CS 1308 Computer Literacy and the Internet

SOCIAL ISSUES

How do we look at Social Issues?

Financial
Moral Ethical Legal

The ATM
Convenience
Unemployment Alienation and Customer Service Crime Loss of Privacy Errors

Philosophical Issues
Do we have a right to Privacy?
Is it in the Constitution?

Value of Privacy Right to Privacy?

Warren and Brandeis People have the right to prohibit publication of facts and photographs JJ Thomson Depends on the kind of information, some is public

Posner Economics of Privacy

Information has inherent value

Consumer Information
Data mining (How is the data gathered?)
Junk Mail Credit Bureaus Medical Information

Government Files
Computer Matching
Computer Profiling IRS National Crime Information Center US Census SSN

Questions
1) Should the United States create a system with a National Health Card? 2) Should all the public records in the court system be placed on the internet for easy retrieval?

Uses of Encryption
Electronic transfer
Personal information Financial data Medical records Trade secrets Cable TV signals Others

Is it Needed?
Protection from Terrorists and Criminals
300-500 legal wiretaps per year in 80s and

90s
Cost?
Necessity?

Global Competition

Key Escrow
Government Key Escrow
Clipper Chip

Commercial Key Escrow

Employee not available
Malicious actions

Computer Crime
Fraud
Theft Hacking

Customer Fraud
Common scams
Fraudulent internet sites Incorrect bar code scanning

How do these compare to the rigged gas station or coffee can?

Defending Against Fraud

Credit Cards
Authenticate first use Signatures

Photos
One-time-only cards

Is the situation different because of the

internet?

Fraud and Embezzlement

Insider crimes
Defending against insider crimes

Common Fraud
Credit Cards
ATMs Telecommunications

Satellite/Cable TV

Sabotage and Information Theft

Insider attacks
Logic Bombs Deleting or encrypting files

Outside attacks
Competitors Hackers

Hacking
The meaning of the word has changed
Traditional hacking Stolen disk space Rerouting and stealing phone service
Captain Crunch

Internet hacking Denial of service attacks Web site defacing Theft of information

Security Weakness
Why is security so weak?
Poor network administration Operating System design

If they cant find me

Security through secrecy

New issues
Broadband to the home

Computer Crime Law

Old laws were not enough
New laws difficult to write in time to keep up

with technology Laws tend to punish crimes against the state at a higher level Where to prosecute?

Ethical Issues
Is hacking good?
Exposes security flaws Information should be free

Phone companies are ripping us off anyway

Intellectual Property
How valuable are ideas?
DMCA

Copyright
Gives copyright holder exclusive rights to:
Make copies Produce derivative works such as translations or

movies based on books Distribute copies Perform work in public Display work in public

Fair Use Doctrine

Uses the following factors:
Purpose and nature of the use Nonprofit, educational

Nature of the work

Amount and significance of the work used The effect of the use on market value or potential

profit

Fair Use Cases

Videotaping
Internet
Posting copyrighted material

Reusing copyrighted material

Graphics CGI scripts

Multiple computers

Patents
Reward the inventor with exclusivity
Protects things and processes
Not individual expressions

Patent Office not technical experts

Software Piracy
Protecting software copyright

Laws Hardware solutions Software solutions Contractual changes

Software Publishers Association (SPA) Free Software?

Richard Stallman

Cyber Gap
Future jobs
White Collar vs. Blue Collar Service Industry Computers taking skilled jobs
Drafting Programming

Education

Information Access
Universal Access
Is it necessary? A place to go

Easy to use hardware and software ADA Training Affordability Subsidized?

Political Issues
Information is a force for freedom Freedom of the press Curtailing information flow
China Vietnam Singapore US Iran

Internet developed to withstand failure Sees censorship as a system failure