Network Laws

          When it comes to the three different network laws Metcalfe’s law, which is the law that states that the value of that particular telecommunications network is directly proportional tot he square of the number of users on the system (n²),  is what I agree with the most. It was created by George Gilder in 1993 in relation to Robert Metcalfe the principles of Ethernet, which is our method of data transfer today from modems to routers and then Wi-Fi. The larger the network with compatible devices connected to that network , the more the worth of that value, whether that is in terms of money or data. All of the devices connected to the network are in turn connected to each other multiplying the worth of the network. Each device that is connected to that network is in tern connected to other networks which allows for cross network communication. Sarnoff’s law however directly correlates the exact amount of users on the network to the worth of the network and the users are not connected to each other.

When it comes to how people get their information from these networks in the next five years will go to mostly small notifications and tidbits of information due to our ever shrinking attention spans caused by our electronic devices. The internet has already taken over as our prime source of our daily information. We can obtain access to the internet through almost any public building and residence in the Unites States today. In the next five years companies like Google are going to be bringing high speed internet access to everyone cheaper and more efficiently than the phone companies. I believe just this ability to easily access the internet will change how all of us will soon be getting our information. Just 5 years ago we watched Television more to get our information as well as used our computers to access the web, now we mostly use our mobile devices to do both.

Your online Identity

     Being anonymous online now is harder than it seems. Everything you o, watch, ready, and view is tracked in some way or another. Before Google and Facebook, being totally anonymous was as simple as just getting online. The internet has been know for just being able to spread misinformation or falsities very quickly and one must always judge the authenticity of what they are viewing. Since sites such as Facebook and Twitter came on the scene being able to judge ones authenticity online as an individual. Everyday Facebook and Twitter are cracking down on fake profiles and accounts by deleting from their servers and making it harder to get fake accounts out there.
     Your personal identity now is permanently tied to your real life identity and what you view or post can potentially come back to haunt you later on. Facebook understands its users yearn for authenticity so with their $1 billion dollar purchase of Instagram it has allowed for users to connect both services allowing for a more authentic representation of the person who is sharing their lives through their pictures online. Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook believes that your offline identity and online identity are one in the same.  In contrast to this authenticity, Sites like 4chan and Reddit do not make its users register for an account just to view the content or even post anonymous content themselves (there are rules to what you can post of course), and they do not have an archive to track who is posting and all their information to go along with it. These sites are trying to hang on to that freedom that the internet once had. The Tor Project, or dark web, is allowing users to be 100% anonymous if you have the right tools such as a Virtual Private Network which allows one to be untraceable once connected to the internet. Although being anonymous online was once a possible achievement for anyone who connected to the internet, you have to watch yourself on the internet because you never know who is or will be watching.