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Online Fraud

Otherwise known as Internet Fraud is officially described as: 

Internet fraud refers to fraud that is committed with the help of the internet. Online services are used to conduct fraudulent solicitations, fraudulent transactions, and to transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions. Internet fraud can be committed in web sites, chat rooms, e-mail, and message boards.

There are a few ways to prevent internet fraud when surfing the internet, the first way is to never fall prey to Scams online, know what to looks for in order to prevent being defrauded. 

The most common is that you will either get a message, call or other means of contact from a company or person claiming to be your bank claiming your accounts been locked or other people such as the IRS there to claim tax from you otherwise the police will be called to your house.

Now don’t get scared they are faking it, they will normally talk to you about whats going on over the phone and either ask for your details over the phone or if it’s over message then they’ll send you a link to a site that looks like the thing they're claiming to be but don’t be fooled its a trick.

always ignore or delete the message, even going as far as blocking them if they persist, banks will never ask for your personal bank details over the phone, if they’re anything wrong with your account your branch will ask you to come into the branch to fix the problem.

Another scam to look out for is the Nigerian prince who died and left everything to you or wants your help to move his money scam.

this scam is normally done by asking you again from your bank details so you can have this money which is normally portrayed as MILLIONS which can be very tempting, but again don’t be fooled, these are just scammers that want your bank details so instead of giving you money they can steal whats already there.

Cyber Bullying

The official definition of cyber bullying is:

Cyber bullyingˈsʌɪbəˌbʊlɪɪŋ/

noun

the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature."children may be reluctant to admit to being the victims of cyberbullying"

There isn’t anyway of avoiding Cyber-Bullying but there are ways to stop it happening to you, here are a few tips.

Don’t respond

Get screenshots as evidence

Tell Someone you trust

Block the bully

These tips won’t help you avoid cyber bullying but it will make sure you as an individual can stop anyone who decides to harass you online.

Grooming

There are many definitions of this word but the one to look out for is online grooming:

prepare or train (someone) for a particular purpose or activity."star pupils who are

groomed for

higher things"synonyms:prepare, prime, make ready, ready, condition, tailor; More

(of a paedophile) prepare (a child) for a meeting, especially via an Internet chat room, with the intention of committing a sexual offence.

See now this is why you have to be careful online as being groomed doesn’t just happen to little kids even though they are normally the target, people can groom adults and use them for things such as their money, as a cover for a crime etc.

There are ways to tell if you are being groomed online, here a few signs I found:

Grooming happens both online and in person. Groomers will hide their true intentions and may spend a long time gaining a child's trust. Groomers may try to gain the trust of a whole family to allow them to be left alone with a child and if they work with children they may use similar tactics with their colleagues.

Groomers do this by:

pretending to be someone they are not, for example saying they are the same age online

offering advice or understanding

buying gifts

giving the child attention

using their professional position or reputation

taking them on trips, outings or holidays.

But that’s child grooming, if you are an adult you’ll wanna read this one:

Adult grooming is the adult equivalent to child grooming and applies to any behaviour where an adult is prepared so they unwittingly allow abusive behaviour or exploitation to occur later. The abuser typically befriends or builds a relationship with the victim in order to establish a relationship of trust.

Now that you know the signs you can’t normally tell once it’s started but if you feel like you're being used or even groomed then block and get rid of the abuser immediately.

Inappropriate Posts

This is pretty simple, inappropriate posts have no reason to be online but idiots on the internet still post them even though they get negative feedback, the retaliation from others is normally the reason they post it, sometimes it’s not even they're own ideals its just posted to turn head and  get a reaction.

There are different types of inappropriate posts, some are sexual and some can be racist or sexist posts. other posts to look out for are homophobic and trans-phobic posts.

try to censor yourself online to avoid offending anyone which is relatively easy to do nowadays so make sure to keep irrational thoughts that aren’t appropriate for the public to yourself.

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Ethical and legal implications of IT

Copyright/ plagiarism

http://loudwire.com/metallica-cease-and-desist-allegedly-ripping-off-80s-metal-band-incubus/

This news article is about an incident titled  “Metallica Issued Cease-And-Desist for Allegedly Ripping Off Death Metal Band”. The article starts by explaining that Metallica was issued a Cease and Desist letter regarding their song “Moth Into Flame”:

The song according to the article was reportedly “fundamentally a close duplication” of the Incubus, or as they were later know Opprobrium as the name Incubus was taken, song “Hunger for Power”:

The cease and desist was presented to the band Metallica on March 27th of this year (2017) by Brutal Records and publisher Risky Music. I have included a copy of the letter below:

“It has been brought to my attention, that you have made unauthorized use of my copyrighted work which is titled ‘Hunger for Power.’ Your work titled ‘Moth into Flame’ is fundamentally a close duplication of my work filed under the copyright of SR-130-298.

As you have not sought or requested permission/authorization to use, nor to make and/or distribute, sell, lend or lease my copyrighted work entitled ‘Hunger for Power,’ you are hereby notified to CEASE AND DESIST any and all further unlawful acts of copyright infringement with regards to your actions and/or statements relating to this matter.

Failure to comply with this notice will confirm your complicity and leave me no other alternative but to proceed to file a civil action suit seeking monetary damages and compensation for court and attorney’s fees incurred as a direct result of your unlawful actions of copyright infringement. It is not my wish to seek legal recourse; however, I will vehemently do all that is necessary to protect my work, ‘Hunger for Power,’ and interests. Please note that this letter will be the only warning I will provide.

THEREFORE, you are hereby requested to immediately CEASE AND DESIST any further acts of copyright infringement and within 10 business days return the signed written assurance below affirming that you will refrain from any further acts of copyright infringement.”

I am on Metallica’s side in this argument but as i kept reading it turns out that Opprobrium had nothing to do with this letter so I hope everything get resolved. 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/18/hackers-attacked-one-in-four-uk-firms-last-year-survey-finds

This article is about how in one year hackers did attack one in four firms in England. The article starts by explaining that the hackers targeted firms that;

“ lack even the most basic security measures to protect confidential information.” 

This warranted an investigation by the BCC (British Chambers of Commerce) which found out that only 24% of businesses had the right security in place to stop these attacks.

But some larger companies are more susceptible to these attacks, a staggering 42% of huge businesses are successfully hacked, unlike the 18% who are small companies.

I agree with Adam Marshall when he says :  “Firms need to be mindful of the extension to data protection regulation coming into force next year, which will increase their responsibilities and requirements to protect personal data. Firms that don’t adopt the appropriate protections leave themselves open to tough penalties.”

I’m on the side of the hackers as I think they are teaching the businesses that their security needs to be better and are subsequently helping them by hacking them

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Page 91!! You will always have a vibrant, loving community here.

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Impact of IT on Employment.

Technology and It have drastically changed our workplace in certain aspects. In the fields of work where manual labor was hard and required a certain set of physical skill like making cars etc, these jobs have been slowly replaced by machines which takes most of the work load and strain off of humans, this means less incidents and accidents at work.

I think that technology has expanded the working opportunities that we have today through the use of online application forms. These have helped people apply for job placements quicker and easier. It has also helped hand in reports or work  for said jobs and helped people keep in contact and have good communication with their boss and co-workers.

In my opinion, technology hasn’t reduced opportunities in the workplace as much as people think. People like to glorify the jobs that have been taken over by machines but not all robots make people redundant, sometimes yes peoples jobs have been taken over by robots but normally the people who’s jobs have been taken over get training so they can look after the robot who took it over and let’s say one person get replaced by a robot who needs three people to managed, thus creating jobs not reducing them so personally i don’t think this is a problem.

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IT and Society

How has IT improved our society? 

Give one example how IT has helped build strong social bonds

IT has greatly helped society just as it has equally hindered it. In some third world countries they could really benefit from IT, I feel like it would help them advance their countries and help pull it out of the almost horrific state they are in now, get rid of the slums and give people proper housing and it would pay for a lot of medical and economic advancements in the countries as a whole. In another context, IT can greatly help disabled people and those with mental disabilities. Lets take a look at this man:

This man is Stephen William Hawking, one of the greatest minds of our generation when it comes to all things science, this mans mind works similar to a super computer almost. He literally wrote the theory of Black Holes, BUT! Mr has motor neuron disease now it doesn’t always affect speech but in most people the muscles in the mouth, throat and chest are affected so he can’t speak that well but thanks to advancements in IT and technology, he was given a special motorised wheelchair that, with the help of IT and Tech, gives him a voice, where it may be motorised and sound a bit robotic, it’s still a voice he didn’t have before, the way he does this is through a small sensor which is activated by a muscle in his cheek, he then uses this sensor to 'type' characters and numbers on his keyboard.

Another way IT has improved society is the way is has helped build strong social bonds, where as this might not be true 50% of the time as most people with any kind of gadget to hand will more than likely be on it 24/7. It has helped up connect with people we wouldn’t normally be able too without it, namely, other people in different countries. i have numerous good friends I wouldn’t have met or been able to talk to at times if it weren't for IT. Some relationships even depend on IT to stay relationships, this is normally because of the distance between the two.

I feel that IT has harmed the third world countries just as much as it’s helped them. The reason behind this is that whereas IT would help them develop their country, I think on the flip side that where all the other First and Second world countries are making amazing technological advancements that could leave the third world behind in their dust almost so it get progressively harder for them to catch up to the others. 

In my opinion technology has made us equal parts independent AND isolated from the rest of society, we use a gadget and new apps that are being developed every day which makes us more reliant on them for things such as entertainment, food delivery or for transport, because people have become to idle and don’t want to go out to travel to places that are easy to get to, people won’t leave the house unless the place they want to go to is five minutes away or around the corner.

Social bonds such as daily interactions with people have been weakened by the interruption of IT and technology, where as you would have to leave your house to learn about what’s going on in your community or to go to a news stand to grab a news paper. . .

Nowadays if people are curious about current world affairs they can simply turn on their TV or unlock their smart phone and use the internet or an app  to access this information, in this country today I rarely see a Newspaper stand like the one pictured above and normally they’re filled mainly with sweets and candy instead of things like leaflets and newspapers. And like I mentioned before people don’t want to leave their house to do anything unless you’re one of the very few people who for some reason get up at ludicrous hours of the day for ‘morning jog’.

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IT and the Individual

How has IT changed how your parents/grandparents would spend their time, compared to how you spend your time?

IT has changed the way my parents have spent their time in numerous ways. My mum likes to remind me of the good old days where if you wanted to go out with friends you’d take a couple pounds, walk to their house and go to a park or field somewhere. Nowadays, if my parents want to go out withe friends who live a long way away they can just message them asking to meet up using their computer, tablet smart phone or laptop. Another thing is normally my mum would spend her spare time reading a book and my dad would sleep. Now (my dad still sleeps 99% of the time) they are either on their smart phones or their tablets or watching TV on the online movie and TV show streaming box we have installed into our 4K TV.

How has IT changed how you interact with other people?

IT has most definitely changed how I interact with people, most of the time I don’t because I can just message them online using my phone on the various social media applications. There have been times where I have been sat in the same room or even at the same table as someone and still been using my phone to talk to them instead of using verbal communication.

How has IT changed how we learn, and how we obtain information?

Learning, as my mum likes to remind me daily, used to consist of walking down to the local library and renting out books or staying there to finish your homework or to look something up, which made my parents massive bookworms. Nowadays, if you need to look something up or do some homework you can either look it up on your phone or use your computer or laptop of even your tablet to do it. All the information you need, and sometimes even information you don’t need, is online which can both help and hinder your work as you could get distracted by pop-up ads.

How has IT changed the amount of exercise we do?

IT I don’t think has changed the amount of exercise we do, me personally, I don’t do much exercise anyway but I think if I didn’t have my phone or any form of IT or Gadget I would become increasingly bored and look for something to do and maybe exercise would be one of them, so yeah it’s impacted exercise in the way that people are too preoccupied by WiFi and their social media and their gadgets to get out and do anything. Some don’t even go out to get food as you can just as easily order it online from a take away store which can contribute to obesity as most take away’s are fast food.

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what in IT Tech creation?

Boston Dynamics | Handle “Handle is a research robot that stands 6.5 ft tall, travels at 9 mph and jumps 4​ ​feet vertically. ​It uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 15 miles on one battery charge. ​​​Handle uses many of the same dynamics, balance and mobile manipulation principles​ found in the quadruped and biped robots we build, but with only about 10 actuated joints, it is significantly less complex. Wheels are efficient on flat surfaces while legs can go almost anywhere: by combining wheels and legs Handle can have the best of both worlds.”