ES1102

19.4.15

Presentation Reflection

As for my presentation, I am very pleasured for the positive comments from Mr Blackstone and fellow classmates. However, I deeply think it was not my best presentation. I did not had enough time for preparation. I did not even practice before class. That is why my fluency was not perfect. If I had written my script down and practiced a few times, it would be much better.

Reader response draft 4

In the article ‘Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom China, Russia, or the US?’ Morozov (2015) states that China and Russia both violate internet freedom since China blocks a few foreign websites and Russian make laws to surveillance data being stored inside the country. However, the United State, despite being an advocate of internet freedom, had demanded to obtain internet data regardless of where it is stored as long as it is handled by US companies. He also mentioned that many US companies' interest are the same as ~~the~~ Washington's and their cooperation threatens other countries' technological sovereignty.

I agree with the author that China, Russia and the US all violate internet freedom but the US is much more aggressive than the other two countries. China and

Russia's restrictions only affect their own domestic users while the US is spying

on everyone around the world as most data are processed by American companies. The US government wants to access to all of the data, regardless where the data was generated. It means that over 75% of data generated worldwide can be accessed by the US government since since this amount is processed by US companies, namely

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft (Search Engine Land, 2013). The irony here is that Washington accuses almost every other countries on the planet of violating

human rights and lacking of freedom while it is actually the one whose violation is themore severe and wide-spread. Morozov mentions the Prism Program carried out by NSA which is strong evidence showing the US spying on personal data. Such a double standard makes people suspicious about the US government's agenda.

Also, China and Russia have valid reasons to explain their violation of internet freedom. China and Russia are rising in many ways like economics, political and military and their rise challenges American interest. The not so friendly relationship with the US makes their digital sovereignty

much more important for national security. For example, China blocked

Facebook and YouTube because some Ughur and Tibetan extremists used those

two websites as platforms to spread threats which led to explosions and riots in

Tibet and Xinjiang. To fight against terrorists is the exactly the same reason that

the US uses to require customer data from those companies. However, Facebook and YouTube refused to cooperate with Beijing in the investigation and claimed

it was against customer privacy. Such incorporation resulted in criminals fleeing away. There is also evidence pointed out by Mozorov that those American companies are actually providing data to Washington. I am not saying that the government has right to access personal data. However, when it is the matter of national security and involves many more lives, we may give the government permit to do so. As for

China, it is only trying to reduce its citizens' use of American server since

American companies are not cooperating. People may accuse China and

Russia of being autocratic.However, the reality is even Brazil and Germany

whose governments have much better reputation and relationship with the US tried to get rid of American companies due to security reasons. These examples can also be found in Mozorov's article.

The even worse thing is the Prism Program mentioned above. It taps into

user data of many big American companies and gets access to your personal data without you even knowing it. As I said, users may grant government some

right to access their personal data when it is critical moment. However, what the Prism doing is watching my every movement. This government is not even my

own one and I severely doubt its agenda. From this perspective, China and Russia are merely trying to protect their citizens.

In conclusion, China and Russia blocked a few websites and force data to be

stored domestically while the US is looking at everyone’s internet data. All of

these are wrong, but the US is much more wrong and violates many more

people’s privacy.

Reference

Morozov. E. (2015, Jan4). Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom - China, Russia, or the US? .The Guardian. Retrieved from

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/04/internet-freedom-china-russia-us-google-microsoft-digital-sovereignty

Sullivan.D(2013),Google Still World’s Most Popular Search Engine By Far, But Share Of Unique Searchers Dips Slightly. Search Engine Land. Retrieved from: http://searchengineland.com/google-worlds-most-popular-search-engine-148089

Ball.J and Rushe.D(2013), NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others. The Guardian.

Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data

Problem Solution Essay Draft 4

Social media have become part of people's lives. All kinds of social media are used as platforms to interact with friends, get information and so on. In China, there are 69.4 million internet users and 42.3% of their time is spent on social networking (35th China Internet Development Statistics Report, 2015 ). However, information on social media platforms is not properly vetted and such potential false information can cause serious problems due to its fast spreading speed. There is a huge amount of information on social media and it is very difficult for ordinary people to determine the credibility. The wide spread of false information could lead to serious consequences. Relevant authorities like the cyberpolice and China Internet Network Information Centre(CNNIC) should make laws to stop false information from spreading, and the education sectors, especially for primary and secondary schools, should train students with better digital literacy.

On personal level , false information could damage people's reputation. A deliberate or unintentional rumor could lead to a human flesh search, which might expose all personal details of the targeted person. His reputation could be damaged and personal life could be disturbed. For example, the Chinese anti-corruption campaign uses social media as a platform to expose corrupted officials. However, some netizens use it as a chance to discredit political opponents by posting false information online. The targeted person could end up in internal investigation, which could be considered as a stain on his profile. On a much larger scale, a false rumor about a disease outbreak or a crime could cause mass panic and result in social disorder. For instance, a rumor about a beast named Sibuxiang penetrating the city of Taiyuan City, China in 1994 made the whole city panic and people barricaded themselves inside their houses.

One approach to reduce false information spreading on social media platforms could be legislation. China passed a law last year regarding punishment of intentional rumor spreaders. According to this law, if a post contains false information and it is re-posted over 500 times or gets over 5000 comments, the poster will be sentenced for up to two years in jail (China Supreme Court Explanation, Sep 09 2013). For example, Qin Huohuo, a rumormonger, was sentenced two years on a defamation charge and another year for affray in 2014. Such laws have shown positive effects in stopping rumors spreading and easing severe consequences. Since China prosecuted two people who spread rumors intentionally, there has been less disguised fake information online now (Hu, Less online false information spreading, Dec 07 2013). However, there are still many problems with such a method. For instance, it is difficult to differentiate whether or not the person is spreading false information intentionally. He may happen to believe the information that he spreads. Also, implementing such laws means that the government has to monitor the online voice everyday and block some voices. On one hand, people may fear that the government uses such laws as excuses to silence political opponents. On the other hand, China has been accused of having a lack of speech freedom. Implementing such laws could worsen its international reputation on human rights. In the end, no matter how strong the punishment is or how strict the laws are needed, the source or benefit of spreading rumors is still there. Such a method could only ease the consequences but never stop the spreading as long as the benefit is still there.

Schools can help to reduce false information problem. Schools should equip students with better critical thinking skills, which might enable them to recognize rumors and false information and then choose not to spread them. The primary reason that false information could have such a huge influence is due to fast spreading, which is done by ordinary people who could be easily deceived. So, this problem would only stop when most people can recognize the problem by themselves. Schools should add critical thinking skills to school syllabus and start relevant lessons in primary and secondary schools. Such critical thinking skills, which include how to identify the credibility of the poster, how to check evidence provided by the author and so on, are relevant to digital literacy. Teenagers who are aged between 10 and 19 make up to 26% of Chinese netizens. Hence equipping them with better critical thinking skills is the most effective way of solving problem. The reason to target teenagers is not only because of their large proportion but also because their behavior will determine the future internet environment. Also, their presence in schools make the cost much lower than educating adult who are out in society. One more point to add is that, in this information explosion world, having good critical thinking skills is not only useful in stopping false information, but also helpful for students in their future life.

In conclusion, education could stop false information from spreading from the source but its time frame is too long. It may take years or even decades to see its effect. So I suggest to use both of the above methods. In the short run, the Chinese government can keep current laws to punish intentional rumor spreaders and prevent severe consequences. In the long run, people would be taught to judge the credibility of sources by themselves through education. Once the education method starts to show its effect, Beijing can abandon the first one as people would be ready.

References:

第三十五次中国互联网发展状况统计报告，35th China Internet Development Statistics Report (2015), Cyberspace Administration of China. Retrieved from:

http://www.cac.gov.cn/2015-02/03/c_1114222357.htm

Jeffrey Parker, "New liquor ad featuring 'beast' ignites panic in Chinese town," Des Moines Register, Dec. 20, 1994. Retrieved from:

http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_sibuxiang_beast

最高人民法院解释关于打击网络谣言，Chinese Supreme Court Explanation of Stopping Online Rumors(2013, Sep 09), Xinhua News Agency, Retrieved from: http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2013-09/09/c_117293022.htm
Rumormonger Qinhuohuo given 3 years by Beijing court(2014, April) Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved from:
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20140417000114&cid=1103

Hu, XY.(2013, Dec 07), 网络谣言传播热度下降， Less False Information Spreading Online, Changjiang News, Retrieved from:

http://hb.ifeng.com/news/focus/detail_2013_12/07/1559504_0.shtml?_from_ralated

Critical Reflection Outline

1) How I used to write, how tutors gave feedback and scores

2) how I feel about peer review, before the course and now
the change of attitude towards peer review, my old wrong opinion about it and benefit it brings
the pressure it brings, both positive and negative side
3) What I think would be benefit myself in the future and what can be improved

Summary

According to ‘Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom China, Russia, or the US?’- Evgeny Morozov (2015), the author states that China and Russia both violate internet freedom since China blocks a few foreign websites and Russian laws make surveillance data being stored inside the country. However,the United State despite being an advocate of internet freedom, had demanded to obtain internet data
regardless of where it is stored as long as it is handled by US companies. He
also mentioned that many US companies' interest are the same as the Washington's and their cooperation threatens other countries' technological sovereignty.

17.4.15

Critical Reflection

Time flies fast. It comes to the end of this course already. When I look back, I have to say I had a new experience with English learning.

In the past, teachers just asked me to write essays or do homework and then gave a final score. There were some comments but most of them were general comments like "good structure" or "need to improve your grammar". There was very little detail suggestions. However, things changed in ES1102.

To be honest, I was not very comfortable when I first heard about the blog. I did not what everyone to judge my work. Knowing that other people would comment my work stopped me from being lazy and careless. I had to work harder and be more careful so that my work would not be the worst one. Now I think the peer pressure may be one of the reasons of my progress. After some time, I saw both tutor and classmates' comments. Their comments covered many aspects, from grammar to organization. I started to like these comments. Because when I write, my mind is sometimes blocked and I may ignore some aspects related to the topic. Looking at comments and other's work helped me to be more comprehensive about the topic. Also, classmates would point out every single mistake and I learnt from these mistakes. Another different thing is that I know how my essays are graded so that I work on those areas specifically, like organization, language and content.

As for the future, I hope there would still be peer review when I write academic essays. They can not only help me check grammar mistakes but also enlighten me with the topic. Also, peer review creates peer pressure which is also a motivation for me to improve.

4.4.15

problem solution essay draft 3

Social media has become part of people's lives. all kinds of social media are used as platforms to interact with friends, get information and so on. In China, there are 69.4 million internet users and 42.3% of their time are spent n social networking (35th China Internet Development Statistics Report, 2015 ). However, information on social media platforms are not properly vetted and such potential false information can cause serious problems due to its fast spreading speed. There is a huge amount of information on social media and it is very difficult for ordinary people to determine the credibility. The wide spread of false information could lead to serious consequences. Relevant authorities like cyberpolice and China Internet Network Information Centre(CNNIC) should make laws to prevent severe outcome from happening, and the education sectors, especially for primary and secondary schools, should train students with better critical thinking skills.

On personal level, false infromation could damage people's reputation. A deliberate or unintentional rumor could lead to Human Flesh search, which would expose all personal details of the targeted person. His reputation could be damaged and personal life could be disturbed. For example, the Chinese anti-corruption campaign uses social media as a platform to expose corrupted officials. However, some netizens use it as a chance to discredit political opponents by posting false information online. The targeted person could end up in internal investigation, which could be considered as a stain on his profile. On a much larger scale, a false rumor about a disease outbreak or a crime could cause mass panic and result in social disorder. For instance, a rumor about a beast named Sibuxiang penetrating the city made the whole city panic and people barricaded themselves inside houses in Taiyuan, China 1994.

One approach to reduce false information spreading on social media platforms could be legislation. China passed a law last year regarding punishment of intentional rumor spreaders. According to this law, if a post contains false information and it is re-posted over 500 times or gets over 5000 comments, the poster will be sentenced for up to two years in jail (China Supreme Court Explanation, Sep 09 2013). For example, Qin Huohuo, a rumormonger, was sentenced two years on a defamation charge and another year for affray in 2014. Such laws have shown positive effects in stopping rumors spreading and easing severe consequences. After China prosecuted two people who spread rumors intentionally, there are less disguise information online now(Hu XY, Less online false information spreading, Dec 07 2013). However, there are still many problems with such a method. It would be difficult to differentiate whether or not the person is spreading false information intentionally. He may happen to believe the information that he spreads. Also, implementing such laws means that the government has to monitor the online voice everyday and block some voices. On one hand, people may fear that the government uses such laws as excuses to silence political opponents. On the other hand, China has been accused of being lack of speech freedom. Implementing such laws could worsen its international reputation on human rights. In the end, no matter how strong the punishment is or how strict the laws are carried out, the source or benefit of spreading rumors is still there. Such method could only ease the consequences but never stop the spreading as long as the benefit is still there.

Schools can help to solve false information problem. Schools should equip students with better critical thinking skills, which might enable them to recognize rumors and false information and then choose not to spread them. The primary reason that false information could have such a huge influence is due to fast spreading, which is done by ordinary people who could be easily deceived. So, this problem would only stop when most people can recognize the problem by themselves. Schools should add critical thinking skills to school syllabus and start relevant lessons in primary and secondary schools. Such critical thinking skills are relevant to digital literacy which includes how to identify the credibility of the poster, how to check evidence provided by the author and so on. Teenagers who aged between 10 and 19 makes up to 26% of Chinese netizens, hence equipping them with better critical thinking skills is the most effective way of solving problem. The reason of target teenagers is not only because of their large proportion but also their behavior would determine the future internet environment. Also, their presence in schools make the cost much lower than educating adult who are out in society. One more point to add is that, in this information explosion world, having good critical thinking skills is not only useful in stopping false information, but also helpful for students in their future life.

In conclusion, education could stop false information from spreading from the source but its time frame is too long. It may take years or even decades to see its effect. So I suggest to use both of the above methods. In the short run, Chinese government can keep current laws to punish intentional rumor spreaders and prevent severe consequences. In the long run, people would be taught to judge the credibility of sources by themselves through education. Once the education method starts to show its effect, Beijing can abandon the first one as people would be ready.