Book Review: CHAPTER 1
Book: Foundations of Information Ethics
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “Being, as the basic theme of philosophy, is no class or genus of entities; yet it
pertains to every entity. Its ‘universality’ is to be sought higher up. Being and the
structure of Being lie beyond every entity and every possible character which an entity
may possess. Being is the transcendens pure and simple. And the transcendence
of Dasein’s Being is distinctive in that it implies the possibility and the necessity of
the most radical individuation.” (Heidegger 1987, 62).
Learning Expectations:
Know the foundation of information ethics and the proper usage of such foundation to determine the availability of information technology.
Review:
If we take into account the importance of harmony, respect, and courtesy or “indirect speech” in Eastern traditions of moral life and moral philosophy, we might expect a fruitful dialogue with regard to parrhesia within the field of what is now being called intercultural information ethics. We are far away from a comprehensive view of this field. In fact we have just started to look at it as a phenomenon of its own. There is a long path of thinking ahead of us if we want to retrieve and interpret our written and oral traditions under this perspective through different epochs and societies and taking into consideration their mutual influences in practical moral life as well as in academic and literary reflection.
As I suggested elsewhere the birth of philosophy in Greece is related to the problematization of the concept of logos, understood as a dialogue between autonomous peers in contrast to the heteronomous concept of angelia as a process by which the communication of a message is sender-dependent, although the receiver can in principle mutate into a sender (Capurro 2003). I use the word “problematization” in the sense addressed by Foucault in his lectures on parrhesia, namely as a situation in which a behaviour or a phenomenon becomes a problem. According to Foucault truth-telling became a problem in a moment of crisis of Athenian democratic institutions in which the relations between democracy, logos, freedom, and truth were a matter of debate between the aristocracy and the demos or the ordinary people.
What I have learned:
I have learned the remarkable development of computer and network technology has given rise to so unprecedented and so diversified a set of ethical and moral problems that attempts at solving these problems undoubtedly will take philosophically focused and technologically well-informed intellectual efforts. The problems we are facing include the ethical status of “unauthorized” uses of computers and networks, the cultural and economic imbalance between groups with different historical, regional backgrounds in the globalized information infrastructure, the new dimensions of human rights like privacy and copyright in the digitized world, and the moral obligations and duties as professionals in information technology.
Integrative Questions:
1. What is the foundation of ethics?
2. What is Information Technology?
3. How to implement such ethics in IT?
4. What are the purposes of such ethical approach in studying information technology?
5. Explain briefly the foundation of ethics.
Book Review: CHAPTER 2
Book: Milestones in the History of Information and computer Ethics
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-
Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “Cybernetics takes the view that the structure of the machine or of the organism is an index of the performance that may be expected from it.”
Learning Expectations:
I must learned from the facts about the mislestone of ethics by different views of the authors. Also learned the values of ethics in information technology.
Review:
The more specific term “computer ethics” has been used to refer to applications by professional philosophers of traditional Western theories like utilitarianism, Kantianism, or virtue ethics, to ethical cases that significantly involve computers and computer networks. “Computer ethics” also has been used to refer to a kind of professional ethics in which computer professionals apply codes of ethics and standards of good practice within their profession. In addition, other more specific names, like “cyberethics” and “Internet ethics”, have been used to refer to aspects of computer ethics associated with the Internet.
During the past several decades, the robust and rapidly growing field of computer and information ethics has generated new university courses, research professorships, research centers, conferences, workshops, professional organizations, curriculum materials, books and journals.
When the War ended, Wiener wrote the book Cybernetics (1948) in which he described his new branch of applied science and identified some social and ethical implications of electronic computers. Two years later he published The Human Use of Human Beings (1950), a book in which he explored a number of ethical issues that computer and information technology would likely generate. The issues that he identified in those two books, plus his later book God and Golem, Inc. (1963), included topics that are still important today: computers and security, computers and unemployment, responsibilities of computer professionals, computers for persons with disabilities, computers and religion, information networks and globalization, virtual communities, teleworking, merging of human bodies with machines, robot ethics, artificial intelligence, and a number of other subjects. (See Bynum 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006.)
Although he coined the name “cybernetics” for his new science, Wiener apparently did not see himself as also creating a new branch of ethics. As a result, he did not coin a name like “computer ethics” or “information ethics”. These terms came into use decades later. (See the discussion below.) In spite of this, Wiener’s three relevant books (1948, 1950, 1963) do lay down a powerful foundation, and do use an effective methodology, for today’s field of computer and information ethics.
What I have learned:
From this chapter I have learned the following:
• History of information and computer ethics
• Norbert Wiener’s foundation of information ethics
• Cybermetics
• The human use of human beings
• Wiener’s account of a good life
Integrative questions:
1. What is the purpose of milestone of an ethics?
2. What are the possible ideas of an author to understand the ethics in information technology?
3. Is it applicable to the course of information technology?
4. Do you think that IT is one of the most important course today?
5. Familiarize the history of information technology and computer ethics.
Book Review: CHAPTER 3
Book: Moral methodology and Information Technology
Library References: None
Amazon References: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-
Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “The ubiquitous combination of coupled databases, data mining, and sensor technology may start to cast doubt on the usefulness of our notion of “privacy.” Ethical analysis and reflection, therefore, is not simply business as usual. We need to give computers and software their place in our moral world. We need to look at the effects they have on people, how they constrain and enable us, how they change our experiences, and how they shape our thinking.”
What I expect to learn:
To learn more about moral methodology
Review:
In developing his information ethics theory (henceforth FIE), Floridi argued that the purview of computer ethics — indeed of ethics in general — should be widened to include much more than simply human beings, their actions, intentions and characters. He offered FIE as another “macroethics” (his term) which is similar to utilitarianism, deontologism, contractualism, and virtue ethics, because it is intended to be applicable to all ethical situations. On the other hand, IE is different from these more traditional Western theories because it is not intended to replace them, but rather to supplement them with further ethical considerations that go beyond the traditional theories, and that can be overridden, sometimes, by traditional ethical considerations. (Floridi, 2006)
The name ‘information ethics’ is appropriate to Floridi’s theory, because it treats everything that exists as “informational” objects or processes:
All entities will be described as clusters of data, that is, as informational objects. More precisely, will be a discrete, self-contained, encapsulated package containing the appropriate data structures, which constitute the nature of the entity in question, that is, the state of the object, its unique identity and its attributes; and a collection of operations, functions, or procedures, which are activated by various interactions or stimuli (that is, messages received from other objects or changes within itself) and correspondingly define how the object behaves or reacts to them.
What I learned:
I have learned the Applied Ethics in this chapter, the Generalism, Particularism, Reflective Equilibrium
Integrative Questions:
1. What is applied ethics?
2. What is generalism?
3. What is particularism?
4. What is the concept of reflective equilibrium?
5. What is PACS?
Book Review: CHAPTER 4
Book: Value of Sensitive Design and Information Systems
Library Reference: None
Amazon References: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-
Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “In brief, the idea of “informed” encompasses disclosure and comprehension. Disclosure refers to providing accurate information about the benefits and harms that might reasonably be expected from the action under consideration. Comprehension refers to the individual’s accurate interpretation of what is being disclosed. In turn, the idea of “consent” encompasses voluntariness, comprehension, and agreement. Voluntariness refers to ensuring that the action is not controlled or coerced.”
What I expect to learn:
To know more about value sensitive designs
Review:
Information technology (IT) has become part of our daily lives and is no longer a merely enabling technology. It is constitutive, i.e. it partly (re-) constitutes the things to which it is applied. Therefore it shapes our practices, discourses and institutions in important ways. What health care, public administration, politics, education, science, transport and logistics are and will be within twenty years from now will in important ways be determined by the IT applications we decide to use in these domains.
Within the scientific community, some research groups therefore have started to focus on how to express and integrate moral and public values into IT application designs in what is sometimes referred to as Value Sensitive Design. Value Sensitive Design (VSD) is a methodological design approach that aims at making moral values part of technological design, research and development. It assumes that human values, norms and moral considerations can be imparted to the things we make and use.
It construes information technology (and other technologies for that matter The idea of Value Sensitive Design has a wider application in all engineering and design disciplines, but was first proposed and discussed in connection with information and communication technology and that is still its main area of application.) as a powerful force which can be used to make the world a better place, especially when we take the trouble of reflecting on its ethical aspects in advance.
“Value Sensitive Design is a theoretically grounded approach to the design of technology that accounts for human values in a principled and comprehensive manner throughout the design process. It employs an integrative and iterative tripartite methodology, consisting of conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations. We explicate Value Sensitive Design by drawing on three case studies. The first study concerns information and control of web browser cookies, implicating the value of informed consent. The second study concerns using high-definition plasma displays in an office environment to provide a window to the outside world, implicating the values of physical and psychological well-being and privacy in public spaces.
The third study concerns an integrated land use, transportation, and environmental simulation system to support public deliberation and debate on major land use and transportation decisions, implicating the values of fairness, accountability, and support for the democratic process, as well as a highly diverse range of values that might be held by different stakeholders, such as environmental sustainability, opportunities for business expansion, or walkable neighborhoods. We conclude with direct and practical suggestions for how to engage in Value Sensitive Design.
What I learned:
• Vale sensitive design
• Definition of value
• Related Approaches to Values and System Design
• Conceptual Investigations
• Empirical Investigations
• Technical Investigations
Integrative Questions:
1. What is value as defined in the chapter?
2. What is value design?
3. Define credibility, openness, and accountability.
4. Differentiate the three factors.
5. What do you mean by empirical investigations?
Book Review: CHPATER 5
Book: Personality Based, Role Utilitarian and Lockean Justification of Intellectual Property
Library References: None
Amazon References: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-
Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “Intellectual property is generally characterized as nonphysical property that is the product of cognitive processes and whose value is based upon some idea or collection”
Learning Expectations:
• To learn basically the intellectual property
• Why do we need to adopt intellectual property?
Review:
The first part of this chapter discusses about what is intellectual property. It is explained at introduced here that intellectual property are all based on individual personality. Since each one of us has a individual personality, we assume that we have also intellectual property as well. We must be knowledgeable to develop ourselves. Innovating ourselves is one way of changing our lives. It is explained here that we must fight our strength and weaknesses. We have strength, then maintain it and make you good as possible. On the other hand, weakness is your fear as an individual, therefore fight your fears. This is to justify yourself to be intellectual person.
Its non-physical, which means, it is all based on ideas, on mental reasoning. The people must collaborate with all ideas we have. One must share ideas to others and ideas must be in a collaborative way of distributing it. It surrounds the control of physical appearance of the knowledge of the people. Each expression could be different but there is only one intellectual or rational idea.
This chapter is focusing on three aspects. These are the personality-based, rule-utilitarian and Lockean Justifications. The first one is the personality-based where an individual is just focusing on his/her personality. He/she has own ideas on a particular perspective. Only he/she can understand it and no one can interfere his/her ideas. Once it is shared to other person, there is surely a conflict between ideas. The intellectual property has now conflict. We can’t fight against it because, as explained, each one of us has an intellectual property. The analogy is that you can’t dive to the intellectual property of others because it is private and only he/she can only understand it. That’s for personality-based. The next one is the rule utilitarian.
This is where utilitarian of intellectual properties used. Once the idea is passed to another person, then the person who will be receiving it is considered to be a utilitarian. He/she just use the intellectual idea of a particular person for the benefit for him / her. That’s absurd! Because making use of an individual’s idea is considered to be a utilitarian. It can give both positive and negative effects for the people. It will now depend on us if we use the utilitarian point of view. The last one is Lockean Justification where the justifications of human are more sensitive.
What I’ve learned:
I learned how to utilize my intellectual ideas in such way that applying these aspects in my life. To be honest, it is complicated. In determining your own personality, you must be knowledgeable about yourself first. Knowing yourself is one of the most important things in life. Therefore the ideas you are thinking are also important and also part of your intellectual property. The rule-utilitarian can give us positive and negative effects because your ideas or intellectual property can be beneficial to others. The justification is also important because the dignity of one person is relying to it.
Integrative Questions:
1. What is personality based?
2. What is rule-utilitarian?
3. What is justification?
4. What are the purposes of these aspects to an individual?
5. How can we use this correctly?
Book Review: CHAPTER 6
Book: International Privacy: concept, theories and Controversies
Library References: None
Amazon References: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-
Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “These cases demonstrate that there are ethical challenges that affect privacy and property. The conflict between privacy and property rights in cyberspace can be understood as a tension involving “access and control” (Tavani, 2004, 2007). Whereas property-rights advocates argue for greater control over information they view to be proprietary (thereby restricting access to that information by ordinary persons), privacy advocates argue for individuals having greater control over their own personal information (thus restricting access to that information by entrepreneurs).”
Learning Expectation:
I have learned so much on this case, because it is all about the international privacy that you may able to applied in the course of IT.
Review:
We then show why a context-based theory of privacy such Nissenabaum’s can help us to understand the issues at stake for individual privacy in this debate. A central tenet of her theory is that there are “no arenas of life not governed by norms of information flow” – i.e., no information or spheres of life for which “anything goes.” As Nissenbaum (2004, 128) states: “Almost everything – things that we do, events that occur, transactions that take place – happens in a context…” In her scheme, contexts include “spheres of life” such as education, politics, the marketplace, and so forth. Two core principles of Nissenbaum’s framework are:
• the activities people engage in take place in a “plurality of realms” (i.e., spheres or contexts);
• each realm has a distinct set of norms that govern its aspects.
These norms both shape and limit or restrict our roles, behavior, and expectations by governing the flow of personal information in a given context. Nissenbaum’s theory requires that the gathering and distribution of information must satisfy norms that (a) are appropriate to a particular context, and (b) govern the distribution of information for that context. Thus, there are two distinct types of norms:
• Norms of Appropriateness, which determine whether a given type of personal information is either appropriate or inappropriate to divulge within a particular context.
• Norms of Distribution, which restrict the flow of information within and across contexts.
In Nissenbaum’s scheme, a violation of privacy occurs when either norms of distribution or norms of appropriateness have been “breached.” Both types of norms must be “respected” to maintain the contextual integrity of the flow of personal information. As in the case of Moor’s privacy theory, which appeals to the notion of a “situation” (Moor, 2004), Nissenbaum’s theory is context-based. Both theories show why it is mainly the nature of the context in which information flows, not the nature of the information itself that determines whether normative protection is needed. Rather than focusing on the nature of the information included in a P2P situation – i.e., asking whether or not it should be viewed as private – we can ask whether P2P situations or contexts (in general) deserve protection as “normatively private situations” (Moor) or contexts (Nissenbaum).
Appealing primarily to Nissenbaum’s theory of privacy as contextual integrity, we will argue that it is inappropriate for the RIAA to have access to personal information that belongs to a P2P context. We conclude by showing that if we accept Nissenbaum’s context-based approach to the controversy, in conjunction with one or more of the distribution models, that we also examine, we can both protect privacy interests of individuals in P2P systems and help ensure that property owners’ interests are also reasonably preserved.
What I have Learned:
I have learned about the improvement of Information technology, about knowing the concepts of IT and the applicability of such courses in other way of information ethics
Integrative questions:
1. What is Informational Privacy, Concepts’ and Theories?
2. What are the differentiate of concepts, theories and controversies
3. What are the purposes of these subjects?
4. What are the possible ideas used by an author?
5. Do you think this concepts, theories and controversies helps to become a better person?
Book Review CHAPTER 7
Book: Online Anomymity
Library References: None
Amazon References: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-
Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “One of the earliest computer ethics topics to arouse public interest was privacy. For example, in the mid-1960s the American government already had created large databases of information about private citizens (census data, tax records, military service records, welfare records, and so on). In the US Congress, bills were introduced to assign a personal identification number to every citizen and then gather all the government’s data about each citizen under the corresponding ID number. A public outcry about “big-brother government” caused Congress to scrap this plan and led the US President to appoint committees to recommend privacy legislation. In the early 1970s, major computer privacy laws were passed in the USA. Ever since then, computer-threatened privacy has remained as a topic of public concern. The ease and efficiency with which computers and computer networks can be used to gather, store, search, compare, retrieve and share personal information make computer technology especially threatening to anyone who wishes to keep various kinds of “sensitive” information (e.g., medical records) out of the public domain or out of the hands of those who are perceived as potential threats. During the past decade, commercialization and rapid growth of the internet; the rise of the world-wide-web; increasing “user-friendliness” and processing power of computers; and decreasing costs of computer technology have led to new privacy issues, such as data-mining, data matching, recording of “click trails” on the web, and so on [see Tavani, 1999].”
Learning Expectations:
To understand the online anonyumity
Evaluate the purpose of this study
Knowing the availability of such online system
Review:
The variety of privacy-related issues generated by computer technology has led philosophers and other thinkers to re-examine the concept of privacy itself. Since the mid-1960s, for example, a number of scholars have elaborated a theory of privacy defined as “control over personal information” (see, for example, [Westin, 1967], [Miller, 1971], [Fried, 1984] and [Elgesem, 1996]). On the other hand, philosophers Moor and Tavani have argued that control of personal information is insufficient to establish or protect privacy, and “the concept of privacy itself is best defined in terms of restricted access, not control” [Tavani and Moor, 2001] (see also [Moor, 1997]). In addition, Nissenbaum has argued that there is even a sense of privacy in public spaces, or circumstances “other than the intimate.” An adequate definition of privacy, therefore, must take account of “privacy in public” [Nissenbaum, 1998]. As computer technology rapidly advances — creating ever new possibilities for compiling, storing, accessing and analyzing information — philosophical debates about the meaning of “privacy” will likely continue (see also [Introna, 1997]).
Questions of anonymity on the internet are sometimes discussed in the same context with questions of privacy and the internet, because anonymity can provide many of the same benefits as privacy. For example, if someone is using the internet to obtain medical or psychological counseling, or to discuss sensitive topics (for example, AIDS, abortion, gay rights, venereal disease, political dissent), anonymity can afford protection similar to that of privacy. Similarly, both anonymity and privacy on the internet can be helpful in preserving human values such as security, mental health, self-fulfillment and peace of mind. Unfortunately, privacy and anonymity also can be exploited to facilitate unwanted and undesirable computer-aided activities in cyberspace, such as money laundering, drug trading, terrorism, or preying upon the vulnerable (see [Marx, 2001] and [Nissenbaum, 1999]).
What I have learned:
Development of new system
Implement the systems online
Knowing the anonymity
Integrative questions:
1. What is online anonymity?
2. What is anonymity in information technology?
3. How to explain anonymity in information technology?
4. What are the values of such on line system?
5. Give some application of on line systems?
Book Review: CHAPTER 8
Book: Ethical Issues, about Computer Security, Hacking, Hacktivism, and Counterhacking
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “At first glance, it might seem obvious that hacking is wrong. Although the more malicious of these acts involve serious wrongs because of the harm they cause, all are wrong because they constitute a digital trespass onto the property of another person. Unauthorized entry into some other person’s computer seems not relevantly different than uninvited entry onto the land of another person. Real trespass is morally wrong, regardless of whether it results in harm, because it violates the owner’s property right to control the uses to which her land is put and hence to exclude other people from its use. Similarly, digital trespass is wrong, regardless of whether it results in harm, because it violates the owner’s property right to exclude other people from the use of her computer, which, like land, is physical (as opposed to intangible) property.”
What I expect to learn:
To know ethical issues involving computer security
Review:
I don’t even know where to start with the ethical issues involving computer security because there are so many of them. Let me just clear up that there is a thing called ethics if you guys out there are not familiar because ethics should be inclined with what you are doing in life. A situation where you can apply this is with your life alone. If you tend to do things without thinking about ethical concerns the you are screwed up because in the first place, we need some guidelines ot follow knowing that freedom is not absolute for if it is, then we will all be bombing each other’s countries arguing who should have own.
Intense concern with my files and my workstation occurred to me after reading this chapter because it made me realize that there are so many people that can just hack your private files even when your computer is shut off – yes, it does happen – so I made a promise to myself that I have to be more careful with where I place my files, how I transfer them, how strong I encrypt them and how accessible they are because you will never know what might happen. We cannot really attack someone just because we think he or she hacked us because hacking is a skill that people master first before doing it big and publicly so a mere knowledge about computers like opening programs and deleting files is not enough. Knowledge about IP addresses, ports, cables, LAN, and other network related functions of your computer should be well thought of and watched because it can be their access point.
What I learned:
I learned about the prima facie case against and hacking. Aside from this, I also learned about overcoming the prima facie case. Aside from this, I have also learned about the social benefits of benign intrusions, benign intrusion as preventing waste and benign intrusions as exercising the right to a free of content.
Integrative Questions:
1. What is Hacktivism?
2. What is hacking?
3. Enumerate the social benefits of benign intrusions.
4. Is Hacktivism moral?
5. What is The Active Response Spectrum?
Book Review: CHAPTER 9
Book: Information Ethics and Library profession
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored. Intellectual freedom is the basis for our democratic system. We expect our people to be self-governors. But to do so responsibly, our citizenry must be well-informed. Libraries provide the ideas and information, in a variety of formats, to allow people to inform themselves. Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas.”
What I expect to learn:
I expect this chapter to show me the definition of information ethics and its connection with library profession.
Review:
This paper argues for the importance of information ethics to 21st century library professionals. It describes what various authors have said about how information ethics can be applied to the ethical dilemmas faced by library professionals. In order to deal effectively with their ethical dilemmas, library professionals must have a good working knowledge of information ethics. Codes of professional ethics can help to provide such knowledge, but they are not sufficient. Courses on information ethics must be part of the education of information professionals. Such courses should provide library professionals with an understanding of ethical theories and how they apply to concrete practical cases. Such courses should also make explicit the connection between information ethics and the mission of the library professional. This paper is not intended to provide an exhaustive list of publications on the topic of information ethics and library professionals. This paper provides library professionals with a concise introduction to information ethics.
What I learned:
I learned about core value of the library profession. Aside from this, I have also learned about children’s access to information.
Integrative Questions:
1. What is the core value of library profession?
2. What is selection as mentioned in the chapter?
3. What is bias as mentioned in the chapter?
4. What is neutrality as mentioned in the chapter?
5. What is labelling as mentioned in the chapter?
Book review: CHAPTER 10
Book: Ethical Interest in Free and Open source Software
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote:
While the Internet’s rapid expansion has enabled an equally rapid expansion of web-based professional services, it has not been matched by the consideration and understanding of the related ethical implications. The growth of new opportunities is accompanied by equal, if not greater, growth in ethical issues for businesses seeking to expand their offerings via the Internet. These issues include the quality of services and information, privacy and security, nature of relationship, forms of delivery, contractual considerations, and regulation and enforcement.
Quality of services and information. Providing services via the Internet raises questions about the validity of the advice offered by the professional. For example: Is such advice valid? Is the recipient able to evaluate the quality of the advice received? Alternatively, is the information provided by the client valid? Does an obligation exist on the part of the professional to verify the information received from Internet clients?
Learning Expectations:
Know the open and free source software, understand the proper usage of such open and free source and create new methods in information technology
Review:
Computers have a central and growing role in commerce, industry, government, medicine, education, entertainment and society at large. Software engineers are those who contribute by direct participation or by teaching, to the analysis, specification, design, development, certification, maintenance and testing of software systems. Because of their roles in developing software systems, software engineers have significant opportunities to do good or cause harm, to enable others to do good or cause harm, or to influence others to do good or cause harm. To ensure, as much as possible, that their efforts will be used for good, software engineers must commit themselves to making software engineering a beneficial and respected profession. In accordance with that commitment, software engineers shall adhere to the following Code of Ethics and Professional Practice.
The Code contains eight Principles related to the behavior of and decisions made by professional software engineers, including practitioners, educators, managers, supervisors and policy makers, as well as trainees and students of the profession. The Principles identify the ethically responsible relationships in which individuals, groups, and organizations participate and the primary obligations within these relationships. The Clauses of each Principle are illustrations of some of the obligations included in these relationships. These obligations are founded in the software engineer’s humanity, in special care owed to people affected by the work of software engineers, and in the unique elements of the practice of software engineering. The Code prescribes these as obligations of anyone claiming to be or aspiring to be a software engineer.
It is not intended that the individual parts of the Code be used in isolation to justify errors of omission or commission. The list of Principles and Clauses is not exhaustive. The Clauses should not be read as separating the acceptable from the unacceptable in professional conduct in all practical situations. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions. In some situations, standards may be in tension with each other or with standards from other sources. These situations require the software engineer to use ethical judgment to act in a manner which is most consistent with the spirit of the Code of Ethics and Professional Practice, given the circumstances.
What I have learned:
I have learned several options in information technology and how to make a good and proper way in source software.
Integrative questions:
1. What is source of information technology?
2. What are the proper ways in open and free source?
3. Do the ethical issues help the said source of information technology?
4. What does the author want to discuss?
5. Do you understand the chapter?
Book Review: CHAPTER 11
Book: Internet Research Ethics: the Filed and its Critical Issues
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “I engage with contemporary debates about Internet research ethics and the idea, which is expressed in a great deal of this material, that Internet research is a form of human subjects’ research. Many of the ethical guidelines that I discuss do not distinguish between Internet research, which can be defined as studies of pre-existing Internet settings and materials, and research that uses the Internet as an “interview” strategy and may engage with individuals in physical settings. However, my main focus in this article is the ways that human subjects’ guidelines are being applied to Internet research. Some of my comments apply specifically to Internet researchers and human subjects guidelines in the United States.”
Learning Expectations:
I expect to learn about the availability of internet search, the proper way of researching ethics through the use of internet and the actual field in issues.
Review:
Academics from varied institutions and countries are engaged in the important task of articulating ethical guidelines for those who research the Internet. However, they have failed to provide users and researchers with important information because they do not address the ways that Internet material is mediated and constructed. The ethical issues and dilemmas involved in Internet research include researchers who ignore the screen, varied icons, repetitive motifs, and produced content. Addressing constructed material is important because Internet settings abound with ageist, classist, homophobic, racist, and sexist imagery and ideas. The current writing about ethical Internet research behaviors can enable such intolerant conceptions by encouraging academics and other users to presume that Internet settings provide access to the truth about individuals or are a direct conduit to people. In other words, conceiving of Internet material as people and human subjects without foregrounding the constructed aspects of users’ proclaimed “self-representations” makes it seems like Internet material is exacting and natural.
Considerations of Internet research ethics address the ways that individuals and societies understand the Internet and expect their materials and identities to be treated. At the same time, these ethical models change the ways that the Internet is perceived. As “we write, we are shaping the future of the Internet, shaping our ideas about it, and forming popular opinion […] This is a history we are actively writing” (Costigan, 1999, p. xx ). As writers and readers of such histories, it is important to attend to the kinds of histories we encourage and those that we may prevent. Feminism and a variety of other critical approaches have questioned the means by which individuals and institutions become part of a historical narrative. These political projects might make us wonder about an ethics of Internet “writing” and meaning production that has in some instances attempted to legislate the disciplines that have the “appropriate” skills to do Internet research.1 To some extent, calling Internet research “human subjects research” designates the disciplines that can work in this area, the appropriate discourses that can be employed, and prevents Humanities scholars from participating.
Internet research ethics is going to have an effect on the forms of research that are sanctioned or even permissible, the ways that we understand Internet culture, and our larger understandings of individuals and society. This suggests that there are significant consequences to hindering the participation of certain disciplines and preventing some kinds of histories from being produced. A truly ethical model of Internet research ethics would acknowledge such outcomes and encourage a variety of histories and disciplines. It would develop guidelines and rules that consider these problems at the same time as it foregrounds their possible effects.
What I have learned:
Many Internet users shift between describing Internet settings as a conduit to the self and as artistic or cultural production. Acknowledging the highly mediated and representational aspects of this material and considering the ethical codes of research disciplines that engage with culturally produced material suggest a very different set of research strategies. When Internet material is viewed as cultural production then the models for Internet research
Integrative questions:
1. What is internet?
2. What is the use of internet in information technology?
3. What are the critical iosues of such internet?
4. How much importance does internet give to the readers?
5. Do you think internet is one of the major aspects of IT?
Book Review: CHAPTER 12
Book: Health Information Technology: Challenges in Ethics, Sciences and Uncertainty
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “There is arguably no better trigger for reflection on morality and its relationship to the law and society than privacy and its cousin, confidentiality. The demands of privacy are intuitively straightforward and the consequences of its violation obvious. Without a credible promise that privacy and confidentiality will be safeguarded, the task of fostering trust is frustrated. If for instance a patient believes that a physician will disclose interesting or salacious diagnostic data to others, the patient might not disclose information the physician needs to render an accurate diagnosis in the first place.”
What I expect to learn:
To be aware of the challenges being faced by the health information technology
Review:
Isn’t it cool how we can be a part of some kind of experiment? No, I don’t mean being guinea pigs of some new medical experiment but this, technology. Being the ones to test new technology that continues to develop nowadays is an honor because once we are a part of something that will be great in the future for the next generation.
The chapter even included privacy in health information technology. Privacy is, most generally, as discussed in the chapter, the right entitlement or reasonable expectation people have that they are and will be secure from intrusion. Given the example in the chapter, it is obvious that society values both personal privacy and the law enforcement but in some cases, the police officer investigating a crime may and, in fact, must take steps to justify that her official need is worth the intrusion. “Put differently, privacy rights are not absolute, but may be balanced against other values. The same is true for confidentiality, which applies to information—medical records, for instance. Where privacy is customarily about people, confidentiality applies to information about people. Privacy is also sometimes regarded as including within its scope people’s concern about protecting confidentiality. Privacy is a broader concept.” – indeed as a broader concept yet privacy still serve as one of the most studied factor in information technology and one that is most protected.
What I learned:
In this chapter I learned about privacy and confidentiality. Aside from this, I have also learned about clinical decision support systems, diagnostic expert systems and prognostic scoring systems. Aside from this, I also learned about the standard view, progressive caution and decision support.
Integrative Questions:
1. Define confidentiality as explained in the chapter.
2. What is a clinical decision system?
3. What is a diagnostic expert system?
4. What is a prognostic scoring system?
5. Differentiate the standard vie and the progressive view.
Book Review: CHAPTER 13
Book: Ethical Issues of Information and Business
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “On the basis of this recognition of the existence of shared and successful norms, some scholars have attempted to identify such norms and use them to ethically justify certain types of economic behaviors”
Learning expectation:
On this chapter, I have learned about the ethical issues of information and business.
Review:
Within legal boundaries, what you say and do in the privacy of your own home is your business. Particularly when it comes to digital information, that privacy and moral flexibility does not extend to the workplace. Common sense dictates that your actions in a public place are no longer private. People by nature consider their surroundings before saying or doing something that would embarrass themselves or offend others. When it comes to the workplace, the burden of maintaining a politically and morally correct environment falls on the employer as well as the employee.
As access to the Internet becomes more prevalent, businesses must take increased care to clearly define what content is legal, allowable and appropriate something as simple as a verbal warning will often suffice, but documented sensitivity training is becoming the standard for most businesses. Human resource departments have established comprehensive rules for conduct and often simple tests are administered to make sure the employee understands and his or her responses are recorded.
In the digital age, the record of the discussion can be important. If an employee views a website that another employee finds offensive, the record of that site visit can become hard evidence in a court of law. It’s an attorney’s dream to build a case with such evidence. Because the employee was not only at the workplace when the offence took place, but using the employer’s equipment to commit the offense both will be held liable for the action. Only unambiguous evidence of the fact that the employee clearly understood stated rules against such conduct will limit the employer’s liability.
What I have learned:
I have learned that employers can also seek to limit the content that is available to the employees, but this can be an even heavier burden. Determining which content to block and how to effectively block may represent an overwhelming task. The censorship of information will pose a difficult ethical situation for an employer. In addition to this, blocking unwanted content while still maintaining open access to the Internet can be virtually impossible.
Integrative question:
1. Explain the stake holder approach
2. What is business ethics?
3. Explain the concept of business
4. What approach is widely used in business ethics?
5. What does ICT mean?
Book Review: CHAPTER 14
Book: Responsibilities for Information on the Internet
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “If they were to have these responsibilities, then these responsibilities might easily conflict with their obligations to make profits for the stockholders”
Learning expectation:
I am expecting to know what the responsibilities that we have in the field of internet.
Review:
In most countries of the world, the “information revolution” has altered many aspects of life significantly: commerce, employment, medicine, security, transportation, entertainment, and so on. Consequently, information and communication technology (ICT) has affected — in both good ways and bad ways — community life, family life, human relationships, education, careers, freedom, and democracy (to name just a few examples). “Computer and information ethics”, in the broadest sense of this phrase, can be understood as that branch of applied ethics which studies and analyzes such social and ethical impacts of ICT. The present essay concerns this broad new field of applied ethics.
Moreover, this book is an undertaking in practical ethics, and practical ethics is the middle ground where abstract ethical theories and concepts meet real-world problems and decisions. It takes an enormous amount of work to understand what theories mean for real-world situations, issues, and decisions, and in some sense, we don’t understand theories until we understand what they imply about real-world situations. Practical ethics is best understood as the domain in which there is negotiation between theory and real-world situations. We draw on moral concepts and theories but we must interpret them and draw out their implications for the issues at hand. In practical ethics, we work both ways, from theory to context and from context to theory. Often a theory or several theories provide illumination on a practical matter; other times, struggle with the practical problem leads to new insight into a theory.
What I have learned:
I have learned that during the past several decades, the robust and rapidly growing field of computer and information ethics has generated new university courses, research professorships, research centers, conferences, workshops, professional organizations, curriculum materials, books and journals.
Integrative question:
1. What does ISP’s means?
2. Explain the Information in General
3. Enumerate the Two types of problems of reliability
4. What are the problems on reliability?
5. Give one responsibility that you think should be included
Book Review: CHAPTER 15
Book: Virtual Reality and Computer Simulation
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “Virtual reality and computer simulation have not received much attention from ethicists. It is argued in this essay that this relative neglect is unjustified, and that there are important ethical questions that can be raised in relation to these technologies. First of all, these technologies raise important ethical questions about the way in which they represent reality and the misrepresentations, biased representations, and offensive representations that they may contain.”
Learning expectation:
I expect to learn what is virtual reality is.
Review:
Cost-benefit management trends in Taiwan healthcare settings have led nurses to perform more invasive skills, such as Port-A cath administration of medications. Accordingly, nurses must be well-prepared prior to teaching by the mentor and supervision method. The purpose of the current study was to develop a computer-assisted protocol using virtual reality (VR) in performing Port-A cath as a training program for novice nurses. A pre-tested and post-tested control group experimental design was used in this study.
Seventy-seven novice nurses were invited from one large medical center hospital in North Taiwan. Thirty-seven and forty nurses were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. First, we designed a 40 minute port-A cath injection VR simulation. Then, the experimental group practiced this simulation two times over 3 weeks. The control group attended the traditional class. The post-test 1 was right after completion of the simulation practice. The post-test 2 was after the second simulation practice in 3 weeks. The results showed that most novice nurses lacked Port-A cath experience both in the classroom and during the period of their practice training. The knowledge score regarding the Port-A cath technique was significantly higher in the nurses that participated in the simulation training than in the control group. The novice nurses were most satisfied with the reduction in their fear of performing the Port-A cath technique and their enhanced clinical skills. VR simulation significantly reduced error rates and increased correct equipment selection, showing that nurses who participated in the simulation may be better prepared for inserting Port-A cath.
What I have learned:
I learned about virtual child pornography, depiction of real persons, avatars, agency and identity and I have also learned about behaviour in single-user VR.
Integrative questions:
1. What is virtual reality?
2. What is computer simulation?
3. What does VR mean?
4. What are the behaviors in single-user VR?
5. What is virtual child pornography?
Book Review Chapter 16
Book: Genetic Information: Epistemological and Ethical Issues
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “Genetics has utilized many concepts from informatics. These concepts are used in genetics at two different, albeit related levels. At the most basic level, genetics has taken the very notion of information, central to the field of informatics, to explain the mechanism of life”
Learning expectation:
To know what is epistemological and ethical issues
Review:
This presentation has a double aim of clarification: epistemological and ethical. The analysis mainly refers to the uses and representations of genetic knowledge regarding people or groups. The descriptive part is completed with ethical stands regarding the following issues: transindividual scope of genetic knowledge, the obligation to know and the right not to know, discrimination and solidarity, and appropriation of genetic knowledge.
As an example of applied social science, the field of human resource management is used to show that ethical problems are not only those of carrying out research, of professional conduct, and of the distribution fairness of social science knowledge. A largely overlooked ethical issue is also the implicit choices that are made as an integral part of research and implementation. First, an analysis is undertaken of the implicit assumptions, values and goals that derive from the conception of human problems in work organizations as managing human resources . Secondly, it is argued that such a conception is in fact a socially constructed reality with real consequences and not a reflection of objective states of human and social nature with which we have to live. Thirdly, to the extent that our implicit assumptions are in part based upon conceptual choices that are made by individuals or as a collective act of a discipline or work organization, the development of an ethical framework that could guide such choices becomes a crucial challenge for business ethics.
What I have learned:
I have learned the Concept of Information, The Notion of Genetic Information, Ideological Use of a Model and Ethical Issues in Fund-raising, Cooperation and Public Access of Data.
Integrative question:
1. What is the concept of genetic information?
2. What is the typical notion of genetic information?
3. What did Berlinski contribute? Elaborate.
4. What did Maynard mention? Explain.
5. Is public access of data legal? If not, should it be?
Book Review Chapter 17
Book: The Ethics of Cyber Conflict
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “There are several areas of cyber conflict that the paper does not address. Besides cyber attacks conducted for pleasure or personal gain, the paper does not consider revenge attacks by insiders—all of which are generally regarded as unethical.”
Learning expectation:
To know more about the ethics of cyber conflict and what the conflicts are
Review:
Not all countries have a sophisticated legal system, they are immersed in local regional conflict, or poverty, or other issues that preclude them devoting time to making or developing laws that concern the use of the internet in state or country.
Not every country looks at anything the same way as any other country. Take the age of consent, it varies between ages of 10 in Malaysia, to 16 in Britain to 18 in America, and all points in between. Trying to ride herd over internet content is going to default to the person who sells the most tools to the most countries. The Internet may end up being controlled by defacto American corporations that are the ones most responsible for Internet Censorship and legal implementation of laws, based on American laws, as applied to a country that may not have such issues, laws or viewpoints.
WIPO – World Intellectual Property Organization has spent over 32 years trying to get a unified law on how to protect intellectual property, and it will take a lot longer to do this. If you follow their time line, there have been actions in this area since 1873, or well over 100 years. Hacking is a crime in some countries, is not a crime in others generally. There are also exceptions; the famous Chinese American hacking events when the P3 was shot down over China in 2001, China won that conflict by almost 2000 attributable systems to Chinese hacking groups. Both governments turned a blind eye, and no one will ever be prosecuted for the 10’s of thousands of systems that were brought down, defaced, or otherwise compromised.
The Chinese government has unofficially used hacking activity to assert political agenda, such as when the Japanese government in 2005 rewrote parts of their official history books to down play the events in Manchuria during world war two. Japan suffered under weeks of heavy DDOS attack from China via compromised PHPbb bulletin boards and other springboards.
What I have learned:
I have learned the Law of War, where the contents are:
• Distinction of Combatants from Noncombatants
• Military Necessity
• Proportionality
• Indiscriminate Weapons
• Superfluous Injury
• Perfidy
• Neutrality
Integrative question:
1. What is cyber conflict?
2. What are the cyber conflicts mentioned in this chapter?
3. What is Jus in Bello?
4. What is Jus ad Bellum?
5. What are the ethical frameworks of Hacktivism?
Book Review: Chapter 18
Book: A Practical Mechanism for Ethical Risk Assessment- A SoDis Inspection
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “The availability of high-quality software is critical for the effective use of information technology in organizations.”
Learning expectation:
To conclude practical mechanism for ethical risk assessment
Review:
Management, investors, and the public at large have become increasingly interested in evaluating companies for ethical performance and risk in the wake of Sarbanes-Oxley, the NYSE standards, the updated U.S. sentencing guidelines, and the Department of Justice principles of prosecution.
To address this need in the industry, Berman and Kirk O. Hanson, executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, presented a preliminary draft of the ethics assessment tool they are developing, dubbed the Santa Clara Alternative. They unveiled their work in progress at the June 13, 2006, meeting of the Business and Organizational Ethics Partnership. The tool builds on a presentation Hanson gave at an earlier BOEP meeting entitled “Crisis-Prone or Crisis-Prepared.”
The first part of the tool asks a series of questions designed to analyze where ethical risk may arise from the industry itself. How intense is the competition? The more the competition, the more risk for ethical lapses. How important are a few large customers? The more important, the higher the risk. Some of the other questions look at product differentiation, overcapacity in the industry, and trade regulations.
Attendees had several suggestions for this section, such as addressing the track record of the particular industry, the placement of the industry on the supply chain (the closer to the end-user, the more likely it is to face scrutiny), how global the industry is, and the special set of risks inherent in dealing with government contracts. Although the need for high quality software is obvious to all and despite efforts to achieve such quality, information systems are frequently plagued by problems. [Ravichandran 2000]. These continued problems occur in spite of a considerable amount of attention to the development and applications of certain forms of risk assessment (which will be discussed in Section II). The narrow form of risk analysis and its limited understanding of the scope of a software project and information systems has contributed to significant software failures.
What I have learned:
I have learned that the section of the Santa Clara Alternative dealing with the company itself focuses on three separate aspects: structure or strategy; the ethics system, and the culture.
Under structure or strategy, questions delve into how hierarchical the company is (the more hierarchical, the greater the risk), how flexible it is in adjusting goals to changing conditions, and how much the company deals with “problematic” countries, industries, suppliers, and business partners (the more dealings, the higher the risk).
Integrative questions:
1. What is SoDIS?
2. What is the SODIS audit process?
3. What is the concept of risk identification?
4. What is risk assessment?
5. Is risk assessment necessary?
Book Review: Chapter 19
Book: Regulation and Governance of the Internet
Library Reference: None
Amazon References: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “Most online communities used by children and young people today are usually characterised by a combination of centralised control by the service provider as well as decentralised cultures of self-regulation among the users themselves sustained by tools provided by the provider.”
Learning expectation:
To know the regulation and governance of the internet
Review:
Inappropriate content ‘flagged’ by users, news items ranked by users, online sellers rated by users, online lexica articles written by users and silent agreements among users on socially acceptable behaviour in online communities. In the age of Web2.0, self-regulation among the users as well as user governance has become an integrated element of our participation in the online world. And growing up online requires a set of complex personal competences. Participation in online communities is an integrated element of many children and young people’s everyday lives today.
Here it is of key importance to command the ability to interpret and perform different social and cultural norms of a given community as well as using and understanding the self-regulatory tools available on the different community sites. For organisations working with child protection in the age of the social internet where user empowerment is fundamental, many questions appear. Among those worth singling out are: How can we support an ethical culture among young internet users and with which tools can we provide them to sustain already existing cultures of self-regulation?
Many forms of self-regulation among users are characteristic of the online world today – some a more integrated element of our online identities, some still being negotiated explicitly in our respective online communities. Often self-regulation among users is defined by a set of shared values and ideas among the users of a particular internet community – not formalized, but based on silent agreements.
What I have learned:
I have learned that one implicit form of self-regulation is our increasing awareness of the public nature of our online identities. In Denmark, the internet was introduced into the average Danes’ home in the mid 90s and thus gradually the public sphere has become an integrated element of our private spheres.
Integrative question:
1. What is content regulation?
2. Why is content regulation necessary?
3. What are the technical issues surrounding effective regulation of content?
4. What is censorship?
5. What are the mentioned normative issues in internet regulation?
Book Review Chapter 20
Book: Information Overload
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “For a variety of reasons—some economic, some social, and some spiritual11—our society’s sense of progress and achievement is tied to the accelerated production of material and information goods. Some of these information goods are end-products (films an video games and newspapers), while others are agents of control (advertisement and e-mail messages) that help to manage the accelerating processes of production and consumption.”
Learning expectation:
To be on familiar terms with what an information overload is
Review:
Have you experienced headaches in the middle of your class, thinking what might be its cause and realizing that your professors have taught you a lot of lessons that your mind cannot absorb them anymore? Then my friend, you might be experiencing information overload. This commonly occurs when the mind is trying to grasp so much information that it end up to a point that it cannot understand anything anymore. Information overload is said to be the side effect of our advancing technology. This result from the too much availability of information generated through internet and other channels of communication.
Many forms of self-regulation among users are characteristic of the online world today – some a more integrated element of our online identities, some still being negotiated explicitly in our respective online communities. Often self-regulation among users is defined by a set of shared values and ideas among the users of a particular internet community – not formalized, but based on silent agreements. One implicit form of self-regulation is our increasing awareness of the public nature of our online identities. In Denmark, the internet was introduced into the average Danes’ home in the mid 90s and thus gradually the public sphere has become an integrated element of our private spheres. At first, we were perhaps not so cautious of our online activities arguably resulting in the “private” tone of the “personal diary”, the weblog, for example. However, many of us have gradually become accustomed to cultivating and designing the online persona that shows up on a Google Search for example. This is one form of user self- regulation. As Professor Joshua Meyrowitz recently put it at the seminar ‘Media and Mobility’ in Copenhagen: “the idea that the whole world is watching leads to a sense of caution”. Other forms of self-regulation are defined by cultural norms within the respective online community in which we participate, but are more explicitly being negotiated by the users of the communities. This is for example often seen in the user comments to Youtube videos where a user with a ‘misplaced’ comment is put in his place by other users. The implicit debate is here: ‘What is the most socially appropriate way of interacting on this community site?’ Attempts to create more formalised “social codes of conduct” for online interaction have been made. But most often these are met with great resistance from internet users that intensely shield the free and independent nature of the internet. We saw it when Jimmy Wales, the man behind Wikipedia, and Tim O’Reilly, father of the term “Web2.0”, earlier this year, argued for establishing a formal “Bloggers Code of Conduct” causing a fierce debate in the blogging environment – a debate that is still at this very moment taking place online.
What I have learned:
I have learned that overload is something that happened in every one of us in everyday life.
Integrative questions:
1. What is information overload?
2. How did the chapter define information?
3. What is the difference of perception and reality?
4. What is the history of information overload?
5. What are the given consequences of information overload?
Book Review Chapter 21
Book: Email Spam
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “A fundamental problem with any philosophical discussion of email spam is definitional. Exactly what constitutes spam? Published definitions by some major players differ dramatically on which emails should be identified as spam. Some emphasize the importance of “consent”; others require the emails to be commercial in nature before they are called spam; still others focus on thenumber of identical messages that are sent as spam. At least oneWeb site (Spam Defined, 2007) is soliciting signatories to settle on the definition of spam.”
Learning expectation:
To distinguish what an email spam is
Review:
All of you who have email addresses would probably know what a spam is. Well actually, not all because we may have spam mails but we don’t really know how it got sent to us and why is it sent to us. The definition of spam emails in Wikipedia is that it is also known as junk e-mail, and is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by e-mail. A common synonym for spam is unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE). Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk “UCE” refers specifically to unsolicited commercial e-mail. The total volume of spam (over 100 billion emails per day as of April 2008) has leveled off slightly in recent years, and is no longer growing exponentially.
The amount received by most e-mail users has decreased, mostly because of better filtering. E-mail spam has steadily, even exponentially grown since the early 1990s to several billion messages a day. Spam has frustrated, confused, and annoyed e-mail users. Laws against spam have been sporadically implemented, with some being opt-out and others requiring opt in e-mail. About 80% of all spam is sent by fewer than 200 spammers. Botnets, networks of virus-infected computers, are used to send about 80% of spam. Since the cost of the spam is borne mostly by the recipient, it is effectively postage due advertising. E-mail addresses are collected from chatrooms, websites, newsgroups, and viruses which harvest users’ address books, and are sold to other spammers. Much of spam is sent to invalid e-mail addresses. ISPs have attempted to recover the cost of spam through lawsuits against spammers, although they have been mostly unsuccessful in collecting damages despite winning in court.
Now you know what spam emails are and thanks to google and wiki for the definition. Anyway, spam emails are not something we want but it is a method of some websites to endorse their investors to other people.
What I have learned:
In this chapter I have learned about unsolicited commercial bulk emails (UCBE), the ethics of reducing the number of spam emails read after sent and the ethics of suggestions to reduce the number of emails sent.
Integrative questions:
1. What is spam?
2. Why is it called spam?
3. Where is spam qualified to?
4. What the intent of the sender of spam email?
5. What are the consequences of the receiver once a spam is received?
Book Review Chapter 22
Book: The Matter of Plagiarism: What, Why, and If
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “The emphasis on impropriety is important. There are a wide variety of situations where it seems acceptable to repeat prior expressions while ignoring a possible attribution and making no attempt to seek permission from a putative source. We commonly repeat jokes and report established dates for historical events without citing sources, and we do so without qualms about plagiarism. An expression is only plagiarism if it is unacceptable on some established value.”
Learning expectation:
To know what plagiarism really is
Review:
It was just discussed to us that plagiarism is not infringement of copyright. For those who thought plagiarism is some disease found only in South East part of the world, plagiarism is the use or close imitation of the language and ideas of another author and representation of them as one’s own original work. Plagiarism is not copyright infringement. While both terms may apply to a particular act, they are different transgressions. Copyright infringement is a violation of the rights of a copyright holder, when material protected by copyright is used without consent. On the other hand, plagiarism is concerned with the unearned increment to the plagiarizing author’s reputation that is achieved through false claims of authorship. See, even Wikipedia can prove why both terms may seem similar but totally different in definition.
What I have learned:
I learned about lack of authorization and lack of accreditation.
Integrative questions:
1. What is the concept of plagiarism?
2. How can plagiarism be avoided?
3. How can plagiarism be extinguished?
4. What is the literature view?
5. What is lack of accreditation?
Book Review Chapter 23
Book: Intellectual Property: Legal and Moral Challenges of Online File Sharing
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “All the goods of the information age- all of the expressions once contained in books or film strips or newsletters- will exist as thought or something very much like thought: voltage conditions darting around the net at the speed of light, in conditions that one might behold in effect, as glowing pixels or transmitted sounds”
Learning expectation:
To know more about intellectual property
Review:
I am guilty to using online file sharing because first of all, it is free and second of all, it is accessible. Honestly, for me, that is enough reason for anyone to shift from buying a brand new album by an indie band to downloading or listening to the whole album for free. Of course I don’t want you to open your browser just to check out what file sharing is. This is the definition of file sharing in Wikipedia, “File sharing refers to the providing and receiving of digital files over a network, usually following the peer-to-peer (P2P) model, where the files are stored on and served by personal computers of the users. The first file-sharing programs marked themselves by inquiries to a server, either the data to the download held ready or in appropriate different Peers and so-called Nodes further-obtained, so that one could download there. Two examples were Napster (today using a pay system) and eDonkey2000 in the server version (today, likewise with Overnet and KAD – network decentralized). Another notable instance of peer to peer file sharing, which still has a free version, is Limewire.” Of course I know what these software are because yes, I have committed an unethical approach to technology because back then, five to 7 years back, downloading something from the internet is not illegal because it is just the concept of sharing but now, many complained that P2P software ruin the music and movie industry because of all the files that people can have access to without paying a cent.
What I have learned:
I learned about considering whether a certain action on the Internet is sharing or theft. I have also learned about the concept of secondary liability. The most important thing I have learned in this chapter is moral consideration. I learned that one should consider how the way he uses technology would affect the society and whether it contradicts the moral principles of men or not.
Integrative question:
1. What is intellectual property?
2. What are the legal challenges of online file sharing?
3. Should P2P be against the law? Why or why not?
4. What is secondary liability of file sharing?
5. Who is Grokster?
Book Review Chapter 24
Book: Censorship and Access to Expression
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “The benefits we receive from having these interests satisfied (and the harms from not having them satisfied) will not be easily overridden. Second, we have to ask ourselves not what in principle it might be good to censor. We have to ask ourselves what in actual practice would be the consequences of having policies in place that restrict access. It is at this point that “slippery slope” and “chilling effect” arguments might have some force.”
Learning expectation:
To know about censorship
Review:
We usually encounter the word censorship in movies that are opt to be blocked by this rectangular black object desperately trying to cover up body parts that are not supposed to be shown in national television but that is not the case here. Let us first define what censorship is from Wikipedia to truly understand how this chapter connected this to ethical issues. To my surprise, there are different kinds of censorship which “is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful or sensitive, as determined by a censor.” The real reason behind the concept for censorship is not similar for numerous types of data that are censored: Moral censorship, is taking away of materials that censor deems to be obscene or otherwise morally questionable.
Pornography, for example, is often censored under this rationale, especially child pornography, which is censored in most jurisdictions in the world. In another example, graphic violence resulted in the censorship of the “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” movie entitled Scarface, originally completed in 1932. I never realized that there are types of censorship that we need to consider because we are used to knowing that censorship means that floating black object covering people’s faces and bodies but I guess I was wrong. Military censorship is the process of keeping military intelligence and tactics confidential and away from the enemy. This is used to counter espionage, which is the process of gleaning military information. Very often, militaries will also attempt to suppress politically inconvenient information even if that information has no actual intelligence value. Political censorship occurs when governments hold back information from their citizens. The logic is to exert control over the populace and prevent free expression that might forment are bel. Religious censorship is the means by which any material objectionable to a certain faith is removed. This often involves a dominant religion forcing limitations on less prevalent ones. Alternatively, one religion may shun the works of another when they believe the content is not appropriate for their faith.
What I have learned:
By the end of this chapter, I found out what censorship really is and that it has many kinds. Aside from this, I have also learned the types of harm and arguments against censorship. Also, I have learned about inherently harmful access and instrumentally harmful access.
Integrative question:
1. What is censorship?
2. Should censorship be implemented? Give at least two reasons.
3. Why are people interested in accessing other people’s computers?
4. What are the types of harm against censorship?
5. What is inherently harmful access?
Book Review Chapter 25
Book: The Gender Agenda in Computer Ethics
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: “To date, the focus of feminist ethics has tended to be women’s caring roles, especially mothering.5 There are some theoretical problems with this focus, particularly in terms of the emphasis on “ethics of care” that can be seen as problematic as it reinforces women’s traditional self-sacrificing role while, at the same time, emphasizing a level of control over those who are cared for. There have been few attempts to apply feminist ethics to science and technology”
Learning expectation:
To identify the gender agenda in computer ethics
Review:
Back then, women have no rights aside being mothers and I also get it that up to now, it is still a big deal to other parts of the world but hey, wake up guys because if you open your eyes wide enough, you will see how many women showed power and passion to their true beings and demonstrated how it is to truly be brave and to truly treasure a right. I know I seem upset but who would not be upset after reading a history book explaining why women have no rights back then and how they treat women. Now is not the right time to morn about it because it is done. We are finally saved from all those cultural chains that pulled women away from their capabilities and justice as a human being.
Ethics of care, I have to admit, obviously means the heart of women and in a good way. Here is an excerpt from the chapter explaining the relevance of digital divide: What is the relevance, if any, of the digital divide discourse (e.g., Internet access to all) with the fact that data is not information, information is not marketable knowledge, and marketable knowledge is not wisdom? The gaps between these various notions must be identified to call better attention to how our efforts to bridge the various gaps should succeed. For example, we must provide education that enables people to convert data to information, and information to marketable knowledge. To ensure full human flourishing, we want to ensure that bridging the digital divide leads not only to ending life-threatening poverty, but also to full flourishing of human beings, which requires wisdom, aesthetic experience, philosophical self-reflection, and so on.
What I have learned:
I have learned of the gender and computer ethics studies, quantitative research method and qualitative research method. I have also further understood ethical behaviour and I also learned of the role of women in computing. Other than these, I have also learned cyberstalking, hacking and about the hacker communities.
Integrative questions:
1. What do you mean by feminist ethics?
2. What is the male-female binary in this chapter?
3. What is cyberstalking?
4. What is the hacker community?
5. What is the concept of Quantitative Versus Qualitative Research Methodologies?
Book Review Chapter 26
Book: The Digital Divide: A Perspective for the Future
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote: ”More correct is, though, to try and fight the reason behind the ‘piratical’ behavior, which necessitates the substantial promotion of balanced approaches to intellectual property rights. The paper will present a series of recommendations to achieve this balance.”
Learning expectation:
I expect to learn what digital divide is
Review:
Simply put, the “digital divide” is the division between those who have access to ICT and are using it effectively, and those who do not. Since information and communications technology is increasingly a foundation of our societies and economies, the digital divide means that the information “have-nots” are denied the option to participate in new ICT-based jobs, e-government, ICT-improved healthcare, and ICT-enhanced education.
More often than not, the information “have-nots” are in developing countries, and in disadvantaged groups within countries. To bridges.org, the digital divide is thus a lost opportunity — the opportunity for the information “have-nots” to use ICT to improve their lives.
Public awareness means attitudes, behaviors, opinions and activities that comprise the relations between the general public or lay society as a whole to a particular matter of wider significance. Public awareness does not have a legal nature and a lawyer is not any more qualified position than another professional to explore public awareness and certainly not more than a professional specialized in for example, public relations and communication. Still, a copyright lawyer should know what copyright is about and moreover, what copyright is for lay people-she should also have an idea of what changes (legal and, secondly, other) are necessary to promote public awareness of copyrights.
We seem to live in a very anti-copyright age, an age where we can speak with relative accuracy about a movement against intellectual property in general, and against intellectual property as a very idea. The scholars who attack intellectual property do not question it only when it comes to the Internet; they explore the fundamental question of the necessity or justice of intellectual property in general. And these scholars are not few, nor are they insignificant, and their arguments, that very often reach deep into constitutional and more specifically, human rights issues, are certainly not to be ignored, at least definitely not when one aims at copyright public awareness. Although some people have become more involved with reading these arguments, or exploring works such as Lessig’s book Code and other Laws of Cyberspace, or become more sensitive to how intellectual property has impacted the public domain, the majority of people who respond, do so because the arguments presented are sometimes powerful and true. If we want lay people to listen to copyright lawyers, there must be a concrete legal response to these arguments.
What I have learned:
I have learned the digital divide is the division between those who have access to ICT and are using it effectively, and those who do not.
Integrative question:
1. What does digital divide mean?
2. What does ICT mean?
3. What does LASCAD mean?
4. What does LINCOS mean?
5. What does KAT mean?
Book Review Chapter 27
Book: Intercultural Information Ethics
Library Reference: None
Amazon Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239782484&sr=8-1
Quote:“Digital information technology has at first sight changed the horizon of human thinking and action in such a way that we have to deal with many problems for which classic ethical theories do not have only any answers but they cannot even provide a sufficient basis to deal with them.”
Learning expectation:
I expect learn the issues and discussion about intercultural information ethics
Review:
Our present life-world is shaped by information technology. The Oxford philosopher Luciano Floridi has coined the term “infosphere” to capture this point (Floridi 1999). I use instead the term digital ontology in the sense that this world view of the digital embraces today all dimensions of our being-in-the-world (Capurro 2001). This predominant digital world view is not the cyberspace or “the new home of mind” proclaimed by John Perry Barlow in 1996 (Barlow 1996) but the intersection of the digital with the ecological, political, economic, and cultural spheres. Intercultural information ethics addresses questions concerning these intersections such as: How far is the Internet changing local cultural values and traditional ways of life? How far do these changes affect the life and culture of future societies in a global and local sense? Put another way, how far do traditional cultures and their moral values communicate and transform themselves under the impact of the digital “infosphere” in general and of the Internet in particular? In other words, intercultural information ethics can be conceived as a field of research where moral questions of the “infosphere” are reflected in a comparative manner on the basis of different cultural traditions. The Internet has become a challenge not only to international but also to intercultural information ethics as I will show in the second part of this paper. But, indeed, intercultural information ethics suggests a paradigm shift not only within traditional (Western) ethics but also within (Western) philosophy itself to which I will first briefly refer.
This dialogue is thus not only an inner one but also an intercultural and finally a transcultural one that goes beyond the local tradition of Western philosophy as well as beyond any mono-cultural foundation of philosophy but remaining attached to it at the same time in the different voices that articulate it. When Heidegger states that we can only get into a historical or creative dialogue with the original Greek experience, “we” is then of course not restricted to Europeans who must overcome their own tradition starting with an inner-cultural dialogue. This dialogue changes the meaning of the word “we” that is to say, the matter of philosophy.
What I have learned:
I have learned that there are at least three major global or spherical projects in European history. The first one is the globalisation of reason in Greek philosophy. Reason conceives itself – from Aristotle until Hegel – as global thinking that goes beyond nature into the realm of the divine as the eternal, infinite or metaphysical sphere. Such a sphere bursts with the rise of modern science. Metaphysical claims are criticised by modern empirical science. In this unequal fight, David, modern empirical science, is the winner over the metaphysics of Goliath. The second globalisation is the earthly one. It begins in Europe in the 15th Century and bursts in the 20th Century. The idea of a spherical earth and the attempts to circumnavigate it are indeed older, but the totalitarian ambitions of modern subjectivity are paid off, at least for a while. The third globalisation is the digital one with predecessors in the late middle Ages as well as in Modernity. Today we are confronted with the digital formatting of mankind. The digital globalisation not only reinforces and expands upon the divide between the digital haves and have-nots but also makes more explicit and even deepens existing inequalities.
Integrative question:
1. What is virtual reality?
2. What is computer simulation?
3. What does VR mean?
4. What is behavior in single-user VR?
5. What is virtual child pornography?
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