5.1 Reflection

Questions are pasted below for context

  1. Come up with three of your own Beneficial and corresponding Harmful Effects of Computing
  2. Talk about dopamine issues above. Real? Parent conspiracy? Anything that is impacting your personal study and success in High School?

Let’s use a table to answer the first question.

General Topic Beneficial Application/Effect Harmful Application/Effect
Computers can calculate more quickly and more accurately than humans. The discussion here will apply specifically to calculated trajectories. Computing can be used for greater feats in astronomy coupled with an increase in safety. For example, using a computer to calculate a trajectory to get man on Mars would have less room for error than a human calculation (the existence of errors in the calculations of students in math classes should sufficiently explain this). Computers could also assist in mapping trajectories for space probes. Increased accuracy of calculated trajectories could increase the accuracy of weapons systems (ex: UAV drones firing missiles), which in turn would result in increased death in a conventional war (since all parties would likely have access to computers at this point in human history). Of course, nations around the world will be forced to implement this since it would be necessary for national security.
Self-driving cars Increased convenience on part of the driver (who doesn’t have to drive). Computers have shorter reaction times than the driver, and this can be utilized to prevent accidents. Will likely deprecate traffic infractions (assuming the car is configured to drive under the speed limit). Any computer connected to the Internet is susceptible to compromise by attackers. As such, attackers can potentially escalate their actions beyond compromising sensitive data to a point where their actions result in deaths. It is probable that eventually a car’s computer would have enough data capacity to store the entire world map independently of the Internet in the future, but attackers may find other ways to attack these systems. Cybersecurity is a constantly evolving field.
Digital Maps Added convenience in navigation around unfamiliar areas through automatic route mapping and marking current location. Paper maps require users to orient themselves with their surroundings and plan their own routes, which can consume time. Digital maps can also account for traffic/accidents and adjust routes accordingly (paper maps can’t do that) Digital maps of the entire world could potentially expose important classified sites of national governments (ex: Area 51). This could potentially present national security issues unless those sites are censored on all versions of all digital maps.

Time to address the elephant in the room, namely the second question. Since this has been a personal issue, I thought it would be best to respond to the issue in the most thorough way possible, and that method is through the use of formal research papers. Note that since video games are often said to have drug-like effects, many of these papers will go into the deep end and make open comparisons.

This should download a PDF of a study.

Notes on Experiment 1:

That should download a PDF with a filename in Chinese characters (the study is in English). I chose this study from the compilation website since it was the study with the greatest sample of people involved. Studies with low sample size do not have good integrity since outliers/variations have greater effect on the results. You’ll probably need to look up a lot of field-specific vocabulary (as is often the case for these kinds of studies), including neuroscience and statistics. Here is a more reader-friendly summary of the study:

At this point it is safe to declare that the connection between dopamine issues and technology use is no parent conspiracy.

5.2 Reflection

Before I talk about the impacts of the digital divide on the lower classes, I’d like to point out that cybersecurity is a crucial consideration when uplifting other people through access to the Internet. It would be imprudent to provide the poor access to computers without also helping them learn to ensure those computers are secure, because otherwise their data could be compromised by malicious individuals.

Here are some questions (copy-pasted for context)

  1. How does someone empower themself in a digital world?
  2. How does someone that is empowered help someone that is not empowered? Describe something you could do at Del Norte HS.
  3. Is paper or red tape blocking digital empowerment? Are there such barriers at Del Norte? Elsewhere?

For the first question, learning how to secure one’s own computer is strictly necessary for digital empowerment. People without the ability to secure their own computers are at risk of having their personal information stolen by attackers. After this, one may be able to look up reference guides in the field of their choice to supplement their learning in the workforce.

For the second question, one can teach others how to secure their own systems by running a cybersecurity-related club, help others with coding projects, or simply teaching someone how to research online. I find greater satisfaction with one-on-one support than supporting a group of students, mostly since I can guarantee that a given student would get the help he/she needs.

For the third question, Del Norte has done a fair job in distributing chromebooks to students who do not have computers. There are also computer systems available for use in the library. When I took 3D Computer Animation as a Freshman (mainly to get my arts graduation requirement), Mr. Askegreen provided MacOS systems to work on the projects in class (working on projects at home required a personal computer with the software installed, though it was reasonably possible to complete the projects with the given class time if you were paying attention and/or you didn’t go overboard; I tend to do the latter). The use of ContentKeeper as a Wi-Fi blocker has legitimate uses (such as preventing students from seeing illicit content online or downloading malicious software), but it sometimes blocks websites that I try to access when researching how certain commands work (for this class). This can be annoying for students who do not have a VPN and/or a PC. It is imprudent to remove ContentKeeper since this may expose students to malware or other illicit content. If it is possible for the IT team to take steps to allow sites that provide documentation on how harmless commands work (for the purposes of computer science classes), this step could be taken. Otherwise, I do not have alternatives to suggest since an alternative could cause larger problems.

5.3 reflection

I performed some further research into the matter since I’d rather be sure about my conclusions than make guesses in the dark. You’re going to need access to web.archive.org to access the content since some URLs have been taken down/become redirects.

HP published a response to this video stating that the facial tracking software functions by tracking the color contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek/nose area. As such, it is logical the tracking software fails for people with darker-colored skin since there is a decreased color contrast in this case. In a followup post, the makers of the video admitted that this was meant to be for humor. They were surprised that the video went viral. They believed that the issue is due to a glitch (not racism).

Of course this issue should be fixed since this would allow all to experience equal computer functionality. In order to have provided a better outcome, HP could have tested people with more diverse appearances, especially those people who would most strain the facial recognition technology (ie least color contrast; to ensure the technology works in the most cases possible). If this fails, then a different method of facial recognition is recommended.

5.4 reflection

5.5 Reflection

  1. Types of licenses
    • Open Source MIT License:
    • People who come into possession of the software can modify the software for private use or commercial use (the latter for money). People may also distribute the software freely.
    • The license notice must be attached to all copies of the software
    • There is no warranty on the software and the developer is not liable for any damages resulting from the software. - Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal

5.6 Reflection

  1. Some PII I’ve seen on Computer Science Principles projects include names, dates of birth,
  2. My feelings about PII and personal exposure are as follows:
    • I looked up my first and last name on Google, and I pulled up information about my father. This is logical because he shares my name and since he’s had more public accomplishments compared to me. The websites pulled up include his LinkedIn, the website of his financial/retirement planning firm, and his facebook account.
    • I have always felt discomfort whenever someone posts about me on social media. I believe that my experiences should be personal, not easily accessible to the eye of the public. I believe that my experiences should not serve to be public entertainment. But perhaps this is a fringe idea uncommon among the masses.
    • I only have one social media account (LinkedIn). At this point I’ve done nothing other than list my accomplishments on a cybersecurity team (since I heard LinkedIn is important for employment). I may have also put some other information on it (date of birth?).
  3. Good passwords should be at least 14 characters long and include letters of both cases, numbers, and symbols (including spaces). They should not be based on words in any language. Switching out letters for symbols (ex: @ for a) is not recommended either since password cracking tools have been demonstrated to account for this. Bad passwords are missing one or more of these traits; re-used passwords are inherently bad since attackers who manage to compromise one account have effectively compromised all accounts by that point.
    • There are a few forms of authentication that exist other than simple passwords. Multi-factor authentication often sends a text message or email to a different account that is used to authenticate. This should be used with care; multi-factor authentication could potentially expose other accounts, which if insecure, could be compromised. Multi-factor authentication also oten sends a 6-digit PIN, which could potentialy be brute-forced by attackers.
    • Biometric authentication is becoming increasingly prevalent. Many people say that biometric authentication is more secure than password authentication. Regardless of whether this is true, I would always be skeptical if I am told that an authentication system is infallibly secure. Of course biometric systems have vulnerabilities as well, so exercising care is crucial!
  4. Symmetric encryption uses a single key to encrypt and decrypt the data sent over the Internet; asymmetric encryption uses a public key and a private key
  6. I’ve never fallen for a phishing scheme. I’ve been phished a few times though. There’s been one instance where an attacker on Discord texted me to get some Nitro (actually, I think it was a friend who had been compromised and the malware was configured to send itself to all the contacts of whoever it compromised). Of course the URL was fishy, so I didn’t fall for it. I wasn’t even interested in Nitro to begin with, so the phisher didn’t pick a good target. I’ve also been texted twice to renew my Netflix subscription. I don’t even have a Netflix account, so that attack was ineffective.