Journal Entry #6

I believe that predictive knowledge can be very beneficial in certain circumstances. Most of these circumstances are analytical in nature though. For example, finding addresses. GPS applications take your relative location and use predictive knowledge of your location to help you find the place you need to go. However, when trying to use predictions in development for cyber-policy and infrastructure, things can become more complicated. Putting policies and infrastructures in to working order require a certain level of human interaction for them to working appropriately. With sole reliance on predictions alone, we will succumb to what the data may allude to. An example of this would be whether or not the children of criminals are at higher risk for committing crimes, and how they should be handled. According to predictive software, the data leads to the children becoming criminals as well in most situations. But, as a human being, we know that this is not always the case and people are different regardless of the environment in which they were raised. So what is there to do? Should action be taken against the children to maintain safety and prevent potential future crimes due to the predictive programs? Or should they be left to their own devices? I think that the integration of predictive analytical knowledge in to cyber-policy and infrastructure would be very beneficial, but it would need human intervention to allow for the programs to function properly.

Since technology allows for people to easily communicate with one another, that means that individuals can receive unwanted attention from others. The easy communication can lead to cyber harassment and even cyber stalking. If someone is being harassed or stalked by someone and they block them on social media or whichever platform they may be on, all it takes for the offender to get back in touch with the victim is for them to make another account. Having an online presence makes it easier for offenders to find the sensitive information of victims if they have not taken the necessary precautions to secure said information. Aside from blocking the offender or the victim getting offline all together, there is not much to do to stop the harassment or stalking. There are still some legal grey areas with cyber stalking and harassment versus tradition stalking and harassment, so it is difficult for the victims to try and take legal action against their stalkers. I believe that it is up to the platforms in which the stalking or harassment is taking place to ensure that they cannot get in to contact with the victim anymore.

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