Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Borders Unbound

Hi I'm Katherine! I'm a hardworking student slightly addicted to checking my email via my iPhone. It seems as if the demands of school and work require me to constantly be on my Apple devices. You can relate with me right? 
I've always loved Apple and their products. I've felt secure using their products over the years and never before worried about my personal and private information being threatened. That safety can be attributed to this:

Unfortunately that security we have all taken for granted has recently become threatened. The FBI has demanded that Apple create a "backdoor" to bypass their complex security features. Apple blatantly refused and lengthy court proceedings have followed. 


So for a minute just imagine all of your devices fully exposing everything about you to any hacker around the world. How does that idea sit with you? I know it makes me feel very uneasy!

Power and Authority

This struggle between Apple and the FBI brings rise to many current social issues. Who holds the real power in the United States today, companies or governments? Where do citizens today turn for their information about current social issues? Is the government becoming less and less of a centralized power who has the authority to control/regulate businesses and citizens?


Tim Wu discusses in his book "The Master Switch" that governments break apart or limit the power of businesses when they become too powerful. This has worked successfully in the past with breaking up monopolies in the United States. However Apple has recently refused the demands of the government and is successfully holding out against the government. Will there come a time when the government no longer has the means or ability to break up large companies? Then what will become of our civilization?



We live in a world marked by endless social communication. The internet and social networking will continue to consume our busy lives. Will we be able to harness the power of this communication for the good of our civilization? Or will it prove our destruction?

We have seen the power of the masses as people from around the world have sided with Apple in this disagreement. The topic of cyber-security is universal and affects people regardless of their physical location. We have seen citizens rebel against their government many times in history. The French Revolution, the American Revolution, the Boston Tea Party, etc. Are we heading in that direction again? Will the government be able to win the fight they started?

Is the spoken word or the sword more powerful? 



4 comments:

  1. This is an extremely touchy topic that people are hotly debating all across the internet, so I think it fits great with our class central message. I think you were clear in your post how the communication of information, sensitive and private information, could potentially affect our civilization. Nice work!

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  2. This is a very contemporary debate and it is something I am not sure that we have the answer to. The real question you pointed out is "who has the authority?" We my concern while reading your post is who do I WANT to have authority? Do either really have the public's well being in mind or are we just being power hungry?

    Great post I think it was very engaging and relateable!

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  3. This topic matters. I especially love your line "Will we be able to harness the power of this communication for the good of our civilization?". It's a totally valid question--I'd love to see your thoughts on the answer.

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  4. I loved your beginning picture and blurb about yourself. It really made this topic seem necessary to discuss. I would love to see a bit more discussion historically about those couple of things that you brought up (Boston Tea Party, etc). It would be interesting to see how they are relevant or repeating themselves technologically today.

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