The Revolution of Fantasy Sports

In the realm of fantasy sports, the internet has created a social network unavailable to the average sports fan a decade ago. The days of meeting at a central location to conduct a live draft are over. No more pleading with your friend to host you and your 20 buddies for a night of beer and potato chips; A night in which the wives have to leave the house so that they do not disrupt the focus and devotion of these avid sports fans.
And what about those fans who left without such a group of friends? They welcome the start of a new season with only the excitement of sitting in their basement watching their favourite team play each night, with only their pet dog to discuss and analyze that night’s box score. The idea of joining into a hockey pool is restricted by the lack of social capital acquired through the years of childhood rejection and punishment.
Now enter the world of online fantasy sports leagues. These leagues are revolutionizing the world of sports. Those who used to sit at home directing their exclusive attention towards their favourite team, are now following the scores across the league and cheering for players they used to despise, only because this player is on their fantasy team. On top of this, that guy who sat with no friends now can enter an online league with sports fans all across the globe in a similar state. There is no longer a need to meet at a central location to conduct a draft, but rather an online draft allows participants from all over the world to log in and compete with others to select the premiere fantasy team. Online fantasy pools have opened up a whole new social network available to diehards across the country.

Internet and New Social Movements

The internet is a liberating and democratic force that directly challenges systems of domination, it has spread consciousness of questionable labour practices occurring in developing nations and has increased human agency (help mobilize new social movements). New technologies have opened up possibilities for activism and resistance against transnational corporations. Nike is a popular example of one of these corporations that has taken part in unfair labour conditions in developing nations. During the early 1990’s consumers became concerned about the labour conditions of workers in developing nations and started to become involved. Concerning elements for activists were: the health and safety of workers, the discrimination against trade unions, forced overtime, unfair wages, high production quotas and unsafe and inadequate onsite living arrangements.
Online activism has the potential to be incredibly powerful...but I think that the physical presence of actually picketing and protesting cannot be matched in an online setting. I think that the two forms of activism: online and offline complement each other. Having an online forum to meet, collaborate and plan actual physical meets and protests make online activism incredibly useful; as a viable means of global communication online activism has allowed groups and individuals from across the world the opportunity to meet and share their opinions and ideas. It is hard to say whether online activism will ever be comparable to traditional forms of activism (protesting/picketing) but one thing is for sure it has helped these traditional forms gain precedence and global recognition.
What do you think the future of activism will look like?

CyberCrime: Identity Theft

When discussing the Internet the issue or privacy is bound to come up especially today with the increase in online activity and the prevalence of e-commerce (ex-online banking, eBay, email, facebook, myspace etc). Our lives are saturated with the ease of the internet. I’m an avid online banker for the simple fact that it is quick and easy to transfer money or pay bills without having to physically go to the bank (not having a car definitely limits my ability to get anywhere or get anything done in a hurry). Also, more and more individuals are choosing to shop online because they can avoid long cash-out lines, crowded stores and busy mall parking lots. This increase in internet dependency brings with it credit card reliance and issues of online safety and identity theft.
Do you ever think twice when ordering products online? Does typing in your credit card number make you nervous? This e-commerce trend is putting online users at risk of identity theft. As David Holtzman mentions in his article “Perspective: Identity Theft: Get Used to It” consumers are turned into numbers and are reduced to digital identification keys. “The substitution of these identification keys for the person, while probably necessary, has created an environment that is conducive to identity theft. It is much easier to find a way to get the identification keys that will unlock an account than it is to break a window and leave with a television set” (Holtzman, 2002). Do you agree with him? Do you see yourself as an individual reduced to an online identification code? To access anything on the internet (university registration portals such as Telaris, email, banking, etc) individuals are required to create a sign in name and password…do you think that these fields are safe enough? Holtzman says that computers make identity theft so much easier “Not only can you withdraw money from someone's bank account, trade their stocks or sell their house, you also can lift their professional credentials and establish commitments and relationships under a fraudulent pose”. This is incredibly frightening! Of course there are ways to abuse any system but I often think that we don’t actually consider our own online safety until we are forced to, until we or someone we know becomes a victim of identity theft.
What measures can be taken to counteract online identity theft? As Holtzman mentions members of the “IM Generation” are completely vulnerable to identity theft because of their online presence “They will therefore always be vulnerable to identity theft” (Holtzman). The problem here is that legislation is hard to impose and enforce making identity theft hard to resolve. For more information about Holtzman’s ideas you can check out his article at http://news.cnet.com/Identity-theft-Get-used-to-it/2010-1071_3-955441.html?tag=mncol
What steps do you take to protect yourself online? We all need to consider how we interact with e-commerce and take the necessary steps to safeguard our personal information from hackers trying to steal our identity.