Computer Ethics Exam 2
First Amendment in its ENTIRETY
"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 redress of grievances." First Amendment, U.S. Constitution
DNC emails
- 2016 presidential elections - released by WikiLeaks - 10s of thousands of emails hacked from DNC and email account of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta - emails showed DNC worked to undermine Bernie - govt blamed the hack on Russia
Warez
- unauthorized copies of software - often traded on computer bulletin boards
Sexting
-Sending sexually suggestive or explicit text or photos, usually by cellphone or social media -Can meet the definition of child pornography if subject is under 18
Intellectual Property
-The intangible creative work, not its particular physical form -Value of intelligence and artistic work comes from creativity, ideas, research, skills, labor, nonmaterial efforts and attributes the creator provides -Protected by copyright and patent law
3-part guideline established in Miller v. California to determine if something is obscene under law
1. Depicts sexual or excretory acts whose depiction is specifically prohibited by state law 2. Depicts these acts in an offensive way, appealing to prurient interested as judged by a reasonable person using community standards 3. Has no serious literary, artistic, social, political or scientific value
Decoys
Damaged music files put on file-sharing sites to discourage piracy
Issues with Miller v. California
Definition of "community" and "distribution"
One of the reasons the court ruled against Napster was:
It knowingly encouraged and assisted in the infringement of copyrights
Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act
Passed by Congress in 2003 and classified as child porn a computer-generated image that is, or indistinguishable from, that of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct
Climategate
The controversy surrounding leaked e-mails from a climate research centre at the University of East Anglia, just weeks prior to the Copenhagen Summit, which appeared, incorrectly, to suggest that researchers had manipulated their data to make climate change appear more severe
Denial-of-Service (DOS) is defined as which of the following?
an attack in which hackers overload a target site with requests for information
Which of the following is not a way for software to be protected against copyright infringement?
make all software free
Butler v. Michigan (1957)
struck down a Michigan Law that made it illegal to sell material that might be damaging to children and Justice Frankfurter wrote that the state mustn't reduce the population of MI to reading only what is okay for children
History on Copyright
- 1790 first copyright law passed - 1909 Copyright Act of 1909 defined an unauthorized copy as a form that could be seen and read visually - 1976 and 1980 copyright law revised to include software and databases that exhibit "authorship" (original expression of ideas), included the "Fair Use Doctrine" - 1982 high-volume copying became a felony - 1992 making multiple copies for commercial advantage and private gain became a felony - 1997 No Electronic Theft Act made it a felony to willfully infringe copyright by reproducing or distributing one or more copies of copyrighted work with a total value of more than $1,000 within a six-month period - 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibits making, distributing or using tools to circumvent technological copyright protection systems and included protection from some copyright lawsuits for Web sites where users post material - 2005 Congress made it a felony to record a movie in a movie theater
Supreme Court free-speech principals
- Advocating illegal acts is (usually) legal. - Anonymous speech is protected. - Some restrictions are allowed on advertising - Libel and direct, specific threats are not protected. - Inciting violence is illegal.
Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA)
- Attempted to avoid conflict with First Amendment by focusing on children - Made it a crime to make available to anyone under 18 any obscene or indecent communication -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
Problems of technology's impact on intellectual property rights looks different from different perspectives
- Consumers who get music and movies online want them cheaply and conveniently - Artists, actors and writers and the people that work in production marketing and management want to ensure that they get paid for their time and efforts - Entertainment industry, publishers and software companies want to protect their investment and expected revenue - Millions who post amateur works using the works of others want to continue to create without unreasonably burdensome requirements and threats of lawsuits - Scholars and various advocates want to protect intellectual property but also protect fair use, reasonable public access, and the opportunity to use new technology to provide new services and creative work
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
Ethical arguments about copying
- Copying or distributing a song or computer program does not decrease the use and enjoyment any other person gets from his or her copy. - Copying can decrease the amount of money that the copyright owner earns. - Copying enables users to try out products, benefiting the copyright owner by encouraging sales. - Businesses and organizations should make their own decisions about marketing products, not consumers who want free samples. - Fair use guidelines are useful ethical guidelines. - There are many arguments for and against unauthorized copying.
Uses that might qualify as fair use
- Criticism - Comment - News reporting - Teaching - Scholarship - Research
Obscenity (already illegal)
- 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
Challenges of New Technology
- Digital technology and the Internet make copyright infringement easier and cheaper. - New compression technologies make copying large files (e.g. graphics, video and audio files) feasible. - Search engines make finding material easier. - Peer-to-peer technology makes transferring and sharing files easier - Broadband connections make transferring files easier and enable streaming video. - Miniaturization of cameras and other equipment enable audience members to record and transmit events. - Scanners allow us to change the media of a copyrighted work, converting printed text, photos, and artwork to electronic form. - New tools allow us to modify graphics, video and audio files to make derivative works.
Freedom of speech guidelines (used by courts to determine constitutionality of censorship laws)
- Distinguish speech from action. Advocating illegal acts is (usually) legal. - Laws must not chill expression of legal speech. - Do not reduce adults to reading only what is fit for children. - Solve speech problems by least restrictive means.
Responses from the Content Industries (Ideas from the software industries)
- Expiration dates within the software - Dongles (a device that must be plugged into a computer port) - Copy protection that prevents copying - Activation or registration codes - Court orders to shut down Internet bulletin boards and Web sites
Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996
- Passed by Congress - First major Internet censorship law; made it a crime to make any obscene/indecent communication available to those under 18 -Opponents said that CDA violated Justice Frankfurter's dictum - Main parts ruled unconstitutional in ACLU v. Janet Reno, which suggests that the government should have little to say about content on the internet
Fair Use Doctrine
- Promotes freedom of expression by permitting unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances - Four factors considered 1. Purpose and nature of use - commercial (less likely) or nonprofit/educational purposes; whether it transforms the copied work to something new or simply reproduces it 2. Nature of the copyrighted work (use of creative work is less likely than factual work to be fair use) 3. Amount and significance of portion used 4. Effect of use on potential market or value of the copyright work (will it reduce sales of work?) - No single factor alone determines - Not all factors given equal weight, varies by circumstance
Positive uses of anonymity
- Protect political speech -Protect against retaliation and embarrassment
Shutting down communications in free countries
- Public safety - In the U.S., the Supreme Court would probably declare unconstitutional a law that authorized a government agency to order a private communications service to shut down.
"Look and feel"
- Refers to features such as pull-down menus, windows, icons, and finger movements and specific ways they are used to select or initiate actions - Reflects major creative effort by programmers - Menu commands are a method of operation explicitly excluded from copyright protection. They are like the controls of a car, the court said. - Trend of court decisions has been against copyright protection for look and feel - Main argument in favor of protecting user interface is that it is a major creative effort. On the other hand, standard user interfaces increase productivity of users and programmers
Reverse engineering: game machines
- Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Accolade Inc. (1992) - Atari Games v. Nintendo (1992) - Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. v. Connectix Corporation (2000) - Courts ruled that reverse engineering does not violate copyright if the intention is to make new creative works (video games), not copy the original work (the game systems)
Sony v. Universal City Studios (1984)
- Supreme Court decided that the makers of a device with legitimate uses should not be penalized because some people may use it to infringe on copyright - Supreme Court decided copying movies for later viewing was fair use -Arguments against fair use - People copied the entire work - Movies are creative, not factual - Arguments for fair use - The copy was for private, noncommercial use and generally was not kept after viewing - The movie studios could not demonstrate that they suffered any harm - The studios had received a substantial fee for broadcasting movies on TV, and the fee depends on having a large audience who view for free
U.S copyright Law (Title 17 of U.S. Code) gives copyright holder following exclusive rights:
- To make copies - To produce derivative works, such as translations into other languages or movies based on books - To distribute copies - To perform the work in public (e.g. music, plays) - To display the work in public (e.g. artwork, movies, computer games, video on a Web site)
Leaks
- Type of material - Value to society - Risks to society and individuals Examples -WikiLeaks -Climategate Potentially dangerous leaks: Releasing a huge mass of documents -Responsibilities of operators of Web sites for leaks
Free-speech Principles
- Written for offensive and/or controversial speech and ideas - Covers spoken and written words, pictures, art, and other forms of expression of ideas and opinions - Restriction on the power of government, not individuals or private businesses
Chelsea Manning
- a United States Army soldier who was convicted in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after releasing the largest set of classified documents ever leaked to the public - military and diplomatic documents related to wars in Iran and Afghanistan
Public Domain
- creative work that's not copyrighted and thus anyone may freely copy and use it - becomes public domain once copyright expires
Reverse Engineering
- figuring out how a product works usually by taking it apart - often involves taking apart a competitor's product, analyzing it, and creating an improved product that does not infringe on the competitor's patents, if any exist
Edward Snowden
- former NSA employee who leaked secret documents about US surveillance - showed the extent to which NSA was spying on citizens of US and other countries - organization founded by retired CIA officer gave him an integrity award; US govt indited him for espionage
Mossack Fonseca
- hacker obtained over 11 million documents from the Panamanian law firm (called "Panama Papers" or "Mossack Fonseca papers") - documents showed that the firm helped people (inc. heads of state and political officials from dozens of countries) create offshore companies to store/invest large amounts of money
expanded scope of piracy
- high-volume, unauthorized copying of any form of intellectual property - individuals posting unauthorized files to legitimate file-sharing sites - underground groups trading unauthorized copies
Oracle America v. Google
- judge said APIs (application programmers interface) were not copyrightable because no system of method of operation is copyrightable - US Federal Appeals Court decided there's enough original creativity in APIs to make them copyrightable - disturbed many programmers because implementing APIs is a widespread practice - jury in 2016 determined that Google's use of Java's APIs was fair use
Negative uses of anonymity
- protects criminal and antisocial activities - aids fraud, harassment, extortion, distribution of child pornography, theft, and copyright infringement - masks illegal surveillance by government agencies
Video Games
-A California law banned sale or rental of violent video games to minors. - In 2011, the Supreme Court of California ruled it violated the First Amendment.
Tools for communication, tools for oppression
-Authoritarian governments have impeded flow of information and opinion throughout history. -The vibrant communication of the Internet threatens governments in countries that lack political and cultural freedom. -Attempts to limit the flow of information on the Internet similar to earlier attempts to place limits on other communications media -Some countries own the Internet backbone within their countries and block specific sites and content at the border - Some countries ban all or certain types of access to the Internet
Filters (alternative to censorship)
-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
Policies (alternative to censorship)
-Commercial services, online communities, and social networking sites develop policies to protect members. - Video game industry developed rating system that provides an indication for parents about the amount of sex, profanity, and violence in a game.
Anonimity
-Common Sense and Federalist Papers -the condition of being anonymous.
Aiding foreign censors and repressive regimes
-Companies who do business in countries that control Internet access must comply with the local laws -Google argued that some access is better than no access -Chinese government requires modified version of Skype -Yahoo, eBay and others make decisions to comply with foreign laws for business reasons
Which of the following is an exclusive right (subject to some exceptions) granted by copyright law?
-Distribute the work -Copy the work -Create "derivative works" • To make copies of the work • To produce derivative works such as translations into other languages or movies based on books • To distribute copies • To perform the work in public (e.g., music and plays) • To display the work in public (e.g, artwork, movies, computer games, and videos on a website)
In the term "Free Software", "free" implies all of the following
-Free to copy -Freedom -Free to modify
Child Pornography
-Includes pictures or videos of actual minors (children under 18) engaged in sexually explicit conduct. -Production is illegal primarily because of abuse of the actual children, not because of the impact of the content on a viewer. -Congress extended the law against child pornography to include "virtual" child pornography in the 1996 Child Pornography Prevention Act -The Supreme Court ruled the law violated the First Amendment. -The Court accepted a later law providing harsh penalties for certain categories of computer- generated and cartoon-type images.
Spam
-Loosely described as unsolicited bulk email -Mostly commercial advertisement -Angers people because of content and the way it's sent - Spam imposes a cost on recipients - Spam filters do not violate free speech (free speech does not require anyone to listen)
Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA)
-More limited than CDA -Federal crime for commercial Web sites to make available to minors material "harmful to minors" as judged by community standards -Found to be unconstitutional - It was too broad - It would restrict the entire country to the standards of the most conservative community -Requirement that adults provide ID before viewing material unsuitable for children would be an unconstitutional chilling effect on free speech
Who does the 1st Amendment protect?
-Print media (newspapers, magazines, books) -Broadcast (television, radio) -Common carriers (telephones, postal system)
There are four factors to consider in deciding whether a use of copyrighted material is a fair use:
-Purpose and nature of use -The amount and significance of the portion used -The nature of the copyrighted work -The effect of the use on potential market for or value of the copyrighted work 1. The purpose and nature of the use, for example, whether it is for commercial or educational purposes (commercial use is less likely to be fair use) or whether it transforms the copied work to something new or simply reproduces it 2. The nature of the copyrighted work (use of creative work, such as a novel, is less likely than use of factual work to be fair use 3. The size and significance of the portion used 4. The effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work (uses that reduce sales of the original work are less likely to be considered fair use)
Net Neutrality
-Refers to a variety of proposals for restrictions on how telephone and cable companies interact with their broadband customers and set fees for services. -Net Neutrality: Argue for equal treatment of all customers -Market: Flexibility and market incentives will benefit customers
Selling surveillance tools
-Repressive governments intercept citizens' communications and filter Internet content. -Companies in Western democracies sell them the sophisticated tools to do so.
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
Telecommunication Act of 1996
-Significantly revised 1934 Act -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 services shall be treated as a publisher of any information provided by another information content provider.
The legal guidelines for determining whether material is obscene include all of the following
-the material is patently offensive according to contemporary community standards -the material has no serious artistic, literary, social, political, or scientific value -the material depicts particular sexual (or excretory) acts specified by state law
3 Key Points about A1
1. A1 was written for the protection of offensive and/or controversial speech and ideas. After all, there is no need to protect speech and publication that no one objects to. 2. A1 covers spoken and written word, pictures, art and other forms of expression of ideas and opinions 3. A1 is a restriction on the power of the government, not on individuals or private businesses, so rejection or editing by a publisher is not a violation of the writer's first amendment rights Basically, you can say what you want, but that doesn't mean people have to like it. It does, however, mean that the government cannot restrict what you say.
Miller v. California
A 1973 Supreme Court decision that avoided defining obscenity by holding that community standards be used to determine whether material is obscene in terms of appealing to a "prurient interest" and being "patently offensive" and lacking in value Application of community standards was a compromise intended to avoid the problem of setting a nationwide standard for obscenity in such a diverse country
Zombies
Computers that have been taken control by hackers Criminal spammers hijack large numbers of computers by spreading viruses that allow the spammer to send huge amounts of spam from the infected machines, called zombies
All peer-to-peer technologies were found to be illegal as a result of the Napster case.
False
Copyright law protects processes and inventions, while patent law protects the particular expression of an idea.
False
In its early years, Internet security was a primary design concern.
False
Lawsuits in 1978 delayed the introduction of technology for consumer CD-recording devices for music.
False
File sharing: MGM v. Grokster
Grokster, Gnutella, Morpheus, Kazaa, and others provided peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing services - The companies did not provide a central service or lists of songs - P2P file transfer programs have legitimate uses -Lower Courts ruled that P2P does have legitimate uses -Supreme Court ruled that intellectual property owners could sue the companies for encouraging copyright infringement
Web sites that look attractive to hackers, but are closely monitored so that everything the hacker does at the site is recorded and studied are known as:
Honey pots
Was Napster responsible for the actions of its users?
Napster's arguments - It was the same as a search engine, which is protected under the DMCA - They did not store any of the MP3 files - Their technology had substantial legitimate uses RIAA's arguments - Companies are required to make an effort to prevent copyright violations and Napster did not take sufficient steps - Napster was not a device or new technology and the RIAA was not seeking to ban the technology Court ruled Napster liable because they had the right and ability to supervise the system, including copyright infringing activities
Sharing music: the Napster case
Napster's arguments for fair use - The Sony decision allowed for entertainment use to be considered fair use - Did not hurt industry sales because users sampled the music on Napster and bought the CD if they liked it RIAA's (Recording Industry Association of America) arguments against fair use - "Personal" meant very limited use, not trading with thousands of strangers - Songs and music are creative works and users were copying whole songs - Claimed Napster severely hurt sales Court ruled sharing music via copied MP3 files violated copyright
What areas is covered by the topics of Free Speech?
Other forms of expression and opinion Spoken and written Words PIctures and Art
Which one of the media areas has the most First Amendment protection?
What category has the strongest A1 protection and why?
Print media (books, newspapers, magazines) because they were around when Bill of Rights was written (no questions about whether A1 applies or not)
Enforcing net neutrality is inconsistent with
Telecommunications Act of 1996, which says, "it is the policy of the US to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that exists for the internet unrestrained by federal or state regulation
Why did the Supreme Court find the Communications Decency Act of 1996 unconstitutional?
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously, in American Civil Liberties Union et al. v. Janet Reno, that the censorship provisions of the CDA were unconstitutional. The courts made strong statements about the importance of protecting freedom of expression in general and on the Internet. The court decisions against the CDA established that "the Internet deserves the highest protection from government intrusion."
Which of the following is not a factor specified in U.S. copyright law for determining fair use?
The for-profit or non-profit status of the copyright holder
In 1878, women telephone operators were hired as a result of phone phreakers.
True
Stuxnet was a sophisticated worm, that targeted a particular type of control system.
True
The Digital Millennium copyright Act gives companies ways to threaten fair use, freedom of speech, research, competition, reverse engineering, and innovation.
True
White hat hackers use their skills to demonstrate system vulnerabilities and improve security.
True
Honey pots is defined as which of the following?
Websites that are specifically designed to be attractive to hackers
"Chilling effect"
When a govt action or law causes people to avoid legal speech and publication out of fear of persecution, the action or law is said to have a "chilling effect" on A1 rights and are therefore unconstitutional
Problem with PROTECT Act
While prosecutors do not have to prove that a real child is involved, it expands child porn laws beyond prevention of abuse or exploitation of real children and could ban some art forms
In the early days of computing (1960's to the early 1970's), a "hacker" was:
a creative programmer who wrote very elegant and clever programs
Tiered service
charging more for higher-priority routing of Internet packets; allowing content providers and individual subscribers different levels of speed and priority at different price levels
Dongles
device that user plugs into a computer port so that software runs, thus ensuring software runs only on one machine at a time
Which of the following requirements was a key provision of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)?
filtering software must be installed on Internet terminals in schools and libraries
software piracy
high-volume, unauthorized copying of software
What did Podesta emails disclose?
internal campaign discussions and planning, along with disrespect for Catholics and indications that someone leaked questions to Clinton before a CNN program
Zero Rating
nonneutral practice of exempting certain services or applications from mobile data charges or limits
Pharming is defined as which of the following?
planting false Internet addresses in the tables on a Domain Name Server (DNS) so that when someone types a URL, they are re-directed to a bogus site
Workalike programs
programs with similar user interfaces
Anonymizers allow a user to
send email and surf the Web anonymously
Phishing is defined as which of the following?
sending millions of emails requesting information to use to impersonate someone and steal money or goods
Which of the following limits deceptive commercial email and outlines spammers' responsibilities:
the CAN-SPAM Act
Avoiding censorship:
the global nature of the Net allows restrictions (or barriers) in one country to be circumvented by using networks in other, less restrictive countries.
Creating censorship:
the global nature of the Net makes it easier for one nation to impose restrictive standards on others.
Anonymizing services
used by individuals, businesses, law enforcement agencies, and government intelligence services