Vertical Integration

     Vertical integration seems like it is a very wise, and effective business strategy. I think it sounds like a logical path for a company to take. I know that it brings up the threat of monopolies, but looking at it from the point of view of a company it would be a very smart move. Now obviously I am not in support of companies forming monopolies, but you have to admit that if you were the owner of a company using suppliers and transporters, you would want to save as much money as possible. The goal of a company is not always to be fair to the competition, the goal is to make the most profit for the people above and below you in your own company. You cannot always take into account the feelings and situations of those outside of your group. I understand that monopolies only do good for the group that is in control, but if you put yourself in the company's shoes you would want to do whatever you can to gain the most control. The basics of vertical integration as well as a very knowledgable definition can be found in this link.

Social Credit System

    The idea of social credit is being used today in different communities across the world. Social credit is a system that is meant to keep tabs on a population. It can currently be seen in China. The way China uses this system is that they have technology survelling its citizens and companies. With this survellance they use the actions done by people to determine their social credit score. When your social credit score drops then you have certain privileges taken away, and restraints set upon you. It can measure from slower internet speeds to less freedom on the internet, to even getting put on no-fly lists. 

    This system when talked about hypothetically sounds like it promotes national well-being and a high moral standard. When you actually apply and use this system you get quite a different result. In most cases we see the government overstep and become far too involved in the personal lives of its citizens. We see the Chinese government use this tool to restrict free thought and individualism. They say that they are promoting good morals for its citizens but they have no right to dictate and control what little freedom the Chinese people already have. We have confirmed mild punishments for the people who lose social credit but what about the people we do not hear about? Would it be too strange to think that the government uses social credit as a way to find threats to their totalitarian regime? Maybe they are using it to find the people they need to silence. With nobody keeping this system in check the people controlling the system are unstoppable from inside China. They can do whatever they want with no repercussions because anybody that speaks up against the abuse they experience will lose their precious social credit and potentially be silenced one way or another by the people in charge of the system. 

    Another example of social credit being used today is in Canada. With the truck protests being shut down, Canada is showing quite a tyrannical side. These protests have been, for the vast majority, peaceful. You would not think of any physical, or financial punishment for a peaceful, non-violent series of protests. However, the Canadian government has been quite aggressive with its handling of the situation. We have seen videos of people getting trampled by horses, and police using unnecessary force on non-violent protestors. Where we see the use of social credit come in is with financial punishments. Canada is in the process of punishing peaceful protestors by freezing and limiting their personal financial accounts. They have been finding the names and faces of the protestors in order to stop them from being able to access their own personal accounts. This is a more publicized version of what China has been doing. They are threatening their citizens with punishments for simply trying to be free thinkers and voice their opinions. This is the use that social credit has ad throughout history. It has been manipulated by corrupt officials in order to silence and locate people who are expressing ideas they do not agree with.

The basics on Chinese social credit

Pros and cons of Chinese social credit

Diffusion Theory: Telegram

     The telegram had many pioneers. The tool was first used by regional telegram companies. They were run through smaller areas and were not connected nationwide. The telegram was still used less than the postal system because they needed to send messages to places used by other telegram companies so they wouldn't be able to use a telegram. When the telegram companies were bought out nationwide by the Western Union Telegram company, it became much more popular. This is where you see the critical mass takes its role. It becomes popularized and gained impact across the nation. We reach the point of maturation around World War One and Two. We see the telegram used by the military and the government because of its convenience and ease. It reaches its saturation point when phone lines became easy to use and install, and by the time computers came around, it was experiencing its long tail phase. Telegram was discontinued as a communication tool and transitioned to a finance company. It went full circle to another completely different industry.

privacy

    This topic seems like a very valid thing to talk about in our day and age. We have so many groups, companies, and people watching us without our knowledge on the daily. I really liked the analogy of a virtual tattoo. It seems like a perfect way, to sum up how the internet is used to keep track of people. Information that is put out there about you never goes away fully. You may be able to delete things but the virtual tattoo is there forever. It is a great reminder that you need to understand how you access the internet and how you permit companies to use your information. 

    

    There is also a great concern of having private images and information leaked or even sold. There have been many cases of private images and information being used for purposes never intended by the makers. Our private information must be secured through our own processes we cannot just trust tech companies themselves.

EOTO New Technology

     The most interesting piece of technology to learn about for me was definitely the pager. I had always known about pagers but I did not know about the mechanics of a pager, nor did I have a reason to. I found it very interesting to learn about one of the most useful forms, of communicating and receiving messages, that has ever been developed. It was very interesting to hear that pagers can be used in dead zones. This makes total sense why they were implemented in hospitals since the situations hospital workers face can be life or death. The concept of in-sync messaging sounds like such a simple thing in our day and age, but being able to accomplish this in 1921 sounds like a major milestone for electronic communication in our world. The lives changed by this form of communication must be significant. The pager had such a valuable use and served that well for years and years.

Antiwar Media

     This article was very interesting to me because I had never seen these websites before. I find it very interesting that antiwar media is being suppressed so efficiently. It makes sense that media against war would not be promoted as well as other types. To think that the government has a vice grip on the information being publicized and promoted in our country, in particular, makes the thought of suppressing information that goes against an agenda seem much more understandable. The process of war always has a purpose behind it. Whether that purpose is justice, freedom, money, or tyranny there is always a purpose. However the government is honestly just a business and sometimes war and conflict are good for business, regardless of the aftermath. Governments are just huge war machines, they are only used to help people when we have good people in political offices. It only benefits people who are benefiting from nepotism when there are unworthy people in office.

 

    This picture is a great example of how anti-war propaganda works. When people want to protest conflict it is very normal for them to shed light on the type of people who make a profit off of these conflicts. They are able to show how drastically different the situations are for different demographics. 

This link has many great examples of other anti-war propaganda posters through out the years.

History of the Telegram

     The telegram cross-country telegram was brought together by the Western Union telegram. The company developed the telegram in April of 1856. The company has officially been converted to a finance company since 2006. The telegram was active for 150 years and saw many phases of history. Telegram Passes into History is a great article by Wired Magazine that talks about the past 150 years of use that the telegram has had, and how it has affected the world.

    The telegram relaced the Pony Express mail system and became a much more effective use of communication. It was proven faster and safer over a long distance. When the Pony Express was actively used there were many robberies and complications due to the rough environments the stagecoaches, trains, and riders were forced to take. The telegram was a drastic step towards modernizing the west. Nobody before had supplied such an easy and effective form of long-distance information.

    When the telegram was first set up it became a great asset for the government. It became used for banking across the nation, military communications, as well as law enforcement. The Western Union telegram was a company that was made up of multiple smaller telegram companies, in order to provide one line of communication through the nation. Western Union used the different companies to cover parts of the country and bought them all out so they were all part of the same company. This made a universal form of communication across the country. 

    In the 1920's and 1930' the telegraph was at its peak popularity. It was the cheapest form of corss country messaging and it was very safe and affective. Long distance telephones were available to the public at this point in time, however it was very expensive. It also did not make the most sense logistically since there were already telegram lines set up across the country so why would you want to pay so much extra when a system that works well is already avaliable. The telegram proves usefull for the military. Since it was developed in 1856 it was avaliable for use in the Civil War. This system of communication made it possible for military intelligence to travel at a lightning pace compared to foot couriers or horse back messangers. The only con was that it was not very difficult for the enemy to sabatoge telegraph lines, and make them inopperable. The lines also did not always extend to places outside of towns. So it was difficult to access these messages sometimes without some use of human messanger. In some cases if people had the proper equipment, they could wire into the poles and send messages without having to go to telegram offices. This was also a way to recieve messages so the information you were sending was not always secure. If you were sending military intelligence it owuld be difficult to ensure that your enemy wasnt able to receive those messages, unless you were sure that no hostiles were nearby. 

    In the end the telegraph died out like everything does. No technology will be eternal, there will always be something newer, better, or more popular. Althought the telegram is no longer being used and is being forgotten by the current generation it will always be a major part of the development of this country, as well as the world.