Google's New View on Privacy

Last week, Google announced some changes to its privacy policy in order to better merge its many services: Gmail, YouTube, Google Calendar, Google+, Google search, among others. According to Google, it's so it can create "a beautifully simple, intuitive user experience across Google."

As of right now, Google is limited in terms of what they can see of your personal information using their programs. Google is able to scan all of your email if you're a Gmail user; if you're a YouTube user, Google can track all of the videos you search. While they can see an awful lot, they cannot see everything… yet.

In Google’s new privacy policy, going into effect March 1^st, Google will be able to monitor and scan virtually all of your emails, appointments, and searches on both Google search and Youtube. With this information, Google claims they will be able to enhance their customers’ experience through ad placement tailored specifically for each user.

Google produced a video that shows exactly what the new policy will entail:

 In the video above, Google uses the example of a user searching the word “jaguar.” Judging by the history of the user’s previous searches and e-mails, Google can predict that the user is looking for information on jaguar, the animal, rather than a Jaguar, the car. By using specific pieces of information from our personal online activities, Google claims they are able to create an easier and more enjoyable experience for all users while significantly limiting the search results solely to links that specifically apply to your needs.

While better predicting search engine results sounds good in theory, it’s important that we don’t just agree impulsively without considering the consequences. In American Studies class, we have continually talked about the importance of sustaining our civil liberties.

We as Americans are granted the right to privacy in the Constitution. Is Google’s new policy giving them access to all of this personal information a violation of our civil liberties even if they let us know in advance and claim it is necessary to create a more effective search engine? Do we even have a choice to opt out? With the dependency society places on Google programs, is opting out even a realistic alternative?

What do you think?

Paterno's Legacy in a New Light

Earlier this semester, I blogged about perhaps one of the biggest scandals in college sports history concerning Penn State Assistant Football Coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abusing young boys. When I first heard the story, I was dumfounded and disgusted by the decisions (or lack thereof) that head coach Joe Paterno made when he was first made aware of evidence many years ago that Sandusky had been taking part in these activities. Paterno, after telling a few "higher-ups" about the information he heard, never followed through with the accusations and, as a result, the news was kept only to a select few. When the accusations were made public last year, I, along with many Americans wondered if the news was held secretly because Paterno feared that getting rid of Coach Sandusky would negatively affect the team's performance. In my first blog post about this subject, Who is Really Winning?, I questioned his own morals, and ours as Americans: when did personal success become more important than our core American, let alone human, values?


With the death of Joe Paterno last week, I have begun to rethink my harsh original reactions to the story. Yes, Paterno's decision not to fully disclose what he knew about to Sandusky was a horrible decision on his part, but should that one bad decision completely blacken his entire reputation? What about the 46 years Paterno had coached at Penn State as a well-respected and beloved coach? How can all those years of his professional life be entirely overshadowed by one grave mistake?

David Haugh, a writer for the Chicago Tribune, helped shed some light on this issue that I've been struggling with. He says, "In the context of Paterno's memory, it isn't an either/or proposition. It isn't either he was good or evil; innocent or guilty; success or failure. It isn't either he symbolized the best of college football or the worst."


I think Haugh brings up a very good point. Morals cannot simply be viewed as black & white; there are always gray areas that often we as Americans tend to overlook. We are so quick to judge people, specifically celebrities, because we subconsciously feel that since they are famous, they should be held to a higher standard. However, the reality is that they too are human, and while it may seem that their celebrity persona makes them immune to making mistakes, they do screw up too. And when they do, there is no doubt that they are significantly more publicly criticized for mistakes they make than we are.

So, in response to my earlier questions, with new insight thanks to Haugh, I believe that the years of Paterno's professional success cannot be disregarded. He was a great coach and his students loved him; these facts should not be forgotten. He made a significant error when not following through with an investigation of Sandusky; this shouldn't be forgotten. He was a good man who clearly made an unfortunate error in judgment. "The weight of those positive influences remain too heavy to negatively tip the scales."

Meta-Blog

When Mr. Bolos and Mr. O'Connor first announced that for our American Studies course we would be blogging weekly, I have to admit that I was a little skeptical of the idea. My first concern was if I would even have an audience-- who would bother reading a high schooler's blog for class? I have countless times seen the shirt that says "more people have read this shirt than your blog," and in all honesty, I was fearful that this would be the truth. However, what I now realize after a semester of weekly blogging is that these primary fears were completely irrational. I have not only come to appreciate the blogging world, but actually enjoy the process too! I've come to realize that this is a wonderful opportunity to enhance my writing skills, expand my literary horizons, and discover new interests as well.

Looking back on my blogs from first quarter, I see how necessary it is to tie a post to a text or a video or something like that. In my first three posts I talk about topics I am interested in, but don't link to a specific piece of work. I occasionally throw in a picture here and there with little to no explanation as to why I put the picture in the post. 

For example, in my second post, written right after the ten year "anniversary" of 9/11 titled What Will We Remember?, I talk about the memories I have from 9/11/01 in comparison to my parents' memories from JFK's assassination in 1963. I believe this particular post has potential to be an interesting idea, but it was poorly executed in the sense that I did not quote anything, did not tie it to any text, and simply threw a picture of an American flag in there for no reason besides just to have a picture. 

However, I think that the post What happened to "failing with honor" over "winning by cheating?" is a prime example of how anchoring a post to a text worked. I clearly site an excerpt from the podcast I discuss, and then analyze the part I quoted. Mr. Bolos and Mr. O'Connor have stressed the importance of not just providing evidence, but analyzing it too. Although it has taken some time to learn, I think that I now understand what they mean. 

Another issue I noticed from my posts are the lengths. My posts tend to be long and wordy, and I often try to cover too much in one post. In fact, Mr. O'Connor's comment on my post The Serial Quitter reads, "This post could be more focused (i.e. you could cut it by half)."  Mr. O'Connor is right in that this post lacked any coherent focus. The ideas were there, but they were all jumbled around and it was overwhelming to look at and read. Reading back on my other blogs now, I notice that many of them attempt to cover too much ground and lack focus, and that is why the posts seem to drag on forever. 

Another common theme I notice throughout my posts is that I continually mention the ways in which American values have negatively affected society. I talk about the stress Americans put on themselves to win and be the best in roughly five of my posts. It is not until my most recent post, World Peace Headed Uphill, that I tie in the more positive American value of America being known as the “melting pot.” Although it does have its faults, America does have many positive values, and in the semester to come I plan on including more of these in my posts.

The first semester is coming to a close, and as I look back on my blogs, despite the numerous mistakes I’ve made along the way, I am proud of the work I’ve done. I feel like I have come a long way in terms of using my voice as a writer, and also linking my posts to a text. I know there is still room for improvement, (there will always be room for improvement), but overall I am satisfied with my work and am pleased to say that this weekely blogging is no longer viewed as a burden but as something to look forward to.

World Peace Headed Uphill?

During Winter Break, I traveled with my family to Colorado to partake in our very first family skiing experience. I had never been skiing before; I had no idea what to expect. Despite my bruising, aching limbs, I left my vacation with a new and surprising appreciation for skiing and its ability to bring different people and cultures together.

Out on the slopes, I met all kinds of people traveling from all over the globe. People traveling from around the United States, from Canada and Mexico, and even from other continents came to enjoy the beautiful mountains and skiing experience. Regardless of the language you spoke or your religious/cultural background, the environment was an accepting one.

One day on our vacation, we found ourselves sitting at a table with a family from Mexico City, speaking very little English. However, it was amazing the effort each party put into trying to communicate with each other. Using our mediocre knowledge of Spanish and their little English, we were surprisingly able to carry on multiple conversations.

America is known as the "melting pot" for a reason, and I had never been able to understand why before my trip. It was wonderful to see so many cultures coming together, putting aside differences, to participate in an activity as simple as skiing. It can show how easy integration and acceptance can be, but for some reason in our world there is stigma attached with these terms. It is seen as being too difficult and impossible to achieve in our lifetime. However, this experience showed me hope that it is possible to live among different cultures peacefully.

When I returned home, and began to step away from vacation mode and back into everyday school mode, I am trying to hold on to the revelations I came to in Colorado. It is very difficult. Watching the news with my mom and hearing about all the war and hate in the world, it's easy to forget my recent discovery.  However, I am working hard to remember that what I learned was valuable and important, and should not be dismissed.

On my vacation, I felt specifically proud to be an American. I was proud to be in a place where different cultures are accepted and not ridiculed. I felt an immense appreciation for cultural diversity I was not previously familiar with. I think that there could not have been a more perfect time for this, being the start to a new year. I am hopeful and confident that in 2012, our world will be one step closer to achieving world peace.

What happened to "failing with honor" over "winning by cheating" ?

Late this past summer, there was a story leaked concerning Atlanta teachers and principals cheating and doctoring their students' test results in order to increase the schools' overall performance. Almost half of Atlanta's public schools participated in this cheating, including over 178 principals and teachers from the area.

National Public Radio (NPR) covered this story in the form of a podcast.

From the NPR interview, I am dumbfounded and disgusted at the behavior of these teachers and principals. In my opinion, teachers and principals should strive to be the kind of people that we as students admire and look up to. They should be positive influences: not only teaching us the curriculum, but also to be good, honest, hardworking educators. In this case, the teachers were focusing all their attention on all the wrong values.

Neal Conan, the host of this specific podcast, shares some reasoning as to what drove Atlanta teachers to act the way they did. He says that at the annual school get-together at Georgia Dome, if your school had good results, you sat up close by the dais. However, if your school received "low" scores, then you sat up in the nosebleed seats. To many Atlanta principals, sitting in the nosebleed seats was an "embarrassment,"and therefore in their opinion, their school scores needed to improve to avoid this "mortifying" situation in the future.

The pressure put on the teachers to drastically improve their class' grades stemmed directly from the school's principals. Michael Winerip, national education columnist for the New York Times, says during the NPR interview,

"At another school, there was a principal- if the teachers at the classes didn't make their numbers, he would have them climb under, walk under a table, kneel under a table, just to make the point that their scores were too low and they were too low."

It is clear that what these principals and teachers were doing was wrong, but in my opinion, they not only cheated the system, but cheated the students as well. By covering up and fixing the lower scores of students, students who may have needed help in certain areas were completely overlooked.

And so, I will bring back this theme in American culture: the importance of winning. What these teachers wrongfully and perhaps unintentionally taught their students was that getting a "good score" was more important than understanding and learning. "Success" was completely redefined; teachers depicted a skewed vision of what succeeding should entail.

Also, as the cheating continued for an extended period of time, and then only stopped because the offenders were caught, one can surely question the morality of these teachers. It's impossible to think that the teachers were clueless about their actions being wrong, so why didn't somebody stop and rethink? There are many positive things Americans value, but unfortunately in this situation, winning was stressed too much in a negative way.