. Copyright was then created to protect the materials against unfair copying. From protecting printed materials in the early days, now copyright protects almost every mass medium that is available. Sound recordings, films, video games, photographs and even software are examples of mass medium that falls within the copyright law.

As technology becomes more advance, the significance of copyright is diminishing. Now, with the Internet, people are able to download and share such content with one another. In fact, “file sharing is now one of the most common on-line activities” (Oberholzer-Gee & Strumpf, 2005, para.1). With such an activity going on, the copyright law is often forgotten. Many files sharers do not realize that to a certain extent, they have infringed the copyright law. Mainly, most of them think that it is alright for them to share the files with people who have the same interest as them. Little would have regards for the law protecting the materials. “It is important for us to remember that copyright law is intended to proscribe a balance between the interests of the authors and the interests of the public” (Litman, 2003).

Content creators are becoming more protective over their works. As noted, “the copyright powers owned by creators have grown enormously in duration, scope, reach and force” (Manjoo, 2004, para. 4). However, with the advance technology and the use of the Internet, it would be difficult for them to protect all of their works. Even with the law, it does not stop the people from copying their work.

Especially with regards to audio and video content, the content creators are facing more problems protecting their works. File sharing such as peer-to-peer networks (p2p) increases the problems of the content creators. Such networks make sharing of audio and video content easy and common over the Internet. This causes the content creators to worry that the sales of their actual CDs and VCDs would suffer. Many entertainment companies start locking up both audio and video content so that people are not able to copy the contents. Even online music stores are affected by the entertainment companies. At the behest of the recording industry, most online music stores limit CD burning, copying music to other computers, and which devices can play the music, among other legitimate uses. (EFF, n.d.)

However, file sharing is not all bad. In the file sharing community, it is a common practice to browse the files of other users and discuss music in file server chat rooms. (Oberholzer-Gee & Strumpf, 2005, para. 3) By doing so, people are able to come into contact with others songs that interest them. This might in turn lead them to buying the album itself. Instead of killing file sharing completely to protect the content creators and control the public, both sides should compromise to reach a solution that would benefit all. The Electronic Frontier Foundation suggested a few ways that would accommodate both the interests of content creators and the public good. One of the ways would be “Voluntary Collective Licensing of Music File Sharing”. The concept is simple: the music industry forms a collecting society, which then offers file-sharing music fans the opportunity to "get legit" in exchange for a reasonable regular payment, say $5 per month. (EFF, n.d.) By doing so, fans are still able to share songs as long as a fee is being paid. The money collected gets divided among rights-holders based on the popularity of their music. (EFF, n.d.) This way, file sharing is not killed completely and right-holders get regular payment as well. Both parties would benefit from such a solution.

Group such as Creative Commons provides an alternative form in which the public get to have access to certain contents while content creators are still able to retain certain rights. Creative Commons offers six main licenses for content creators to select from. These licenses would allow “copyright holders to grant some or all of their rights to the public while retaining others through a variety of licensing and contract schemes including dedication to the public domain or open content licensing terms” ("Creative Commons," 2007, para. 2).

Other than that, copyright laws should also be made clearer to the public so as to let them fully understand the law. There are many misconceptions surrounding copyright and related technology and Internet law issues. (Brady, n.d.) It is only when the public understand the laws and takes away the myths and misconceptions, and then both the content creators and public would benefit from it. Otherwise there is not much use in having the copyright laws.

To conclude, both the content creators and the public must compromise in order to benefit from sharing and copyright. Alternative methods such as Creative Commons and the suggestion made by the Electronic Frontier Foundation are ways that benefit both parties. Content creators are able to retain their rights and public get to enjoy access of the content as well. Clearing up misconceptions about the copyright laws would also allow the public to be fully aware of what copyright is all about.

References:

Martin, Rebecca. Remix culture: a rights nightmare. (n.d.). ABC: Catapult. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://www.abc.net.au/catapult/indepth/s1645533.htm

Oberholzer-Gee, F, & Strumpf, K (2005). The Effect Of File Sharing On Record Sales.Retrieved February 1, 2007, from http://www.unc.edu/~cigar/papers/FileSharing_June2005_final.pdf

Ovalle, C. (2005). “What is copyright?”. University of Texas at Austin, Course INF 312. Information in Cyberspace. Retrieved on January 31, 2007, fromhttp://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~i312co/3.php

Manjoo, F. (2004, April 8). The mouse who would be king. Retrieved on on January 31, 2007, from http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2004/04/08/copyright_culture/index.html

Litman, J. (2003, November 23). Sharing and Stealing. Retrieved on January 31, 2007, from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=472141

Brady, K. S. (2007). Copyright FAQ: 25 Common Myths and Misconceptions. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://users.goldengate.net/~kbrady/copyright.html

Copyright (2007, January 31). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Copyright&oldid=104986965

Creative Commons (2007, February 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Creative_Commons&oldid=105069529

History of copyright law (2007, February 1). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_copyright_law&oldid=104827533

Electronic Frontier Foundation. (n.d.). The Battle for Your Digital Media Devices. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://www.eff.org/IP/fairuse/

Electronic Frontier Foundation. (n.d.). A Better Way Forward:Voluntary Collective Licensing of Music File Sharing. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://www.eff.org/share/?f=collective_lic_wp.html

Creative Commons. (2007, January). Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://creativecommons.org/