Blogs

After about one week of being a part of the group, i think we have made good progress. I am researching current and possible solutions for our issue, while everyone else is researching their own topics. We worked well drafting both memos and the timeline. So far, no major issues.

Thursday night I began research on original history and background of our topic because that is my assigned task.  I have found that the problem has gone farther back than I what I originally would call recent time. The research has made me more interested in our topic, considering I didn't know if what as good one to choose at the beggining of our proposal. I will continue to compile this research until it is time to start writing our rough draft.

This week I have been researching privacy issues with Facebook. One of the most interesting issues I found  was with companies placing advertisements on Facebook based on what you are interested in as a person. I found that Facebook has 44 partnering companies that are able to sift through your profile and put advertisements on your main page based on your interest. I also found information about the beacon privacy issues with businesses. I am still in the process of finding more information to complete the White Paper Project.

Facebook

This week I helped my group be doing preliminary research as to how privacy issues effect the users of facebook. I also helped in the wrtiing of the proposal memo as well as the time line memo. I am still researching the topic but have foucused my efforts to finding information about the use of facebook by businesses and the legal and ethical issues that this practice presents.

For the white paper project I have aided in writing the topic proposal and the planning guide.  I will be researching the criteria and methods that China uses to block websites. After a discussion with Prof. Kerns, we have decided not to write to the Chinese government directly, but to a group that focuses on internet censorship called Amnesty International.  I think this will work to our advantage because the Chinese government won't listen to a bunch of students from the US.  However, an organization that focuses on this type of work might yield better results.

This week I have helped my group to establish the memo and timeline for our white paper project, on top of that, I have also contributed parts of my suggestions on the proposal of possible solutions to minimize eBay fraud.  I have also volunteered to do the group blog after every meeting.  I am assigned to do research on escrow services, and I have found that eBay's escrow services typically only cover $500 or abobe.

Last night I worked on the memo and a little bit of research for the white paper for about 40mins. We are now using google docs which is awesome.

This week the group principally worked on the creation of a project plan, including the allocation of work to individual group members.  I aided in the editing and finalization of this project plan, adding suggestions to project component deadlines as well as providing recommendations for the delegation of tasks to groups members.  After editing the project plan, I passed the draft on to other group members for further editing.

This week I contributed to my group by helping in the writing and organization of the scope of work memo and timeline.  I volunteered to research the topic of Facebook's privacy settings.  I have found one article about the Facebook user's lack of use of privacy settings.  The security company Sophos found that 75% of Facebook's users allow any other user to view their profile, whether they are "friends" or not.  Another article, from CBS News' site, describes how often employers look at the Facebook pages of potential employees and how it does effect whether or not that