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The Article Review By: Efrain Gonzalez Jr. Law/421 March 10, 2013 Chuck Ward In this article review the author will present an article that specifically related to e-business and intellectual property. The information provided in this review will identify different types of and legal protections for intellectual property. The information describes, provide, and analyze the legal issues of e-business to include intellectual property, privacy, ethics, and security. The first piece of information that will be discussed is various types of legal protections for intellectual property.There are several different types of legal protection for intellectual property, and the primary legal mechanisms for protection of intellectual property are: the patent which only provides one right to disallow others from do things which are allowed in the patent. An example would be, any process being performed using genetic engineering in the United States required a license from Stanford University to US Patent 4,237,244 (the Cohen-Boyer patent) but this expired on December 11, 1997.The copyright would be the next protection that gives authors of published work the ability to be protected by the law of copyright infringement. The protection for copyright is 70 currently 70 years but it also much narrower than the patents because what is actually written down, and derivative works are written down. An example of copyright protection would be a published books, electronic publishing, software, and diagnostic questionnaires. Trademarks would be another protection because the trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that separate, and analyzes goods and services.The difference with trademarks is that they can be renewed forever, and patents cannot, but as long as it represents and is used for business purposes only. Know-hows are basically the technical knowledge and experience to do certain things, but the difference with know-hows is that there not protected under the law, but it does hold a significance value if one doesn’t understand or isn’t able to practice an invention. Trade secrets are very important and protected because these are secrets among companies who compete with other organizations and the secrets give them an upper hand against the competitors.Trade secrets protect biological materials and software. Masks works is the last protected and it basically is a series of related images whether fixed or encoded. Masks works are similar in protection under the law to copyright. The legal issues of e-business are the rise of internet and global marketing because small business owners do not want to hear about intellectual property right because they feel that it is a waste of time and money, and those two are very important for small business owners.The privacy and security issues of the e- business can start at viruses getting through the computer which can hurt a small business because the customers may not feel comfor table and secure about shopping online due to viruses, spams and emails being sent out to customers and business associates, and the viruses can end up shutting down the organization system through the computer.Hackers can get into financial statements, and different business accounts and personal client information that can lead to major problems like identity theft and a firewall would have to be put in place to block unauthorized individuals access to business information. Loss of important data can also be a major issue for a small business due to privacy and security scandals. A back up protocol would have to be put in place so that the company can regain access to important information, and loss business files needed to effectively run the organization.Ethics also plays a major role in many different issues related to the e business because security and privacy are the number one ethical issues of the e business even though companies are aware of hackers and are protecting the information, the issue is maintain the online security at all times due to expense and new technology allow hackers to become more advanced at hacking through the internet.The privacy issue plays a big part with the e business because the digital storage and back up files leaves behind important information that can be used against the organization, the employees of the organization, the customers of it, and the potential investors that invest in the company. In conclusion this article review has when into detail and explained the different types of laws that fall under protection of the e business, and the legal protection provided within the laws. The review has described and provided examples of each, analyzed the legal issues of e-business to include intellectual property, privacy, ethics, and security.This review has provided every aspect of the law and legal protection under the e business along with the many different issue it faces on a daily basis. References Retrieve from : http://www. nytimes. com/2009/08/06/business/smallbusiness/06guide. html? _r=0 Retrieved from https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/DownloadList. aspx? assetMetaId=975fc4-9d85-4785-93f4-867c4ee6986d&assetDataId=ba00b38d-2bb3-465c-b189-549fe15eedf4 http://www. ebusinesscounsel. com/clients/e-commerce-a-internet-law

Michael Jordan & Basketball

When someone says the name Michael Jordan, the first thing that comes to mind is basketball, The Chicago Bulls and Nike shoes. Through the years, Michael Jordan has proved time and time again that he is the greatest basketball player ever, and by performing in this rapidly expanding sporting field, he has gained tremendous popularity throughout the world. People of all ages and from all nationalities have gathered to watch him play. A journalist states ‘even your Aunt Matilda might not know nothing about basketball, liked watching him play† (Jonathon 1999:58). Jordan has become more than just an entertainer. He is a hero and a role model amongst basketball spectators. Johnson claims that ‘he is the most famous American in the world† (ibid.). Perhaps he was born to be the best. Even though he is a star, Michael†s childhood had been very distressing. In fact, Michael Jordan was nearly miscarried by his mother. His nose bled from birth till he was five, he nearly suffocated when he fell behind the bed as a baby and nearly killed himself when an electrocution threw him three feet. In Jordan†s own words, he exclaims I mean my girlfriend got swept in a flood and drowned when we were in college. Another time, I was swimming with a friend when both of us got pulled into the ocean by a strong undertow. I was able to get free and make it back to land. He never made it back (Jordan 1998:96). Additionally, after going through so many traumatic and distressing times, not many people would have been able to live their dreams. But Jordan performed the task of living his dream exceptionally well. Despite a somewhat desperate childhood, Michael Jordan enjoyed his time at school. He did his first years of schooling at D.C. Virgo Junior High School and later graduated to Lanley High School where he began practicing intensively on his basketball skills. He was accepted in the University of North Carolina through a basketball scholarship. At the university, Michael took on the challenge of driving his teammates to a level of performance that they might never have achieved on their own. He scored the winning basket in the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship game in 1982. A sportswriter describes ‘the relentlessness with which Michael Jordan prodded and cajoled the other players in leading them to championship season after championship season† (Lazenby 1996:37). The glorious moments achieved by Michael Jordan were soon vaporised by a permanent shadow. In 1993, an agonising incident shattered Jordan†s excitement after winning his third championship. Moments after the game, Michael†s father, James Jordan, was brutally murdered by two ruthless teenagers. This was a severe tragedy in Michael†s life; his father was gone. For this reason, Michael decided to retire from Basketball and play Baseball in memory of his father. This was because James Jordan adored Baseball (Jordan 1998:112). He signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox, but was unsuccessful (Encarta 1999). Hence Jordan returned to his favorable professional sport of basketball. Allison exclaims ‘at a press conference, Michael only said two words, I†m back!† (Samuels 1999). The ball started to roll again. But the anxiety of the spectators only lasted till the end of 1997. By far, the Chicago Bulls had been hit the hardest with the news of Jordan†s retirement. The breakup arose when the management refused to pay Phil Jackson, coach of the Chicago Bulls, what he deserved after bringing six NBA championships to the Bulls. When Jackson abandoned the team, Jordan refused to play for a new coach. After Jordan officially announced his retirement, basketball great, Scottie Pippen was traded to the Houston Rockets. Only four players of the previous year†s team still remained on the Chicago Bulls. Stein considers ‘many have made the prediction that the bulls will lose mare games in this shortened season than they did all last year† (Stein 1999). The die-hard Chicago Bulls fans will always hold a special place in their heart for Michael Jordan. They will tell their sons and daughters about him, they will get out the old VHS tapes of games that they have recorded and they will pass along basketball cards that will be worth hundreds of dollars. Those of us who have seen him play will always remember him and what he has done for the game of basketball. For those who haven†t will have to settle for the endless highlight reels and Nike commercials to keep his memory alive.

Weekly journal week4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Weekly journal week4 - Essay Example This gave me a lot of freedom to be myself and also paved the way for me to work independently and under very little supervision. Generally, the day was very successful as I was able to communicate well with the customers on issues that the management wanted given to them. DESCRIPTIVE: On the second day, I was made to work with the customers yet again as I was assigned the role of customer relations strategist. What this role meant was that I was supposed to suggest practical ways in which the company could increase its customer base. REFLECTIVE: A unique feature of the day’s role was that I was given the freedom to come out with my own strategy on finding out what the customers expected from the company and how this could be achieved to ensure that we built faith with the customers and in turn enhanced our services to them. This was a challenging task but having worked as a PR for the company, I was offered the opportunity to identify a lot of these ways by which we could win the hearts of customers. In confirming my ideas, I designed a simple questionnaire, which I gave out to customers who visited the company premises. They indicated their desired service treat and these were coded and forwarded to the administration. DESCRIPTIVE: The third day saw a repeat of what was started on the second day. This means that I was made to act as a customer relations strategists again. What I did differently from the previous day was basically to collect feedback from the questionnaire that was instituted the day before. REFLECTIVE: This day did not start as challenging as the previous day because I had held the same position before. New customers were given new questionnaire as old one’s were forwarded to the management. There was a brief meeting with the management to discuss ways of implementing the suggestions. The finance and budget officer was in the meeting to budget for

Summary Memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Summary Memo - Essay Example The magic shelf system, which relates to getting the exact product at disposal, is also quite effective. Initiation of the robotic distribution through kiva system, which replaces the traditional warehouse system, is a significant milestone achieved. Through the partnership with Kiva System Company, the big challenge of order backlog is reduced by the automated warehouse system, which has worked in few other e-commercing companies. The old time rules of traditional production are changing to ease the vast customer influx. These changes are being applied in due course, and they need labourers with capabilities in computer-automated systems. These, according to the executive heads of operation, will ease the company’s production ability. The workers and managers are expected to have over the age abilities, in computer systems. Accuracy is a necessity, and they should be able to keep up with the first robot with little supervision (Soap.com 0:58-1:32). Reliability is another aspe ct that is needed for the manager, for the company, to achieve its set goals. The customer care relations officers should be polite, with a high level of etiquette, patient and ready to answer any queries relevant to the company and its products, in a more sober way. Technology has a pivotal role for these companies planned overhaul. The initiation of the kiva robotic system will enhance efficiency in shipment and guarantees splendid services to the customers (Soap.com 5:14-5:52). The top management also addresses that seventy per cent of the customer orders within the country will be delivered overnight, and for the outside regions, delivery is within a span of two days tops. Through the technology, labour costs are also highly reduced leading to a decrease of twenty five per cent across all the products of the company. Human labour is only necessary in keying instructions into the automated system. The improvement of the website, in a more customer friendly way, offers customers a fabulous experience. The well trained customer care unit helps deliver a good feedback and reputation of the company. Through the automation of the whole system, the workers are at ease as they get what they want on their fingertips. This automated system guarantees the right product at disposal unlike the old system where workers had to look for the orders literally. The robotic system has also addressed the issue of time saving. This is because the flat and shelf-structured robots can manoeuvre at faster rates, and provide a solution of reducing the complexities of arranging the ever-increasing customer orders. The technological advancements also give safe packaging of the ordered products for shipping. Through technology, the company’s environment is quiet and peaceful. Soap.com and diapers.com, which are affiliated companies, have managed to counter the ever increasing capacities through the embrace of the automated system. Their updated website provides full information on every product inclusive of how to get them, their prices, their qualities, how to use them and the reasons why to use them, or the advantages of using them as compared to other companies producing the same product. It also shows all the needed information about the company, as a whole, stating from the origin to

Marketing Research Individual Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing Research Individual Assignment - Essay Example Achrol, and Mentzer established three forms of customer commitment: affective, instrumental, and temporal commitment.1 Affective customer commitment occurs when a positive attitude towards the future existence of the relationship is demonstrated. A number of approaches have been established in constructing affective customer commitment. One of the most prominent approaches has been through the development of strong brand identity. It’s noted that, â€Å"Every organisation has an identity. It articulates the corporate ethos, aims and values and presents a sense of individuality that can help to differentiate the organisation within its competitive environment.†2 Large arrays of approaches to creating brand identity have been established. One perspective embraces corporate social responsibility as strongly contributing to brand identity.3 Such approaches have been embraced by organizations such as Ben & Jerry’s and Starbucks. The recognition being that through crea ting a socially responsible image, customers will increasingly express long-term satisfaction with the company. Another approach has been the establishment of emotional connections through advertising; this approach is witnessed in brands such as Nike and Coca-Cola.4 In either instance, â€Å"By effectively managing its corporate identity an organisation can build understanding and commitment among its diverse stakeholders.†5 In terms of measurement practices, qualitative methods of understanding have been implemented that use focus groups and semi-structured interviews as a means of better understanding customer perceptions. Ultimately, this specific organization could improve affective customer commitment through ensuring that the corporate brand is well maintained. Another of the major forms of customer commitment is ‘instrumental’. Instrumental customer commitment is demonstrated when investment through time or resources is made in the brand relationship. One prominent means of creating customer commitment has been through specific outreach measures referred to as community relationships. It’s noted that, â€Å"that marketers can strengthen brand communities by facilitating shared customer experiences in ways that alter those dynamic characteristics.†6 Perhaps the most prominent implementation of these techniques has been witnessed with Harley Davidson and their development of the Harley Owners Group (HOG). It’s noted that this is, "the granddaddy of all community-building efforts serving to promote not just a consumer product, but a lifestyle.†7 In this way, Harley Davidson sponsored its own motorcycle club to improve customer commitment. In terms of measurements, among approaches to customer commitment this approach is perhaps the most easily quantifiable as commitment is established through membership rates and sales of club merchandise. The establishment of this motorcycle club then improved customer commi tment as the various Harley owners joined the club and increasingly purchased Harley products. There is the recognition then that as a means of facilitating customer commitment this organization could similarly sponsor outreach groups. The final form of customer commitment is temporal commitment. Garbarino and Johnson8 indicate that temporal commitment is the demonstration that the relationship occurs over an extended period of time. While customer relationships through

Ethics and Governance Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics and Governance - Case Study Example The cause for Friedman’s statement is probably due to the birth of ‘Ethical business’, this is where companies will demonstrate a social conscience, possibly to gain support from consumers who buy their products, but will cut the profits of the shareholders in a company. Freidman also assumes that there is a link between the birth of ‘Ethical business’ and the growth of left-wing academia, particularly in the United States, although I am not convinced of the relation between the two and that one affects the other. However, Friedman believes that it is these academics that are making the businessmen act like â€Å"unwitting puppets† who are â€Å"preach ­ing pure and unadulterated socialism†. Still, I believe that Friedman is putting across his biased political views with this statement, where he thinks that anything relating to socialism is automatically bad so he does not really back up this quote. I also disagree with Friedman in tha t he believes that the â€Å"intellectual forces† really have that much influence on businessmen to make them â€Å"unwitting puppets†. The factor which would make businessmen turn to a more ethical approach could be down to a rapidly expanding interest in business ethics and the rise of the middle-class looking to ‘clear their conscience’ by buying ethically. 2. Friedman (1970) discusses whether corporations can have a â€Å"social responsibility† or whether having responsibilities is a uniquely human trait. Friedman argues, reasonably convincingly, that a company cannot have the responsibility since it is â€Å"artificial†. We can see this in his article when he says â€Å"Only people can have responsibilities. A corporation is an artificial person and in this sense may have artificial responsibilities†. This would lead him to the conclusion that corporations have no moral obligation to be ethical since they are not moral beings and that the only responsibilities of a company â€Å"is to increase its profits†.

Property Law as Applied to Rural Retreats Essay

Property Law as Applied to Rural Retreats - Essay Example As the discussion stresses this agreement restricting Rural Retreats’ use of Easy Access constitutes a significant instrument that crucially affects the proper use of the lot, where its abandonment in the part of Rural Retreats will negatively affect the well-being of its purchasers and successors in title. The importance Easy Access holds as a car park for the estate constitutes what Sec. 29 of the Land Title Act of 1994 as crucial to â€Å"ensure that the register is an accurate, comprehensive and useable record of freehold land in the State.† This paper declares that no registrable interest exists for Nohrain in this case, the registrar should have registered details about Easy Access being a car park, which cannot be used for other purposes or sold, without the lot owners’ consent. In order to protect his interests to the parking lot, Nohrain, preferably with the cooperation of the other lot owners in the estate, has two options: he can make an appeal by virtue of the Land Title Act for the registrar to correct the register to Easy Access and include the provisions included in the sale of the lots regarding Easy Access, or Nohrain can lodge a caveat on Easy Access to prevent the property from being sold or modified in its terms of use. Nohrain has rights to the easement because as the agreement between Olga and the Council provides, Olga, together with her family, occupiers of her lot, and successors in title, which includes Nohrain, are included among those who will benefit from the free water supply.

Assesment of Wal-Mart's international expansion strategy Essay

Assesment of Wal-Mart's international expansion strategy - Essay Example These locations where Wal-Mart has a well-established or newly-established presence were the product of joint ventures, foreign direct investment for wholly-owned Wal-Mart cash and carry stores, and through intense acquisition strategies. Wal-Mart in China Wal-Mart chose an export-led growth strategy in China as well as foreign direct investment for wholly-owned Wal-Mart stores. One of the main reasons for selecting this particular entry strategy is the difference in currency value between the Yuan and the U.S. Dollar, especially at the time of market entry in the 1990s before China became its current industrialized entity. Chinese domestic firms, additionally, have significant credit restraints for business development that restricts international trade activities (Manova, Wei and Zhang 2010). Limited credit availability gives Wal-Mart a significant advantage as it can procure capital from its domestic operational environment (i.e. The United States) to perform expansion, improve op erations, and also ensure better procurement of international goods for sale in China. Limited credit availability in China gives Wal-Mart a significant competitive advantage as research data shows that exporting or foreign-owned businesses perform better than domestic Chinese firms (Manova, et al). Having access to more capital and credit gives Wal-Mart the ability to set lower prices as a means to outperform domestic firms operating in the same sales industry as Wal-Mart in China. Further, Chinese consumers are extremely price sensitive and a recent survey indicated that Chinese consumers consider pricing above all other factors when buying merchandise (Suessmuth-Dyckerhoff, Hexter and St-Maurice 2008). Chinese consumer willingness to defect to another brand is significant when prices rise by a mere five percent (Suessmuth-Dyckerhoff, et al). Wal-Mart is a well-established promotional leader in the United States and other Westernized countries, thus it has an immediate advantage i n talent expertise upon entry into a foreign market. Coupled with price-sensitive buyers, Wal-Mart can simply transfer its existing everyday-low-price model directly in the new region without significant costs of redesigning organisational structure or service delivery design. Long-run operational cost reduction is the methodology for entering China under direct investment in wholly-owned businesses due to environmental and social conditions in this country. Additionally, Chinese consumers learn a great deal about Western culture through media exposure and their personal travels which has led to a great demand for Western brands (Emmons 2002). This determined the export-led strategy for taking domestic product and flooding it into the Chinese market based on social demographic characteristics of the Chinese consumer. The high Chinese demand for U.S.-produced products is also supported by a vast global infrastructure for procurement needs, thus satisfying budget related to the supply chain. Furthermore, the political environment in China is growing ever-more favourable for foreign direct investment, such as reducing the tariff rates associated with foreign exports (Carbaugh 2009). Governmental restrictions and supplemental

Homework Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 10

Homework - Assignment Example In investigating measles, epidemiologists embark on various strategic steps that enable them get information. The first step involves preparation for fieldwork which entails getting the right tools, information, support staff and personal arrangements. Information on measles can be obtained from past research on measles (Bystrianyk & Humphries 2013). Additionally, the epidemiologist should delegate roles and responsibilities at this stage of investigations. The second step should be verification that the suspected disease exists. Besides, they ought to establish whether there is an outbreak. Before one decides whether there is an outbreak, they have to determine the number of cases that are expected from an area within a given period. In determining the number of measles cases, for example, one can use the health department surveillance records. The records help determine whether there is an epidemic. Finally, it is important to do a prior investigation before the actual investigatio n. For instance, one can visit some of the children suffering from measles and try to get useful information on the condition. Furthermore, once the data has been collected a measles outbreak should be characterized by place, time and person. This technique is called descriptive epidemiology because it deals with description of what has occurred in the population being studied. This description allows one to evaluate the outbreak on what is recognized about the disease and develop causal hypothesis. These hypotheses can be tested using analytic epidemiology technology. Analytic epidemiology has two components, the cohort and the case-control studies. They help in developing the null and the alternative hypotheses. These hypotheses are later refined after carrying out additional epidemiological study (Bystrianyk & Humphries 2013). The hypothesis is then used in developing and implementing of control measures. Finally, the findings should be presented to bodies such as the

Developing Management skills - 8th edition david a Whetten & Kim s Essay - 1

Developing Management skills - 8th edition david a Whetten & Kim s cameron - Essay Example In order to come up with productive teams, the following have to be established: clear cooperative objectives, good quality leadership, effective communication, successful decision-making and practical conflict management. The above often brings a team to carry out their tasks and remain focused on their objectives (Cameron & Whetten 512). In order to have a successful team performance, one has to careful ensure collaboration exists between team members. Basically, the efficient team formation always is more productive compared to a team that has been structured competitively and individualistically. Furthermore, it will result more dedicated team members. Moreover, by developing a success of continuing teams, one may be provided with team-building experiences that may be beneficial for the business. More so, team-building focuses more on the analysis of a given work process and actions of certain ongoing work teams performance in order to improve team efficiency and communication skills among the team members (Cameron & Whetten 513). There are many concerns when it comes team building. A team needs to be small and manageable at all times. In having a big team, some members are often isolated and neglected. Small teams provide a platform for full participation by the members. In team building, it is always necessary to choose members based on their skills and knowledge. Members are also expected to possess teamwork skills and task work skills (Cameron & Whetten 514). After a team has been built, the following has to be organized. A manager always has to present and clarify to his or her team members on their mission, encourage interdependence. In order to have a winning team, one has to have a persuasive purpose and achievable goals. Team members have to associate with the goals in order to have a sense of ownership to the given goals in an attempt to enhance performance. In

U.S. health care system Essay Example for Free

U.S. health care system Essay It is desirable to learn lessons from abroad, but well noted that it would be impossible to simply transfer policies from one country to the other. There is no such thing as a perfect finance model. There are many calls to move towards contemporary American free insurance and service market system6. It is argued that if there is no competition, the consumer will continue to be poorly served and second-class treatment will remain. However, many responses listed out the sophisticated problems that have arisen from the American healthcare system. Patient Choice One of the important justifications of the system in the US is greater patient choice. Under the concept of â€Å"money following the patient†, patients would not be constrained by cost considerations when choosing services between private sector providers and public sector providers6. Americans are free in the selection of doctors, standards of services as well as service providers. From the experience of the US, voluntary private insurance permits doctors to offer more expensive services beyond the basic provision. Patients are required to pay out-of-pocket for any extra charges. This kind of rigid payment system actually constrains rather than expands freedom of choice of patients6. Patient choice is expensive and thus is more likely to be restricted, especially when there is cost containment. It is the situation in the US that one of the main functions of HMOs was to introduce a gate-keeping role for GPs and limit the wide choices of specialists inherent in the traditional insurance mechanism11. Efficiency With free choice and free market, people have the incentive for enjoying maximum services and claiming full benefits offered by the insurance scheme. It leads to a demand side moral hazard problem for over-consumption of services which causes market inefficie ncy12. Under the insurance market, hospitals are economic agents that aim at maximizing profits and it will create the supply side moral hazard for over-provision of services. Besides, many patients and providers in the US experience many problems with care co-ordination12. In order to prevent abuses and malpractice, mechanisms for checking and auditing would be necessary, which in turn leads to huge administration costs in the US system. Single-payer models in health insurance encourage cooperation and overcome the problem of inefficiency. The main advantage of single-payer system is that one can enjoy universal coverage at a lower cost than is  attained by pluralistic funding approaches. It avoids adverse risk selection and ensures that no one is uninsurable Equity The level of premiumand co-payment would have great impact to equity of the system. The costs of treating uninsured as free care must be absorbed by the insured via cost shifting, higher premiums or taxes39. If the level of payment becomes heavy burdens to lower income group, it creates disincentives for this group to use the system even they experience genuine needs. Due to this marginalization and exclusion, the premium contributed by the lower income group will indirectly subsidize the services consumed by the high income group. The injustice so created makes worse to the equity in access

Politics Essays Media Political Protest

Politics Essays Media Political Protest Media Political Protest Politics And The Media Critically consider mainstream New’s treatment of political protest and new social movements. The late 1950’s and early 1960’s brought about political protests and social movements like no other, with martin Luther kings American civil rights movement being remembered as on of the most famous and successful social movements in history. The American civil rights movement gained a considerable amount of coverage from mainstream media resulting in people being largely familiar with the movement and its success. It was then clear that there had always been a dynamic relation between mainstream media, political protests, and new social movements. From the 1960’s onwards sociologists had began to study the theory around social movements and had developed many ideas and research on the relationship between mass media, protests, and movements. When faced with a question such as one discussing mainstream news media, protests and new social movements one would have to define those concepts in order to take into consideration their significance of each other. Mainstream media has always been designed to reach to an extremely large audience across a limitless geographic, it is popularly circulated information distributed by newspapers, television, radio, and magazines. Political protest or protests in general are a form of activism that involves individuals marching, demonstrating, for or against a political policy, action, or legislation. In protesting it is seen as a way of voicing opinion to further change a concept whether to influence public opinion or government policy. And finally new social movements are usually made up of groups of individuals or organisations that focus on certain social or political issues in order to influence social change, weather to cause, prevent or reform social change. The notion (new) social movement was given as they have only been largely recognised since the 1960’s. Diana,(1992) cited in ‘culture and politics in the information age’ byFrank Webster states that a way in which we could see social movements is: ‘A network of informal relationships between a multiplicity of individuals and organisations, who share a distinctive collective identity, mobilise resources on capital issues’. Most critics would agree that the relationship between mainstream media, social movements, and political protests is vital; however their relationship has never been easy and is still considered as difficult by many critics. Social movements need mainstream media for exposure in order to expand and become recognised on behalf of their cause. In some respects the media also needs social movements as a vital news source and it is not surprising that both would exceed to reach their goals as it is apart of their nature and they must exceed to survive. However despite the fact that social movements seem to be useful for the media and are considered to be vital or important to the political landscape, with their ability to intercede with political elites and citizens, it seems that they have a disadvantage compared to mainstream media. As mainstream media have an advantage and the upper hand over social movements. This is elaborated upon by Gamson Wolsfeild, (1993) cited in ‘Media society’’. They state that social movements need the mass media more than the mass media needs them, in publicizing their activities, mainstream media needs to cover social movements so that; they could gain support, validation as a major/important political players, and maximise the attention of spotlight of conflict to attract mediators or potential allies. On the contrary the media have alternatives to having social movements or protestors as a news source. This does not seem to be the only disadvantage movements have with the media. It is argued that political protests and new social movements are covered in a negative light the majority of time. Gamson’s The strategy of social protests cited in ‘socail movements’ states his study that found that groups were more likely to be successful if they were: ‘based on one issue, used violence, disruptive tactics, selective incentrees, and came from a centralized, in factionalized and bureaucratized organisation.’ However this would lead one to think that the coverage of a violent or disruptive protest would be extremely negative as even a non-violent protest gains a negative and violent label under mainstream Media’s coverage the majority of the time critics would argue. This is proven with actual studies such as Halloran’s study. Halloran et al, (1970) studied protestor’s portrayal in the media with focus on the protest against the Vietnam War, he discovered that although it was a predominantly peaceful protest media portrayal of the protest was not positive and conveyed it as violent. This was only one of many studies that revealed similar finding. Another study by Chan Lee, (1984) on the protests had found that the protestor’s weather being violent or non violent, un-peaceful, or peaceful were represented as being ‘the other’ or in a ‘them vs. us’ notion. However in some cases when protestors are not seen as extremely deviant and questioning of the ‘status quo’ they are sometimes covered in a fair light one example of this could be the stop the war coalition in 2003 against the Iraq war, The media can use this frame however more then often chooses not to. There are two main attributes that influence a social movement or a protest being covered. these are the extent to which the movement is ‘extreme’ i.e. challenging in terms of questioning the status quo and how ‘militant’ they are in their tactics McLeod Hertog, (1999) cited in ‘Manufacturing policies: the media’s role in the policy making process’ state that the more militant a social movement is the more negative and ‘critical’ the media coverage. In talking of the word militant one means how much a socail movement is how radical and milantly tactical a movement is. In general the idea is that protestors are more likely to be portrayed as deviant members of society rather than individuals who have a right to voice their opinions The treatment of social movements has not been all that better either some have been covered in a positive light i.e. the civil rights movement, however most would argue that for that past few decades social movements have not been particularly prioritised or covered in a totally positive light either some sociologists such as Marxists would argue that social movements are not covered as it is another way for the ruling elites to keep in control of their social and economical status above the masses and that social movements should be able to vocalise their causes and be recognised. ‘The modern media have become central to the life and death of social movements’.There have been many sociological theories upon the treatment of new social movements by the media. Many critics reemphasise the fact that the media is important for social movements, in particular Kelbowiz and Scherer (1988:72) cited in ‘Frames of protest: social movements and framing perpective’ state that: In some instances, social movements have to compete to legitimize their status and be recognised in the media. Givevitch Lay, (1985) cited in ‘frames of protest’ states that in contemporary societies societal groups such as social movements and ideologies compete for the definition and construction of social reality within the media. It is evident that it is more of a struggle for social movements to gain coverage let alone positive coverage; it is also evident that governmental organisations are far more likely to gain coverage easier and faster. One reason for this is that they are seen as a vital and official news source and that they are very much legislatively based. This is something that the media look to cover as the general population are concerned with and have interest in this aspect this is summarised by the following quote from sociologists who studied movement struggles compared to political organisations ‘In terms of access struggle, institutional sources and political authorities have an ‘increased upper hand or advantage as they are considered as strong news sources’ (White 1950; Galtung and Ruge 1965: Shoemaker 1991). Social movements are coming against a hard opposition which includes collective actors such as counter movements, the state, and the media placing them in a ‘struggle for cultural supremacy’ Tarrow, (1998). social movements struggle includes not one but two battles, the first one being determining mainstream media coverage and the second being the way in which the social movement and the story is formed. This is called framing, Framing is the way in which a story is covered or the way in which it is portrayed in the media. It also means the extent the frame and the interpretation of the movement has been taken over by the media and how favourable the journalistic description bias is. (McCarthy et al 1998, smith et al (2001) cited in ‘frames of protest’ sate that it is regarded as difficult for movements to both gain coverage and do so under an ideal. One concept that is seen as important for mainstream media is news value, social movements and political protest must offer high news value to be covered or framed righteously. They must be able to attain public interest and attention in order for the story to sell. This is because some aspects of journalism mainstream media in particular has become increasingly commercialised today and is more dependant on sales. Herman Chomsky, (1988) carried out research and came up with the propaganda model which consists of five filters that social movements or protest must survive in order to be covered. These include 1) the size, ownership, and profit the media could make from the story 2) advertising 3) sourcing 4) criticism and 5) anti-communist ideology, i.e. keeping the power in the hands of elites and serving their interests. This is seen as a way of emphasising news value and reinforcing authority by some marxist critics. Consecutive to the propaganda model, a lot of research was done into news selection, and it is evident that there is a lot of research indicating that the main priority for media institutions is profit and audience interest. Meyer, (2002) states that there is another filter which is called the rules of stage-managing which (as mentioned before) he says is based on how much the news can attract audience attention. The fact that it is difficult for social movements or protests to obtain coverage means that they have to think of other ways of obtaining coverage one example is through emotion management which includes using concepts that would encourage sympathetic feelings for example sadness. An example of this would be using pictures of victims of hurricane Katrina in 2006 or pictures of children affected by the Iraq war. This is just one of the concepts social movements have to use to gain media interest. Movements and political protestors have to develop all kinds of media strategies such as adopt public relations techniques and strategies to bypass the medias selection bias (Olivier Maney 2000: McCarthy et al. 1998; smith et al.2001; Miphial Schiveingraber 1998) ‘An effective media strategy requires – at least to some extent –a willingness to cater to the often warped priorities and short attention span of the news media’Despite what critics say about social movements having to change their techniques and this being bad, Salzman, (1998:3) in the media handbook for activists cited in ‘Media Society’ says: It is not only Salzman who comments on this, others feel that if social movements adopt proactive planning despite the fact it may alter movement messages, it could lead to favourable media coverage. Therefore sacrifices to social movement messages suggest that all in all the media wins and gains more based on what it needs. It also suggests that general consensus is important when trying to obtain coverage. However one concept that has helped social movement organisations or political protestor activists is of course (the World Wide Web). With independent media sites such as ‘Indymedia’ and ‘Schnews’, it has given social movements and activists the chance to function through the web enabling them to write their own journalistic stories and publicize their movements, beliefs, and causes with the possibility of more visitors every day. These internet sites also most productively enable social movements to be Trans global news sites, as people around the world can have access to their information mediums at the click of a button. Earl Schussman, (2003) cited in ‘Social movements and internetdiscourse’ state that the internet is incredibly useful to movements or activists organisations who want to log on to the web and publicize things such as protest information, they say that in general the internet can be seen as an ‘organisational tool’ for individuals optimistic for social change. Some critics feel that the internet has the ability to excel past mainstream media outlets and centered hierarchical forms of organisations Castello, (2000) says: ‘the net gives networks the capacity to decentralise and adapt the execution of tasks while coordinating purpose and decision.’ The more movements and political protestors go online the more sociologists studying them follow them up and theorise their activities. Almeida and Lichbach, (2003) cited in ‘social movements and internet discourse’ did a study comparing four mainstream media sources with activist based internet data in both their coverage of the anti WTO protests in late 1999. They found that activist based websites had reported a higher number of international protests then mainstream media; they also found that they were less influenced by intense concepts such as large numbers of participants or violence etc then the main media outlets. However they also found some limitations into the activist based websites which includes the variability of content and the necessity to confirm and legitimize occurrences. Therefore there are issues that suggest that while the internet is extremely useful for new social movements and political protests it also has its negatives. Another issue would be that people tend to get enough information from mainstream media outlets and tend not to look to other places for more information. Conclusion In general despite some social and political protest success stories with the media it is evident that mainstream news of political protests and social movements have not been completely positive within the few decades. Parati, (1986) cited in ‘media society’ once said in summary: ‘ discrediting techniques used by the media include down playing content in favour of emphasising the spectacle of an event, painting demonstrators as deviant and portraying under representative balance to a tiny number of counter parts, and undercounting the attendance at demonstrations’ have all determined negative coverage. Because of this it would be impracticable to say that all new social movements and protests could be covered more, or that they could be portrayed in a positive light from today onwards, it is evident the more movements and activists in general questions the status quo the less likely it will gain coverage or positive portrayal (framing). Mainstream media and political protests/social movements have always had a less then easy relationship despite the notion of freedom of speech being denoted in the western world. Marxists socialists critics would argue that one way that movements and activists would be able to voice their opinion more within mainstream media would be that they could fight against it and insist on a media reform i.e. a reconsideration of the way the media is conducted and the stories it publishes resulting in it being mandatory that new social movements and protestors capitalist or communists, right wing or left wing (aimed at positive social change) be recognised. Although un-likely this would enable movements to avoid adopting other messages or techniques to fit media needs. Hackett Carroll, (2004) state that it is about: ‘time for social movements to take collective action. To start with democratic media reform needs to be recast as an end in itself a public good not simply a means by which each movement can get its message out. This suggests that while it seems that mainstream media treatment of social movements and protest is not very positive or accepting, many critics feel that social movements and protests should be made known in the interest of ‘public good’ in order for people to be able to voice more opinions freely and create better chance of realizing Habermas’ concept of the public sphere. In terms of the internet, for activists websites to be more successful as a major information source and to be looked upon as much as mainstream media outlets, more money would have to be invested in them to ensure information is official and promotion ca be maximised. Perhaps the result would be a more balances media of information or people could be aware of hidden causes such as discrimination like unfair trade that some social movements try to publicise as much as possible as these issues are still on going. Bibliography 1, Croteau, D Hoynes, W (2000) ‘Media society  : industries, images, and audiences’.  Second ed, London, sage publication 2, Webster, F (2001). ‘culture and politics in the information age a new politics  ?’. London, Routledge. 3, Anderson, R Gray, J (2008). ‘battleground the media’ United States Of America, Greenwood Press. 4, Branston, G Stafford, R (2006). ‘the media student’s book’.London, Routledge. 5, Brahim, E ‘socail movements’ http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/social_movements/?nid=6789 accessed  : 27/03/06 6, Petit, C Social Movement Networks in Internet Discourse http://www.irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows25/irows25.htm accessed:27/03/08 7, Aton, C News Cultures and New Social Movements: radical journalism and the mainstream media Napier University, UK http://joblog.ru.ac.za/News%20cultures%20and%20new%20social%20movements%20-%20radical%20journalism.pdf accessed  :26/03/08 8, Smith J, Johnston, H Globalization and resistance: Transnational Dimensions of Social http://books.google.com/books?id=9UGLVh4JifkC accessed  :26/03.08 9, R.A. Hackett, W.K. Carroll, (2004) ‘Critical Social Movements and Media Reform’ Media Development, 10, Meyer, T. (2002). Media democracy: how the media colonize politics. Cambridge, England: Polity Press. 11, Barker, M (2005) ‘Manufacturing policies: the media’s role in the policy making process’ Australian School of Environmental Studies. Griffith University http://live-wirez.gu.edu.au/jea.papers/Barker.doc accessed: 26/03/08 12, ‘socail movements’ www.wikipedia.com accessed 25/03/08 13, Chan, J. M., and Lee, C. C. (1984) The journalistic paradigm on civil protests: a case study of Hong Kong in A. Arno and W. Dissanayake (eds) The news media in national and international conflict, Boulder: Westview Press. 14, ‘mass media’ www.wikipedia.com accessed:25/03/08 15, (Kleahn. J), ‘A Critical Review and Assessment of Herman andChomsky’s ‘Propaganda Model’ Sage publications, London. 16, Halloran, J. D., Elliott, P. and Murdock, G. (1970) Demonstrations and communication: a case study, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Issues in Protecting Rights and Copyrights

Issues in Protecting Rights and Copyrights Each society throughout history has, and will be introduced to new ideas, inventions, and movements that benefit their communities. Yet, with those inventions will come ways for people to exploit them, and use them to gain an advantage. Recently, with the dawn of the Information Age of the early 2000s, the fairly-new Internet has connected the world in ways previously incomprehensible. With the Internet, people can send digital goods such as music, movies, and games to each other without any physical meeting or materialization. While beneficial to the economy and markets, those who sell online also risk digital pirates making copies of their goods, and distributing them for free to the world, or even reselling them. Piracy has become a growing issue in the new age, and governments across the world are beginning to take action against it. Even though government intervention would control piracy much better, and could possibly be done not to interfere with innocent customers, it could lead to invasions of privacy as people will always find ways to download copyrighted files undetected, and trying to stop infringements will only hurt internet providers and customers, who have the right to privacy, shown in the Fourth Amendment (Bridegam 11)Government intervention is certainly possible, and has been done in correlation with the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. An anti-piracy firm named CEGTEK pushed for the Notice-and-Notice Law to be passed, which allows copyright companies to send letters to users, recognizing that someone on the infringed network has downloaded copyrighted software. It also tells that if the user ignores the infringement, legal action may be taken. While it does not actually search and seize files on users computers, forcing deletion, it recognizes copyrighted software being transferred to the network, and takes nonlegal action which may eventually be brought to court, however. After the Law was passed, piracy rates dropped up to 61% one ye ar (Brownell 1), due to the letters being sent with notices of infringement. It had an impact on slowing down the growth of piracy, but governments have to find other ways to end digital crime. Piracy is still fairly new to the big picture, and old laws need to be modernized in order to stop it. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits unwarranted and unreasonable search and seizure without a probable cause. While the Amendment protects personal property, including computers, an officer can still access the content and files stored on the machine. David Cole at Georgetown University says When I send an email, Ive shared it with the Internet provider. (Zwerdling 1) All communications with servers and websites are stored somewhere on the sites history, leaving a digital footprint behind. Law enforcement can access these records as they can be made available upon calling, because if a warrant is denied to search a users computer, another one can be requested to search the server or service provider involved in the alleged crime to find out if copyright infringement did occur. The Amendment has not aged well, and with the Information Age accelerating, th e old laws need to be updated in order to keep up with new technology. The Fourth Amendment tells little about digital search and seizure, yet it still is unconstitutional for unreasonable search of property.Internet service providers (ISPs) monitor everything a user does, downloads, and uploads on the internet, and while it may differ from each company, most keep records for all types of purposes, include hardware and software maintenance, as well as to catch pirates. These companies assign IP addresses to every computer in order to connect the PC to websites and servers, but the address can also be used to trace a user across the network. This is how pirates can be quickly caught. Some ISPs work with anti-piracy and copyright protection companies, such as Tecksavvy Solutions in Canada, work to catch infringements and stop it on their networks. The collaboration between the companies comes down to the anti-piracy firms monitoring P2P (peer-to-peer) connections scanning for copyrigh ted content. If a file is found to be copyrighted, the IP address is logged and forwarded to the ISP of the user. While it may seem like a simple job, the ISP does not legally have to disclose the name and location of the alleged pirate. (Robinson 1) Obviously, the ISP could if they wish to, but most companies see so many infringements that taking actual legal action towards the cases would cause more problems than needed. The amount of legal fees, time spent, and reputation on the line is simply too much for most companies to risk. Ways to stop piracy have doubled over the years, and each year introduces more invasive methods of cracking down. (Katyal 1) Years of lobbying and debates have introduced many new acts and bills passed in order to prevent and cease piracy. However, they have been passed in ways so as not to affect the openness and opportunity of the internet, yet still be able to enforce their rules. The Stop Online Piracy (SOPA) and Protect IP Acts are in the process of being debated by Congress, and opposed by pirates. SOPA intends to defund and cut off access to rogue sites that promote piracy but are established internationally, most notably The Pirate Bay, in Sweden. The two acts rival each other in debate, but have the same end goal to end foreign piracy in the United States. The bills have not been passed, but have the support of the RIAA, MPAA, and NMPA, all music and media production companies. (ABC-CLIO 1) Arguments followed the consideration of the bills, with the defense that they would not enforce anything, and would only hurt the internets freedom. Cutting off access to websites is a prohibition of the openness of the internet, as it is not truly free with these restrictions. The United States is surprisingly not one of the countries with the most piracy, but the ones that too have taken action against it. David Kassler, CEO of EMI Group, a British music company, says You can have a number-one album in Spain with 3,000 sales, referencing the number of pirates and downloaders. (Economist 1) Germany has kept their piracy laws simple, with a fine system for each crime. South Korea faced rampant piracy as well, but took action against it, introducing a three-point warning system for their users suspected of copyright infringement. If the user ignores these warnings and does not cease their use, their connection will be cut off and disconnected. Now, some companies in the U.S. have taken up a warning system. Copyright firms are able to collect the IP of a pirate, and can send a notice to that IP without needing to take legal action. Some unknowing pirates are frightened off by the sight of the official notice, and cease immediately. Using a detection and warni ng system has worked in Korea, leading to a 10% increase of music sales in 2009, but whether it will work in the U.S. is yet to be seen. Not all the laws will work, as Mayseey Leong of the IFPI says it wasnt as though the law came into effect and all illegal activity stopped. Laws will not be enough to stop piracy, but it can make a difference in slowing down the increase of infringement rates. Piracy has a much larger effect on people besides their internet being disconnected. Being convicted of piracy could result in graduation denial, loss of job, scholarship, or even citizenship for international pirates. Studies by Stuart Green from the International Herald Tribute shows that pirates and users of the internet have drawn a solid line between digital piracy and physical theft. (Green 1) Pirates claim nothing is being stolen, only copied and mostly used for personal use. However, 1962 introduced the Moral Penal Code, which defines property as anything valued. The vague definition has led to an argument over theft law even 50 years later, bringing up the discussion of whether or not digital goods count as valued, as they technically do not exist only as bits and numbers on a server, not physically. Therefore, a dilemma has been created where users must decide whether or not they believe piracy is actually stealing. It is known that digital distribution has done wonders for the music business, increasing revenue and popularity, but it opens up a whole world of debate about digital sharing of copyrighted goods. Because nobody is hurt at the moment of download, users claim piracy is not stealing because they are simply making a copy of the file, nobody is killed or robbed at gunpoint, as all the user has to do is click download. In the long run, production companies and music artists do take a large financial hit from a lack of sales, if a certain song or album of theirs is being sent across the internet illegally. One reporter, James Lardner, claims the more they lock things up, the more users rebel. (Lardner 1) Regardless of how companies and Congress may try to make their files inaccessible except legally, pirates and hackers will always find ways to get what they want, even if they face troubles such as takedowns of their websites. The problem companies face is that file sharing services are much smarter, and shutting down physically in one place will not affect piracy as much. One popular website, KickAss Torrents (KAT), was taken down after the founder was arrested. Yet, it did not do much against piracy, because of the way it works. Copyrighted content is shared via P2P networks, meaning it goes straight from computers that seed the file, and make it available for download directly from their computer, with no website involved. The site was simply a catalog for the .torrent files which contain the information that allow users to connect to other users to download the file. Pirates have t aken measures against website takedown, and entire server backups were quickly uploaded to a different domain name to ensure the site stayed up. KAT was down almost momentarily, and goes to show how a server level takedown could not do much damage against stopping piracy. (Mathur 1) Not only is piracy rampant digitally, but burned CDs and physical copies of copyrighted files are shared just for that reason. Physical copies are much harder to trace, despite them not leaving footprints, and can be publicly viewed and broadcasted without the user even knowing it is a pirated version. Pirates argue that the internet is a source of information and sharing, and because companies and users make their files publicly available, one way or another, they are free for the taking due to a lack of security against them. (Peloso 136) Not just one force is at fault in the grand view of piracy, but pirates blame the music industry saying it has consistently failed to adapt to changes in technology. (Wray 1) If a company has not taken any measures to protect its media, then it can be at fault for users copying it illegally. Companies can also be at fault for not making their media available in all countries for all people. International users must pirate content because some files are regionally locked, and only available in America (Wortham 1). The only way for some users to access the media is to download it from a P2P network, which may not put them completely at fault, as the companies have yet to make their media available worldwide. One anonymous user says It is available , just not legally. Having region-locked data also may serve as a cause for the high piracy rates in South Korea and Spain, being outside of the U.S. The internet is a vast network, with billions of packets of data sent on the daily. Being able to monitor and scan every single connection would take an amount of power machine and man do not have yet in the Information Age. Not even the United States could crack down on every case of copyright infringement, even in their own country. One man, who wishes to remain unknown, claims the film and television industrys efforts to stopà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ distribution à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is like building a dam in the middle of a vast ocean. Along with their failure to keep up with modern times, copyright firms can only do so much in terms of catching pirates, as most use proxies, which change their IP addresses to somewhere far from their computer, to trick websites into thinking they are connecting from somewhere else, hiding themselves and their location. Therefore, it is presently impossible to catch every pirate, and authorities must accept the internets freedom, and how it can never be fully co ntrolled by anyone due to the massive size of it. No matter how much effort is put into stopping piracy, someone somewhere will always find a way to bypass restrictions and free the copyrighted content for the rest of the world. Once the content is out in the internet, it can never be fully erased, as it has been saved on hundreds, or even thousands of computers by the time the copyright firm has information the file has been taken. (Sampat 1) This is why website takedowns would not work, copies of the file have been made and can be reuploaded and hosted at any time. Pirates have to work together to function, but taking them down one-by-one has not worked so far. More attempts will be made to end piracy for sure, but that may spark more controversy, however, because any more intervention by the government and firms would only end up in violations of privacy and rights. Piracy is still fairly new, and is growing every day, despite rigorous attempts to stop it, while still remain constitutional. The main question ISPs and copyright companies face is how can the openness of the internet be preserved while having all illegal acts filtered out?. The protection of innocent customers is on the mind of every company, and selecting the few out of the bunch who commit acts of piracy is not an easy task. While they do have access to the file transfer history between users, they cannot legally intervene without a warrant, shown in the Fourth Amendment, and even if they are issued one, they cannot completely prove the user was the one who downloaded the material. Perhaps the pirate used a public Wi-Fi access point to copy a file off KAT, and then left the building. The owner of the Wi-Fi would receive a notice to cease piracy, even though he had committed no such act, his customers did. Piracy is a tricky subject, and neither side is technically correct. Pirate s can claim anything accessible can be taken, and will be because of the vast size of the internet, but companies do have a legal copyright on some media materials, and taking them is a criminal act. It is up to the governments of countries facing piracy to make a decision based on the current situation, and take action to resolve piracy. Pirates must unite to keep themselves anonymous against companies out to crack down on infringement. Congress must protect the pirates rights, but production companies must protect their copyrights. Works Cited A Rare Victory Against Piracy. Economist (London, England) Vol.395, No.8679, Apr, 2010, pp. 68, SIRS Issues Researcher. Bridegam, Martha Ann. Search and Seizure. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2005. Print Brownell, Claire. Pirates of the Internet. National Post, 13 Feb, 2016, pp. FP.5, SIRS Issues Researcher. Green, Stuart P. When Stealing Isnt Stealing. International Herald Tribune, 30 Mar, 2012, pp. 6, SIRS Issues Researcher. K, Katyal Sonia. Yale Journal of Law and Technology. N.p.: Yale Law School, 2005. Print. Lardner, James. The Empire Strikes Back. U.S.News World Report, Sep, 2000, pp. 54-56, SIRS Issues Researcher. Mathur, Swapnil. KickAss Torrents is Dead for Sure, but Online Piracy Will Continue. Financial Express, 23 Jul, 2016, SIRS Issues Researcher. Obama Administration Responds to we the People Petitions on SOPA.. WHITE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE, 14 Jan, 2012, SIRS Government Reporter. Peloso, Jennifer. Intellectual Property. New York: H.W. Wilson, 2003. Print. Robinson, Michael. Student Downloaders Beware. Macleans, Nov, 2016, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com. Sampat, Neel. Digital Piracy. Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society, ABC-CLIO, 2017, issues.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1560147. Accessed 12 Feb. 2017. Spotting the Pirates. Economist, Aug, 2011, pp. 55, SIRS Issues Researcher, Stop Online Piracy Act (2011). Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society, ABC-CLIO, 2017, issues.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1688414. Accessed 12 Feb. 2017. Wortham, Jenna. Readers Debate Online Piracy and the Future of Digital Entertainment. The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Sept. 2014. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.

Missing Children Essay -- Law, Adam Walsh

The case of six-year old Adam Walsh is perhaps one that will never leave the minds of anyone initially horrified by its details. In 1981 young Adam was kidnapped from a local mall and regardless of tireless efforts by his parents John and Reve Walsh, volunteers, and law enforcement; Adam fell victim to murder. Two weeks after the boy went missing, his decapitated head was located, but his body was never found. This prompted his father John Walsh to start a campaign and legislature policy submission toward more stringent accountability for child crime offenders. â€Å"The murder transformed John Walsh's life, turning him from a middle-class hotel marketing executive into one of country's best known advocates for missing children† (Thomas, 2008). In this paper, the initial legislative policy signed into law by President George W. Bush and the current policy addition initiative sought by Mr. Walsh is examined. The Scope of the Initiative With the signing of the initial policy by President Bush in 2006, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act became law. Aforementioned, the policy directive was to enact tougher laws on child predators however; the policy contains two additional provisions that would violate states rights and state policy’s currently in place for adoptive, foster, and relative caregivers. The two provisions contained in the Adam Walsh law are to follow. 1. Modified existing requirements for conducting criminal background checks 2. Created a new requirement to conduct child abuse registry checks of prospective foster and adoptive parents. (Miller, 2007). The policy provisions left the states the discretion of choosing placement however, if those in the household filing for adoption or fostering o... ...l, such as in Morse’s report cited, now have the opportunity to voice concerns and suggestions. Conclusion The Adam Walsh Act while regulatory and legislative, still requires changes before all parties affected stand united in approval. Whereas Congress could use its spending power to encourage state compliance, not all states would view this as constitutional. There is much to do concerning this act, but the outcome is unpredictable. Current filings to repeal or revise the entire Adam Walsh Act exist such as by Citizens for Change in America, represented by Michael R. Handler. The repeal document cites the AWA as being draconian and going against Due Process and the Bail Reform Act of 1984. Only time will prove the Adam Walsh Act is successful as currently written, but undoubtedly there are changes to come with such opposition and reasoning.

Online Shopping: Product Availability and Logistics Essay -- The Logis

Table of Contents Introduction 1 Online shops, Logistics and the Last Mile Problem 3 The E-Commerce Platform’s Accessibility and Availability 6 Efficient Customer Response and Quick Response 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction Online shops are an alternative to traditional shopping methods, but do they solve product availability issues in a viable way, and are traditional shopping methods preferred over online shopping? Morris, B (2013) points out that more consumers prefer online shopping as 70 % of 3,000 online shoppers surveyed in February 2013 in a study performed by the United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) say they would rather shop their favorite retailer online. This can only lead us to understand that a relatively large number of customers choose to satisfy their needs in an online platform. At first sight, it might be possible to speculate and assume that the reasons many of these customers choose to follow this path derives from qualities that include but are not limited to the ease-of-use, reliability, platform availability and accessibility as e-commerce platforms are accessible and available round the year, only as long as access to the internet is on hand (Gao, N.A.). It is accurate to pry into these qualities and strive in the possible relationship they might have with a term such as customer satisfaction, which could be prematurely answered if the fact that such terms describe the benefits online platforms have. As opposed to those found within traditional shopping methods. Moreover, Morris, B. (2013) showed that UPS (a logistics and package delivery company) had a positive overall customer satisfaction score of 83% which not only explains why the â€Å"back-end of the online shopping experi... ...s.com/sites/ashoka/2014/02/17/6459/ [Accessed April 29, 2014]. 6. Gao, J. (N.A.) â€Å"Introduction to E-Commerce† Computer, College of engineering ISE, Information & Systems Engineering, San Jose State University. https://www.uop.edu.jo/download/research/members/introduction.pdf [Accesed April 29, 2014] 7. The World Bank. (2013). â€Å"Internet Users (per 100 people). http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.P2 [Accesed April 29, 2014]. 8. Price Waterhouse Coopers. (2012). â€Å"10 myths of multichannel retailing†. http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/retail-consumer/retail-consumer-publications/global-multi-channel-consumer-survey/country-snapshots.jhtml [Accesed April 29, 2014]. 9. Weinstein, R. (2005) â€Å"RFID: A Technical Overview and its Application to Enterprise† the IEEE Computer Society, IT Pro. http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~jgao/CSE370-spring07/RFID.pdf [accessed April 29, 2014].

Hiroshima & Nagasaki :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Truman made his decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I think it was a bad idea, but in a good way of protecting ourselves from Japan. The reason why I think it was a bad decision was that he didn’t really give them enough time to respond, and send a surrender letter. When we didn’t receive a letter, we figured they didn’t take us seriously. I think the Japanese didn’t get the letter yet, or we didn’t give them enough time to respond to it. The reason why I think it was a good thing we responded when we did, is because in the time of waiting for that surrender letter, we could have given them enough time to come and attack us when we weren’t ready for it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  July 25, 1945, Truman made his final plans to drop the first and only two atomic bombs in existence, at this time, on Japan. A day after his decision, the United States of America warned Japan of their attack, and that they would stop only if Japan surrendered. Japan refused to surrender.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On August 6, 1945, President Truman dropped the first atomic bomb, named â€Å"Little Boy†, on the Japanese center, Hiroshima. Seconds later almost every building collapsed to the ground. Even after the Hiroshima bombing, Japan still refused to surrender. In regards to their â€Å"response†, three days later we dropped the second bomb, named â€Å"Fat Man†, right on top of Nagasaki, Japan. Destroying half of the city, and taking 200,000 people’s lives, due to radiation poisoning and injuries caused by this deadly atomic bomb.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the second blast, Emperor Hirohito finally realized that his innocent people were getting hurt. He decided very quickly to end this war and surrender to the Americans. He told his leaders to â€Å"draw up the papers, to end the war†.

Project Network

A project network illustrates the relationships between activities (or tasks) in the project. Showing the activities as nodes or on arrows between event nodes are two main ways to draw those relationships. With activities on arrow (AOA) diagrams, you are limited to showing only the finish-to-start relationships – that is, the arrow can represent only that the activity spans the time from the event at the start of the arrow to the event at the end. As well, â€Å"dummy† activities have to be added to show some of the more complex relationships and dependencies between activities.These diagrams came into use in the 1950's, but are now falling into disuse. Activity on node (AON) diagrams place the activity on the node, and the interconnection arrows illustrate the dependencies between the activities. There are more flexible and can show all of the major types of relationships. Since the activity is on a node, the emphasis (and more data) usually can be placed on the activi ty. AOA diagrams emphasize the milestones (events); AON networks emphasize the tasks. Introduction to The Nine Project Management Knowledge AreasAlso read about our new agile delivery model called  Scrumthat is significantly different than the  model below. As a PMP I often get questions about what goes into running a project. I will try to explain in a couple of articles the various components that make up a project. There are several ways to look at a project as a whole. You can view it as a series of processes. Some processes are executed in order and some are recurring processes that are executed at various stages throughout the entire project.You can also view the project from the different knowledge areas that are needed to execute the project. I will cover the knowledge areas in this article and go on to the processes in my next article. There are nine knowledge areas and each one covers its own important part of the project. A knowledge area can cover several phases or p rocess groups of the project. The nine areas are mentioned below in some detail. Integration Management If each little part of the project is a tree, Integration Management is the entire forest.It focuses on the larger tasks that must be done for the project to work. It is the practice of making certain that every part of the project is coordinated. In Integration Management, the project is started, the project plan is assembled and executed, the work is monitored and verification of the results of the work is performed. As the project ends the project manager also performs the tasks associated with closing the project. A project manager must be very good at Integration Management or the project may very well fail.Other knowledge areas are also important, but Integration Management is the area that requires the most management and control of the entire project. Scope Management This area involves control of the scope of the project. It involves management of the requirements, detail s and processes. Changes to the scope should be handled in a structured, procedural, and controlled manner. The goal of scope management is to define the need, set the expectations, deliver to the expectations, manage changes, and minimize surprises and gain acceptance of the project.Good scope management focuses on making sure that the scope is well defined and communicated very clearly to all stakeholders. It also involves managing the project to limit unnecessary changes. Time Management Project Time Management is concerned with resources, activities, scheduling and schedule management. It involves defining and sequencing activities and estimating the duration and resources needed for each activity. The goal is to build the project schedule subsequently to manage changes and updates to the schedule.When the schedule is first created, it is often referred to as the time baseline of the project. It is later used to compare updated baselines to the original baseline. Many project ma nagers use software to build and maintain the schedule and baselines. Cost Management This knowledge area includes cost estimating and budgeting. After the cost of the project has been estimated the project management must control the cost and makes changes to the budget as needed. The Project Cost Estimate is dependent on the accuracy of the cost estimate of each activity in the project.The accuracy changes as the project progresses. For instance, in the initiation of the project the estimate is more difficult to assess than later in the project when the scope and the schedule have been defined in detail. Quality Management This area is an important area where outputs of different processes are measured against some predetermined acceptable measure. The project manager must create a quality management plan. The quality plan is created early in the project because decisions made about quality can have a significant impact on other decisions about scope, time, cost and risk.The area also includes quality control and assurance. The main difference between control and assurance is that control looks at specific results to see if they conform to the quality standard, whereas assurance focuses primarily on the quality process improvement. Human Resource Management This area involves HR planning like roles and responsibilities, project organization, and staff management planning. It also involves assigning staff; assess performance of project team members, and overall management of the project team.The project manager is the â€Å"Boss† of the project and Human Resource Management is essentially the knowledge area of running the project in relations to the resources assigned to the project. Communications Management This area focuses on keeping the project’s stakeholders properly informed throughout the entire project. Communication is a mixture of formal and informal, written and verbal, but it is always proactive and thorough. The project manager mus t distribute accurate project information in a timely manner to the correct audience.It involves creating a communications plan that explains what kind of information should be communicated on a regular basis and who should receive it. It includes project performance reporting to stakeholders so everyone is on the same page of the project progress, for example, what is outstanding, what is late, and what risks are left to worry about, etc. Risk Management This involves planning how to handle risks to the project. Specifically the project manager must identify risks and also plan how to respond to the risks if they occur.Risk has two characteristics: Risk is related to an uncertain event, and a risk may affect the project for good or for bad. When risks are assessed, the project manager usually has to assess several things: How likely will the risk happen, how will it affect the project if it happens, and how much will it cost if it happens? The project manager will use a lot of risk analysis tools and techniques to answer these questions. Procurement Management This area focuses on a set of processes performed to obtain goods or services from an outside organization.The project manager plans purchases and acquisitions of products and services that can’t be provided by the project manager’s own organization. It includes preparing procurement documents, requesting vendor responses, selecting the vendors, and creating and administering contracts with each outside vendor. As you can see there are many knowledge areas that a project manager must excel at. Even though some areas are more important than others, each area must be executed with care and professionalism in order for any project to be successful. ———————————————— Work Breakdown Structure, WBS Chart and Project Management WBS Work Breakdown Structure, WBS, Term Definition Work brea kdown structure, WBS, is a project management technique initially developed by the US Defense Establishment, which deconstructs a project with the intent to identify the deliverables required to complete the project. The project management work breakdown structure, WBS, is utilized at the beginning of the project to define the scope, estimate costs and organize Gantt schedules.Work breakdown structure, WBS, captures all the elements of a project in an organized fashion. Breaking down large, complex projects into smaller project pieces provides a better framework for organizing and managing the project. WBS can facilitate resource allocation, task assignment, responsibilities, measurement and control of the project. The project management work breakdown structure, WBS, is utilized at the beginning of the project to define the scope, estimate costs and organize Gantt schedules.In the project management WBS it is important that the project is not broken down into too much detail as tha t can lead to micro management. Conversely, too little detail can result in tasks that are too large to manage effectively. Work breakdown structure, WBS, can be presented in a tabular list, an indented task list as part of a Gantt chart or in a hierarchical tree. More often the work breakdown structure, WBS is listed in a hierarchical tree that captures deliverables and tasks needed to achieve project completion. ork breakdown structure (WBS) * E-Mail * Print * A * AA * AAA * inShare1 * Facebook * Twitter * Share This * RSS * Reprints A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a chart in which the critical work elements, called tasks, of a project are illustrated to portray their relationships to each other and to the project as a whole. The graphical nature of the WBS can help a project manager predict outcomes based on various scenarios, which can ensure that optimum decisions are made about whether or not to adopt suggested procedures or changes.When creating a WBS, the project manager defines the key objectives first and then identifies the tasks required to reach those goals. A WBS takes the form of a tree diagram with the â€Å"trunk† at the top and the â€Å"branches† below. The primary requirement or objective is shown at the top, with increasingly specific details shown as the observer reads down. When completed, a well-structured WBS resembles a  flowchart  in which all elements are logically connected, redundancy is avoided and no critical elements are left out. Elements can be rendered as plain text or as text within boxes.The elements at the bottom of the diagram represent tasks small enough to be easily understood and carried out. Interactions are shown as lines connecting the elements. A change in one of the critical elements may affect one or more of the others. If necessary, these lines can include arrowheads to indicate time progression or cause-and-effect. A well-organized, detailed WBS can assist key personnel in the effective a llocation of resources, project budgeting, procurement management, scheduling,  quality assurance,quality control, risk management, product delivery and service oriented management. Related article: Conveyor Belt Project

Ken from Whose Life Is It Anyway Persuading the Judge to Let Him Die Essay

In this essay, I will be describing and analysing how Ken, from â€Å"whose life is it anyway†, used persuasive techniques to persuade the judge to let him die. Ken is trying to persuade the judge to let him die, and he persuades him with this quote â€Å"†¦and I find the hospital’s persistent effort to maintain this shadow of life an indignity and its humane. † this quote is clearly showing that he does not want to rely on other people. The word â€Å"maintain† stands for holding something like an object in your household. He does not want the hospital and the doctors to â€Å"maintain† his shadow of life because he thinks that he is â€Å"dead already†. In the quote â€Å"†¦but the dignity starts with their choice. If I chose to live, it would be appalling if society killed me. If I chose to die, its equally appalling if society keeps me alive. † This quote shows that he cares about other people not just himself. The word â€Å"society† is used because it shows that he thinks truly not only about himself. Also there is a word â€Å"choose†, this clearly shows that there is no modal verbs and it is more effective and emotive, as that word, it self, shows that he thought everything though what he actual said. I like the way Ken uses strong words like â€Å"appalling†, by saying this, he is exaggerating and by doing this, he is shocking. Ken doesn’t thing letting someone live although they’re against it is terrible, but the fact that they don’t get the choice. â€Å"The cruelty doesn’t reside on saving someone or allowing them to die. It resides in the fact that the choice is removed from the man concerned† this quote means exactly how ken feels at that moment. The choice is about to be taken from him, and that will make things even harder for him. The word â€Å"cruelty† is a very strong word. Using it, Ken, creates sympathy and it made the whole quote more persuasive and he was saying that people are cruel by taking the choice from him. Also I this quote, he is stating by using words like â€Å"is†, â€Å"fact†, â€Å"it resides†. All of these are modal verbs and show that he knows what he is talking about and is confident with what he thinks and knows. The author chose the techniques for a reason, and the reasons are that the whole fact about persuading the judge needs to be pointed out as it’s the most important bit in the story play, the judge will judge from whether to save the man or let him die as he wanted. It’s a life or death situation. Ken also uses rhetorical questions to make the judge think, â€Å"Is that surprising? † Ken said this on purpose as it is very effective persuasive technique like in the one. Rhetorical questions overall, start arguments and debates in which this story is all about. Overall I think that the judge did the right thing letting ken die. He would be suffering mentally and physically if he didn’t. This story has many different writing techniques and only very few I have analysed in this essay. I think they are very effective upon this story and the story wouldn’t make sense and so much drama if it didn’t.

Mexican American Approaches to Health Essay

Mexican American, or Latino, traditional views on health and healing practices are influenced by several other cultures that they have historically had some kind of contact with, such as the Spanish colonizers, indigenous Indian populations, and Western medical practitioners. This varied background accounts for their holistic healing methods and their belief that good health stems from internal balance, a clear conscience, and a strong spiritual relationship with God. The underlying theme in traditional Mexican American health is that there needs to be a balance between the body and Earth’s elements. Equilibrium of each element–fire, water, air, and land–leads to an overall healthy state. (Molina, 1994) Traditionalists tie this balance concept in with the idea that all health states are associated with either hot or cold, and one may be used to heal the other. A state of health is characterized by a warm, wet body, and any exposure to extreme conditions on either side of this scale leads to illness. It is important to point out that the generalizations assumed in this paper are based on very traditional Mexican American individuals and do not span the entire population within the US. In regards to healthcare, traditional Mexican Americans hold the belief that their healing methods are either superior to or the same as those practiced by Western providers, so they tend to rely primarily on home remedies and cultural healers before seeking out other forms of medicine. Furthermore, their healing approach is firmly rooted in their specific values. It is important to be aware of Latino cultural values in order to understand their views on healthcare, as the latter is based on the other. In general, there are three basic values that crucially exists within most Mexican American relationships—personalismo, respeto, and dignidad. (Molina, 1994) Personalismo is the trust and rapport that is established with others. Latin Americans respond better to warm, friendly interactions, and prefer personal relationships to professional ones. Therefore, the best ways to earn trust is for a provider to show interest in the patient’s personal life, exercise empathy, and avoid formal interactions. It is also important for a provider to show respeto (respect) by dressing according to their profession and addressing the patient with the formal greeting â€Å"usted†. This makes the patient feel as through they are taken seriously and cared for at the same time. A Latino patient tends to want a provider to embrace and exemplify their role as a professional; they simply prefer more intimate interactions. And although they appreciate empathy, they expect a blatant regard for their digidad (dignity); as with many individuals, Latinos place an emphasis on being treated as equals and human beings. Furthermore, Mexican Americans value family and thrive off their interdependent relationships with them. (Molina, 1994) In fact, most traditional Latinos rely more on their relatives for health advice than healthcare providers; as a result, it is common for a family member to accompany a patient to their visit with a provider. Mexican Americans’ cultural definition of health is outlined by the three major states that they believe are the causes for all illness and disease. Additionally, poor health is culturally associated with imbalances within the body’s natural states that lead to problems. According to traditional beliefs, poor health can be attributed to one or more of the following: (1) Psychological State, (2) Environment and Natural Causes, or (3) Supernatural beings. (Molina, 1994) The psychological state includes any mental state that may be disrupting one’s peace of mind, including worry, anger, envy, or stress, all of which can lead to the dangerous state of susto (â€Å"fright†), or soul loss. Natural causes fall under environmental elements, such as dust, pollution, or germs–all of the things that Western medicine believes to be the only causes of illness. Finally, supernatural beings include malevolent spirits, witchcraft, or â€Å"mal de ojo†, the bad eye, any of which can cause disease or illness. Because Mexican American views on health differ from those of mainstream US medicine, there are several â€Å"folk illnesses† that exist within the culture that have no diagnosis within Western medicine, and are, therefore, remedied by traditional methods. Many of these illnesses fall under the idea of their imbalance theory. For example, an imbalance or conflict within social relationships opens one’s spirit up to â€Å"mal de ojo†; symptoms include fever, headache, and sleeplessness. The traditional treatment for this is rubbing the entire body with egg yolk. Empacho is an illness characterized by stomach pains, and results from feeling psychological stress while eating. Ataque de nervios literally translates to â€Å"attack of the nerves† and is caused by extreme emotional stress brought on by a traumatic event. Those suffering from this illness often engage in fits of swearing and convulsions. The treatments are praying over the affected individual and rubbing alcohol over their face. Caida is an infant disease that occurs when the fontanelle is dislodged from the child’s skull, and can result in death. (Molina, 1994) In Western medicine, providers may equate this with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), which even in the most skilled American facilities has no biological explanation. Since many of the illnesses recognized in the Mexican American culture are undiagnosed and not understood in Western medicine, a majority of this group employs home remedies or purchases medicines in a botanica, or a store that sells folk medicine and herbal treatments. (â€Å"Profiles of Health†, 1994) Although some recent studies have shown that many Latinos view cost as the number one barrier to healthcare in America, most traditionalists prefer to seek out the assistance of their cultural healers through a healing practice known as Curanderismo. (â€Å"Profiles of Health†, 1994) This practice is one of the most prominent healing practices in the Mexican American culture. It approaches health from a holistic point of view and encompasses physical, social, psychological, and spiritual healing. (Johnston, 2006) A Curandero is a revered, spiritual being that treats those suffering from biologically inexplicable illnesses and can have gifts in several areas, including massage, midwife, counselor, spinal adjustment (similar to a Chiropractor), or espiritualista–someone who channels help from spirits. (Molina, 1994) They specialize in a number of areas of medicine, such as naturopaths, herbalists, palm readers, or psychotherapists. Some research suggests that Curanderos arose out of a need for health care from poverty stricken communities that could not afford it. Traditionally, many sought out the help of Curanderos; however, according to recent studies, very few Mexican Americans utilize the services of a Curandero, and those who do use it as supplemental treatment to Western medicine. The main differences between Mexican American cultural healing methods and Western medicine are the varied definitions of similar illnesses, as well as the explanations for the causes of diseases. However, since most illnesses that are recognized in Latino culture also exist within the framework of American healthcare, then treatment can be applied uniformly. Therefore, the emphasis needs to be placed on cultural competence, which would incorporate a system for understanding other point of views of health. It is imperative for providers to develop both trust with and respect for their patients in order to treat them and to increase adherence to medical plans. Western medical providers must learn to listen to and understand the traditions of the Mexican American patient population so that they will be better equipped to serve them. Once this is accomplished within the American healthcare system, society will see health disparities begin to diminish.