Difference between revisions of "325--2011--Week 13 Questions/Comments"
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Ross’ connection of computer virus to HIV was very original way to look at the subject matter. This article was written in 1991, 20 years ago when HIV and computer hacking/viruses where Americans knowledge of these items was rather limited. “You can’t trust your best friend’s software any more than you can trust his or her bodily fluids – safe software or no software at all!” this draws a very unique connection between the two, like the statement from Saturday Night Live, “Remember, when you connect with another computer, you’re connecting to every other computer that computer has connected to.” While HIV is a very serious topic in which one must protect itself from, computer viruses can be just as important for a individual (or entire government agency) to protect themselves from hackers, which can have very bad outcomes if not properly protected. – Megan Gallagher | Ross’ connection of computer virus to HIV was very original way to look at the subject matter. This article was written in 1991, 20 years ago when HIV and computer hacking/viruses where Americans knowledge of these items was rather limited. “You can’t trust your best friend’s software any more than you can trust his or her bodily fluids – safe software or no software at all!” this draws a very unique connection between the two, like the statement from Saturday Night Live, “Remember, when you connect with another computer, you’re connecting to every other computer that computer has connected to.” While HIV is a very serious topic in which one must protect itself from, computer viruses can be just as important for a individual (or entire government agency) to protect themselves from hackers, which can have very bad outcomes if not properly protected. – Megan Gallagher | ||
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| + | I too found the Global Graveyard slideshow really interesting. I never would have guessed how valuable these computers were in countries, in the way these people use them. "At the dump, the machines are dismantled and often burned to
extract metals for resale. The equipment in this digital
cemetery come mainly from Europe and the United States, sometimes as secondhand donations
meant to reduce the "digital divide'' — the disparity in computer access between poor
nations and rich." (photo 5) I find this interesting that these people would use computers this way and not advance as much technologically. They would rather use the computer for parts to make money off the zinc and copper. In the Ross reading, I found it really interesting his comparison between the AIDS virus and computer viruses, both coming out seemingly at the same time. "Conscious attempts to link the AIDS crisis with the information security crisis have pointed out that both kinds of virus, biological and electronic, take over the host cell/program and clone their carrier genetic codes by instructing the hosts to make replicas of the viruses." (p. 327) The virus epidemics seemed to be taking America over by storm. But why were Americans really reacting the way they were about the computer viruses? Was it ONLY an issue of security? --Claire Brooks | ||
