Ethics for the Computer AGe Chapter 3

MILL'S PRINCIPLE OF HARM

"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant." [51, p. 12] In other words, the government should not get involved in the private activities of individuals, even if the individuals are doing something to harm themselves. Only if individuals' activities are harming other people should the government step in.

9. What is a PC bang?

A PC bang is a Korean cybercafe in which people play persisitent, on-line games.

8. What is a blog?

A blog is a personal diary or journal kept on the web. The journal may contain text, photos, or videos.

5. What does a spam filter do?

A spa, filter attempts to keep spam from reaching someones mailbox by identifying and discarding( or routing to a special folder) emails that appear to be spam.

15. What is a Web filter?

A web filter is a piece of software that prevents web browsers from displaying certain pages, presumably because they have objectionable content.

7. What is a wiki?

A wiki is a collaborative web site that allows multiple people to create and edit the contents of the site using Web Browsers.

KANTIAN ANALYSIS

According to the second formulation of the Categorical Imperative, we should always respect the autonomy of other people, treating them as ends in themselves and never only as the means to an end.

SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY ANALYSIS

Acme Corporation does not have a prohibition against using the company's email system for personal business. You could say that by sending out her email solicitation, Ann was exercising her right to free speech.

6. What is a URL?

An url is a Uniform Resource Locator. every Web page has a unique URL enabling hyperlinks to be set up between arbitrary pages.

PC bangs

Another hub of persistent online gaming is South Korea. Cybercafes (called PC bangs in South Korea) have large-screen monitors enabling spectators to watch the gameplay, which is full of virtual violence and mayhem.

KANT'S VIEWS ON CENSORSHIP

As a thinker in the tradition of the Enlightenment, Kant's motto was, "Have courage to use your own reason" [50]. Kant asks the rhetorical question, "Why don't people think for themselves?" and answers it: "Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why so great a portion of mankind, after nature has long since discharged them from external direction, nevertheless remain under lifelong tutelage, and why it is so easy for others to set themselves up as their guardians. It is so easy not to be of age.

19. Define cyberbullying in your own words.

Bullying via the internet

FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

17. What is the leading form of identity theft in the United States?

Credit card fraud

phishing

Gathering financial information via spam

VIRTUE ETHICS ANALYSIS

Good coworkers exhibit many virtues, including honesty, dependability, fairness, friendliness, and respect for coworkers. Three that seem particularly important for this case study are honesty, fairness, and respect. Ann demonstrated honesty by being completely straightforward about the Girl Scout cookie drive with her fellow employees.

12. Summarize the different forms of direct censorship.

Government monopolization. Pre-publication review and licensing and registration. Government monopolization means the government owns all the media outlets. pre-publication review means the government must approve information before it is disseminated. Licencing and registration means a news organization must get a liscense from the government before operating. It is used for media with limited bandwidth, such as radio and televison.

2. Explain the meaning of the two parts of an email address.

The first part of an email is the identification of a user. The second part identifies the domain name.

1. What is the Internet?

The inteenet is a network of computer networks that uses two protocols, collectively known as TCP/IP, to control the exchange of data.

14. What characteristics of the Internet make censorship difficult?

The internet has too much information..more than television and radio. It supports many-to many communication. The internet is dynamic. Milliion s of computers are being added to the internet yearly The Web is hug, containing billions of pages. The internet is global. Laws passes in one nation may have no effect outside that nations border.

13. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, why do broadcasters have the most limited First Ammendment rights?

This is because they have a pervasive presence. they beam signals into the privacy of the home. SInce people can turn on radios and televisons and also turn them off, they may turn a device on in the middle of the show. That menas that warinings at the start of a show are less effective than a warning at the front of a newspaper or magazine article. Also, broadcasting is acessible to children even those too young ot read. restricting the access of children to radio or television is more difficult than restricting access to adult magazines or books.

21. What is the Enlightenment view regarding responsibility for addiction?

This is that people are responsible for the decisions they make about what they put into their bodies. thereofr the responsibility for a person becoming addicted rests with the addict him/her self.

20. How does the idea of "Internet addiction" stretch the traditional concept of addiction?

Traditonal addiction focuses on misuse of a chemical substance or drug.

tweets

Twitter is a Web-based social networking service that allows its users to send out text messages

3. Describe how email is transmitted from the sender to the recipient.

Unless the message is short the mail server divides the message into packets. The message sent from the mail server through zero or more intermediate routers to the mail server of the person to whom you are sending the email. The destination email server reassembles the message from the packets(if necessary) and transmits the message to the intended recipeient.

ACT UTILITARIAN ANALYSIS

We will do our evaluation in terms of dollars and cents, quantifying the benefits and costs of Ann's action. Let's begin with the benefits. A box of cookies costs $4 and provides $3 of profit to the Girl Scouts. The principal harm is going to be the time wasted by Acme's employees.

RULE UTILITARIAN ANALYSIS

What would be the consequences if everyone used the company email system to solicit donations to their favorite causes? All the employees would receive many more messages unrelated to business.

11. Define censorship in your own words.

When a person or organization pervents another person or organization from expressing their opinion.

Self-Censorship

a group deciding for itself not to publish material. In some countries a publisher may censor itself in order to avoid persecution.

skimmer

a small, battery-powered credit card reader.

crowdsourcing

an online method of getting information or ideas from a large group of people. Example: People who load the Waze app onto their smartphones and allow this app to run while they are driving automatically send their car's GPS coordinates toWaze, which can compute the vehicle speeds and then send information about traffic congestion back to Waze users

online game

is a game played on a computer network that supports the simultaneous participation of multiple players.

Instant messaging

is a real-time communication between two or more people supported by computers and a telecommunications system.

persistent online game

is an online game in which each player assumes the role of a character in a virtual world and the attributes of the character and the world persist beyond a single gaming session.

chat room

is similar to instant messaging, except that it supports discussions among many people.

Censorship

is the attempt to suppress or regulate public access to material considered offensive or harmful.

Cyberbullying

is the use of the Internet or the phone system to inflict psychological harm on another person.

dumpster diving

looking for personal information in garbage cans or recycling bins. Old bills, bank statements, and credit card statements contain a wealth of personal information, including names, addresses, and account numbers.

shoulder surfing

looking over the shoulders of people filling out forms

prior restraints

meant freedom to print without a license. People could publish what they pleased. However, those who published material found to be seditious or libelous would face severe consequences [52].

Web 2.0

refer to a change in the way people use the Web.

16. What is sexting?

sending emails or text messgaes that are sexually suggestive . often this involves nude photos.

mobile apps

software programs that are loaded onto mobile devices. Some mobile apps are standalone programs, but others connect to the Internet, allowing people to download and upload data.

identity theft

the misuse of another person's identity, such as name, Social Security number, driver's license, credit card numbers, and bank account numbers. The objective is to take actions permitted to the owner of the identity, such as withdraw funds, transfer money, charge purchases, get access to information, or issue documents and letters under the victim's identity" [71].

MILL'S VIEWS ON CENSORSHIP

John Stuart Mill also championed freedom of expression. He gave four reasons why freedom of opinion, and freedom of expression of opinion, were necessary. First, none of us is infallible. All of us are capable of error. If we prevent someone from voicing their opinion, we may actually be silencing the voice of truth. Second, while the opinion expressed by someone may be erroneous, it may yet contain a kernel of truth. In general, the majority opinion is not the whole truth. We ought to let all opinions be voiced so that all parts of the truth are heard. Third, even if the majority opinion should happen to be the whole truth, it is in the clash of ideas that this truth is rationally tested and validated. The whole truth left untested is simply a prejudice. Fourth, an opinion that has been tested in the fire of a free and open discourse is more likely to have a "vital effect on the character and conduct" [51, p. 61].

18. What is phishing?

Phishing is a form of spamming in which emaul messages are degined to trick victims into revealing sensitive financial information.

10. Describe five uses of theWeb not covered in the text.

Selling stuff, seek medical information, learn about weather, find out about traffic conditions, get directions before driving

4. What is spam?

Spam is unsolicited bulk email.