1. Both Google and Yahoo have been criticized for censoring their search results in China. What are your feelings about this? Why should Google, or why should Google not, produce different search results for different countries?
This question is one that I actually had direct contact with. Last summer, the summer before I came to JMU (this is only my second year here) I went to China to study abroad with my school, UVA-Wise. It was the best thing I've ever done but also the most different. The culture shock was huge and it took me a few days to really adjust to all the differences. I took classes at the Shanghai International University on the cultural background and history of China. I learned that a lot of their restrictions came from their government and that the people really didn't have much say or control over it. The students who I came with all had a day out with our pen pals and went so many different places around the city. I learned a lot about not only the sites but about them, their goals and how they lived their everyday life. The most interesting thing to me was that the one thing said to me by a girl I met, Gigi. She listened to almost all of the same music that I did! I asked if she had seen the music videos on You tube and she explained that it was blocked. She then went into detail on how the government put restrictions on what the people are allowed to see. It made me really sad because all of the things that I have been able to experience and been exposed to all my life, she probably has no idea about any of it. Lets face it, our country is so advanced and has access to things that five, ten years ago didn't even exist yet.
I knew now that I could not access You Tube and told my roommate about it so we went back to the hotel where we stayed and tried for ourselves, sure enough it was blocked. I went to search for it on Google and found that the things available to search in China were severally restricted. I really didn't understand how a country like China, who also had many technology advances was a place so restricted to it. Gigi also went onto explain that the government was very secretive on issues and that most of the time the people would never know many of the things being changed and done right in front of them.
I believe that this world is full of good and bad issues but that's how people learn and make the choices and decisions that they do. To restrict people of this knowledge, the way to see the world in a different way is robbing them of a chance to live a very sheltered and cutback life. I don't believe Google/Yahoo should change their censoring of search results based on what country you live in but I don't think that Google/Yahoo have much control over this though. Like Gigi told me, the government has so much power that the people are powerless, much like Google is to China. The power of knowledge is in the hands of the Chinese government which has been limited and I feel as though will limit the knowledge of the people as well. While American's have to many options of search engines, television stations, music, techology in genreal, "In China, the situation is reversed: The technology creates greater government control of the information its citizens receive, and better tools for monitoring their behavior." (Blown to Bits,4) This whole issue reminds me of one quote that JMU is famous for, "knowledge is power" and I feel explains the way China is perceived on censoring issues and the lack of knowledge that is capable due to the power of the government.
2. Chapter 2 revealed the reason behind grocery loyalty cards. How do you feel about the use of these cards that offer us discounts at the cash register? Do you feel your purchasing privacy is worth a discount?
I had mixed emotions on this subject. For one, I myself have several of these cards and never really looked at it in depth like this chapter has. The one thing that caught my eye the most and that I could personally relate to was the description of TJX. "The theft of information about 45 million customers of TJX stores, described in Chapter 5, “Secret Bits,” was even larger than the British catastrophe." (Blown to Bits,36) I used to work at TJ Maxx back home in high school for two years and the leak of personal information is what made such a huge controversy for this store. I worked a lot of customer service and we promoted a TJX Rewards card not too long after this incident and it was very very hard to convince the customers that the information they were giving us was safe after the theft of so people happened.
For every customer I had to ask " Would you like to save 10% today by applying for a TJX rewards card." So what would happen is the customer would fill out a form of personal information and I would enter it in the computer and if it was accepted then they would save 10% on the purchase right then and there, if it wasn't however they would receive a letter in the mail on how to receive a rewards card. This was very hard for me to promote sense almost everyone customer was a regular and aware of what had happened in the past. I also feel like it depends on the amount of discount that a person would get in order for that person to give their personal information out. No one wanted to give their personal information, social security numbers were required and several customers said they didn't want the discount anymore after finding that it was needed and the discount only being 10%. Now if it was a higher discount I feel as though some might reconsider because they want to save money.
I believe that purchasing privacy for discounts depends on the person and the experiences that they have had. I myself have not had any problems with loyalty cards but have seen when they go very wrong. That is why this question is so hard for me to lean one way or the other. "We lose control of our personal information because of things we do to ourselves, and things others do to us." (Blown to Bits,36) It is both our fault and not at the same time because we are trusting someone else with our information and expecting it to stay private when that is not always the case, like TJX. I do feel that I am more careful after I worked at TJ Maxx on the information that I give out and ask questions before I give out my information. Where as before I worked there I did not at all. I do not however believe that it is not worth risking your privacy just to receive a discount. The technology and things that people can do these days is unreal and not impossible as what happened to TJX, it could happen to me too.
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