More of my thoughts on privacy

                Many people don’t realize it but nearly all apps store unnecessary data about them and over 70% of mobile apps share user data with third parties. This can have a huge impact, leading to people having huge profiles on them ranging from what music they listen to, their name and address, and health data, to where they ate for lunch last Tuesday.

                Many people are ready and willing to make this compromise though for the many modern conveniences that can be provided all for free. After all, many people enjoy telling the world what they ate for lunch last Tuesday and don’t see a problem with this information being out there. While some would be disturbed to know that all of this info is being picked up by bots for various uses out of their control, many have simply ceased to care. And why should we care? After all, it can be very inconvenient at times to withhold information. If all of your friends post regularly on Instagram, you would probably be inclined to do the same to be part of the group or increase self-esteem, even if you know the risks that come with that.

               Looking at current trends, the amount of data being collected will only increase with time. In fact, in 2018, it was found that data from the past two years accounted for 90% of all data in the world at that time. That is a staggering number, and we would be remiss to ignore it. As technologies such as social networking and the internet of things become more and more intertwined in our everyday life, it is natural that more of our data would become public in cases where it could have a benefit to us or the rest of the network.

               One of the latest and largest invasions of privacy by a large company is that Tesla’s latest full-self-driving beta is requiring users to consent to the internal cameras in their car being used in the case of an accident. “By enabling FSD Beta, I consent to Tesla’s collection of VIN-associated image data from the vehicle’s external cameras and Cabin Camera in the occurrence of a serious safety risk or a safety event like a collision.” Although not stated directly, the most likely reason this was implemented was to give it evidence against the driver in the case of a collision so that they can fight a case against it being the car’s fault. If this condition on Tesla’s full-self-driving remains in place, it is not unlikely that they could face legal action from those unwilling to give up their privacy in their car. Because the driver-monitoring was not made clear when Tesla owners purchased the package, it is very possible that they could win such a case.

               With all of these concerns, it is vital that we evaluate how much data we are putting out there and think about the consequences that it may have. I am not trying to tell you to not be on social media or sign up for that new game that needs your email and date of birth for some reason, but I do recommend that everyone keeps their own privacy in mind.

Preparing a rational argument on Privacy

               For my English class, I am required to write a rational argument on a topic of my choosing. I have chosen to title my paper Privacy, the present and future, and does it matter? For this project, I have been heavily researching how our privacy is being invaded, why it is happening, what the future will hold, and why many people just don’t care.

               Privacy, as defined by Merriam-Webster is the quality or state of being apart from company or observation and the freedom from unauthorized intrusion. While we might all understand the basic concept of what privacy is, many people do not realize or have ceased to care about how often our privacy is without our knowledge or consent, taken away from us. It is vital the privacy of the public is taken into consideration and that we take a closer look at how our data is being used.

               In the modern-day more than ever, our data has become increasingly valuable to many different groups for many reasons but probably most importantly for advertising. The more information that companies can collect and store about their users, the more relevant ads can be served, resulting in more clicks and money for the website displaying the ad. One of the most notable and obvious places where this is used is by Facebook (now Meta) where they collect huge amounts of data that we willingly give out by posting or by collecting it off of our phones or connected accounts without our knowledge.

               I will be continuing to research and write more about this interesting topic over the coming weeks. This will be done by reading academic articles and official documents in order to get the most accurate data to present in my rational argument.

Russia tests anti-satellite weapon

 

    On Monday, November 15, Russia, without informing others of their planned action, launched an anti-satellite weapon. This launch was designed to test their ability to take down satellites and it was tested on an old Soviet satellite, Cosmos 1408 (Pictured above). This test, however, did have serious consequences. After the destruction of the satellite, thousands of pieces of debris were scattered, some of which could cross paths with the International Space Station. Because of this, the astronauts aboard the station had to take precautionary measures in case they were struck by debris.

    Since the destruction on Monday, it has been determined that the debris likely poses no concern for the ISS as it likely won’t pass within 40 km of it. While much of the immediate concern for the space station has been dispelled, adding additional debris to low earth orbit is never a good thing, especially when it could remain there for decades. This sort of action by the Russians is the sort of thing that we would have expected half a century ago in the heat of the cold war but not now by a modern nation with its own men onboard the ISS. If we are to preserve our ability to safely travel into low earth orbit, we must take this sort of blatant neglectful action seriously as it can have serious negative effects on space travel for generations.

More information can be found at the link below.

https://leolabs-space.medium.com/analysis-of-the-cosmos-1408-breakup-71b32de5641f

Spinlaunch

                Three weeks ago, on October 22, a relatively small company named SpinLaunch tested a 1/3 scale prototype of the rocket launch system that they have been designing. This, however, is very different from all previous rocket launches in the fact that there is no first-stage to the rocket. Instead, the rocket is launched through the atmosphere by accelerating it to hypersonic speeds inside of a rotating drum and then releasing it at the precise time to send it straight up.

               This is a very interesting idea and definitely strays from the normal methods of launch, however, there are some issues and limitations with it. The first and probably most obvious is that because this rocket needs to be spun extremely quickly in order to escape earth’s gravity, the rotational forces are far too high for a human to be able to survive. In fact, most payloads will need to be completely redesigned to accommodate this launch method. Another problem is that when the rocket is released, the drum will no longer be balanced which could pose issues for the structural integrity of the machine.

               There are many advantages to this approach though. These advantages could include quicker launches, possibly multiple times per day, more energy-efficient than standard rockets, better for the environment, and cheaper cost per launch. While there are many things they need to overcome, it cannot be overstated that the 1/3 scale launch on October 22 was a success so SpinLaunch has clearly been able to overcome many of the engineering issues presented by this launch method.

https://www.spinlaunch.com/

Nature Conservancy Report – Project Review

    Over the last couple of weeks, I have been working on a project with two classmates, Peter Bizoukas and Zak Cerny. This project was to promote a non-profit organization and our group chose the Nature Conservancy in Indiana. 

    The Nature Conservancy aims to tackle climate change, protect land and water, provide food and water sustainably, and build healthy cities. Our goal was to help them in whatever way we could. We tried to contact their Indiana location via phone and email but were unfortunately unable to reach them despite trying multiple times. Despite this setback, we still wanted to promote this amazing organization so we created a flyer and a presentation about the organization, what they do, and how you can help.

    While working on this project, we learned a lot about the efforts made by the Nature Conservancy and how they are helping protect the environment of Indiana. Some of the things that they do are show policymakers how nature preservation can provide solutions to major problems like climate change, collaborate with businesses to make better decisions, and partner with local communities. It is a great organization and we would highly recommend checking out their website to learn more about it for yourselves.

Alder Lake – New CPUs and what this means

               This past week, Intel unveiled their next generation of CPUs (Central Processing Unit). Codenamed Alder Lake, these chips, responsible for much of your computer’s work, are a huge leap for the computing industry. Using both high performance and high-efficiency cores, this is the first x86 processor of its kind and will go a long way towards improving the efficiency and performance of our computing, especially in laptops. One other benefit that this new generation of processors is that it supports DDR5 ram and PCIe gen 5. This standard will help to increase speed and reliability with the new DDR5 standard even supporting a form of error checking.

               For the past few years, AMD has had a leg up on Intel in most segments of the CPU market. If Intel’s claims about it are to be believed though, this is poised to change that, finally putting them back in competition. This competition is great for consumers because it will drive innovation forward and drive down prices. Hopefully, this will not be affected too much by the ongoing chip shortage so that we can actually get our hands on them. In that case, older processors should get cheaper to buy used which is great for anyone interested in purchasing this hardware.

Ray-Ban / Facebook Sunglasses

                Recently, Facebook in collaboration with Ray-Bans released a pair of sunglasses. Unlike many other similar products that came before them, these camera-equipped sunglasses, look shockingly like normal glasses. These could be very useful for capturing moments hands-free or in active situations. While the snap spectacles and google glass looked very obviously different from conventional glasses, most people probably won't even notice if they are being recorded by somebody wearing these Facebook sunglasses.

While this is a natural evolution for the technology to get more seamless and feel less in the way, it is certainly of concern for many individuals. These glasses would make it very easy to record others without them knowing and for under $400. This privacy concern, for both the wearers and those around them, isn’t helped by the not-so-perfect track record that Facebook has with users’ private data. Do you really want one of the most data-hungry companies to have just that much more information about you if they so desired?