New Media Blog

                             Within the United States, "freedom", whether that be pertaining to speech or other forms of expression, is generally conceived as an integral ideal of the foundation of our society.  Subsequently, I believe we often take for granted many of these freedoms in which other individuals, particularly from other countries or regions, are less fortunate in attaining.  For example, this week I chose to examine an article in which focused upon the Indian state of Kashmir; this article went on to explain that "authorities" within the state placed a social media ban upon it's residents for approximately one-month's duration.  According to the author, the ban has been placed on over 20 social media services including Twitter and Facebook.  While to us this may seem as an encroachment upon basic freedoms, residents of Kashmir and other surrounding regions are actually used to...

                 While searching about topics in regards to "new media", I found an interesting article on the BBC News website; apparently MasterCard, the credit card company, has released a new type of credit card that is equipped with a fingerprint sensor.  The hope is that, with this new technology, it will be much more difficult for an individual to commit credit card fraud, as I believe only the primary user's fingerprint is able to access the option of using the card.  This change would undoubtedly add a sense of security for consumers yet, from a more logical standpoint, I question the actual convenience  of the new technology as a whole.  I'm simply thinking about this from a more realistic, real-world perspective; for example there are countless situations in which your mother, father or an additional family member may give you his/her card in order to complete a purchase in which they are physically unable(or ...