Question 1
The first amendment of the United States constitution states; “Congress shall not make any law respecting an establishment of prohibiting the free exercise or religion thereof; or abridging the freedom of the press or speech; or the right of the people to assemble peaceably, and petition the Government for a redress of grievances”. This amendment gives freedom of speech in cyberspace to every citizen.
However, there are some states that have implemented laws that are specifically meant for the internet. There are those that prohibit filling of prescriptions over the internet and those that prevent auto manufacturers from selling their cars to consumers directly over the internet. The progressive policy institute claims that these types of laws are costing consumers approximately 15 billion dollars every year. Implementing such laws is necessary especially when it comes to filling prescriptions online.
Many people are replacing their trips to the local drugstores with just a click on the internet where thousands of websites are selling prescription drugs and other health related products. Most of these websites are lawful ventures that offer genuine and convenient procedures to the consumers. However, there are those that are using the internet as a channel for selling products that are already illegal in the offline world (John, 2011).
These kinds of websites sell products that are unapproved, and when they happen to sell the legal products, they often bypass the legal procedures that are put in place to protect the consumer. Most websites only require the consumer to fill out a questionnaire before their prescriptions are filled. This means that the customer will have no interaction with a health professional (John, 2011).
Consumers should also be aware when it comes to buying cars directly over the internet. The websites offer no opportunities of having a test drive. It may also be difficult to find the right information regarding the car you want to purchase as it may be excluded from the website.
The constitution might have given every United States citizen the freedom to Cyberspace speech, but it’s also the government’s responsibility to make sure its people are safe from any harm that might occur to them over the internet hence the decision of some states to come up with such laws.
Question 2
Taking into consideration the United States constitution, posting of the satellite orbit on the websites should not be illegal. However, intelligence officers are arguing that posting such information on the web can enable terrorists and other enemies to hide their activities. The fact that the satellites do exist is not a secret. However, the rate at which they orbit makes it extremely hard for the terrorists to hide the activities. Some people argue that the terrorists may not be able to hide the activities from the satellites as they may not have the resources to do so. However, posting such information on the web is advantageous as it allows any interests person to have access to the information any time.
Question 3
When installing a disk in a computer, you can choose to select between the two partitioning schemes: the globally unique identifier partition table or the Master boot record based partitioning scheme. Partitioning a disk is important as it helps separate the operating system files from data and end user files. It also helps place applications and data files in the same location.
A GUID partition table (GPT) based partitioning scheme contains an array of partitioning entries that describe the start and end LBA of each partition. Every partition contains a unique identifier and a partition content type. The GPT based partition is specified by the Unified Extensible Firmware interface (UEFI). The 32-bit and 64-bit windows operating systems support this type of partitioning.
A master boot record based partition consists of a partition table for the disk as well as a small executable code known as the master boot code. A bootable hard disk that has an MBR partition is referred to as an MBR disk. He MBR is created when the disk is portioned and is on the first sector of the hard disk. It contains an entry table that describes the size and location of a partition.
The GUID partition table based partitioning scheme is more preferable. This is because as the operating systems are evolving, hard disks are also becoming larger. The intrinsic restrictions of an MBR partitioned disk make it impossible for the large disks to be partitioned using the MBR scheme. The GUID partition table was developed specifically due to the advances of the hard disks.
Question 4
When supplying device drivers to any organization, one is bound to experience some issues. Device drivers are programs that allow any software to interact with a hardware device. They act as a link between the hardware and the operating system. Mot operating systems come with the device drivers embedded in them while the hardware manufacturers usually provide the device drivers.
However, when this is not the case, one is required to supply the device driver personally. Issues that may arise when supplying include:
- It becomes hard to verify the type of drier needed especially if the computer has had inconsistent crashes over a long time making it hard to know the real cause of a crash.
- The drivers that are expected to work properly together with the hardware can in some cases go wrong.
REFERENCES
Emdadblog. (2010). Differences between Master Boot Record (MBR) and Globally Unique
Identifier (GUID) Partition Table. Retrieved Oct 23rd, 2013, from http://emdadblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/deferences-between-master-boot-record.html
John. H. (2011). Buying Drugs Online: It's Convenient and Private, but Beware of 'Rogue Sites'.
Retrieved Oct 23rd, 2013, from http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/EmergencyPreparedness/BioterrorismandDrugPreparedness/ucm17269.htm
