Week 14 recap

Week 14: This week we read the book Net Delusion. Not only did I like, how it was free on the Internet, but I thought the beginning points Morosov made were interesting. I can see what Morosov means when talking about how humans have romanticized communication technology. People tend to hype communication technologies as if they might bring world peace. Another interesting fact Morosov's book talked about was how people are less active in politics when they are entertained in their life by having technology such as television and access to western cable. In the book Morosov talked about how people living in villages in Belarus who had access to western cable programming, were less likely to be unsatisfied with their government than people who did not have access to western cable. I guess, the point is that the government can control protest by giving their citizens access to American Idol or LOLCATS. The book got a little boring in the end, but still made for good reading material.

 Semester is almost over and things could not have been any worse. Over the spring break, I worked really hard trying to put my thesis together and figure out how to structure my term paper. Finally this week, I began to type some of the sections out and add my references and citations. After staying up late doing last minute revisions, I woke up the next day to print my paper and sure enough it was corrupted. My ten pages of hard work went right out the door. After panicking for about 2 hours, I decided to research some ways I could fix the solution on the Internet. Everything I tried did not seem to be the solution except for maybe paying $40 to send in for repair or download crappy software that do not work.I had given up all hope and was considering paying the $40, when I read a little disclaimer on the website officerecovery.com, which said I could get (1) free repair by liking them on Facebook. So, I liked them on Facebook, and they sent me a coupon code. Unfortunately though, I was only able to retrieve about half of the document. I guess it's better than nothing. I will try a few more things tonight, but if I am unsuccessful, then I will begin retyping. Once again, thank to the staff at officerecovery.com. Check them out if you ever run into the same mess, I did. This company does all sorts of things from retrieving deleted files to repairing corrupted ones.  Below is the link to their website.

www.officerecovery.com

Week 13 recap

Week 13: This week was primarily about privacy as much was similar to what we've been reading for level 3. Nothing to Hide by Daniel Solove was the book I finished reading for the week and discussed the issue of privacy and government searches. Most of the arguments were rooted in the Fourth Amendment and how the governments methods of information gathering can basically render a citizens Fourth Amendment rights as    invalid. Why? Because the government believes that they must keep information gathering a as a secret, giving no transparency reports or having oversight by the judicial system. The Supreme Court and other courts decisions on cases brought forward by citizens who felt their rights were violated during these searches seemed to favor the the government on grounds of secrecy being important for homeland security. This book covered many different ideas and arguments like the Nothing to Hide argument and the Third Party Doctrine. Nothing to Hide argument basically confuses privacy with secrecy, and believes that if a person has nothing to hide form the government then they should be willing to give up rights and privacy for the sake of national security. As for the Third Party Doctrine, I will attach a  link to an article below which applies the doctrine to an argument.

http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3270&context=bclr

 The school semester is coming near an end and I feel a bit of relief. So far I am feel confident on my standing to earn in A in the class. In this class, I have picked up a heavy load of knowledge on such topics as copyright, privacy, and constitution, but I feel the most knowledge I have picked up is in the topic of technology. I never realized all the unique tools out on the internet available to me such as Wikilinks and Prezi. My term paper is coming along, I just need to type the paper out as all the ideas and resources are already complete.

Week 12 recap

Week 12: This week is spring break for many but, for me its a time to catch up on my school work. Among the many things I need to complete during spring break is my homework for Political Science 393. For POLS393, my assignments were 1) Read 2 books, 2) Develop a term paper 3) Watch a discussion and write a review, 4) Post my blog posts. So far I have accomplished this all except for finishing one of the two books. The due date is 4/12, so I have time but, want to finish by this Friday. It took me an entire day to structure my term paper but, now I feel comfortable with the direction of my thesis. The Kirtsaeng discussion was interesting and enjoyable. Watching an actual discussion of a copyright issue was very helpful in giving me a better understanding of the copyright laws and constitutional rights. Below is the link to the discussion, which I recommend you check out if your not one of the professors or students who have watched it. My blog post are late but, I am still making this effort to complete all 16 weeks.

http://www.pijip-impact.org/events/kirtsaeng-v-wiley/

Almost 2/3 finish with this semester and I feel confident in getting an A grade. Of course the workload is heavy, but a little bit of effort can go a long way. Last time I checked the points log, my placing was 3rd overall in the class. The students in this class are probably one of the most brightest groups I've worked with in college. My competitive side forced me to put in that extra effort to be able to compete with some of the best Political Science undergraduates at UH-Manoa. This is also a great opportunity to learn new things, not just from professors, but also students.

Week 11 recap

Week 11: This week went by quickly as I was just waiting for spring break. I almost forgot to post my blog up for this week. Lets see, what happened this week. I recall discussing  filter bubbles and dash cams among many interesting topics. Filter bubbles was an informative brief about how the users search history, location, previous clicks, etc is used to filter the users search and guess what that user wants to see. A bit confusing at first but, for example is I Google search "Tiananmen" in the USA I might get pictures of the protest at Tianamen Square in 1989. If I Google search the same word in China I may get information about touring there but, none about the 1989 protest.  Dash cams brief was entertaining and had a really funny video showing an insurance scammer in Taiwan who got caught by a dash cam. Dash cams though are mostly used for law enforcement reasons and some countries have adopted rules for certain vehicles to be equipped with dash cams. Here's the clip, enjoy!

The video above is hilarious, check it out if you didn't. Spring break is here and I cant wait. My break will be mostly catching up on school work and house chores but, I will manage to have some fun. So far I have been doing steadily well in the class, and I really want an A. An A is definitely in reach as the percentage chart released has me in the upper half of the class. There have been many interesting technology and policy topics discussed, so now my next goal is to get my thesis going and write my paper. I have manged to locate 23 sources and all is left is narrowing it down to 15 sources for my paper. 

Week 10 recap

Tim Wu

Week 10: For this week I finished up my book reviews and attended a presentation by Harvard Professor Theda Skocpol. The presentation was interesting and covered solving environmental issues in global warming and with greenhouse gases. Their were some interesting facts about the reaction of the government and oil companies in regards to the idea of a carbon-cap. Many companies or persons had a stake in this claim such as oil companies and politicians from coal and oil states. Opponents of carbon capping would call Harvard's research a conspiracy created by the educational institution. I don't want to talk to much about this since I have to save some information for the 2-page paper I need to write. However I have finished both my book reviews for Tim Wu's The Master Switch and Jaron Lanier's You Are Not A Gadget. Both interesting books written by intelligent authors, though I do like The Master Switch better. Lanier's book was interesting but, a bit confusing at times. Still I recommend both books for any one looking to read something interesting.

Theda Skocpol

During the book discussion many of the topics covered in Wu's book were talked about. I though it was interesting to here everyone's interpretation. What I really got from the book was a chronological view of how many of the communication industries today went through a similar cycle of innovation and monopolization. I was really glad to have participated in the book discussion because I was able to share with many of my classmates information they may have overlooked or forgotten. Each week I feel I have improved and am more knowledgeable in the areas of copyright and intellectual property. This weekend appears to be full of assignments as spring break is around the corner. 

Week 9 recap

Week 9: Some topics covered this week were briefs on cyber bullying, voting machines, militarization of the internet, and we also had a guest speaker (patent attorney) who talked about the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers or ICANN. ICANN does all sorts of task on the internet like dealing with identifiers on the internet, issuing domain names, blocking certain regions, and so on. The process seemed complicated and one can only imagine how tedious the work ICANN does. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention the guest speaker (forgot his name) is a volunteer for ICANN. Lastly I will mention voting machines and raise a question I thought of. Who would most likely commit mass voter fraud by hacking into a machine? Voters, officials, hackers? My guess is officials with interest but that's a guess made with no evidence to back it up.

Lucky me was able to find one of the books for level 2 online for free. Also found one of the books for the next level. Here are the links http://r-u-ins.org/resource/pdfs/YouAreNotAGadget-A_Manifesto.pdf and http://tropicaline.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/netdelusion.pdf. I have not read these books but, am looking forward. I always considered myself to be a book reader but, this semester has been my all time record on the amount of books I have completed. In total, I have read six book this semester and have about six more to go in all my classes total. Never have I read so much but, never have I felt so informed. Slowly I feel my intellect going up. Not quite at the level of some of my classmates on technology law though I do feel able to hold a discussion or argument on the topic with anybody.Here's a YouTube clip of Master Switch author Tim Wu speaking about communication monopolies. Enjoy!

Week 8 recap

Week 8: Finished my first book review and now I am starting on my two books for level 2. Some of the topics covered this week were censorship and a virus called Stuxnet. Censorship was interesting in the way the censors are allowed to give out fines but not control the content. Stuxnet was also an interesting one as I have never heard of a worm so powerful. I also like the Hollywood style suspense with the United States being a possible creator of Stuxnet to help take down Iran's nuclear reactors. Supposedly Israel and the US worked on this worm during the GW Bush era in a secret operation known as "Operation Olympic Games." Scary thing is the code is available on the internet for someone to reprogram. I believe Stuxnet was also the first government created computer virus to be used as a weapon. I also finished the level one test this week and found it to be a bit challenging. Of course I have better knowledge of technology law and policy, so doing the research wasn't too hard. 

Almost half way through the semester and let me say that so far, I feel I am learning the most from this Political Science class compared to my other classes. Not saying I am learning nothing from my other classes, but in my 393 class I have learnt many new topics and ideas about technology and policy involved in shaping the direction of American innovation. One of my favorite parts of the class is the discussions that take place every class. So many students have great ideas and opinions; I feel like I am learning from the discussion itself. 

Here's a break down of how Stuxnet works

Week 7 recap

Week 7: These post are starting to feel repetitious. This week I was focused on the book Code 2.0 by Lawrence Lessig. In the book was many issues to cover about internet regulation and intellectual property. I think Lessig did a great job in making his points on why he believes the internet is regulable. At certain times I would get lost but, eventually I would get back to the main point. During our book discussion many other students seemed to feel the same way I did about Lessig's book, which was that the book was very readable for having covered such advanced topics in technology. Lessig talked about how the internet can be the most regulated space known to Americans, but I do not see the internet as being able to be entirely regulated as he describes in his book. My favorite part about the book was how Lessig used real space examples when applying his ideas about cyber space. Because of the way the book was written, I was able to understand and comprehend what was going on throughout the book. Other than the book discussion, there was a few briefs by other students. The one I found most interesting was about patenting organic material such as seeds. I also couldn't believe about the guy whose cancer cells were copyrighted by a company. He didn't even own the exclusive rights to something in his own body. Wow!

Here we are 2013 at Lessig's ideal world has still not come. Writing a book review on Lessig's book was a bit challenging. Lessig had many topics he discussed, so I tried to determine what was important about what he discussed in his book. Hopefully I got enough points from the book review assignment because I missed two scavenger hunts to finish the book review. My current goal is to try and gain more points. The amount I have is slowly moving up with some points here and there, so I think scavenger hunts will help me to achieve this goal. I really want to get at least an A or A-, but I am shooting for A+ as I always do.

Week 6 recap

Week 6: The week is over and I feel on pace to a good grade. This week our class went over many topics like Richard O' Dwyer, Google, Creative Commons, Super WiFi, and other interesting IP and technology topics. I found it interesting during the Google briefing about how much information is given on their transparency report. That's a good thing that Google is a bit more straight forward than other search engines like Yahoo or MSN. Creative Commons was also interesting for me to hear about in class because the section I'm on is talking a bit about the Creative Commons that Lawrence Lessig helped to start. I was able to understand what exactly Creative Commons purpose was. Also our class went over the standards of patent ability. There were many interesting and strange patents that left me scratching my head. Like the thong-diaper. Yes, its exactly what it sounds like, a diaper that's also a thong.

Richard O' Dwyer (24-year-old-student, whom US tried to extradite from the
UK for violating US copyright laws. All charges were eventually dropped)

My next big assignment is to finish reading the level one book then writing a book review. My pod members and myself also finished a defense for Google books. I thought we had a good case and point but, the class decided against us. The vote was 4 to 1 in favor of the Authors Guild, with our one vote coming from me. I feel like I'm doing good but, only the time will tell what one has to do to get a good grade in this class.

Week 5 recap

Week 5: This week was interesting as I took the level 0 test. Many of the questions were challenging but, I feel I learned some new things due to the work I had to put in to find some of the answers. Our class topic seemed to focus on defining copyright further for week 5. We discussed the vague definition of "original works" and went over the exclusive rights to copyright ownership. Their was also a scavenger hunt that tied into our classroom discussion about limitations on exclusive rights according to U.S.C 17. I located another limitation for library usage for some extra points. Some of the other topics we covered were derivative works, piracy, and the online "hacktivist" group called Anonymous. The discussion had some mixed feelings towards Anonymous and the work they do. My favorite part was the guest speaker, Sayoko Blodgett-Ford who teaches IP at the law school. She gave us a good first hand experience of what its like for someone who enforces IP law for companies. She worked for Nintendo and told us about all her strategies to keep IP laws enforced for Nintendo but, to also minimize liability and reduce cost of legal process. 

This week I spent much time reading Code 2.0 and trying to grasp the ideas and points Lessig presents. My understanding of these complex topics are becoming much more clear than when I first started the semester. I can now explain   what copyright is and some of the limitations on ownership of IP. I also gained knowledge about many influential groups and court cases in the realm of IP. Some of the legislation I have also learned about such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Just for fun, because our guest speaker said Nintendo don't care to much about the small stuff I posted some Nintendo characters to honor their good sportsmanship when it comes to copyright.

Week 4 recap

Week 4: This week we learned about more influential cases that affect copyright laws. Also covered were patent laws and some of the problems we may encounter with these laws. One interesting new fact I learned was that a person or company can take out a patent for a device they have not invented yet or their patent and patent laws are written in a vague words. By doing this it allowed companies to sue others on arguments based on "what we meant to do" and not the design or set-up of the patent. So, on a side note I guess I also learned that patent laws are all screwed up. Previously I assumed they were nicely put, and straight forward, with all the kinks worked out.   I also learned two new technologies. One is the Photovisi introduced in class and the other was Prezi. I liked Prezi and found it to be very useful. As for Photovisi I don't see myself using it for school works but, maybe for other things.

As I have said in a previous post, many of these topics are new to me. I find them interesting and a challenge but, a challenge I am up for. On Tuesday, some members of our class went on a field trip to the state public access room. The had all sorts of resources to help in doing research on bills and other things of interest to political science students. The staff there seemed very helpful and kind. We also got to see the House and Senate chambers.

Senate Chambers at State Capitol (HI)

House Chambers at State Capitol (HI)

Week 3 recap

Week 3: This week I learned about the rule making process and lobbying. I usually imagined lobbyist and rich people who corrupt politics but, I learned the role lobbying plays in our politics, like providing information and setting policy agenda. My group also presented our briefing about MGM Studios v  Grokster (2005). This case helped shape copyright laws by implementing the idea that the products capabilities and uses does not determine a companies liability in infringing copyright laws but, the way the product is promoted by the company. In this case Grokster Inc, was held liable to to encouraging file sharing. Many of the cases covered in class made it all the way to the Supreme Court so, they have an influence on technology law policy. 

Coming into week 4, I feel I have adjusted to the class. I'm not very informed about technology and copyright laws so, most of this information is new to me. The book for level 1, I have read up to chapter 3 and makes things a bit more clear. Hopefully will have a better understanding of the class material after finishing the whole book. I want to be a top points earner at the end of the semester so, I'm trying to put the work in now. Below is a picture, just for some decoration to my post.

Here's the cool desk I mentioned in week 1 with the LED TV

Weeks 1 & 2 recap

Here I am back at school for my spring 2013 semester. This blog I am writing is for a sort of "experimental" class (Political Science 393: Advanced Topics: Law, Policy, and Society). There's a mix of graduate and undergraduate students in the class. With an emphasis on technology law the set-up is strange as the class operates on a point system similar to video games.  Each assignment completed is worth so many points with a minimum amount of points to reach the next level. Oh, yeah did I mention the structure of the class has levels just like a video game. I'm just as nervous as excited to see how this all plays. Here's a brief recap of my first two weeks.

Week 1: So, I walk into this class and my first reaction is "wow." Everything looked nice, clean, and brand new. The class appeared to be set-up with 10-12 tables with about 8 seats, each with a new LED television at the end. After sitting down the syllabus and class set-up was explained to the class by professors Halbert and Moore. I was lost and kind of nervous but, the nice looking furniture and technology in the class made me want to stay. Our pods had to locate some links online for these first two days and just get adjusted to being back in school.

Week 2: Okay pod is set. I like the mix of students as no one seems to be lazy or a slacker at my table. Still a bit confused but after this Thursday I think I get the hang of the class. Unfortunately my confusion cost me possible points for assignments that I did not do. I'm not worried though because there will be plenty of opportunities to earn points. Oh, yeah or team name is "Copyleft." I personally liked the "Power Rangers" better but, our team name is more creative.

Goals for next week: My goal for next week will be to go over 100 points and try to be more involved in classroom discussion. Last week some of the students were on fire during discussion. It's really good I feel I will learn from the students and professors.