Samuel's BBT Blog

     Today, we watched videos about cyber-bullying, and how serious it actually is. A teenage Filipino girl wore a traditional Filipino dress, and posted a picture of her wearing it on Facebook, and things escalated very quickly. Many people started taking action at the opportunity to harass her, without physically hitting her. The girl ended up being so embarrassed that she deleted the photo, and started crying in school.     Also, a 15 year old teenager, Stacey, commented on a post made by someones boyfriend, and the girlfriend in part demanded once that she stop talking to her boyfriend. However, it was the girlfriends friend who wouldn't back down, and kept constantly sending messages and threats, never backing down, even though all she did was comment on a simple Facebook post. Stacey didn't think she was going to make it through that hard time, but her friends and family helped her through it.      People tend to cyber-bully because they...

     Yesterday, we watched "Are We Digital Dummies", a CBC documentary about the over usage of the internet, along with the underlying desire for our cell phones. The doc covered many irresponsible actions that have occurred over the use of the Blackberry, as a bus driver had a collision with a mini van, because he was texting while driving. Also, a woman bought an accessory for her cell phone that allowed her to attach it to the handle of her baby stroller. The result? Whilst the woman was staring at her phone, she carelessly started to walk onto a street, when a car narrowly missing her baby brought her to her senses.      I believe that technology is a good thing, but you know we use it too much when 2 airliner pilots miss the airport by 240km because they were on their laptops, and an English reverend holds a blessing towards cell phones, and that their uses should forever last.

     Yesterday, we watched a BBC documentary, "Inside the Dark Web", about the illegal uses of the internet. The U.S. government created a browser called Tor, which allowed people to surf the web anonymously through encryption. The more users there were, the more secure you were, as in order to be anonymous you must have a group of people. Also, whenever you are connected to a wi-fi source, someone can track/surveil you through your device.    Running from the United States to the U.K, there is a fiber optics cable [a cable made entirely out of glass, which allows light to travel from one source to another through (data)] that can be tapped into, relatively easily. All you would have to do is redirect the data flow to another source, and you'd be able to view documents that were sent up to three days before. For this reason, there is a British listening station made specifically for monitoring the data flow through the cable.

     Today in BBT class we read a short graphic novel called "Social Smarts". The novel showed many issues about online safety and, along with the importance of passwords and thinking before you post. For example, someone took a picture of someone dancing and posted online. by the next day, there were memes and gifs of said photo made, and many pictures were posted throughout the school. Also, someone lost there phone and got hacked, because they didn't have a password on their phone. You should always think before you post, and have better passwords than "1234" or "4321". Everyday Privacy      We also read an article called "My Privacy Everyday" today, and it surprised me. Almost everything  we do in our lives leaved a digital footprint,  whether it be stopping by the local cafe for coffee, or playing in a basketball game, there will always be records of what you've done throughout the day. Security cameras recorded your every move ...

Digital Media      My partner Noah and I took a quiz on Digital Life and how people act on the internet. The answers were shocking. 500 million Facebook users as of April 2011. 1 days worth of videos uploaded to YouTube each day as of March 2010. 15% of teenagers have had experiences with sexting. Although 85% of parents have talked to their children about online safety, internet users continue to misuse and abuse digital media. The Digital World     "With great power, comes responsibility." Although this may be a famous quote from a fictional super hero, the same rule applies to the internet. Sure, you may be able to communicate easily with others, but that is both a reason for the internet and a reason to stay of the internet. Many people are cyber bullied online each day because it provides a false sense of security. On sites such as Facebook or Ask.fm, you can easily harm others by posting bad rumours about them on their timeline, or answer their quest...

     Yesterday, Mr. Savoy visited us during BBT, and gave us a presentation focused The World of Technology 2015. IT covered many aspects of technology, including the social aspect. A man named Jack Vale went around talking to random people as if he was their closest friend, knowing most of there private information without meeting them once before. Using GPS/check ins to locate the nearest Facebook accounts to him, he would look at their wall, learn there name, family members, age, etc. and confront them, knowing an uncomfortable amount of  knowledge of their life.       Here is a link  to an article about suicide prevention over social media. 9 teenage suicides have been linked to sites such as Ask.fm from 2012 to 2013.  Ask.fm allows you to reply anonymously, not letting the user block the person answering there question, and concealing their identity. This makes it more difficult to track down the user who left the inappropriate/threate...