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=__iDrugs__=

__Description:__

 * iDrugs **, which are not drugs in the common sense like psychoactives, opioids, or hallucinogens are split into two classes by New Zealand’s NBCI (National Bureau of Criminal Intelligence), “iDrugs” and “iVirus,” although they have not officially been declared illegal yet. iDrugs are more commonly known by their slang name, “Lulu”, or “Looloo,” because their coding usually begins with the basic binary code of “1” followed by various zeroes, followed by another “1” which is again followed by zeroes, creating an image something like this; “100010000. “ The name "Lulu" was inspired by the Internet language "1337"(Leet) which turned the code into a word.

iDrugs are a new type of visual and sonic stimulant taken visually and through sound by clicking on links. These links are either bought from iDrug dealers who get their code from lulu code writers or it is sold by the original writer themself. Although a mostly unheard of phenomenon up to this point, several organizations are working to raise awareness of the drug which allows users to watch videos or listen to music in their head for a limited time without the aid of electronics. Lulu images and sounds usually operate in the brain for fifteen minutes to one hour.

Because the iDrug is new and still very unknown it is legal across the globe. It is rumored that organizations such as the DEA and CIA are trying to make certain types of iDrugs illegal. The way that iDrugs affect people have caught the attention of many scientists and corporations, as well as government organizations. This way of transporting information directly to the users brain has the potential to change education, medicine, and many commercial industries such as music and television.

__iDrugs and their Effects:__

 * iDrugs**, which are split into two classes by New Zealand’s NBCI (National Bureau of Criminal Intelligence) are divided based on their users willingness to take the drug. The two classes are “iDrug” and “iVirus.” They cost anywhere from thirty to sixty dollars and mostly have the same effects. When taken the user sees or hears whatever it was they downloaded from the program. To use the iDrugs the user simply has to click on a link that has the drugs. After selecting the link a series of vibrant images accompanied with garbled, undescribable noise is emitted from the computer. This combination of noise and image has the ability to put information straight from the web to the users brain. However, with the iVirus, the content seen and heard can be malicious. Often times those on the iVirus uncontrollably yell out what the programmer wanted them to yell. As you will see later, sudden yelling is one of the side effects of iDrugs. Finally, because iDrug use is a recent occurrence, it is yet to be seen if there are any long-term effects that come with the drug.


 * **iDrugs**: iDrugs are the first class. This class is characterized by the users willingness in taking the drug. The origins of I-Drugs are unclear but they are widely believed to be only a year old. They are bought on the web, often through twitter accounts that tweet the link of the iDrug after the money is transferred. Drug dealers bounce around the web and post the drugs in links on different site’s, often without the site’s owners realizing what is going on.
 * **Effects**: Sometimes while on the drug users get loopy and light headed. The main effects is that its’ users start to see videos, newspaper articles, or hear music in their head. This usually lasts for about an hour until it stops. The most drastic side effect is that sometimes users regurgitate their download verbatim. This can prove to be very embarrassing if this occurs in public. Sometimes users of lulu have flashbacks to song or videos they watched on the drug. This is particularly dangerous for anyone operating machinery because potentially his or her eyesight could be impaired.
 * **iVirus:** iViruses are iDrugs that are slipped to a person without their knowing. iViruses are downloaded when the user accidentally clicks on a download link that is hiding the iDrug. The effects are the same as the iDrug however usually the programmer hopes the iVirus will make the unsuspecting person shout out what is on the program. For instance, one the most common iVirus programs causes the user to shout out Twitter and Facebook statuses only to have no recollection of doing so later.
 * **Effects:** iViruses do not cause physical harm but they can cause psychological harm. People are often unaware of the drugs existence to begin, so when they start hearing or seeing things abnormal to their daily life it can be very disturbing to some. Also, sometimes the programmer’s try to embarrass the person by having them yell out inappropriate things**.**


 * Concerns:** While the iDrugs have been lauded by some as having capabilities of being revolutionary for education, medicine, and how we obtain information there is a great deal of fear surrounding the lulu applications. Anti-drug groups like D.A.R.E. have voiced concerning surrounding the potential of these drugs to spread around the world through the Internet.


 * iScams:** Scams for I-Drugs is growing to be quite a large industry. There is very little security for those who are trying to use lulu while buying and often times users either pay for nothing, or have their identities stolen by their drug dealers.

**iDrug Use:**
iDrug use is on the rise. Because of the medium through which it is purchased, it can be bought all over the globe by anyone with access to a computer and a money card. It is believed there are about 3000 iDrug users as of December, 2011.


 * Statistics:**


 * Users:**
 * 1) Male: 63%
 * 2) Female 26%
 * 3) Unknown: 11%


 * Ages:**
 * 1) 10-16: 13%
 * 2) 17- 25: 28%
 * 3) 26-35:18%
 * 4) 35-45: 20%
 * 5) 45-55:15%
 * 6) 56+: 6%

__**History:**__

 * Lulu**, which was first created in the countryside of New Zealand, is believed to be less than a year old. It got its’ first international notice after the famous “Squatters Arrest” in early July of 2011 New Zealand. Its’ code writers, who eluded police, have since influenced the wider sale of the drug on the World Wide Web. Sales have been traced to every continent across the world except Antarctica. However wide the market may be the sales are still relatively small.


 * **New Zealand Squatters**: The first code writers for lulu were squatting in a countryside house of New Zealand. New Zealand is a country known for having problems with squatters living in unoccupied country vacation homes. It is in this home that they created the iDrug program and began distributing it on the web for free. All of the original links expired a month after their post. It was not long after their posting online that the writers left the residence they were in. However, the original links were still traceable to the house and this led to the infamous arrest of the house’s true owners who, unbeknownst to them, had hosted the iDrug creators while they were at their home in Auckland. They were arrested on charges of using an iVirus on an unsuspecting computer owner. Two days after the arrest they were released.

__Dealers and Code Writers__

 * Dealers:** Dealers typically operate on twitter, changing accounts regularly and posting links to the drug on other sites. Once the user clicks the link once, the link is erased from their twitter page. Recently dealers have been posting links on craiglist.org causing the site to shut down temporarily for maintenance.


 * iDrug Code Writers:** It is known that the original code writers for Lulu created the drug while squatting in a house in the countryside of New Zealand. Although it is unclear who created the codes, it is clear that the number of writers has grown. Code writers can operate with a high level of security considering can sell a program to a drug dealer from a computer, or sell it themselves. One thing they all have in common is they set the code to expire at a certain date to make sure the dealers and users come back for more. On another, perhaps unrelated note, the level of undergrads starting computer engineering degrees in universities across the U.S.A. has raised greatly since the drug’s creation.


 * Ex-Code Writers:** Various ex-code writers that created the I-drugs have turned “straight” and started working for intelligence agencies and corporate companies. There is a lot of potential money to be made using the iDrug and it is believed that more writers will start working for high paying companies in the future.

__**Corporate Response:**__
iDrugs so far have been relatively cheap yet remarkably revolutionary. Their ability to project information from the web into the users mind has created a scurry among corporations to figure out how to write code for the iDrugs so they can be copyrighted.


 * 1) **The Electronics Industry:** The electronics industry in particular wants to harness the abilities of iDrugs. If people are able to pay to have songs and videos in their heads there will be less demand for electronic devices whose function is do this.
 * 2) **Pharmaceutical Industry:** There are controversies surrounding the involvement of a couple pharmaceutical companies and the pardoning of two iVirus creators who were on trial in Nebraska for assault. Activists claim that the pharmaceutical companies paid to have several code writers released from custody to work on creating legal drugs that the masses can take using their computer. The success of such drugs could make these companies a fortune.

**Conspiracy Theories:**

 * Government Web Control:** Conspiracy theorists claim that the United States government, along with other European leaders is conspiring to use the iDrugs as a motive to pass the controversial S.O.P.A. bill and other legislation aimed at tougher Internet control. People fear that this new set of drugs, especially the iViruses, will be exploited by governments and corporations wanting to control the internet to protect profits of such markets as the music and film industries.


 * Media Response:** So far there is much skepticism surrounding the iDrugs, the media, governments, and other corporations. For such a revolutionary way of transmitting information, and the dangers of iViruses, people have claimed the media should have said more about the drug. Many people claim that large corporations have paid off large media organizations to not talk about the iDrugs until the companies can copyright them before they become public knowledge.


 * Bush vs Kerry:** The hacking group Sideways claims that the Bush administration used iViruses to trick voters into believing they voted for Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election, but in reality marked bush’s name.


 * Kanye West Conspiracy:** A group of Kanye West fans on the web have been spreading literature saying that Kanye has repeatedly fallen victim to the iVirus drug. Once during a televised fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina, and once during the 2009 MTV Music Video awards ceremony.

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__**iDrug "Mockumentary" Script:**__
An alleged drug that is sweeping the world and the Internet threatens to change society forever. But could it change it for good or bad? People across the globe are taking iDrugs (more commonly known as Lulu after their binary codes made of ones and zeros) simply by turning on their computers. An anonymous source informs us that iDrugs are a threat to anyone online, and that consumption of this drug could drastically change the way we consume information. Widely believed to have been created by a group of computer programmers just under a year ago Lulu is a program that gives people the ability to download sounds and video from the Internet directly to their minds, allowing them to watch or listen to material without their computer. According to our source, Lulu usually lasts around an hour and is bought for thirty to sixty dollars from twitter accounts that then post the downloaded links. So, is it strawberry fields, or a digital disaster? There are in fact scary side effects to Lulu. The most common of which are uncontrollable shouting, in which users regurgitate their downloads verbatim, whether video content, Twitter or Facebook statuses, or even intentional messages left by the programmer.

These symptoms are directly associated with iVirus, which are iDrugs purposefully given to an unsuspecting user by the programmer. A user may contract an iVirus simply by clicking on a link they perceive to be a suitable download. This side of the iDrugs has inspired many theories about historical events, and calls into question those who may have fallen victim to iViruses in the past.

A hacker referred to as [|The Jester] claims that the Bush administration used iViruses to trick voters into believing they voted for Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election, but in reality marked bush’s name. Other claims of iVirus abuse are less significant, but still outlandish. Some people claim that Kanye West has repeatedly been drugged by the iVirus: once during a special on Hurricane Katrina, and once at the VMAs.

So why haven’t the masses heard of the iDrugs yet? With their possibility to enhance the way we listen to music, learn, or communicate, the media is being blamed for covering up the truth, while corporations wishing to earn copyrights to the idrugs are being accused for paying them off for their concealment. Outside of the Chicago Tribune headquarters, Occupy Wall street protesters chanted “Show us the truth! Don’t protect the iDrugs.” Unfortunately “iDrugs” was confused for “my drugs” and, needless to say, that didn’t help their image.

Whether any of these claims are true, the creators of the iDrugs are clearly in a powerful position. And whether or not the media reports on this new creation, it is only a matter of time before the entire World Wide Web knows of its’ existence.

__**Final Essay**__
__**iDrugs**__

When I first started my intellectual project I had no idea what type of work I had to do. I did however have a large curiosity about writing on the Internet, and how Internet is changing our lives. In the past couple years as my life has become more and more dependent on my laptop and I sadly spend more and more time on my computer I have started to follow other websites on the web. As I followed these websites I felt I began to build a relationship with some of them. Some such as Oddfuture.tumblr.com, somewhat of a guilty pleasure, I followed them from their birth for my entertainment. Others such as Politifact.com and Fader.com I followed because I liked the news, substance, and styles of writing. As I followed these pages and as the popularity of Twitter.com grew I began to wonder how people get noticed on the web and how they become popular. It was by asking this question I attempted to create a project that I believe in and think might appeal to other people

When I first began my project I did not fully comprehend the whole concept of the intellectual property project. Please believe me, I was paying attention in class. What I originally planned was to create a blog of some sort that basically combined the things I cared about such as music and politics. I also wanted to broadcast short satirical skits on my Internet radio show at KRUI radio’s The Lab, which I would link to my blog. After a meeting with you, I better realized that none of these things really qualified as intellectual property. The next thing I knew I had a week to come up with a whole new idea and a one thousand-word paper outlining it. So there I was in my apartment on Thursday morning with the paper due the next day and I still did not have a good enough idea to write it on. Luckily after watching a short documentary on a terrible synthetic heroin in Russia I was blessed with an idea about a drug that people can take from their computer.

The first version of the iDrugs resembled the mood of the documentary I watched. The iDrugs were illegal and potentially dangerous. Not to mention addicting. I wanted to give this drug from the computer many of the real life aspects of drugs today while changing the medium from which they are taken completely. As time passed however I saw myself facing a recurring theme. That theme being; How are these drugs taken? It isn’t physically possible take something from the computer into your body as a drug. It was at this point that my iDrugs began to resemble the Internet more than a drug. Now iDrugs do the most of the same functions as the Internet such as playing music and videos. The difference is they play them in your brain.

This helped transform my topic into its’ final form. The iDrugs focused more on how the Internet could change drugs, which compared to writing, news, and music is very similar. It offers the iDrugs anonymity and the ability to reach people across the globe. From here I developed my project into its’ final form as a conspiracy theory. I was having trouble working out my timeline for the iDrugs and how many people knew about them. To deal with this I expanded on my already existent conspiracy theories. The web is full of conspiracy theories and I liked the comical twist it gave my Wikispace.com page and youtube.com film when I built up those theories.

When it comes to the look of my wiki page I like the idea of portraying this “iDrugs” phenomenon as a real thing. That is why I created an Answers.Yahoo.com question about “Lulu” for my video, a question that to my pleasure got three responses, even though one of them was mine. The same goes for my iDrugs dealer’s twitter account @Lulu4youyou that makes an appearance at the end of the video. That is also why my Wikispaces.com page resembles a real Wikipedia.org page. I did everything in my power to change the page into the online encyclopedia, including using their logo at the top left corner. As for my idea and using it with other mediums, I have shown with my youtube.com “mockumentary” video “iDrugs” that I think this idea can be applied elsewhere. In fact I rather enjoyed putting my ideas in a video because I felt that using pictures and spoken words helped iron out some of the more unclear ideas in my wiki page. A negative side of my video is that I am not skilled at making videos and it was a project in itself just to figure out how to get iMovie to do what I want. As for the future I could see myself making a longer video and expanding on my ideas of how the iDrugs effect people, how many people are being “slipped” the iVirus, the actions of the media and corporations and so on. iDrugs could be applied to a blog or a tumblr as well. This would require more thinking about current events in the world of iDrugs and a concrete storyline, just as would a longer film.

The project could be used in other mediums in part because its’ idea could be expanded on in a lot of areas. Unfortunately I do not always have control over my creative processes and some ideas flew from me whiles others came slow. If I had more time I would surely think of ways to expand on my Wikispaces.com page. I am proud of my project though and I think if it were made into a film it could fit comfortably into a political drama genre. I also owe thanks to Wikispaces.com for being so easy to use. I spent a lot of time on a couple other free wiki sites trying to configure them before I landed on my final version. In the end it would be nice to have come up with some of my more important ideas sooner so I could elaborate more. My only regret after this whole project is that at around 2:31 in my video I pronounce media like “meteor,” which is a sad part of the Midwest accent that likes to throw a random “r” into words like “wash,” making it “warsh.” However, I am very pleased to have a project in the form of a video and a wiki page. Both of which are more tangible and relevant to me than a giant paper about my project would be.