...eBay...

So, I realize that I am quite a few days behind in my blogging, 2 days behind to be exact, so I will use this little study break to play a little catch up. Last Thursday in class, we went over eCommerce. This chapter seemed significantly easier to get through than the other 2, and we did a few fun little activities such as comparing US eBay against Hong Kong eBay and how to visit websites using their IP addresses. I find it quite interesting that planning ahead for the popularity of the internet did not seem to be a factor in the creating period. I find it sort of amusing that because IPv4 seem to be running out, that these already existing addresses need to be converted over to IPv6 addresses.

The second topic that piqued my interest in this section was the introduction of "network sniffers". I knew that evil people were capable of stealing other's credit card numbers online, but I really had no clue how they went about it. Makes it seem all that much more important to know which websites can be trusted and are secure, and which websites should not be trusted as far as you can throw them, look for https(security) and a little gold lock in the bottom corner. This was a practical application that everyone should know before offering their information willingly to strangers. Luckily for me, even with all of the ordering I have done off of websites, some big name ones such as Best Buy and Walmart, I have also ordered off smaller less well-known ones, and I will definitely need to be more careful from now on, because identity theft or stolen credit card numbers does not make for a fun time apparently, or so I've heard.