Technology and the internet have great potential for good and bad. The rapid spread of information and the ability to create machines to handle tasks is beneficial however problematic. I don't see this technological boom as something that is going to save the world, nor do I see it as something that will destroy it. I think that there are some things technology can help with such as advances in medicine and creating reusable forms of energy ,to name a couple.
However, some aspects and uses of new technology are taking away from the very things that make us human. I find that some of these technologies are greatly increasing the paces of our lives. We are so surrounded with a constant barrage of information that we forget to take time to think about what is truly important. Technology can be a great distraction from human communication and interaction. I don't want to live in a world where people interact with computers and other technologies more than they do with other people.

Internet addiction is a real and serious problem. Many people become absorbed in online games or shopping to the point of it taking control of their lives. My freshman year of college I had a friend that became obsessed with an online game. He had problems with drugs and alcohol in the past and managed to quit his substance abuse; however, he transferred his addictive habits to the online game. He was spending over twelve hours a day playing online. I rarely saw him and he started not going to class in order to play the game.
Internet addiction follows the same behavioral patterns of other addictions. It is marked by a withdrawal from normal activity in order to be on the computer. Luckily, the health risks are not as great as an alcohol or drug addiction. However, it is legitimate and cause for concern.

File sharing is a development in the way people can communicate and interact. It also has many effects in the world of copyright law. Many record companies want file sharing to be made illegal so that they can maintain their record sales. I see the validity to this idea however, I believe that music is something that is meant to be shared.
I do not use programs such as limewire or kazaa. I do however burn cd's that my friends have and I am interested in. I also purchase a lot of music. I think that most people continue to buy music that they really like. If anything file sharing is leading to more people knowing about a certain musician or band. This leads to more notoriety, and more people going to concerts or purchasing things such as tshirts. I think that the music industry will adapt. I don't believe that file sharing will discourage people from making good music.

My favorite mashups were www.lastingnews.com/maps/cia_prisons.html, www.1001seafoods.com/fishing, and www.beermapping.com.
All of these sites combine google maps with things that I find interesting. I know that I will use 1001 seafoods to plan my next fishing trip. I am always looking for the best spots to catch a lot of fish. I like the cia prisons site because it is far out and probably not based on great evidence. I also like the bar mapping site because I like to drink beer. I found some of the other mashups rather boring. I have no desire to buy a house and I never use ebay or amazon.

Net neutrality is an interesting and complicated issue. Fundamentally, the debate is focused on the model that the internet should follow relative to a system of controls. Currently, the senate has to decide whether the internet should follow the same model of regulation as the telephone system (the model it currently adheres to) or whether the internet should shift to a cable TV model where services vary according to factors such as cost and provider.
Groups that assert the internet should remain the same advocate that changing the system would decrease entrepreneurship and let the control of the internet fall into the hands of huge corporations that have already established themselves as the internet giants. Google and Microsoft supports this model.
Companies such as AT&T and Comcast want to change the model in order for them to provide the best service possible while making the most money possible. Certain applications on the internet use more bandwidth than others. These companies believe that the services that take up more of their resources should cost more. They also argue that the consumer will have more options and have the ability to pay more for personalized options and features. These companies believe that a new model will drive innovation and technological advancement.
I believe that the current model is best. It has worked well for this amount of time and has shown that the parameters and guidelines in place have allowed for monumental growth technologically. I want to have access to all of the internet's resources. If suddenly it costs me more to utilize tools such as video on the internet, I simply will not be able to afford it. This issue is important to our society as the internet continues to be become more and more a part of our lives. I look forward to seeing the new advancements in the uses of the internet. I believe that if the model changes, that advancement will be hindered and cost more for the consumer.

Radio Frequency Identification Tags are a technology that have infiltrated many aspects of our daily lives. The RIFD tag is a small radio wave transmitter that can be embedded in almost anything. They have many uses.
Potentially, they have promise for making our lives easier. An example of this is using a Fast Pass on the Bay or Golden Gate Bridge. Your card transmits a signal to a rasio reciever and it counts you while debiting your account. This makes traffic flow more smoothly and decreases time waiting to pay a toll. Another good use is the prevention of shoplifting. RFID tags are placed in merchandise in a store and when you check out they are deactivated. Items not purchased do not get deactivated. When a person stealing leaves the store alarms are set off.
On the other hand there are potentially privacy invaing outcomes of RIFD technology. People are talking about having RIFD tags placed in Children in order to locate them if lost or abducted. While this could help many unfortunate situations, it also means that someone, somewhere, can locate you without you wanting them to. This is scary and invasive into personal privacy.

The issue of the lack of security in regard to the Diebold voting machines is pressing due to the coming of the November elections. Primarily, many groups are concerned with the tampering with of the voting machines. As demonstrated in the Princeton video, it does not take much to put software into the machines that tamper with the results of the election. People can place a virus or other types of cheating software onto a removable memory card that uploads the program onto the machine when it is being booted up.
If I was in charge of the California elections this coming November I would be sure that these machines were not used unless the security issues are resolved. A lot of time needs to be spent in order to ensure the legitimacy of our election's results. To make sure the process is fair, it might take going back to paper ballots that are read electronically by machines in a secure location. The electoral process will never be perfect. However, steps can be taken to improve it.

The issue of outsorcing is based in economics. Companies are attempting to reduce their costs while producing a consistently good product or service. More interesting to me, is the situation surrounding IT companies hiring foreign citizens to work in the United States. The companies believe that there are more jobs than there are American workers. This very well may be. Many countries are educating their students in a more rigorous and focused manner than Universities in the United States. This is leading to a growing workforce of qualified and skilled labor.
I believe that hiring more foriegn work is a good thing. It is ensuring that the workforce is highly skilled. In turn, the US education system will have to compete. This will improve the quality of our education system.
I am not worried about my future job being outsourced. I hope to work as a studio artist. There is no real way I could hire people in foreign countries to create my paintings and call them my own.