Social networking

Social networking can be termed as an act of getting connected to and participating in a network of users connected virtually via a network.
Advantages of Social Networking:
Keeps individuals up-to-date with the latest happenings throughout the world.
Enables the spreading of information at incredibly fast speeds.
Enables users to get connected free of cost and in real-time environment irrespective of their physical locations.
Enables sharing of thoughts and ideas with individuals all over the world without having to get mobile physically.
Enables you to disguise yourself if you are concerned about your personal identity being revealed to external individuals.
Disadvantages:
It is addictive. Gets you glued to all the status updates of your friends without having the realization of the passing time and other valued tasks.
Lack of Anonymity. Youngsters who constitute the major part of the social networking users often get harassed as they share their personal data with unknown users online.
Effects of social networking on the society can well be quoted in the following words of Voytovich (n. d.):
“ Positive
Communication with anyone and anywhere in a much more timely fashion
Meet new people, make new friends
Join groups of the same interest
Increase of knowledge from communicating with other people
Builds self-esteem
The way for disabled to communicate
Negative
Purposeful loss of privacy
Very small control over information flow that may affect your privacy
The ability for someone to use the information about you that may have an effect on you
Increased movement of social interactions from the physical domain to the digital domain
Unprotected communication which may harm individuals” (Voytovich, n. d.)
QUESTION NUMBER 2: “ INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OR CRIME CASE”:
The reference to the case: http://www. cybercrime. gov/jonesSent. pdf
The most interesting part of the case under consideration is that it is the latest cyber crime. A woman has been sentenced to two years in prison for selling counterfeit software. The software had a retail value of over $2 Million. It was sold by the fraudulent lady for more than $400, 000. She would be subjected to three years of supervised freedom once her sentence of prison is over.
The case is interesting because it enlightens the steps being taken to safeguard intellectual property by the U. S. Government. In my opinion, it was a serious crime because it involved the stake of various software giants like Microsoft, Adobe, Intuit, Symantec etc. Any pardoning in such a case could’ve led to various subsequent similar attempts.