New media technologies are changing the ways that we not only go about our day-to-day lives, but also the ways that we sell and exchange our labor within the capitalist economy. These technologies are shaping how we represent and perceive ourselves and others, as well as the ways in which, as we move about the world, our images are taken and circulated with neither our explicit permission, nor sometimes our knowledge (Dovey, 2000; Toffoletti, 2007). Despite the fact that we can no longer viably opt out of visual or technological culture, there remains a strong rhetoric of personal responsibility when such images are used in ways that are unexpected and sometimes extremely damaging (C. Hall, 2015). The growth in incidences of what Clare McGlynn (2017) calls “image-based sexual violence” cannot be divorced from the economic and cultural shifts that are both challenging and reifying dominant power relations in the early 21st century. This doctoral thesis examines the economic and social discourses underpinning news reporting on sexual privacy violations in relation to new media technologies and shifting forms of female celebrity. Using empirical methods to collect and sort U.S. and Canadian news articles at a macro level as well as discourse analysis of news reporting at the micro level, I focus on two particular sites wherein new media celebrity, sexual violence/violation, and political economies converge: the celebrity sex tape scandal and the stolen celebrity nude photo. I examine sexuality and privacy violation in an exemplary economic context, looking at how the “leaked” sex tape or image functions in the gendered sexual economy to undermine claims to meritocratic capitalist success. I focus on two moments of crisis: firstly, the pop culture crisis of 2007-2008, coinciding with the global economic recession as well as the growth in new media technology and social media usage, wherein several high-profile female celebrities undergo dramatic and very public “breakdowns” in proper femininity, ranging from the fairly banal “scandal” surrounding a then-15-year-old Miley Cyrus posing semi-nude for Vanity Fair to the more severe and illegal acts of Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton (both of whom were arrested for driving under the influence across this time period). Secondly, I examine the moment of crisis signaled by the 2014 iCloud hacking incident wherein hundreds of female celebrities’ personal private nude photos were stolen and circulated online. I analyze the sex “scandals” that are both discursively constructed by, and circulating through, the news at these moments. The findings point to several notable trends in the contemporary political climate. Firstly, they illuminate the tensions and contradictions in the media’s attempt to reconcile post-feminist sexual “empowerment” narratives with the broader imperatives of neoliberalism, surveillance, and self-commodification. Secondly, this thesis provides a timely analysis of the gendered pathways to success and the gatekeeping that is conducted both within and by the (news) media, which are themselves invested in narratives of meritocracy. Finally, the cynical, meta-commentary circulating in the news reporting on celebrity content – reporting that is increasingly beholden to corporate interests – contributes to the broader erosion of trust in mainstream media. In today’s media environment in particular, studies of heirs-turned-reality stars such as Paris Hilton (whose trajectory is eerily similar to that of U.S. President Donald Trump), are particularly urgent, as are studies that connect the seemingly disparate yet increasingly converging fields of celebrity, journalism, feminism (and sexual violence), and neoliberalism.

Date: 05 June 2017 Level: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration, 15 ECTS Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors: Meier, Philip Soltani, Nazila Khodabandeloo (88/03/11) (93/07/05) Title: Understanding and Predicting Students’ Intention to Pay for Private Cloud Storage Services Tutour: Konstantin Lampou Keywords: cloud storage service, iCloud, technology acceptance model, information systems, user acceptance, intention to pay Research Question: What are students’ intention to pay for private cloud storage services and why? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ intention to pay for private cloud storage services, in order to find out how willing they are to pay for such services and for what reasons. Method: This study takes a qualitative approach, where both primary and secondary data are collected. Secondary data was collected through i.e. empirical studies and annual publications. Primary empirical data was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 21 students of Mälardalen University. The primary empirical data was analysed using a thematic analysis. Conclusion: Conducting this study showed, that most of the factors’ influences on students’ intention to pay for private cloud storages were positive, resulting in an overall high willingness to pay. The perceived monetary sacrifice was regarded as very low, hence not preventing potential customers from paying for the services. Considerable issues were however found in the perceived quality, more precisely in the perceived reliability and the lack of trust expressed in private cloud services. Finally, unused potential for private cloud service providers to positively influence students’ attitudes was found both in the perceived usefulness and subjective norm factors.

The goal of this thesis is to design and implement a library for data synchronization between multiple client's devices in the context of the ecosystem of a single application targeting the iOS, iPadOS or MacOS operating system. The work focuses on the simple integration of the library into existing applications using the Realm database system and on the simple way to connect the user interface with the synchronization process. I solved the chosen problem by designing a synchronization protocol primarily based on log synchronization to distribute changes between the client and the server, implementing a library to monitor changes in the client's database and distribute them to the server, and implementing a server library to integrate received changes and distribute them with help of notifications. The solution provides an easy way to implement data synchronization between multiple devices using custom database server and with the ability to define how to handle new changes of objects presented in the user interface during the synchronization. Created library can be quickly and easily integrated and thus effectively speed up the application development process.

The goal of this diploma thesis is to design and implement a mobile application for home security system on the iOS platform. The application introduces a complex solution allowing the transmission of the audio and video streams between the paired mobile devices using WebRTC. The final module represents universal solution for peer-to-peer audio and video communication. The thesis also deals with the field of computer vision, namely efficient motion detection algorithms. The module for motion detection implements ViBe algorithm using Metal. In case that the motion is detected the application notifies a user with a push notification. Synchronization of application data is implemented using Cloudkit and the data persistance using Realm library.

This thesis describes existing cloud storage systems. Description of the prerequisites of developing cloud and distributed systems are presented. Current storage systems such as Dropbox, iCloud and Google drive are described. Description is mainly focused on the resources of both protocols and derive a conclusion for the use in the cloud storage systems. The practical part of this work is focused on creating two labs, what will be implemented in the teaching syllabus of Projecting, Administration and Security of Computer Networks subject. The first of the labs is focused on the implementation of own cloud services. In the last lab students attention will concentrate on interception of communication secured with SSL protocol.

Práca sa zaoberá problematikou kontroly a blokovania externých zariadení v operačnom systéme Apple macOS za účelom ochrany pred únikom citlivých dát. Implementované riešenie ukazuje zvolené prístupy pre blokovanie externých a cloudových diskov. Pre blokovanie USB diskov bol použitý DiskAbitration framework, čo je najvodnejšie riešenie tohto typu úlohy. Avšak cloudové disky sú v skutočnosti synchronizované zložky a úlohu nehrajú ovládače ani strom pripojených zariadení. Ku kontrole operácií v cloudových diskoch bol použitý Endpoint Security framework. Aktuálne podporovaní cloudový poskytovatelia sú iCloud a Dropbox a prístup k nim môže byť obmedzený úplne alebo iba na čítanie. Schopnosť synchronizácie vzdialenýh zmien bola zachovaná avšak v prípade Dropboxu si to žiada nepoužívať ich aplikáciu na správu súborov.