This week I decided to look more into the right of privacy. Everyone likes to have privacy and in the digital age it is becoming more and more of a problem. A big issue with privacy was raised when it was discovered that the NSA was monitoring American phone calls. Are our phone calls protected by the constitution? Many would refer to the 4^th Amendment that protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures. In this aspect you would think that yes our personal calls are protected. However I believe the NSA did a good job of covering their backs. They admitted to the searches but they also said that they only monitored phones of people suspect of affiliating with terrorists. They also told us that when they monitored calls of non-terrorist affiliates they were monitoring them because they were using key words associated with threats. I believe that our privacy should be protected, but I also want to live in a safe country. I like knowing I’m safe and I am willing to give up my phone calls in order for protection. I don’t think that most Americans agree with me but they should. People who are afraid that their calls are being monitored must have a guilty mind. As long as you don’t talk to you friend about bombing a capital building or shooting up a school I think you’ll be okay.

http://www.pixton.com/embed/k8omr4uz

This week I decided to read about the NSA and their involvement in monitoring American phone calls, emails, and other things electronically. The news was released about this only a couple years ago and as surprised as Americans were they mostly supported it. In a poll 63 percent said they were OK with the NSA monitoring phones and computers. Personally I agree with the majority of America. Monitoring phone calls should not be a big deal. The NSA has monitors in place that only pick up on key words. They also only target phones of those that are believed to be affiliated with terrorists. What is the big deal then? People believe that privacy is a right. These people are right when morally speaking, but nowhere in the constitution does it say that someone has the right to privacy while on the phone. I believe that as long as the NSA is targeting the right people and monitoring phone calls that are using key words that could lead to an attack they should have every right to listen in. I really don’t think that the NSA is going to be listening in on while you talk about what Becky was wearing to school today or who is driving the carpool this week. They are just doing what they have to in order to protect America. As the technological world advances so does the way in which we need to monitor it for potential threats. I would much rather have the NSA listening in than have another 9/11 or Boston bombing. 

1 Why do you think she says "we can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy?" Do you agree with this? Why or why not ?

2 Why do you think she says it is important to have religion without clergy?

3 Why do you think Omelas is more credible as a place with the existence of the child?

        I read an article produced by a mother about parents exposing their children on social network sites like Facebook. The mom talks about how her friends have uploaded tons of pictures and videos of their daughter. The parents don't know that they are setting their child up for a very hard time when she hits middle school, high school, and even college. When someone is tagged in a picture on one of these sites they can be easily searched for and found by anyone. Kids will find embarrassing pictures of this girl in the tub, and they will use these pictures to give her a hard time. Now not all kids will have the internet intelligence or the lack of remorse to give a someone a hard time about baby pictures, but this girls parents will be the ones to blame for her getting bullied if it occurs.
         Parents should be very conscious of the pictures they post of their kids on social network sites. It is not their call to put those on a network that can be accessed by anyone. Instead parents should let their kids discover the online world by themselves. I'm not saying that parents shouldn't monitor their kids with their online usage, but they should let them decide when to get on Facebook, twitter, and other networks like this. Kids should not be forced to live with pictures of themselves online when they weren't old enough to even know what the word online meant. I know that I was one of the last people in my grade to be on Facebook and I still have  yet to make a twitter account because the fact is that not everyone cares or wants to be on these sites. It is a person's right to have the free will on whether or not they should be involved in social networking and if the parents make that decision before their  child can even speak they have already taken away possible mistakes and lessons a kids needs to learn in order to grow into a responsible and respectable adult.

Hi I'm Jason Buchert. My home town is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I am the kicker for the John Carroll football team and I also played soccer in high school. When I'm not playing sports I really enjoy doing photography. I want to travel the world and take pictures of some of the most beautiful places. I also really enjoy music I mostly listen to country music and indie rock. My favorite indie bands are Mumford and Sons, Of Monsters and Men, Grouplove, Cage the Elephant, and Ben Howard. I will listen to all kinds of music even rap, though I would have to say this is my least favorite. I am also a huge movie person. I will watch any type of movie. My all time favorite movies are the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, which is why my high school friends called me Frodo, and soon the Hobbit Trilogy, once it is completed.  I'm not the biggest reader in the world, but if I find the right book I won't stop reading it. I am planning on majoring in criminology/sociology with a minor in psychology.

I am a pretty open person and a lot of the time I won't be afraid to speak my mind or challenge someone in class. However it really helps if everyone is contributing so I don't just seem like the snobby asshole in class.

I believe that the printing press was the most fundamental invention in history. It gave everyone a chance to get information out into the masses and to be able to produce the written word with efficiency. I believe that without the printing press mankind would still be yelling on street corners to get the news. Its almost comical to imagine a hundred people standing on the streets to listen to some guy scream the six o'clock news. I find a lot of the inventions in the world to be essential in my life but some that I use on a day to day basis would be my laptop, T.V., phone, ipod, microwave, refrigerator, and of course the wheel. I have worked with computers a ton over my four years of high school. I was involved in the cable channel productions and with photography which both require a ton of computer knowledge due to all the editing that goes in to creating a project. Because I was so involved in these two things I would say I am relatively experienced in digital media. However I am not so involved in the social media world. I am on Facebook and flicker, but other than that I am absent from the social media world. I would rate my technological proficiency at about a 5.

As for Dr. Shutkin my question to you would be how did you become interested in digital media? And what is you favorite color?