This blog is a complement to Georgetown University's COSC-011 Introduction to Information Privacy.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Im on a boat
This is the kind of material I find online when I get snowed in ... Extra credit for any student that can post a coherent comment about this video that relates back to the class materials.
5 comments:
Eric H
said...
I watched the video and then checked my gmail and I noticed that the advertisement in my inbox read I'm on a boat (then it went on about something else). Since I didn't have any emails about the song or anything else related, I have to assume that google "knew" I had just watched this video. I guess it makes sense, since Google owns Youtube, but I had never really thought of the two as being integrated. The amount of personal information that companies like Google must collect through their network of services (search, email, chat, videos) is incredible. We have talked about how much information that we make available on sites such as Facebook, but I think the power that Google has might be even greater and scarier.
One of the reading assignments for class was Blown to Bits. In this, we learned the 7 Koans of Bits. I think this clip exemplifies the second koan: Perfection is normal. It might not seem like much, but this flawless combination of the "Muppets" and "I'm on a Boat" is a new phenomenon. One could easily listen to this video than buying the original soundtrack. This highlights the ease it is to copy anything on the internet/computer in the 21st century. Even some 29 year old called XxxEcoFreakxxX can do it. In my opinion, original files are not as sacred anymore.
I chose to examine the lyrics and found an incredible metaphor for life in this increasingly technological world. We are humans, steering our destinies, and our computers are vessels (boats) containing masses of critical information. In days of yore, pirates would guess what these vessels held and attack - in modernity, they often track these vessels to know which ships to launch a full-out arsenal on, and which are full of nothing valuable. Our computers are our boats - in a world where GPS is ubiquitous. We use them to surf the world wide, and they open a multitude of doors to discover realities previously unseen - but nowadays not only are we discovering this world, pirates following these ships know we are too. The declaration is made, "Take a picture, trick" a 'picture' (or similar record with same potential for later trouble/reminisce) was in fact taken and will be stored indefinitely in the 'photo album' of a server somewhere. "I got my swim trunks and my flippie-floppies" - not only can someone know in fact what you have on the boat without such overt declaration, they will further suggest matching sunglasses to boot next time you log in to gmail! "You at Kinko's, Straight flippin copies" - yes, the minute a picture is posted, no matter how quickly you detag, it has as good as been copied multiple times as if at kinkos, with duplicates possessed by everyone from a vindictive sister trying to blackmail you (has happened) to your family christmas card showing up on a store advertisement in Europe (read an article about it, will find the link) "But this ain't Seaworld, this is real as it gets" much as people forget, the internet is the real world, and one's online actions can have intense repercussions in their lives. Ultimately, the final piece of knowledge leaves a poignant message, "Gonna fly this boat to the moon somehow, like Kevin Garnett anything is possible" serves to remind that the internet, that wide ocean to be explored, and our access via our computers/boats are incredibly useful and powerful - with power comes great responsibility, but also ease of use and access to information.
From what I've learned in this class, writing a song is a plethora of effort compared to the easier way. If one wants the entire world to know that he or she is on a boat, all they need to do is take a cell phone with them when they board. Then, the cell phone companies do all of the work for them by bouncing a signal back and forth and logging the movements of the customer.
In my spare time I am an Adjunct Professor in the Computer Science Department at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. This blog chronicles our class discussion and applies theories of Information Privacy and Security to everyday events.
5 comments:
I watched the video and then checked my gmail and I noticed that the advertisement in my inbox read I'm on a boat (then it went on about something else). Since I didn't have any emails about the song or anything else related, I have to assume that google "knew" I had just watched this video. I guess it makes sense, since Google owns Youtube, but I had never really thought of the two as being integrated. The amount of personal information that companies like Google must collect through their network of services (search, email, chat, videos) is incredible. We have talked about how much information that we make available on sites such as Facebook, but I think the power that Google has might be even greater and scarier.
well done, eric!
One of the reading assignments for class was Blown to Bits. In this, we learned the 7 Koans of Bits. I think this clip exemplifies the second koan: Perfection is normal. It might not seem like much, but this flawless combination of the "Muppets" and "I'm on a Boat" is a new phenomenon. One could easily listen to this video than buying the original soundtrack. This highlights the ease it is to copy anything on the internet/computer in the 21st century. Even some 29 year old called XxxEcoFreakxxX can do it. In my opinion, original files are not as sacred anymore.
I chose to examine the lyrics and found an incredible metaphor for life in this increasingly technological world.
We are humans, steering our destinies, and our computers are vessels (boats) containing masses of critical information. In days of yore, pirates would guess what these vessels held and attack - in modernity, they often track these vessels to know which ships to launch a full-out arsenal on, and which are full of nothing valuable.
Our computers are our boats - in a world where GPS is ubiquitous. We use them to surf the world wide, and they open a multitude of doors to discover realities previously unseen - but nowadays not only are we discovering this world, pirates following these ships know we are too. The declaration is made,
"Take a picture, trick" a 'picture' (or similar record with same potential for later trouble/reminisce) was in fact taken and will be stored indefinitely in the 'photo album' of a server somewhere.
"I got my swim trunks and my flippie-floppies" - not only can someone know in fact what you have on the boat without such overt declaration, they will further suggest matching sunglasses to boot next time you log in to gmail!
"You at Kinko's, Straight flippin copies" - yes, the minute a picture is posted, no matter how quickly you detag, it has as good as been copied multiple times as if at kinkos, with duplicates possessed by everyone from a vindictive sister trying to blackmail you (has happened) to your family christmas card showing up on a store advertisement in Europe (read an article about it, will find the link)
"But this ain't Seaworld, this is real as it gets" much as people forget, the internet is the real world, and one's online actions can have intense repercussions in their lives.
Ultimately, the final piece of knowledge leaves a poignant message, "Gonna fly this boat to the moon somehow, like Kevin Garnett anything is possible" serves to remind that the internet, that wide ocean to be explored, and our access via
our computers/boats are incredibly useful and powerful - with power comes great responsibility, but also ease of use and access to information.
From what I've learned in this class, writing a song is a plethora of effort compared to the easier way. If one wants the entire world to know that he or she is on a boat, all they need to do is take a cell phone with them when they board. Then, the cell phone companies do all of the work for them by bouncing a signal back and forth and logging the movements of the customer.
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