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.
