ON the MEDIA

On the media

            Detecting Terrorism Online Raises Legal Questions.

What if tech companies were able to create something that could crawl along the public lines of the Internet with key words and try to figure out what is the company allowed to collect? What warrants these intents and how can it be used against the person who was caught with these codes.

            One opinion in this segment was very optimistic and jumped to the users side and said it is kind of an innocent until proven guilty type of thing. And the other side claims that the government is already doing this type of thing and we aren’t waiting for someone to create this program but that it already exists. They will do everything they can to try and protect their country and I don’t feel like it is a bad thing. The technologies and companies were very open to this idea and were willing to work with the government if they so chose to do so.

            How do we make things radical, and worth enough to raise attention for someone to take action? The Many Facets of Radicalization says that there is nothing wrong with thinking radically or acting radical. Many people may support the idea of ISIS but that is where they stop, they don’t act upon it or anything about it but they are not considered terrorists according to the speaker on the subject. He also claims that many people find themselves involved in the terrorist’s movements solely because of their surroundings, friends, or family. He claims we explore more than we research… When asked about the terrorism detector. He says it would be extraordinarily valuable especially because of the deep online use of the jihads. Assumptions are not bought that people are highly influenced by what they watch or play.

            I am kind of torn by this discussion that took place on the media this week mainly because I am probably over thinking it. Here is a brief explanation of my thoughts on why or why not it would be successful, and I would love to hear what you think. Successful reasoning first: the web is so broad these days that you can learn how to do anything you want just by typing it into a search engine and pressing enter. One reason I believe it would be successful is because with this program you can see exactly what someone is looking up on the daily basis. If people start searching how to build bombs, or how to hot wire certain cars and how much of this explosive is needed to knock down a building it becomes very radical that maybe this person is planning some sort of terrorist attack. I think it would be wise to take them in for questioning absolutely. The down falls however of this program would be all the wild goose hunts you go on searching and trying to find the people who supposedly are searching these things. More often than not I believe you would come up empty. But even if you only saved one life or one building, would it not be worth it?

            I believe that it would be very helpful even if it only stopped one or two people who had terroristic mannerisms. Interesting points of view from both sides of the story.