We Cannot Permit Infringements on Privacy Essay -- Privacy Essays

George Orwell foresees a nightmarish-future for the world in his book 1984, where individualism loses precedence to the good of society, and with it goes the individuals personal life. The controlling Party in the socialist government knows the intimate details of all citizens, and prosecutes those who victimize social orders through ventureing speech, behavior or thoughts. The omnipresent ocular warning long Brother is Watching You, reminds citizens that no personal information is safe from the Thought Police. While this may seem far-fetched to some, Orwell envisioned technology facilitating governments shame of power in 1950 in the twenty-first century, progress has left ones private life susceptible to interested parties in both the public and private sectors. In 1997, Ralph Nader cautioned, The people ar not organized not equipped with the knowledge, tools or skills to confront the invasions of the self they can see, let alone the far greater, more later(a) kinds of surve illance (viii). With the cosmetic surgery of computers to their current capabilities, collecting, storing, accessing and overlap personal data has become easier than ever before governments and companies no longer keep files of paper records on individuals, which accessing, thievery or sharing would be too arduous a task, but rather electronic databases that they can easily create, access and link. Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy note in their book The duty to Privacy, From a privacy point of view, we are in the midst of the most unsettling period in the computer revolution (326). Computers do not threaten personal privacy, though, nor violate any right granted to Americans the word privacy does not appear in the Constitution, nor does the p... ...rmation Center. Double Trouble with the DoubleClick/Abacus Merger. March 21, 2000.McWilliams, Brian. Netscape Navigator Browser Snoops on Searches. Newsbytes. March 7, 2002. purpose Pay Dirt in Scannable Drivers Licenses. New York Times, March 21, 2002 http//www.privacy.orgNicholson, Jonathan. Account Info Sought to Combat Terror. Reuters, February 26, 2002.Electronic Privacy Information Center. annotation Track.Electronic marches Foundation. Analysis of the Provisions of the USA Patriot Act. October 31, 2002. American Civil Liberties Union. USA Patriot Act Boosts Government Powers While Cutting bandaging on handed-down Checks and Balances. November 1, 2002.Additional Sources Freedom of Speech, The EU Data Protection Directive and the Swedish Personal Data Act. June 9, 2000.Online Privacy Alliance. Privacy Initiatives by the privy Sector. We Cannot Permit Infringements on Privacy Essay -- Privacy EssaysGeorge Orwell foresees a nightmarish-future for the world in his book 1984, where individualism loses precedence to the good of society, and with it goes the individuals private life. The controlling Party in the socialist government knows the intimate details of all citizens, and prosecute s those who violate social orders through threatening speech, behavior or thoughts. The omnipresent visual warning Big Brother is Watching You, reminds citizens that no personal information is safe from the Thought Police. While this may seem far-fetched to some, Orwell envisioned technology facilitating governments abuse of power in 1950 in the twenty-first century, progress has left ones private life susceptible to interested parties in both the public and private sectors. In 1997, Ralph Nader cautioned, The people are not organized not equipped with the knowledge, tools or skills to confront the invasions of the self they can see, let alone the far greater, more subterranean kinds of surveillance (viii). With the rise of computers to their current capabilities, collecting, storing, accessing and sharing personal data has become easier than ever before governments and companies no longer keep files of paper records on individuals, which accessing, stealing or sharing would be too arduous a task, but rather electronic databases that they can easily create, access and link. Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy note in their book The Right to Privacy, From a privacy point of view, we are in the midst of the most unsettling period in the computer revolution (326). Computers do not threaten personal privacy, though, nor violate any right granted to Americans the word privacy does not appear in the Constitution, nor does the p... ...rmation Center. Double Trouble with the DoubleClick/Abacus Merger. March 21, 2000.McWilliams, Brian. Netscape Navigator Browser Snoops on Searches. Newsbytes. March 7, 2002.Finding Pay Dirt in Scannable Drivers Licenses. New York Times, March 21, 2002 http//www.privacy.orgNicholson, Jonathan. Account Info Sought to Combat Terror. Reuters, February 26, 2002.Electronic Privacy Information Center. Bill Track.Electronic Frontier Foundation. Analysis of the Provisions of the USA Patriot Act. October 31, 2002. American Civil Liberties Union. USA Patriot Act Boosts Government Powers While Cutting Back on Traditional Checks and Balances. November 1, 2002.Additional Sources Freedom of Speech, The EU Data Protection Directive and the Swedish Personal Data Act. June 9, 2000.Online Privacy Alliance. Privacy Initiatives by the Private Sector.

Peirce, Virtuality, and Semiotic :: Pierce Virtual Virtuality Essays

Peirce, Virtuality, and Semiotic The adjective virtual, practically unheard-of a few years ago, has without a doubt become the number bingle buzzword of the nineteen-nineties. Virtual reality has become a catch phrase for the interactive multimedia technologies that have supplanted desktop publishing at the cutting acuteness of personal-computer graphics technology. The virtual communities which for years have flourished in comfortable obscurity on the Internet, have recently been thrust into the glare of publicity as commercial-grade gateways have opened up the net to the public, while virtual corporations have transformed the world of business.Yet the word virtual is nothing new although its ubiquitousness is new, as is perhaps its current meaning or meanings. In his admirable glossary of cyberterms, the philosopher Michael Heim defines virtual as A philosophical term meaning not in reality but just as if, and he notes that the term in this sense goes back to the thirteenth-ce ntury philosopher John Duns Scotus. (1) The word virtuality may have been first used to light upon interactive computer systems by Theodore Nelson (the inventor of the term hypertext), who proposed this definition, in 1980 (2) By the virtuality of a thing I mean the seeming of it, as distinct from its more than concrete reality, which may not be important. ... I use the term virtual in its traditional sense, an opposite of real. The reality of a characterization includes how the scenery was painted and where the actors were repositioned between shots, but who cares? The virtuality of a movie is what seems to be in it.While this may at first blush seem equal to Heims later definition, Nelsons definition is in fact somewhat more specific and represents a significant meaning shift from the traditional sense, as becomes clear when we pipeline it with the definition offered in 1991 by the media philosopher Paul Levinson. Paraphrasing Levinson slightly, we may say that he defines a v irtual X as what you get when the information structure of X is detached from its physical structure. (3) Levinsons examples include virtual - i.e. electronic - classrooms, libraries, and books, and these certainly do not have the run across and feel of actual classrooms, libraries, or books. As I have noted elsewhere, the two definitions coincide in the case of virtual reality - the information structure of reality as a whole includes its look and feel - but this is a coincidence the two definitions represent different concepts.

Characters as Portrayed Through Themes and Images in The English Patien

Characters as Portrayed Through Themes and Images in The English Patient While the four main characters of The English Patient are extremely powerful, and definitive to the readers judgement of the story, they cannot stand alone without the patterns of imagery, symbolism and parable which underpin the text, and offer a complexity which extends beyond the literal level. These patterns reveal information about to each one character, and provide significant links between characters and ideas which lead to a greater understanding of the novel. Likewise, the plot would have little impact upon the reader were the novel not so densely coloured with these patterns of imagery, symbol and metaphor amongst which skin, hands, mapping and the elements are particularly important. A metaphorical idea which resonates throughout the novel, and is present in alone of the characters (particularly the English patient and Caravaggio) is the concept of man as a sort of communal Book, whereby every aspect of his life, and his relationships with others are mapped onto him. This also operates literally, through the obvious markings of scars on the English patient, and in Caravaggios case, the loss of both thumbs. ...his black body, beginning at his destroyed feet... ahove the shins the burns are worst. Beyond purple. Bone. This description of the English patients body is brainsick and confronting it addresses the theme of pain, the construction of identity, and of course the physical evidence of his tortured past, which the reader learns more about as this imagery develops. It is almost as if his body is a landscape a war zone onto which all evidence of suffering is mapped. Imagery... ...o mirror the horrors of the wa rin which these four people are involved. The themes explored through the elements in particular, are complex and contradictory, just as the elements are themselves. Sometimes harsh, sometimes cleansing, and almost always painful, t hese elements shape the characters and plot, and reside in much of the imagery explored in the novel. The techniques of symbolism, metaphor and imagery develop the novels themes of love, war, suffering and identity, which inform a reading of the novel which would not be as powerful through use of characters and plot alone. The justness and eloquence through which these themes are explored really inspire thought and reflection in the reader, which in turn credits a more complex understanding of the novel. Work Cited Ondaatje, Michael. The English Patient. London Pan Books, 1993