Identity & Ethics 6/5

Many people in today society than in the past have the ability to be creative, to communicate with one another, and to express their feelings, ideas, and thoughts on screen through technology such as computers. One of the points that Sherry Turkle, the author of How Computers Change the Way We Think, that I found interesting is how between 1970s and the early 1980s educators wanted to make programming part of the regular curriculum for K-12 education by taking ideas from information technology and embed them through computer science, however, the ideas today are embedded in productivity tools like PowerPoint presentation software. Most us including me use PowerPoint because it allow us to display our content on screen and be creative. With most people not having the patience or time, PowerPoint is less time-consuming. Another topic that was of interest to me is the fact that word processing software helps us think in expressing ideas. I like the fact that word processors allows us to become better writers by revising text, rearrange paragraphs, and experiment with the tone and shape of essay. I prefer to use word processing programs because I can type any ideas or thoughts that may develop in mind while typing. Cyberspace allows many users of the Internet to interact with other users connected to the Internet. I found the article, Do Boys (and Girls) Just Wanna Have Fun? Gender-Switching in Cyberspace interesting in the fact that majority males switch gender than females because most males do feel they have feminine characteristics however they can not express them in real life only anonymously through cyberspace. Sometimes gender switching occurs because the opposite sex can communicate better with the other gender than their own gender. For example, an male who portrays himself as a woman can communicate better with an women instead with an male and vice versa. It’s astonishing how certain questions about women suggested by women can be a tester to detect gender-switching based on how the person answers the questions and if it’s right. However, I feel the same way as the article states that it’s impossible to tell whether the person is being deceptive because the male who portrays themselves as a female get the answers correct which the woman takes for granted that the person is a female. Also, meeting the person in public or contacting them by phone can create a problem for the gender switcher which they try to avoid at all cost. If a female expects to meet a male for a romantic dinner but end up meeting a women, the dinner would not even occur. As for a phone conversation, it kind of easy to figure out the person gender based on their voice, how they answers questions, and how they comment on discussions. In response to the article, Who’s In Charge of Who I’am?: Identity Law Online, I feel that if someone online identity is being governed by law, their right to privacy is being violated. These people life history is being recorded and stored in database of the unknown which the information can be used without consent. Creating identities allow those to communicate and relate to that particular environment in which there identity is qualified in that group. Most people who create several identities know the rules in that virtual community and such so if they cross the line they have the ability to leave that community before being destroyed. Also, most of these virtual communities are aware of the identities being created so if problems occur it can be dealt by these communities by dismissing them from the group or giving them a warning about their actions. The United States General Accounting Office states that "identity theft or identity fraud generally involves ‘stealing’ another person’s personal identifying information...and then using that information to fraudulently establish credit, run up debt, or take over existing financial accounts." However, people creating their online identities are not stealing or committing fraud, they are just being creative in different environments and that it’s just all about role-playing. In response to the article Virtual Rape, the only thing that I say is that concept/ definition of rape is different from one culture to culture. One culture may condemn rape as way for producing children and other may see it as a not only physical harm, but physiology and emotional harm in real life. In the virtual life, rape is based on the mind of online identities in virtual communities and not the body. From watching movies and reading textbooks, I see rape as an sexual intercourse between two people without consent of the victim. Here is a link related to the topic:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/AR2007060102671.html?nav=hcmoduletmv