#5 State of Your Research Prospectus (freewrite, 10 minutes)

My thinking has come very far just from the start of the topic. In the beginning I knew I wanted to do something related to Biometrics, as that has always interested me since the day that Professor Heishman introduced it to the class. From this fairly vague topic I had to then research into some of the more narrow topics within this field. I had previous knowledge of security and privacy being problems with this system, and thought that that would be a very manageable topic considering these methods are closing in on the general population fast, and they will more than likely be implemented in most place within the nextseveral years. Knowing that security and privacy are problems, I started hypothesizing different questions regarding that subject, making sure to keep on that single narrow subject. With this I found that the question should involve some sort of new "method" for guarding the general public against the security and privacy concerns of biometrics, after all, almost all Computer Science journals that I have read propose some sort of alternative method that gets the job done in a much more efficient way. From this question it was fairly easy to devise the problem since the question was initially derived from a problem that the population was having. Using the question the problem was very straightforward and concerned how people felt towards the security and privacy problems and how those people can be put at risk by using biometrics.


Although I haven't really started the review of the literature, I feel this won't be a very hard part. Most of the general information concerning biometrics is widely available, and in fact I have already found many sources using the keywords "Biometrics & Privacy" which will help me in my methodological literature review. In developing my literature review, I have learned to make the subject as broad as possible so that the audience will be able to tell that I have "done my homework" concerning the topic at hand. With this in mind I plan to take a thematic approach of the methods used in biometrics, jumping around to the most prominent topics in biometrics by explaining how some of the more famous theories have been derived and are used in everyday biometrics.

#4 Refine Your Research Topic/Question/Problem (freewrite, 10 minutes)

1. How can we utilise and advance biometrics while still insuring personal privacy of citizens?

First I would like to start with refining my research problem.  I really wanted to stick with something that deals with the privacy part of biometrics.  For example, I am fairly curious as to what companies or other agencies actually do with the biometric data. One refined question could be:

I am studying the advancement of biometrics with respect to the privacy of the individuals who use the system because I want to find out how the entities that implement these systems can use the biometric data against the user in order to help the user understand how their privacy is being violated and what new things can be done to fix the problem.

Possible answers would be the subject that I have heard of in class (but not researched) which is called cancelable biometrics.  We all know that our own biometric data cannot be changed because we cannot just change our fingerprints, but with this new method the security system would implement some sort of hashing or manipulation algorithm which would safeguard the user from even having to lose their biometric data in the first place.  As for the issues of their privacy being used against them, the companies that create these security systems should also do algorithms which hide important data from the company.  This would then safeguard the user from racism or other privacy-eluding acts that would allow the company to figure out the users color, race, gender, and in some highly technological security systems, their thoughts.

Another issue that I would like to get into would be the issue regarding the national DNA database for newborns.  Although this doesn't seem like biometrics, under the shell it is being used as an uniquely identifiable source, which categorizes it as biometrics.

Science Article Summary - 8

Science Article Summary - 8
Google Asks Spy Agency for Help With Inquiry Into Cyberattacks
[1] J. Markoff, “Google Asks Spy Agency for Help With Inquiry Into Cyberattacks,” The New York

Times, Feb. 2010. [Online]. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/science/05google.html?ref=science. [Accessed Feb.  6, 2010].

Since the cyberattacks at Google last year, Google has been trying to pinpoint just who exactly those attackers were.  Many other companies were attacked in much the same way that Google was, and many of those companies security analysts have stated that the attacks came from Taiwan.  Google being to arrogant to believe this, notes that they dug deeper into the location of the attackers, and that the exact location resides in China.  Since this release, Google has decided to cease all business operations in China regardless of the attackers actually location.  If ceasing business operations wasn't enough, Google has now decided to team with the National Security Agency, the agency in charge of global electronic surveillance, to try and find out more information about the attackers.  As if the choice of working with the government isn't an oddity on its own for such a technical powerhouse, the choice of agency is also raising questions with many people surrounding the issue.  Instead of working with the Department of Homeland Security, which has the authority for domestic attacks, Google may have decided to work with the N.S.A in order to avoid having its many services regulated as part of the "critical infrastructure" of the United States.  As if this issue isn't enough, the pairing of such a commercial company and federal agency may also have some implications towards the privacy of many of the services that Google offers, only adding to the notion that the government will have full control over our everyday lives.

#2 What Are You Passionate About? (freewrite, 10 minutes)

I can honestly say that I really love my major, even with all the work it involves and all the fun things that it takes away from me.  I am most passionate about anything that has to do with computers, at least everything that I have gotten into so far.  I really like the programming aspect of computer science, and would say that I am rather passionate about having a job in the programming sector in the near future.  The theoretical or mathy type of classes that we are required to take are less of an enjoyment, but even those types of classes are becoming more fun.  I am most happy when I am able to produce things that work, and are of use to the general public.  Even though we haven't really gotten a chance to do this type of work in classwork, I find that my work process with projects and other labs would be ideal for the workplace, and I think they would be very easy to apply to more complex systems with a group of people working on a central idea.  I think I will really love the work that I will be doing in the near future.  Instead of having to listen to college rules, creating what professors want and taking seemingly pointless classes, you will be assigned to a programming projects, doing something I enjoy doing.  This doesn't really connect to my motorcycle joy in life.  I really enjoy riding, and it is mostly a stress reliever and relaxer that just makes it an enjoyable experience.  My other hobby of photography somewhat connects to my major and current career path.  I not only enjoy taking photographs, but I have started to tinker around with the editing of the photo's, giving me a chance to connect with various programs which allow me to think about the computational methods that allows the program processes to work.

I really find that I like many things from the classes that I have taken in college.  For example I really enjoyed some of the biology classes that I have taken, and have pondered the fact that there is a Computer Science degree with applied biology.  There are a few other classes that I have had an affinity towards, but all in all I think that Computer Science is the best for me.  I have been extremely passionate about this subject since my last years in high school, and I do not regret anything about joining George Mason with my major already set and am very happy that I have made it this far to date.

#3 One Significant Person or Significant Event freewrites and expand it (freewrite, 10 minutes)

Back to the study abroad event over the summer of 2009. As I said, it may not have been the most influential event in my life, but it sure was the most exciting. I remember first getting into Paris because I was so confused and scared of my unusual surroundings. Things got much worse when our luggage got stuck in London because of the plane having trouble and landing too late. This just put the clincher on a bad start to my new beginning in a different country. I remember vividly wondering around the airport at Charles de Gaule just being too overwhelmed by the heavily armed guards and culture shock in general. Once my fiancée and I made it out of the airport and to the hostel we were staying in, things got much better. Not only did i get to meet my study abroad leader and group, but I finally had a chance to have some time to myself to contemplate the culture shock that I was having at that point. Moving from this tense and delicate situation, I became much happier and content with the way the trip was turning out, so much that I could say that I actually loved living in Paris. By visiting the various landmarks and important places I really opened up an interest for wandering and adventure seeking in new ways. Other than this broadening of my horizons, I also became very deeply acquanted with the French way of life, which made me realize that the American way of life isn't the only way, and that just maybe our way of life is sub-par in some aspects. During the freetime when my fiancée didn't want to venture out, I stayed inside, contemplating the entire situation, and by the end of the trip I was sure that I wanted to travel more over the next several years so that I would be able to open myself to even more cultures and people. Not only do I want to roam all over the world, but i really miss and feel like I need to be back in Paris, it was just that good. Just from this single month in Paris my ideas were tuned, and my attitude matured as to how I wanted to live the rest of my life. I feel that without this I would probably have been stuck here in the United States, cloaked from the outside world without a clue about how the rest of the world actually functions in a day to day setting.

#2A Three Significant People (freewrite, 10 minutes)

The most influential person in my life, not just with my career goals, would be Mr. Bange, a teacher at Broadway High School in Broadway, Virginia.  I have known his son for all of my life, and met Mr. Bange at a fairly young age.  Ever since meeting him I admired the way he handled life, and just the general vibe that I received from him each time I was around him.  When moving into high school I had the chance to take a class with him, just basic Earth Science, but that class was one of the best classes that I have ever had the chance to take.  Not only did I learn the material, but I learn so much more from the genius mentality of Mr. Bange.  Each day you walked into the class you would see the room light up with his enormous smile, and his attitude just made you completely content and happy to be in the class.  From this class I learned that I should be more open-minded about life, and not to worry about those small things which other people mind so much.  I attribute my leaving the area to Mr. Bange as I felt an urge to broaden my horizons in order to try and fulfill my life goals and make the most out of my time here on earth.

Mrs. Morris, also a high school teacher, really broke me into the Computer Science category with her seemingly simply class on HTML and C++.  After this class I was completely set on the major I wanted in college, and without this class I probably would have been wandering around for many semesters just trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.  Not only did she set me on the correct career path, but she also pushed me to get the most out of the class.  In this case it consisted of attaining the basic Microsoft Office 2003 master certification, but that was better than nothing at that age.  If nothing else I feel that this certification is something to thank her for, because I certainly wouldn't have been able to do it on my own.

Dr. Heishman is currently a Computer Science professor at George Mason University.  He is the complete teacher in my mind, no one can be more ideal than him.  He has such a calm, relaxing attitude that made his classes very easy going which made in turn made the class much easier.  I remember him having only a few gestures, but with his level of teacher I would expect that he would just want to get the information across to the students without worrying about gestures which add no support to powerpoint presentations.  One environment that I vividly remember him in is the path both outside of the Fenwick Library.  It seemed that almost daily I would run into him perched calmly and quiety on one of those benches enjoying a cigarette.