Computer Ethics Case Study 1 Verizon and the

Computer Ethics

Case Study #1 Verizon and the RIAA: Jan. 2003: The RIAA won a lawsuit against Verizon which forced Verizon to hand over information about which subscribers were sharing much illegally. Verizon had refused since they felt complying would violate their customers’ privacy. 2

Ethical Issues • Can a private company monitor users’ internet behaviors? • Should exchanging copyright music be illegal? • Does Verizon have an obligation to hand over or protect that data?

Case Study #2: In 1999, Amy Boyer was murdered by a man who had stalked her on the internet. Used online search engines plus docusearch. com to get all necessary information. Also maintained two websites: one giving her personal info and the other described his plans to murder her.

Ethical issues • Was her privacy violated because of how easy it was to get her personal info? • Did he have a right to set up such a website about her? • Did the ISPs have a responsibility to monitor the websites that he created? • Did web searchers have a moral responsibility to report the websites?

Cyber ethics • Not necessarily all new arguments, but the rise of technology has certainly highlighted new issues. • The news has hundreds of examples of new legal and ethical issues with regard to computers. • We’ll examine some examples today.

Facebook and privacy • Many articles focus on facebook and how much it should respect privacy. • Issues: – Should facebook be allowed to use cookies to track web browsing? – Should facebook have an obligation to track it’s users’ behavior? – Should employers be checking facebook to get information on potential employees? – Should users have the right to expect their facebook information to stay private?

Encryption • Who here has ever depending on encryption? – Who did it protect you from? – Who should be able to decrypt your message? – What about government oversight, or company oversight? • Should a protester have the same rights? A criminal? A terrorist?

Privacy and the law • What is the Patriot Act, and what did it change? • Anyone ever heard of Carnivore, or know what kind of digital tracking is allowed by law?

Wifi access • Anyone ever used the wifi at a restaurant or coffee shop without buying an item? • Is this legal or ethical? What about if the agreement you click on specifically says you must purchase something?

DRM • Digital Rights Management is software used to “control access to to data and hardware”. • Sony used XCP, but flaws in the code allowed hackers to break into computers with XCP installed. • Should companies be allowed to protect their copyrighted data? Does it matter if it is digital or physical? • Current status: do companies use DRM?

SPAM • How much of email is spam? • Does spam get the same free speech rights as anything else? Is it different from junk mail? • Spam costs companies more than $22 billion a year. Why?

CAN-SPAM act • In 2004, Congress took action. • All email must have: – Accurate routing information – Subject line that reflects content of message – Opt-out option – Include postal address and advertisement info • Why could this be a free speech problem?

SONY and digital rights • Next class, we’ll do a case study discussion. • Topic: SONY and jailbreaking the PS 3 • Please find at least 2 articles (NOT from Wikipedia), and write a short 1 paragraph summary of the case/issue and bring it to class on Friday. (This will count as a quiz grade. )

Questions • Is it permissible for people to jailbreak the PS 3? Is SONY allowed to prevent it? • What about so-called “hacktivist” groups like Anonymous, who perform illegal attacks as a social protest? • Individuals: Did the figurehead of this issue have an obligation, once he accepted money, to continue the fight against SONY?