Can Technology be Harmful to Society?

Technology is advancing quickly, and it is unimaginable the things that people with even a small amount of technical knowledge can do. Before I explain the concept I will be talking about, please take a look at the following message from Barack Obama.

Did you believe that this clip was really Barack Obama when you first started watching it? It is scary to think about how realistic this clip of our former president seems. Think about if initially, you thought that was really Obama, then when you saw that it was actually Jordan Peele realized that the video seemed off. We can agree that it looked scarily close to being real.

In fact, it is becoming increasingly difficult to spot a Deep Fake video. If you take a look at the video below, you can see this exemplified.

These technologies are undoubtfully innovative, considering the ways technology has improved in the past ten or twenty years. However, this is an extremely powerful tool that can easily be learned by anyone with knowledge of how to use technology. If fallen into the wrong hands, there can potentially be damaging results from these types of videos.

Imagine, for a moment, that someone makes a Deep Fake video of President Trump saying that he is planning to go to war. Imagine the chaos that would cause in our country. The question now is: how can we regulate this tool to avoid these problems?

While the technology is still quite new, the government hasn’t had a chance to act against it. According to an article on Brookings, “research led by professor Siwei Lyu of the University at Albany has shown, face-swapping (editing one person’s face onto another person’s head) creates resolution inconsistencies in the composite image that can be identified using deep learning techniques.” There are ways to spot these Deep Fakes, we just as a society have to be aware and know that seeing may no longer be believing.

If you take a look at the following website, you can interactively look at how these Deepfakes work.

CNN Interactive News: Pentagons Race Against Deep Fakes

Brookings.edu: Artificial Intelligence Deep Kales and Uncertain Future of Truth

Questions:

1. Do you believe Deep Fakes can be harmful to society?

2. Could you think of other ways that this technology can be used other than in the political race?

3. Where can you see this tool being used for good?

Gender Inequality in eSports Participation

In the world of sports and athletics, men were traditionally the ones with a higher advantage over women. However, as this generation expand its idea of sports to electronic gaming (or eSports), which don’t require physical attributes, it is yet again divided with men being favored over women. Despite electronic and consoles being gender neutral, the majority of professional players are male. This post plans on exploring and analyzing this discrepancy within the gaming world.

As seen in almost all sports, the gender diversity problem is apparent, and that holds no exception to eSports. How is it that gaming, which doesn’t hold itself to be gender-specific still find its way to be more male-dominated? In fact, according to a 2019 study by the Entertainment Software Association, 45% of U.S. gamers are female. Yet women only make up a small portion of the professional eSports player pool.

The most prevalent reason is audience toxicity. For instance, women streamers who gain visibility are assaulted with death threats, sexual harassment, and overall discouraging comments from their viewers.

“A female Overwatch host received death threats earlier this year for expressing an opinion on Twitter. Overwatch pro Kim Se-yeon (known as Geguri) has dealt with hacking accusations just for being better at the game than people expected her to be.”

Once a gamer is identified as female, it’s almost as if all power and respect is instantly taken away. Rather than being focused on the gameplay of the stream, many comments are based around the gamer’s appearance, their voice, and their overall knowledge or ‘lack of’ about the game. And while these women could try to tune everyone out, their performance is still very much affected by the toxic environment.

"Why is the girl so loud? Why is the girl shouting? The girl needs to shut up. She’s annoying me with her voice" 

Even with all this negativity, many women gamers are striving towards changing the game of eSports. Pro-gamers like Maria “Remilia” Creveling and Kim “Geguri” Se-Yeon are of the few women that participates on an actual team for competition. While their fame is short-lived, their gender signifies recognition for change in the professional league. As this generation works towards a more inclusive and respectful community, it’s important to recognize that there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of representation. However, we can start by letting everyone play.

"It ultimately comes down to the community and the fan base,” Kim said. “(Women) don’t want to deal with the toxicity. They don’t want to deal with the media going crazy over them. They don’t want to deal with living with the boys or getting preferential treatment. They don’t want to deal with all of that. They just kind of want to play."

Questions:

• When you view streams, what parts do you look for (gameplay, credentials, commentary)? 
• Before reading this article, how many known professional female gamers did you know? How many were male? 
• Do you believe that women hardships (harassment, threats, negativity) is more prevalent in eSports than other sports because the sport is technology-based? 
• Do you believe men are inherently better at gaming than women?

Articles related:

Women navigate toxicity, other barriers in esports
Esports' urgent need for visible gender diversity

Hero or Traitor: The Government is Watching

It seems that before June 5th, 2013, the world was in technological bliss. We enjoyed all of technology’s benefits and did not think about all of its capabilities, both good and bad. That was until the 21^st century’s biggest whistle blower, Edward Snowden, opened the door on government spying. In this tech talk, I will discuss what Edward Snowden revealed about the NSA and his perception in today’s culture. By the end of this post, you will have to decide if Edward Snowden is a privacy hero or American traitor. 

Edward Snowden was born in 1983 into a family that all worked or was involved in the government. Snowden worked for the CIA from 2006 to 2009 and then began working for the NSA in 2013. While at the NSA, he began compiling documents with information on NSA’s surveillance practices and on May 20^th, 2013, Edward asked for a medical leave of absence and left the country. On June 5^th 2013, the Guardian and The Washington Times leaked the information provided by Snowden, about PRISM and other surveillance programs. Not only did the American people learn that the government was spying on them, but that big corporations that they trusted with their information was helping them do it.

PRISM is a program that helped the NSA collect information such as emails, document, photographs, and other sensitive date from major companies (Rathnam 2017). Some of these major companies included Microsoft, Skype, Apple, Google, and YouTube. Other than PRISM, the leaks also revealed that the NSA was wiretapping in on people’s calls thanks to providers like Version, AT&T, and Sprint.

Once all of this classified information was released to the public, there was a mix of emotion and led to the start of a major debate: was Edward Snowden a hero or traitor? One side saw Snowden as a champion of personal freedom and viewed the government as crossing a major line that violated constitutional rights. The other side argued that Snowden released classified government documents that jeopardized national security and the safety of all citizens.

Since this 2013 leak, there has been in increase in disclosures by big companies about sharing personal data and many Americans cover their computer cameras and phones worried that the government is listening; however, the original anger and panic has seemed to dissipate. This CNET article reported on January 2018 that programs, such as PRISM, have been renewed by Congress and have not gone away. Have we forgotten about the government having so much information about us? Maybe, but we've lost our innocence when it comes to technology and every time we search something on Google, can we help but wonder if Big Brother is watching? 

Questions:

1.      Before reading this blog, were you aware of Edward Snowden’s massive NSA leaks and what they included?

2.      After reading the articles, do you believe that the government has the right to conduct mass surveillance on American citizens in the name of “national security”?

3.      Do you believe that Edward Snowden is a privacy hero or American traitor?