Week 4 - Tutorial task

What is cyberspace ?

There is much debate over the "reality" of the spiritual realm. There is a god, there isn't. There's a heaven, or hell, or not. And so the discussions go on. Cyberspace, Is it real? Does it exist? How can one truly comprehend it? Is it similar to the spiritual? Can it be compared? Is it "alive"? Let’s look at it this way: a rainbow is it real, or just an illusion?

Michael Benedikt defines cyberspace as "a globally networked, computer-sustained, computer-accessed, and computer-generated, multi-dimensional, artificial or 'virtual' reality." (Michael Benedikt 1991)

Apparently there are 3 levels of cyberspace:

In level 1 you have a mental map of the information landscape that we are using on our computers to find information to communicate with others. Everyone that has a PC and internet connection participates in it.

Level 2 is when you are actively communicating with a machine or another human being trough the meditation of a computer. Etc., E-mails and bulletin boards, they are examples of cyberspace islands, whereas the internet is such a global space.

Level 3 will be attained when that latter stage has been reached. Then, we will have a parallel world existing next to the physical world that will actively engage all our senses, though it will consist of data alone. (Michael Bauwens 1994)

Conclusion:

Cyberspace is like a rainbow, you know it’s there but you can’t touch it.

Bauwens, M. (1994). What is cyberspace? Computers in Libraries, 14(4), 42-42-48. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/62816469?accountid=14543

Michael Benedikt. Cyberspace: Some Proposals, in Cyberspace: First Steps, (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1991), pp. 199-224


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Facebook Terms of Use

Sharing Your Content and Information, when you post something you can regulate on privacy settings who you will allow to see it. Once you posted something trough Facebook, they are allowed to use it. When you delete Facebook they delete all the information you have posted, unless someone else have shared it, then it’s still out there and free for anyone to use.

Basically you can hide certain information from other users, but once you have shared it, it’s for everyone to use, unless you copyright all your pictures so people can see that it belongs to you.

 “We do our best to keep Facebook safe, but we cannot guarantee it. We need your help to do that”
It’s up to the users to keep Facebook safe by not spamming, using harvesting bots or spiders, upload viruses, use someone else’s identity, harass or bully other users, or post porn or violence, discriminate, anything to disable the proper work of Facebook and so on.

This is not very safe at all, and there will be people who violates these terms of conditions. Then it is important to report this to Facebook, so it can be taken care of.

If a person is under the age of 13 they encourage them to not sign up for Facebook, and if they learn that they have collected personal information from a child under the age of 13 they will delete it. Minors are strongly encouraged to ask permission from their parents.

To keep the privacy information secured they use a firewall and encrypt that information such as passwords, using secure socket layer technology (SSL). They also use automated social measures to enhance the security; analyzing account behavior and remove inappropriate contents, possible signs of abuse and disable accounts for violation of their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.