Destiny OBrien

Professor Richards
Information Literacy
9/17/2014
1

The Cloud is Taking Away Cellphone Privacy
Technologically Current Event
The first article I read, found on zdnet.com, discussed the current topic of U2s music
being automatically downloaded onto every Apple iPhones iTunes account and about the
celebrity photos that were also leaked off the cloud. I chose this article because it shows how as
smartphones become more advanced, people are losing their privacy rights. If the Apple
Company can put unwanted music onto a personal cellphone, then that means they can access the
rest of your personal information. For example, they could access your pictures, emails, app
purchases, and other information that most people would want to keep to themselves. Apple was
able to upload the music through The Cloud. The Cloud is a system that Apple uses in order to
be able to give the cellphone user a way of uploading all of their information, just in case
something happened to their phone, they would be able to keep all of their personal pictures,
songs, apps, and whatever else was on their phone and be able to transfer it to a new device. That
is how celebrities claim that their pictures became exposed to the public. Also, the Cloud is
useful for when someone owns more than one Apple device, such as a cellphone and an iPad,
they would be able to use the cloud to download everything onto both devices. James
Grimmelmann, a professor of law at the University of Maryland, said that when Apple put U2s
music onto the phones, it shattered the illusion that iPhones function on their own. It reminded
everyone that the Cloud system is run by someone behind a computer screen, and that person has
access to everything on a personal cellphone.
Destiny OBrien
Professor Richards
Information Literacy
9/17/2014
2

Two Additional Internet Articles
The second article I found, on techcrunch.com, talked about how a user cannot
completely remove the music from their iTunes account. The music can be hidden from their
personal phone so it will not be in their playlist, but the album will always remain in the users
purchased list on the Cloud. When I typed iCloud Privacy into Google, the third article I found
was a website that led me to a news article about the topic of the celebrity photos. The article
discusses the fact that information on the cloud is not necessarily safe. It also continues to talk
about how the new iPhone 6 has plans to install a chip into the device that will allow it to
become a mobile wallet. The issue that consumers have with this is that if something like
pictures and music can be accessed, then that means that their personal banking information can
also be accessed. No one is going to want to have this type of technology if it is so easy for
hackers to be able to gain access to it. Apple however, says that there isnt anything to worry
about and that the system is encrypted with the same security level that banks and federal
agencies use. Apple claims that the celebrities were targeted, and that it took a lot of effort for
the hackers to be able to access the photos. The second search engine I used let me to a better
website. The second website went into more detail, and did a better job of explaining what the
cloud, and hackers, are fully capable of doing. It also gave tips, like using multiple security
codes, for people that are concerned with their phones being hacked into to.
TRAAP My Source
Destiny OBrien
Professor Richards
Information Literacy
9/17/2014
3

The article I decided to TRAAP was my third article. This article was written for the San
Jose Mercury News website, on September 2, 2014. The article related very much to my topic in
discussing the breach in the iClouds system. The article discussed how hackers spent time
attacking usernames, passwords, security questions, and other personal information to be able to
hack into the accounts. The author of this article, Jeremy Owens, is a staff writer for the San Jose
Mercury newspaper. The fact that he is a journalist gives him the credibility for me to trust what
he is talking about in his article. The information is accurate because this article relates to, and
discusses, some of the same topics and key points that the others articles I have read on this
topic. To me, that shows that the information is trustworthy and that the author isnt making the
story up, or adding false information. This article was written in order to inform users about the
breach in the security and to give them tips to prevent it from happening to their accounts, but it
was also written for entertainment, the article contains a lot of comments made my celebrities
about the topic that made the article seem less professional.
Scholarly Journals
The first Scholarly journal I found, I found through the ProQuest database. I decided to
use this database because it was the first time I had used the option to switch databases and was
not sure where to start. However, after reading through the article, it had been very useful in
giving me the proper information. The key terms throughout the article were Spyware, iCloud,
and privacy concerns. Spyware is a software that installs itself onto a users device without the
Destiny OBrien
Professor Richards
Information Literacy
9/17/2014
4

users permission. It runs in the background of the device, causing it to go slow until it creates a
virus, and causes the device to crash.
The second journal I found, I found through the Academic Searcher Premier database. I
used this data base because it is called the Academic searcher, so I anticipated that the articles
would be aimed more towards students, rather than professors or professionals. The key words I
used for this search were iCloud Privacy, hacking, and Smartphone security. I used the
terms hoping that I would find different information on the topic. The article I found, however
only discussed the celebrity photo leak scandal. Showing how easy it is to hack into someones
personal device if given the right information.
Compare the Two Articles
I believe that it is a lot easier to use a search engine rather than using a database. A search
engine gives websites that are written in a way that is easier to understand, and to also give
entertainment. A downside to this, however, is that the information is not always credible and it
is hard to figure out of the author was just making the story up. The databases give very factual
information, written by people that are experts on the topic. That makes the information accurate
and credible, but it is difficult to understand some of the topics written because they are written
by scientists, or doctors, or other professionals, and the articles were written as if other experts
would be reading it, rather than students. Also, the search engine articles are much more recent. I
could go on Google and find information about the iCloud breach that was written a week ago,
Destiny OBrien
Professor Richards
Information Literacy
9/17/2014
5

whereas on the database the articles are a little more dated because they need time to be checked
over.


Destiny OBrien
Professor Richards
Information Literacy
9/17/2014
6

MLA Works Cited
Kedmey, Dan. "Hackers Leak Explicit Photos Of More Than 100 Celebrities." Time.Com
(2014): 1. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.
Kesan, Jay P., Carol M. Hayes, and Masooda N. Bashir. "Information Privacy and Data Control
in Cloud Computing: Consumers, Privacy Preferences, and Market
Efficiency." Washington and Lee Law Review 70.1 (2013): 341-472.ProQuest. Web. 19
Sep. 2014.
Owens, Jeremy. Apple denies iCloud breached, but celebrity nude photo hack exposes privacy
vulnerabilities. San Jose Mercury News. Web. 19 Sep. 2014.
Phneah, Ellyne. 5 Things to Note About iCloud Security. ZDNet.com. 11 Nov. 2011. Web. 19
Sep. 2014.
Luden, Ingrid. Tim Cook Holds Firm onto iMessage Security. Its Encrypted and We Dont
Have a Key. Techcrunch.com. 15 Sep. 2014. Web. 19 Sep. 2014.