Invisibility Over Negation in Invisible Man Essay

Invisibility Over Negation in Invisible Man Early on in Invisible Man, Ralph Ellisons nameless narrator recalls a Sunday afternoon in his campus chapel. With aspirations not unlike those of Silas Snobdens office boy, he gazes up from his pew to further extol a platform lined with Horatio Alger proof-positives, millionaires who have realized the American Dream. For the narrator, it is a reality closer and kinder than prayer can provide: all he need do to achieve what they have is work hard enough. At this point, the narrator cannot be faulted for such delusions, he is not yet alive, he has not yet recognized his invisibility. This discovery takes twenty years to unfold. When it does, he is underground, immersed†¦show more content†¦Therefore, the negation of the negation should result in an egalitarian society. But Ellisons story debunks this dialectical strategy by suggesting the only thing that would come from a Brotherhood like the one depicted is a negation of the black man. Rather than be lifte d to the privileged position already held by whites, the black identity would be completely usurped. In light of both myths, Horatio Algers capitalist fancies and Marxist-Hegelian relief, the only answer, then, is to remain invisible until a better world is unearthed. This is Ellisons more complex polemic, a by-product of the American theme he revisits so sublimely. Ironically, the narrator is recruited by the Brotherhood only after a fervid display of individualism. He forces his way through a hostile tenement crowd and prevents a white mans shooting with a speech. The throng of fellow invisibles will not budge until an elderly evicted couple is permitted back inside their apartment. His words soften the mob with inspiration. Unlike his well-rehearsed valedictorian speech at the battle royal bloodbath, this one is spontaneous and brave enough to pronounce equality and a method: organization. The royals stagful of Southern elites would have lynched the narrator for such words, as they almost do when he

Dialing Our Death A Critical Response to Stephen King’s Cell Free Essays

While Stephen King’s Cell might be about zombies, the 2006 novel is also a clever commentary on America’s reliance on technology. King’s setup is that, on the afternoon of October 1, a strange â€Å"pulse† is broadcast across American cell phone networks. The pulse, when heard by people on their cells, immediately renders cell-phone users into murderous, zombie-like creatures. We will write a custom essay sample on Dialing Our Death: A Critical Response to Stephen King’s Cell or any similar topic only for you Order Now These people, known as â€Å"Phoners,† are no longer human. The few people unaffected by the pulse, called â€Å"Normies,† attempt to fight back for survival. King hints heavily that our dependence upon technology will be our undoing. The central characters’ struggle to survive runs secondary to King’s technophobic message. The plot is effectively more important than the narrative it supports. Most of the attention is paid to the pulse itself. The rampaging zombies are given a reason to exist: their brains have been literally â€Å"scrambled like a skillet of eggs† (43). Their violent and gory actions are symbolic of what King feels our world is becoming. Even if King’s doesn’t think using cell phones and visiting websites will lead to apocalypse or rampages, perhaps he is (at the very least) suggesting that we are becoming just as mindless. When the pulse strikes, the â€Å"Phoners† were connected via network. Everyone affected has been linked together. The danger, King suggests, is that our shrinking world is not necessarily a good thing. To King, cell phones and the Internet have ceased to be modes of transmitting information. Sharing information is less important than swapping videos and songs with friends now, or having conversations while walking through a park. People look like they are talking to themselves. King feels that technology has left us vulnerable. We might not be vulnerable to a zombie-creating â€Å"pulse,† but we are certainly vulnerable to losing our sense of identity and humanity. We are giving ourselves, little by little, over to technology. In Cell, the mindless â€Å"Phoners† are soon organized into â€Å"Flocks,† which move around in patterns very much like migrating birds. This underscores King’s central fear: the marriage of technology and biology. He seems to be calling for a world that exists offline. In his book The Soft Edge, media philosopher Paul Levinson agrees that the fundamental nature of technology closely recalls mankind. There are legitimate concerns to consider as we move toward an ever-increasing dependence upon the technologies available to us. Levinson states that â€Å"the wisdom of nature is not always good for us, insofar as it accommodates hurricanes, drought, famine, earthquake, and all manner of destructive occurrences† (150). Nature’s tendency toward destruction and collapse, also known as entropy, is mirrored in technology and, very clearly, in Cell. Like nature itself, destruction is part of the nature of technology, King believes. Levinson questions whether technology can have things similar to â€Å"ugly ragweed,† which must be monitored and controlled. He asks â€Å"whether ragweed can be controlled without suppressing the beauty and value that emerges right next to it, untended† (Levinson 151). His vision is aligned with King’s—technology has the capacity to destroy—but he feels that it can be controlled. Technological systems will not revolt against us, as they do in Cell, but they must be actively watched. Cell paints a stark portrait of society on the brink of collapse—one that people have willingly bought into. In King’s mind, we are ushering ourselves to our own demise, if not our loss of humanity. Something as simple and ubiquitous as a cell phone is turned into a tool of terror. With Cell, King makes us question whether we have established systems for ourselves that are not so much helpful as they are corruptive. His novel is a cautionary tale about where we are heading as a civilization. When we next answer the phone, King suggests the fate of our own humanity may be calling. How to cite Dialing Our Death: A Critical Response to Stephen King’s Cell, Papers

Information Security Risks and Concerns

Question: Describe about the Essay for Information Security Risks and Concerns. Answer: Current security risks and concerns considered by NSW government - diagram Figure 1: Threats, Risk Concept Relationship and ISO codes linked to ISMS (Source: created by author) Diagram explanation and identification of low, medium-low, medium and high-risk exposure High-Risk exposure threats contain Earthquake, Flood, Storm, and Fire. This level of risk can wipe out the entire system and the buildings which comprise the server. They are categorized under Natural Disasters and can happen anytime and anywhere (Carrara Guzzetti, 2013). Medium Risk exposure threats include communication failure, errors in programming or software, transmission errors, technical failures, user or operational staff errors, outsourced operations failure, absence or loss of key personnel, rerouting or misrouting of messages, and building the fire. These threats are categorized under accidental threats because they are unpredictable most of the time (Kemppainen et al., 2012). According to Pathak (2016), medium-low exposure threats contain eavesdropping, sabotage, malicious destruction of data and facilities, industrial action, web site intrusion, unauthorized software changes, use of pirated software, denial of service, unauthorized dial-in access, social engineering, fraud and theft, malicious code, masquerade and unauthorized data access. They are categorized into deliberate threats because these types of risks are intentional who wishes to do harm to the system to disrupt the service. Low-risk exposure threats contain electronic interference, power supply failure, power fluctuations, vermin, extremes of humidity and temperature. They are categorized into environmental conditions and are considered low risk because these threats often take some time from hours to years (Ham, Park Jeong, 2015). Comparative analysis of Deliberate and Accidental Threats and justification of ranking in order of priority As stated by Guo (2013), there are quite a few comparisons that can be made between accidental and deliberate threats which happen in practical usage. Following are some comparative threats in order of degree are Use of pirated software which often has backdoors for hackers to manipulate critical system files, but also limits the economic growth of a country and the information sector. The rise of torrent and warez sites gave birth to online piracy and software easily available online often paid versions without any fee (Andrs Goel, 2012). The arrest of the largest torrent website Kickass, led to other web sites crippling or shutting their services. The piracy site allegedly stole over $1 billion in profits from the US (U.S. Authorities Charge Owner of Most-Visited Illegal File-Sharing Website with Copyright Infringement, 2016). Eavesdropping is another such issue and many big giants like Microsoft, Google and Facebook have been blamed for collecting, storing and selling user data. Edward Snowden became the whistleblower when he leaked papers and sensitive data of NSA collection data, snooping networks and internet traffic, voice calls and media over the past few years (Wu, Ma Chan, 2015). Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) can often cause failure of communications services or halting them altogether, which was the case in 2013 when hackers too down NASDAQ for three hours on August 22nd (Kaur, Sachdeva Kumar, 2012). Social Engineering on the system can be misused in rerouting or misrouting of messages, instance of it as the Hidden Lynx Watering Hole on Bit9 case in 2013 (Doherty, 2013). Unauthorized software changes can cause transmission errors and may also result in technical failures. Errors on the part of the user or operational staff can cause theft and fraud (Ramadan, Al-Khedher Al-Kheder, 2012). NSW Government possible challenges for risk/security management To mitigate security threats the government has to identify the problems on whether it should carry out security/risk management internally or external via outsourcing. Challenges that the government may face in risk management sector are Management of Organizational Assets Organizational assets are required in the form skills and resources since security is a problem that is scattered throughout a sector (Karimidizboni, 2013). Coping with Rapid Changes in Technology Keeping up with rapid changes in technology would require using modern operating systems on its servers and desktop computers and has to be actively managed (Christensen, 2013). It becomes complex and dynamically changing environment when it has to be managed actively. Security as an Additional Expense Additional expenditure on security is expensive, and the government does not always want to bear the costs as they reluctantly view security as an investment. This prevents from embracing security as a legitimate long-term plan investment for the strategic plan of the government (Peltier, 2016). Familiarization with Technology Employees have to be trained with updated technologies and simpler technical terms need to be used for them to be familiarized with and will require additional manpower and time (Chaston, 2015). Differences between Risk and Uncertainty in Information System Risk consists of theft, neglect, insecure practices and loss. When someone deliberately attacks a system to collection sensitive data, the person can cause much harm and pose a threat. Everyone breaches out of four breaches occurs due to theft. Primarily the inside employees play a role in this who has a grudge with the organization or criminals, who are looking to steal cash from sensitive electronic powered devices (Parekh, 2016). Neglect occurs when the discarded electronic items are not erased correctly and the data stored can be easily obtained by cheap tools. Same goes when the electronic items are not protected by a secure password (Schell, 2013). Insecure practices include data being shared carelessly over networks which can lead to unauthorized access or exposure. Irresponsible or carelessly handling of data which can misplace or loss of devices is another common way for the loss of media and data (McGregor et al., 2015). Uncertainties in information security present a challenge in itself. It can overload the user with lots of details of a particular product or service and yet may not represent the actual one and is the case of misrepresentation, and many times there is no way to verify. Adapting to newer technologies is not for everyone and people often are wary of the service, failure, and theft. This unfamiliarity brings more hazards to those using it (Luo, Ba Zhang, 2012). To deliver more personalized content and recommendation based on a users habit, cookies" are stored, which itself is sold and commoditized to other third-party services. Not only it can be a risk to privacy, but the personal usage data is often collected, bought and sold often without the user's content (Newman, 2013). Possible approaches of NSW government for risk mitigation and control To approach information system security, the NSW government can take many approaches as follows as per ISO 27001:2013. Governance According to Susanto, Almunawar and Tuan (2012), senior management must aid in support and direction for digital information systems and security in compliance with relevant regulations and laws for business requirements. The governance arrangements included in the ISMS or Information Security Management Systems are a policy for information security, a person handed over the responsibility for online security, and alignment to the management policy and organizations internal risk and audit such as TPP09-05. Controlling access to information system and data classification labeling and handling Access to information systems online must be controlled and monitored having regards to relevant regulations and laws like Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002, State Records Act 1998, Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998, NSW Classification and Labeling Guidelines, and Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (Smith, 2014). Controlling relationships with outside parties The security of digital information systems and information processed, accessed, managed, or communicated to third parties must be monitored. Security regarding software exchanged and digital information with any third-party entity needs to be maintained(NSW Government Digital Information Security Policy | NSW ICT STRATEGY, 2016). Training and Awareness Employees who take on the role of information security performance must be aware of the role and keep up-to-date with the changes by keeping their skills through education and training when necessary (Peltier, 2016). Security incident management Relevant authorities must keep contact with the agencies. For digital information security near misses, incidents, events and weakness associated with digital information systems, internal processes must be in place, and therefore, timely corrective action must be taken (Baskerville, Spagnoletti Kim, 2014). References Andrs, A. R., Goel, R. K. (2012). Does software piracy affect economic growth? Evidence across countries.Journal of Policy Modeling,34(2), 284-295. Baskerville, R., Spagnoletti, P., Kim, J. (2014). Incident-centered information security: Managing a strategic balance between prevention and response.Information management,51(1), 138-151. Carrara, A., Guzzetti, F. (Eds.). (2013).Geographical information systems in assessing natural hazards(Vol. 5). Springer Science Business Media. Chaston, I. (2015). Public Sector Online. InInternet Marketing and Big Data Exploitation(pp. 221-239). Palgrave Macmillan UK. Christensen, C. (2013).The innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail. Harvard Business Review Press. Cobb, C., Cobb, S., Kabay, M. E., Crothers, T. (2012). Penetrating computer systems and networks.Computer Security Handbook. Doherty, S., Gegeny, J., Spasojevic, B., Baltazar, J. (2013). Hidden LynxProfessional Hackers for Hire.security response, Symantec Corp. Guo, K. H. (2013). Security-related behavior in using information systems in the workplace: A review and synthesis.Computers Security,32, 242-251. Ham, S. W., Park, J. S., Jeong, J. W. (2015). Optimum supply air temperature ranges of various air-side economizers in a modular data center.Applied Thermal Engineering,77, 163-179. Karimidizboni, R. (2013). Human resources information system.Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research In Business,4(10), 1004. Kaur, D., Sachdeva, M., Kumar, K. (2012). Recent DDoS Incidents and Their Impact.International Journal of Scientific Engineering Research,3(8), 1-6. Kemppainen, J., Tedre, M., Parviainen, P., Sutinen, E. (2012). Risk Identification Tool for ICT in International Development Co-operation Projects.The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries,55. Luo, J., Ba, S., Zhang, H. (2012). The effectiveness of online shopping characteristics and well-designed websites on satisfaction.Mis Quarterly,36(4), 1131-1144. McGregor, S. E., Charters, P., Holliday, T., Roesner, F. (2015). Investigating the computer security practices and needs of journalists. In24th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 15)(pp. 399-414). Newman, J. (2013). Cookie Monsters: Locally Stored Objects, User Privacy, and Section 1201 of the DMCA.AIPLA QJ,41, 511. NSW Government Digital Information Security Policy | NSW ICT STRATEGY. (2016).Finance.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 23 August 2016, from https://www.finance.nsw.gov.au/ict/resources/nsw-government-digital-information-security-policy Parekh, S. M. (2016).U.S. Patent No. 20,160,094,566. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Pathak, P. B. (2016). The Review of Terms and Concepts used to Understand Cybercrime to Safeguard Ourselves from Cybercriminals.International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science,7(1). Peltier, T. R. (2016).Information Security Policies, Procedures, and Standards: guidelines for effective information security management. CRC Press. Peltier, T. R. (2016).Information Security Policies, Procedures, and Standards: guidelines for effective information security management. CRC Press. Ramadan, M. N., Al-Khedher, M. A., Al-Kheder, S. A. (2012). Intelligent anti-theft and tracking system for automobiles.International Journal of Machine Learning and Computing,2(1), 83. Schell, R. R. (2013). Computer Security.Air Space Power Journal,27(1), 158. Smith, Z. W. (2014). Privacy and Security post-Snowden: surveillance law and policy in the United States and India.Intercultural Hum. Rts. L. Rev.,9, 137. Susanto, H., Almunawar, M. N., Tuan, Y. C. (2012). A novel method on ISO 27001 reviews: ISMS compliance readiness level measurement.arXiv preprint arXiv:1203.6622. U.S. Authorities Charge Owner of Most-Visited Illegal File-Sharing Website with Copyright Infringement. (2016).Justice.gov. Retrieved 23 August 2016, from https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-authorities-charge-owner-most-visited-illegal-file-sharing-website-copyright-infringement Wu, A., Ma, W. W., Chan, W. W. (2015). Whistleblower or Leaker? Examining the Portrayal and Characterization of Edward Snowden in USA, UK, and HK Posts. InNew Media, Knowledge Practices and Multiliteracies(pp. 53-66). Springer Singapore.