CSC 379 SUM2008:Topics
New Topics
For these topics, you will be creating the study guide and bibliography sections, instead of providing an update an existing page. Examine the ethics.csc.ncsu.edu website for examples. Since your pages will be created and maintained in wiki-form, please design your pages with wiki markup (not HTML). Formatting resources are provided on the CSC 379 wiki homepage.
Smart Mobs
social/smartmobs
As cell phones, text messaging, GPS, and other technologies make mobilization of groups easier, people are continually finding new uses. Both physical and virtual actions now frequently take place; protests, flooding email accounts and online polls, to impromptu gatherings. Explore smart/flash mobs, and the ethical considerations they raise. Include information on important instances of smart mobs and the future of smart mobs.
Social Dossiers
social/dossiers
In the old days, if someone wanted to assemble a dossier on you, they would hire a private investigator. Now, depending on your Web presence, they may only need to Google you. Bits and pieces of information about ourselves can be found everywhere online, and most are unaware of just how much information about them is available. Anyone with sufficient time and/or software can assemble social dossiers from this information. What you write on Facebook may affect your ability to get a job! Examine the array of personal information available online, efforts to assemble and utilize this information, and ethical considerations raised by posting or using this information.
Phishing
abuse/spam/phishing
Phishing efforts are growing in variety and sophistication. They pose many privacy and security risks. Examine the practice of phishing, its forms, and the ethical considerations raised.
Encryption
privacy/encryption
Provide a general overview of the ethical considerations of using encryption. Within your coverage, explore specifically if governments should be allowed to impose restrictions on the types of encryption that can be used as well as where and how encryption may be used.
Voting Receipts
risks/reliability/voting/receipts
Touchscreen voting was widely touted as a solution to vote-counting fiascoes like the famous Florida election debacle of 2000. But it wasn't long before computer experts started to raise the alarm: With electronic touchscreen voting, there is absolutely no record of how a voter voted, except for the tallies spit out by the machine at the end of the day. If a software bug or hardware malfunction resulted in a miscount, no one would ever know. Many computer scientists demanded that paper receipts be printed and shown to the voter for verification, then retained by the machine in case a recount was needed. So the vendors of touchscreen voting systems reluctantly added printers. But the printers have not been reliable, and now scientists are searching for another way of creating unforgeable receipts. Explore the competing ethical requireents that must be met by these receipts: voter privacy, accurate tallies, and resistance to hacking.
- Do not cover aspects of electronic voting other than receipts; the issue of hacking vote-counting software and Internet voting have their own pages, for example. Cover only articles that are in some way related to the need for receipts, or the type of backup used.
Existing Topics
For these topics you will be performing an update on an existing topic. Pages for the study guide and bibliography sections are included on the ethics.csc.ncsu.edu website, which you will be transitioning to their new wiki-form. Since your pages will be created and maintained in wiki-form, please design your pages with wiki markup (not HTML). Formatting resources are provided on the CSC 379 wiki homepage.
Cyberwarfare
risks/security/cyberwar
Cyberwarfare has long been a topic of theoretical interest and growing practical importance, as nations' infrastructures grow increasingly computerized. Now, with the recent attack on Estonia, the cyberwar era may have begun in earnest. Provide a general overview of the ethical considerations related to cyberwarfare. Examine new methods of cyberwarfare, and include recent examples.
| Current Main Page | Current Study Guide | Helpful Links |
Intellectual Property Law
intellectual/law
Intellectual-property law is a topic that is basic to this course. Although not much is new, it is still worthwhile to update the sources. Ensure that trade secrets are included in your coverage. Alternative intellectual property models (GPL, Creative Commons, etc.) are not part of this topic. Nor are implications of IP law related to electronic communication (e.g., whether it is legal to copy a Web page and send it to a mailing list). The only material that should be covered here is material on what the law states, and relevant court decisions.
| Current Main Page | Current Study Guide | Helpful Links |
Cyberlicenses / Shrinkwrap Licenses
intellectual/licensing/cyberlicenses and intellectual/licensing/shrinkwrap
In the past, we have had pages on the Ethics Web site related to shrinkwrap licenses (that are contained within the cardboard box that software comes in) and cyberlicenses (licenses you agree to over the Web before being allowed to download or install software). The issues never were that different, and as digital downloads come to dominate the market, it makes less sense than ever to maintain two separate pages. Provide a general overview of the ethical considerations related to shrinkwrap and cyberlicenses, such as whether a buyer can realistically give informed consent to a document that is long, hard to read, and may contain provision whose meaning is not clear at first glance. Expand on licensing related to ownership of content created through web services, such as Facebook and MySpace.
| Current Main Page (1) | Current Study Guide (1) | Helpful Links (1) |
| Current Main Page (2) | Current Study Guide (2) | Helpful Links (2) |
Computer Modeling
risks/models
The implications of computer models are often controversial, but the GIGO adage always applies: a model can be no better than its inputs. An inaccurate model has a high potential for conveying a misleading and dishonest view of reality. However, people who are less computer literate may not understand this, and may accord credence to anything that comes out of a computer. Thus, modelers must take pains not to make expansive claims about their results. Provide a general overview of the ethical considerations, both from a science/engineering, and social/economic perspective. Cover both sides of the current controversy over models of global warming. On a social/economic plane, include ethical considerations related to developments in computer modeling in virtual communities, such as Second Life.
| Current Main Page | Current Study Guide | Helpful Links |
Depersonalization
social/technoharm
While Generation Y tends to be most comfortable when always connected, a lot of other people believe that computers are drawing us away from meaningful personal contact. In the past decade, this view was much more widespread in Europe than in America. Provide an overview of controversy over depersonalization, and the ethical considerations related to becoming more conversant with technology than with other people.
| Current Main Page | Current Study Guide | Helpful Links |
Privacy of Medical Information
privacy/medical
Privacy of medical records has long been a high-profile issue. Inevitably, medical records are becoming more computerized. Emerging patient-centric services such as Google Health are accelerating this trend. Provide a general overview of the ethical considerations related to privacy of digital medical information.
| Current Main Page | Current Study Guide | Helpful Links |
Electronic Voting
risks/reliability/voting/electronic
"Electronic voting" means the use of machines that register votes and record them in electronic memory. While once touted as the solution to fiascoes like the one in Florida in the 2000 presidential election, they quickly became controversial because of the large number of "undervotes" they recorded--where voters voted for no candidate in a particular race. Concerns were raised that some voters were simply not familiar enough with technology to use e-voting machines correctly. A number of election anomalies tended to lend credence to this claim. Then, there is also the problem that there is no way to effectively test the software. Unlike financial transactions, there is no record kept of how a particular vote counted. So if the vote is not counted, who will know?
This page is due an update, but please be sure to steer clear of such related topics as (1) the reliability of vote-counting software, (2) Internet voting, and (3) what kind of receipts, if any, should be produced by machines so that voters can verify that their vote was recorded. These topics all have their own pages on the Ethics Web site. You do not have to find articles that avoid all mention of these topics, but do not pick any articles that are mainly about any of these three. Rather, focus on articles that talk about electronic or touch-screen machines, as compared to other methods of voting.
| Current Main Page | Current Study Guide | Helpful Links |
Instant Messaging
commerce/anticompetitive/instant
Most of the references on this page are three or four years old. The issue is whether a small number of companies should unfairly dominate the market for instant messaging. Update the existing page with new references, and the study guide with new issues.
| Current Main Page | Current Study Guide |
Security Precautions
risks/security/precautions
If you are in charge of network security, you have a duty to keep your network secure. What security precautions do Web and network administrators need to take to guard against hacker attacks, such as distributed denial-of-service attacks? What precautions are needed against other forms of hacking? Against cyberwarfare and terrorist threats? Update topic page and study guide to cover current/future precautions related to recent occurrences. Be sure to focus on articles that talk about precautions that administrators need to take, not article that focus on threats to networks, only mentioning precautions as an afterthought.
Social Engineering should be included as a major section within this topic. If you would like to make a new page focused on social engineering, you may if you choose this topic.
| Current Main Page | Current Study Guide |