Vassar Technology Today | Computo Ergo Sum: A Cartesian meditation

Matthew Leung Columnist

I had been using computers for several years when I realized that many things I had accepted about them, even the ones from my youth, were false. Hence, I found it necessary to start again at the foundation, to free myself from the common-sense assumptions about computers and distinguish the facts from the myths. To reach this end, I had to doubt everything I had been confident about as a computer user.

To start my skeptical inquiry, I brought in a little paranoia. I suspected that professors could know the dates and times that students access ed their homework readings from Blackboard. If that were the case, then professors could know when their classes were about to start by looking at the access data. Without fail, this turned out to be true. Blackboard can generate graphs and extensive reports about when students access files. On the other hand, this is such a little-known feature that it is probably not used often.

I then turned my paranoia to the Internet in general. I suspected that CIS monitors my unique Internet activities and keeps a record of them. With some assurance, it turns out this time that CIS does not keep a record of the Web sites I visit, nor the videos I watch. Nonetheless, while surfing online I do leave unique footprints. Only CIS can link the footprints to my name, but CIS only does so in rare instances, such as when it receives a subpoena and is forced to do so.

Turning and looking out my window, I saw people swiping with their cards to get into buildings. It seemed to make sense, then, that there would be a complete record of the dates and times when people swipe into buildings. With a call to the Card Office, I confirmed my suspicion as I found out the dates, times and locations that my card was swiped to access buildings.

Next to my phone line, I saw my Ethernet line. Based on appearances, I decided that the wired and the wireless networks must be two separate entities that have no necessary connections to each other. This turned out to be a misconception or rumor. The two connections are actually parts of the greater Vassar network that have different properties and structure. In other words, the two connections share the same bandwidth to connect to the outside Internet whether I use a wired or wireless connection.

Once on the Internet, I realized that there is some kind of limit as to how fast I can surf on it. I then suspected that professors and administrators must be given more bandwidth to surf the Internet faster. For the most part, this is actually not true. Everyone is given the same opportunity to fight for bandwidth. However, the bandwidth’s traffic is regulated in such a way that academic usage will probably get priority. For example, traffic for online gaming and peer-to-peer applications probably have less priority than regular Web site traffic.

To try to do some “academic” work, I went to Google. I suspected that Google’s coverage of the Web is a lot smaller than it seems and that in fact it covered very little. My suspicion was later confirmed by statistics. Google claims to index more than eight billion pages, while Yahoo, for example, had claimed that it indexed more than 19 billion pages. These numbers are scanty when compared to the fact that more than 550 billion pages on the web are not indexed by any search engine. One explanation is that in order for a search engine to index a site, it must fit some relatively strict criteria. For example, the page must be popular—a number of sites must link to it.

In keeping with the paranoia with which I had begun I tried to wipe the trail of my activities, deleting my browser history and cookies. I even made sure my recycle bin was empty. But could I really trust my recycle bin? My suspicions were confirmed when I ran a data-recovery application on my laptop and saw that all the files I had recently deleted were still intact. Operating systems don’t bother with deleting data because it’s time-consuming; they just mark that the “deleted” data is not supposed to be present. On Macs, I need to select “secure empty trash” to overwrite the unwanted data. To do this on Windows, I need to download additional software, such as the application “Sure Delete” (wizard-industries.com). Data need to be overwritten at least seven times for them to be unrecoverable through ordinary means.

Somehow, as a result of my skepticism I managed to stumble upon some grounds of certainty about computers. Since “facts” are no deceivers, it necessarily follows that I had saved myself from skepticism. But because our habits frequently oblige us to come to conclusions before we have the leisure for examination, it must be confessed that life on the computer is frequently obnoxious to error. However, if you must doubt the certainty of “facts,” then you are doomed to solipsistic skepticism.

Matthew Leung ’09 is a junior Philosophy and Chinese major. This semester he’s writing on all things technological.