Anonymous

            One group that I have begun to become more and more interested in is the internet group Anonymous. Anonymous originated on the imageboard 4chan, and represents thousands of members from all over the world. They are involved in many different things, but I am most interested in the ways that they have affected culture and politics.

            The term anonymous came from the fact that the posters to 4chan could post in a way that gave no indication to their identity. After a few hours each post would also be removed from 4chan’s servers. This is primarily done to save on server storage, but lends itself well to preserving an anonymous identity on 4chan’s website. 

A flag that symbolizes anonymous.

            One of Anonymous’ most publicized efforts was known as “Project Chanology,” a protest against the Church of Scientology. When an in house propaganda video was released into the mainstream media, Anonymous picked up on it and began their protests against Scientology. They began several methods of protest against Scientology including denial of service attacks to their website, prank calls, and black page faxes to their fax machines. These protests were not only behind closed doors or online. Anonymous also began to organize in protest on the streets. I find this particularly interesting. Some people will argue that online relationships do not ever amount to anything in the “real world.” 4chan, however, proved that they can indeed organize effective mass protests.

A protest outside of a Church of Scientology.

            One of the most recent actions that Anonymous has undertaken is its defense of the website WikiLeaks. These efforts have been named Operation Avenge Assange and Operation Payback. Their goals have been to attack websites of those that do not support WikiLeaks such as Amazon, Visa, Paypal, and MasterCard. One thing that I found interesting is that these attacks were actually successful. On December 8^th both Visa and MasterCard’s websites were successfully taken down. Anonymous has also worked to help raise awareness for cables that they believe were possibly overlooked by the media. They want to raise awareness for the cables that are especially interesting or that are embarrassing to governments and corporations.

            Anonymous was also involved in the recent revolts in Egypt. Websites that were created with the purpose of keeping Mubarak in office were taken down.

            The successes of these protests are particularly interesting considering 4chan’s nature. Because everyone is Anonymous, there are no real leaders of the group. And information that is posted could not be available even 2 hours later. If 4chan was able to organize these mass protests against the Church of Scientology I wonder what websites with a more organized structure could achieve. These vigilante acts can be dangerous, however. In my opinion, the attacks that I discussed were arguably done to benefit the greater good. Some efforts of Anonymous have not been as heroic. Sometimes 4chan will choose to focus their energy on harassing a single person for some small flaw in their beliefs or in their personality. This can be dangerous for that person and for their family when there is no accountability.

Fourth Post

This is the first article that I think we could improve: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

When reading through this article it is clear that the writing is not neutral. We could go through the article and try to clean up the wording. Another problem is that a lot of the information on the page does not have any citations. We could look for a source for the information, or just remove it from the article if nothing can be found.

I am having trouble finding anything on the Electronic waste: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewaste page that needs to be updated. I looked on Google News and it does not seem like there has been any recent government activity in dealing with Ewaste. However, at the top of the page it says that the article is very US centric. Maybe we can look up laws in Europe that deal with Ewaste, that have not yet been added to the article. I could not find. Maybe we could get some statistics that were found in Europe, rather than the US.

This page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_Toxics_Coalition could use a lot of work. SVTC is located very near to us. We can look on their website for recent news about the organization to put onto the Wikipedia page. It should be very easy to find content to add because there is almost no information on the page right now. For example, we can provide links to each of the reports that the Wikipedia article mentions.

Third Post

I used Yahoo as my search engine because it is one of the major names in internet searching, but I am not familiar with actually using it.

I think that this may be the most challenging post that I need to make because I could not find many articles or people who think that e-waste is a good thing. It seems like pretty much everyone out there is working to reduce it. Most manufacturers are aware of the problem and offer some sort of recycling program to their customers.

These are the search terms that I used: "ewaste awareness" and "ewaste disposal methods"

The first website that I found is: http://www.takebackmytv.com/

• What individual or organization is responsible for the site and what is their purpose or mission?
•  Take Back My TV, it was started by the SVTC but has since become its own entity. Their mission is to spread awareness among consumers about how different television manufacturers are working to reduce the environmental effects of their products.
• How is the site funded?
•  It is a non-profit. It is sponsored by the Tides Center.
• How current is the information?
• Fairly current. The latest article or "press coverage" that they link to is from April, 2010.
• What useful arguments on either side of the controversy you are studying can be found on the site?   Are any of the arguments supported by research?
• This is a useful website because it is one example of the controversy in trying to spread awareness about the problems of ewaste. They do support their arguments with research. They cite statistics about how much each company works to provide a recycling program or raises awareness about other issues that could create large amounts of ewaste (such as the digitization of television transmissions).
• Given your answers to the questions above, what points of view might be missing from this site?  What other kinds of sites should you search for that might provide the missing points of view?
• The point of view missing from this site is that of the manufacturers. This website is very slanted to those that are arguing against them. I don't think I am going to find a place where there is someone arguing against the effects of ewaste. It seems like everyone agrees that it is a problem.

 The second website that I found was: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/carroll-text

• What individual or organization is responsible for the site and what is their purpose or mission?
• National Geographic
• How is the site funded?
• Sales of their magazines/advertisements on website
• How current is the information?
•  Written in January, 2008
• What useful arguments on either side of the controversy you are studying can be found on the site?   Are any of the arguments supported by research?
•  This is an article about how the United States disposes of ewaste. The United States has not signed the Basel Convention that makes requires developed countries make undeveloped countries aware of incoming ewaste shipments. Because of this much of the US's ewaste is shipped to third world countries. Even waste that was given to be recycled will often end up in a landfill in a developing country.
• Given your answers to the questions above, what points of view might be missing from this site?  What other kinds of sites should you search for that might provide the missing points of view?
•  The opinion of those who ship ewaste to third world countries. The US Government on reasons why the Basel Convention has not been put into effect. I may be able to find an article that details the issues that the Basel Convention would cause in the US or what effects it would have on the American economy. 

Second Blog Post

I used Google as my search engine because that is what I am familiar with and can work efficiently in. 

These are the exact search terms that I used: "computer parts that create ewaste", "threats of e waste on health"

This is one of the most useful websites that I found: http://www.ban.org/E-waste/technotrashfinalcomp.pdf

• What individual or organization is responsible for the site and what is their purpose or mission?
• Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition 
• How is the site funded?
• Study was funded by Toxics Link India, SCOPE, Greenpeace China.
• How current is the information?
• This document was published on 2002-02-25
• What useful information about how your technology works is there on the site?  Be sure to note any useful images and diagrams that would help explain and translate technical information for an audience of your peers. 
• On page 44 there is a rundown of each different toxic material in an average personal computer. It provides the content, recycling efficiency, the weight of the material, and where in the computer it is found. There are then stats about the content of these toxins in soil and water at various locations. On page 6 there is a very simple table that would be perfect for our slideshow. Overall I think this website is very helpful. Not only does it provide some stats on ewaste content in personal computers but it also helps to describe why ewaste is a problem, where it comes from, where it goes, and the hazards of each toxin.
• Given your answers to the questions above, what kind of information might be missing or unreliable on the site?  What other kinds of sites should you search for that might provide the missing information?
• It is from 2002 so the toxin content in computers could have changed. However, the information about why ewaste is a problem and the problems that each toxin causes is still relevant.

My second article is: http://www.america.gov/st/energy-english/2010/May/20100527135941kjleinaD0.4422266.html

• What individual or organization is responsible for the site and what is their purpose or mission?
• Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State
• How is the site funded?
• Taxes
  
• How current is the information?
• This document was published on 27 May 2010
• What useful information about how your technology works is there on the site?  Be sure to note any useful images and diagrams that would help explain and translate technical information for an audience of your peers. 
• This is a very current article. Much of the ewaste that was produced was shipped to China or some other third world country. This article is about how the U.S. is going to start taking responsibility for the ewaste that they produce. It cites current studies as sources of information. Overall the article was about how there is so much ewaste that is illegally being taken into countries such as India, China, and Niger and the health risks posed to them.
• Given your answers to the questions above, what kind of information might be missing or unreliable on the site?  What other kinds of sites should you search for that might provide the missing information?
• No detailed information on what is inside of computers. I did not find a well laid out diagram. There was nothing on a plan that the US would take to remedy the situation. We should cover the extent of the problem but also some of the ways that people can help, and what is being done to solve the issue.

First Posting

I used Duck Duck Go to do my searching because it is a direct competitor to Google. This way our group can see if Duck Duck Go is able to provide useful information for further research.

These were the search terms that I used: "impact of computers on the environment"

One of the best results that I got was from here: http://update.unu.edu/archive/issue31_5.htm. I feel that it is useful because it comes from a university, the United Nations University. It is an older article, and was written in 2004. This could still be useful because they talk a lot about the impact or CRT monitors on the environment. Since then the only monitors on the market are flat panel or LCD. This way we can see if this progress has been beneficial or detrimental to the environment.

• What individual or organization is responsible for the site and what is their purpose or mission?
• The organization is the United Nations University. Their mission is to educate and research. They were mainly funded to educate researchers at the graduate and post graduate level.
• How is the site funded?
• Voluntary contributions
• How current is the information?
• It was written in 2004, see above.
• What useful information about how your technology works is there on the site?  Be sure to note any useful images and diagrams that would help explain and translate technical information for an audience of your peers. 
• It gives some information on what is inside a computer that makes them environmentally unfriendly. It will offer comparison about progress from 2004 to present.
• Given your answers to the questions above, what kind of information might be missing or unreliable on the site?  What other kinds of sites should you search for that might provide the missing information?
• The only thing about this site that could be unreliable is due to its age. I think that the source (UNU) is reliable. To get more current information we could search more recent news sources.

Another useful result I received was: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2660_128/ai_62590576/. This site seems to be a repository for many different magazine and newspaper articles. The particular one that I linked to came from USA Today.

• What individual or organization is responsible for the site and what is their purpose or mission?
• USA Today. It is a well respected newspaper. findarticles.com seems to be a part of bnet.com which is a part of CBS networks.
• How is the site funded?
• USA today is funded through people purchasing the newspaper. findarticles.com seems to be supported via advertisements.
• How current is the information?
• Not very current, it was written in 2000. However, the basic idea and message of the article remains true today.
• What useful information about how your technology works is there on the site?  Be sure to note any useful images and diagrams that would help explain and translate technical information for an audience of your peers. 
• This article discusses how tech companies could work to reduce their environmental impact by providing recycling options to consumers, etc. As far as I know most computer companies offer some sort of recycling programs to consumers. This article talks about the people who got that movement started.
• Given your answers to the questions above, what kind of information might be missing or unreliable on the site?  What other kinds of sites should you search for that might provide the missing information?
• Again, this article is old but it could provide some insight on how the history of technologies impact on the environment has occurred.