Blog 5 - The History of Social Media

            Social media has become second nature in our society today. It links billions of people together on a global scale in ways that was never thought possible. It is hard to believe that this phenomenon is not done growing and that we are on the verge of experiencing a social communication breakthrough. In an article written in the American Historical Review, Rozenzweig quotes the publisher of Wired magazine’s, Louis Rossetto, belief that the breakthroughs in social media have already, and will continue to, bring about “social changes so profound their only parallel is probably the discovery of fire.” This comparison can be viewed as a profound overstatement when you take into account that prior to 1988, the Times only referenced the internet one time, in a short aside article, that had very little significant reference (Rozenzweig). All things must have their beginning. In order to understand the history of social media as we know it today, we must first understand how the internet and the World Wide Web began and transformed life as we know it forever.

            During the 1950’s and 1960’s, many of the world’s nations were at war with each other. It is argued that during this time period the Internet was created out of the need to have a communications network in place that would be capable of surviving a nuclear attack. The Rand Corporation, a think tank used for research and development, was tasked by the United States government to create this new communication utility. Rand partnered with the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and together attempted to build this so called communication network. They created “the essence of the internet” through a multitude of cables, radio, and satellite communications (Ryan). At first, these communication lines were largely used for military and educational purposes. But in the late 1950’s, the idea of online networking as a social, public phenomenon began. Young adults began to engage in an activity known as phreaking, which is the art of hacking into telecommunications systems for the purpose of making a free phone call. This group of individuals grew in numbers and they began communication with one another to share their common interest of hacking the systems. This led to the public use of the Internet as a means of communication with each other (Ryan). The Internet was used largely by only those technologically savvy enough to manipulate it. It would need a user-friendly face-lift through the adoption of the World Wide Web.

            Over one-hundred and thirty years ago, Alexander Graham Bell received the patent for the telephone. Obviously this had a drastic impact on how we, as a society, are connected today. It took 74 years before there were over 50 million subscribers using the telephone to be connected. Radio subsequently took 38 years to reach the same figures after it went public followed by the computer; taking 16 years for it to reach the same amount of people.  As the technology became more available and more advanced, the time it took to connect mass amounts of people decreased exponentially. The World Wide Web, after its inception in 1993, would require a time of only four years to reach over 50 million users (1 Setting). The World Wide Web was created by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, by a scientist in 1989. It was originally created to establish lines of communication for scientists at many different institutions across the globe. In 1993, CERN donated the technology to the world allowing mass public use (CERN). This led to the commercialization of the World Wide Web.

            Though the concept of the World Wide Web as a navigations system was adopted from CERN in 1993, private commercialization of the Internet and World Wide Web was taking place years prior to that. In 1991, the United States began to allow commercial users to access the Internet. This gave way to the concept of the modern day Internet Service Provider, or ISP. Users could pay a fee to a commercial provider and in return were granted access to the Internet. At first, users of one company could only connect to users who used that same company. But once CERN released their user-friendly browser, the World Wide Web, it became possible for users to connect to anyone on the Internet. In 2001, it was estimated that 18% of the total phone calls made within the United States were for the purpose of establishing connection to the Internet. People were buying computers not for the purpose of computing, but for the purpose of connecting to the web (1 Setting). Commercialization began to boom as web giants Google and Yahoo began to dominate the online market. It was now possible for mass amounts of people to be connected to one another and transmit information faster than we could have ever thought possible. Previously, media was confined to “relatively local viewing or listening” and it became “user-shared” and accessible “world-wide” (Ryan). The concept of user-shared information was the focal point of what has become the most socially connected society in our history. The idea of a user driven web is what gave rise to the social media behemoths Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

            According to Dr. Anthony Curtis, Mass Communication Dept., University of North Carolina at Pembroke, blogging began in 1997 and the Web had over one million web sites. User of AOL could instantly chat and the idea of social connectivity began to flourish through online accounts and profiles. In 2000, over seventy million computers were said to be connected to the Internet. In 2002, the social networking website, Friendster, was launched and grew to 3 million members in just three months. A year later, Myspace.com was launched as a clone of Friendster and quickly rose in popularity. At this time in 2003, there were over 3 billion Web pages. In 2004, social media websites were growing in popularity and many new websites, including Facebook, were established. By 2005, there were over 8 billion web pages and hundreds of millions of Web users (Curtis). In 2009, Facebook was ranked as the most used social network worldwide with over 200 million users. Just one year later in 2010, Facebook’s users doubled to 400 million and it was estimated that almost 30 percent of the earth’s population used the internet. By 2011, social media was accessible from virtually anywhere and had become “an integral part of our lives” with “over 550 million people on Facebook, over 65 million Tweets sent through Twitter…, and over 2 billion video views every day on YouTube (Curtis).” It is estimated that by 2015, in just three years, over 60% of the Earth’s population, approximately 4 billion people, would use the internet (Curtis).

            Without a doubt, the implications of an entire world being socially connected are unknown. There is no telling what the consequences, for better or worse, would be. In a matter of years, the number of people online has grown exponentially and is continuing to increase at unprecedented intervals. By examining the history of this social phenomenon, it is an understatement to say that society was prepared. We will continue to see changes on a global scale of how we continue to connect to one another and remaining connected will, undoubtedly, change the aspects of our everyday lives. 

Works Cited

"1 Setting The Scene--The Internet, The World Wide Web And Cyberspace." Hume Papers On Public Policy 7.4 (1999): 1. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Nov. 2012.

"CERN - How the web began." CERN - the European Organization for Nuclear Research. European Organization for Nuclear Research, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. <http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/About/WebStory-en.html>.

Curtis, Anthony . "The Brief History of Social Media." The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Mass Communications Department. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. <http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SocialMedia/SocialMediaHistory.html>.

Rosenzweig, Roy. "Review Essay: Wizards, Bureaucrats, Warriors, And Hackers: Writing The History Of The Internet." American Historical Review 103.5 (1998): 1530. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Nov. 2012.

Ryan, J. "A History Of The Internet And The Digital Future." World Future Review 4.1 (2012): 105-108. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Nov. 2012.

 

Blog 4 - Social Media as a Law Enforcement Tool

Credit: http://beyondthecurtain.wordpress.com

          Recently the local police department in the town I was born and raised in decided to send out text messages to individuals who wished to receive police press releases. This was a new and exciting approach to keeping citizens informed using new means of communication. There is no doubt that a socially connected society must be coupled with socially connected law enforcement agencies. Society today is more socially connected than it has ever been, and law enforcement is finally waking up and taking advantage of this new phenomenon. The sheer idea of community policing is that the police must be cognizant of its citizens within its jurisdiction; understanding their wants and needs. The fact of the matter is that most of the citizens are online so therefore the police need to be online as well. Those agencies that have not adapted policies or divisions that use social networking sites are behind the times and are missing out on the many benefits of a socially connected police force. This new wave of law enforcement taking on policies bringing their department into the cyber world is a cutting-edge and progressive way to address the issues at hand.

            The facts are clear, the majority of citizens, a whopping 88 percent according to reporter Allison Barrie, want to see the police use more channels of communication. Only 27 percent of citizens surveyed in the United States believe they are adequately updated by the police. More than 75 percent of United States Citizens surveyed believe that social media networks would be an adequate way to update them. Police are primarily using traditional channels – newspapers, radio, and televised media stations – to keep their citizens informed. But many people believe this process is too slow and society can benefit from being updated quicker. The Seattle Police Department has heeded the call and began implementing a new program called “Tweet By Beat.” This new cutting edge program allowed Twitter users to follow different beats within the city of Seattle and learn about breaking stories and incidents in their respective areas. This has been an over whelming success with the citizens and has thrust the Seattle Police Department into leading the charge for more effective policing (Barrie). Social media provides an excellent tool for keeping the citizens informed but it also provides unique benefits to the police as well.

Credit: ABC News

            On June 15, 2011 in the city of Vancouver, Canada, chaos broke out after Boston won the Stanley Cup. Cars were torched, businesses were looted, and officers were battered. The Vancouver police department recorded receiving “3,500 e-mails” that included “53 videos, 708 photographs and 1,011 hyperlinks to social media sites such as Facebook” (Donna Leinwand, Leger, and TODAY USA). The Vancouver police department had to assign officers to sort through the mounds of evidence. As quoted in an article in Today USA, "This is the first major incident where social media has been so prevalent," said Constable Lindsey Houghton, a police spokesman for the Vancouver Police Department. This created a unique obstacle for the Vancouver police department. Usually in a case, there is a crime that occurs and police use evidence to discover the suspect. In this case, police had names of suspect’s before they even knew what they had done. A resident of Vancouver created a page on Facebook titled “Vancouver Riot Pics” which has received over 100,000 fans. Many people “tagged,” or identified, perpetrators in the pictures or took screen shots of confessions or admissions of guilt and passed it off to the police. The Vancouver Police Department was able to react quickly and bring justice to those involved. They were praised in their handling of the incident partly because they were ill-prepared for the new policing techniques (Donna Leinwand, Leger, and TODAY USA). The City of Vancouver is not alone in adapting and implementing new policies with regards to social networking.

            Police investigators in Cincinnati stumbled upon a video of an armed robbery in which the perpetrators posted the video to an online social networking site and then bragged about it. The investigators only discovered it because they were using social media sites to investigate another crime trying to discover friends and family of a potential suspect. Cincinnati Police Department already encourages its officers to use social media sites an investigative tool. Law Enforcement agencies at all levels, like the Cincinnati police department, are making room in their cash-strapped budgets for training in online investigations. Cincinnati has seven analysts charged with the task of social networking investigations and information. The police department wants to add more. That particular unit now receives more than 100 investigation requests per month because it has proven to be extremely beneficial in court cases as strong evidence (Roger, Yu, and TODAY USA). Police agencies have limited resources and may not be technology savvy enough to make full use of social media as an investigative tool. Due to this reason, the private industry is stepping forward and is revolutionizing the tools available to law enforcement.

            Police have a daunting task of having to swim through waves and waves of social information when conducting social media investigations. Sometimes the company, such as Facebook, does not provide the user data to the Police Department without a warrant or subpoena and even after obtaining a warrant or subpoena, the data obtained is not easily translated into common language. That is why one researcher in Austria has developed an application that would allow law enforcement officials to very easily categorize all of the data used on a social networking site by messages, location, and specific keywords used. In some cases, this can be done without Facebook’s permission if the computer or hard drive is already in the police’s possession. More and more private industries are coming up with ways for Law Enforcement to maximize their effectiveness online for the purpose of sending out information and for criminal investigations (Aron).

            Law Enforcement is on the verge of implementing new, cutting-edge programs that would have never been considered just ten years ago. By implementing these new programs, such as the “Tweet By Beat” program in the Seattle Police Department, the agency can expect to increase its relations with the community and will be more respected. An agency that is respected by the community it polices is more likely to be successful through the continued support of the community. Public Information Officers will begin taking on new roles in their departments focused more on new communication channels with the citizens. Agencies will be opening up divisions specifically tasked with combating the new social networking phenomenon and will see unprecedented changes. Law Enforcement will begin to change completely as we enter into a new era of social connectivity.  

Works Cited

Aron, Jacob. "Cybercrime's Social Side." New Scientist 212.2838 (2011): 26. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.

Barrie, Allison. "Why the police should take to Twitter NOW." Fox News. Fox News Network, 11 2012. Web. 6 Nov 2012. <http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/10/11/why-police-should-take-to-twitter-now/>.

Donna Leinwand, Leger, and TODAY USA. "Social media aid Vancouver police in identifying rioters." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.

Roger, Yu, and TODAY USA. "Social media's role in police investigations is growing." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.

Blog 2 - Legal Implications of Social Media

               Every day millions of people log into social networking sites to voice their opinion about anything and everything under the sun. We enjoy the ability to share information and our thoughts with a world audience in fractions of a second. We, as a free nation, enjoy being able to voice our opinions on anything and everything we please. Instead of actually using a verbally spoken language, we resort to online posts. The United States Constitution guarantees our right to free speech and every day millions of American’s enjoy that right. Our court system has been inundated with cases surrounding issues of free speech and privacy. Now, our court system has been forced to enter into a brand new arena. The concept of social media is a brand new phenomenon facing our nation today, being only a decade old. The founding fathers of our country could not fathom a socially connected world and therefore our constitution is not prepared to address such an issue. From a Criminal Justice standpoint, the most important issues arise when attempting to deal with cases involving the First and Fourth amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These amendments have largely not been evaluated to protect our rights as citizens in an online environment.

 In 2009, one Sheriff’s deputy in Virginia logged into his Facebook page and, just like any other day, voiced his opinion. That deputy no longer works for the Hampton, Virginia Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Daniel Ray Carter Jr. was fired for “liking” his boss’ political opponent’s Facebook page. Daniel Carter Jr. took his case to court claiming that the “like” of the page is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.  Judge Raymond A. Jackson of the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk disagreed. The Federal Judge ruled against Daniel Carter stating that “Merely 'liking' a Facebook page is insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection (Hudson Jr.)” This was a huge blow to the millions of Facebook users in the United States and sent a stern message to users across the globe. The problem is that Carter did not actually “say” anything.  Free speech protects exactly that; speech. With more and more people expressing themselves online, the implication of such a case could result in complete censorship of expression. Free speech advocates and the American Civil Liberties Union disagree with the Judge’s ruling stating that the “like” button actually says the word “like” and contains a “thumbs up” which is an obvious symbol of expression. They state that this is an obvious form of expression and is therefore protected. Facebook even chimed in and stating that “liking” a political candidate on Facebook is the 21^st century equivalent to placing a campaign sign in your front yard (Gross). This case will continue to be debated over the next few years and ultimately the court system will determine if the Facebook “like” button is an act of free expression. This is a small case that will have lasting social implications. It is the beginning of a process that will be finely tuned over the next few decades as the social networking phenomenon will continue to progress and evolve. While we wait to discover the fate of the Facebook “like” button and its relation to free speech, another battle is being waged against social media and its protections under the fourth amendment.

“Existing Fourth Amendment doctrine is ill-equipped to handle the convergence of the public and the private (Petrashek)” and as a general rule, one loses all privacy expectations in what is shared with the world. When an individual makes a post to an online networking site or blog, they relinquish all rights to having that information remain private. Thus, anything they write can be used against them in any subsequent criminal or civil proceeding. Though this tension between constitutional doctrine and social practice has yet to play a major part in the courts, it may soon do so. With social networking users at an all-time high, the crimes associated with it are also increasing exponentially as more people are at risk of being victimized. Because the internet largely does not protect an individual’s right to privacy, law enforcement has largely unrestricted access to necessary information turning social networking into a crime fighting tool. In January 2012, a group of Arizona men, including a Peoria, Arizona police sergeant, triggered a federal investigation when they appeared in a photo posted on Facebook. In that photo the men were posing with weapons and what appeared to be an image of President Barack Obama that was riddled with bullet holes.  The Sheriff’s office put the Sergeant on desk duty pending an internal investigation and the United States Secret service launched a federal investigation into a potential threat against the President of the United States (Donna Leinwand). That photo was obtained from the social networking site without a warrant and can be used against the subjects in a subsequent criminal proceeding. All across the United States law enforcement officials are looking at these social networking sites and using them to solve crimes and prevent other crimes from occurring.

According to a news article on CBS in Chicago in January 2012, six individuals were charged by police in connection with a brutal beating that was posted to website ‘YouTube.com’. In California, an individual is wanted for reckless driving and speeding after he posted a video of his 118 mph ride on a California freeway to ‘Youtube.com’.  These are all cases involving police being able to use social media to hold those responsible of crimes accountable for their actions. Social media is a powerful tool for police and they will continue to use it as such. The police should not have their ability to use social networking sites infringed and should continue to be allowed to use it as an effective crime fighting tool as long as perpetrators are stupid enough to make their crimes public.

The future of online privacy acts and fourth amendment protection as it pertains to social media is unclear at this point. Without a doubt Congress and the higher courts within the United States will be facing these areas of concern. The enactment of federal regulation can be an extremely long and grueling process and by the time it occurs, social networking could have already evolved. Though some of the issues are currently being discussed, such as the case of the Facebook “like” button, they are limited in the nature to which they are being discussed. The right to free speech in social media is being discussed as it pertains to the simple clicking of a picture of a thumb but the issue is much larger than that. This is a prime example of the limited nature of social media issues and how they are being addressed. Most of the proposals and issues have nothing to do with Facebook postings or other misuse of digital data, yet that is where most of the concern is and what is important to us an a society. Many intellectuals agree that there seems to be momentum within government institutions and criminal justice agencies and many new policies may be rolled out in the near future. Until then, we as a society are going to take to those very social networking sites and warn each other about the ramifications of this new online environment (Pike).

Works Cited

Donna Leinwand, Leger, and TODAY USA. "Internet creates wider venue for political incivility, threats." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Oct. 2012.

Gross, Doug. "Virginia deputy fights his firing over a Facebook 'like'." CNN [Richmond, Virginia] 01 Aug 2012. Web. 5 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/10/tech/social-media/deputy-fired-facebook-like/index.html>.

Hudson Jr., David L. "Like' Is Unliked." ABA Journal 98.9 (2012): 23-24. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Oct. 2012.

Petrashek, Nathan. "The Fourth Amendment and the Brave New World of Online Social Networking." Marquette Law Review. 93.4 (2010): 1-36. Print. <http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5029&context=mulr>.

PIKE, GEORGE H. "LEGAL ISSUES. Online Privacy Protection Gaining Momentum." Information Today 28.5 (2011): 28. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Oct. 2012.

Song, Susannah, perf. "7 Teens Charged In Brutal Attack Captured On YouTube." CBS Chicago. CBS Local MEdia: 2, Chicago, 18 JAN 2012. Television. <http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/01/18/7-teens-charged-in-brutal-attack-captured-on-youtube/>.