Music, Copyright & The Internet

"Like it or not (I'm guessing not), music is intellectual property that gets licensed, not sold. When you buy a CD, you're only buying the hard media that comes with a license to listen to the music that is recorded on that media. The fair use exception to copyright gives you some wiggle room about what you can do with that disc, such as make an archive recording, play the disc on your PC (an act which probably causes the PC to make a few different extra copies of the music as it plays the disc), etc.The owner of a copyright has the freedom to license some, all, or none of the rights that come bundled with the over-arching copyright to a protected work. The owner can license only the right to listent to the music on that disk, or he can license a right to perform the song, or to play it in public, or to incorporate that song into a movie or television commercial. This is not evil (or even greedy)... it is merely the nature of a copyright."

Emails and Attached Viruses

NEVER OPEN EMAIL MESSAGES WITH FILE ATTACHMENTS.
An executable file. NEVER OPEN an attachment with this icon. Viruses are usually spread via *.exe and *.com files (program files), this is the icon that represents program files. High risk of viruses.
This icon is just as dangerous as the *.exe icon above. The icon indicates that the file type is unknown. High risk of viruses.
Always scan a Word document, *.doc, for viruses prior to opening it. Word documents can contain Macro viruses which can be potentially harmful to your system. High risk of viruses.
Excel files can also contain Macro viruses which can be potentially harmful to your system. Always scan a Excel document, *.xls, for viruses prior to opening it. High risk of viruses.
Zip files, *.zip, are compressed files (they can contain Word, Excel, Jpeg, Gif, html, or any other file type including viruses). High risk of viruses.
A forwarded message. The message contains an attached email message, *.eml (usually a joke or information that someone is forwarding to you). The messages typically have Fw: in the subject line (the message was forwarded from someone else). It is possible for the attached email message to contain a virus.

A jpeg or a gif image. (These icons may look different on your system.) In Outlook Express jpeg and gif images are automatically inserted as a part of the body of the message. Beware, some viruses have jpg in the filename to try and fool you into thinking that the virus is just a picture. If the attachment has jpeg in the name, but has a program or unknown icon (above) it is probably a virus.
Someone is sending you a web page link to view. Notice the little arrow on the icon, it indicates a shortcut to a web site and they are usually safe.
This indicates that an entire web page has been included in the email. Notice that this icon does not have the little arrow. Because web pages can contain potentially harmful code be sure you are familiar with the site before you open the attachment. Tip: When you want to share a web site with someone, it is better to forward the link rather than the entire web page. In Internet Explorer click File > Send > Link by E-mail.

Norton Antivirus - Click Start > Programs > Norton Antivirus > Live Update - Norton Antivirus. You do not need to change any settings, click the Next button until you get a pop-up box asking you to click OK, click OK and click Finish. Reboot your machine if prompted to.
McAfee Antivirus - Click Start > Programs > Network Associates > Virus Scan Console. At the Virus Scan Console dialog box right click Auto Update and then click Start.Scheduling virus protection - It's a good idea to schedule the virus protection software to automatically update the "dat" files:
Norton Antivirus - Start > Programs > Norton Antivirus > Norton Antivirus (2001). Click Scheduling > Add Event. The Scheduling Wizard will appear, click Next. Click Schedule LiveUpdate to update your virus protection and click Next. Type Update Virus Scan in the Event Name box and click Next. Select the frequency of the update (I update Daily) and click Next. Set the time of day that you want the update to run (The machine must be turned and connected to the Internet in order for the update to be performed, so try and schedule a time that you know you will be on-line. If the machine is not on at the scheduled time, the update will run as soon as the machine is turned on.) and click Next and click Finish.
McAfee - Start > Programs > Network Associates > VirusScan Console. Right click the AutoUpdate item in the VirusScan Console window and click Properties. Click the Schedule tab. I schedule my virus protection to Run Daily, Start at 16:00 (4:00 p.m.). Schedule your protection to run whenever it's convenient for you. (The machine must be turned and connected to the Internet in order for the update to be performed, so try and schedule a time that you know you will be on-line. If the machine is not on at the scheduled time, the update will run as soon as the machine is turned on.). After deciding your schedule, click OK and Close the VirusScan Console Window.

Intellectual Property Rights Overview

Does the nature of the technology require us to change the legal understanding or status of copyright as it stands now? What rights should be associated with Web content? How should the rights be expressed, and should the expression of the rights be used for notification, enforcement, or payment negotiation? We expect the answer to these questions does not lie solely in technology nor policy, but the rational combination of both.

Utility Patents cover "inventions" -- a machine, an article of manufacture, a method of doing something, a chemical or DNA sequence or the method of its use, products of genetic engineering, or improvements to any of these things.
Plant Patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers, and asexually reproduces, a new variety of certain kinds of plants. (Note that other kinds of plants, especially those altered by genetic engineering, may be protectable under utility patents).
Design Patents cover the ornamental appearance of a useful device but not its function. For example, the body shape of a Porsche "Targa" automobile and the case of the IBM Selectric® typewriter were the subject of design patents.
Trademarks cover the name or some other symbol (logo) which represent the source of a product or service. eg. The name, logo or the shape of the product.
Copyrights protect works of authorship, composition, or artistry.
Trade secret is the privacy of not reviling the contents of a product. eg. Coke-Cola and the ingredients that go into it.
Domain names can be registered as TRADEMARKS.

Viruses and how to avoid them

The fact is, virus coders are becoming more sophisticated every day. As computer users become more educated and anti virus software gets more effective, virus coders are always looking for ways to get past both internet users and anti virus software.
This means that users need to remain ever vigilant to avoid becoming the victim of a potentially very harmful computer virus. It is important for every computer owner to know that not all viruses are the same. Some computer viruses are just annoying, generating popup ads as you browse the web, or increasing the amount of SPAM you receive.
Other types of computer virus, however, can be more dangerous. Some computer viruses can wipe out a hard drive, or steal your personal information and files. To make matters worse, some computer viruses are able to hide in a computer for some time, activating at a future date and doing their damage when triggered by certain events or dates.
Fortunately, computer owners do not have to be at the mercy of computer virus coders. There are a number of measures computer users can take to protect themselves from viruses, Trojan horses, adware, spyware and other malicious code on the internet.
For starters, it is essential that all computer users install a good quality anti virus software program BEFORE their computer is connected to the internet. This is because there are programs that constantly search the internet, looking for computers that are unprotected by virus scanning software. A recent survey by a security organisation found that it takes only minutes for a computer to become infected with viruses and spyware. Installing an anti virus software program is vital to protecting yourself from these malicious programs.
It is also important to update that anti virus software program on a regular basis. In the past, many computer security experts recommended doing updates on a weekly basis, but most agree that weekly updates are no longer sufficient. It is generally best to update the anti virus software you install daily, and to schedule those updates to run automatically. Running the updates automatically will ensure you do not forget to update the software, and running the updates daily will ensure that you are protected against the latest threats.
Most users will want to schedule the updates to their virus scanning software to occur during the night, when they are asleep. Running these updates when the computer is not in use is a good idea for a number of reasons. For one thing, updating the anti virus software when the computer is not in use will ensure that there are no conflicts, and that the program is able to update itself to detect the latest computer virus. Running the updates after hours will also prevent the updates from interfering with web surfing or any other activity. Running a computer virus protection update can sometimes interfere with other software, so it is best to run it automatically, when you do not need the computer for other things.

12 Ways to Protect Yourself Online

1. Don't reveal your persobnal details online. This is because people can track your from your personal details and get into your bank account or credit card. If you publish your hiome details then anhyone can have access to know where you live.
2. Using cookies. When using cookies the computwer wilol save your searches, usernames and passwiords for you. This is handy because it saves you time. The downfall of this tool is that if someone else uses the computer then they too can access you account saved passwords and usernames in your cookies.
3. Using several email accounts. This helps the user by allowing an email account for important emails from people like bosses, friends and family and anouther account for applying to mailing lists, chatrooms, newsgroups ect.. or other groups that you expect of recieve alot of junkmail from. The 'side' account allows you to keep your 'clean' email not filled up with lots of emails that your not going to read and leaving space for the important emails.
4. Don't give out you details to people that you have just meet. As trustworthy as theyh m,ay seem these people could turn out tmo be a peterfile at a face to face meeting or they might be some other figure that may be harmful to you or anyone else close to you.
5. Monitoring at work. Watch out and avoid of the use of personal information because many empolyers monitor the use of the web of their employees. Also make sure that you send your email to the right person and not to a wholegroup of people... Check the heading before you send.
6. Sites giving out prizes. You probably won't win but the markets can use your imformation and pass it on to other marketers.
7. Don't reply to spammers. Even the reply that you don't want anymore of their emails should be avoided because they won't stop sending them to you. If you are getting alot of 'spam' then use a filter such as:

Pam Hater ( http://www.cix.co.uk/~net-services/spam/spam_hater.htm ) for Windows users

TAG ( http://alcor.concordia.ca/topics/email/auto/procmail/spam ) for experienced Unix users

SpamBouncer ( http://www.spambouncer.org ) for experienced Unix users (works well with TAG)

BrightMail ( http://www.brightmail.com/ ) for ISPs

SpamCop ( http://spamcop.net/ ) for anyone

More information on fighting spam is available at:Elsop's Anti-Spam Page ( http://www.elsop.com/wrc/nospam.htm );MaximumDownforce's Info-n-Links Page( http://www.maximumdownforce.com/hotlinks.html );Whew's Anti-Spam Campaign ( http://www.whew.com/Spammers/ ).

8. Internet security.

9. Home computer security.

10. Take note of privacy policies and seals

11. It's YOUR choice to do what YOU want with your personal details.

12. Use encryption!

Evaluating 2 sites

American Cultural History: 1960-1969

Authority: Susan Goodwin and she wrote this because she reasearched this topic and had a good understanding of it.
Accuracy: There is no real evidence that the information on this site is accurate but the author doesa provide references.
Objectivity: Goodwin made this page to share her understanding of Americam cultural history.
Details: There doesn't appear to be any grammar and spelling errors on this site and all the links work. The site was last updated July 2005.
Value: This site's topic has no intrest to me.

The Sixties Project

Authority: Kali Tal, who is a lecturer in Comparative Cultural and Literary Studies at the University of Arizona.
Accuracy: Well they said that the information at this site is writen by the person opinionand experiences of the people that experienced this time.
Objectivity: The reson that they made this site is to not only let people know about the time of the sixties but to allow people that have had experience during this time to share their throughts, feelings and opinions.
Details: The site was last updated on the 28th of January 1999... not resently updated. There is no ovious spelling or punchuation mistakes.
Value: This site has no appeal to me at all.

A Guide to Critical Thinking About What You See on the Web

Authority: Who made this site and do they have the authority to do so?
Accuracy: Is the content of this site accurate and is there evidence to support it?
Objectivity: What wasd the reason the author made this site? For personal, acidemic or finatual reasons?
Details: The organisation of the site. Editing and how up to date it is.
Value: Does the site offer the informationfor the topic that you are researching? Was the visit to this site worth it?

Critical thinking recognizes:
patterns and provides a way to use those patterns to solve a problem or answer a question
errors in logic, reasoning, or the thought process
what is irrelevant or extraneous information
preconceptions, bias, values and the way that these affect our thinking.
that these preconceptions and values mean that any inferences are within a certain context
ambiguity - that there may be more than one solution or more than one way to solve a problem. Critical thinking implies:
that there is a reason or purpose to the thinking, some problem to be solved or question to be answered.
analysis, synthesis and evaluation of information Critical thinkers:
can approach something new in a logical manner
look at how others have approached the same question or problem, but know when they need more information
use creative and diverse ways to generate a hypothesis, approach a problem or answer a question
can take their critical thinking skills and apply them to everyday life
can clarify assumptions, and recognize that they have causes and consequences
support their opinions with evidence, data, logical reasoning, and statistical measures
can look at a problem from multiple angles
can not only fit the problem within a larger context, but decide if and where it fits in the larger context
are comfortable with ambiguity