Dewey ENG102

Is the loss of civil liberties worth the convenience of technology?

Technology has and will always be a huge part of my life. Having grown up with a brother heavily into gaming, programming, and IT work I got to see first hand the in's and out's of how the web works. It all comes down to how you manage your own security. Of course, there will always be the paranoia of being monitored but that has been happening for a long time. It all comes down to being cautious with what you do alone and or over technologies.

This book captures the many facets of information gathering by digital dossiers. It reminded me of the recent unveiled programs called Tempora and Prism used by the United Kingdom and NSA. The extent of these programs capacity to siphon user data iset deeply guarded and not known in detail, however the dossiers gathered by our internet traffic on an individual basis should alarm users. I belive privacy is priceless, if I told my grandfather who passed in 2006 the extent we divulge our personal information on social media he would probably find it unbelievable. He was born in 1920 became an officer in the United States Air Force and served in WW2. The idea of privacy has changed with each generation. The way we perceive the handheld devices we all carry as young as the age of 5, may seem to our greatest generation who is currently exiting our society as a mere tracking device for big brother. This reading was very informative.

This website covers some of the 10 reasons that the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women International thinks of why prostitution should not be legalized. Some of the reasons they provide and argue for is that the legalization would promote sex trafficking. They also argue that it would expand the industry instead of controlling the industry of prostitutes. 

I totally agree with this topic, and article. I find it very disturbing to see people sell their bodies, or even "pimps" selling our for their own profit.

This website is a database for 100 countries and their policies regarding prostitution. This website also includes details related to prostitution, because some countries legalize prostitution but does not legalize brothel ownership, or pimping. This website also gives reasons to why some countries allow it and why some don't. 

This website is an argument between Dianne Post and Bishakha Datta. The two women give their own perspectives on prostitution and whether they think it should be legalized or not. Dianne Post believes that it should not be legalized, while Bishakha Datta believes that it should be legalized. 

I do not know how to feel about this article. They both have great points. I have friends who prostitute. I have seen some get there lives destroyed and some that seem to be fine. I honestly think it should be illegal because of the violence that comes from it. No women should have to face it.

I disagree with the perspective that prostitution should be legalized on a philosophical basis. Dianna in her post made excellent points against the legalization of prostitution so I will not reiterate them. Legalizing something that has been thought of as immoral for millennia I believe would be unwise. I don't think anyone would agree with me if I were to argue for the legalization of murder, so why would we legalize something that is on an equal level of immoral behavior for a majority of people.

This website talks about the different opinions of whether or not kids should wear school uniforms. This article says that school uniforms may help prevent violence and make a better learning environment. The article also gives other possible benefits of wearing school uniforms. 

I personally have never been a fan of school uniforms for my own children but I can understand how they are warranted in some districts. Some parents may not be able to affront the things other students have making them feel inferior; this allows for everyone to maintain the same sense of self without being picked on.

I can see both sides to this issue but honestly I think that children should be able to pick what they want to wear appropriate of course but to be able to have that voice through clothing when they might not have a voice in general can do a lot of a child I think.

This article talks about how New York City's public middle schools and high schools are now required to take sex ed classes. This article talks about this new mandate and its implications and the effects that it might have. The article also provides reasons on why it was decided that sex ed should be a required class and its benefits. 

Sex ed should be a choice for kids to take in accordance to their parents, for myself when I was younger we had to have a signed paper from our parents giving us permission to take part in the sex ed class and for those parents who said no and wanted to teach there kid themselves went to another room. I see both sides to this article and its a very well informative piece.

I think a semester of sex ed would be great. When I was in school it was just a 55 minute lecture with a couple of videos. I understand why some people may be upset with this, however, those people must understand that not every child has an involved parent who are capable or willing to educate their children. I think safe sex is integral for our children to learn. I believe it could help lower the stats of sexually transmitted disease and teen pregnancies.

This website argues that people should not be forced to retire at 65. The website goes into detail about age concerns and how if the government were to tell people to stop working at the age of 65, that it would breach, at least for the European Court, equality requirements. This website also argues how it could be considered as a discrimination of some sort. 

Retirement is a huge controversy subject. The age, rules, and regulations of retirement. SSI income and much more. This articles helps identify a lot of questions about it, but still why have such a higher age of retirement!

The article covers the personal freedom issue of whether or not older people should be allowed to drive. This article introduces different ideas of how different states are dealing with older drivers. Some states are requiring more frequent testing, or some sort of evaluation. 

I think this is a great article. I think for a lot of elderly people the possibility of having their drivers license taken away makes them feel as if they just lost that piece of end independent living. I do agree the elderly should be tested to make sure they aren't at great risks for accidents. This articles speaks about classes older people can take to help them be safer drivers. I this is a great article to share with many people.

Long story short. All elders should go through REGULAR testing to continue to drive! These old people are really acting out! This article helps identify lots of points that need to be taken to keep our elders safe!

This article argues that seat-belt laws take away our freedom. This article covers how seat-belts increase our chances of survival during an accident. It also talks about how although it seems that the government is protecting us with these laws, but people should still be able to have their own choices. 

This article is AWESOME! I totally agree with the seat belt laws controlling our freedom. If we choose not to wear a seat belt we should not be penalized at all.

Should kids be required to get vaccinations? This website talks about how there are now fewer kids getting vaccines because of a number of reasons. some of the reasons are that the parents are simply opting out because of fears or paranoia or just laziness. The article says that the reasons that parents use for kids to skip shots vary, some are related to religion. 

Hi all, I am a parent of three. All of my kids are current on all vaccines recommended by their PCP. I am a true believer. That being said I do think something could be changed for the vaccine requirements. I have spoken to many people about this in my area. I'm actually scared for the un-vaccinated kids so it always sparks curious conversations for me. The common denominator I found with everyone I have spoken to about not vaccinating their kids is, they don't want to vaccinate all at once, they want to spread it out. I feel it's a greater risk to wait or not get a child vaccinated period, but I'm wondering for those who are just not educated on the facts of vaccines or those who are afraid of all of them at once maybe they can have a different vaccine protocol. While it won't be what the CDC recommends initially, I feel that it would still be better than not vaccinating period.

I agree with my colleagues above, the ignorance about vaccines is becoming widespread. We are in an age of refined medical practices and innovation based on factual evidence and research. Parents in doubt should consider two words. (Herd Immunity) for those unfamiliar with its meaning I'll leave you with its definition - the resistance to the spread of a contagious disease within a population that results if a sufficiently high proportion of individuals are immune to the disease, especially through vaccination. "the level of vaccination needed to achieve herd immunity varies by disease but ranges from 83 to 94 percent" We all have a stake in this.

Should people be allowed to keep exotic animals as house pets? This article mostly talks about why people shouldn't be keeping exotic animals as pets. Some of the reasons are that many exotic animals have diseases that can be fatal and most exotic animals will attack their owns. This article also gives some other reasons of why this should not be legal. 

Should single people to allowed to adopt? This website fights for the equality of unmarried people and it discusses whether or not unmarried people should deserve more equal opportunity of being able to adopt a child. it explains first that there are so many children waiting to be adopted. Then the website also talks about how unmarried people actually want to adopt. 

Being married should not have any precedence over those who are not. Love is a universal concept that everyone has to offer. Women no longer need a man to provide for them, so why should one have to be married to love and care for a child? Especially if the willing parent has no issue providing the means to support the child. It is better than just leaving the child in a system that gives them no actual emotional support, which only contributes to abandonment and self-worth issues.

Personally I think anyone who is willing to tell themselves that they want to take in a child that is not born from their blood line and care for that child as if they are then all power to them, there are too many children out there that don't have homes and are put in the system until they age out and I think equality for single people is the right thing to do.

Should people be allowed to use curse words on television? This article on the website talks about the history of Washington's battle against TV curse words. It goes through the history of TV and curse words first with U2. Then the article talks about the main problems with censorship. 

This article delves into the issue of parental rights. Rick Santorum explains how new government policies and beliefs deny parents the right to raise their children.

Wow great info on this article. I really enjoy reading articles that agree with my beliefs. While growing up our parents didn't worry about the law stepping in on their parenting skills, as long as it was not abuse. But now its hard to even parent our children, without becoming afraid of the government. Who's child is it?

This Forbes report shows that our Social Security payments are not protected. For years we have been told that our money is safe; now we are told it was never safe and it's not our money.

This article relates to the Fourth Amendment; unreasonable search and seizure. The question is; does GPS and DNA violate our Fourth Amendment if utilized without our knowledge?

This article is a MSN report about phone companies shady practices. Through legal avenues, phone companies are able to sell our personal information to outside sources without our knowledge.

This article features Ken Robinson; a prominent public speaker. In it he discusses how children are being taught the answers and denied the freedom of asking questions.

Really great read!!! This article really digs deep into so many issues our educational system has today. I feel strongly about all of the authors assertions and hope soon we make some changes.

Great find, the article it very well written and the topic alone is something to really just think about, I agree that children are becoming much more shy when it comes to asking questions and instead of being told there is no stupid question they just go on not understanding because they didn't want to ask someone a question that they had concerns about.

This article shows how powerful oil giant, Chevron; uses it's vast influence to shirk the First Amendment. To avoid lawsuits Chevron forces journalists to turn over damaging evidence.