Thursday, January 30, 2020

What happens n3xt? A Digital Rights and Responsibilities mystery.

This is part 1 of a science fiction/technology/know your rights series of blog posts. The following is a true story. For this post I want you to use your creativity and write a paragraph about what you think happens to Sarah next. It can be anything you want based upon the information you now have about Sarah.

Sarah hovered over the mailbox, envelope in hand. She knew as soon as she mailed off her DNA sample, there’d be no turning back. She ran through the information she looked up on 23andMe’s website one more time: the privacy policy, the research parameters, the option to learn about potential health risks, the warning that the findings could have a dramatic impact on her life.
She paused, instinctively retracting her arm from the mailbox opening. Would she live to regret this choice? What could she learn about her family, herself that she may not want to know? How safe did she really feel giving her genetic information away to be studied, shared with others, or even experimented with?
Thinking back to her sign-up experience, Sarah suddenly worried about the massive amount of personally identifiable information she already handed over to the company. With a background in IT, she knew what a juicy target hers and other customers’ data would be for a potential hacker. Realistically, how safe was her data from a potential breach? She tried to recall the specifics of the EULA (end-user license agreement), but the wall of legalese text melted before her memory.
Pivoting on her heel, Sarah began to turn away from the mailbox when she remembered just why she wanted to sign up for genetic testing in the first place. She was compelled to learn about her own health history after finding out she had a rare genetic disorder, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and wanted to present her DNA for the purpose of further research. In addition, she was on a mission to find her mother’s father. She had a vague idea of who he was, but no clue how to track him down, and believed DNA testing could lead her in the right direction.
Sarah closed her eyes and pictured her mother’s face when she told her she found her dad. With renewed conviction, she dropped the envelope in the mailbox. It was done.

What happens n3xt? 

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/101/2018/11/dna-testing-kit-companies-really-data/

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

The Power of Blogs II

For our final post of Q2, we are going to experiment with commenting. The real power of a blog is in the input of the community. Adding your own personal experience brings new meaning to the subject. In this post you will be commenting on one review of someone else from a different class. So follow this link: https://ftb2-2019-20.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-power-of-blogs.html and reply to someone else's post with your own perspective. Read their review and add your own thoughts to continue the thread started by your classmate.You can agree or disagree, rule #1 is be respectful, courteous and kind. Click Reply and add a paragraph of your own perspective to their post.

DO NOT COMMENT TO THIS POST. Follow the link and comment there. 

Monday, January 6, 2020

New Year, New You?

Welcome back. Happy New Year. People typically like to take the opportunity to reevaluate some bad habits and try to correct them around this time of year. For our first post of the New Year lets share a few resolutions you are committing to making or discuss how it may have went for you in the past. Are you able to stay committed to a resolution you make with yourself? Or what would you like to change about yourself and how can you?