cAmz’s Weblog

TITLE: Intercultural Information Ethics (Chapter 27)

AMAZON LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233232091&sr=1-1

QUOTATION: The global distribution of material resources should bother any conscientious person.

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS:

-          I want to know what it is about foundational debate.

-          I want to understand the impact of ICT on local cultures from an IEE perspective.

-          I want to learn more about intellectual property.

REACTION:

This chapter is about the intercultural information ethics which covers theoretical and practical aspects of information ethics from an intercultural perspective. For the reason, some of our skills and knowledge today are based from technology and developed through technology itself. That’s also why we always clearly see the effects or the impact or having technology in our present life. And I do believe that in this coming years technology will continue to develop and evade the society, industry and people as well.

I believe that the impact of information technology on a global scale and on all aspects of human life gives, on the one hand, a plausible argument in favour of the uniqueness approach not only with regard to the subject matter but also to the theoretical approaches so far. But this does not mean that, on the other hand, the moral code itself and its ethical reflection will be superseded by another one.

The basic question concerning the status of moral persons, their respect or disrespect, remains unchanged although we may discuss as to what are the candidates and what this respect means in a specific situation. We may also discuss as to how this code has been interpreted (or not) within different ethical and cultural traditions and how it is being conceived with regard to the challenge of information technology.

It is true enough that 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? 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.

LESSON LEARNED:

-          With regard to IIE issues in today’s information societies, there are a lot of cultures that have not been analyzed, such as Eastern Europe and the Arabic world.

-           In a narrow sense it focuses on the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on different cultures as well as on how specific issues are understood from different cultural traditions.

INTEGRATIVE QUESTIONS:

1.       What is information ethic?

2.       What is intercultural information ethic?

3.       Do we all have the same information ethic?

4.       What is IIE?

5.       What is ICT?

TITLE: The Gender Agenda in Computer Ethics (Chapter 25)

AMAZON LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233232091&sr=1-1

QUOTATION: Gender issues is about men and women issues for most, and to this issues most of the times women are always compared to men in terms of abilities, knowledge and techniques/ ways as to how they deal with things, or even with life.

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS:

-          I want to learn more about Gender Agenda in Computer Ethics.

-          I want to know what is feminist ethics,

-          I want to understand what gender and ethics studies are.

-          I want to know which better Quantitative Versus Qualitative Research Methodologies is.

-          I want to know what ethical behavior is.

REACTION:

This chapter proves that it is true enough that when it comes to gender issues or agenda, most of the people in the society do argue well, depending on the case to be argued. But I can say that gender issues/ agenda are one of the best issues arising in the society and even in the cloud. Meaning opinions, ideas and the like are really arising when it comes to this topic. We all know that gender issues is about men and women issues for most, and to this issues most of the times women are always compared to men in terms of abilities, knowledge and techniques/ ways as to how they deal with things, or even with life.

According to the author, for centuries, the differences between men and women were socially defined and distorted through a lens of sexism in which men assumed superiority over women and maintained it through domination. As the goal of equality between men and women now grows closer we are also losing our awareness of important differences. In some circles of society, politically correct thinking is obliterating important discussion as well as our awareness of the similarities and differences between men and women. The vision of equality between the sexes has narrowed the possibilities for discovery of what truly exists within a man and within a woman. The world is less interesting when everything is same.

The different concepts are discussed through recognizing, understanding, discussing as well as acting skillfully in light of the differences between men and women can be difficult. Our failure to recognize and appreciate these differences can become a lifelong source of disappointment, frustration, tension and eventually our downfall in a relationship. Not only can these differences destroy a promising relationship, but most people will grudgingly accept or learn to live with the consequences. Eventually they find some compromise or way to cope. Few people ever work past these difficulties. People tend to accept what they don’t understand when they feel powerless to change it.

It discussed the information and computer ethics has emerged as an important area of philosophical and social theorizing, combining conceptual, meta-ethical, normative, and applied elements. As a result, academic interest in this area has increased dramatically, particularly in computer science, philosophy, and communications departments; business schools; information and library schools; and law schools.

LESSON LEARNED:

-          Computer ethics is a new area of applied ethics with a rapidly burgeoning portfolio of ethical case studies and problems.

-          Care ethics is a cornerstone of most approaches toward feminist ethics.

-          Gender and computer ethics include work on women’s under representation in the computing profession.

INTEGRATIVE QUESTIONS:

1. What is ethical behavior?
2. What is feminist ethics?
3. Are Hacker Communities Egalitarian?
4. What might “feminist computer ethics” offer feminist ethics?
5. What is gender and computer ethics – a male0female binary?

TITLE: Censorship and Access to Expression (Chapter 24)

AMAZON LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233232091&sr=1-1

QUOTATION: To censor is to restrict or limit access to an expression, portion of an expression, or category of expression, which has been made public by its author, based on the belief that it will be a bad thing if people access the content of that expression.

“Censorship through consensus” is also a real possibility. There are countries where the adherence to a shared social, though not religious, code is a fact of life. Understanding that entails discerning where the boundaries of expression are, and where they might be interfered with in a consensus situation.

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS:

-          I want to know more about Censorship and Access Expression.

-          I want to understand what the interest to access in expression is.

-          I want to know further how this chapter defined censorship.

-          I want to be familiar to the types and harm arguments about censorship.

-          I want to know the importance of censorship.

REACTION:

Censorship — the control of the information and ideas circulated within a society — has been a hallmark of dictatorships throughout history. In the 20th Century, censorship was achieved through the examination of books, plays, films, television and radio programs, news reports, and other forms of communication for the purpose of altering or suppressing ideas found to be objectionable or offensive. The rationales for censorship have varied, with some censors targeting material deemed to be indecent or obscene; heretical or blasphemous; or seditious or treasonous. Thus, ideas have been suppressed under the guise of protecting three basic social institutions: the family, the church, and the state.

One must recognize that censorship and the ideology supporting it go back to ancient times, and that every society has had customs, taboos, or laws by which speech, dress, religious observance, and sexual expression were regulated. In Athens, where democracy first emerged, censorship was well known as a means of enforcing the prevailing orthodoxy. Indeed, Plato was the first recorded thinker to formulate a rationale for intellectual, religious, and artistic censorship. In his ideal state outlined in The Republic, official censors would prohibit mothers and nurses from relating tales deemed bad or evil. Plato also proposed that unorthodox notions about God or the hereafter be treated as crimes and that formal procedures be established to suppress heresy. Freedom of speech in Ancient Rome was reserved for those in positions of authority. The poets Ovid and Juvenal were both banished, and authors of seditious writings were punished severely. The emperor Nero deported his critics and burned their books.

A policy of banning literature and works outweighs the positive effects. Restricting a child’s ability to reach their full intellectual potential is not worth the small chance that the music industry, media, and books can possibly have an effect on a child’s personality, attitude, or behavior. It is also evident that even though schools, churches, the media, parents, and the music industry have the power to control what the youth is exposed to do not mean that it is in the best interest of the child or young teenager to be protected.

LESSON LEARNED:

-          We have to ask ourselves what in actual practice would be the consequences of having policies in place that restrict access.

-          The slippery slope maybe an actual and not just a conceptual possibility, if human beings in fact tend not to be so good at distinguishing material they personally dislike from that which is harmful.

INTEGRATIVE QUESTIONS:

1.       What is religious censorship which any material objectionable to a certain faith is removed?

2.       What is moral censorship?

3.       Is the removal of materials that are obscene or otherwise morally questionable?

4.       What is political censorship?

5.       What is military censorship is the process of keeping military intelligence and tactics?

TITLE: Intellectual Property: Legal and Moral Challenges of Online File Sharing (Chapter 23)

AMAZON LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233232091&sr=1-1

QUOTATION: File sharing can be implemented in a variety of storage and distribution models. Current common models are the centralized server-based approach and the distributed peer-to-peer (P2P) networks.

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS:

-          I want to know more about Intellectual property.

-          I want to know what are the legal and moral challenges of online file sharing.

-          I want to distinguish which is better sharing or theft.

-          I want to know what secondary liability is.

REACTION:

This chapter talks about more of intellectual property and online file sharing. First, we all know that networks can allow computers, servers, and other devices to talk to each other. There are a number of different types of networks, and it’s important to find the right one to fit your needs so that you don’t waste time and money with one that is too complex for your needs, or one that doesn’t fulfill your needs. And so through network we can say that having peer to peer network connection millions of users

The first generation of peer-to-peer file sharing networks over the Internet had a centralized server system. This system controls traffic amongst the users. The servers store directories of the shared files of the users and are updated when a user logs on. In the centralized peer-to-peer model, a user would send a search to the centralized server of what they were looking for. The server then sends back a list of peers that have the data and facilitates the connection and download. The server-client system is efficient because the central directory is constantly being updated and all users had to be registered to use the program. However, there is only a single point of entry, which could result in a collapse of the network. In addition, it is possible to have out-of-date information or broken links if the server is not refreshed.

The first file-sharing programs on the Internet 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.

LESSON LEARNED:

-          “Code is law,” and given the great power of software code as a logical constraint, software providers have a moral obligation to eschew the temptations of writing antiregulatory code.

-          “Purposeful, culpable expression and conduct” must be evident in order to impose legal liability under this sensible standard

INTEGRATIVE QUESTIONS:

1. Why file-sharing enables people to share files?
2. What feature allows you to access and share files?
3. Is there a private sharing file?
4. What is Peer to Peer file sharing?
5. What are the technologies to use in file sharing?

TITLE: The Matter of Plagiarism: What, Why, and If (Chapter 22)

AMAZON LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233232091&sr=1-1

QUOTATION: The right of placing its will in any and every thing, which thing is thereby mine

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS:

-          I want to know the matter of Plagiarism.

-          I want to understand the lack of authorization-economic Foundation means.

-          I want to estimate the lack of authorization—natural or moral rights means

-          I want to know lack of accreditation—non fringing plagiarism.

-          I want to know a personal vie of the matter means.

REACTION:

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to “plagiarize” means: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own to use (another’s production) without crediting the source; to commit literary theft; to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source. In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterward. That’s why it is true enough that many people think of plagiarism as copying another’s work, or borrowing someone else’s original ideas. But terms like “copying” and “borrowing” can disguise the seriousness of the offenses.

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.

Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered academic dishonesty or academic fraud and offenders are subject to academic censure, up to and including expulsion. In journalism, plagiarism is considered a breach of journalistic ethics, and reporters caught plagiarizing typically face disciplinary measures ranging from suspension to termination.

Some individuals caught plagiarizing in academic or journalistic contexts claim that they plagiarized unintentionally, by failing to include quotations or give the appropriate citation. While plagiarism in scholarship and journalism has a centuries-old history, the development of the Internet, where articles appear as electronic text, has made the physical act of copying the work of others much easier, simply by copying and pasting text from one web page to another.

LESSON LEARNED:

-          The achievements of the “open source” software community, and we may note the viability of pirate organizations that ignore copyright policies.

-          Failure to have authorization is typically theft of intellectual property, most commonly a copyright infringement that deprives a copyright owner of income.

-          Plagiarism can be unintentional, both when there is a failure to authorize and when there is a failure to document.

INTEGRATIVE QUESTIONS:

1. How to deepen their commitments, and to develop their capacities for service?
2. Is it realistic to expect that he or she won’t do so later?
3. Why does plagiarism matter?
4. Is anyone really hurt by it?
5. Is Plagiarism important?

TITLE: Email Spam (Chapter 21)

AMAZON LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233232091&sr=1-1

QUOTATION: 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.

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS:

-          I want to know what email spam is.

-          I want to understand how searching for a characterization of “spam” was done.

-          I want to determine the number of identical email sent.

-          I want to know what Unsolicited Commercial Bulk Emails (UCBE) is.

-          I want to know the ethics of reducing the number of spam emails read after they are sent.

REACTION:

E-mail addresses are collected from chat rooms, 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.

Spam is legally permissible according to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 provided it follows certain criteria: a truthful subject line; no false information in the technical headers or sender address; “conspicuous” display of the postal address of the sender; and other minor requirements. If the spam fails to comply with any of these requirements, then it is illegal. Aggravated or accelerated penalties apply if the spammer harvested the email addresses using methods described earlier.

A review of the effectiveness of CAN-SPAM in 2005 showed that the amount of sexually explicit spam had significantly decreased since 2003 and the total volume had begun to level off. Senator Conrad Burns, a principal sponsor, noted that “Enforcement is key regarding the CAN-SPAM legislation.” In 2004 less than 1% of spam complied with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

Several countries have passed laws that specifically target spam, notably Australia and all the countries of the European Union.

Article 13 of the European Union Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC) provides that the EU member states shall take appropriate measures to ensure that unsolicited communications for the purposes of direct marketing are not allowed either without the consent of the subscribers concerned or in respect of subscribers who do not wish to receive these communications, the choice between these options to be determined by national legislation.

LESSON LEARNED:

-          Spam has rapidly spread to many forms of electronic communication.

-          An email that is from an unsolicited, commercial, bulk emailing, often considered spam, may provide a receiver with just the information that he/she does want.

-          Email, such as email informing someone that he/she is fired, is unwanted but not spam.

INTEGRATIVE QUESTIONS:

1. What is gathering addresses?

2.       How to deliver spam messages?

3.       How to find Using Webmail services?

4.       Why other people’s computers?

5.       How to open relays?

TITLE: Information Overload (Chapter 20)

AMAZON LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233232091&sr=1-1

QUOTATION: People nowadays are logging in to the net not only to surf or browse but to donate or share a piece of information. According to Sohora Jha, journalists are using the web to conduct their research, getting information regarding interviewing sources and press releases, updating news online, and thus it shows the gradual shifts in attitudes because of the rapid increase in the Internet.

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS:

1. To know what is Information Overload.
2. To further understand what is Information.
3. To know what are the consequences of information overload.
4. To know what is A Novel, Recurrent, or Ever-Present Phenomenon.
5. To know the brief history of the phrase.

REACTION:

Recent research suggests that an “attention economy” of sorts will naturally emerge from information overload, allowing Internet users greater control over their online experience with particular regard to communication mediums such as e-mail and instant messaging. This could involve some sort of cost being attached to e-mail messages. For example, managers charging a small fee for every e-mail received – e.g. $5.00 – which the sender must pay from their budget. The aim of such charging is to force the sender to consider the necessity of the interruption.

According to Steve Beller, “I’m defining information overload as a state of having more information available that one can readily assimilate, that is, people have difficulty absorbing the information into their base of knowledge. This hinders decision-making and judgment by causing stress and cognitive impediments such as confusion, uncertainty and distraction” ^[

A symptom of the high-tech age is too much for one human being to absorb in an expanding world of people and technology. It comes from all sources including TV, newspapers, and magazines as well as wanted and unwanted regular e-mail and faxes. It has been exacerbated enormously because of the formidable number of results obtained from web search engines.”

On a society-wide level, the dangers of information overload are enormous. The engendered feelings of helplessness, confusion, and anger will erode work efficiency, family functioning, and most likely increase crime rates. We will lack the information-processing skills needed to elect responsible leaders or counter the myriad waves of propaganda pushing our dollars this way and that.

LESSON LEARNED:

-          Information overload: Exposure to or provision of too much information; a problematic situation or state of mental stress arising from this.

-          Information overload, is a condition in which an agent has-or is exposed to, or is provided with-too much information, and suffers negative consequences as a result

INTEGRATIVE QUESTIONS:

1. What are the Contradictions and inaccuracies?
2. Is there available information?
3. How to find the low signal-to-noise ratio ?
4. Is there a lack of a method for comparing and processing?
5. What are the different kinds of information?

TITLE: Regulation and Governance of the Internet (Chapter 19)

AMAZON LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233232091&sr=1-1

QUOTATION: Degrading Internet performance will not obviously harm many people very much, depending of course on the degradation. Most of us could wait a little longer when searching or downloading without much of a diminution of our living standards

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS:

1. I want to know the regulation and governance of the internet
2. I want to understand the internet regulation: normative issues.
3. I want to know what Censorship is.
4. I want to determine internet regulation: moral arguments.
5. I want to know Regulation across Legal Jurisdiction.

REACTION:

The Internet has, in a relatively short time, become an essential instrument for today’s society. As of early 2005, the Internet is thought to include: an estimated 750 million users worldwide; an estimated electronic commerce turnover of US$1 billion, which is projected to rise rapidly; a major social impact in education, health, government, and other areas of activity; cybercrime, such as fraud, gambling, pornography, and ID theft; misuse and abuse in the form of malicious code and spam

This situation is particularly problematic for developing countries, which generally lack ownership of Tier 1 infrastructure and are often in a poor position to negotiate favorable access rates. By some accounts, ISPs in the Asia-Pacific region paid companies in the United States US$ 5 billion in “reverse subsidies” in 2000; in 2002, it was estimated that African ISPs were paying US$ 500 million a year. One commentator, writing on access in Africa, argues that “the existence of these reverse subsidies is the single largest factor contributing to high bandwidth costs”.

It should be noted that not everyone would agree with that statement, and that high international access costs are not by any means the only reason for high local access costs. A related – indeed, in a sense, the underlying – problem is the general lack of good local content in many developing countries. It is this shortage of local content, stored on local servers, that leads to high international connectivity costs as users are forced to access sites and information stored outside the country.

LESSON LEARNED:

-          Proposals by governments to regulate content on the Internet are often hotly contested, at least in liberal democratic countries

-          The Internet is not spoken about only as a type of medium but often as a living space in which people work, play, and shop, socialize, and so on.

-          A strong moral case can be made for regulating the content of the Internet, but there is also a strong case that such regulation cannot be very effective and comes at a price in Internet performance.

INTEGRATIVE QUESTIONS:

1. How to find the Universal access is frequently taken to mean access across geographic areas?
2. What are the digital divide, to refer to the need for equitable access?
3. How to find the rich and poor between countries?
4. How should universal access include support services?
5. Why does plagiarism matter?

TITLE: A Practical Mechanism for Ethical Risk Assessment-A SoDIS Inspection (Chapter 18)

AMAZON LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Information-Computer-Ethics/dp/0471799599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233232091&sr=1-1

QUOTATION: In the risk sciences, it is common to distinguish between “objective risk” and “subjective risk”.

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS:

-          To know the Generic Standards for Risk Analysis Models.

-          To know A Practical Mechanism for Ethical Risk Assessment.

-          To know what is Sodis Inspection Model.

-          To know what happen in UK Election.

-          To know the different influences of Sodis Inspection Model.

REACTION:

Issues of risk have given rise to heated debates on what levels of scientific evidence are needed for policy decisions. The proof standards of science are apt to cause difficulties whenever science is applied to practical problems that require standards of proof or evidence other than those of science.

Two major types of errors are possible in a decision whether or not to accept a scientific hypothesis. The first of these consists in concluding that there is a phenomenon or an effect when in fact there is none. This is called an error of type I (false positive). The second consists in missing an existing phenomenon or effect. This is called an error of type II (false negative). In the internal dealings of science, errors of type I are in general regarded as more problematic than those of type II. The common scientific standards of statistical significance substantially reduce the risk of type I errors but do not protect against type II errors.

This chapter talks about or discussed certain models that would help lessen or decrease the risk. This also discusses certain analysis and methods that would help understand and deal with the different risk that would possibly encounter in the world of technology, information and the like. This chapter also discusses about ethical risk and Sodis Inspection model, which illustrates and shows its effects and process.

This chapter covers a lot of topics about risk. And I find it more interesting and challenging. Because we cannot deny the fact those there times and most of the times we encounter risk in all what we do. In connection to this, it only explains that everything that is developed in the cloud or in the net was not always perfect, meaning most of the times users and developers to saw or encounter errors.

LESSON LEARNED:

-          The risk identification process identifies potential negative impact on the project and its stakeholders.

-          As a support for a quantitative risk analysis, a qualitative analysis is sometimes used. Surprisingly, in standard risk methodologies the qualitative risk approach typically looks at quantifiable data that can be easily prioritized and facilitates analysis.

-          The ethical stakeholders in developed software are all those who are affected by it even though they are not directly related to the use or financing of a system.

INTEGRATIVE QUESTIONS:

1. What is the Ethical Risk?
2. What is the practical Mechanism?
3. How to find the risk?
4. Is there a moral on ethical risk?
5. What are the causes of risk?