Topics

CESHV----TOPICS

 list of chapter tests designed in conjunction with the third edition of Computer Ethics by Deborah Johnson.


 

 

topic

 

 

 

Introduction

 

Watch excerpts of  Lang: Metropolis (1926)

PBS: The 1900 House (2000)

 

 

TOPICS for STUDENT PROJECTS –PAPERS—QUESTIONS and ISSUES
 
Unsollicited E-mail 
 
The FBI's Carnivore
 
Using celebrities to lure Web customers 
 
On-line term papers 
 
The information technology gap between developed & developing
   countries 
 
Artificial intelligence
 
How social class affects equity of access
 
Internet dating 
 
Sale of prescription drugs on the Net
 
Hacking & cracking
 
Using computers to make & sell fake IDs
 
On-line college degrees 
 
Data mining 
 
Parental controls on the internet 
 
Pornography and censorship on the Web 
 
Shareware & software ownership
 
Posting "wanted" posters on the Web for abortion doctors

Editors’ Introduction: Ethics in the Information Age (pages 1–13)

  1. Why do the editors say that the information revolution is “fundamentally social and ethical,” rather than merely technological?
  2. Why, according to James Moor, is ICT such a powerful force for social change?
  3. What is Computing Curricula 2001 and what are the major professional organizations that developed it?
  4. What are a few of the major questions regarding the impacts of ICT on human relationships?
  5. What are some of the aspects of ICT that make such technology a threat to privacy?
  6. Explain why privacy and anonymity on the Internet can be “double edged swords” with both good and bad consequences. Give a few examples of good and bad consequences.
  7. What are some of the important intellectual property issues being generated by ICT?
  8. Briefly describe a few of the work-related social and ethical issues being generated or exacerbated by ICT.
  9. Describe some of the “social justice” issues generated or worsened by ICT.
  10. What is “assistive technology” and what social/ethical questions does such technology raise?
  11. What are some of the “hopes and worries” about government and democracy that ICT is generating?
  12. The Editors’ Introduction (on pages 6 and 7) describes “a primary goal of computer ethics.” Briefly discuss that goal.
  13. Who was the founder of computer ethics as an academic discipline, and what project was he working on when he created the field?
  14. Who was “the second founder of computer ethics,” and what issues got him interested in this field?
  15. What shocking experience led Joseph Weizenbaum to write his now-classic computer ethics book Computer Power and Human Reason (1976)?
  16. In the mid to late 1970s, who made the name “computer ethics” and the field of computer ethics widely known across America? How did he accomplish this important ground-breaking achievement?

 

 

 

Computers and Ethics

Editors’ Introduction to Part I (pages 17–20)

  1. Why did computer ethics thinkers in the 1970s and 1980s have to
    reinvent the subject?
  2. Whose use of the term “computer ethics” made it a standard name
    for the field that this textbook is about? What was his way of
    defining this field?
  3. What was Johnson’s definition of “computer ethics” in her 1985
    textbook? How did her definition differ from Maner’s 1978
    definition?
  4. What ethical theories did Maner (in the 1970s) and Johnson (in
    the 1980s) recommend as appropriate tools for doing computer
    ethics? [See pages 71-73 in this textbook.]
  5. How did Moor define the field of computer ethics in 1985 in his
    influential article “What Is Computer Ethics”? [Hint: Relate his
    definition to “policy vacuums” and “conceptual muddles.”]
  6. According to Moor, what is it about computing technology that
    makes it so powerful and, therefore, revolutionary?
  7. What, according to Moor, are the two stages of the computer
    revolution?
  8. What was Bynum’s 1989 definition of computer ethics, and why,
    according to Bynum, is computer ethics such an important field
    of study?
  9. In the early 1990s, Gotterbarn developed a different conception
    of the field of computer ethics. What was it?

 

ETHICS

 

Law

Free Speech

The Twenty-seventh Amendment, to be proposed for at least serious debate in 1991, would read simply:
 
"This Constitution's protections for the freedoms of speech, press,petition, and assembly, and its protections against unreasonable searches and seizures and the deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, shall be construed as fully applicable without regard to the technological method or medium through which information content
is generated, stored, altered, transmitted, or controlled."---"The Constitution in Cyberspace," Laurence H. Tribe
"The Constitution in Cyberspace," Laurence H. Tribe    http://www.epic.org/free_speech/tribe.html
 

Censorship Censorship and the internet

Freedom of Expression ACLU

Readings on Computer Communications and Freedom of Expression

The Internet Censorship Saga: 1994-1997

Banning newsgroups at CMU in 1994
The Great Cyberporn Scare of 1995
The Communications Decency Act of 1996

Communications Decency Act CDA  TEXT   http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/6805/articles/cda/cda-final.html

Reno v. ACLU, 1997 (CDA unconstitutional)

ACLU v. Reno III (Third Circuit, 2001)

Commission on Online Protection Act  Commission Report, Executive Summary    

James Boyle, Foucault in Cyberspace:  Surveillance, Sovereignty, and Hardwired Censors, 66 U. Cin. L. Rev. 177 (1997) (Lexis-Nexis)    http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=1f0bae6ad1a5a8c43168d5b8c33dd185&_docnum=4&wchp=dGLbVtz-zSkVA&_md5=3b0a8988b00ad71ccaeb6483a1176689

What Things Regulate Speech:CDA 2.0 vs. Filtering  Lawrence Lessig 

Children's Privacy Legislation (USA).

Infowar.com and Information Warfare

Access Denied: Information Policy and the Limits of Liberalism by Grant Kester

Readings on Computer Communications and Freedom of Expression

First Amendment - background

Schenck v. U.S., 249 U.S. 47 (1919)
Abrams v. U.S., 250 U.S. 616 (1919)
Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927)
Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969)
FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978)
Sable Communications v. FCC, 492 U.S. 115 (1989)
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323 (1974) 

UMKC E-Commerce Tax Policy Project Information about taxes on E-Commerce both domestically and internationally

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)   EFF is a donor-supported membership organization working to protect our fundamental rights regardless of technology; to educate the press, policy makers and the general public about civil liberties issues related to technology; and to act as a defender of those liberties. Among our various activities, EFF opposes misguided legislation, initiates and defends court cases preserving individuals' rights, launches global public campaigns, introduces leading edge proposals and papers, hosts frequent educational events, engages the press regularly, and publishes a comprehensive archive of digital civil liberties information at one of the most linked-to web sites in the world.

Electronic Frontier Foundation. John Perry Barlow is a retired Wyoming cattle rancher, a former lyricist for the Grateful Dead, and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Since May of 1998, he has been a Fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society   His manifesto, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace has been widely distributed on the Net and can be found on more than 20, 000 sites. Partly as a consequence of that, he was called "the Thomas Jefferson of Cyberspace" by Yahoo Internet Life Magazine back when such cyber-hyperbole was fashionable.

 

Children's Access to the Web

CyberPatrol

Peacefire Censorware Pages

"Keys to the Kingdom", a CyberWire Dispatch by Brock N. Meeks (about so-called "blocking software")

Net Nanny

Peacefire (Teen Net anti-censorship alliance)

PICS: Platform for Internet Content Selection

SurfWatch

Safe For Kids Site of the Day

CASE

Problem that the US courts dealt with while considering the (now rejected) “Communications Decency Act”: Why should a child-abuse scene in a Dickens novel be legally permitted in the form of text, while that same (or a similar) scene, which consists of realistic computer graphics – not created from live humans – be outlawed? Since both depict child abuse, and neither involves real children, why should one be okay and one be outlawed?

****************************************************************************

COURSE:    http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~kimble/teaching/cis/cis6.html

"Knowledge is power" is a phrase attributed to Francis Bacon, the British philosopher, essayist, and political figure. When Bacon first used the phrase (in 1597) he was calling for empirical and practical emphasis in science, however in the information age the phrase has taken on a new resonance.

The Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace  contains statements such as "We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity. Legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us." The authors of such documents hold the view that "the net interprets censorship as damage and works around it" (for examples of this see Net Censorship Backfires). However, others hold different views about the desirability of unfettered access to all and any information. For a more academic discussion of the difficulty of controlling the Internet, see David Post's essay on Law-Making in Cyberspace.

The issue of pornography is one that most often acts as a focus point for these divergent views. For example, a study Marketing Pornography on the Information Superhighway by an undergraduate student at Carnegie Mellon University, Marty Rimm, lead to an article in Time Magazine on July 3, 1995 and spawned a whole debate - see Would-be Censors Base Arguments on Bogus Research and More porn on newstands than on the Internet. Subsequently, the issue of "porn on the Internet" has led to attempts by parents in the US to control their children's access to "inappropriate" material see The Summary of the Internet Family Empowerment White Paper. Debra Pahal's page on Internet Censorship Issues contains many further links on this topic.

The issues of fascism and terrorism provide a similar focus for debate with some arguing that the Internet should not provide a platform for fascist/racist views and/or the views of terrorists.

Terrorism is a particularly difficult topic as, to quote the cliché, one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter (See, for example Terrorism label is US media propaganda) and many differing definitions of terrorism can be found. The Testimony of Jerry Berman to the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information argues that the Internet is haven for bomb-makers, militia members, racists, and purveyors of child pornography. In contrast, Giancarlo Livraghi, a journalist from Italy, believes that the real motives of government and business attempts to censor 'objectionable' material is to control the Internet as a means of communication and exchange of information.

Required Reading:

  1. EE - Chap 1, 8, 10 in The Electronic Eye. Lyon. D. Polity Press, 1994.
  2. CE - Computer Ethics. Forrester. T. and Morrison. P. Basil Blackwell, 1994.
  3. IT(1) - Information Technology: Social Issues. A Reader. Ed. Finnegan. R, Salaman. G and Thompson. K., The Open University/Hodder and Stoughton., 1994.

    Chap 9, Surveillance, Computers and Privacy, Campbell D and Connor. S, pp 134 - 144

  4. SIC - Chap 6 in Social Issues in Computing, Huff. C and Finholt. T, McGraw Hill, 1994, pp 193 - 226
  5. PandC - Chap 9 in People and Chips, Rowe. C and Thompson. J, Mcgraw Hill, 1996, pp 167 - 192.

 Additional Reading.

  1. John Shattuck and Muriel Morisey Spence, "The Dangers of Information Control," in Tom Forrester, ed., Computers in the Human Context: Information, Technology, Productivity, and People, Cambridge, 1989.
  2. FINLAY Marike. Powermatics: a discursive critique of new communications technology., Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1987.
  3. LAW John. A sociology of monsters: essays on power, technology and domination, Routledge, 1991.

*************************************************************************************************************

COURSE

MIT 6.805/6.806/STS085: Ethics and Law on the Electronic Frontier Privacy and Transparency


 

 

 

Intellectual Property 

Readings on Information and Intellectual Property

Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 1998

Coming into the Country  John Perry Barlow

Magna Carta for the Knowledge Age  

Proprietary Rights in Computer Software: Individual and Policy Issues – Deborah G. Johnson

Softward Ownership and Natural Rights Volkman, R.

The Virtues of Software Ownership – David H. Carey

A Plea for Casual Copying – Helen Nissenbaum

The Ownership of Ideas in Computing Software – John W. Snapper

Why Software Should Be Free: A Free Software Foundation Paper – Richard Stallman

Anarchism Triumphant:  Free Software and the Death of Copyright  Eben Moglen

Open Source Initiative 

The Cathedral and the Bazaar” Raymond, E. on the open source movement

Against User Interface Copyright – The League for Programming Freedom

Against Software Patents – The League for Programming Freedom

Track Report: Software Ownership – David H. Carey

 Brief introduction to copyright  Brad Templeton,

Ten Copyright Myths Brad Templeton,

A Politics of Intellectual Property James Boyle,

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY A. COPYRIGHT 3. DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT a) ANTI-CIRCUMVENTION PROVISIONS: RealNetworks, Inc. v. Streambox, Inc. & Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Reimerdes (2001)(Lexis-Nexis) - Eddan Elizafon Katz,  History of DMCA and cases decided

Intellectual Property Online: Patent, Trademark, Copyright” Archive Electronic Frontier Foundation

Is Code Speech? Brief of Amici Curiae in MPAA v. 2600 (DVD case)

DCMA  Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 1998 

DVD Copy Control Assn. v. Bunner (6th App. Dist. Ca., Nov. 1, 2001)(overturning injunction against publication based on UTSA)
Universal City Studios v. Reimerdes (2d Cir., Nov. 28, 2001)(upholding injunction against publication of DeCSS code based on DMCA)
Gallery of CSS Descramblers
http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/eldredvashcroft/legaldocs.html
Digital Copyright Act Harms Research Richard M. Smith, Argues that DMCA allows copyright owners to define their own level of protection, violating fair use.

SKYLAROV CASE

Complaint against Sklyarov  http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Elcomsoft/20010707_complaint.html

 Jail Time in the Digital Age by Lawrence Lessig

OTHER

Patently Absurd.  James Gleick. New York Times magazine. Sunday, March 12,
The League for Programming Freedom
The Software Patent Institute
Concepts of Property and the Biotechnology Debate Thompson,
Shelly Warwick, Is Copyright Ethical? An Examination of the Theories, Laws and Practices Regarding the Private Ownership of Intellectual Work in the United States
Justifying Intellectual Property Hettinger,  (JSTOR)
 Trade Secrets and the Justification of Intellectual Property: A Comment on Hettinger,  Lynn Sharp Paine, 20 PHIL. & PUB. AFF. 247, 251-52 (1991)(JSTOR)
The Right to Read Richard Stallings,
Intellectual Property Issues from Negativland
The Electronic Commons Paul Starr,
Encryption, Source Code, and the First Amendment  Robert Post  (distinguishes use of source code to convey ideas to an audience vs. use of source code to run a computer; encryption as potentially protected speech)
The Limits in Open Code:  Regulatory Standards and the Future of the Net , Lawrence Lessig,
The Economy of Ideas, John Perry Barlow, , Wired, Mar. 1994.
Junger v. Daley (6th Cir. 2000) 209 F.3d 481 (DeCSS; source code is speech)

Illegal Art  Celebrating art and ideas on the legal fringes of intellectual property.

FAQ - Intellectual Property Law Web Server  Series of categorized overviews provided by the law firm of Oppedahl & Larson. www.patents.com

Intellectual Property Law Server General information on patent, trademark, and copyright law, including links, forums, legal services directory, and publication of articles.  www.intelproplaw.com

Copyfight   News stories about the politics of intellectual property.  www.corante.com/copyfight

lawgirl  Interactive legal resource for those in the arts and entertainment field. Features a legal question and answer board and interactive copyright registration pages.  www.lawgirl.com

Intellectual Property Data Collections   Provides access to IP data collections hosted by WIPO, with access to other sites that provide IP data. www.ipdl.wipo.int

Intellectual Property: Copyrights, Trademarks & Patents  Information and links to resources. www.brint.com/IntellP.htm

Free Trade Area for the Americas  Paper offering a consumer perspective on proposals as they relate to rules regarding intellectual property. www.cptech.org/pharm/belopaper.html

Intellectual Property and Technology Forum  Articles, news and discussion of intellectual property issues. www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/st_org/iptf

Our Culture: Our Future Report,  Report on Australian indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights. www.icip.lawnet.com.au

Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Information Includes definitions, links, and more. www.pw1.netcom.com/~patents2/thefirm.html

Japan IP Resources Provides updated information on events and issues in the areas of Japanese intellectual property including patents, trademarks, designs, and copyrights.www.okuyama.com

Telecommunications and Intellectual Property Law  Links to communications, copyright, and trademark law.
www.blueriver.net/~wyrm/tele.html

redPatent  Offers Innobook idea protection software, and provides industry news, sample legal agreements, and other resources. www.redpatent.com

TheIntelli.com Information on intellectual property which includes terminology, laws, organizations, actual court cases, and copyright.  www.theintelli.com

World Intellectual Property Organization  http://www.wipo.org

Electronic Frontier Foundation 

Bibliography

Lawrence Lessig,  "Intellectual property"

Lawrence Lessig, Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace

Andrew L. Shapiro, The Control Revolution How the Internet is Putting Individuals in Charge and Changing the World We Know

Richard Stim. Intellectual Property: Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights. Albany, New York: Lawyers Cooperative Publishing, 1994.

John Perry Barlow, Selling Wine without Bottles

Helen Nissenbaum, "Should I Copy My Neighbor's Software?"  

Sony v. Betamax, 464 U.S. 417 (1984)

White-Smith Music Publ’g Co. v. Apollo Co., 209 U.S. 1, 18-20 (1908) (Holmes, J., concurring).

Copyright Act of Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 320, 33 Stat. 1075

Copyright
"Wild, Wild Web," Mike Godwin (Cyberethics, 215-221)
"Should Computer Programs Be Owned?" Deborah G. Johnson (Cyberethics, 222-235)
Lotus Development Corp. v. Borland International

Patent
"Mind over Matter," James V. DeLong (Cyberethics, 236-242)
"Protecting Intellectual Property in Cyberspace," J.C. Davis (Cyberethics, 243-256)
Gottschalk v. Benson (excerpts on Beachboard)
Diamond v. Diehr (excerpts on Beachboard)       

Editors’ Introduction to Computing and Intellectual Property (pages 278–284)

1.       According to the editors of this book, how did information technology bring about a crisis for intellectual property?

2.       What is “greased” property? Why is it called “greased” ?

3.       What is Napster, and what is the primary ethical issue that Napster generated?

4.       What is ownership?

5.       Give two or more examples to illustrate that ownership is not absolute and can justly be limited by law and by ethics.

6.       Explain the “labor theory of ownership.”

7.       Explain the “personality theory of ownership.”

8.       Explain the “utilitarian theory of ownership.”

9.       Explain the “social contract theory of ownership.”

10.   What are the basic features of copyrights? How long do copyrights last?

11.   In what sense is a copyright a weak form of ownership?

12.   What are the basic features of patents? How long do patents last?

13.   In what sense is a patent a strong form of ownership?

14.   What are the basic features of trade secrets?

15.   Why is trade secrecy typically a poor kind of ownership for software?

 


 

 

 

Privacy

Demonstration of snooping by computer  The CDT Privacy Demonstration Page.

ACLU Surveillance Campaign  How bad can it get?  Almost there? http://www.aclu.org/pizza/

Towards a Theory of Privacy in the Information Age – James H. Moor

Private Life in Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow 

"The Right to Privacy" (1890)  Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis,
Technology and Ethics: Privacy in the Workplace A speech by Laura P. Hartman
Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a
Discussion on Openness - Foresight Institute
Floridians Mock Cop Cams
PANOPTICON

Net Decency & Sexuality links on Backflip 

The Virtual Panopticon. Describes a virtual panopticon constructed in the Internet-standard Virtual Reality Mark-up Language (VRML) and contains some background information on Jeremy Bentham's original vision.

Escaping the Panopticon: Protecting Data Privacy in the Information Age. A student paper from Georgia State University College of Law.

Surveillance and the Electronic Panopticon. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Information Technology and Public Sector Corruption. Corruption is a major problem for many parts of the public sector. One dominant vision of corruption restraint - the panoptic vision - sees information technology (IT) as a key enabler of management control.

An Examination of Surveillance Technology and the Implications for Privacy and Related Issues. This paper takes a critical look at the often murky intersection of law, technology and information.

The role of information systems personnel in the provision for privacy and data protection in organisations and within information systems  by Richard Howley, Simon Rogerson, N Ben Fairweather, Lawrence Pratchett  Abstract - Full Paper  The ETHICOMP Journal Vol. 1 No. 1, published: 2004-02-02 

Privacy Journal

News on privacy Wired - Privacy Matters

The Electronic Privacy Information Center

The Center for Democracy and Technology

The Information Commissioner of the United Kingdom

The Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner, Australia

Privacy International

Privacy International (PI) is a human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations

Privacy.net

Privacy.org

Privacy Foundation

Federal Communications Commision FCC

Federal Trade Commission FTC

Electronic Frontier Foundation 

Electronic Frontier Foundation 's Blue Ribbon Campaign

Center for Democracy and Technology CDT

FCC: Parents, Kids & Communications

FTC: Kidz Privacy

Editors’ Introduction to Privacy and Computing (pages 246–248)

1.       What are the three meanings of the term “privacy” that arose during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? Which of these meanings has become the primary one in the twenty-first century?

2.       What is digitization, and how did it increase risks to privacy.

3.       What are the roles of “massive databases and high-speed retrieval” in increasing risks to privacy?

4.       What is the role of computer networks in increasing the risks to privacy?

5.       What is “data-matching” and how can it increase risks to privacy?

6.       What is “data-mining” and how does it increase risks to privacy?

7.       Long before computers were invented, gathering of information about individuals, storing it, and retrieving were common. How did the invention of computers and the rapid development of information and communication technology transform these activities into serious risks to privacy? (Hint: scale)

8.       Name six to eight examples of types of personal data that need protection from privacy invasions.

9.       What major sector of the American society remained largely unaffected by privacy-protection laws passed in the early 1970s?

10.   Europe has a very different approach to privacy protection compared to the USA. What is a key phrase that suggests the European approach?

 


 

 

 

Secrecy     Security

Readings on Encryption and National Security-MIT Open Source

 Privacy, Security, Crypto, and Surveillance Archive. by The Electronic Frontier Foundation

A Plain Text on Crypto Policy   John Perry Barlow 1993

Why I Wrote PGP Pretty Good Privacy encryption program Philip Zimmerman,

Interview with Philip Zimmerman after 9/11 attacks

Ethical, Social and Professional Issues in the Undergraduate Currriculum   CERIAS: The Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security This site has several useful sections:  * A Framework for Integrating Ethical and Values-Based Instruction into the ACM Computing Curricula 2001  Learning and Teaching with Case Studies
Authoring Guidelines

Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) at Purdue University, Eugene H. Spafford, Director
 

Computer Security Group, Cambridge University, UK
 

Computer Security Institute
 

Computer Security Research Center, London School of Economics
 

The Risks Digest: Forum On Risks To The Public In Computers And Related Systems, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy, Peter G. Neumann, Moderator

Encryption Policy Resource Page

Internet Privacy Coalition EPIC  Contains articles, reports, and government policies relating to encryption and privacy on the Internet.
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Development Effort  Developing a U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) that specifies an encryption algorithm(s) capable of protecting sensitive government information.
FIPS 46-2 - Data Encryption Standard (DES) Description of the standard.

Click Here to become an Arms Trafficker Now you can just click on a web page to export 3lines of text for an encryption program and become an International Arms Trafficker!
Encryption Special Report An explanation of the issues underlying the debate over encryption policy. Includes background, key stories, legislative update and profiles of key players, from the Washington Post.
Applied Cryptography Export Case A page on my battle to export a disk containing the verbatim source code from the book Applied Cryptography
 

Editors’ Introduction to Computer Security (pages 206–207)

1.       What are the five components of “logical security" for computing systems and networks?

2.       Briefly define the term “computer virus.”

3.       Briefly define the term “computer worm.”

4.       Briefly define the term “computer Trojan horse.”

5.       Briefly define the term “computer logic bomb.”

6.       Briefly define the term “computer bacterium" or "computer rabbit.”

7.       Why must computer security include concern about trusted personnel within a company or organization?

8.       Why can computer security be called “a double-edged sword”?

9.       The term “hacker” has two very different meanings. The “old-fashioned” positive meaning refers to a person who is a “computer whiz” – someone who can push computer technology to its outer limits to achieve very good or very helpful results. What is the negative meaning – and these days the most common meaning – of “hacker” (Hint: also called a “cracker.”)

10.   Why is every successful “break in” to a computer system – even one that changes nothing within the system – harmful? (Hint: Does checking for harm cost anything?)

 

 


 

 

 

ETHICS and the  INTERNET


 

 

 

Crime

Criminal Justice and Crimes on the Internet

Readings on Computer Crime  MIT Open Source

Crime and Puzzlement: Desperados of the DataSphere   John Perry Barlow, 

Part 1 crime_and_puzzlement    Part 2 crime_and_puzzlement

"Cyberstalking: A New Challenge for Law Enforcement and Industry," U.S. Dept. of Justice
 

Parasitic computing 

The Ethics of  Parasitic Computing: Fair use or Abuse of TCP/IP Over the  INTERNET? Robert N. Barger   

Fraud Precautions R Barger 

"Ethical Web Agents" by David Eichmann

"Ethics of WWW Site Engineering" (by Chris MacDonald, as appearing in the July 1995 Computer Mediated Communication Magazine)

"The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier," by Bruce Sterling

"Information Ethics: On the Philosophical Foundation of Computer Ethics" (includes "A Short Webliography on Computer Ethics")

"Keys to the Kingdom", a CyberWire Dispatch by Brock N. Meeks (about so-called "blocking software")

"Making Pseudonymity Acceptable", by Peter Danielson

"Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet" by Michael Hauben and Ronda Hauben

"Networking on the Net: Professionalism, Ethics And Courtesy On The Net," by Claire Belilos

"The Power of Google," by Christina Buu-Hoan

"Toward an Ethics and Etiquette for Electronic Mail", by Norman Z. Shapiro and Robert H. Anderson

Web Spoofing: An Internet Con Game, by Edward W. Felten, Dirk Balfanz, Drew Dean, and Dan S. Wallach

Essay on computer viruses and worms, Dr. R. Standler,PhD (Physics, 1977), Attorney Specializing in Computer Law

Essay that surveys computer crime:Dr. R. Standler,

Practical hints for users on how to avoid computer crime:  Dr. R. Standler,

Essay on how to recognize hoaxes about computer viruses  Dr. R. Standler,

 

Hacking

Peter J. Denning (editor), Computers Under Attack: Intruders, Worms, and Viruses, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1990.

Katie Hafner and John Markoff, Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995.

Tsutomu Shimomura and John Markoff, Take-Down: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick,  New York: Hyperion, 1996.

Clifford Stoll, The Cuckoo’s Egg
Clifford Stoll, High-Tech Heretic

United States v. Morris
United States v. Alkhabaz
Arizona v. Evans

 

 


 

 

 

Information Technology  Accountability

 Accountability and Computer and Information Technology

Information Systems Ethics

Computing and Moral Responsibility  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/computing-responsibility/

The role of information systems personnel in the provision for privacy and data protection in organisations and within information systems by Richard Howley, Simon Rogerson, N Ben Fairweather, Lawrence Pratchett  Abstract - Full Paper  The ETHICOMP Journal Vol. 1 No. 1, published: 2004-02-02

CYBERETHICS  Founder-Editor: David Vance 

International Center for Informational Ethics (ICIE)   An academic web site on information ethics. It is a platform for exchanging information about worldwide teaching and research in our field. It gives the opportunity to meet each other. It provides news on ongoing activities by different kinds of organizations.

International Society for Ethics and Information Technology (INSEIT)   Produces a newsletter and co-sponsors conferences including The Conference of Computer Ethics (CEPE) and the Annual Ethics and Technology Conference

 

 

 


 

 

 

Computing and Information Technology as Professions and Professional Codes

 

Professional Ethics

C

CHARACTERISTICS OF A PROFESSION by Robert N. Barger

Professional Responsibility

Unintentional Power in the Design of Computing Systems – Chuck Huff

Informatic and Professional Responsibility – Donald Gotterbarn

 The Ethics of Software Development Project Management – Simon Rogerson

Professionalism in Computing: Digital Library - Jan Lee at Virginia Tech Contains the Professionalism in Computing course Web, the "digital library" portion that provides access to the special topics pertinent to the studies of the responsibilities and expectations of a computer scientist

The Ethics of Web Site Engineering - Chris MacDonald  A paper on the the ethics of Web Site Engineering

Licensing of Programmers and Software Engineers

Voluntary Professional Codes

ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct http://www.acm.org/constitution/code.html

IEEE Code of Ethics   IEE an organization of computer professionals. Founded in 1946, it is the largest of the 39 societies of the IEEE.

GENERAL MORAL IMPERATIVES OF THE ACM CODE

Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice   A joint ACM/IEEE Computer Society effort

ACM Position Papers on Software Engineering and Licensing

Codes of Ethics links on the web site of the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility
 Commentary on Codes of Ethics or Conduct

Commentary on “The Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics” by N. Ben Fairweather

"Computer Ethics: Codes, Commandments, and Quandries," Julie Van Camp 

CODE OF ETHICS FOR ENGINEERS  R. Barger

Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at IIT   

SOCIETIES and ORGANIZATION

The Association for Computing Machinery
http://www.acm.org

The Australian Computer Society
http://www.acs.org.au

The British Computer Society
http://www1.bcs.org.uk

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
http://www.ccsr.org

Professional Accountability Section of the Website of the Online Ethics Center
http://onlineethics.org/topics/accountability.html

Professionalism Section of the Website of the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility
http://www.ccsr.cse.dmu.ac.uk/resources/professionalism

The Software Engineering Ethics Research Institute SEERI  at East Tennessee State University at Johnson City, TN, USA
http://seeri.etsu.edu  Don Gotterbarn, East Tennessee State University  Promotes the development of ethical and professional practices that address the impacts of software engineering and related technologies on society, through research, education, and consultation with individuals, organizations and governments.

Cases to Analyze: The London Ambulance Case

London Ambulance Service
Brian Randell
Trevor Jenkins
 

Forum on Risks to the Public in Computers and Related Systems RISKS DIGEST

 

Editors’ Introduction to Part II (pages 91–97)

1.       Why, according to the editors of this textbook, do computer practitioners “have an enormous responsibility to society”?

2.       Briefly describe four criteria that generally identify someone as a “professional.”

3.       In what ways do typical computer practitioners fail to fulfill the criteria mentioned in question 2 above?

4.       How is one’s role in a community or group related to responsibilities that one has within the community or group? Give three examples.

5.       What special responsibilities are associated with the employer-employee relationship?

6.       What special responsibilities are associated with the professional-to-professional relationship?

7.       Loyalty is sometimes thought to be a virtuous quality of an employee or professional colleague; but loyalty is a “two-edged sword” that can lead to unethical behavior. Explain and illustrate with an example.

8.       What is the “agency” model of the professional-to-client relationship?

9.       Why is the “agency” model a poor basis for a professional-to-client relationship?

10.   What is the “paternalistic” model of the professional-to-client relationship?

11.   Why is the “paternalistic” model a poor basis for a professional-to-client relationship?

12.   What is the “fiduciary” model of the professional-to-client relationship? What is the role of trust in this relationship?

13.   What special responsibilities does a computer professional have with regard to users of the product or service that the professional provides? Give three examples.

14.   Why is the professional-to-society relationship so important with regard to computer professionals and today’s society?

15.   Explain how the professional-to-society relationship can be viewed as a contractual relationship. What are the contractual responsibilities of each participant in the contract?

Editors’ Introduction to Part III (pages 135–141)

1.       What is the “inspiration” function of codes of professional ethics?

2.       What is the “education” function of codes of professional ethics?

3.       What is the “guidance” function of codes of professional ethics?

4.       What is the “accountability” function of codes of professional ethics?

5.       What is the “enforcement” function of codes of professional ethics?

6.       Explain why it would be a mistake to consider codes of professional ethics to be laws.

7.       Why would it be a mistake to treat a code of professional ethics as if it were a complete ethical algorithm?

8.       Why would it be inappropriate to consider a code of professional ethics to be an exhaustive ethical check list?

9.       The phrase “code of ethics” is used very broadly in this textbook. Explain what this means.

10.   Describe three different ways to organize the ideas in a code of ethics.

11.   Name five of the “fundamental values and social ideals” that typically are expressed in codes of professional ethics.

12.   Describe five “rules to govern specific professional activities” that typically are found in codes of professional ethics.

13.   State three examples of “principles and imperatives that address responsibilities that come with leadership roles.”

14.   Even though codes of professional ethics are not laws, they nevertheless have some enforcement power. Explain why.

 

 

Social Change 

The Information Revolution and Social Change

lectures on the information society by Daniel Chandler and Ewan Sutherland

Cyberspace and the American Dream: a Magna Carter for the Knowledge Age-  Ms. Esther Dyson; Mr. George Gilder; Dr. George Keyworth; and Dr. Alvin Toffler

The Promise and Peril of the Third Wave by Carl Davidson, Ivan Handler and Jerry Harris

Beyond the Information Revolution by Peter Drucker

Information Society Links Impact of IT and IN

The Alvin Toffler Archive at Wired   War and Anti-WarCultures in conflict with the Digital Revolution

Globalization

New Village – “Leapfrogging the Grid”   on a Micro Scale   Terrell Ward Bynum

Economics of Computing and Monopolies and Pricing and Access Issues -Terrel Ward Bynum

The Cyber Rights Working Group, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility

The Global Culture of Digital Technology and Its Ethics,” an abstract of a paper by Krystyna Gorniak-Kocikowska
 

The Internet Society – an international organization for global cooperation

UNESCO’s Info-Ethics Program, The United Nations

Impact CS Project  Social and Ethical Impact of Computing

Technological Determinism and Social Choice

Engagement with media: Shaping and Being Shaped by Daniel Chandler

Technological or Media Determinism by Daniel Chandler.

Computer Based Information Systems and Managers' Work  Kimble

Determinism (Wikipedia)

Technological Determinism (Principia Cybernetica)

Technological Questions and Issues (Trinity Church of England School)

Social Aspects of Technology and Science (Records of course meetings at UC San Diego)

What is the Social Shaping of Technology? -
Robin Williams and David Edge review research that addresses 'the social shaping of technology.

Technological Determinism - Notes by Robert O. Keel, Department of Sociology, University of Missouri-St. Louis

Technological Determinism of Marshall McLuhan - Slide show by Whittenburg/Shedletsky from University of Southern Maine

Marshall McLuhan Meets William Gibson in "Cyberspace"'  Michael E. Doherty in the Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine.

Robinson: "Technological Futures and Determinisms" (2001

Internet and Community

I'm Glad the Net `Corrodes' My Culture Marcelo Rinesi,
Who Are We Without Our Technologies? Muktha Jost,
Does the Internet Strengthen Community?  William A. Galston,
 How About a Moratorium on Internet Surveys?  Steve Talbott,
nternet and Society:  Preliminary Report Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society, I(February 2000)
Online Communities: Networks That Nurture Long-Distance Relationships and Local Ties Pew Internet and American Life Project, (October 2001) (read summary of findings)

NetFuture: Technology and Human Responsibility   It seeks especially to address those deep levels at which we half-consciously shape technology and are shaped by it.
 

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New Village – “Leapfrogging the Grid”   on a Micro Scale  Professor Terrell Ward Bynum

Information Ethics in the Underdeveloped World:A Project of the Research Center on Computing & Society
The Research Center on Computing & Society at Southern Connecticut State University has launched a project to identify and study information ethics issues in the underdeveloped world. Our goal is to identify problems and opportunities related to ICT (information and communication technologies) and then to help people in underdeveloped lands to solve or prevent such problems or take advantage of promising opportunities made possible by ICT.

The first step in this project was the writing of a “concept paper” for distribution at the World Energy Technologies Summit held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France in February 2004. The paper, which is an exercise in “positive computer ethics,” explores ways to take advantage of miniature computerized devices to help solve health and economics problems in underdeveloped countries. It is entitled “New Village – ‘Leapfrogging the Grid’ on a Micro Scale” and it was very well received at the Paris summit. We include the paper here as an online article as well as a downloadable PDF file. In the near future, we will also publish two student commentaries on the paper by undergraduate students at Southern Connecticut State University. We will include them for their useful ideas, and to serve as examples of excellent papers for other students to read.

1.       Introduction

2.       Description of “Old Village”

3.       Clean Drinking Water

4.       Educational Opportunities

5.       Improved Health Care

6.       The Need for an Information Center in Old Village

7.       “Local” Employment in the Information Age – The Birth of “New Village”

8.       Conclusion – Cultural Considerations

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Economics of Computing and Monopolies and Pricing and Access Issues -Terrel Ward Bynum

ttp://www.southernct.edu/organizations/rccs/textbook/economics.html

The study of computing is incomplete without some consideration of the economic factors that influence the associated investment, research and development, access, distribution and social impact. In this section some useful links are provided which cover four key areas:

  • Monopolies and their economic implications

  • Effect of skilled labor supply and demand on the quality of computing products

  • Pricing strategies in the computing domain

  • Differences in access to computing resources and the possible effects thereof

The links on this page will open in a new browser window. Links marked with “PDF” are files made via Portable Document Format. You may need to download the latest version of Adobe Reader in order to read these files.

Some Good General Resources About the Effects of Computing on the Economy

The Internet Economy Indicators
 www.internetindicators.com
This is the fourth report measuring the Internet economy commissioned by Cisco Systems and covers the first half of 2000. It shows that the Internet is transforming the economy and the way people work, to an extent that few people would have imagined just a few years ago.

Technology and Economic Growth in the Information Age
www.ncpa.org/bg/bg147/bg147.html
This is an interesting economic forecast published in March 1998 by the National Center for Policy Analysis in the US. It can be used as a comparative study.

Economics of Information Technology
www.sims.berkeley.edu/~hal/Papers/mattioli/mattioli.html
This is an overview of economic phenomena that are important for high-technology industries. Topics covered include personalization of products and prices, versioning, bundling, switching costs, lock-in, economies of scale, network effects, standards, and systems effects.

Are Computers Increasing Productivity? (PDF)
www.crito.uci.edu/itr/publications/pdf/COMPUTERS-BOOSTING-PROD.PDF
This 1999 US study focuses on the economic impacts of IT investment in state governments. It addresses the obstacles of realizing the potential of IT investment.

Computers, Obsolescence, and Productivity (PDF)
www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2000/200006/200006pap.pdf
This paper, published in February 2000, shows that increased productivity in the computer-producing sector and the effect of investment in computers on the productivity of those who use them together account for the acceleration in U.S. labor productivity.

The Economics of Electronic Commerce (PDF)
www.combinet.net/ecomrept/CHOGMReportR1.PDF
This report, published by the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2000, discusses the growing importance of electronic commerce in trade and the developmental implications of the use of cyberspace for commercial and financial transactions.

National Center For Policy Analysis - Economic Issues and Productivity
www.ncpa.org/iss/eco/i_productivity.html
This web site has many great articles about productivity and the effect of technology on the economy.

Computerworld.com
www.computerworld.com/news/
This US-based computer electronic newspaper is a good source for current news commentary.

ComputerWeekly.com
www.computerweekly.co.uk
This UK-based computer electronic newspaper is a good source for current news commentary.

Center for Research in Electronic Commerce, University of Texas
cism.bus.utexas.edu
This research center describes as: “CREC, at the heart of the Silicon Hills of Austin, is today’s leading research center in electronic commerce, digital economy and information technology, in close collaboration with industry and business leaders.” This site contains a range of reports and other resources.

Monopolies in the Information Age

What is a Monopoly?
www.justaskjames.com/answers/default.asp?QID=283
A basic definition

National Center for Policy Analysis – Antitrust
www.ncpa.org/iss/ant/
This contains many articles about anti-trust issues.

The Danger of Corporate Monopolies
www.cse.stanford.edu/classes/cs201/projects-95-96/corporate-monopolies
Monopolies, by definition, strangle competition. How does one quantify the harms of a software monopoly, whose market dominance allows for valuable standardization, but whose power inflates the price to consumers and prevents the birth of higher quality competitors? This project tackles these questions and other issues surrounding the advent of the computer corporate monopoly.

That’s Fighting Talk
www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,970294,00.html
“ Our computer use is being threatened by a wild west-style land grab that only the rich giants can win,” argue Richard Stallman and Nick Hill. “Software patents will lead to job losses, higher prices, and less choice.” The Guardian, UK, 5 June 2003

Articles About Microsoft
dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Business/Allegedly_Unethical_Firms/Microsoft/
This page from the Open Directory Project provides a broad range of concerns about the actions of Microsoft.

Is Microsoft Bad?
www.redherring.com/mag/issue51/bad.html
This article defends the actions of Microsoft.

Government and Monopolies: A Libertarian View
fare.tunes.org/liberty/microsoft_monopoly.html
This article takes a radical libertarian stance about Microsoft and government, and – more generally – about monopolies. The authors explain how the original “evil” behind Microsoft’s monopoly is government intervention in the form of intellectual property privileges, and how any solution should begin by ending these privileges.

The Supply and Demand of Skilled Workers in the IT Industry

The Supply of Information Technology Workers in the United States
www.cra.org/reports/wits/exec_summary.html
This study was published by the Computer Research Association in 2000. The purpose of the study was to improve understanding of the supply of and demand for information technology (IT) workers in the United States, and the surrounding contextual issues.

The E-Economy in Europe: Its Challenges for Education and Skills (PDF)
europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/events/e-economy/doc/skills_paper.pdf
An overview of the skills shortage in Europe in 2001.

The IT Worker Shortage
www.sireview.com/articles/itworkershortage.html
Published in 2001, Jeff Reeder explains that many recent surveys and research suggest that the information technology worker shortage is limiting the economic growth of not just the IT sector but the economy in general.

Information Technology Landscape in Nations
www.american.edu/academic.depts/ksb/mogit/country.html
This site is a database of knowledge about information and communication technologies in various nations.

Pricing Strategies in the Computer Domain

Pricing Strategies for Digital Information Goods and Online Service on the Internet
www.mba.ntu.edu.tw/~jtchiang/StrategyEC/eec/report1/report1.htm
This paper discusses a pricing model for both suppliers and customers of firms that offer digital products over the Internet.

Pricing Strategies
www.euro-share.com/pricing.asp
An article about software pricing by Jeff Camino or North Star Solutions published in 2000.

High Technology Industries and Market Structure
www.sims.berkeley.edu/~hal/Papers/structure/
This is a 2001 review of various economic phenomenon that are important in high-technology industries, such as personalization of products and pricing, versioning, bundling, switching costs, lock-in, economics of scale, network effects, complements and computer-mediated contracts.

One-to-One Pricing in the New Economy
www.easton-consult.com/one-to-one_pricing_in_the_new_economy.htm
This is a brief overview of how some sellers and buyers are beginning to use e-commerce enabled pricing to their advantage.

Self-Selection Strategies for Information Goods
www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue7_3/dedeke/
This 2002 paper describes the basics concepts of first-degree, second- and third-degree price discrimination.

Differences in Access to Computing Resources and Possible Resulting Effects

New Connections, Old Exclusions: Ethnic Minorities in Ireland’s Information Society (Text)
www.lse.ac.uk/collections/EMTEL/Conference/papers/Ugba.doc
This paper, from the 2003 EMTEL conference, argues that a new information economy and network society has emerged in Ireland and that access to ICT is critical for the inclusion of the country’s marginalized immigrant and ethnic minority groups in this new society.

Bridging Cultural and Digital Divides: Signifying Everyday Life, Cultural Diversity and Participation in the On-line Community Video Nation (PDF)
www.lse.ac.uk/collections/EMTEL/Conference/papers/carpentier.pdf
This paper, from the 2003 EMTEL conference, considers the digital divide from a broad scope, focusing on the abilities of ICT to stimulate access, interaction and participation.

Digital Opportunity Channel
www.digitalopportunity.org/guides/basics/
This is a collection of links to organizations and groups active in trying to overcome this digital divide, and their introduction to areas and issues of ICT access that may further understanding on the basics of this global issue.

Emerging Social Gaps
www.pbs.org/digitaldivide/
This site addresses the role computers play in widening social gaps throughout our society, particularly among young people.

Digital Divide Solutions
www.asu.edu/DigitalDivideSolutions/
This web site is dedicated to providing useful, relevant information about the digital divide, and how to address it, to interested individuals and organizations.

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KIMBLE  http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~kimble/teaching/cis/cis4.html

 The Information Revolution and Social Change

The previous section dealt with the relationship between technology and society from a historical perspective. This section will deal with the same relationship from the perspective of 'Futurists' such as Alvin Toffler.

Aims and objectives.

The objective of this section are you will be able to characterize the nature of the information revolution and can critically evaluate the view that this is the engine that drives wider changes in society.

You might like to begin by looking at a set of lectures on the information society by Daniel Chandler and Ewan Sutherland as a broad introduction to the features of the "Information Revolution". A good starting point for the utopian view of the emergent information society is A Magna Carta for the Electronic Age by Toffler and Cyberspace and the American Dream.

Toffler et al describe three waves of technologically lead revolutions and argue that we are "... living on the edge of the Third Wave" that will have "... profound implications for the nature and meaning of property, of the marketplace, of community and of individual freedom. As it emerges, it shapes new codes of behavior that move each organism and institution -- family, neighborhood, church group, company, government, nation -- inexorably beyond standardization and centralization, as well as beyond the materialist's obsession with energy, money and control."

As an alternative, you might like to read The Promise and Peril of the Third Wave by Carl Davidson, Ivan Handler and Jerry Harris. They argue that "The advent of the third wave is by no means a twinkling, pain less shift into a utopian wonderland. It is more like a hurricane, leaving disorder and destruction in its wake." You might also look at a critique of the Magna Carta for the Electronic Age in feedmag.

The material in this section is also dealt with in the section on The Information Revolution from the MIS course. Finally, this section will form the basis for the evaluation of "IT and work" and "IT and society" that form the remainder of the course (see course overview).

Required Reading:

  1. IT(1) - Information Technology: Social Issues. A Reader. Ed. Finnegan. R, Salaman. G and Thompson. K., The Open University/Hodder and Stoughton., 1994.

    • Chap 14, The Social Economics of Information Technology, I. Miles and J. Gershuny. pp. 209 - 224.

  2. IT(2) - Information Technology and Society. A Reader. Ed Heap. N., Thomas. R., Einon. G. and MacKay. H., The Open University/Sage, 1994.

    • The Roots of the Information Society Idea, D. Lyon, pp 54 - 73.

  3. What is Computer Ethics? J. H. Moor. Metaphilosophy 16(4), October 1985, pp 266 - 275.

  4. P+C - People and Chips, Rowe. C and Thompson. J, Mcgraw Hill, 1996

    • Chap 1 Introduction

    • Chap 2 Contrasting perspectives

  5. SIT - Chaps 1 to 4 in Social Issues in Technology, Alcorn. P. Prentice Hall, 1997. pp 3 - 85.

  6. Bell. D. The Coming of the Post Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting. Heinemann, 1974.

  7. Bell. D. The Social Framework of the Information Society in The microelectronics revolution., Ed T. Forrester., Basil Blackwell, 1980.

  8. Ellul. J. The Technological Society, Random House, 1964

  9. Featherstone. M. Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalisation and Modernity, Sage, 1994.

    • Archer. M.S. Theory, Culture and Post-Industrial Society, pp. 97 - 120

    • Touraine. The Idea of a revolution, pp. 121 - 142

  10. Hi-tech society: The story of the information technology revolution., Forester T., Basil Blackwell, 1982.

  11. Hiltz. S.R. and Turoff. M. The Network Nation: Human Communication via Computer. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1978 and 1993.

  12. Lyon. D. From Post Industrialism to Information Society: a New social Transformation?, Sociology, 20(4), 1986, pp 577 - 588.

  13. Naisbitt. J. Re-inventing the corporation: transforming your job and your company for the new information society. Macdonald, 1986.

  14. Naisbitt. J. Megatrends: ten new directions transforming our lives. Macdonald, 1984.

  15. Toffler. A. The Futurists, Random House 1972.

  16. Toffler. A. The Third Wave. Pan, 1980.   

  17. IT(1) - Information Technology: Social Issues. A Reader. Ed. Finnegan. R, Salaman. G and Thompson. K., The Open University/Hodder and Stoughton., 1994.

  18. Chap 1, The case for Technological Determinism, C. Freeman, pp 5- 18.

  19. Chap 4, Value conflicts and Social Choice in Electronic Payment Systems, R. Kling, pp 38 - 57.

  20. IT(2) - Information Technology and Society. A Reader. Ed Heap. N., Thomas. R., Einon. G. and MacKay. H., The Open University/Sage, 1994.

  21.  

    • Part 1 - Introduction, R. Thomas. pp 11 -14.

    • The Social Shaping of Technology, D. Edge, pp. 14 - 33.

    • Theorising the IT/Society Relationship, H. MacKay, pp. 41 - 54

    • A Gendered Socio-Technical Construction: The Smart House, Ann-Jorunn Berg, pp 74 - 90.

  22. SIT - Chaps 6 to 10 in Social Issues in Technology, Alcorn. P. Prentice Hall, 1997. pp 111 - 185.

  23. Bijker. N.E., Hughes. T.P. and Pinch. T.J. (Eds), The social construction of Technological Systems, MIT Press, 1987.

  24. Hirschheim. R. and Klein. H. Four paradigms of information system development, Communications of the ACM. Vol. 32, no 10 (1989) pp 1199 - 1216.

  25. Kling. R and Iacono. S., Computing as an Occasion for Social Control. Journal of Social Issues, 40, 3 (1984), pp 77-96.

  26. Buchanan D and Boddy D, "Organisations in the Computer Age: Technological Imperatives and Strategic Choice", 1983, Gower.

  27. Child, J. (1972), Organisational Structure, Environment and Performance: The Role of Strategic Choice, Sociology Vol 6, No 1, pp 1-22.

  28. De Greene KB, Long wave cycles of sociotechnical change and innovation: A macropsychological perspective, Journal of Occupational Psychology, 1988, vol 61, pp. 7-23.

  29. Orlikowski. W.J, The Duality of Technology: rethinking the concept of technology in organisations. Organisation Science. 3(3), 1992. pp. 398 - 427.

  30. Kling R. and Scacchi. W. The web of computing: Computer Technology as Social Organisation. Advances in Computers, Vol 21, 1982. pp 2 - 89 .

  31. *************************************************************************

KIMBLE   http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~kimble/teaching/cis/cis4.html

 

Aims and objectives

The aim of this section of the course is to explore in greater depth the controversy as to how far technology does, or does not, condition social change. A useful starting point for these discussions would be Engagement with media: Shaping and Being Shaped and Technological or Media Determinism by Daniel Chandler.

For some practical examples of the 'impact' of computer based technology on organisations, see: Computer Based Information Systems and Managers' Work (.PDF File). For further background to this article, click here. Finally, some web links that you may find useful are given below.

Overview/Summary

Early research assumed technology to be an objective, external force that had deterministic impacts on organisational properties such as structure. Later studies focused upon the human aspect of technology and focused on strategic choice models and social action. Despite years of investigative effort, definition and measurement, there is little or no compelling evidence for the role of technology in organisational affairs. Two aspects of technology are identified in this topic - scope and role.

  • Scope - What is defined as comprising of the technology?

  • Role - How is the interaction between the technology and organisation defined?

Scope

The lectures will discuss two views that reflect claims to generalisability.

  1. The first conceptualises technology as hardware, i.e. the equipment, machines and instruments humans use in productive (either physical or informational) processes. These have lead to either context dependent definitions of the scope of technology, as the range of hardware across industries and organisations differ, or broad definitions that have little informational value.

  2. These problems lead some researchers to develop a second view of technology as "social technologies". Tasks, technique and knowledge are bound together in a single construct, e.g. "tecnik". This attempt to broaden the definition of technologies to include "social technologies" however has lead to boundary and measurement ambiguity. It also tends to ignore or undervalue the possibility of interaction between different elements and the effects of human mediation in the ways in which a technology can be used.

Role

The lectures will then discuss three theoretical frameworks that reflect philosophical viewpoints.

The first (technological imperative model) views technology as an objective, external force that had deterministic impacts on organisational properties. The second (strategic choice model) focused on the human action aspect of technology and saw technology as a product of shared interpretations or interventions. The third (Technology as a trigger for structural change model) puts forward a soft deterministic viewpoint that argues that technology is a relatively objective, external force but that the impacts on organisational properties are moderated by human actions and the contingencies of organisational context.

  1. The technological imperative model. The technological imperative model examines the impact of a technology upon organisational dimensions such as structure, size, performance, degree of centralisation as well as more individualistic dimensions such as job satisfaction, task complexity, skill levels, productivity, etc. It posits that technology exerts an independent, uni-directional and causal influence over humans and organisations similar in nature to the laws of physical sciences. A "softer" version of the technological determinist model allows for the influence of the technology to be mediated by contextual variables.

  2. The strategic choice model. The strategic choice model does not view technology as an external object but as an intentional product of human actions, design and appropriation. Three research foci are discernible.

    • The Socio-Technical Perspective. Here the focus is on how the technology is physically constructed thorough the choices and decisions made by human actors. Technology is not immutable but is a dependent variable contingent on other forces in the organisation, most notably powerful organisational actors. The Socio-Technical school argues that outcome such as job satisfaction or productivity can be manipulated by jointly optimising the fit between social and technical factors. These analyses tend to assume that once a technology has been designed to optimise the socio-technical fit a "better" performance will inevitably result.

    • The social Constructionist perspective. Here the focus is on how the shared interpretations of the meaning of a certain technology arise and affect the development of and interaction with that technology. While this perspective can be useful in examining how the meaning of a technology is created and sustained, it inevitably underplays the material and structural aspects of the technology.

    • The Marxian Perspective. In this case the focus is on the manner in which a technology is deployed to further the political and economic interests of powerful groups of social actors. The concern is with the social construction of technology at the point of initiation rather than at the point of use. Managers and/or designers are portrayed as having the authority and ability to shape the technology whereas the users and workers are portrayed as being relatively powerless.

  3. Technology as a trigger for structural change. This perspective portrays technology as an intervention into the relationship between human agency and organisational structure. Technology can trigger a structural change by altering institutionalised roles and patterns of interaction. Technology does exert an influence on organisational structure but the precise outcome depends on the specific historical processes in which it is embedded. Thus technology is viewed as a social object whose meaning, defined by the context of its use, may change although its physical form remains fixed over time.

Building on the material in previous topic the following areas will also be covered in the lectures:

  1. Models and frameworks

  2. Technological determinist models

  3. Four Social Choice models

  4. Web models

  5. Structuration Theory

Using material from the lectures, your reading and the web sites your objectives should be to identify:

  • The different classes of models and frameworks that might be used to describe/explain the "impact" of computer technology.

  • How these models/frameworks might be applied in different circumstances.

  • The changes in the nature of society related to the growth of IT.

  • The effect that IT might have on society.

  • The effect that society might have on the use of IT.

You should attempt to develop an understanding of the differing perspectives covered in the lecture and your reading and how they might be applied.

 


 

 

   

 

Political Change

The Information Revolution and Human Values  by Terrell Ward Bynum  Abstract - Full Paper  The ETHICOMP Journal Vol. 1 No. 1, published: 2004-02-02

Internet and Impact on Life and Political Ideas

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace  by John Perry Barlow

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace    John Perry Barlow

Coming into the Country  John Perry Barlow,

Is There a There in Cyberspace? by John Perry Barlow

The Virtual Community   by  Howard Rheingold

Democracy and its values:  Autonomy- Privacy

 the shape of politics and democracy in the 'age of the internet'

 Democracy and Network Interconnectivity   Christopher R. Kedzie,  RAND

Using Email and FaxModems as Tools for Social Change by Carl Davidson, Networking for Democracy.

A Journal of Cybernetic Revolution, Sustainable Socialism & Radical Democracy: Issue #1, July 1994

A Journal of Cybernetic Revolution, Sustainable Socialism & Radical Democracy: Issue #2, March 1995

A Journal of Cybernetic Revolution, Sustainable Socialism & Radical Democracy: Issue #3, September 1995

A Journal of Cybernetic Revolution, Sustainable Socialism and Radical Democracy

Access Issues

Digital Divide-economic-racial-sexual divides

Digital Divide Links - University of Illinois Online  Collection of articles about digital divide

Falling through the Net (summary, 2000), 4th installment of the Dept of Commerce's Digital Divide reports

Bridges.org: "Spanning the International Digital Divide"

World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

Geneva Declaration of Principles (especially Section B10) Declaration of Principles: Building the Information Society: a global challenge in the new Millennium

Issues resulting from the WSIS Results CSPR

TUNIS COMMITMENT 2005

TUNIS AGENDA FOR THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

Internet: "Far-reaching Instrument of Development and Peace" by Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, at the U.N. World Summit on the Information Society 

Regulation of the Internet

National

Commons and Code Lawrence Lessig

The Constitution in Cyberspace (Laurence Tribe, 1991)

And How Shall the Net Be Governed? David R. Johnson and David G. Post,

International  Global Information Ethics

Institute for Global Ethics   nonsectarian, nonpartisan, global research and educational membership organization. Promotes ethical behavior in individuals, institutions, and nations through research, public discourse, and practical action

History of the Internet

Hobbes’ Internet Timeline   [Copyright © 1993–2003 by Robert H. Zakon]  This is a rich and useful timeline on the history of the Internet, with many links to other related materials.

Nerds 2.0.1 – A Brief History of the Internet   This is a web site associated with the PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) TV series on the history of the Internet entitled “Nerds 2.0.1 – A Brief History of the Internet.”

A Brief History of the Internet  In this history, which appears on the web site of the Internet Society, several of the people involved in the development and evolution of the Internet share their views of its origins and history.

[Very, Very] Brief History of the Internet and Related Networks  This is a sketch of Internet history by Vint Cerf. It also appears on the web site of the Internet Society.

Law:  General

The Law of the Horse: What Cyberlaw Might Teach Larry Lessig,
ANNUAL REVIEW OF LAW AND TECHNOLOGY: FOREWORD Cathy E. Cretsinger & Peter S. Menell,
How to Govern Cyberspace: Frontier Justice or Legal Precedent?

GLOBALIZATION

The Cyber Rights Working Group, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
The Global Culture of Digital Technology and Its Ethics,” an abstract of a paper by Krystyna Gorniak-Kocikowska
The Internet Society – an international organization for global cooperation
 UNESCO’s Info-Ethics Program, The United NationsThe Vatican Pontifical Council for Social Communications paper "Ethics in Internet" http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_ethics-internet_en.html

Publications
Some useful places to look information from the Institute for Development Policy and Management at The University of Manchester

Knowledge Facts, Knowledge Fiction
What happens when corporate knowledge management monoculture meets the diverse international development sector? This paper finds that development agencies have too readily adopted approaches from the Northern corporate sector that are inappropriate to development needs.

North-South inequalities
Chapter 3 of Education Now: Break the Cycle of Poverty by Oxfam

Exclusion and Poverty in Developing Countries
by Alice N. Sindzingre, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France

Inequality in women's access to and participation in all communications systems
This is part of a "Draft Platform for Action" drawn up by the Fourth World Conference on Women hosted by the United Nations in Beijing, China in September 1995.

Information Communication Technologies for women's equality: Access and Empowerment issues - an NGO perspective
By Sarita Ranchod, Women'sNet Project Manager

Forsaken Geographies: Cyberspace and the New World 'Other'
From poet, artist and art historian Olu Oguibe.

Technology vs. Human Development: Brazil, 1996
From Brazilian journalist Mario Ibraim Salimon.

Public access to the Internet: American Indian and Native Alaskan issues
A historical and sociological discussion by George Baldwin about emerging networks used by American Indian people and tribal organizations.

Electronic Journal for Information Systems In Developing Countries
which emerged from IFIP 9.4 - dedicated to research and action in the social issues of informatics in the Third World.

Internet Governanceat CSPR  Internet governance encompasses a wide range of issues and organizations relating to the governing, financing and control of the Internet and its protocols. CPSR has been involved in Internet Governance issues for years, including current participation in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

 

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KIMBLE  http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~kimble/teaching/cis/cis5.html

 The North vs South debate - Issues of Access and Inequality.

Aims and objectives.

The aim of this section of the course is to explore the reality behind the idea of the "global village" put forward by the those who argue that the world is in the throes of an "Information Revolution".

Below are a list of web links to the area. You might also like to look at an unpublished discussion paper on Component-Based Software Engineering for Developing Countries: Promises and Possibilities by Douglas Kunda and Laurence Brooks from the MIS Group at York.

Overview/Summary.

This lecture will present material related to the spread of information systems throughout society. Several views will be discussed each of which could be analysed using the models/frameworks described in previous section. The focus of the lecture will be on the issues of access to sources of information and inequality These will initially be addressed from the viewpoint of the North vs South (1st World vs 3rd World) debate and then widened to consider issues of access and inequality within the so called "developed world". The material covered in this section will include:

  1. Diffusion models that appear, at their most basic, to put forward the idea that the real problem is one of access to the technology, e.g. the work of Palvia et al and Watson et al could be seen as providing evidence to support this view.
  2. Technology transfer models that appear to suggest that the underlying problem is on of the choices made by the nations that develop and manufacture the technology, e.g. the work of Bessant and Jayaweera might be seen as supporting this viewpoint.
  3. Political models that put forward a rather more complex view that suggests that the problem does not lie simply with access to technology or in the tactics of the developed nations but in the web of the internal politics of the countries themselves, e.g. Oguibe and Salimon might be seen as supporting this view.
  4. Models that suggest that the North vs South (1st World vs 3rd World) division is too simplistic and that even within the so called "developed world" there are issues of access and inequality that need to be addressed, e.g. Silverstone , MacKay and Huff and Finholt provide material to back up this viewpoint.
  5. Finally, material such as that by Baldwin approach the topic from a less deterministic viewpoint and suggest that the way in which technology is used is can change and evolve over time.

Using material from the lectures, your reading and the web sites your objectives should be to identify:

  • The various dimensions to access and inequality described in the literature, e.g. 1st World vs 3rd World, rich vs poor, etc.
  • How the different models/frameworks covered earlier might be applied.
  • What the implications of your findings might be for the groups concerned.

Printed Texts:

  1. IT(1) - Information Technology: Social Issues. A Reader. Ed. Finnegan. R, Salaman. G and Thompson. K., The Open University/Hodder and Stoughton., 1994.
    • Chap 8, Telecommunication: Policy and Directions for the Technology and Information Services, W. H. Melody, pp 114 - 130.
    • Chap 11, Information Technology and the North South Divide, J. Bessant, pp 163 - 181.
    • Chap 13, Communications Satellites: A Third World Perspective, N. D. Jayaweera, pp 193 - 195.
  2. IT(2) - Information Technology and Society. A Reader. Ed Heap. N., Thomas. R., Einon. G. and MacKay. H., The Open University/Sage, 1994.
    • The patterns of Ownership of IT devices, H. MacKay, pp. 311 - 341.
  3. SIC -Chap 10 in Social Issues in Computing, Huff. C and Finholt. T, McGraw Hill, 1994, pp 351 - 414
  4. Chapter 1 - P. Palvia, P Shailendra and R. Zigli, Global Information Technology Environment: Key MIS Issues in Advanced and Less Developed Nations in P. Palvia, P Shailendra and R. Zigli (Eds), The Global Issues of Information Technology Management, Idea Group Publishing, 1992.
  5. Chapter 6 - R. Watson and J. Brancheau, Key Issues in Information Systems Management: An International Perspective. in Information Systems Research, (Ed) R. Galliers, Alfred Waller Ltd, 1992.
  6. R. Silverstone. Future imperfect: Media, Information and the Millennium. PICT Policy Research Paper No. 27, PICT, 1994
  7. "Advanced Information Technology and Political Communication," David L. Paletz (Cyberethics, 285-287)
  8. "Better Democracy through Technology," Brock N. Meeks (Cyberethics, 288-294)
  9. "Is the Global Information Infrastructure a Democratic Technology," Deborah G. Johnson (Cyberethics, 304-318)
  10. "Cyberlibertarian Myths and the Prospects for Community," Langdon Winner (Cyberethics, 319-331)
  11. "Liberty and Community Online," Barry Fagin (Cyberethics, 332-352)
  12. US v. Morris OR US v. Alkabaz OR Arizona v. Evans.

Editors’ Introduction to Global Information Ethics (pages 316–318)

  1. What is Moor’s influential definition of the field of computer ethics?
  2. According to Krystyna Górniak, the Internet has made possible an activity that could never have occurred before. What is this activity and why is it important?
  3. There are many thousands of laws around the globe – national laws, state laws, local laws. Each law has a specific jurisdiction where it applies. How has the Internet generated juristictional “policy vacuums” that are relevant to the field of computer ethics? Explain in general, then give a specific example.
  4. How does the Internet raise questions about offending someone? Give an example.
  5. How does “cyberbusiness” on the Internet raise questions about whose laws to enforce? Give an example.
  6. What is “new colonialism” and how might the Internet contribute to its existence and success?
  7. What is “cyber medicine” and what are some of the social and ethical questions that cyber medicine generates?
  8. What are some of the policy vacuums and global questions generated by education activities in cyberspace?

What are some of the democracy and human rights questions raised by “cyber education” (in the broadest sense of this term)?

 


 

 

 

Artificial Intelligence 

General AI

Artificial Intelligence: A Light Approach  references by Luciano Floridi  sections on

General Resources
The Philosophy of AI
Turing and His Test
Testing and Debugging
Genetic Algorithms
Computer Chess and Draughts/Checkers
Fuzzy Logic
Neural Networks
Connectionism
Parallel Computing
(Computational) Complexity
Quantum Computing
Expert Systems, Knowledge Engineering and Formal Ontologies
Robotics, Cybernetics and Artificial Agents
Artificial Life
 

Minds and Machines  Major Resource site by Peter Suber

What is Artificial Intelligence? An essay by John McCarthy, a founder of the field.

Cognitive Science, from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Artificial Intelligence, from Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1993.

Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence   Resources  by  Selmer Bringsjord

Chess Is Too Easy. An essay by Selmer Bringsjord.

Computing, Machinery, and Intelligence. Alan Turing's classic essay.

Conscious Machines. An essay by Marvin Minsky.

Daniel Dennett's Online Papers

The Further Exploits of AARON, Painter. An illustrated essay by Harold Cohen on AARON, his software painter. One of the few attempts to harness artificial intelligence to the tasks of art.

Minds, Machines, and Gödel. An essay by J.R. Lucas.

Philosophy and Cognitive Science. An essay by Serge Sharoff.

Technological Singularity. An essay by Vernor Vinge. Ignore the preface by John Klett.

Thinking Computers and Virtual Persons. A new anthology of essays on AI (and against Searle's Chinese Room argument), edited by Eric Dietrich. The site contains a table of contents and abstracts of the essays.

Robotics

Watch video (recommended) or read transcript of the listed presentations from 2000 conference, Will Spiritual Robots Replace Humanity by 2100?   http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_program.html?program_id=82

01. Douglas Hofstadter
Professor of Cognitive Science at Indiana, Author, Gödel, Escher, Bach

http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_play_stream.html?stream_id=256

02. Ray Kurzweil
Author, The Age of Spiritual Machines.

http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_play_stream.html?stream_id=257 

03. Bill Joy   Co-Founder, Chief Scientist, Sun Microsystems

http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_play_stream.html?stream_id=258 

04. Hans Moravec  (from 7:01 to end)
Pioneer of mobile robot research, Author, Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind.

http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_play_stream.html?stream_id=259 

05. John Holland
Inventor of genetic algorithms, artificial-life pioneer; Professor of CS and Psychology at the U. of Michigan.   http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_play_stream.html?stream_id=266 

06. Kevin Kelly   Editor-At-Large, Wired, Author, Out of Control, a study of bio-technological hybrids.  http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_play_stream.html?stream_id=267

07. Frank Drake  Chairman of the Board of Trustees, SETI Institute 

http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_play_stream.html?stream_id=268

08. Ralph Merkle   Principal Fellow, Zyvex, LLC, Recipient, 1998 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology for Theoretical Work

http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_play_stream.html?stream_id=269

09. John Koza  Consulting Professor (Medical Informatics), Stanford University. Inventor of genetic programming.

http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_play_stream.html?stream_id=270 

10. Panel Discussion   http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_play_stream.html?stream_id=271

11.  Audience Q&A    http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_play_stream.html?stream_id=273

Online papers on consciousness
The Structure of Cognition
Consciousness and Common Sense
SCIENCE'S LAST FRONTIERS: Consciousness, Life and Meaning
Godel's Theorems
Peter Suber, "Gödel's Proof"
Searle's Chinese Box
Peek at new book: ROBOT by Hans Moravec
Kismet:  A Sociable Robot
Starlogo: Programmable modelling environment
Kismet:  A Sociable Robot
KurzweilAI.Net

 The Singularity Vernor Vinge, "Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended."

The Law of Accelerating Returns Raymond Kurzweil,

"What Are We Thinking About?" Shirley Turkle:  (2000)

Why the future doesn't need us. Bill Joy,  Wired 8.04, April 2000

The Future According to Ray Kurzweil    Salkever: " (2000)
 
Why the Future Doesn't Need Us  Joy:  (2000)
 
Look Who's Talking   Rheingold 1999

Assimilation of the Machine  Mumford(1934)

Posthumanization and Cyberspace

Watch excerpts of  PBS: Beyond Human (2001)

Nanotechnology

NANOTECHNOLOGY  Resource site

There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom (1959)  Richard Feynman,
Nanotech's Dark Side Debated in the Aftershock of Sept. 11
National Nanotechnology Initiative

Sense of Self and Cyber space and AI

Cyberspace and the world we live in.in Body and Society -

Cybersociety: computer-mediated communication and community.

Psychology of Cyberspace - Gender Swapping and Psychology of Cyberspace - Psychology of Avatars from John Suler

Computers and the Communication of Gender by Elizabeth Lane Lawley

Technologies of the Self  by Alan Aycock

Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community by Judith Donath

 Identity and the Cyborg Body Chapter Three of Elizabeth Reid's thesis Cultural Formations in Text-Based Virtual Realities

Construction of the Discourse of Virtual Reality, 1984-1992   Colonizing Virtual Reality -

Will the Real Body Please Stand Up? by Rosanne Stone

Searle's Chinese Room Argument against Strong-AI

Bibliographies on Artificial Intelligence

http://liinwww.ira.uka.de/bibliography/Ai/index.html

Societies and Organizations

OFAI Library Information System Biblio, searchable database containing data on books, research papers, conference papers, journal articles from many subareas of Artificial Intelligence. 

American Association for Artificial Intelligence.

MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratory at Iowa State University.

 

 

 

 

 

Course Evaluation