Transparent Technology for China

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31039227

China wants all the source code and even have backdoors in the software that is imported into the country.  Understandably, many are upset because complying with China’s new policy would weaken the security of their software.  Also, source code generally is kept inaccessible to prevent others from copying the code or exploiting weaknesses found in the code.  However, China does have the right to regulate and control what happens in their country.  Computers and the internet provide such a different world from before that new standards and acceptable limits had to be decided on.  In some aspects of the internet, regulations still aren’t fully decided on.  So, is China showing us what the laws regulating technology should be or have they gone too far?  In this ever changing world, we need to be able to create new laws to adapt to our new circumstances.  While China seems to have a right to do what they have done; however, I cannot imagine it having positive results.  Since US companies oppose the policy, it is likely they will refuse to follow the policy and stop exporting software to China.  This will then limit China’s capacity.

Study Journal 1

1/15:

• There is always more you can learn about something
• Critical observation is a transferable skill
• Law cannot avoid defining what is right and wrong

1/20:

• Information is not truth even though it may be true
• Making sure to have the right perspective is important
• Negative emotions are generally more hurtful to self than to anybody else, even the  target of those emotions.

The Value of Reality

Reality is important, even for those people concerned about virtual reality.  As technology has advanced, there have been major improvements in how realistic virtual reality appears.  This progress has been universal across virtual reality applications.  Some applications, such as architecture, require realistic appearances in order to be useful; however, applications like video games and movies do not inherently require high realism.  Why then has entertainment been moving towards realism along with other applications.  While realism is not necessary to make a movie or game, people want realism.  Creating realistic images makes it easier for viewers or gamers to be drawn into the world they see.  Even if we may not consciously recognize it, we value reality.  This means that we tend to be drawn towards the more realistic entertainment.  So, even those people seeking to escape reality through virtual reality tend to acknowledge reality’s importance by seeking realistic virtual reality.

Innovators

As technology started out, much of the innovation was done because somebody wanted something a little different from what was out there.  But why would the technology somebody made just for themselves appeal to others?  It seems unlikely that what was made would match what people wanted exactly.  People are excellent innovators.  Some people will simply make new software if they aren’t completely satisfied with what they have.  Others might not create new things, but learn how to use what they have in a different way.  It can be like somebody using Word for spreadsheets because they don’t use Excel.  Technology requires innovation not only in making it, but also in using it.  This user flexibility has helped software appeal to more people as users figure out how to use the software for their needs.

Early Education

The core curriculum is math, English, history, and science.  While going to school, many students are never exposed to any technical areas.  While this was a logical choice years ago, computers have become such a large part of our lives that we should consider adding it into the core curriculum.  This would give kids exposure to technical fields, which would help them know whether they want to go into those fields by the time they reach college.  It would also give kids a more technical understanding of computers.  Understanding technology will be important because we are continuing to use it more and more as time progresses.  However, adding this into the curriculum would require teaching more classes.  This would mean that students would need to spend more years in secondary education, take more classes at a time (likely meaning more hours per day), or take technical classes instead of other classes currently in the core curriculum.  If classes were to spend less time reviewing at the start of each year, students should be able to easily add in a technical class each year.

New Means Uncertainty

Throughout The Cuckoo’s Egg, one of the center problems seems to be a lack of laws.  With the internet barely starting up, nobody had had a need to create new laws to regulate it.  This caused government officials to be reluctant or unable to help with the investigation.  Nobody knew how to handle this problem.  Although the type of problem was new, it was just the typical problem of learning to deal with change.  Innovation always moves people out of their comfort zone because they are no longer able to deal with things they already know how to handle.  So while innovation leads to progress, we have to accept that it will necessitate change.  If we are unwilling to change, then we are opposed to progress.

Forgotten Flaws

As technology becomes more ubiquitous, so too do its weaknesses. We have become so accustomed to technology, that we don’t event think about the flaws that it has. Also, because systems are standardized, the flaws tend to be the same among many different devices. It can seem a little surprising by how easy it is to find bugs and how many devices have those bugs. However, humans made the programs, so there should be no surprise that there are many security flaws.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/24/technology/security/bash-bug/index.html

Government Against Security

Both Apple and Google have announced higher levels of security on their next generation smartphones in this article.  However, the government is not happy about this.  I have to feel like the government is trying too hard to have control over everything.  The government may claim that they need to break any security system to solve cases, but I feel it is more that they are just uncomfortable not be able to do things.  I think the government needs to be more supportive of advanced security rather than insist there are always backdoors for them to get in through.