Thursday, June 7, 2007
Dear Potential Reader
Welcome, my name is Joshua and this is my E-portfolio blog. It is a blog dedicated to the growth and development of writing. Writing is a step by step process, just like riding a bicycle or driving a car, and some steps have to be taken before others. Over time my writing skills had declined do to disuse and neglect. Writing is like a muscle, when it is used it becomes stronger and when not used it becomes weaker. Unfortunately, my writing muscle has gotten very flabby, but this blog will show the development of my writing might.
I recently find myself at a point in my life where going back to college is possible. I am a single parent trying to juggle my child, education, work, and life all at once. This task is difficult and it is very easy to lose sight of my goals. With my fresh start in college I have found myself enjoying writing and becoming a better writer. My last writing class before attending EVCC was an advanced creative writing course in 8th grade. Last quarter I took English 97 to reinforce the basic concepts of writing and to patch any gaps in my education. When I first started English 98 I had never written a research essay, nor had I used a source that needed to be cited. These are just a few of the strength training routines used in English 98 to become a stronger writer.
As you read this blog, you will see my improvements as I progress through my English 98 class and clearly see my steps to becoming a better writer. If you have any thoughts, concerns, or ideas, please leave me a comment on how I can improve my writing ability. One day I will be known as Mr. Universe of Writing but that is not possible with out feedback. Thank you
Joshua
Introduction to "Through The Eyes of a Child"
Through The Eyes of a Child is a comparison essay and my first Major Writing assignment. A comparison essay is comparing two or more things. I chose how a child views the world verses how an adult does. This essay is an excellent example of where my writing was at the beginning of class, so the full extent of my growth can be shown. The paper has many strong examples of the contrast between adults and children. For example: “They (children) do not worry about how many calories they are consuming or if they are getting enough exercise.”
Through The Eyes of a Child
The world looks differently to children than adults. Children would explore the world with a sense of wonder and viewed each new discovery with excitement. The environment around them was so humongous it seemed be inhabited by giants. Over time this excitement began to dwindle until the world around them seemed mundane. As they grow, the oversized world shrinks and become duller. This altered viewpoint affects how children view their parents, the world around them, and even how they see themselves.
To children, their parents are the most important and influential people in their lives. Kids view their parents as godlike. They view their father as a protector and provider; therefore, he is the biggest and strongest person in the universe. Children view their mothers as comforters and see them as the most sincere and compassionate person alive, with a lap that is softer than the best down pillow. Parents are seen as the most intelligent people on the entire planet. For children the concept of their parents making a mistake is almost inconceivable, and they find it shocking to witness a parent making a mistake.
Children see the world as full of wonder, happiness and inhabited with kind people. Kids look at strangers as someone who is trustworthy, and they have to be taught otherwise. Children see every animal as a pet and each new playmate is a best friend. Kids forgive and forget quickly and easily, without holding a grudge. They are naturally curious and desire to slate it. Children have a strong desire to learn and have higher brain activity to retain information more rapidly for language development and motor skills.. They experience everything for the first time and want to understand what it is and how it works. For example: Why do clouds cry or why does the moon follow us?
Generally children are happy with who they are and how they look. They do not worry about how many calories they are consuming or if they are getting enough exercise. How they look is not as important as what is for dinner and can they go play. Their clothing does not have to be designer labels and can be full of holes. Little girls are princesses and little boys are superheroes. Unfortunately, this ideology is shaken as they grow and the outside world begins to encroach on their environment.
When the children become a teenagers and then adults, their analysis of the world alters. Their innocent outlook is replaced with mistrust and self-doubt. Ideologies that were taken for granted suddenly become shallow and ill-conceived. Adults often have to look down to speak to look their mother in the eyes, and their father is not as big as he used to be. While attending high school and college, people come to the realization that their parent’s knowledge has a limit. As inconceivable as it may seem, parents do make mistakes. Over time, adults see the mistakes their parents make and realize that they are not invincible and all knowing.
With this understanding, they begin to realize the world can be a cruel place. They experience the brutality of people that seek to take advantage of the innocent and naive. They watch the news and see school shooting and understand that there are bad people in the world. Sometimes death takes family members or friends. Having friends turn against them, adults learn to be cautious of who they befriend. As questions are answered and curiosity satisfied, the adult world becomes ordinary and predictable. The grass doesn’t seem as green and new experiences become more sporadic.
How adults view themselves is constantly under attack from the media and peers. People learn quickly that how they look needs to be improved. It does not take long for adults to want to look like that anorectic supermodel or the ripped stud at the beach. While there is nothing wrong with make up and muscles, the desire for improvement doesn’t stop there. Next it is the hair or eyes that need improvement. Wal-Mart clothing no longer suffices, so people are only content with clothes that their favorite pop and movie stars are wearing. The progress continues until adults can not find anything they like about themselves and want plastic surgery. We live in a society that idolizes blonde hair, blue eyes, busty women, tall men and super athletes. With all this pressure people put on themselves, it will obviously affect their children and how they view themselves.
Children view the world as a magical place where anything is possible, yet society pushes children to grow up quickly and exposes them to things that they are not capable of understanding. Children want to be like their parents and the pop star dancing provocatively on TV. While adults wish they were as innocent and free spirited as their children, kids want to be older so they can do grown-up things. The world is a strange paradox, somewhere that children want to be older and adults wish they were younger. Maybe there is a happy medium that can be attained, where people have the knowledge of adults and the joy and wonder of children.
Introduction to "To Chip or Not to Chip"
This is my third MWA which was a persuasive essay. It covers the controversial topic of implanting computer chips in humans for security. This essay shows how my ability to write effective sentences has improved. I have never written an essay to persuade before. This is the second time I have ever used citations in a paper and we learned to incorporate them into out sentences. An example of this is when I stated, “Most RFID’s send out a signal and ‘…the data on the tags can be read by equipment from a few inches to several feet away -- and sometimes a bit farther.’(Sieberg)”
To Chip or Not to Chip
With new technological advancement there is the opportunity for misuse. From nuclear fusion came the atomic bomb and from widespread internet access came the age of the online predator. Now thanks to the amazing breakthroughs in micro possessing there is the RFID or Radio Frequency Identification which is a microchip smaller than a grain of rice. It sends out a radio signal with anything from an account number to security clearance. The chip has no internal power supply and must receive power from a reader. A reader a device that sends out electrons to power the chip and then it receives the signal from the chip. It has recently been approved for use in humans by the FAA and is implanted just under the skin of the arm. The code on the chip can store anything from security clearance, bank accounts, and medical information. While this new technology seems to be comprehensive, it still has some major flaws and needs improving. The signal the chip sends out is not encrypted and there are not enough laws regulating their use or misuse in humans. As advanced as this technology is, it still has a lot of improvements before it should be approved for mass production.
The RFID makes it easier to enter a secure building by walking up to the reader and passing the arm with the implant in front of it, but it also makes it easier to copy. With a signal being sent out continuously, “…you are effectively broadcasting who you are to anyone within range” with a reader anyone can purchase online, states Bruce Schneier, a security expert with Counterpane Internet Security Inc in an interview with Daniel Sieberg from CNN(Sieberg). This broadcast can be copied and duplicated allowing access to anything that was stored on the RFID. Some companies have voluntarily began using the RFID’s to replace security officers and password systems; however, without these measures in place anyone can access restricted areas with duplicated codes. An example of how easy it is to record the information was addressed in a resent addition of Wired magazine by Annalee Newitz. During the interview Jonathan Westhues demonstrates how the process is completed after walking past someone with the chip.
"The coil in Westhues' hand is the antenna for the wallet-sized device he calls a cloner, which is currently shoved up his sleeve. The cloner can elicit, record, and mimic signals from smartcard RFID chips. Westhues takes out the device and, using a USB cable, connects it to his laptop and downloads the data from Van Bokkelen's card for processing. Then, satisfied that he has retrieved the code, Westhues switches the cloner from Record mode to Emit. We head to the locked door….He waves the cloner's antenna in front of a black box attached to the wall. The single red LED blinks green. The lock clicks. We walk in and find Van Bokkelen waiting." (Newitz)
RFID chips can store many different types of information, but with it all in one place it makes it easier for hacker to access it. While the ability of these chips to store passwords and bank accounts sounds convenient, it is a hacker's dream come true. In one simple step an unscrupulous person can access the account information and passwords just by walking past. Most RFID’s send out a signal and “…the data on the tags can be read by equipment from a few inches to several feet away -- and sometimes a bit farther.”(Sieberg) Only the most expensive RFID’s send an encrypted signal, so the majority of the chips send unsecured information.
A chip that continuously sends out a signal gives anyone with the ability to read the chip the opportunity to track people’s movements. With strategically placed readers in hallways and at each door, employers can know the location of any employee at all times. This is a major violation of privacy. Who wants their employer to know how much time they spent in the restroom or why the employee spent ten minutes talking to their friend over in accounting instead of working? Lukas Grunwald a German security expert created a program called RFDump that alters or recodes the chips. By adding software or cookies hackers and ever employers have the ability to track when the chip is used.
“He (Grunwald) programmed RFDump with the ability to place cookies on RFID tags the same way Web sites put cookies on browsers to track returning customers. With this, a stalker could, say, place a cookie on his target's E-ZPass, then return to it a few days later to see which toll plazas the car had crossed…”(Newitz)
One of the claimed benefits of the chip is the ability of hospitals and medical providers to use it when normal communication with a patience is unavailable like a car accident or a comma, but the process is complex and most healthcare providers do not know about the chip. The manufacture of the only manufacture of a chip that can be used in humans “VeriChip” claims that the implanted chip can store a personalized code to give hospitals a person’s medical information “Using a handheld reader, healthcare professionals are able to securely access a patient's unique VeriChip ID number which can be looked up in a designated secure healthcare information database, allowing them to immediately take the safest course of action.” ("VeriChip") Unfortunately, many hospitals are not equipped to scan the chip and many doctors do not think to look for the RFID chip.(Sieberg) The “VeriChip” site did not list any hospitals that currently use the database for its patents. This could be an excellent use of the chip; however, each hospital has to have access to the database of the issuing RFID chip company.
The operation to implant the chip is invasive and painful. Newitz voluntarily had the procedure done and talked about the experience, “Allan Pantuck, a young surgeon….is inspecting an anesthetized area on the back of my upper arm. He holds up something that looks like a toy gun with a fat silver needle instead of a barrel…. Pantuck pierces my skin with the gun, delivering a microchip and antenna combo the size of a grain of long rice.”(Newitz) The chip has to be inserted under the skin, yet with any implant there is the risk of infection and rejection by the body.
The RFID implant has amazing potential, yet it is still in its infancy. The security issues involving the chip are its biggest flaw. One day the chip will have the necessary security to enable it to have widespread applications. Until then I will not be laying my arm out to have the procedure. John Proctor, director of communications for VeriChip says it best in a quote from Wired Magazine when he downplayed the issue of copying the information from the chip. “‘VeriChip is an excellent security system, but it shouldn't be used as a stand-alone," he says. His recommendation: Have someone also check paper IDs.’”(Newitz) The FAA has approved the RFID chip for use in humans, yet it must be improved before it should be used in humans.
Websites
Newitz, Annalee. "The RFID Hacking Underground ." Wired. May/2006. 22 May 2007
Sieberg, Daniel . "Is RFID tracking you?." CNN. 23/Oct/2006. 22 May 2007
"VeriMed." VeriChip Corp.. 23 May 2007
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