Buzzy fixing Buzz.

Google, the pioneer of Internet development, recently released a new gadget for their Gmail email service. With the name "Buzz," it aims to provide a basic social network between people who already use Gmail. It didn't sit well with many of Google's customers. Initially, many thought Buzz was intended to be a replacement for Facebook. In my opinion, if Google was trying to compete with Facebook, they would have made Buzz much better than it is. But the complaints actually weren't about the lack of features. Instead, the complaints came mostly about privacy issues. Many complained that when they signed up for Gmail, they were signing up for an email service and not for a social networking service. This is the part that confuses me: Google Buzz is entirely voluntary. It is a feature that has to be activated by the user. Additionally, Buzz does not give other people access to your information, but only to what you post on Buzz. If you are concerned about privacy, then just don't post anything you don't want the world to see.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/maggieshiels/2010/02/google_buzz_scorecard.html

The Evolution of Computer Security

We live in the age of information, where everything is recorded. I can't search for a simple cookie recipe on google without etching the act into a giant log of search requests. But for most of us in the younger generation, we can't imagine a time when it was possible to connect to the Internet unnoticed. Yet not too long ago, Internet traffic was only loosely monitored. What caused this shift from lenience to tight security? Necessity.

When classified information is compromised because of a lenient approach to computer network monitoring, it's not hard to imagine that policies might be changed. That's exactly what happened. Over the years, hacking and other computer attacks have lead to heightened network security. Yet, as security has tightened, viruses and hacking have not been eliminated, as might be expected. If anything, the problems are worse than ever.

I remember learning in Biology about survival of the fittest. Our textbook showed a colony of bugs eating potato plants and explained the effects of spraying them with pesticide. Initially, many of them die and the treatment seems effective. Yet, a few years later, the bugs are back eating the potatoes. This time, however, they are immune to the pesticide. They are the descendants of the few bugs that were able to resist the pesticide in the first treatment. The attempts to eliminate the bugs only gave rise to a stronger generation of bugs. The same concept applies to computer security. Heightened security in computer systems gives rise to a smarter, stealthier generation of computer hackers.

Our computer systems today are being bogged down with security features, firewalls, and logging processes. Yet today's hacker is so technologically advanced that these crippling features are as useless as throwing rocks at a tank. Is the solution to install more security features? I think not. Instead, computer users should be educated about the computer threats that exist. If every computer user out there were as clever and capable as the hackers, it's hard to imagine that hackers would have much power. Some attempts have already been made to educate the populace about computer security, but I submit that it is not enough. So I offer this plea: if you are technologically capable, spread your knowledge. If you're technologically inept, it's time to learn.

Creating Genealogy

The technology that drives genealogical search can be improved. While I was growing up, computers were becoming widespread and the internet was taking hold. Such technology was a fact of life for me. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the addition of an internet connection to our home was largely motivated by an interest in genealogy. Because they were among the first things I knew about on the internet, genealogy databases seemed to have been around long enough that I assumed they were perfect. It is only within the last few years that I have realized there is more innovation to be done in the field of genealogical technology. I speak to my fellow members of the church in the field of computer science. Computer science is a new and constantly improving field. Though, like me, computers and technology may seem a fact of life to you, don't let that deter you from finding ways to improve the technologies that exist. Some members of the church come from strong families where their genealogy has been done all the way back to the 15th century. If they can find work to do on their genealogy, we can certainly find improvements to be made in technology that has been around for less than two decades.