EOTO: The History of Youtube

YouTube is a social platform designed to allow users to share their own videos while also having the ability to stream others. Given these circumstances, some creators profit from posting on the platform and have risen to fame. Some become millionaires and even billionaires just by consistently uploading content. But how did it get started? Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim were all employed by the e-commerce company PayPal when they came up with the idea to create the world's first online video-sharing platform. The platform was officially launched on December 15th, 2005, in San Bruno, California.

 The three founders had no idea what was coming their way and the impact they would have that changed the world. It is said that the three would meet in Hurley's garage to discuss this new product, which initially was supposed to be a dating website where individuals could share links to videos, but after a week, no one had uploaded a thing. After no activity, the founders had the thought to just make it a generalized video-sharing website that anyone could use. On April 23rd, the first video was uploaded to YouTube by Jawed Karim titled "Me at the Zoo" The video was 18 seconds long and was Karim was describing an elephant's trunk to viewers. As of today, the video has 325 million views and over 10 million comments. 

First YouTube video

In September of 2005, Sequoia Capital, an investment company specializing in early stages and growth in private companies, invested 3.5 million dollars into YouTube. It is stated that Sequoia invested somewhere around 12 million dollars into the company within the first year. The funding from Sequoia's investments led to the three getting an office in Silicon Valley, a global center for technological innovation until their company grew to twelve people. They out grew the Silicon Valley office and moved to San Mateo. They described the office as disgusting and rat-infested but all that mattered was that they were together. Yu Pan even told Business Insider "We had shots before every software push" The team was unbreakable and they enjoyed their work together. They even worked together while they were sick. 

Sequoia on youtube

As the platform kept growing, the company struggled to expand the software and keep up. Legal issues were starting to arise, Music producers were demanding money for copyright, which was extremely dangerous for the company. More moral problems came when the company was made aware that children were streaming inappropriate content. Employees had to spend more time taking down videos and use their own judgment to decide what was okay and what was not. This led to policies being created to have a foundation of rules for users. 

The company was growing past its volume and threats of taking legal action were being made, the company was going to have to come up with payment plans to make everyone happy and ensure that what they were doing was legal. But the problem was that the company had no money, it was time to sell the company. On October 9th, 2006, Google outbid Yahoo and purchased YouTube for 1.65 Billion, a couple of months later in May of 2007, the partner program was launched. The YouTube Partner Program is an opportunity for creators to make a profit from advertisements, channel memberships, and YouTube shopping. Today, YouTube is still one of the most used platforms in the world, It is people's careers, and has shaped many of us into the people we are today.

Blog Post #3 8 theories of speech

 All of the theories of speech are so important to our First Amendment rights, they uphold our values and protect free expression. They analyze how free speech is essential for a successful democracy and clears the way for Americans to participate in our civil duties of holding our government responsible. Not only does free speech keep our government stable it also keeps society sane, it allows us to find ourselves.  

1. Marketplace of ideas (Discovery of truth): John Milton's idea that truth will prevail when it can compete with falsehoods is still highly spoken about today. The media is bigger today than it ever has been, that said there is more false information than ever as well. Milton's idea is that when you let the people speak freely the truth will always come out on top. In the past this has not been the case, Misinformation and false news have spread like wildfires regarding politics, celebrities, and just about anything you can think of. This theory has been studied for years and a new topic circulating is Ai. The question is could Ai be the discovery of truth? Some researchers say no,  AI is not capable of doing this based on flaws and possible misinformation simply due to the information environment. I believe that there will truly always be false information spread but it is up to the viewer to find reliable and unbiased sources.

2. Participation in Self-Government: Alexander Meiklejohn was an American philosopher who studied the relationship between free speech and self-government. This is such an important factor in a democracy and is a major key part in keeping it running the way it is. While reading Meiklejohn's theory it's evident that he wants us Americans to understand our government and constitution. He expresses how important it is to protect the freedom of speech to ensure Americans can truly have an understanding of what our politicians hold as their values and beliefs so that we can make decisions for ourselves. I find this to be so important in today's politics as debates get far more heated than in the past. The freedom of speech is so important but we must also protect one's intentions by not manipulating one's speech and making it something it is not. 

3. Stable Change (Safety Value): Venting is something that we all do as humans, it's a natural expression in response to stress, frustration, or concern. Benedict Spinoza's thought process is that if we let people express themselves freely that this will prevent them from acting out in violence. While some Americans still do act out in violence, I fully believe that this has worked to provide people an outlet to state their ideas and feelings peacefully without disruption or violence whether this be peaceful protest, discussion, or on social media. I find this theory to be something that all Americans can resonate with.

 

4. Individual Self-Fulfillment (Self-Actualization): Baker's theory really speaks to me, his idea is that the primary justification for free speech is for one to be capable of finding themselves, I also feel like this relates to Participation in self-government. I think that a lot of the time us Americans want to complain about our government as we rightfully should but, we also forget how incredibly lucky we are to live in a country that allows us to criticize, voice our thoughts, and even speak. There are countries where you will be killed for doing so. This is not just a political tool it's so that every American can be who they want to be and discover their identity. 

5. Check on governmental power: Vince Blasi's idea is that free speech serves as a check on our government. This is definitely one of America's favorite things to do when it comes to free speech. We must hold the government accountable to prevent/stop corruption and abuse. If the government does abuse their power some possible outcomes will be judicial review, legislation changes, or impeachment. So next time you hear someone calling out the government you can think of Vince Blasi. 

Click here for a list of officials that have been impeached 

6. Promote tolerance: Lee Bollinger's theory of the tolerant society reminds me a lot of what my mom has taught me in life. Growing up I can remember my mom saying "I'm not going to raise my kids to think the world is rainbows and sunshine" Bollinger's idea is that when we let people express themselves even in a hateful manner we take that as a lesson and become tolerable to different aspects of society. If you have ever heard the saying "ignorance is bliss" this theory probably sounds very familiar. Witnessing someone else's actions and manners can be an eye-opener and a great reminder of who we don't want to be. 

7. Promote innovation: Like Baker's theory of Self-fulfillment, Jack Balkin says that when we value free expression, it gives us the confidence to create, be ourselves, and pursue careers that not only impact ourselves but the whole world. Today, we have social media to share our thoughts and ideas with a select few friends or just anyone that comes across our posts. Social media has had an insane impact on businesses, small or large, entrepreneurs, and outlets for new ideas. We live in a society where new innovations are celebrated and acknowledged. 

8. Protect Dissent: Finally, we have Steve Shiffrin's idea that the First Amendment protects minority views. Like checking on the government, it is our responsibility to protect our democracy from abuse. It is our right as Americans to alter any government that becomes destructive. Dissentive is not always what we see ourselves doing but we need it to keep a healthy and balanced government. Forms of dissent can be peaceful protests or speaking out on social media. We must continue to protect our freedom of speech because it will continue to protect us as long as we use it correctly. 

Blog Post #2: Reflection on Supreme Court

Reflecting on the position of the U.S. Supreme Court has given me a better understanding of how it molds our countries legal process and policies. After watching the videos, one very important thing I learned is that before the case Marbury v. Madison (1803), There was no such thing as Judicial Review. The case gave the Supreme Court power to review other branches of government, ensuring that laws and actions abide by the Constitution. I truly never understood the importance that this case had on the country.

The most important thing I learned is how much of a pivotal role the Supreme Court plays in balancing power among the branches of our government. The Supreme Court doesn't only clarify the law, it's the decision-maker on what laws passed by Congress or actions taken by the President are constitutional. The court is responsible for ensuring that any change made in society is mirrored in how laws are interpreted and protecting individual rights. The Supreme Court is necessary to keep our branches in check and limit one another from using too much power.  

What surprised me the most was the Alien and Sedition Acts. I have heard of this act, but I've never done any research or learned about what it really was until now. The Alien and Sedition Act was passed in 1798 and was made to make it harder for immigrants to become citizens and made it illegal to criticize the government. I wasn't aware that these laws were implemented to limit the rights of immigrants and make it very easy for them to become criminals. You always hear that the government was created on a foundation of freedom for all but this just adds to the list of flaws the early government had. I believe this is entirely unconstitutional regardless if the people involved were American citizens or not. It shows you how the government was willing to risk freedoms for national security. 

Before watching the video, I saw the Supreme Court as just any federal institution that made decisions based on the law. While that's not completely wrong, I now understand that the Supreme Court is much more involved and more contentious in shaping society. I also learned that the Court doesn't just observe the laws, but is also important in deciding how laws should be interpreted and applied. it also calls attention to how personal philosophies of the justice system can influence decisions, even though they're supposed to be unbiased. 

I also didn't fully understand the stare decisis, which means to "stand by things decided." In other words, it is the principle of following past decisions when making new rulings. I always just assumed that each decision was made in separation and based on the circumstances. But now I know how important it is for the court to follow past judgments to maintain solidity in the legal system. However, this is not always true, especially when there are changes in society and laws need to be updated. Another interesting fact is the Supreme Court only takes about 100 cases per year. Overall, I believe The Supreme Court plays a crucial role in America, and we would not be where we are today if it wasn't for judicial review and checks and balances. 

Supreme Court Updates

Blog #1: Top Five News Sources

#1. FOX8 WGHP

The local news for Winston Salem, Greensboro, and High Point. I have watched FOX8 as far back as I can remember from sitting in front of the tv waiting for school to be closed to checking the weather. In 2015, Meteorologist Van Denton was voted America's Favorite Weather caster out of 600 other meteorologists! Not only do they cover weather, they also cover crime, small businesses, and support multiple charities. This is a very reliable source when it comes to weather and local/state news.

Click here to view FOX8

 

 #2. The-Dispatch

 Another local news channel but smaller, This page covers

Davidson County news. They report school board news, 

small businesses, crime, obituaries, and local sports. These are relevant to me because I live in Davidson County, and my parents also own a small business in Lexington, which has been mentioned on. the-dispatch twice. Articles can be found on Facebook, Twitter, their online page, or on paper.  

I do not find that this source would be reliable when it comes to the federal level due to them being a very small focused group. 

the-dispatch

#3. TikTok

One of the world's most popular apps, TikTok is where you can get information about anything from reciepts to your favorite celebrity drama. I spend a lot of time on this app. Like most Americans, I fall down a rabbit hole and become a victim of believing a lot of things I see and hear, and I have to remind myself that this is not a reliable source. This app has a specific algorithm for each viewer, so what you see is what the app believes is in your interest. 

    #4. My Uncle

Not everyone can say they have a family member in the intelligence community, but for me, my uncle works at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). He is not allowed to tell the majority of his information however, he is very educated and reliable he also was in the Air Force. Anytime I have a question about politics or the federal government, I go to him! This organization he works for operates the reconnaissance satellites and was established in 1960. 

NRO

#5. Professors

Being a Criminal Justice major, a lot of my classes include statistics and discussions about laws. I trust my Professors to provide me with reliable sources and information on the government, crime, and laws. So far, I have been provided with resources that come straight from the federal bureau of justice statistics like (NIBRS) National Incident Based Reporting and the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR).