Identity the ftre written Essay Example for Free

Identity the ftre written Essay Introduction Identity Theft is considered to be major problem which has affected thousands, more than 9 million victims of credit identity theft were reported in 2003, it was estimated that the victims were deprived of more than 52 billion dollars through identity theft; the victims included established businesses and individuals. It has been learnt that sophisticated organized criminals (Richard, 2003) were involved in identity theft. Identity theft is considered as an intimate abuse that is mainly responsible for the financial losses of the grieved victims. Identity Theft is appropriation of anothers personal information (Whilk, 2003), the purpose of the exercise is to practice fraud, and the victim is impersonated by the culprits in this practice. Identity theft is mainly linked with the leakage of confidential information that is later misused by the culprits to achieve benefit. It has been observed through past cases of Identity theft that most of the culprits have enjoyed access to the victim directly, or the information related to the victim through different dealings. The nature of the dealing is not particular, in some of the cases associates and acquaintances have been involved have been found guilty of Identity Theft. According to studies, Identity theft involves three parties that include the victim, the perpetrator and the creditor. Victim is the person who fells prey of the criminal activities without any knowledge of it; the perpetrator is the individual who impersonates the victim, and executes identity theft, the perpetrator in many of the cases have the access to the information of the victim. The creditor is the personal who is familiar to both the perpetrator and the victim, the creditor support and develop the perpetrator plan. In some of the cases the fourth party is the source of the personal information that is being abused (Whilk, 2003). Types of identity theft Pretexting Pretexting is considered to be one of the forms of Identity Theft; in this exercise one culprit impersonates the victim, such that one calls under the pretext being that person (Richard, 2003). The exercise is normally performed to secure personal information that includes telephone records, and details of bank accounts. According to studies it has been observed that in many of the cases the4 victims are unable to detect their identity theft through pretexting. Credit Card fraud The evolution of internet has made it easier for the interested customers to avail deals through internet. Credit card facilities launched by several banks have tried to facilitate the customers, and have provided them with an easy opportunity to avail deals through electronic transaction via credit card. Unfortunately the sharing of information has often been leaked, and many of the cases of identity theft have been reported. According to study, running up charges on anothers credit card, or passing checks of another, is a form of identity theft. Identity theft is this case is practiced through appropriation of the signature, account number, and other aspects of anothers identity, the purpose of the entire exercise is to secure financial benefits on other expenses through unethical and illegal practice. New account fraud Identity theft has been reported through malpractices related to the opening of new accounts. In such case, the criminal uses the identity of the victim, and then after fulfilling the formalities of credit card companies borrow the money. Criminal identity theft In some of the cases it has been reported that criminals impersonate innocent people after their arrest, and have managed to escape successfully. In such cases, the innocent individual then has criminal record, and in some of the cases arrest warrants have also been issued. It has been researched that it is easier for the criminal to link their personality with the victim, and later manage to escape, however in the police records many such individuals are blacklisted who have reported their ignorance about the incident, and have proved their presence in foreign country at the time of criminal activity. Identity Theft as Abuse In the survey which was conducted in 2004, it was observed that domestic abuse has direct relationship with Identity Theft; it was observed that more than 15 percent reported that they were also victims of domestic harassment and abuse from the perpetrator. Identity theft is also conducted by the strangers, and in some of the cases organized criminal networks are involved in such practices. The identity theft is solely conducted to achieve economic gains through false identity, there it is expected that an authority with financial stability is likely to be the victim, domestic violence is sometimes accompanied by economic abuse, such as controlling access to wealth or destruction of property (John, 2002). Much because it is difficult to trace the culprit involve in the identity theft, the practice is considered to be extremely lucrative for the abuser, where as the malpractice has long lasting and debilitating (Robert, 2003) impact on the status, repute and character of the victim. The survey revealed that, identity theft victims spend a median of one hundred hours rectifying the damage, and lose thousands of dollars in lost wages and other expenses (John, 2002), more than 50 percent of the victim have complained that they are subjected to repeated interrogations and false implications by the law agencies even after 2 years after the revelation of their identity theft, whereas as some reported that they are subjected to false implications for more than decade. According to the Stalking Resource Center at the National Center for the Victims of Crime, explained that stalking as a course of conduct directed at a specific person when one knows or should know that the course of conduct would cause a reasonable person to fear for his or her safety or the safety of a third person; or suffer other emotional distress (Kristin, 2004), therefore stalking can be considered as a derivative of the stalking. The discussed surveillance, pretexting, and credit identity theft are directly related to stalking. Pretexting is not considered as an offence of extreme tribulation for the victim, the pretexter can only secure the right to access the accounts, and telephone record. Therefore the expected threats and damages through pretexter include the cancellation of the victim’s account, electric, gas and credit car accounts. However the cases of identity theft related to credit cards have subjected the victim under serious consequences. The survey report found that, distress caused by credit identity theft is real, the victims report rage and anger; personal financial fears; fears for family financial safety; a sense of powerlessness and of feeling defiled (Kristin, 2004). Preventive Measures The measures to be necessarily adopted by the public to avoid any incident of victimization through identity theft include issuance of the credit report periodically. The public should also ensure that their credit limit is not too high, so that even in case of any manipulation the financial loss can be adjusted. The public should avail the scheme for the monitoring of their credit, through which unexpected financial dealings can be tracked. It has been learnt that Fair Credit Reporting Act has provided the public with an opportunity to place a fraud alert on their credit report, through such scheme the creditors have the right to access to verify their credit. References 1. Kristin Loberg. Identity Theft: How to Protect Your Name, Your Credit and Your Vital Information. Silver Lake Publishing. 2004. 2. Robert J. Hammond, Robert J. Hammond, Jr. Identity Theft: How to Protect Your Most Valuable Asset. Career Press. 2003. 3. John R. Vacca. Identity Theft. Career Press. 2002. 4. Whilk, Nathanael. Identity Theft: Preventing Consumer Terrorism: An Attitudinal Approach. Silver Lake Publishing 2003. 5. Richard M. Stana. Identity Theft: Prevalence Cost Appear to Be Growing. Prentice Hall. 2003.

Physics and Computer Games :: Physics Computers Science Video Games

Computer games have steadily become a form of mainstream entertainment ever since Pong was released back in 1958. Today, it is hard to find an electronics department in any store that doesn't carry some sort of computer game. "Big deal," you say, "Everyone knows about computer games. What does they have to do with physics?" Well, the technology for creating more powerful software is constantly advancing, and since games are a form of software, they too become more and more advanced. As games become more advanced, game developers aim to create games that offer a more realistic experience. The technology has advanced to such a stage that making the games look real is no problem, but making a truly immersive experience is something different. That's where physics comes in. Well, to answer that, you have to have a basic understanding of physics. Physics is the study of matter and energy, and how the two interact with each other. Things such as gravity, sound and light - all involve physics. As you might have noticed, gravity, sound and light are things we encounter quite frequently in our day to day routines. Game developers, in their goal to create a believable, realistic world for the gamer to immerse themselves in, know that in order to do so their game needs to incorporate the laws of physics. After all, their games wouldn't be very realistic if players kept floating away every time they tried to make their character jump or dodge around. Gravity is only a small part of the realism experience. Developers have to incorporate as many laws of physics as they can in order to make their game truly realistic. Collisions play a big part in any game - it wouldn't be very believeable to allow players to move through walls or objects. Some games take the collision and elasticity elements further, and create extremely elaborate physics engines that can handle, say, two cars colliding, and produce a believeable outcome to the collision. Games like F1 Championship Racing and GTA3 have excellent physics engines that feature some really impressive automobile simulations. Many old games simply use gravity and collision detection in their games, but more recent games involve much more complicated physics applications. So How Do They Do It? Game developers use physics engines to simulate the physics effects in their games. What's a physics engine? A physics engine is a specialized piece of software specifically designed to integrate the laws of physics into a game. Physics and Computer Games :: Physics Computers Science Video Games Computer games have steadily become a form of mainstream entertainment ever since Pong was released back in 1958. Today, it is hard to find an electronics department in any store that doesn't carry some sort of computer game. "Big deal," you say, "Everyone knows about computer games. What does they have to do with physics?" Well, the technology for creating more powerful software is constantly advancing, and since games are a form of software, they too become more and more advanced. As games become more advanced, game developers aim to create games that offer a more realistic experience. The technology has advanced to such a stage that making the games look real is no problem, but making a truly immersive experience is something different. That's where physics comes in. Well, to answer that, you have to have a basic understanding of physics. Physics is the study of matter and energy, and how the two interact with each other. Things such as gravity, sound and light - all involve physics. As you might have noticed, gravity, sound and light are things we encounter quite frequently in our day to day routines. Game developers, in their goal to create a believable, realistic world for the gamer to immerse themselves in, know that in order to do so their game needs to incorporate the laws of physics. After all, their games wouldn't be very realistic if players kept floating away every time they tried to make their character jump or dodge around. Gravity is only a small part of the realism experience. Developers have to incorporate as many laws of physics as they can in order to make their game truly realistic. Collisions play a big part in any game - it wouldn't be very believeable to allow players to move through walls or objects. Some games take the collision and elasticity elements further, and create extremely elaborate physics engines that can handle, say, two cars colliding, and produce a believeable outcome to the collision. Games like F1 Championship Racing and GTA3 have excellent physics engines that feature some really impressive automobile simulations. Many old games simply use gravity and collision detection in their games, but more recent games involve much more complicated physics applications. So How Do They Do It? Game developers use physics engines to simulate the physics effects in their games. What's a physics engine? A physics engine is a specialized piece of software specifically designed to integrate the laws of physics into a game.

Literature and Life

The magic of reading is that it brings you to another place and feeling. At times it can make you smile with character, and other times make you cry with him. Sometimes it may even allow the reader to identify with the characters. Reality can often be a lot like a piece of literature, in that a person may be going through the exact same thing, or something similar, and be feeling the same way. It is effortless to view the tough and unspoken racism demonstrated in Nadine Gordimer’s â€Å"Country Lovers† as well as how the girl feels in Patricia Smith’s What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl (For Those of You Who Aren’t).In both readings you get a sense of the hardship the characters faced because of racism, the things that people may do or allow to happen because it is so hard. Racism is something that we see, hear about, and maybe even experience in our everyday lives. It may be something that we do not speak about, just like in the short story â€Å"Co untry Lovers. â€Å" The main characters Paul us and Thebedi were raised together since they were kids, Paulus was a white boy and Thebedi, a black girl. They played together and spent most of their childhood days with one another.As time goes by and they begin to grow up and the distance between the two also grow apart. However, the bond created between them as children is still there. Both Paulus’ and Thebedi’s parents never forbad them from seeing each other but there was always this unspoken knowledge that they knew it was wrong because they always seemed to be hiding the fact that they did spend time together. An example of this would be when Paulus came home from school and brought Thebedi a gift â€Å"She told her father the missus had given them to her as a reward for some works she had done-it was true she sometimes was called to help out in the farmhouse.She told the girls in the kraal that she had a sweetheart nobody knew about† (Clugston, 2010). Bot h Paulus and Thebedi know that it is not okay to hold on to the relationship they had as kids. But they cannot help the feelings that have grown for each other over the years. â€Å"The schoolgirls he went swimming with at dams or pools on neighboring farms wore bikinis but the sight of their dazzling bellies and thighs in the sunlight had never made him feel what he felt now when the girl came up the bank and sat beside him, the drops of water beading off her dark legs the only points of life in the earth-smelling deep shade.They were not afraid of one other; they had known one other always† (Clugston, 2010). They had strong feelings for one another and consummated them by having sexual relations. This went on for a while, and eventually Thebedi became pregnant. At this point her hand was asked for in marriage by Njabulo, since they had already had sexual relations her now husband did not question her being pregnant. â€Å"The infant was very light and did not quickly grow dark as most African babies do. Already at birth, there was on its head a quantity of straight, fine floss† (Clugston, 2010).When Paulus found out that Thebedi had a baby, and that it was his, he didn’t want anyone to find out. â€Å"Don't take it out. Stay inside. Can't you take it away somewhere? You must give it to someone—† (Clugston, 2010). Because in the time period interracial relationships were looked down upon, and were unacceptable, Paulus felt like he had to do something before anyone found out the baby was his. When Paulus came to see the baby the next time Thebedi stayed outside as he killed their baby. The authorities came because they had heard there was a white looking child that was killed and brought charges against Paulus.There was not enough evidence to convict but the fact of the matter is that he killed his child and Thebedi did nothing to stop it. Thebedi could have prevented the baby’s death but seems to feel powerless agains t Paulus. I believe there is also a part of her that feels this way is better for everyone, this way they don’t have to deal with the reality of their baby and how socially unacceptable it is. At the same time, I can’t imagine it being easy knowing her baby, with the man she had extreme feelings for, is now dead and he is the one responsible.I believe even women today sometimes feel powerless against their men. I don’t think it would be taken to the extent of killing a child, but some men dictate the relationship and how things should be. Even though interracial relationships are more socially acceptable nowadays, it is still difficult sometimes for people of different races to be together. Another instance of racism is shown in the poem What It’s Like To Be a Black Girl (For Those of You Who Aren’t) by Patricia Smith. Although this one is shown in a different way.In the poem the author describes what a girl has to do to be acceptable in the world as a black girl. â€Å"Its dropping food coloring in your eyes to make them blue and Suffering their burn in silenceâ€Å" (Clugston, 2010). Because she is a black girl and in certain periods in time white people seemed to reigned supreme she tried to make herself look more socially acceptable, even at the cost of injuring herself. This poem shows the girl desiring to be white and to fit in to that life, where she an walk around without being judged and looked down upon. It's popping a bleached white mophead over the kinks of your hair and primping in front of mirrors that deny your reflection† (Clugston, 2010). Just another example of putting yourself through pain to feel more accepted and not even wanting to see yourself the way you are because you feel ashamed. At the end of the poem, the young girl seems to feel more accepting of the fact she is black, even though she does not feel it is any easier at that point. â€Å"it's flame and fists and life according to Motownâ €  (Clugston, 2010). She has accepted that her life is following the way of her culture.It is not easy though and she must keep her guard, and her fists up. The poem, to me shows the struggles of a young girl because of societies view of people. It makes her life harder than it should be because of peoples ignorance about race and what everyone should be like. Racism is ugly and sometimes makes people feel like they need to change themselves to be accepted. The girl was trying to lead a different life, one in which she was not judged and everyone would accept her. In both of these readings the authors showed the struggles people face because of racism.There are many different ways racism affects people’s lives, in the first story â€Å"Country Lovers† it was in a horrible way where an innocent child was murdered so no one would find out the love two people shared because it was socially unacceptable for the time. In The poem by Patricia Smith, the girl also injured herself to make herself acceptable. Both of these stories show the horrible things people do because of racism. It is not fair that an innocent child, who never knew any better had to die or that a young girl must physically hurt herself to change in order for things to be okay.There are times where life imitates literature, maybe the author used real experiences of people or situations that have happened or what they believe can happen. I am sure that when racism was extremely prevalent people did try to change themselves, all while hurting themselves or others. Nowadays racism is still around, maybe not to the degree of what the readings spoke about but t is definitely here and horrible things happen because of it. Things such s hate crimes and murder, as well as people having procedures to change their appearance. I am sure we will see these things until the day everyone accepts each other the way they are.

Music and Adolescent Behavior - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1640 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/03/20 Category Psychology Essay Level High school Topics: Behavior Essay Did you like this example? Music is everywhere. Whether it be on the radio in your car, at work, or even through headphones on your own personal device, music is a constant in our society and is a huge part of the entertainment industry. It is hard to deny that music is an influential part of human life and can impact the emotions a person may feel. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Music and Adolescent Behavior" essay for you Create order When a person is happy, they may listen to happy songs. When they are sad, they may listen to sad songs. There are songs about love and romance, songs about heartbreak and revenge on an ex-lover. But it seems that the most prevalent themes in todays music is that of a degrading sexual nature, as well as the recreational use of drugs and alcohol. As mainstream music lyrics become more and more explicit in content, there is some evidence that exposure to these themes may have a negative effect on the sexual behavior of adolescents, as well as the normalization of drug use and overall reckless behavior on young adults. Over the years, rap music has become increasingly explicit in nature. Studies show that from 2001-2011, approximately 74% of the Billboards top 25 rap music hits made reference to sex, sexual expectations, and/or sexual relationships. (Johnson,et al) This study concluded that there are three themes to rap music. The most prevalent theme is that Its really about sex or nothing at all. In other words, sex is the only goal of male to female interaction. The second theme found being that substances are used as the precursor/enhancer, meaning that alcohol and/or drugs are used in abundance for the goal of sex. The third theme is performance, parts and brand, plainly put, this means that expectations for a females participation in sexual activity is based entirely on their visual characteristic and non-verbal behavior; like flirting or dancing. (Johnson, et al) For impressionable young adults, it is concerning that they are being exposed to such negative and unrealistic impressions of sexu al communication and consent; maybe without fully comprehending the message being sent. It is not just the music and lyrics alone that are sending inappropriate messages towards adolescents. With platforms like MTV and YouTube, we are now able to not just listen to music, but to watch it. Even a song that can be censored enough to be played on local radio stations can have an accompanying music video that is anything but appropriate. For example, the song Taste by the artist Tyga (featuring Offset) often plays on the local radio stations. This song can be censored enough to be played on the radio, however, the music video could never be deemed appropriate under any circumstances. A child could potentially hear the song and enjoy it, do a quick search on YouTube, and soon they will be viewing a music video that depicts a lot of sexual content as well as drug use. So how exactly could this kind of material potentially affect the behavior of a developing young adult? In 2003, a study was published where 522 single African American females from the ages fourteen to eighteen were enrolled in a study. The study was to determine if the exposure to rap music videos played any part in predicting the occurrence of health risk behaviors and sexually transmitted diseases over a twelve-month follow- up. The median hours of exposure to rap music videos were twelve to fourteen hours a week. (Wingwood, et al) Of those enrolled, 92.2% of the participants completed the twelve-month follow-up assessment. It was determined that 37.6% of the participants contracted a new sexually transmitted disease, 4.8% hit a teacher, 12.1% had been arrested, 14.8% had sexual intercourse with someone other than their partner, 44.2% reported using drugs, and 44.4% had used alcohol. (Wingwood, et al) It would be insensitive to the culture of rap to label the entire genre of music as bad and harmful; because it is not just rap music that has the potential to influence negative behaviors in adolescents. A college study was done that shows the correlation between sensation-seeking behavior and the genre of music one may enjoy. Sensation-seeking is defined as The seeking of varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences, and the willingness to take physical, social, legal, and financial risks for the sake of such experiences. (Zuckerman, p. 27) To put it simply, someone with a higher level on the sensation-seeking scale would be more likely to make risky or harmful decisions, like having unprotected sex or using drugs. The study concluded that participants who enjoyed heavy metal, punk, and reggae music rated higher on the sensation-seeking scale than those who did not listen to that type of music. (Weisskirch and Murphy) There is not enough evidence to assume that preference of music causes sensation-seeking tendencies, but it is common knowledge that people tend to listen to music that they can relate to. Therefore, one could assume that those who do rate higher on the sensation-seeking scale enjoy music that may push boundaries; and it may be possible to believe that music containing violent or sexual themes, or lyrics that contain a positive outlook on the use of drugs, could enhance the already reckless tendencies of an individual. Music is very powerful and can make us feel the emotions an artist intended us to feel, consequently, if an artist is singing lyrics that are aggressive or violent the listener may feel more aggressive and violent. This could be a problem if the listener has violent tendencies or rates higher on the sensation-seeking scale. Musicians need to be more aware of their influence on listeners, kids look up to their favorite artists and may adopt the qualities they see them have. For decades, musical artists have been dying from the very thing they have built their musical career on, the use of drugs. There may be a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to how drugs are perceived through music. Recently, the rap artist Mac Miller passed away from an accidental overdose of cocaine and fentanyl. Last year, the artist Lil Peep overdosed on Xanax and fentanyl as well. Although it is heart wrenching that so many musicians are dying due to a drug overdose, their unfortunate deaths could possibly bring more awareness to the stigma surrounding drug addiction in music; and hopefully the adolescents who look up to these artists can see how much they have struggled with addiction and how it has affected their lives. It is widely known that adolescents are impressionable by nature; they want to fit in with the environment around them. Drugs like Ecstasy, Molly, and Marijuana, to name a few, are often prevalent at music festivals or raves. In 2005, a study was done at an Australian music festival that investigated the correlation between musical genres and drug use. The study suggests that illicit drugs are used more commonly at this music festival compared to the corresponding age groups in the general population of Australia. (Lim, et al p. 440) It is possible to conclude that because drugs are known to be common at music festivals and raves, there is a normalization surrounding the use of illicit drugs. When a young adult is surrounded by their friends and peers who are partaking in the use of drugs, they may feel pressure to join in, which could potentially be the reason drug use is so common at festivals and raves in the first place; it is like a vicious circle of peer pressure. Some readers may argue that sheltering adolescents from the world around them is not beneficial to their understanding of things like sex and the use of drugs. However, what we are doing now is not beneficial to their understanding either. We do not teach children sexual education in schools until around the fifth or sixth grade. By this time, they have already been exposed to the concept of sex through music and music videos. Essentially, referring back to the three themes of rap music already discussed, what they are learning about sex before we even introduce them to it could potentially be harmful to their understanding of sexual communication and consent. We dont teach kids about drugs and the negative effects they may cause until the fifth or sixth grade at least either. Through music, they may conclude that using drugs is normal or even makes you cool, before we can teach them that drugs tear families and lives apart, or that some drugs can potentially be fatal. With that bein g said, it could possibly be more harmful to let children listen to music with such explicit content without teaching them about sex and drugs first; than it would be to closely monitor the music they are listening to, or the music videos they are watching. Music has many benefits. It is a great art that has the potential to bring people together or get someone through a hard time in their life. But like all things, there are negatives to certain types of music. Although there is not enough research done yet to determine exactly how much music influences behavior in adolescents, there is enough to conclude that it does. The explicit content in music should be more regulated, but it is hard to control the music an adolescent can listen to when they can find it on the internet at any time. With that being said, parents should be more aware of what their child is listening to or viewing. If a parent does make the choice to let their child listen to music containing explicit content, that is obviously their decision as a parent, but they should make sure that their child already has an understanding of sexual education and the consequences using drugs may have; so the derogatory remarks and normalization of drugs in music doesnt teach them the wrong impression.