Implications of an Information Society Final Exam: Tuesday, 4/29 from 8am-noon in 014

Transcription

1 Implications of an Information Society Final Exam: Tuesday, 4/29 from 8am-noon in 014

2 Computers in our day-to-day lives Communication , Instant Messaging Our identity, a virtual face Facebook, Blogs, Wikis Security Bad guys who want your data, money, and to control of your computer Privacy Is your important personal information out there for everyone to see?

3 Advantages Immediate (Faster than traditional mail) Free Efficient broadcast to multiple recipients Asynchronous IM: Nearly instant and IM

4 Downsides of E-Communication Problems with and IM: Fast may not be a good thing less thinking before acting Replying slowly or not at all Conveying emotions accurately :) ;) :D Emphasis, ***This*** or THAT? Ambiguity Flame-a-thons SPAM

5 Conveying Emotion Difficult to convey subtle emotions using Medium is too informal, impersonal, and casually written Conversational cues are missing Emoticons are popular, but are they effective? Universal agreement? Does the reader or IM program interpret them?

6 Emphasis Typing for emphasis can convey the wrong meaning Text in all caps can be interpreted as yelling is still largely ASCII based and may not allow italics or underlining Asterisks for underscores can replace underlining

7 Conversational Pace Asynchronous mediums, like , make dialog difficult For interactive purposes (like negotiation) synchronous mediums like telephone may be best Ambiguity Text can be interpreted in ways we don't intend People often don't proofread what they write in to avoid ambiguity

8 Flames Flame is slang for inflammatory Flame-a-thon is ongoing exchange of angry s When angered by , it's best to delay answering until you cool down

9 SPAM Unsolicited or undesired bulk electronic messages Many types of electronic spam, including spam, unsolicited Mobile phone spam, unsolicited text messages Spam in blogs, posting random comments or promoting commercial services to blogs, wikis, guestbooks Newsgroup spam, advertisement and forgery on newsgroups Messaging spam ("SPIM"), use of instant messenger services for advertisement or even extortion

10 Netiquette Rules to promote civilized usage Ask about one topic at a time Include context (include the question with your answer) Use an automated reply if unable to answer mail for a period of time; an away message Ask the sender's permission before forwarding Use targeted distribution lists (don't send the latest joke to every person you've ever exchanged mail with)

11 Quagmires Are you responsible for what you say on ? Accidentally forwarding a message to an unintended recipient Reply to All Who OWNS your ? You? Your employer? Google? Authentication Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 Is this message really from who you thought?

12 Computer Security Protecting information from theft or corruption Approaches for improving computer security Limited access Passwords, permissions Hardware mechanisms (biometrics) Fingerprints, retinal readers Authentication Challenges Moms maiden name, etc

13 Creating Good Passwords The Role of Passwords To limit computer or system access to only those who know a sequence of keyboard characters Breaking into a Computer without a Password Trying all possible passwords algorithmically would eventually find correct password, but software usually limits the number of tries Forgetting a Password Passwords are scrambled or encrypted and stored, so system administrator usually can't tell you your password if you forget it

14 Guidelines for Selecting a Password It's not a good idea to choose something easily guessed Should have at least 6 characters Mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation characters Sequence not found in dictionaries No personal association (like your name) Use Substitutions: 1 for I, 5 for for at, 2 for to, etc Punctuation:!?,.

15 Heuristics for picking a password Select a personally interesting topic Always select passwords related to topic Develop a password from a phrase rather than a single word Encode the password phrase Make it short by abbreviating, replace letters and syllables with alternate characters or spellings

16 Changing Passwords Should be changed periodically Managing Passwords Using a single password for everything is risky; using a different password for everything is hard to remember Passwords can be recycled Make slight changes to good passwords or Rotate passwords

17 Viruses and Worms It's a Zoo Out There Virus a program that "infects" anothers by embedding a copy of itself. When the infected program runs, the virus copies itself and infects other programs Worm is an independent program that copies itself across network connections Trojan horse is a program that hides inside another useful program, and performs secret operations. May record keystrokes or other sensitive data, or load malicious software Exploit is a program that takes advantage of security holes. Backdoor access enters computer and reconfigures it for remote control

18 How to "Catch" a Virus attachments. Do not open attachments before checking Is this from someone I know? Is the message a sensible follow-up to the last message from the sender? Is the content of the message something the sender would say to me? Is there a reason for the sender to include an attachment? When in doubt, be cautious

19 How to "Catch" a Virus (cont'd) Copying software from infected computer Peer-to-Peer Exchange Downloading files from unreliable sources New Software Any software is a potential source of infected code Most software distributors are careful to avoid infection

20 Virus-Checking Software Three companies are McAfee, Norton, and Sophos, Inc. Programs check for known viruses, worms, etc. New viruses are created all the time, so update often Better solution- Virtualization VMWare, Parallels

21 Phishing Password harvesting exploits Users are sent SPAM s asking for credit card or banking information Message is disguised to appear to be from a bank, or other legitimate source Often reports a security problem the user needs to address When the user clicks legitimate looking link, they are linked to bogus sites set up to steal the information entered

22 What Can Be Done About Phishing? Never respond to requests for personal information like passwords via ; legitimate businesses do not request information this way Examine links or pre-typed addresses because they can be spoofed; type the URL yourself. Be weary of numeric IP addresses in URLs. Check to make sure the website is using encryption (https: rather than Routinely review credit card and bank statements for unusual activity Report suspected abuses to proper authorities

23 Protecting Intellectual Property Intellectual property is any human creation like photograph, music, textbooks, cartoons, etc. Licensing of software You don't own software; you lease it License gives you the right to use personally, but not to resell or give it away Try before you buy Shareware allows you to download and try software for free, then pay the person who built it if you like it (honor system)

24 Copyright on the Web A person automatically owns copyright of what he creates in the U.S. and most nations Copyright protects owner's right to Make a copy of the work Use a work as the basis for a new work (derivative work) Distribute or publish the work, including electronically Publicly perform the work Publicly display the work

25 Copyright on the Web (cont'd) Free Personal Use You are free to read, view or listen to protected work When is permission needed? Information placed in public domain is free for anyone to use Otherwise you must get permission from owner

26 Copyright on the Web (cont'd) The Concept of Fair Use Allows use of copyrighted material for educational or scholarly purposes, to allow limited quotation for review or criticism, to permit parody When Is It Fair Use? What is the planned use? What is the nature of the work in which the material is to be used? How much of the work will be used? What effect would this use have on the market for the work, if the use were widespread?

27 Copyright on the Web (cont'd) Violating the Copyright Law You break the law whether you give away copyrighted material or sell it Commercial use usually results in higher fines

28 Your E-Persona Good News, on the internet we are all Equals Free Fools Stooges In addition to your Resume, potential employers are reading your facebook pages I broke up with my Ex posting a dear john letter on his wall On-line predators

29 Blogs An E-Voice! A website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.. Wikis A collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites.

30 Wrap up: Two Big IT Ideas Computers are merely machines that process information Information is measured in bits Bits are stored in a computer s memory Computer instructions process bits Many layers of the abstraction onion Machine Languages Assembly languages - addi $2,$3,$4 Interpreters - for i in range(10): Spreadsheets Visual Programming Web browsers

31 Pursuing New Uses: Lifelong IT Learning Be confident that you can learn new applications, and take the time to do so Apply IT only if it can help Asking for Help After applying all reasonable efforts to solve problems, ask for help Noticing New Technology Be attentive, and skeptical Be willing to learn about fundamental advancements Adopt new technology as soon as there is a high probability that it will assist you, but expect it to continue to improve! Be Fearless!

32 Be Fearless! Fluency gives us the ability to control IT to extract its full power to be in command to achieve our goals

33 The IT Future Don t prognosticate invent! (Then you too can make predictions ;-) 'I think there is a world market for maybe five computers' -Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943 'I have travelled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year - Editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957 'There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in the home - Ken Olson, Present, Chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977 '640K should be enough for anybody' - Bill Gates, 1981