Chapter 1: Unwrapping the Gift

Chapter 1: Unwrapping the Gift

•Rapid Pace of Change

•New Developments and Dramatic Impacts

•Issues and Themes

•Ethics

Rapid Pace of Change

•1940s: The first computer is built

•1956: First hard-disk drive weighed a ton and stored five megabytes

•1991: Space shuttle had a one-megahertz computer

•2006: Pocket devices hold a terabyte (one trillion bytes) of data

•2006: Automobiles can have 100-megahertz computers

•What devices are now computerized that were not originally? Think back 10, 20, 50 years ago.

In addition to automobiles you can prompt the class with the following:

•TVs

•Clocks and watches

•Phones

•Cash registers

•Cameras

•Ovens

•Etc.

New Developments

Blogs (Word made up from ‘web log’):

•Began as outlets for amateurs who want to express ideas or creativity

•Appealing because present personal views, are funny and creative, and present a quirky perspective on current events

•Now used as alternatives to mainstream news and for business public relations

•Popular blogs have 100,000 to 500,000 readers per day and can peak at several million views per day

Video Sharing:

•Rise of amateur videos on the web

•Boom of websites like Youtube and Myspace

•Many videos on the web can infringe copyrights owned by entertainment companies

Cell Phones:

•Can now be used for travel, last minute planning, taking pictures and downloading music

•Talking on cell phones while driving is a problem

•Cell phones can interfere with privacy, quiet and concentration

•Cameras in cell phones and privacy issues

Some states have passed laws prohibiting use of hand-held devices. Recent studies show hands-free devices, while freeing up the hands, do not reduce distractions, particularly among young adult and teenage drivers who often text message while driving.

Cameras in cell phones threaten privacy. Where is the line between capturing news events and evidence of crimes, and voyeurism?

Social Networking:

•First online social networking site was in 1995

•Myspace, founded in 2003 had roughly 100 million member profiles by 2006

•Facebook was started at Harvard as an online version of student directories

Sites like Second Life ( combine many of the features of social networking sites with the 3-D aspects of video games. What new problems/benefits arise when a person can take on a physical persona (an avatar) that may be completely different from who they are in real life? Some people with physical disabilities can interact with others without revealing their handicap.

Collaboration:

•Wikipedia, the online, collaborative encyclopedia

•Open Directory Project (ODP)

•Collaboration between scientists in different states or countries

•Watch-dogs on the Web

Wikipedia’s reliability was brought into question when a major contributor was found to be a 14 year-old boy instead of a scientist with a PhD and years of experience. He got most of his information from other Web sources.

Web Watch-dog sites are controversial. A web site where a woman can publish the names and pictures of men who other women should watch out for has made the news recently.

E-commerce and Free Stuff:

•Free stuff on the web: email, books, newspapers, games, etc.

• started in 1994 and 10 years later annual sales reached $8.5 billion

•TV show episode are available to view on the Web

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and Motion:

•AI suited to narrow, specialized skills

•Robotic devices often special-purpose devices, and may require AI to function

•Motion sensing devices are used to give robots the ability to walk, trigger airbags in a crash and cushion laptops when dropped

Tools for Disabled People:

•Restoration of abilities, productivity and independence

•Screen readers and scanners

•Speech recognition

•Prosthetics and motion sensors

What’s next?

•Medical records on chips attached to medical bracelets

•Biological and computer sciences will combine new ways to insert micro-processors or controlled devices on human bodies

New Developments Discussion Question

•What changes and new developments do you expect in the next 50 years?

•How will life be different than it is today?

Some ideas to add to the discussion:

•Wearable computers

•Enhanced intelligence (via instant communications and/or direct computer interface)

Issues and Themes

Issues:

•Unemployment

•Alienation and customer service

•Crime

•Loss of privacy

•Errors

Themes:

•Old problems in a new context: crime, pornography, and violent

•Adapting to new technology: thinking in a new way

•Varied sources of solutions to problems: natural part of change and life

•Global reach of net: ease of communication with distant countries

•Trade-offs and controversy: increasing security means reducing convenience

•Difference between personal choices, business policies, and law

Ethics

What is Ethics?

•Study of what it means to “do the right thing”

•Assumes people are rational and make free choices

•Rules to follow in our interactions and our actions that affect others

Ethical Views:

•Deontological

•Utilitarianism

•Natural rights

•No simple answers

–Do organizations (businesses) have ethics?

Important Distinctions:

•Right, wrong and okay

•Negative rights (liberties)

–The right to act without interference

•Positive rights (claim-rights)

–An obligation of some people to provide certain things for others

•Difference between wrong and harm

•Personal preference and ethics

•Law and Ethics

Ethics Discussion Question

•Can you think of examples of liberties (negative rights) and claim-rights (positive rights) that are at opposition to each other?

This question is the foundation for many issues and controversies discussed in later chapters. One example you can introduce here is the right to freedom of speech versus the need to protect children from materials that are inappropriate for them. Have the class identify who the affected parties are. What are the negative and positive rights for the different parties? Note: the laws pertaining to this issue are discussed in chapter three.

Chapter 2: Privacy

•Privacy and Computer Technology

•“Big Brother is Watching You”

•Privacy Topics

•Protecting Privacy

•Communications

Privacy and Computer Technology

Key Aspects of Privacy:

•Freedom from intrusion (being left alone)

•Control of information about oneself

•Freedom from surveillance (being tracked, followed, watched)

New Technology, New Risks:

•Government and private databases

•Sophisticated tools for surveillance and data analysis

•Vulnerability of data

Terminology:

•Invisible information gathering - collection of personal information about someone without the person’s knowledge

•Secondary use - use of personal information for a purpose other than the one it was provided for

•Data mining - searching and analyzing masses of data to find patterns and develop new information or knowledge

•Computer matching - combining and comparing information from different databases (using social security number, for example, to match records)

•Computer profiling - analyzing data in computer files to determine characteristics of people most likely to engage in certain behavior

Principles for Data Collection and Use:

•Informed consent

•Opt-in and opt-out policies

•Fair Information Principles (or Practices)

•Data retention

Privacy and Computer Technology Discussion Questions

•Have you seen opt-in and opt-out choices? Where? How were they worded?

•Were any of them deceptive?

•What are some common elements of privacy policies you have read?

If the class doesn't mention it, make sure to mention that online opt-in choices may be pre-checked and require you un-checking the box to avoid opting in.

Be sure to mention the "subject to change without notice" clause found in most privacy policies.

"Big Brother is Watching You"

Databases:

•Government Accountability Office (GAO) - monitors government's privacy policies

•Burden of proof and "fishing expeditions"

•Data mining and computer matching to fight terrorism

The Fourth Amendment, Expectation of Privacy and Surveillance Technologies:

•Weakening the Fourth Amendment

•Supreme Court decisions and expectation of privacy

–Modern surveillance techniques are redefining expectation of privacy

•The USA Patriot Act and national security letters

–No court order or court oversight needed

–2003-2005 report found "widespread and serious misuse" of the FBIs national security letter authorities

Video Surveillance:

•Security cameras

–Increased security

–Decreased privacy

"Big Brother is Watching You" Discussion Questions

•What data does the government have about you?

•Who has access to the data?

•How is your data protected?

Use the list in Fig. 2.2 (page 58) to start the conversation. Probe for what concerns the class may have about the data that is collected.

Diverse Privacy Topics

Marketing, Personalization and Consumer Dossiers:

•Targeted marketing

–Data mining

–Paying for consumer information

–Data firms and consumer profiles

•Credit records

Location Tracking:

•Global Positioning Systems (GPS) -computer or communication services that know exactly where a person is at a particular time

•Cell phones and other devices are used for location tracking

Stolen and Lost Data:

•Hackers

•Physical theft (laptops, thumb-drives, etc.)

•Requesting information under false pretenses

•Bribery of employees who have access

Except for hackers, these are not new to computer technology. Before computers, files were stolen, receipts were stolen, information was requested under false pretenses and employees were bribed. But, with computers, the extent and impact have grown.

What We Do Ourselves:

•Personal information in blogs and online profiles

•Pictures of ourselves and our families

•File sharing and storing

•Is privacy old-fashioned?

–Young people put less value on privacy than previous generations

–May not understand the risks

Public Records: Access vs. Privacy:

•Public Records - records available to general public (bankruptcy, property, and arrest records, salaries of government employees, etc.)

•Identity theft can arise when public records are accessed

•How should we control access to sensitive public records?

National ID System:

•Social Security Numbers

–Too widely used

–Easy to falsify

•A new national ID system - Pros

–would require the card

–harder to forge

–have to carry only one card

•A new national ID system - Cons

–Threat to freedom and privacy

–Increased potential for abuse

Children:

•The Internet

–Not able to make decisions on when to provide information

–Vulnerable to online predators

•Parental monitoring

–Software to monitor Web usage

–Web cams to monitor children while parents are at work

–GPS tracking via cell phones or RFID

Diverse Privacy Topics Discussion Questions

•Is there information that you have posted to the Web that you later removed? Why did you remove it? Were there consequences to posting the information?

•Have you seen information that others have posted about themselves that you would not reveal about yourself?

Protecting Privacy

Technology and Markets:

•Privacy enhancing-technologies for consumers

•Encryption

–Public-key cryptography

•Business tools and policies for protecting data

Rights and laws:

•Theories

–Warren and Brandeis

–Thomson

•Transactions

•Ownership of personal data

•Regulation

–Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Rights and laws: Contrasting Viewpoints:

•Free Market View

–Freedom of consumers to make voluntary agreements

–Diversity of individual tastes and values

–Response of the market to consumer preferences

–Usefulness of contracts

–Flaws of regulatory solutions

•Consumer Protection View

–Uses of personal information

–Costly and disruptive results of errors in databases

–Ease with which personal information leaks out

–Consumers need protection from their own lack of knowledge, judgment, or interest

Privacy Regulations in the European Union (EU):

•Data Protection Directive

–More strict than U.S. regulations

–Abuses still occur

–Puts requirements on businesses outside the EU

Protecting Privacy Discussion Question

•How would the free-market view and the consumer protection view differ on errors in Credit Bureau databases?

•Who is the consumer in this situation?

Communication

Wiretapping and E-mail Protection:

•Telephone

–1934 Communications Act prohibited interception of messages

–1968 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act allowed wiretapping and electronic surveillance by law-enforcement (with court order)

•E-mail and other new communications

–Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) extended the 1968 wiretapping laws to include electronic communications, restricts government access to e-mail

The meaning of pen register has changed over time. It originally referred to a device that recorded the numbers called from a phone. Now it also refers to logs phone companies keep of all numbers called, including time and duration.

Designing Communications Systems for Interception:

•Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA)

–Telecommunications equipment must be designed to ensure government can intercept telephone calls

–Rules and requirements written by Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Secret Intelligence Gathering:

•The National Security Agency (NSA)

–Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) established oversight rules for the NSA

•Secret access to communications records

Encryption Policy:

•Government ban on export of strong encryption software in the 1990s (removed in 2000)

•Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)

Communication Discussion Questions

•What types of communication exist today that did not exist in 1968 when wiretapping was finally approved for law-enforcement agencies?

•What type of electronic communications do you use on a regular basis?

Chapter 3: Freedom of Speech

•Changing Communication Paradigms

•Controlling Offensive Speech

•Censorship on the Global Net

•Political Campaign Regulations in Cyberspace

•Anonymity

•Protecting Access and Innovation: Net Neutrality or De-regulation?

Changing Communication Paradigms

Regulating Communications Media:

•First Amendment protection and government regulation

–Print media (newspapers, magazines, books)

–Broadcast (television, radio)

–Common carries (telephones, postal system)

Print:

-Has strongest first amendment protection

-Trend toward fewer government restraints on printed words

Broadcast:

-Government regulates structure of industry and content of programs

-Government grants broadcast licenses

-Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is the regulating body

Common carriers:

-Provide medium of communication and make service available to everyone

Telecommunication Act of 1996:

•Changed regulatory structure and removed artificial legal divisions of service areas and restrictions on services that telephone companies can provide

•No provider or user of interactive computer service shall be treated as a publisher of any information provided by another information- content provider

Free-speech Principles:

•Written for offensive and/or controversial speech and ideas

•Restriction on the power of government, not individuals or private businesses

•Supreme Court principles and guidelines

•Advocating illegal acts is legal

•Does not protect libel and direct, specific threats

•Inciting violence is illegal

•Allows some restrictions on advertising

•Protect anonymous speech

Controlling Offensive Speech

What is it? What is illegal?

•Answer depends on who you are

•Many efforts to censor the Internet with a focus on child pornography or sexually explicit material

What was already illegal?

•Obscenity

–Depicts a sexual act against state law

–Depicts these acts in a patently offensive manner that appeals to prurient interest as judged by a reasonable person using community standards

–Lacks literary, artistic, social, political or scientific value

Internet Censorship Laws & Alternatives:

•Communication Decency Act (CDA)

–Federal judge stated that the Internet is the most participatory form of mass communication

–Attempted to avoid conflict with first amendment by focusing on children

–The Internet deserves the highest protection from government intrusion

–Found to be unconstitutional:

•The worst material threatening children was already illegal

•It was too vague and broad

•It did not use the least restrictive means of accomplishing the goal of protecting children

•Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA):

–Federal crime for commercial web sites to make available to minors harmful material by FCC standards

–Found to be unconstitutional:

•Government did not show that COPA was necessary to protect children

•Child Online Protection Commission concluded that less restrictive means, filtering, was superior to COPA

•Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000 (CIPA):

–Requires schools and libraries that participate in certain federal programs to install filtering software

–Upheld in court:

•Does not violate First Amendment since it does not require the use of filters, impose jail or fines

•It sets a condition for receipt of certain federal funds

•Filters

–Blocks sites with specific words, phrases or images

–Parental control for sex and violence

–Updated frequently but may still screen out too much or too little

–Not possible to eliminate all errors

–What should be blocked?

Spam:

•What’s the problem?

–Loosely described as unsolicited bulk email

–Mostly commercial advertisement

–Angers people because content and the way it’s sent

•Free speech issues

–Spam imposes a cost on others not protected by free speech

–Spam filters do not violate free speech (free speech does not require anyone to listen)

•Anti-spam Laws

–Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM Act)

–Targets commercial spam

–Criticized for not banning all spam, legitimized commercial spam

Controlling Offensive Speech Discussion Questions

•Why is ‘least restrictive means’ important?

•Do you consider the Internet an appropriate tool for young children? Why or why not?

Censorship on the Global Net

Global Impact of Censorship

•Global nature of the Internet protects against censorship (banned in one country, move to another)

•May impose more restrictive censorship (block everything in an attempt to block one thing)

•Yahoo and French censorship

–Yahoo, eBay and others make decisions to comply with foreign laws for business reasons