Week 12 questions - Web 2.0

ELANCE

Elance is an online hiring and management service. Employers can find people in various disciplines for hire, and then use the site to manage their project status, and get in touch. The site also takes care of things like payments and accounting, making it easier to focus on the actual work being done.

Companies and both medium and small business owners can use this service to find staff. This service makes it a simpler process for the employer with most of the work in finding the staff being done for them.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237714-29.html?tag=mncol

HULU

Hulu is a Web video service from NBC Universal and Fox Entertainment Group. Designed as a deterrent for online privacy, Hulu lets users watch full-length movies and TV shows right in their browser, and with limited commercials and other on-page advertising.

Unlike sites like YouTube, everything on Hulu comes directly from the content providers, and not from users. Another thing that sets it apart from most other video sites, is that content is set to expire after a certain amount of time on the service. This is in part to encourage users to watch programming while it's on TV, as well as boost DVD sales.

This service could be used by film producers to test out there product to different target markets before it is released to public television or DVD. It will enable them to see the reaction of the public but because it only lasts a certain amount of time, will mean that the viewer still needs to buy or view the film on television or DVD, if they like it of course.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237704-29.html?tag=mncol

MINT

Mint is a free online financial management service designed to compete with local money management software and other online finance services. It will interface directly with your bank and credit card companies (there are more than 3,500 institutions on the system) to keep your accounts up to date.

You can also configure the product to send you e-mail or mobile alerts when certain conditions are met, such as accounts dropping to certain levels, bills coming due, or when large purchases are made on credit cards you're tracking. It also has an application for mobile devices that lets users keep an eye on things while away from a computer.

This service would be fantastic for business owners who don’t have specific people to continually be overseeing the finances of the business. This service does almost sound to good to be true. The only setback might be that a lot of people feel uncomfortable giving all there account details to this software.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237665-29.html?tag=mncol

POST BOX

Postbox is free desktop e-mail software that's closely integrated with various Web apps and services. Once it's been connected to these outside services, it can easily open up attachments in other pieces of software or Web applications when clicking on things like addresses, phone numbers, and certain file types.

Similar to Mozilla's Thunderbird, Postbox has taken a tabbed approach to e-mail, allowing you to have several tabs open at once with various e-mail tasks running inside of each one. It also includes a to-do-list manager, archiving tool, and tagging system to let you organize and sort your mail quickly.

This service would make life easier for businesses that frequently have to order stock from a large number of suppliers. This software would simplify the process, when receiving product emails, order details, product changes, photos or videos of products, receipts and account information. Each supplier would have their own individual formatting, but postbox would simply this process for the business owners.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237778-29.html?tag=mncol

DROP BOX

Dropbox is a file storage service that syncs up files between multiple machines. Once installed, you gain access to a virtual folder that will stay synced up and pass along any new additions, deletions, or changes. All the while, the service keeps snapshots of every version of a file that's been changed, which means you can go back and retrieve older iterations.

Dropbox also lets users create shared versions of these folders, so multiple users can contribute or make changes to a collection of group files and make sure everyone is using the most up-to-date versions.

This would be great in a multimedia business environment where there are several people that would be working on one particular product at a time. Or for example a call center environment where one person makes the changes to the information displayed to the call center staff, so they all see the information at the same time on each individual computer.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237780-29.html?tag=mncol

Week 11 - Security and Privacy

Q1 - See if you can find an example of a privacy breach that was reported in the Australian or international news in the last 6 months. What were the consequences? I.e. legal, political, financial, personal etc. What action was taken in response to the privacy breach?

Sony Dinged $1 Million for Child-Privacy Breach

· By David Kravets

· December 11, 2008

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/12/sony-dinged-1-m/

The article that I found is where Sony music agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations that is knowingly collected and disclosed personal information of as many as 30,000 children under the age of 13.

According to the lawsuit Sony unlawfully obtained and publicized personal information, including e-mail addresses and photos, from children under 13 via the registration process on its roughly 1,100 music sites.

Under the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA, website operators must obtain the consent of parents or guardians before they may lawfully collect or publish personal identifying information of children under 13.

The law cannot prevent kids under 13 from faking their dates of births or providing bogus e-mail addresses of their parents in a bid to acquire parental consent. Still, Sony collected and/or broadcasted on its websites information from 30,000 children who listed their dates of birth as being under 13.

Q2 - Have you been using Turnitin software this semester? If you have was it a positive or negative experience and why?

I have never used turnitin software and up until this question I had never heard of it. I can understand why it would be a helpful tool and hopefully will get to use it in coming semesters.

Week 10 questions - Trust

1) What does this meant by the following statements?

Trust is not associative (non-symmetric)

Just because person A trusts person B, does not mean that person B will necessarily trust person A. Trust is not always a symmetric thing, in a lot of cases trust will be one directional.

Source - Information Security Management Handbook. By Harold F. Tipton, Micki Krause

Trust is not transitive

If X trusts Y and Y trusts Z, X cannot automatically trust Z. The simple fact that I trust you is not reason for me to trust everyone who you trust.

Source - Information Security Management Handbook. By Harold F. Tipton, Micki Krause

Trust is always between exactly 2 parties

Trust is always between two parties. This can be between two individuals, two groups, two organisations or even two countries. This does not necessarily mean that every individual in that organisation trusts the other, but as an overall party there is trust. Trust is always in multiples of two.

Trust will involve either direct trust or recommender trust

Direct trust is where you as an individual have trust in anther person you make the decision for yourself. Recommender trust is where you are going by another person’s recommendation as to whether to trust the person or not. An example of this is where you may have been told by a third person that the person is trustworthy or not.

2a) Have a look at the following websites. What are some of the elements that have been incorporated to increase your trust in the sites? If there are also some aspects which decrease your level of trust describe them as well.

http://www.eBay.com.au

The first reason that people have trust in eBay is because it is the World’s largest online auction site. It is a successful, original, easy to use and has millions of users. The more users something has, in particular websites, the more trustworthy it looks to a new user. EBay has stood the test of time, it is one of the most recognizable brands in the World.

EBay was one of the first websites to offer the ‘feedback’ feature, where users were able to rate each others service as either a seller or buyer. This feature increases the trust enormously between users, users are able to see the history of the buyer or seller and then decide if they wish to continue the sale with them. A bad feedback rating can be very damaging to an online eBay business.

Other elements that increase the level of trust for users is the paypal payment method, the option of insurance for some items, privacy of personal details, an online help desk, security center, forums for answering questions and overall it is an easy site to navigate through with no hidden tricks or costs.

One thing that does decrease the level of trust for me is; if you do come across a dodgy seller or buyer it is almost impossible to get you money back or a replacement item. If you come across an auction that is a scam eBay can do very little once you have handed over the money. But in saying this, the feedback feature does almost eliminate any risk.

http://www.anz.com.au

As a user of ANZ internet banking I am very impressed with this website, it offers great security, easy to navigate, rarely down, and very quick in processing transactions. Overall I would rate this site the most trustworthy out of the four websites, but in saying that because it is a banking website it has to be extremely trustworthy. ANZ relies on its reputation as being one of Australia’s big four banks.

Some of the features it uses to increase trust is, their customer service in terms of multiple contact methods, offers privacy and security statements, very easy to navigate around the website, the simple coloring of the web pages, company background and the ability to get help in using the site. Being an internet banking website the level of security is very high with elements such as; security alerts, tips & hints, explaining types of fraud, security threats and security software offers.

http://www.ozrural.com

At first this website seems to hit you with a large amount of information all at once, but once you read the homepage it is actually well set out and easy to use. All information is easy to navigate through and the links are useful in gathering information.

The elements that increase users trust in the site are the multiple contact methods including a home address. The ability to chat with others as well as read reviews and view photos & videos. Links to well known organisations such as ABC radio and the Bureau of Meteorology also increase trust. This website has a more personal feel to it than the other websites mentioned and overall I think the topic is one where you would normal be able to trust the seller in that they are not selling illegal or prohibited items.

http://www.paypal.com.au

Paypal has built its company on the basis of trust. They now have a reputation for being just that, a trustworthy organisation. Paypal are a global organisation with over 150 million users, this alone would suggest they are doing something right by its users. The website displays exactly what Paypal is and how it works. It has a great help desk and security center to help overcome any problems. The website is kept very simple and all information is easily accessed. In terms of finding what you are after this website is the best of the lot. The site lists its user agreements, privacy & product statements, fees, site feedback and information about the company.

2b) Find a web site yourself that you think looks untrustworthy.

http://www.sandysrealm.com/

Sandys Realm is a site that I would not go anywhere near; pretty much everything to do with this website looks untrustworthy. To start with I don’t fully understand what this site is trying to provide. It comes across that it is a gaming website which offers ‘freebies’ (I never trust sites that promote the word free on their homepage). The layout of this site is a turnoff, with it being hard to find whatever it is you would come to this site to find. As a site that requires you to hand over your credit card details it really isn’t giving the user any comfort in doing so.