Reading Response 1

Reading the article about web hoaxes provides a great deal of eye opening information about the dangers of the web. There are many different types of dangerous web site hoax methods out there and all of them are dangerous in their own right. While some sites that just mimic other as a spoof or joke and are not necessarily very threatening, there are extremely scary websites out there that and referred to as counterfeit or fictitious sites. These sites are more harmful because they are created with the intent to give out incorrect information or to get web users to provide personal data such as medical records or business information related to bank accounts. People will then use this information as a way to steal the user’s identity and possibly spend every penny they own before they could ever know what is going on. Counterfeit sites can not only be harmful on a personal level but also on a much larger scale as shown from the example in the article which talks about putting out false information out large companies buying each other out which then causes big changes in the stock value of those companies.

Before reading this article I did not realize how capable people out there are of easily obtain private information. From now on I know that I will be much more selective about which websites I give out my information to and the scariest part about that is as the creators of these web hoax sites become more advanced in making their websites appear to be the real thing, it can be very easy to give out information to the wrong people without ever realizing it until it is too late. Hopefully we can soon figure out a way to weed out this malicious sites and protect internet users against them.

Assignment #1

"Surge in library usage continues to generate interest"

1/13/09

Jennifer Petersen, ALA

http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2009/january2009/piosurgecontinues.cfm





The state of our nations economy over the last year has been going downhill rapidly and it is the worst economic depression our country has seen since The Great Depression of the late 1920's and early 1930's. This poor economic state means that consumers are spending less money, especially on less essential items such as books, DVDs, Cd's and magazines. Just because people aren't going out to buy these items though does not mean that they are not still getting their hands on them. Citizens are turning to public libraries for these items and taking advantage of these completely free sources of entertainment. Americans are also spending less money one going to concerts or theater events and are using libraries more and more as and entertainment resource. The media has taken great notice in this new library trend (mostly because the ALA has done their best to notify them) and has been reporting it all across the nation. On December 31st, Katie Couric of CBS news reported on the growing library trend which can be viewed on CBS News website in it's archives.

I think it is great that libraries are getting more and more use while our economy is suffering. People are beginning to remember that it is not necessary to go out and buy books, DVDs and magazines when you can access them for free at your local library. While library use is great though, it certainly wont be helping our economy out any. Less spending in stores means less money be put into the economy which only creates further problems for our nation. The economy though will rebound in time and hopefully when it does Americans will continue to use their local libraries. Using the library instead of buying a book or DVD may seem like a relatively small amount of money to save, but it can add up fast which means Americans will have more money to spend on bigger items or to invest into our economy once it has rebounded.

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Learn as if you were to live forever. Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
- Mahatma Gandhi



-Kevin