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  1. Erin Carroll

    The British Royal Navy, The East India Trading Company and PIRATES!

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    PIRACY!

    (Unfortunately, this post is not about that kind of piracy. But that would be awesome.)
    (That being said, I know my blog title may seem off-topic, but stay with me here!)




    A couple of the larger torrent-file uploading sites, The Pirate Bay & ISOHUNT.

    Things are expensive nowadays and because of that, just about everyone toes the line and downloads something (or receives a downloaded copy of something from someone else) illegally. While not all file-sharing is illegal (for example, freeware or the Radiohead album In Rainbows ), generally things like Napster, BitTorrent & Kazaa, which provide an open peer-to-peer (P2P) system on which users can share music, movies, programs and more, are illegal. But to what extent are the private sector and the government involving themselves to stop illegal P2P file-sharing? 


    First, let's start off with the question, "What is P2P file-sharing?". 
    TechTerms.Com gives this brief description:
    In a P2P network, the "peers" are computer systems which are connected to each other via the Internet. Files can be shared directly between systems on the network without the need of a central server. In other words, each computer on a P2P network becomes a file server as well as a client.
     In one short sentence, two or more computers can connect to each other via the internet & share files. Oftentimes, these files are movies, music, television shows and other copyrighted material. While sharing these kinds of things may seem inconsequential (what with the burning of mix CDs, sharing of DVDs & books, etc...), since P2P file-sharing means that you haven't purchased the item in question, it has an adverse effect on the economy (and is technically considered stealing). Since this not only takes money away from the private sector, but also the government (in the form of taxes), it is something that they can both agree on & fight against, much to the displeasure of the internet pirates.

    According to an article on TorrentFreak, Google has begun censoring its autocomplete function to not include terms or websites related to torrenting (another term for P2P file-sharing):
    Initially only a handful of “piracy-related” terms were censored, but a recent update to the blacklist includes nearly all the top file-sharing websites.
    Searches referring to torrent sites such as “thepiratebay,” “the pirate bay,” “isohunt,” “torrentreactor,” “btjunkie,” “kickasstorrents,” “sumotorrent,” “btmon,” “extratorrent” and many others are now excluded from ‘Autocomplete‘ and ‘Instant‘. Interestingly, the full url “thepiratebay.org” is still offered as a suggestion.
    The new list further includes several cyberlocker websites that were perviously left unfiltered, such as “4shared,” “filesonic” and “fileserve.” ...
    It is suspected that Google did this in order:
    ...to keep on friendly terms with copyright holders. The downside to this is that they put perfectly legitimate companies such as BitTorrent Inc and RapidShare at a disadvantage. 
    Since BitTorrent can also be used to legally download files (several sites that BitTorrent links to offer "download" services for shows, movies, et al for a donation price), it does hurt them (and their affiliated sites) as a company.  However, Google's method and reasoning are not nearly as insane as that of the United States Government.

    This insanity brought about by the US Government is SOPA. SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act, much like its creators, would work well if it were doing something else or didn't exist at all (No, I am not wild about the US Government. Or any government, for that matter.). A summary from The Atlantic states that:
    ...the Stop Online Piracy Act goes after piracy by targeting not just copyright violators, but entities on the Internet with which they might interact. And the way the law is written, these other entities will be effectively forced to censor content not after piracy has been proven, but when it is merely alleged. 'One infringing file or 'portion' (e.g. a forum thread) could be used as the basis to take down an entire website,' Devin Coldewey writes at the blog TechCrunch. 'That's a hell of a lever to have at your disposal, and the process for review is slow enough that it could easily be used as a perfectly legal kill switch for any site on the internet.'
    Imagine a world where making a harmless joke about downloading a file can get your blog, YouTube account or website taken from you. That is the world that SOPA will create. And SOPA is not just the by-product of a government that still carries a flip-phone:
    The Stop Online Piracy Act shows what happens when single-minded zeal originates not with bureaucrats or lawmakers, but with well-connected industry groups understandably focused on a narrow set of interests. They've been able to advance them not only due to the legalized bribery of modern lobbying, but for these reasons too: 1) The industry has a core grievance that is legitimate; 2) Congress is disproportionately made up of older people who are clueless about the Internet; and 3) this stuff is complicated, so neither journalists nor the general public have paid much attention to it.
    By comparison, SOPA makes Google's censorship look like a harmless prank- while both aim to please the corporate world, SOPA goes above and beyond the call, marrying the government with the corporate world in order to create an age where even mentioning "internet" and "piracy" in the same sentence could get you removed from the internet forever.

    These two articles show vastly different methods in achieving the same goal- an internet where people actually pay for things they listen to/watch/use. Google's method, a mere inconvenience to pirates searching for torrents, in this situation, seems like the more sensible way to go about things. You don't anger your constituents, alienate innocents and the uninvolved & eventually censor the internet to the point where it is no longer a useful tool. And while it has been said that:
    Congress, under pressure to take action against the theft of intellectual property, is considering misguided legislation that would strengthen China’s Great Firewall and even bring major features of it to America.
    America, a country that has always prided itself as being, "land of the free," seems to be taking a leaf or ten out of its largest creditor's (in October 2010, Mainland China owned 906.8 billion USD of US Treasury Securities ) book. However, in a country where everything from iPhones to Rolexes to DVDs are copied and sold on the black market:
    ...the United States...[is]... consistently critical of Beijing's failure to stop the illicit production of US brands...[and]...issued an annual report saying piracy in the Asian giant remained at 'unacceptably high levels'.
                     ...
    "In China, you can get enforcement but no deterrence," said Chow.
    "You can easily get a raid but there are no consequences to the counterfeiter, who usually pays a light fine and is back in business in two to three weeks."
    (Counterfeiting in China thrives: experts)
    It seems that the US is taking an opposite route when it comes to punishment for piracy, or even hinting at it. 

    While the government and Google did not drink the same Kool-Aid before brainstorming over what to do about internet piracy, they do seem to share the same objective of covering their asses. So for all you pillaging internet pirates out there, watch out, the East India Trading Company & the Royal Navy are out to get you!




    Articles/Resources (because I have a thing for MLA, sorry):

    Ernesto. "Google Now Censors The Pirate Bay, IsoHunt, 4Shared and More."TorrentFreak. TorrentFreak, 23 Nov. 2011. Web. <torrentfreak.com>.

    Friedersdorf, Conor. "Congress Weighs Fighting Internet Piracy Like the War on Drugs." The Atlantic. 18 Nov. 2011. Web. <http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/11/congress-weighs-fighting-internet-piracy-like-the-war-on-drugs/248690/>.

    Jackson, Allison. "Counterfeiting in China Thrives: Expers." Google. AFP, 2 Jan. 2010. Web. <http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jAzaA37JQGbYPUaKXJwts0nA8vXg>. 

    MacKinnon, Rebecca. "Stop the Great Firewall of America." Editorial. Nytimes.com. New York Times, 15 Nov. 2011. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/opinion/firewall-law-could-infringe-on-free-speech.html?_r=4>.

    Monaghan, Angela. "Radiohead Challenges Labels with Free Album." The Telegraph. 02 Oct. 2007. Web. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/2816893/Radiohead-challenges-labels-with-free-album.html>.

    "P2P (Peer To Peer) Definition." The Tech Terms Computer Dictionary. Web. <http://www.techterms.com/definition/p2p>.

    Rogers, Simon. "US Federal Deficit: How Much Does China Own of America's Debt? | News | Guardian.co.uk." Latest News, Sport and Comment from the Guardian | The Guardian. 18 Jan. 2011. Web. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/18/us-federal-deficit-china-america-debt>.


  2. Erin Carroll

    Facebook! And some of the reasons why I don’t use it often.

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    Yes, I am one of those 21st century people who tries not to use facebook for a wide variety of reasons- my relatives have it, it changes formats once it has found something that works, it doesn't hold my attention long enough, lots of my Japanese friends don't have it, etc...

    But the main reason I refuse to use it is because it tracks what you do. Facebook has admitted to, "keep[ing] a timestamped list of the URLs you visit and pair it with your name, list of friends, Facebook preferences, email address, IP address, screen resolution, operating system, and browser," while you remain logged in to the site and, "captures [capturing] everything except your name, list of friends, and Facebook preferences. Instead, it uses a unique alphanumeric identifier to track you," when you're logged out (Here's The Information Facebook Gathers On You As You Browse The Web). However, it claims that this is only for sites with the widely-recognized "like" button that facebook attaches to just about anything it wants to. This information is then distributed to, "...third-party app developers," similar to how supermarket cards (if you've ever shopped at a grocery store overseas & joined their rewards program, you'll know what I'm talking about) collect information about you based on what you buy, then promote certain products they feel you'll be interested in (I'm sure I sound like Fox Mulder by now...Soon the aliens will come and force feed us little food capsules based on what we get at the supermarket, etc...) (Christopher Soghoian in How Much Should People Worry About the Loss of Online Privacy? and Supermarket cards
    threat to privacy?
    ).

    However, it's not just advertisers I'm worried about when it comes to facebook. Any government that claims to give its citizens freedom of speech, yet has contractors that go into groups that oppose its policies in order to eliminate them is no longer providing its citizens with freedom of speech. According to NaturalNews:
    "A secret campaign to take out groups and organizations that oppose the policies and agendas of the US Chamber of Commerce (USCC) and the US government has been outed, thanks to an archive of private emails obtained by Think Progress. According to reports, USCC hired HBGary, Federal and several other defense contractors to create fake accounts on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter in order to sabotage progressive groups critical of the organization's platform"(Exposed: Military contractors hired to create fake Facebook accounts, infiltrate opposing groups
    ).
    I'm not saying that I'm fearful of what the government does as a whole, but rather what it does in order to achieve its goals. (I really sound like Mulder...Sheesh.)

    I guess the best way to summarize this, as well as to warn you about what you shouldn't say on any social network, would be:
    "You wouldn't be surprised that a rock concert is loud, or that a swimming pool is wet, so don't be shocked when you learn that a social network shares data. It is better to assume that anything you post on a social network may one day be public, and think carefully about posting that rant about how fat and lazy your boss is no matter which group you think you are sharing it with" (Facebook and Privacy Don't Mix Well). Watch what you click + what you write, having that end up in an advertiser's, or worse, your boss' inbox, isn't a good thing.


    Final exam question: How can you remove your personal information from services such as facebook? (Answer: More about your online privacy)
  3. Erin Carroll

    Final official ds106 post -Beware The Pickpocket

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    So this is my final official ds106 post! Sad day, ladies and gents, a very sad day indeed.


    I chose to do the SuperHero - SuperVillain your friends assignment and, using a rather fantastic picture of one of my friends (for whom this assignment is all too perfect), combined with photoshopping and a fantastic mask, I managed to create The Pickpocket!

    This is my friend Toshi - we "work" together for our friends' band ORBit doing filming & photography. However, Toshi isn't exactly what I'd call normal. Not only is he insanely into ヴィジュアル系 , he's also a closet kleptomaniac (I tried explaining kleptomania to him once- he took two of my rings, put them on his own hand and walked away with a gigantic smile on his face). This, combined with his constant, rather snarky attitude, has led us (other band staff/friends of mine and myself) to call him, "brat". However, I felt that, as a super-villain, he would be a better pickpocket, seeing as he enjoys stealing things & he would love the attention that pickpockets get. So may I present to you The Pickpocket:


    Keep an eye on your wallets & valuables, folks!
  4. Erin Carroll

    I’m going to promote the living hell out of this for the next week or so, apologies in advance.

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    So if you've ever been curious as to what I do/go to in my spare time or what industry I want to get into when I graduate, it's music. However, I am TOTALLY musically inept (read: I tried violin in elementary school and it didn't work out so well. When I got my iBook in my first year of high school, I tried learning via garage band - this too didn't work. In short, do not hand me an instrument or sit me down at one because I will fail. Hard.) SO I decided to get into the other creative & slightly more my style area of music- live photography as well as photoshoots, graphic design and of course, my favorite, management (if you're familiar with the American TV show Frasier, I am planning on being the music industry version of Bebe, without the 90's clothes/hair/makeup). While this may seem crazy, I know it's possible. Anyhow, this internal craziness of mine is not what I came to promote to you today, galaxias! is.

    galaxias! is a a three person group, composed of Kou Shibasaki, DECO*27 and TeddyLoid. Next week (11/23) their first album comes out AND on the 22nd, they're holding a "secret" live in Shibuya. The details are available on TeddyLoid's blog and even though it's cutting it a bit close with class, I hope some of you will join me in supporting them (after we've finished up presentations, of course!)!

    TeddyLoid's bloggalaxias! Official Site
  5. Erin Carroll

    Commenting

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    If I haven't commented on your blog, I'm terribly sorry. Once I'm finished peeling back my fingernails (AKA writing a presentation for a 12-page paper, finishing aforementioned 12 page paper, then finishing 3 - five page papers, plus readings, my job a...
  6. Erin Carroll

    Commenting

    by
    If I haven't commented on your blog, I'm terribly sorry. Once I'm finished peeling back my fingernails (AKA writing a presentation for a 12-page paper, finishing aforementioned 12 page paper, then finishing 3 - five page papers, plus readings, my job a...
  7. Erin Carroll

    Are we all artists?

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    In listening to Timmmmyboy's (Tim Owens') talk, cleverly entitled "We Are All Artists" , I feel like he hit LOTS of fantastic points (most of which I agree with, some more so than others).Creative environments foster creativity. Agr...
  8. Erin Carroll

    Are we all artists?

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    In listening to Timmmmyboy's (Tim Owens') talk, cleverly entitled "We Are All Artists" , I feel like he hit LOTS of fantastic points (most of which I agree with, some more so than others).Creative environments foster creativity. Agr...
  9. Erin Carroll

    The Girl Who Wanted to Be…

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    An Alien! (Not that this isn't the case already, seeing as I carry around an "Alien Registration Card" at all times.)Took a page out of William's (mome) book and did a self-portrait recolor!The Blue Alien Girl with Pointy Teeth:Original:Nails by a frie...
  10. Erin Carroll

    The Girl Who Wanted to Be…

    by
    An Alien! (Not that this isn't the case already, seeing as I carry around an "Alien Registration Card" at all times.)Took a page out of William's (mome) book and did a self-portrait recolor!The Blue Alien Girl with Pointy Teeth:Original:Nails by a frie...
  11. Erin Carroll

    First minimalist travel poster!

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    So in case we've missed the red flags, I'm a gigantic nerd. On that subject, my favorite book/movie series is the Harry Potter series. But even though I'm not a fan of the dark side, I made a minimalist travel poster depicting one of the main locations...
  12. Erin Carroll

    First minimalist travel poster!

    by
    So in case we've missed the red flags, I'm a gigantic nerd. On that subject, my favorite book/movie series is the Harry Potter series. But even though I'm not a fan of the dark side, I made a minimalist travel poster depicting one of the main locations...
  13. Erin Carroll

    How artists use social media & how things all relate to my job.

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    So our group did work on how artists (of all kinds) use social media to promote themselves & their work.

    I focused specifically on Joseph Tame and how he uses twitter and RunKeeper to create and promote his running art and his social media-semi-alternative art contraption, the iRun.

    Video interview uploaded! Some of the parts overlap a bit, but enjoy!

    Part 1:



    Part 2:



    Part 3:



    The final project can be viewed here:




    While I did not focus on music artists, I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about my job .

    I work at a live house (essentially the fancy term for a concert venue)in Shibuya. I am the only 外人 on staff, meaning if my coworkers have questions about the English language (my manager, pictured below, really loves learning all about swear words) or if a foreign customer comes in, my coworkers come to me to ask for help.


    (This is from my coworker & was taken last Christmas when we had the gigantic tree up.)

    Day after day I deal with managers, staff and even artists involved in the music industry (dur). I see the pain of over-aggressive and neurotic managers on staff & artists alike and, after months of watching it happen, I decided what I want to do with my life: change the system. While it may take time, my ultimate goal is to create a management system in Japan where artists not only have freedom to create, but also freedom to talk or not talk about their personal lives/significant others/etc on twitter/mixi/facebook/what have you.

    Anyhow, enough of my ranting about the industry.
  14. Erin Carroll

    ARGH.

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    So, a blog post. About pop culture and my computer being on the fritz for the zillionth time.Pop culture, by definition, is popular or mainstream cultural items/styles/people/music/etc. For instance, pop music would fall under pop culture, as would fac...
  15. Erin Carroll

    ARGH.

    by
    So, a blog post. About pop culture and my computer being on the fritz for the zillionth time.Pop culture, by definition, is popular or mainstream cultural items/styles/people/music/etc. For instance, pop music would fall under pop culture, as would fac...
  16. Erin Carroll

    Let’s try this…

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    I detest blogger. It won't post comments on my last post, argh. To comment on my entry for 9/15 ( "No, I'm from Iowa- I only work in outer space") post comments here, please! (I'm sorry!!!!)
  17. Erin Carroll

    Let’s try this…

    by
    I detest blogger. It won't post comments on my last post, argh. To comment on my entry for 9/15 ( "No, I'm from Iowa- I only work in outer space") post comments here, please! (I'm sorry!!!!)

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