Great Changes in Higher Education Are Coming

I have a great interest in education and training, and I have several higher education degrees.  Recently, however, I was surprised to learn how extensive has become the reach and availability of FREE online courses from such institutions as MIT and Stanford.  Of course, these free courses do not at this time lead to  degree acquisition, but the extent of student population penetration is phenomenal!  Stanford announced this year (2012) that they have reached a million students who are taking their free courses!  Many, if not most, of the course instructors are reported to be full-time faculty at Stanford.

Continuing education, especially for employees of a company, has always been an important component of individual development planning.  Indeed, even succession planning strategies, might be economized when considering the employee’s acquisition of specific business or personal skills required in the talent management of succession candidates

It is interesting to see how this FREE education will evolve.  It is not difficult to imagine the loss of many university faculty because of diminished student populations at the more expensive institutions.  This week Google purchased Motorola Mobility for more than $12 billion.  Immediately they became a world communications/knowledge presence. 

Really dramatic changes may also – nay, will, in higher education.

Privacy on the Web

Following my last post, I began to search the problem of privacy on the web.  Sure, we can trust Google – can’t we?  But can we trust an unscrupulous employee.  You see, Google and other service providers – and porn sites can place tracking cookies which monitor where we go on the web.  My grocer provides regular discounts on food when I identify myself at checkout – Sure, I also receive special coupons based on what I purchase – but the credit card I use (and its number) can be recorded on their computer – if they wish to do so, and an unscrupulous worker might have access to a part of my financial identity.

You might use Gmail, a Google blog, their Chrome browser, their blog groups (you tell Google which blogs you wish to follow), etc. In no time there is enough information about you to learn – and some of it might not be what you want people to know about.

So, one attempt at a solution is to use a browser which will erase any cookies or web history each time you exit the browser.  Chrome and Firefox both offer this feature (I never use Microsoft’s browser because I do not trust it – it is a favorite hacker target because of its popularity.  Unfortunately, private browsing features do not let you hide where you surf from your ISP (Internet Service Provider).  Perhaps you are a Nazi skinhead, a terrorist, an evil person – the US government might pass a provision of the patriot act which requires your ISP to provide information about you.

Perhaps you have democratic party leanings – or republican party leanings.  Remember it is ultimately the vote counters, not the voters, who elect our public officials.  Beware of politicians who want to use the web for the casting of votes.

At this time the safest way to protect yourself from web intrusion is to “pay” to use one of the various VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) which are available.  Until the government passes a law requiring your information from them, you will likely be safer.  Note: because VPNs require you to surf the web through their server(s), your download and response times might be slower.  For more information google “VPN Service” and check out the offerings. 

I hope you find this interesting ….. and useful.

Some Interesting Facts and Warnings about the Internet

I spend some considerable time each day on the internet. Each morning I look at my favorite blogs and save those posts which are interesting. About four years ago I received an email from my ISP informing me of a complaint from a book publisher – I was being accused of illegally downloading a copy of one of their Harry Potter books, I had not done this thing and I wondered if anyone in my household had done so.  Then I noticed the book was written in German!  We had had no guests, and both sons were away in college.  And no one in our family can read German!!!

A year ago I was contacted, again by my ISP, that someone at my IP address had downloaded a copyrighted movie – pornographic Japanese – in violation of copyright. Sure enough, that was my IP that was reported.  I had never heard of the movie and could not remember ever seeing any oriental pornographic movie. I went to google and did a search for a torrent with that movie’s name.  The only mention was a site located in Bulgaria!  I have not mentioned here that my son came home from school after buying an Apple computer – he would not let me get the MAC address so he could use our home router.  So I disabled the password for two months – the complaint I received about the movie indicated it had been downloaded during that time.

Then I thought about the complaint.  How could the copyright holder have known what IPs were downloading unless they violated their own copyright by making the movie available and then tracking any downloaders. I next heard from a law firm which provided me much information about a federal lawsuit – giving court and judge’s name, etc – against many downloaders.

There is much information about many of us on the web. A friend of mine ‘googled’ herself and discovered the court documents from her ‘messy’ divorce were there for all to see.  Also to be seen were her last three attempts to succeed in different businesses.  Another associate was running for congress in the recent election. I googled her and the third item on the list showed seven pictures – six of her and one nude white woman’s picture – my associate is African-American. I looked at the website name and it was her name “dot net.”  I asked a google rep visiting town what could be done about it, and was told I could buy the site.  I didn’t, she lost the election, and the site disappeared the next day. Tell me the picture was not politically motivated.  If we had bought the site, another site could have popped up to replace it.

I will post more, but let this be a word to the wise.