Technology: Miscellaneous Reading and Discussion

7/29/2019 Technology: Miscellaneous Reading and Discussion

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MISCELLANEOUS READING AND DISCUSSION

From the three topics below on

modern technology (New Robots,

Facebook and The Internet), choose

one each and i) write a summary in

your own words, and ii) make three

questions for use in class.

1.NEW ROBOTS AND YOU Japanese launch 4.5-tonne

gun-toting robot controlled by smartphone Robots in demand in China as labour costs climb ... America's mindless killer robots must be stopped2.FACEBOOK AND PRIVACY Facebook wants to organise our relationships. What's not tolike? Privacy no longer a social norm, says

Facebook founder Facebook ordered to remove page

exposing paedophiles Facebook party leads to riots in Dutch

town

3.INTERNET MISCELLANY Tim Berners-Lee flags UN net conference

concerns Syria: Internet and mobile communication 'cut

off' Bend me, shape me: Flexible phones 'out by 2013'
http://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=in%20china%2C%20there%27s%20no%20better%20time%20to%20be%20a%20robot.%20pictures%20from%20last%20week%27s%20international%20industry%20fair%20in%20shanghai%20show%20them%20playing%20ping%20pong%2C%20dancing%20in%20lion%20costumes%20and%20shaking%20hands%20with%20visitors.&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2012%2Fnov%2F13%2Frobots-demand-china-labour-costs&ei=-qy-UL_7Ae6NmQWxjYHwBw&usg=AFQjCNGJADHtzkYwCcF59OTnGFfpee8hYghttp://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=in%20china%2C%20there%27s%20no%20better%20time%20to%20be%20a%20robot.%20pictures%20from%20last%20week%27s%20international%20industry%20fair%20in%20shanghai%20show%20them%20playing%20ping%20pong%2C%20dancing%20in%20lion%20costumes%20and%20shaking%20hands%20with%20visitors.&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2012%2Fnov%2F13%2Frobots-demand-china-labour-costs&ei=-qy-UL_7Ae6NmQWxjYHwBw&usg=AFQjCNGJADHtzkYwCcF59OTnGFfpee8hYghttp://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=in%20china%2C%20there%27s%20no%20better%20time%20to%20be%20a%20robot.%20pictures%20from%20last%20week%27s%20international%20industry%20fair%20in%20shanghai%20show%20them%20playing%20ping%20pong%2C%20dancing%20in%20lion%20costumes%20and%20shaking%20hands%20with%20visitors.&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2012%2Fnov%2F13%2Frobots-demand-china-labour-costs&ei=-qy-UL_7Ae6NmQWxjYHwBw&usg=AFQjCNGJADHtzkYwCcF59OTnGFfpee8hYghttp://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=in%20china%2C%20there%27s%20no%20better%20time%20to%20be%20a%20robot.%20pictures%20from%20last%20week%27s%20international%20industry%20fair%20in%20shanghai%20show%20them%20playing%20ping%20pong%2C%20dancing%20in%20lion%20costumes%20and%20shaking%20hands%20with%20visitors.&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2012%2Fnov%2F13%2Frobots-demand-china-labour-costs&ei=-qy-UL_7Ae6NmQWxjYHwBw&usg=AFQjCNGJADHtzkYwCcF59OTnGFfpee8hYghttp://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=in%20china%2C%20there%27s%20no%20better%20time%20to%20be%20a%20robot.%20pictures%20from%20last%20week%27s%20international%20industry%20fair%20in%20shanghai%20show%20them%20playing%20ping%20pong%2C%20dancing%20in%20lion%20costumes%20and%20shaking%20hands%20with%20visitors.&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2012%2Fnov%2F13%2Frobots-demand-china-labour-costs&ei=-qy-UL_7Ae6NmQWxjYHwBw&usg=AFQjCNGJADHtzkYwCcF59OTnGFfpee8hYg


2/11

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Japanese launch 4.5-tonne gun-toting robot

controlled by smartphoneJuly 30, 2012

Kuratas is a 4 metres (13ft) high

robot which weighs 4.5 tonnes and is

capable of firing 6,000 ball-bearing pellets

a minute. Costing 100m (816,000), this

monster could be Robomop (cleaner) as

well as RoboCop (killer). The massive

robot is controlled either by a human pilot

in a cockpit or by a smartphone connected

to a 3G network. This machine, which is

powered by diesel, could, one day, be

either used as an "ecofriendly" weapons

system (top speed 6.2mph) or used for more peaceful functions, such as

firefighting or cleaning, according to designers at Suidobashi Heavy Industry

Robots in demand in China as labour costs climb ...

(November 13)

In China, there's no better time to be a robot. Pictures

from last week's International Industry Fair in Shanghai

show them playing ping pong, dancing in lion costumes

and shaking hands with visitors.

China could become the world's biggest consumer of industrial

robots by 2014, with demand reaching 32,000 units. China has

many reasons to embrace industrial robotics. Robots can

improve energy efficiency and perform operations that would

prove impossibly complex for even the best-trained humans.

But the most important reasons are shifting demographics and

basic economics: China's working-age population is shrinking,

sending labour costs spiralling upwards.
http://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=in%20china%2C%20there%27s%20no%20better%20time%20to%20be%20a%20robot.%20pictures%20from%20last%20week%27s%20international%20industry%20fair%20in%20shanghai%20show%20them%20playing%20ping%20pong%2C%20dancing%20in%20lion%20costumes%20and%20shaking%20hands%20with%20visitors.&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2012%2Fnov%2F13%2Frobots-demand-china-labour-costs&ei=-qy-UL_7Ae6NmQWxjYHwBw&usg=AFQjCNGJADHtzkYwCcF59OTnGFfpee8hYghttp://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=in%20china%2C%20there%27s%20no%20better%20time%20to%20be%20a%20robot.%20pictures%20from%20last%20week%27s%20international%20industry%20fair%20in%20shanghai%20show%20them%20playing%20ping%20pong%2C%20dancing%20in%20lion%20costumes%20and%20shaking%20hands%20with%20visitors.&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2012%2Fnov%2F13%2Frobots-demand-china-labour-costs&ei=-qy-UL_7Ae6NmQWxjYHwBw&usg=AFQjCNGJADHtzkYwCcF59OTnGFfpee8hYghttp://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=in%20china%2C%20there%27s%20no%20better%20time%20to%20be%20a%20robot.%20pictures%20from%20last%20week%27s%20international%20industry%20fair%20in%20shanghai%20show%20them%20playing%20ping%20pong%2C%20dancing%20in%20lion%20costumes%20and%20shaking%20hands%20with%20visitors.&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2012%2Fnov%2F13%2Frobots-demand-china-labour-costs&ei=-qy-UL_7Ae6NmQWxjYHwBw&usg=AFQjCNGJADHtzkYwCcF59OTnGFfpee8hYghttp://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=in%20china%2C%20there%27s%20no%20better%20time%20to%20be%20a%20robot.%20pictures%20from%20last%20week%27s%20international%20industry%20fair%20in%20shanghai%20show%20them%20playing%20ping%20pong%2C%20dancing%20in%20lion%20costumes%20and%20shaking%20hands%20with%20visitors.&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2012%2Fnov%2F13%2Frobots-demand-china-labour-costs&ei=-qy-UL_7Ae6NmQWxjYHwBw&usg=AFQjCNGJADHtzkYwCcF59OTnGFfpee8hYghttp://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=in%20china%2C%20there%27s%20no%20better%20time%20to%20be%20a%20robot.%20pictures%20from%20last%20week%27s%20international%20industry%20fair%20in%20shanghai%20show%20them%20playing%20ping%20pong%2C%20dancing%20in%20lion%20costumes%20and%20shaking%20hands%20with%20visitors.&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2012%2Fnov%2F13%2Frobots-demand-china-labour-costs&ei=-qy-UL_7Ae6NmQWxjYHwBw&usg=AFQjCNGJADHtzkYwCcF59OTnGFfpee8hYghttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/chinahttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/robotshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/robotshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/chinahttp://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=in%20china%2C%20there%27s%20no%20better%20time%20to%20be%20a%20robot.%20pictures%20from%20last%20week%27s%20international%20industry%20fair%20in%20shanghai%20show%20them%20playing%20ping%20pong%2C%20dancing%20in%20lion%20costumes%20and%20shaking%20hands%20with%20visitors.&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fworld%2F2012%2Fnov%2F13%2Frobots-demand-china-labour-costs&ei=-qy-UL_7Ae6NmQWxjYHwBw&usg=AFQjCNGJADHtzkYwCcF59OTnGFfpee8hYg


3/11

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China still ranks low on the global robotic hierarchy, according to the state-run

China Daily. Last year, there were 21 robots for every 10,000 workers in China,

compared with a global average of 55. Japan has 339 robots for every 10,000workers; Germany has 251.

This is changing. The Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn has revealed

plans to boost its fleet of industrial robots from 10,000 to 1m within three

years. According to the company's CEO, Terry Gou, robots will replace workers

for tasks such as spraying, assembling and welding.

America's mindless killer robots mustbe stopped

The rational approach to the inhumanity of automating

death by machines beyond the control of human handlers

is to prohibit it

Noel Sharkey, the Guardian Monday 3 December 2012

16.00 GM

Are we losing our humanity by automating death? Human

Rights Watch (HRW) thinks so. In a new report,

co-published with Harvard Law School's International

Human Rights Clinic, they argue the "case against killer robots". This is not the

stuff of science fiction. The killer robots they refer to are not Terminator-style

cyborgs hellbent on destroying the human race. These are the mindless robots I

first warned Guardian readers about in 2007 robots programmed toindependently select targets and kill them. Five years on from that call for

legislation, there is still no international discussion among state actors, and the

proliferation of precursor technologies continues unchecked.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-11/07/content_15884155.htmhttp://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-11/07/content_15884155.htmhttp://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-07/30/c_131018764.htmhttp://www.hrw.org/news/2012/11/19/ban-killer-robots-it-s-too-latehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/18/comment.militaryhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/18/comment.militaryhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/18/comment.militaryhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/18/comment.militaryhttp://www.hrw.org/news/2012/11/19/ban-killer-robots-it-s-too-latehttp://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-07/30/c_131018764.htmhttp://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-11/07/content_15884155.htmhttp://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-11/07/content_15884155.htm


4/11

4

Facebook wants to

organise our

relationships. What's not

to like?

I welcome Facebook's unique timeline for couples.

It'll be great when I can share a profound connection

at my best angle online

J.H Edelstein (Guardian -14 November 2012)

This week's announcement that Facebook has launched pages for couples,

automatically sorting photos and other posts involving a loved-up pair into one

scrolling timeline, has proved to be controversial. Writing in the Telegraph, the

women's editor, Emma Barnett, even declared that she was so disgusted by her

joint page with her husband that she might Facebook-break up with him, out of

spite. But unlike Barnett, I welcome this development.

For while I have never yet published my relationship status on Facebook in the

seven years I've had a profile, I live in the hope that one day I might meet

someone with whom I share such a profound connection that I can post photo

after photo that we've taken of ourselves on holiday, snogging in front of

Unesco world heritage sites or on beaches that everyone knows are expensive

to get to.

It will be great when the man with whom I share a profound connection and I

move from "In a relationship" to "Engaged", because we'll be able to share the

album from our engagement photoshoot. After we marry, we will update our

status to "Married" and we can post photos of our newly wedding-ringed hands

holding forks as we eat airplane food. But, until the day I type all this on

facebook.com/us, it will just go to the page of basic information about me, like

where I went to university and what my job is.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jeanhannahedelsteinhttp://www.cnn.com/2012/11/12/tech/social-media/facebook-couples-pages/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/9671862/Facebook-couples-pages-make-me-want-to-retch.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/9671862/Facebook-couples-pages-make-me-want-to-retch.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/9671862/Facebook-couples-pages-make-me-want-to-retch.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/9671862/Facebook-couples-pages-make-me-want-to-retch.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2012/11/12/tech/social-media/facebook-couples-pages/http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jeanhannahedelstein


5/11

5

Privacy no longer a social norm, says

Facebook founder

B. Johnson, Las Vegas, Guardian, Monday 11 January

2010

The rise ofsocial networking online means that people no

longer expect privacy, according to Facebook founder

Mark Zuckerberg. Talking at the Crunchie awards in San

Francisco this weekend, the 25-year-old chief executive

of the world's most popular social network said that

privacy was no longer a "social norm".

"People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and

different kinds, but more openly and with more people," he said. "That social

norm is just something that has evolved over time." Zuckerberg said that the

rise ofsocial media reflected changing attitudes among ordinary people,

adding that this radical change has happened in just a few years.

"When I got started in my dorm room at Harvard, the question a lot of people

asked was, 'why would I want to put any information on the internet at all? Why

would I want to have a website?'." "Then in the last 5 or 6 years, blogging has

taken off in a huge way, and just all these different services that have people

sharing all this information."

His statement may not be a surprise, particularly since it helps to justify the

company's recent and highly controversial decision to change the privacysettings of its 350 million users.. But it also represents a remarkable shift

from where the Californian company originally started out. Launched in 2004

as an exclusive network for Ivy League students, the site grew in part because

allowed people to communicate privately or at least among small groups of

friends.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/bobbiejohnsonhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/media/socialnetworkinghttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/mark-zuckerberghttp://www.guardian.co.uk/media/social-mediahttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/internethttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/10/facebook-privacyhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/10/facebook-privacyhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/internethttp://www.guardian.co.uk/media/social-mediahttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/mark-zuckerberghttp://www.guardian.co.uk/media/socialnetworkinghttp://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/bobbiejohnson


6/11

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Facebook ordered to

remove page exposing

paedophiles

A convicted sex offender has won a high court

order in Northern Ireland for the removal of a

Facebook page monitoring paedophiles.

Judge Mr Justice McCloskey found that the man,whose identity cannot be revealed, had his

human rights breached. "Society has dealt with

the plaintiff in accordance with the rule of law," said McCloskey. "He has been

punished and he is subject to substantial daily restrictions on his lifestyle."

The judge gave Facebook 72 hours to take the page down. A spokeswoman for

website said: "We are considering our next steps in light of the court judgment

and we have nothing further to add at this stage."

The man, known only as XY, started legal proceedings after discovering his

photograph and threatening comments posted on the page. More than 5,000

people have liked the page, titled 'Keeping our kids safe from predators'.

Some of the latest posts were written after McCloskey

made his ruling.

One read: "Can facebook not step in here and fight this

battle 4 us..... what the point of having a social netwok(sic) if we can't post facts on people especially wen its 2

keep our kids safe....... Come on Mark Zuckerberg we

need your help..... plz plz plz....."

Another wrote: "Let down a bag full :( no justice at

all......Not only me but every victim of sex abuse every


7/11

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kid in the land....... This is what we get for trying 2

protect our kids. Facebook is understood to have

removed the man's photo and comments madeabout him but his legal team insisted that the page

should be shut down.

Facebook party leads to riots in Dutchtown

A riot broke out in a small Dutch town after more than 4,000 revellers descended on a

party when an invitation posted on Facebook went viral

By P.Sawer (22 Sep 2012) in The Daily Telegraph

When Merthe Weusthuis organised the gathering at her family home, she sentout invitations via the Facebook social networking site. But she made one

mistake - she forgot to mark the event as private.

As details began to circulate, a trickle of acceptances became a flood - and on

Friday night the event turned into a large-scale disturbance as 5,000

gatecrashers clashed with riot police outside the Weusthuis family home, on a

quite suburban street in a small Dutch town. This was not how it was supposed

to be.

Miss Weusthuiss initial mistake, in using open-access settings on Facebook,

meant the electronic invitation sent two weeks ago was eventually seen by

240,000 people, of whom 30,000 confirmed online that they planned to attend.

But that was not all. An unauthorised campaign was launched to promote the

birthday party, reaching high levels of sophistication with the setting-up of a

website, as well as a Twitter account which received hundreds of thousands of

hits.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/patrick-sawer/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/patrick-sawer/


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Over the following days the party became known as

Project X Haren - inspired by the film Project X,

released this year, in which three high schoolstudents throw a birthday party which spirals out of

control.

The scenes of chaos dwarfed even the mayhem

surrounding a number of recent 'Facebook parties

in Britain, including one in April this year when

more than 400 gatecrashers invaded the 16th

birthday party of Bradley McAnulty at his family home in Poole, Dorset, causing

extensive damage.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee flags UN net

conference concerns

By Leo Kelion 4 December 2012

Sir Tim Berners-Lee - inventor of the world wide web - is the latest voice to raise

concerns about a meeting of communication tech regulators in Dubai. He spoke of

concerns that some attendees want a UN agency to "run the internet" rather than leave

it to groups already "doing a good job".

But the UN itself is playing down suggestions of a power-grab.

Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the UN's International Telecommunications

Union (ITU), said ahead of the event: "There is no need for the ITU to take over the

internet governance."

Internet governance

They aim to revise a telecommunications treaty which has not been overhauled since

1988.


9/11

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The ITU has said there was a need to address the fact

technologies like the internet

Among the proposals being considered is a clause put forward

by Russia which says: "Member states shall have equal rights to

manage the internet.

The US has already made clear that it would block any attempt

by Russia or another country to make changes to internet

governance. "We will actively oppose the Russian proposal,"

said Terry Kramer, the US ambassador to Wcit, last week.

Syria: Internet and mobile communication

'cut off' (BBC.com. 29 November 2012)

The internet has been cut off and mobile phones have been

disrupted in Syria, monitoring firms have said.

Networking firm Renesys said the country's connection protocols

were unreachable, "effectively removing the country from the

internet". Local reports suggested that the internet had been

down since early afternoon. The Syrian government has blamed

"terrorists" for the disconnection. "The terrorists targeted the

internet lines, resulting in some regions being cut off," Syria's

minister of information told a pro-government television station.

According to activists, it has been known for similar communication

cuts to occur in isolated areas before military operations. Amnesty

International has described the reports as "very disturbing".

Psiphon's system - which requires specialised software - has

throughout November been seeing 13-15,000 log-ins per day.
http://files.wcitleaks.org/public/S12-WCIT12-C-0027!R1!MSW-E.pdfhttp://files.wcitleaks.org/public/S12-WCIT12-C-0027!R1!MSW-E.pdfhttp://translations.state.gov/st/english/texttrans/2012/11/20121129139303.html#axzz2DvSZBtwphttps://twitter.com/AmnestyUK/status/274180741284368385https://twitter.com/AmnestyUK/status/274180741284368385http://translations.state.gov/st/english/texttrans/2012/11/20121129139303.html#axzz2DvSZBtwphttp://files.wcitleaks.org/public/S12-WCIT12-C-0027!R1!MSW-E.pdfhttp://files.wcitleaks.org/public/S12-WCIT12-C-0027!R1!MSW-E.pdf


10/11

10

Monitoring firm Akamai posted this graph showing level of net

activity in Syria.

30 November 2012 Last updated at 00:04 GMT

Bend me, shape me:Flexible phones 'out by

2013'

Imagine treating your phone like a piece of paper. Roll it up.

Drop it. Squish it in your backpack. Step on it - without any

damage. Researchers are working on just such handsets -

razor-thin, paper-like and bendable.

But rumours abound that next year will see the launch of the first bendy phone.

Numerous companies are working on the technology - LG, Philips, Sharp, Sony and

Nokia among them - although reports suggest that South Korean phone manufacturer

Samsung will be the first to deliver.

Samsung favours smartphones with so-called flexible OLED (Organic Light Emitting

Diode) technology, and is confident that they will be "very popular among consumers


11/11

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worldwide". Their screens will be "foldable, rollable, wearable and more, [and] will

allow for a high degree of durability through their use of a plastic substrate that is

thinner, lighter and more flexible than conventional LCD technology," says a Samsungspokesperson.

Paperless world

There are other technologies that could make your smartphone bendy. After all, the

concept - creating flexible electronics and assembling them on equally flexible plastic

- has been touted since the 1960s, when the first flexible solar cell arrays appeared.

It uses the US firm's optical frontplane but adds on its own backplane made out of

He says that graphene will complement and highly enhance the performance of

OLED-type flexible phones, because in theory, even a handset's flexible battery can be

made out of this material. Whatever the technology, it seems certain that very soon

our phones will be not just smart, but bendy too.

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Technology: Miscellaneous Reading and Discussion