Blog #6 - The Camera Phone

Over the past two decades or so we have seen many technological breakthroughs whether it was the introduction of social media like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram or video chat which has become an essential thanks to COVID-19. However, we can not leave out the camera phone, the advancements it has made over the past 20+ years, and the competition that drove these advancements.

It all started in June of 2000 when Sharp released a J-Phone that is credited as the first phone with a built-in camera. The J-SH04, which was released in Japan, took pictures at 0.11 megapixels and allowed users to share photos electronically. A few months later, in November of 2000, Samsung joined in on the fun, releasing the SCH-V200 in South Korea. The SCH-V200 could take pictures at a slightly higher quality than the J-SH04 at 0.35 megapixels but photos could not be shared electronically as users had to hook their phone up to their computer in order to obtain their photos. Additionally, the SCH-V200 only allowed users to take 20 photos at a time, requiring the photos to be uploaded to a computer after reaching the photo limit.

Two years after Sharp and Samsung introduced the camera phone, it finally made its way to the United States via the Sanyo SCP-5300 from Sprint. The 2002 SCP-5300 took photos as large as 640 x 480 pixels, had flash, white balance control, a self timer, digital zoom, and basic filters. It did not take long for the United States, or the entire world, to fall in love with the camera phone with over 80 million camera phones sold worldwide by 2003.

Looking to outdo themselves and capitalize on the camera phone's popularity, Sprint released the PM8920 in July of 2004 which took pictures as large as 1280 x 960 pixels and even had a separate button just for taking pictures and operating the camera. Most importantly, the PM8920 only cost $150 as opposed to the SCP-5300 which was priced at $400 a year prior. This significant price drop made camera phones more accessible and affordable, allowing everyday people to get their hands on the rapidly growing technology which in turn increased the demand and its popularity.

In 2005, Nokia joined the competition, releasing the Nokia N90 in their attempts to become the number one camera phone in the United States. The Nokia N90 featured a built-in camera that had flash, autofocus, and a rotating screen which resembled the camcorder that people were very familiar with.

Fast forward a few years and as the competition to be the best raged on, a new company entered the mix: Apple and their revolutionary iPhone. When the iPhone first debuted in June of 2007, the camera quality was inferior to many others we had seen in years prior but the touch screen, which was Apple's main focus, won people over and as we all know, the iPhone eventually not only caught up but is now the number one phone in the United States. In fact, according to Statista.com, over 40 percent of smartphone owners in America use an iPhone and it has been that way, with the percentage slowly increasing annually, since 2014.

All this competition played a big role in the rapid development of the camera phone. In fact, in 2013 the Chicago Sun-Times laid off all 28 of their full-time photographers preaching a need for more video and multimedia content. As a replacement for these 28 photographers, the Chicago Sun-Times used freelancers but also made their reporters go through basic iPhone training, relying on them to capture their own content for their stories using their smartphones. That speaks volumes to the power of the camera phone and the iPhone in particular. Keep in mind that this was eight years ago because it goes without saying that smartphone cameras are way more advanced now.

Since it was first released in 2000, the camera phone has come a long way. It has been an essential for all phones for over a decade now and continues to improve annually in terms of quality, accessibility, and features. Everything seems to happen so fast nowadays and the camera phone was no exception. There was money to be made, people to satisfy, and the competition between all these cell phone giants helped speed along the advancements of a technology we have all relied on and familiarized ourselves with.

Blog #5 - Speech Theories

One thing that makes the United States of America so great is the marketplace of ideas. The first amendment allows American citizens to speak freely and with that comes opinions that can be either true or false. A marketplace of ideas was first suggested by John Milton in his 1644 prose polemic known as Areopagitica. Milton was an English poet, scholar, and polemical author who argued in his speech that when both true and false claims are put out into the world, the truth will always prevail. Milton also suggested that the conversation that ensues when both false and true claims are out there makes the truth even stronger. Extending his argument, Milton adds that there should not be a license required to print or publish and that anyone should be able to publish their thoughts as well as their opinions.

In Milton's argument he says that needing a license to print or publish is "a dishonour and derogation to the author, to the book, to the privilege and dignity of Learning." By needing approval, the government has the power to censor opinions they do not agree with and even facts that they do not want the general public having at their disposal. The government has infamously done this throughout their history, especially in response to work that is anti-war. This also leads to authors having to conform their work to the government's standards in order for it to be approved, denying authors creative control, their own opinions, and for the most part, genuinely good intentions.

With the introduction of social media, message boards, and the internet, millions of people all around the world are able to freely share their thoughts and opinions which have been front and center in the action-packed and very eventful year that was 2020. In 2020 there was no shortage of ideas in the marketplace thanks to platforms like Twitter and Facebook and those ideas, claims, and opinions were heavily debated between events like the Presidential Election and the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Personally speaking, I do not like watching or listening to the news. I feel like each network has their own bias and I find it difficult to separate faction from fiction. The marketplace of ideas available to me on Twitter, however, helped me decide who to vote for in the 2020 Presidential Election. I saw and heard both positive and negative opinions, facts, and claims about both candidates and using that information as a starting point, I was able to determine what was true, what was false, and most importantly, I was able to form my own opinion with all the information in front of me.

Unfortunately, despite freedom of press and all the advancements we have made since Milton first delivered his speech, censorship is slowly but surely crawling back into the picture in a very noticeable and concerning way. Over the past few months we have witnessed the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, lose access to his Twitter account, Facebook deleting accounts without reason, and perhaps most alarmingly, the removal of the social media app Parler from both the App Store and the Google Play store. 

According to a New York Times article from January 9, 2021, Parler claimed itself as a "free speech" alternative to other social media applications such as Twitter and Facebook who were removing accounts and posts that they deemed to have incited violence or spread misinformation. In a few short months, Parler was one of the fastest-growing apps in the entire United States. On the same day that they were the number one app in the App Store, they were dropped by Amazon and their web-hosting service, putting Parler in jeopardy in the blink of an eye. The CEO of Parler, John Matze, was understandably outraged by this saying that it was a "coordinated effort" by tech giants in their attempts to "completely remove free speech of the internet."

Failure to properly vet their users and to remove content that was deemed to be incitement were the main reasons citied by Amazon, the App Store, and the Google Play Store for dismantling the application. The problem with that is there were nearly three million users on the application with around 1.5 million daily users. Realistically and statistically speaking, there is no way that all three million users were making threats and violent statements so why should they be denied their platform to freely speak their mind?

It has been an interesting few months to say the least as censorship begins to impact our daily lives and our access to a marketplace of ideas that Milton so passionately defended and fought for.

Blog #4 - Antiwar Voices

There have been many wars throughout the history of the United States and although all these wars were fought for different reasons and in different places, there is one common denominator: War can not be won without support from the citizens. Whether that be people volunteering to enlist or a large amount of money being spent, the government needs the support of their citizens when entering and fighting in a war. Over time we have learned that the United States is not fond of people who speak out against war as they try to punish and silence antiwar figures, voices and movements.

Websites like Antiwar.com and American Conservative have many well-written articles and opinion pieces but their reach and influence is limited to the traffic they get on their websites since there are no opportunities for them to get their message out through the mainstream media despite their coverage of important topics and concerns. These websites also cover the politics involved in war and what is happening in other countries.

To get a feel for the type on content on these websites, I took a look at an article from Doug Bandow titled "President Joe Biden Has a Moral Obligation To Bring America's Troops Home from Afghanistan" from Antiwar.com. In Bandow's story he writes that "Since Washington is entrusted with their welfare, its international policies should begin with their protection and not put them at risk as individuals for reasons other than ensuring their security as part of their larger political community." What Bandow means by this is that the troops have been in Afghanistan for much longer than they need to be with Bandow claiming that the only reason they are still there is to essentially assert their dominance.

In 1644, John Milton stressed the importance of a "marketplace of ideas" meaning a world in which ideas are shared freely and publicly, right or wrong, true or false. Ultimately, with all these ideas out there, the truth prevails and is even stronger because of it. In my opinion, the silencing of these antiwar voices, as well as the failure to give them a large platform, is disrupting the marketplace of ideas.

Blog #3 - 6 Clauses of Freedom

The first amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise therefore; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." From this, we get our six clauses of freedom: from religion, of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. Saying this, the first amendment does not allow people to get away with everything they say and there are three bedrock principles in place to govern this. They are that the first amendment is not absolute, it is not a shield against laws of general applicability, and that freedom of the press is a "fundamental personal right," not an institutional one.

The first amendment condones expressive action/conduct which is a nonverbal way of getting a message across. That includes peaceful protests, the burning of the American flag, and other statements like parades and marches. On the contrary, the first amendment does not condone speech that makes threats, hints at violence, or urges people to take action in a violent way; This is known as incitement. In order for speech to be considered incitement it must be proven that the speech causes imminent lawless action and that the lawless action is likely to occur.

On January 6, 2021, President Donald Trump called on his supporters during a "March to Save America" rally to go the U.S. Capitol building and to voice their displeasure and anger amid what he claimed to be a stolen election. While this march from Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol was mostly peaceful, there were still hundreds of Trump supporters who broke into the Capitol building, forcing several important members of our government to be evacuated, several injuries, stolen items from the building, vandalizing, and arrests shortly followed.

As a result, Trump faced impeachment, accused of encouraging the riot and incitement. The problem is that incitement is one of the most difficult things to prove. That is why, guilty or not, Trump has been acquitted from impeachment twice. There was nothing Trump said that could be proven to have caused the storming of the Capitol building. In fact, in his speech, Trump said that his supporters should march to the Capitol building "peacefully and patriotically." In a New York Post article from early February which summarizes a 14-page response to the impeachment, Trump's lawyers write that, "Like all Americans, the 45th President is protected by the first amendment. Indeed, he believes, and therefore avers, that the United States is unique on Earth in that its governing documents, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, specifically and intentionally protect unpopular speech from government retaliation".