September 21, 2010

VERY TERRIBLE FOR ME!!

I'm writing this with tears in my eyes, And again I'm so sorry that i
didn't inform you about my short trip here in (LONDON,UNITED KINGDOM)
for a short vacation unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the
hotel where we stayed,all cash,credit card and cell were stolen off us
but luckily for us we still have our passports with us.

We've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping
issues at all and our flight leaves in less than hours from now but
having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't
let us leave until we settle the bills,I'm freaked out at the moment.

September 21, 2010

VERY TERRIBLR FOR ME!!

I'm writing this with tears in my eyes, And again I'm so sorry that i
didn't inform you about my short trip here in (LONDON,UNITED KINGDOM)
for a short vacation unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the
hotel where we stayed,all cash,credit card and cell were stolen off us
but luckily for us we still have our passports with us.

We've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping
issues at all and our flight leaves in less than hours from now but
having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't
let us leave until we settle the bills,I'm freaked out at the moment.

August 10, 2009

normalization of a database

Third Normal Form is the level of organization of a database. You can think of the different levels of normalization as “filter” like guidelines, or protocols used to organize a data base in an efficient manner. For each level of normalization, there are rules set to govern the structure and organization of the tables in the DB, in which, all tables must follow in order to be efficient according to the guidelines. Some of the benefits of Third Normal Form are: efficiency and stability in operation of a database, reduced redundancy. We want our database to be as efficient as possible to reduce anomalies or errors when data is queried.

March 5, 2009

Net Neutrality

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Net Neutrality is the act of keeping major corporations and big business leaders from privatizing the Internet and charging higher prices to customers for the same service they already receive. It is also defined as, all Internet traffic is to be treated equally and that no website, or content is filtered, altered, redirected, blocked, or blessed with special privileges, which is all dependant on the ownership, source, or destination of the content or website CITATION Fre07 \l 1033 (Free Press Action Fund, 2007).

Network Neutrality affects personal users, small businesses, telephone and ISP companies, and many more. Net Neutrality will ultimately affect how technology is used in the future; it is up to the people impacted by Net neutrality and Congress to ensure Network neutrality is not stripped from the rights of all Internet users.

What Net Neutrality wants to do is stop ISP’s from being able to block selected material. One incident has already occurred with Comcast. Comcast is one of the largest Broadband Internet providers in America today. The Federal Communications Commission put a stop to Comcast’s throttling of certain Internet Data Packets. Comcast debated, they were following proper procedures of traffic shaping. Monitoring of customers’ internet traffic, filtering and blocking certain material based on the type of data, is what they were actually doing CITATION Kra08 \l 1033 (Kravets, 2008). What if Comcast had been wrong on the type of data being sent? What if the data being sent was the transferring of important documents from one company office to another? Comcast blocking those documents would ultimately affect that company and harmfully affect the integrity towards their customer’s. Would anyone want this to happen to them?

Let’s take a look at what may happen if Net Neutrality is thrown out the window. Internet Service Providers (ISP) will have the ability to filter all traffic on the internet; ISP’s will also be allowed to monitor all packets of data and decide which is important and which is not. This is already giving too much control to Internet Service Providers. What if a person wanted to look up a small business website but, the persons’ ISP filters this data packet and re-directs the person to a different website? This would be discrimination. The same reason the civil rights movement was put forth, is the same reason Net neutrality is being put forth. Internet users do not want their website browsing construed by big businesses behind the wheel of their browsing and searching of the Internet. Getting rid of Net Neutrality would give ISP’s the ability to do this.

Larry Dignan wrote a report on net neutrality, listing the possibilities of a non-neutrality internet. In his report, Dignan states that “All Internet traffic is not created equal” CITATION Dig06 \l 1033 (Dignan, 2006). In a sense he is right. Sending an e-mail should not have priority over a medical document being sent to a better equipped hospital for evaluation CITATION Dig06 \l 1033 (Dignan, 2006). But one thing Dignan fails to mention is how many different protocols are in use today, and some that are not even used at all. These hardly used protocols and the unused protocols can be used for the types of services that require high priority. What also can be done is separate the different protocols in priority based categories. There must be a line drawn between what is important and what is not. In other words, reserve certain protocols, like the protocols not in use, only for important data like medical documents, and internet based surgeries.

Dignan also claims VOIP will be affected significantly by net neutrality, reducing the quality of internet based phone calls CITATION Dig06 \l 1033 (Dignan, 2006). Like stated above, VOIP uses a different protocol than e-mail, peer2peer transferring and other everyday data transferring protocols. CITATION ND08 \l 1033 (VoiP Protocols, nd). Thus, net neutrality will not affect the quality or the necessary bandwidth needed for VOIP phone calls.

Providers of VOIP technology, like Vonage and Skype, are concerned about the Internet being in the hands of the ISP’s. Who is to say that The ISP’s who also provide VOIP services, will not be discriminatory towards the independent companies by slowing their bandwidth use down to a craw in order to persuade the users to switch to the same service they provide CITATION Sco06 \l 1033 (Scoblete, 2006). Net Neutrality will protect independent companies from being over powered by ISP’s and deep pocketed companies who offer the same services the independent companies offer.

In an article by Jon Stokes, he talks about an incident that took place by AT&T which states:

“FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, fire-breathing advocate of network neutrality regulation and opponent of media consolidation, has taken a stand on AT&T's now infamous censorship of Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder's anti-Bush remarks at Lollapalooza. In an interview with OpenLeft.com's Matt Stoller, Copps supported the idea that there's a link between AT&T's deletion of Vedder's political comments from a webcast of the concert and the network neutrality fight that's brewing in the halls of Congress” CITATION Sto07 \l 1033 (Stokes, 2007).

As stokes reports, AT&T deliberately blocked the comment on a webcast. Why they decided to block it is outlined in an article written by Nate Anderson which states:

“AT&T made the decision to silence them, apparently believing that they would prove offensive to listeners.” CITATION And07 \l 1033 (Anderson, 2007).

This bold move pulled by AT&T is an example of what an ISP is capable of doing with their power of controlling content. Without any type of legislation, this can only get worse. Legislation is already in place for discrimination acts like this, which is the first amendment, freedom of speech. Speaking of amendments and laws, what about Privacy?

Everyone has a right to privacy, whether it is health records, therapy sessions, and even lawyer consultations; they are all protected under privacy acts. Personal internet usage information is no different than this. But, ISP’s feel they are not susceptible to the same terms. This has been proven already in cases where ISP’s have used the technology called DPI or deep packet inspection to filter internet traffic. What this means is, ISP’s are capable of inspecting every packet of information that passes through their servers in real time CITATION And08 \t \l 1033 (Anderson, 2008). DPI technology is a powerful tool but, in the wrong hands can compromise personal information of millions of internet users. With the Internet being privatized and in the hand of ISP’s, who is to say, the ISP will not sell this information to advertisement companies? There must be some type of regulations and laws to protect Internet users from this type of privacy invasion. In fact, there are laws against this already; "Regulators need not regulate anew to prevent the worst ISP monitoring abuses, because these acts are probably already illegal under the American wiretapping laws," Ohm says.” CITATION And08 \t \l 1033 (Anderson, 2008).

It’s turning into ISP’s acting like “Big Brother” to users of the Internet, watching every move, taking notes, and stepping in as a type of mediator. Without the interference of the Government and the FCC, and not having Net Neutrality in full swing, cases start appearing where companies have used the technology Deep Packet Inspection in ways that would invade privacy laws. The company Neubuad was using DPI in order to Create profiles and logs of internet user’s habits, and used the information to deploy ads CITATION Tim08 \l 1033 (Timmer, 2008). DPI does have positive uses but without any type of regulation from the government and the FCC, DPI can be used to violate personal rights of internet users.

The reason why Deep packet inspection is being brought up is because of the uses of DPI technology. The only part of a data packet, that needs to be looked at, is the header information. With the header information, the data packet is able to be delivered to the correct location. DPI however, can scan the entire packet and determine exactly what the data is, and figure out its use CITATION Tim08 \l 1033 (Timmer, 2008). The only people to benefit from inspecting a packet at this level are ISP’s and advertisers. Net Neutrality will ensure ISP’s are prohibited from using such technology to filter internet traffic as a means of re-directing traffic to favored sites, or even worse, giving this information to advertising companies responsible for spam mail and pop-ups.

Scott Cleland, who works for ISP’s had to disagree with the above claim. He accused Google and Yahoo, (which are fighting for Net neutrality) of playing on the same ball field CITATION Tim08 \l 1033 (Timmer, 2008). Cleland just so happened to not mention that ISP’s intercept all internet traffic. Google and Yahoo only get their information when a user chooses to use their services, or search engine, which is a big difference. On one hand the person has no clue, and on the other, the person knows and has the ability to choose whether to use that service. ISP’s will definitely benefit from DPI if they are allowed to continue using it.

Companies like AT&T are complaining about having to transfer large amounts of data for companies like Google and Amazon on their networks CITATION Ras06 \l 1033 (Rash, 2006). This is another reason they want to make a non-neutral internet. The ISP would then set up different access levels to prioritize the internet traffic. Large corporations that can afford the faster level will have their content delivered quicker. Small businesses and startup websites will suffer from being stuck in a slow lane from not being able to pay the hefty fees for the faster services CITATION Ras06 \l 1033 (Rash, 2006). From this, first time business starters will have a harder time being able to keep up with the bigger businesses. But with net neutrality, this can all be avoided as all traffic would be equal.

What is to become of future Technology? Where will the Internet stand in ten years, and how will the vote of Congress on Net Neutrality bills, effect the internet and future technology? Taking a stand against the big ISP corporations, and the lobbyists determined to privatize the Internet, will, indeed, determine these important factors of the future to come; and It all comes down to the individual word of the average, everyday internet user, to ensure Net Neutrality is here to stay.

March 5, 2009

Special Luck

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It seemed like any other day at work. The day was going fine until I got home from work. My wife had rearranged our computer setups, which was no big deal as it needed to be done. But, for some reason she was upset and crying. I asked her, “Honey what is wrong?” “I broke my computer!” she said. “How did you break your computer?” She then explained to me that when she hooked her computer back up the screen display was messed up. She figured the graphics card had gone bad, so she removed it. She restarted her computer with the monitor plugged into the integrated VGA output, and it started loading drivers. After it loaded the drivers, (which she thought were the drivers for the graphics card she removed) she reinstalled the graphics card. Altogether, she had removed and reinserted the graphics card three times. When she went to turn the computer back on nothing happened. It just wouldn’t turn back on.

When I arrived home, I immediately started working on it, trying to figure out what was wrong. The first thing I did was, remove the power button and hook up a different one. Not the problem. I then changed out the power supply thinking maybe it went bad. It still would not turn on. I plugged the power cord into a different socket to check and make sure the surge protector was still working. I checked all the cables inside the computer to make sure everything was connected in the correct spot. I then started to explain to my wife that, in the process of pulling the graphics card in and out she must have sent a static shock through the mother board and fried it, and we would have to buy a new mother board to fix it. As my wife was going through our checkbook to see if we could go buy another board, I was closing her computer up. I figured I would check it one more time before we spent $150 on a new board. When I plugged the power cord into the back of the power supply, I grabbed a different one that was for another computer. BAM!! It came on! The problem was finally solved. Then she told me while she was pulling her computer out from under her desk, to take out the graphics card, she had snagged the power cord and tugged on it. It had broken the power cord inside causing it to not turn on.

Anytime something is wrong with your computer, always try out the simplest things first. I ended up trying quite a few different options to what was causing the problem. I even went as far as accusing the biggest part of the computer unit, which was the mother board. But, it all came down to the power cord. You can also take the example of the graphics card. My wife thought the worse; which the worse was the graphics card had gone bad. But, it came down to a simple display settings error where, it was changed somehow (Windows OS is notorious for this). Always check the simple items first!

March 5, 2009

Creativity and Constraints

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Some of the everyday contexts that my life is organized through my own attempts to balance creativity and constraints is a very difficult question. Firstly, I have to identify a good example of an organization that affects my everyday life.

At work, for example, I tend to dress according to the job. If the jobsite is a new home where I am meeting the owners for the first time, I wear my nicest close and uphold the utmost behavior. When meeting clients for the first time, it is essential to make a good impression. Constraint plays a deep role in situations with this type of context.

Creativity, on the other hand, would be best held until the job has started, the owner leaves, and issues arise that require innovative ideas on how to correct the problem. Then the human mind would take control and brainstorm on ideas that would alleviate the issues and keep the job flowing.

All of the choices made in determining whether to show creativity or constraints comes from the product of who we are and the conception of self; which is how we see ourselves based on many different factors CITATION Eis07 \l 1033 (Eisenberg, Goodall, & Trethewey, 2007).

March 4, 2009

Importance of White Hat Hackers

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The Importance of White Hat Hackers

White hat hackers are crucial to the IT industry and society in itself. They have an ability the software program developers do not; this ability is to think outside the box. With everything becoming digital, security is a major issue. Everyone’s personal information is constantly at a risk of being compromised. It is flaws in the software and infrastructure design which creates the vulnerabilities that put the personal data at stake. Security software developers and IT professionals involved in design and implementation of network security, have the tendency to overlook basic security issues (Jagnarine, 2005). This is where the expertise of White hat hackers and their ability to help society keep their data safe comes into play.

White Hat Hackers are able to use certain techniques to find issues and flaws in software and infrastructures. It’s like having an opposing view from what the developers have, to the structure of the coding and being able to find vulnerabilities and loopholes. Instead of developing the program from the inside out, hackers dissect and probe at the program from the outside in and from a hacker’s perspective, which is mostly how security risks are found. Many of the white hat hackers have greater knowledge and understanding of Information Technology which is a great reason why they are beneficial to society and keeping data secure (Jagnarine, 2005).

White hat hackers must have great skills to be truly considered a hacker; they need to be able to write computer code fluently and in different code languages. Some of the languages are Perl, C, LISP, and Python. All of these codes are essential when a hacker wants to manipulate a program or even build a program to infiltrate a network system to indentify vulnerabilities. Hackers must also be familiar with multiple Operating Systems. The most common Operating Systems a hacker uses are UNIX and Linux which is a UNIX based OS (Raymond, 2001). Open source operating systems are much more powerful when it comes to hacking; it allows for more operability and function control. Where areas of a proprietary OS is bound by the hidden source code, making it harder to manipulate code into something it was not intended to do (Raymond, 2001). A good understanding of basic TCP/IP protocols and functions is also beneficial for hackers, as most work is done from a remote location. One other skill that stands out most is the skill to abide by the hacker code of ethics. This is essential to being a white hat hacker.

The hackers’ code of ethics is the standards in which hackers abide by. However, these ethics can be interpreted in different ways. The basic idea of the hackers code of ethics was first introduced by Steven Levy in the book titled “Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution” in 1984 (Levy, 2006).

Anyone should be able to access anything that may teach them something about the world or make them more knowledgeable on how something works. In the Information world this somewhat holds true. Anyone may go into a local library and access a computer. One will be limited on what they are capable of doing on the machine do to access control; but the concept is still there. This is the reason open source software is so popular in the information world and an important tool to hackers. Open source software takes advantage of the first code in hacker ethics; unlike proprietary software which cannot be modified legally. “All information should be free” (Levy, 2006); the third code of ethics can only do one thing, benefit mankind by permitting anyone to research any information on a subject in order to learn something new and to gain knowledge that may one day be beneficial to the persons health, wealth, and personal being. The hackers’ code of ethics is very important to a white hat hacker, giving them guidelines to differentiate between the good and the bad.

The white hat hackers make a difference in information security and society. The white hat society retains the necessary skills to fulfill the demands of keeping personal information safe. If there were no White hat hackers to find the security flaws, other hackers, the not so ethical or legal hackers, would be discovering these flaws and using them to manipulate software to gain access to sensitive information that is personal and confidential.

Reference

Jagnarine, A. A. (2005). kucourses courseMaterial. Retrieved July 4, 2008, from kucourses.com: http://www.kucourses.com/ec/media/store/mediainfosys/IT101/unit8/CourseMateri...

Levy, S. (2006). Other Books. Retrieved July 5, 2008, from Stevenlevy.com: http://www.stevenlevy.com/index.php/other-books/hackers

Raymond, E. S. (2001). How To Become A Hacker. Retrieved July 3, 2008, from catb.org: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

March 4, 2009

The World of Network Administration

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The World of Network Administration

The IT field has a vast range of different roles a person can choose. Some of the different roles can be very specific in their job duties, while other IT roles overlap their job duties into each other. Network Administration has multiple job duties within its title, as well as key hardware components necessary for operation, security protocols, and software developed specifically for use by Network Administrators.

Hardware is essential for networks to operate; each computer or node on the network must have a Network Interface Card or (NIC). The NIC is the device inside each computer; which it uses an Ethernet cord to connect the computer to the network; this is what allows the computer to communicate with other devices on the network. The network card assigns a unique address known as a MAC Address to each computer CITATION Kay08 \l 1033 (Kayne, 2008). This is how the network defines each computer and makes each individual computer identifiable. The most popular NIC cards use the Ethernet protocol. When a packet is sent to a computer, the device sending the packet uses the MAC address as a means of knowing where to send the packet; the network card accepts the packet and will convert the data frame into bits the computer can process. When a packet is to be sent from the computer, the NIC will perform the exact opposite as receiving a packet CITATION Sch08 \l 1033 (Schluting, 2008). It is the job of the Network Administrator to install, configure, and maintain all the NIC’s on the network.

Network Administrators also use Network Switches. The Switch is the device that all the computers or nodes connect to in a network. The Switch inspects packets coming in and decides which computer or node it is directed to, and then forwards that packet to that particular machine CITATION Mit08 \l 1033 (Mitchell, 2008). In larger networks, multiple switches can be found; as the number of ports available for computers is limited; therefore, in some cases, more switches are installed to accommodate the increased number of computers or network devices. Network Administrators are responsible for setting up and maintaining the switch or switches on the network.

A laptop is a great device for a Network Administrator to own; as the laptop can be used for multiple tasks. Daily record keeping of network performance can be saved on the laptop which would give the Network Admin the ability to analyze the statistics from wherever he chooses. The Network Administrator can also use the laptop for meetings, where he shows a presentation or spreadsheet to a large group of people outlining different procedures, or even equipment investments. The laptop can be connected to a projector, making it easy for everyone to view the presentation while in a meeting. This is a lot easier than sending the presentation to each individual to view on their own. The Network Admin can also use the laptop to work from home, or a WI-FI hotspot. However, working from a WI-FI hotspot is not a good idea because of security concerns, but more on that later.

A Network Administrator will need to utilize certain software in order to perform their job duties. Networks always need to be monitored for optimization, security issues and inappropriate use. One program used for network monitoring is Wireshark (formally Ethereal). Wireshark captures packets that are traveling across the network; analyzing these packets can be very helpful in determining what and how people are using their workstation CITATION Com08 \l 1033 (Combs, 2008). Analyzing the packets can also show an Administrator if there has been any attempts of unauthorized access.

Deksi Network Inventory is another program that will be essential. This program takes an inventory of all the hardware and software devices on the entire network. Having such information will allow an Administrator to monitor any changes that might occur accidentally or even purposely. Troubleshooting can be a difficult task when there are many computers on the network; having this inventory list will make it easier to spot the anomaly. Deksi also allows for exporting the inventory list to Excel, SQL, Oracle or HTML; this is great for converting the inventory into a language that can be viewed by other programs CITATION Dek08 \l 1033 (Dek Software International, 2008).

Network Administrators must be able to create reports, spreadsheets, and presentations. Microsoft Office is the perfect software suite for a Network Admin to be able to create these types of documents. A spreadsheet can be created to show which workstation is logging the most hours, which workstation is surfing the internet the most, which workstation is being used the least and even server load averages at different times of the day.

At some point in time, a Network Admin will have to write a report or create a process essay for other people in the company to learn a certain program or procedure. Microsoft Word works well for writing these types of essays, along with, personal progress reports.

PowerPoint Presentations can be used to present information or to provide reasoning for needing hardware upgrades to the Network Administrators boss, colleagues, or other team members. PowerPoint will also allow a Network Admin to present a diagram of the network structure and any procedures or modifications that need to be done. Microsoft Office Suite will be very useful for a Network Admin.

Some tasks a Network Admin needs to do, can be done remotely. An Admin can monitor network traffic from the comfort of home, using the Internet. The World Wide Web can be used to search and purchase necessary equipment and software. The Web is also a great place to keep up on the latest technology and security concerns.

Security is a big concern for Network Administrators. Everything must be kept secure. Individual users need to have access permissions set based on their specific job duties and the resources users will need. Access permissions are taken care of within the Network Operating System on the server machine. Physical firewalls are essential for keeping the network secure. A firewall will ensure that the network does not become compromised from outside intruders. Network Administrators must keep up on security patches and hot fixes, released by hardware and software manufactures, to patch security holes in a network infrastructures and equipment. Without these types of updates and patches, the network can become very vulnerable to attacks. Backups need to be made of network configurations, as well as, important data files. The frequency of creating backups depends on how active the network is, and how important the information on the server is. As long as there is storage space, backups should be made daily, and they should be kept in a completely different building away from the actual server and network.

Network Administrators cannot be in the office twenty four hours a day. Therefore, the use of a mobile computing will be highly useful. If something were to break down causing the network to go corrupt, the Administrator can be emailed and receive the email on his Smartphone or PDA instantly. He can then use his Smartphone to connect to the server and diagnose the problem. If he is unable to fix it remotely, he can then go into work and fix the issue.

Network Administration is a fascinating and important job. Companies rely on their network to be up and running at all times. Developing and maintaining a company network takes a lot of skill, and perseverance. It is the duty of the Network Administrator to monitor and maintain the network. Using the right equipment and software is in the best interest of the Network Administrator.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Combs, G. (2008). Wireshark Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved July 16, 2008, from Wireshark.org: http://www.wireshark.org/about.html

Dek Software International. (2008). Deksi Network Inventory. Retrieved July 16, 2008, from alienpicks.com: http://deksi-network-inventory.dek-software-international.alienpicks.com/

Kayne, R. (2008). What is a Network Interface Card? Retrieved July 16, 2008, from wise geek: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-network-interface-card.htm

Mitchell, B. (2008). Switch (network switch). Retrieved July 17, 2008, from About.com: http://compnetworking.about.com/od/hardwarenetworkgear/g/bldef_switch.htm

Schluting, c. (2008, July 16). Networking 101: Understanding Layers. Retrieved July 17, 2008, from enterprise networking planet: http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netsp/article.php/3575541

March 4, 2009

Internet Crimes

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Internet Movie Crimes and Advancements in Technology

Internet movies are a big part of today’s technological world. With the increase in internet speeds and file sharing technology, big files, like movies, are easily distributed among millions of internet users. This movie file distribution has raised a lot of debate, about the ethical and moral effects on copyright laws. Addressing these issues and analyzing the effects will help determine what can be done to correct the problem. This is exactly what is being done by movie studios and internet distribution sites.

Movies on the internet, for the most part, have been distributed illegally via downloading. Multiple sites exist today, that take advantage of programs designed to help open-source software developers easily share their work. The sites do share open source-software but, users are taking advantage of the technology to distribute these illegal copies of movies.

The technology used to share work or movie files is called peer-to-peer sharing; P2P sharing consists of connecting multiple users together with direct connections. Each person downloads bits and segments of files from multiple users at once. The person downloading also uploads the same bits and segments to multiple users at once. This downloading and uploading makes a spider web affect out of the movie file, with each individual receiving from and contributing to the file being shared. This makes P2P sharing a highly effective way to distribute illegal movies CITATION Bau05 \l 1033 (Bauwens, 2005). The illegal movie comes from one specific person and ends up in the hands of thousands of people in days. The specific person that uploads the movie can obtain the movie with numerous methods.

One method to obtain the movie is for movie goers to secretly video tape new hit movies inside movie theatres. Movies released on a Friday night can be on black market DVD’s and internet sites within hours CITATION Hug06 \l 1033 (Hughlett, 2006). As soon as these illegal copies hit the internet, they can be distributed among users, at large rates, increasing up to five digit figures among down loaders. The amount of movies being shared illegally, are costing film makers and studios billions of dollars per year CITATION Bos06 \l 1033 (Bosman & Zeller, 2006). This enormous amount of profit loss has heightened the necessity for film makers and release studios to take actions and develop means to protect their ownership and copyrights on the illegal movies being distributed.

The methods being deployed to fight the distribution of illegal movies are, for instance, investigators will go and scope theatres for people recording the movies. Violators, who get caught, are prosecuted. In the event of a convicted individual, in videotaping inside movie theatres, they are charged with criminal use of a motion picture exhibition facility. This crime can lead to a ten thousand dollar fine or one to three years in prison CITATION Hug06 \l 1033 (Hughlett, 2006). Other violators involved in internet distribution are charged for violating copyright laws that protect movies from being illegally distributed.

Websites are also being targeted for violating laws against piracy. Peekvid.com is facing charges for hosting movies and television shows. Google may also be looking at lawsuits. Since Google bought YouTube, which is the source for the charges against these two companies, Google has already determined they will encounter such lawsuits and have anticipated by putting funds back to compensate damages CITATION Hay08 \l 1033 (Hayes, n.d.). However, from all of the commotion and crack down on piracy, new ways are being made available for users to download movies in a legal manner.

Movie sites have been created to distribute movies to users who wish to see them. The only difference is they have found a way to distribute movies legally. Movielink.com rents movies to users that they can watch for a limited time. There are more sites that rent movies, and even sell DVD quality downloads CITATION Bru06 \l 1033 (Bruce, 2006). Recent updates in security have allowed other sites like bittorrent.com to download movies by using specific software. Security features are implemented to restrict the movie from only being played on the pc it was downloaded to; also the features lock the download by specific passwords that must be entered before the movie can be watched CITATION Bos06 \l 1033 (Bosman & Zeller, 2006).

Legal downloading is finally catching up with piracy. Companies, such as Warner Brothers, have partnered with Guba.com, to make movies available for download; Guba.com also offers movies from Sony CITATION Bou06 \l 1033 (Boudreau, 2006). Warner Brother is using Bit Torrent in order to distribute internet movies with legal copyrights. Sony, Lions Gate and MGM are helping to deter piracy by partnering with Cinema Now CITATION Bos06 \l 1033 (Bosman & Zeller, 2006).

The efforts of these studios and internet sites are making it easier for movie fanatics to watch movies legally and cheaply without leaving their home. This is becoming convenient for movie fans that would rather not leave their home to rent from stores. Confronting the issues of piracy and developing alternatives is starting to be beneficial to studios and internet sites. As the fight against piracy rages, advancements in technology and intuitive concepts will increase, bringing down the threat of piracy and producing positive effects for the entertainment industry while compensating them for the losses they have suffered, since illegal downloading began.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bauwens, M. (2005, June 15). Peer to Peer and Human Evolution. Retrieved July 12, 2008, from Integral Visioning: http://integralvisioning.org/article.php?story=p2ptheory1#_Toc107024687

Bosman, J., & Zeller, j. T. (2006, May 9). Warner Bros. to Sell Movies and TV shows on Internet. Retrieved June 30, 2008, from NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/09/business/media/09movie.html?_r=2&oref=s...

Boudreau, J. (2006, June 11). Local Web video firms team with hollywood. Retrieved June 25, 2008, from EBSCO Newspaper Source: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=2W62W642...

Bruce, A. (2006, July 9). Downloads are the latest way to go to the movies. Retrieved June 25, 2008, from EBSCO Newspaper Source: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=2W62W665...

Hayes, S. (n.d.). Movie Studios Target Video Site. Retrieved June 25, 2008, from EBSCO News Paper Source: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=20061121...

Hughlett, M. (2006, August 18). Movie Priacy on the Rise, but the Industry Fights Back. Retrieved June 25, 2008, from EBSCO Newspaper Source: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=2W62W629...