Essay Questions

How does "Winston" expose the deficiency of surveillance technology?

Winston explains, “ My social studies teacher, Ms. Galvez, rolled her eyes at me and I rolled my eyes back at her. The Man (Benson) was always coming down on me, just because I go through school firewalls like wet Kleenex, spoof the gait-recognition software, and nuke the snitch chips they track us with. Galvez is a good type, anyway, never holds that against me (Especially when I'm helping her get with her webmail so she can talk to her brother who's stationed in Iraq)." Winston subverts the security associated with the technology which dents the credibility of the system. Winston proves that technology is not absolutely secured; hence, he can manipulate it for his interest and other individuals such as Galvez. There are loopholes which permit Winston to penetrate the system expeditiously.

How do fraudulent identities sponsor online criminalities?

Marcus affirms, “ “W1n5t0n," he said, spelling it out again. He gave me a hairy eyeball and waited for me to wilt. Of course it was my handle, and had been for years. It was the identity I used when I was posting on message boards where I was making contributions to the field of applied security research. You know, like sneaking out of school and disabling the mind-tracer on my phone…I'd done some pretty cool stuff around school using that handle-I was very proud of my work on snitch-tag killers- and if he could link the two identities, I'd be in trouble." Marcus assumes a fictitious identity to mask his tracks. He is conscious that his online activities are detrimental to the school's security. Tracing the identity to his is somehow complex for there is no definite evidence to show that Winston is the same as Marcus. Faked identity is the strategy that online frauds embrace to hide themselves, which indicates the challenges of the internet ear whereby identity can be faked effortlessly and be used in immoral engagements and fraud.