Comprehension

Activity 1: First Impressions of Mae Holland

The first impression of employee Mae Holland of the Circle is very positive.
She walks through the campus of the Internet Company as she takes notices of all the
beautiful and inspiring decoration. ( the smallest detail had been carefully
considered, shaped by the most eloquent hands. ll. 3-4). She concludes by referring
the vision of the company as an utopia come true. She sees every aspect of the Circle
as the best: the best people, the best system and therefore the best place to work. In
contrast to this utopia there is the rest of America, which she describes as a
developing world (ll. 89), where everything is noise and struggle, failure and filth
(ll.90-91)

Activity 2: Before and After TruYou

Before TruYou After TruYou

Every website is separated and the Combining and connecting everything
system is sloppy online
Various passwords One unique system for every site
Different usernames, and every purchase
identities One account, one identity per
You didnt have to give your real person
name false identities, You have to give your real name
anonymity There is no anonymity
Less trolls and hate comments
Your every move on the internet is now
trackable
Every website knows what you
want to do and therefore their
marketing has been improved
ANALYSIS
Activity 3: The Circle, a Utopia?
Before TruYou the whole internet is described by Mae as a sloppy and network (ll. 26).
The new system is the best (l. 92): it is a simpler, more efficient and cleaner experience (ll. 77-
78). There was never something better. The rest of America and the world seems in
comparison a developing world, where everything is noise and struggle, failure and filth (ll. 89 -
91).

But there are some aspects of the Circle and its objectives that present a dystopian
light. Everything is now combined into one account and this identity cant be fake. There is
only one per person and the user must give his real name. This account and its human user is
now carried through every web you visit and it is very easy to track its every move. So
anonymity on the internet is gone. Many sites and it lawyers tried to fight for the right to be
anonymous online, but they failed. This can potentially be very problematic and controversial
respecting moral and ethic values.

Activity 4: Comparison between between The Circle and The Second Age of
Reason

Similarities Disparities
Both texts are in favor of Grundwald is concerned about the
information. Grundwald is happy problem with the loss of privacy, while
with the current state of the Mae is not at all. She wants privacy to
Internet, but Mae and the Circle disappear so that trolls, hate
want the Internet to be more comments can be avoided.
accessible and simpler, to be more
organized.
Both texts thank the convenience of
the Internet: They appreciate no
longer having the need of carring a
map or the simplicity of purchasing
something online.
Activity 5
If you pay attention to the style and structure of the text, you could find out that most
parts of the excerpt could serve as a script for a commercial or advertising campaign
promoting the Circle, its inventions and objectives.

From the beginning to the end you read no other than positive aspects about the
Circle, even aspects that are very controversial and you may have a different opinion. The
Circle is presented as a great company who makes the bests tools, the most dominant and
ubiquitous and free (ll. 47 - 48).

The end of the anonymity, an aspect who could potentially be controversial, is

exhibited as the end of false identities, identity theft, multiple user names, complicated
passwords and payment systems (ll. 50 - 52).

Then Mae explains us how the competition and its inferior ideas were rapidly
destroyed and how TruYou changed the internet for the better within a year: Though some
sites were resistant at first, and free-internet advocates shouted about the right to be
anonymous online, the TruYou wave was tidal and crushed all meaningful opposition

ACTIVITY 8: THE SNOWDEN FILES

Edward Snowden was an employee of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and the
NSA (National Security Agency), but he didnt last very long. As contractor he witnessed all the
privacy violations of the US citizens of the governments surveillance and he leaked in 2013
classified documents exposing NSAs PRISM.

PRISM was a clandestine surveillance

program which started in 2001, after the
terrorist attack 9-11 and the beginning of the
War against Terrorism. PRISM gathered and
stored information from companies like Google,
Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, Facebook and many
more tech-giants. Emails, photos, videos, any
sort of file that was transferred through the
internet could be accessed by the NSA. Snowden
is now in Russia trying to escape from facing a
life sentence in the US.
 The end of privacy, so that we could feel safe. But from now this is only going to get
worst.

Technology and with it the internet can be found every year in more things. That is
why we now call it Internet of Things. Thermostats, TVs, Refrigerators, lights, Surveillance
cameras, Amazon Echo, Home Pod, Google Home, Google Home mini, Google Home Max,
everything is now connected or will be in the near future. Everything now uploads information
to the cloud and it is stored in a server. But of course this server cant be accessed it is private.
Whether it is the government, a hacker or something in between, no one can access your
private information, right? Well, no. And even the Us intelligence chief, James Clapper, has
acknowledge it: In the future, intelligence services might use the [internet of things] for
identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to
gain access to networks or user credentials. We are actually in the golden age of surveillance.,
Clapper said.

Last year Samsung released

a new television that sparked a lot
of controversy. The problem was
that the TV would listen to
everything said in the room and its
privacy policy Samsung even
warned its users not to talk about
sensitive information in front of it.

But this is only one example,

that brought a lot of attention, there
are many more TVs, that do that and
consoles like Xbox and home devices
like the Amazon Echo. There is even
a Barbie that listens every word and
sends it to a server.

In conclusion we can say that the internet is getting to more and more things and the
information about us in the cloud is therefore progressively increasing. So it will be vital that
new policies are written, so that our information remains private and cant be easily and
legally accessed by the government. If the main goal of the government is us to feel safe, is
violating our privacy really the best way?