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A Gift of Fire:Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing and the Internet: International Edition

A Gift of Fire:Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing and the Internet: International Edition

Sara Baase

(2013)

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Book Details

Abstract

A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing and the Internet, 4e is ideal for courses in Computer Ethics and Computers and Society.
Sara Baase explores the social, legal, philosophical, ethical, political, constitutional, and economic implications of computing and the controversies they raise. With a computer scientist's perspective, and with historical context for many issues, she covers the issues students will face both as members of a technological society and as professionals in computer-related fields. A primary goal is to develop computer professionals who understand the implications of what they create and how it fits into society at large. 

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Cover Cover
Contents vii
Preface xiii
Prologue 1
1 UNWRAPPING THE GIFT 3
1.1 The Pace of Change 4
1.2 Change and Unexpected Developments 6
1.2.1 Connections: Cellphones, Social Networking, and More 7
1.2.2 E-commerce and Free Stuff 15
1.2.3 Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Sensors, and Motion 17
1.2.4 Tools for Disabled People 21
1.3 Themes 23
1.4 Ethics 26
1.4.1 What Is Ethics, Anyway? 26
1.4.2 A Variety of Ethical Views 28
1.4.3 Some Important Distinctions 36
Exercises 40
2 PRIVACY 47
2.1 Privacy Risks and Principles 48
2.1.1 What Is Privacy? 48
2.1.2 New Technology, New Risks 50
2.1.3 Terminology and Principles for Managing Personal Data 56
2.2 The Fourth Amendment, Expectation of Privacy, and Surveillance Technologies 60
2.2.1 The Fourth Amendment 61
2.2.2 New Technologies, Supreme Court Decisions, and Expectation of Privacy 63
2.2.3 Search and Seizure of Computers and Phones 66
2.2.4 Video Surveillance and Face Recognition 68
2.3 The Business and Social Sectors 70
2.3.1 Marketing and Personalization 70
2.3.2 Our Social and Personal Activity 75
2.3.3 Location Tracking 79
2.3.4 A Right to Be Forgotten 82
2.4 Government Systems 84
2.4.1 Databases 84
2.4.2 Public Records: Access versus Privacy 90
2.4.3 National ID Systems 91
2.5 Protecting Privacy: Technology, Markets, Rights, and Laws 95
2.5.1 Technology and Markets 95
2.5.2 Rights and Law 100
2.5.3 Privacy Regulations in the European Union 110
2.6 Communications 112
2.6.1 Wiretapping and Email Protection 113
2.6.2 Designing Communications Systems for Interception 115
2.6.3 The NSA and Secret Intelligence Gathering 116
Exercises 119
3 FREEDOM OF SPEECH 133
3.1 Communications Paradigms 134
3.1.1 Regulating Communications Media 134
3.1.2 Free Speech Principles 137
3.2 Controlling Speech 139
3.2.1 Offensive Speech: What Is It? What Is Illegal? 139
3.2.2 Censorship Laws and Alternatives 141
3.2.3 Child Pornography and Sexting 146
3.2.4 Spam 148
3.2.5 Challenging Old Regulatory Structures and Special Interests 152
3.3 Posting, Selling, and Leaking Sensitive Material 153
3.4 Anonymity 159
3.5 The Global Net: Censorship and Political Freedom 163
3.5.1 Tools for Communication, Tools for Oppression 163
3.5.2 Aiding Foreign Censors and Repressive Regimes 165
3.5.3 Shutting Down Communications in Free Countries 168
3.6 Net Neutrality Regulations or the Market? 169
Exercises 171
4 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 179
4.1 Principles, Laws, and Cases 180
4.1.1 What Is Intellectual Property? 180
4.1.2 Challenges of New Technologies 182
4.1.3 A Bit of History 185
4.1.4 The Fair Use Doctrine 186
4.1.5 Ethical Arguments About Copying 187
4.1.6 Significant Legal Cases 190
4.2 Responses to Copyright Infringement 196
4.2.1 Defensive and Aggressive Responses From the Content Industries 196
4.2.2 The Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Anticircumvention 201
4.2.3 The Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Safe Harbor 204
4.2.4 Evolving Business Models 206
4.3 Search Engines and Online Libraries 208
4.4 Free Software 211
4.4.1 What Is Free Software? 211
4.4.2 Should All Software Be Free? 213
4.5 Patents for Inventions in Software 214
4.5.1 Patent Decisions, Confusion, and Consequences 215
4.5.2 To Patent or Not? 218
Exercises 220
5 CRIME 229
5.1 Introduction 230
5.2 Hacking 230
5.2.1 What is “Hacking”? 230
5.2.2 Hacktivism, or Political Hacking 236
5.2.3 Hackers as Security Researchers 237
5.2.4 Hacking as Foreign Policy 239
5.2.5 Security 241
5.2.6 The Law: Catching and Punishing Hackers 245
5.3 Identity Theft and Credit Card Fraud 250
5.3.1 Stealing Identities 251
5.3.2 Responses to Identity Theft 253
5.3.3 Biometrics 257
5.4 Whose Laws Rule the Web? 258
5.4.1 When Digital Actions Cross Borders 258
5.4.2 Libel, Speech, and Commercial Law 262
5.4.3 Culture, Law, and Ethics 265
5.4.4 Potential Solutions 266
Exercises 267
6 WORK 275
6.1 Changes, Fears, and Questions 276
6.2 Impacts on Employment 277
6.2.1 Job Destruction and Creation 277
6.2.2 Changing Skills and Skill Levels 282
6.2.3 Telecommuting 284
6.2.4 A Global Workforce 287
6.3 Employee Communication and Monitoring 293
6.3.1 Learning About Job Applicants 293
6.3.2 Risks and Rules for Work and Personal Communications 296
Exercises 304
7 EVALUATING AND CONTROLLING TECHNOLOGY 311
7.1 Evaluating Information 312
7.1.1 The Need for Responsible Judgment 312
7.1.2 Computer Models 321
7.2 The “Digital Divide” 329
7.2.1 Trends in Computer Access 329
7.2.2 The Global Divide and the Next Billion Users 331
7.3 Neo-Luddite Views of Computers, Technology, and Quality of Life 332
7.3.1 Criticisms of Computing Technologies 333
7.3.2 Views of Economics, Nature, and Human Needs 336
7.4 Making Decisions About Technology 342
7.4.1 Questions 343
7.4.2 The Difficulty of Prediction 344
7.4.3 Intelligent Machines and Superintelligent Humans—Or the End of the Human Race? 347
7.4.4 A Few Observations 350
Exercises 350
8 ERRORS, FAILURES, AND RISKS 361
8.1 Failures and Errors in Computer Systems 362
8.1.1 An Overview 362
8.1.2 Problems for Individuals 364
8.1.3 System Failures 367
8.1.4 What Goes Wrong? 375
8.2 Case Study: The Therac-25 377
8.2.1 Therac-25 Radiation Overdoses 377
8.2.2 Software and Design Problems 378
8.2.3 Why So Many Incidents? 380
8.2.4 Observations and Perspective 382
8.3 Increasing Reliability and Safety 383
8.3.1 Professional Techniques 383
8.3.2 Trust the Human or the Computer System? 388
8.3.3 Law, Regulation, and Markets 389
8.4 Dependence, Risk, and Progress 392
8.4.1 Are We Too Dependent on Computers? 392
8.4.2 Risk and Progress 393
Exercises 395
9 PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 403
9.1 What Is “Professional Ethics”? 404
9.2 Ethical Guidelines for Computer Professionals 405
9.2.1 Special Aspects of Professional Ethics 405
9.2.2 Professional Codes of Ethics 406
9.2.3 Guidelines and Professional Responsibilities 407
9.3 Scenarios 410
9.3.1 Introduction and Methodology 410
9.3.2 Protecting Personal Data 412
9.3.3 Designing an Email System With Targeted Ads 414
9.3.4 Webcams in School Laptops1 415
9.3.5 Publishing Security Vulnerabilities 416
9.3.6 Specifications 417
9.3.7 Schedule Pressures 418
9.3.8 Software License Violation 421
9.3.9 Going Public 422
9.3.10 Release of Personal Information 423
9.3.11 Conflict of Interest 424
9.3.12 Kickbacks and Disclosure 426
9.3.13 A Test Plan 427
9.3.14 Artificial Intelligence and Sentencing Criminals 427
9.3.15 A Gracious Host 430
Exercises 430
Epilogue 437
A: THE SOFTWARE ENGINEERING CODE AND THE ACM CODE 439
A.1 Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice 439
A.2 ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct 447
Index 455
A 455
B 456
C 457
D 460
E 460
F 462
G 464
H 464
I 465
J 466
K 466
L 467
M 467
N 468
O 469
P 469
Q 471
R 471
S 472
T 474
U 475
V 475
W 475
Y 476
Z 476