Yeeeaaa!!

Micropayments are Bad, Bad, Bad

Re:Neilsen, Jakob, The Case for Micropayments. See also Readers' Comments on Micropayments. Sidebar to Jakob Neilsen's article on Micropayments. (January 25, 1998)

I completely disagree with the micropayments system. The internet should be free of cost at all times unless you are going to purchase an item or good. As Neilsen says, "The Web is a user-driven phenomenon, where people go online for a purpose. Quite often, that purpose will be to buy something, so there is a great future for commercial sites that sell or support products and services. Traditional products can be charged to credit cards, but many Internet services will require incremental payments rather than large one-time payments. "

Unless you are going online to purchase goods, you should not have to pay for viewing a web site. I can see how the Post Office is trying to tax emails because they are being financially hurt due to decreased mail flow. But too bad!! If we allow the internet and email to be taxed or charged for viewership then what next!!

The Memo

My web site strategic memo is finally complete. I enjoyed writing the memo but I must admit it was harder then expected. Fitting all my ideas and everything I learned from this semester into five pages is near impossible. I learned that my candidates web site was not functional to the terms set out by this class. I hope that the candidate realizes his web site must be revamped before the Primary Election.

Basic functions are necessary to have a successful web site, such as secure financial contribution forms. These and other forms were missing in my candidates web site and it astonishes me that more care was not put into the development of such an important campaign tool. My only guess is that the campaign did not want to spend or did not have the funds to develop a proper web site.

Regardless, I learned a lot this semester but nothing more important then knowing that true realities and functions of new media, such as a well developed campaign web site.

China

Re: http://www.emilienneireland.com/blackboard/sources/zittrain_04-14-05/ONI_China_Country_Study.pdf

After reading this study I am extremely glad to live in the United States. It is of no surprise that China would have a large government agency that monitors and dictates what can be posted on the internet. China censors content transmitted through multiple methods, including web pages, web logs, online discussion forums, university bulletin board systems and email messages. Access to information ranging from pornography to religion is prevented.

I hope that America never fosters the same regulations as China. I hope that America continues allowing freedom of speech via the internet and other forms of media. The internet is meant to allow people to reach others and share ideas. China's laws are breaking the initial idea and aspiration of the internet.

I learned from this study that the internet is not free to everyone and that we must fight for our continued right to a free internet world. Regulations are currently being pondered by politicians and we must not allow laws that will restrict our freedom of speech and expression!

Get Out and Vote

Suppressing voter turn out or any other negative campaign tactic should be illegal. Whether the campaign activity performing such goals is developed through online, new media or direct mail, the principles are flawed. America is a democracy that should cradle the idea of "one voter - one person" and every politician and political manager should do their best to make sure citizens vote.

The above statement is what many people would like to see take place in America's political system. The fact is that politicians and political managers will never take the sole responsibility of making sure all citizens can vote due to dirty politics. We all know that each candidate in an election has a base of supporters and non-supporters. Why on God's green earth would a candidate want his non-supporters to vote for his opponent? Political managers are hired to win elections, not be the face of democracy. Yes, this may sound troubling but it is true. Both the Republican and Democratic parties are like corporations. It is the goal of each corporation to turn out their customers so they can rule the roost in Washington.

Unfortunately this corporation mentality has corrupted the true meaning of democracy in America. While every American has the right to vote, every candidate and political manager is hoping that they don't vote, pending their support. There is not much we can do to fix this problem, and according to our readings and class discussions the debate is even split on how much responsibility the voter has versus the government to regulate and stimulate voter outreach. GOTV the closest solution to beating voter suppression in America. Until the government develops some other regulations to make people vote or criminalize campaigns for suppressing voters (God forbid they do), the current system will continue today.