**Reading Diary 2**

Mazen Hassan

Reading Diary #2

1. Facebook has replaced phone calls, visits, and even e-mails as the way that the majority of the world stays in contact with family, friends etc. But most people are not aware of the fact that every piece of information that they put on their pages are subject to be spread all over the internet – without their permission or knowledge. I think this article is of vital importance to the public, and absolutely serves in their interest; as it notifies people that their personal information is accessible to many advertising, data firms, and third party companies online, all over the world. Not only does it share your information, but it can also display the facts of your friends/contacts as well. And not just your favorite movies or music, but the article states that names, addresses, e-mail addresses, photos, wall posts/comments, and more are all exposed to anyone with computer access.

I think this information is absolutely serving the public interest; as most people don’t think about, or read the fine print of what it is they are agreeing to when obtaining a facebook page. Especially for young people out there looking to begin their careers, it is vital for them to know that their potential employers may at any moment have access to their page, and see personal things that the candidates may not want them to view.

As the internet grows in prominence, privacy online will continually be an issue; and this story aims to teach people how to go into their account settings and manually change their privacy features. The article states that facebook automatically sets your privacy up to be open to the public, and doesn’t clearly show where to uncheck that option – it is hard to find, and they make it so on purpose.

There are very savvy people working at facebook, who know that when signing a random contract, most people don’t stop to read the fine print, or won’t go out of their way to really research what having a facebook page entails. As the journalist states skeptically (and healthily, to me) in the closing of her article “…HTTPS is not unbreakable, but cracking it is far more work than anyone is likely to do.” (cbsnews)

2. The second article I chose to write about, was dealing with an issue that people have been at battle with for decades – the connection to fast food/sugar and obesity. The story states that the biggest rise in “Body Mass Index” was seen in the USA between the period of 1980 and 2008. They claim this is due to less riding of bikes/walking/healthy exercise, and an alarming intake of all sugar based drinks, and fast food.

Although this type of news has been frequently discussed for so many years, the new studies declare that 1 in every 10 people of the world’s population is obese. I believe that this is of enormous interest to the public, as it is something we often overlook, and do not think will affect us personally. Especially living within a city, I think it’s important to know that even with all the walking we may do, which one would think would burn more calories; we often consume the highest amount of fast food daily. It is also noted in the article that an epidemic of cardiovascular disease has a much higher rate to spread throughout the world, if people’s eating habits do not change. I think if more people saw articles that showcase concrete facts about what the dangers of unhealthy eating habits are, it would eventually decrease the rate of obesity and health related issues due to food.

There was definitely a vigorous dose of opinion-skewed comments in this article. As the journalist quoted a British newspaper, he first said before the quote “Here is what smug British people are saying about America (Freedom).” Though some may view that as cynical, I believe it is more healthy skepticism. Some of the rates that were used in the British article may be seen as a bit over the top or dramatic; so by stating that they are “smug”, he immediately lets the reader know he personally doubts that all of the information is 100% accurate.

To really see some sheer cynicism at its best, check the very last statement made, where the author says ever so nonchalant – “so basically, were all going to die from massive McFishstick strokes…” A bold and ridiculous statement…but couldn’t help smiling just a bit. (wonkette)