2022SPEAIT_Immo Fritze

The question of wrong or right always depends on perspective. Whether it is an individual’s age, gender, cultural background, or profession, we all follow a somewhat different ethical code. The digital age has created a platform for everybody around the world to interact with ease, thus creating a worldwide ethical battlefield.               Originally, cultural differences where experienced during travels or conquests, often resulting in wars between kingdoms, nations, and states, thus limited, as they were confined to a certain space. However, with the increased societal mobility starting in the late nineteenth century, cultural clashes became more imbedded in daily lives and with the internet most geographical barriers were overcome. People from around the world can read Elon Musk’s provocative posts, watch the Christian ceremonies performed by the pope or read news about the war in Ukraine. Depending on each individu...

     In 1952 the six-year-old Paul Alexander becomes ill and soon is diagnosed with Polio. The chances are slim but he manages to survive, not without losing his mobility and physical freedom. Since then Alexander has been confined to the range of his “iron lung”. The iron long keeps his vital organs alive, but requires large amounts of energy and technical thus making a normal life extremely difficult. Alexander is immobilized from the neck down, however learned to use different tools with his mouth to draw, type or control other elements.      Alexander worked hard to learn to breathe without his iron lung. For the first three seconds he needed almost a year of practice, but he was tenacious and wanted to explore the yard, then the streets and after completing his studies he managed to appear in court as a lawyer for hours at end.      In 1967 Alexander succeeded in completing high school without ever attending class and went on to stud...

     Over the years many different operating systems have been developed on the base of Linux. Due to its moldability the individual systems are tailored to a certain user-group and thus for a certain set of tasks. Distributions vary from versions for office users to systems for super computers, the range covers all aspects of operating systems. One of the more known systems are Ubuntu and Kali. Whilst Ubuntu focuses on Linux starters, offering a clean user interface and complementary applications such as LibreOffice, media players and browsers, Kali was designed for offensive cybersecurity. It has pre-installed tools that were developed for penetration testing and ethical hacking.      Kali is being developed by only a small team; thus, they concentrate on the cybersecurity specifications and use an existing operating system as a base. In 2010 and 2011 they used Ubuntu as their base, they since have changed to Debian and kept it. Ubuntu, which was also i...

 What society defines to be a hacker is a distorted version of its  original definition. While the definitions from inside the hackerdom have a rather social, goodhearted and innovative element, the non-IT society sees hackers as threats to their personal information. In his text “Hacker Ethic” the philosopher Pekka Himanen proposes seven ideals that hackers should abide. The ideals, although mentioning ethics at several points, do not define a clear limit, which I would expect to exist in a text defining the hackerdom. The ideals; passion and freedom, highlight the creativeness that should drive a hacker, which I agree with. Generally I agree that whatever one does should be pushing oneself, motivating to explore the depth of the field, however if that means violating other legal and ethical codes, that would be too much freedom. The original definition of a hacker, a passionate IT expert, does not imply an unethical use of its skills, however a hacker by the societally kno...

     Another disputed topic is online privacy, should we have complete privacy? It is a very complicated discussion as the counter argument is strong. Complete privacy also ensures a high degree of anonymity therefore making it more difficult for law enforcement to identify criminals or other wrong doers. However, an individual with no intentions of criminal activity will feel wrongfully treated.      The NSA and other security agencies run security checks on specific words, phrases and activities on certain websites. If the words “bomb”, “how to build a weapon” etc. are searched the user will most probably be registered by their system. In such cases I would agree that an increased interest in such topics should be monitored as they could pose a certain threat, but as somebody that studies engineering and is sometimes merely interested in knowing how things work and the science behind certain technologies, I feel uncomfortable doing research on such topi...

       Censorship is a strongly debated topic, whilst some states used it to control the content their citizens can access, limiting their rights and freedoms, some institutions argue that their censorship protects its networks users. One example are libraries or educational institutions, especially schools censor certain websites such as gaming website, adult websites and possibly others. Some are blocked with the argument that they should not be accessed by children and for certain websites it’s the distraction that is a factor.      At our school initially YouTube was blocked which teachers very quickly recognized as a problem as our school was digitally proactive and incorporated online resources into everyday class. Multiple other websites were taken off the ban, however the school office was reluctant to remove the ban completely. Teachers and staff were provided with a separate internet connection so that they were not required to circumvent a...

     When the Internet started to grow many threats started to appear and with it the need for security in the digital world. To protect its users, companies started to implement passwords, however that prompted the first generation of hackers. Who’s attempts to crack the feeble code structures that were supposed to “protect” the users created further distress. The constantly challenged systems prompted a varied development of security protocols and softwares. Whilst some passwords are meant to provide online security, others protect hardware and some softwares provide security for different digital threats such as viruses and trojans. However, the online space grows on a daily basis and is included into educational, state and everyday systems requiring increasing security measures.      Kevin Mitnick, hacker and IT-expert, defines security with three factors: technology, training and policy, depending on the digital culture of a country a different level...

       Sometimes the design can lead to a catastrophic failure, sometimes another element can be used to balance the issue and sometimes the design is simply perfect.      It was always a close battle between the leaders of the aviation industry Boeing and Airbus, however due to a fatal design flaw by Boeing, Airbus was able to secure a relevant market advantage. In 2014 Airbus reintroduced one of its most successful models, the A320, in a modernized set-up. By keeping most of the design the same the FAA approval had to go through less steps, however by changing the turbines and some material choices the aircraft was made significantly more effective. The new model, the A320 neo, was a big success and to counter that Boeing needed to react fast. Similarly, Boeing reintroduced their most successful model, the 737, as the 737 Max, with the same idea of offering the proven design with updated propulsion systems. Whilst testing their new aircraft the com...

     I am going to compare IT professionals of two countries, Finland and Germany as the value of an IT expert has such different images.      Stereotypical to the Scandinavian region, Finland’s IT workers are involved in societal development and occupy an important status. There is an extended 3/4G reception network, school are obligated to provide a course for students to pass the @-kortti, an IT-license and the IT industry is one of the largest in Finland. The government recognized the information era early and started adapting, informing the society, and raising awareness about its importance. The early engagement has proven fruitful, Finland provides many IT services and is recognized globally for to its contributions such as Nokia, and to the gaming industry e.g. Angry Birds and Supercell. Students are introduced to technology as a tool at an early age, which is promoted by government and private programs through financial virtues. Furthermore, Finl...

     When communicating online whether it is via WhatsApp with a friend, via email with a professor, via tinder with a match or in a forum with a complete stranger, we are using our online personality. I adhere to the idea that all of us have different personalities, I am not talking about having different underlying values and morals, just different ways of acting with different people. Just consider yourself when you are with your parents in comparison to when you are with your friends, or partner. I can hear myself changing my tone of voice, using a different vocabulary, maybe even changing my posture or even consider a change of wardrobe depending on what person or group I am with. One reason for that is that in my mind I have a picture of how other people might see me, or if I am to be honest, more of a picture of how I like to be seen by certain people.      We all do it, sometimes we are aware of it, but often we do not even realize that we change ...

     Copyleft, a term coined from the movement of free licenses, with the intention to antagonize copyrights. It determines how licenses will affect derived work, thus how a creator’s work is influenced and categorized based on the licenses of the basis he used.      There are three categories, strong copyleft, weak copyleft and no copyleft. Strong copyleft requires that for all derived creations the licenses from the original are kept. This impedes the creation of proprietary software. A strong license is the GNU General Public License. Whilst it enforces barely any restrictions on the use, development and copying of the software, these liberties however, are only ensured if the derivatives are pertained to the same rights. This means that the licenses are hereditary, therefore the derivatives cannot be made proprietary. Strong copyleft licenses therefore impede the linking to proprietary or non-free software, making it rather inept for developers. This ...

       It’s one click on Spotify or Youtube and one can listen to the newest releases of the worlds greatest artists, Instagram, TikTok and other platforms are used to share art, hundreds of platforms offer pirated versions of the newest movies or series. An uncontrollable flow of information on a private and commercial level, blurring the definitions of laws and copyrights that were defined in a pre-internet era. Laws to protect creators’ rights, but also to allow users to freely share information when no commercial intentions are involved. In 2012 two members of the Swedish Pirate Party wrote a proposition for politically restructuring and clarifying the laws of copyright.      In the Report “The Case for Copyright Reform” the authors highlight that restricting the act of sharing information on a non-commercial basis, would infringe upon basic human rights. I agree that limiting the use of information on a personal level should not be legal. The on...

     Pekka Himanen, a Finnish philosopher, drafted the above mentioned report for the “Committee for the Future” of the Finnish Parliament. The intention was to address the necessity of changes due to the shift from an industrial society to an information society. Based on the technology existing at the time and clear trends, such as the industrial changes in developing regions in Asia, Himanen predicted the influence of innovations on society. Thus, assisting the parliamentary committee to estimate changes needed at an early stage to maintain a welfare state.      The report thoroughly discussed the impacts of an information society on the workplace, predicting increased internationality, the changing work-ethic due to constant availability and the negative effects of a “society of emergency”. Internationality in the workplace has strongly increased since the report was written. With the internet enabling inter-continental communication and the growing a...

       The Gutenberg Project is one of the oldest examples of sharing digital content to a community, without promoting a price tag. It originates from the University of Illinois that started a collection of research papers and other e-texts in 1971, now there are thousand of e-books available as well. The idea of community-based knowledge and software was adopted by many leading to the creation of OpenAccess, a platform to share scientific papers, Linux, a software that any user can develop and contribute to the community or wikis, a website to provide information that anybody can edit.               Ward Cunningham initiated a project in 1995 at his university, to allow members of the community to write and edit information posted on a platform. This led to the creation of wiki’s. Wikis are created for multiple purposes, some write biographies, or used as a company-internal information platform, as ...

       Whilst the first prototype was already complete in 1971, the DiscoVision, frontrunner to the LaserDisc, was introduced to the market in 1978. However, due complications in the pressing process, contracts with media companies were cancelled, MCA DiscoVision was not able solve the issues.      During the same time, Philips developed the LaserVision, publishing it in 1982. Similarly to LP’s the media was pressed onto the disc creating an analog video and sound track, that was to be read by a laser, therefore theoretically not wearing off the ‘information’. In the US and Japan the technology was fairly popular, however due to the steep prices and the size of the discs (12-30cm) it never spread through the greater population. The VHS was reigning at the time, the higher resolution of the discs was attractive to the wealthier movie watchers, however the price difference was too large. However the benefits of the discs were not left unnoticed and man...

     Our generation uses the yellow faces on a daily basis, if its to show laughter, love or happiness, most text messages contain one of the characters, but where are they from, who created them?      Emojis, emoticons, smileys, originally intended for sharing emotions through digital messages. The title “Inventor of the Emoticons” is contested by two people, Kevin Mackenzie in 1979 and Scott Fahlman in 1982. Mackenzie’s email contained a ‘-)’ with the intent of meaning “tongue in cheek”. However, Fahlman’s message in 1982 contained the more classical form of emoticons: eyes, nose, mouth ‘:-)’. Unaware of the new language that was started the spread and growth went unmonitored. In 1993 a book “The Smiley Dictionary” was published documented all the different emoticons up to that date, however with the growth of messaging and cyber platforms the book became outdated within a few weeks. Some of my personal favorites are Ronald Raegan ‘7:-)’ and the Pope ...

The user interface of electronical devices is constantly being developed to facilitate the use of technology and make it more accessible in all aspects of our daily lives. It started with elements such as the keyboard and mouse allowing people to interact with the computer and shape the experience in a more personal manner. Later touchscreen-technology allowed users to control a device through ones haptic senses. The next step was introduced by Apple, when the iPhone was released with Siri, a voice assistant, in 2011. No mouse, no touch was needed to use a computers applications, solely by expressing the key words “Hey Siri” a completely new input method was available to the public. IBM set the first milestone in speech recognition in 1961 with its Shoebox project, however the most significant developments occurred in the 2010s. Apple competitors rushed their own versions of voice assistants to the market, Google Now in 2012 for Android devices, the following year Windows released Cort...

I never knew his name, but he is my personal hero, without his work, how could I write a single essay? Larry Tesler, he is known for his achievements at Apple and Xerox. His goal was to make computers more user friendly. He promoted the idea of a “modeless” computing to make the programs easier to use and learn. “Modeless” means that the input is not interpreted differently in each mode, but it always he same. However, his most influential achievement was the creation of the ctrl+c and ctrl+v commands. The exact date is never stated, but the idea started in 1983. Initially only copying text, now these commands are used daily by almost all computer users. Although simple, the commands facilitate the movement and copying of information at an enormous scale. Whilst it is something that many people oversee, these little innovations have a great impact on how we use computers. Larry Tesler is an example of somebody who committed their lives work to make the user interface as friendly an...

In the late eighties German engineers from Fraunhofer were working on a digital format for music and sounds. In the early 90s they succeeded. Not only was the MPEG file usable on computers, but it could also be stored in less space than cassettes or discs. In 1992 the Olympic Games were broadcasted using the mp3 technology and was soon implemented as the standard. Although being used in computers, before the MP3 player came along, there was a need of technological innovation. The issue was the size of the storage discs, which was solved with the Multimedia Card brought to the market by Siemens and SanDisk in 1995. The same year the German company Pontis released a prototype of the MP3 player. Digitalized music sprouted millions of copies of copy right protected songs, causing a legal and ethical debate. Its practicality was undisputed, however the lack of control over copies and distribution of those, posed a threat to record companies and producers, which never really ended, however w...