Erin’s Fluency Blog

After reading Snyder’s chapter 17, Garson’s chapter 6, discussing student’s papers concerning privacy and debating the state of privacy post 9/11, I’m tired of discussing privacy issues!  It is a frustrating issue that is not easily agreed upon and will likely remain a debatable issue for years to come.  Snyder’s discussion of encryption seems ridiculous.  If the point of encrypting is to maintain one’s privacy while communicating via the internet, then fine.  But as Dr. Shulman pointed out, doesn’t encrypting messages simply “flag” that person as having something to hide?  If so, then encrypting messages may limit one’s privacy even more.  After all, with time and resources, any code can be broke.  But even if someone was absolutely sure their code could not be cracked, who has time to encrypt and decode messages???  I just cannot see encryption as a beneficial option for everyday internet users.  I did enjoy the discussion of cookies, both in the chapter and during the class exercise.  Prior to this class, I had heard of cookies, but had no idea what they were, or where they were stored.  Being able to see in class how easily and quickly cookies can accumulate, I was prompted to check the status of cookies on my home computer.  I had 436 cookies on my computer!