Cell Phones and Privacy

Legitimate reasons for using prepaid cell phones:

1. Younger Kids who only need a phone for basic communication with parents.
2. Can't afford a 2-year wireless contract.
3. Lost too many expensive phones (Prepaid phones are more easily replaced.)

I do not think that prepaid cell phones should be banned. Banning an item because a select few individuals that use it for criminal activity is absurd. The privacy is protected, but that isn't necessarily why everyone who uses a prepaid phone, has one. The reasons above are just a few of the many legitimate reasons for owning a prepaid wireless phone.

Location Tracking Question

Should children have tracking chips implanted in them so they can be found when lost, just like a dog?

This question brings up one glaring privacy issue in my mind and that is that anyone who has the knowledge of how to trace a tracking device (which I'm assuming many criminals and hackers do) could gain access to the location of any child that had been implanted with a chip. Who's to stop these hackers from using this information for wrongful or criminal activity? In my opinion the benefit of knowing where your children are at all times does not out-weigh the cost of potentially having your child's every location potentially visible. If there was a bill in Congress that required tracking chips in children under 5 I would not support it. If parents want to make the decision to do that then that is one thing, but to make it MANDATORY for every child under 5 is completely unethical. The government has absolutely no right to put tracking chips in children. With seniors that have dementia I believe that it should be their choice. They would need to be brought in to a doctors office and made aware of the situation. If they consent then ok, if not, it shouldn't be done.

First Post

This course has already taught me a lot of information about the internet and how it came to be. I have learned much about the first computers and how they became connected leading to the internet that we know and use toady. I am looking forward to the topics that will be covered in the remainder of the course.