Ethics for the Information Age Chapter 3

Ethics for the Information Age Eighth Edition Chapter 3 Networked Communications Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson...

Ethics for the Information Age Eighth Edition Chapter 3 Networked Communications Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Learning Objectives 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Spam 3.3 Internet interactions 3.4 Text messaging 3.5 Political impact of social media and online advertising 3.6 Censorship 3.7 Freedom of expression 3.8 Children and inappropriate content 3.9 Breaking trust 3.10 Internet addiction Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3.1 Introduction Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3.1 Introduction Networked communications integral to our lives – Internet – Cellular networks Benefits – Conducting business – Connecting with friends and relatives – Entertainment Harms – Scams – Bullying and harassment – Possible threats to democratic institutions Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Our Networked World Far more people in the world have access to cell phones than to electricity or clean water. (Charles Sturge/Alamy) Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3.2 Spam Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved The Spam Tsunami (1 of 3) Spam: Unsolicited, bulk email Spam is profitable – $10 to send an ad to a million email addresses – More than 30,000 times cheaper than “junk mail” Spam tsunami hit Internet in 2003 – Spam only 9% of email traffic in 2002 – Spam rose to 85% of email traffic by 2009 Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved The Spam Tsunami (2 of 3) How firms get email addresses – Web sites, chat-room conversations, newsgroups – Computer viruses – Dictionary attacks – Contests Most spam sent by bot herders who control botnets: huge networks of compromised computers Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved The Spam Tsunami (3 of 3) New software industry grew up to fight spam I S Ps and businesses have installed spam filters Even with filters, wasted productivity estimated at tens of billions of dollars per year in U S alone Law enforcement agencies around world making effort to shut down botnet command centers Meanwhile, spammers moving to selective email lists Share of spam in email traffic peaked at 85% in 2009 and has been declining since then – now around 57% Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Need for Socio-Technical Solutions New technologies sometimes cause new social situations to emerge – Calculators → feminization of bookkeeping – Telephones → blurred work/home boundaries Spam an example of this phenomenon – Email messages practically free – Profits increase with number of messages sent – Strong motivation to send more messages Design of Internet allows unfair, one-way communications Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Case Study: Ann the Acme Accountant Ann: Accountant at Acme Corporation She distributes paychecks to all 50 employees Ann sends email advertising Girl Scout cookie sale 9 recipients order cookies; average 4 boxes each Other 40 recipients unhappy to get email; half complain to a co-worker Did Ann do anything wrong? Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Kantian Analysis (1 of 2) We should always respect autonomy of others, treating them as ends in themselves and never only as the means to an end (2nd formulation of Categorical Imperative) Ann didn’t misrepresent what she was doing She didn’t force anyone to read the entire email Some who read her email chose to order cookies Therefore, she didn’t “use” others, and her action was not strictly wrong However, an “opt in” approach would have been better Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Act Utilitarian Analysis (1 of 2) Benefit to Girls Scouts = $108 – $3 profit per box of cookies – 36 boxes sold Harm to company: time wasted – Orders taken during breaks – Lost productivity from complaining: $70 ▪ 20 employees ×2 ×5 minutes/employee = 200 minutes ▪ 3.5 hours × $20/hour = $70 Benefits exceed harms, so action good Company may create policy against future fundraisers Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Rule Utilitarian Analysis (1 of 2) Q: What would be consequences of everyone in company used email to solicit donations? A: Plenty of employee grumbling and lower morale If all doing it, unlikely any one cause would do well Harms greater than benefits, so Ann’s action was wrong Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Social Contract Theory Analysis (1 of 2) Acme Corporation has no prohibition against using its email system this way Ann was exercising her right to express herself Some people didn’t appreciate message, but she didn’t act like a spammer – She didn’t conceal her identity – She wasn’t selling a fraudulent product Ann did nothing wrong Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Virtue Ethics Analysis (1 of 2) As employee, relevant virtues: honesty, fairness, respect Ann was honest: her email didn’t mislead anyone However, she wasn’t fair or respectful, and she exercised poor judgment (as evidenced by larger amount of complaining by co-workers) In her role as parent, she did all work herself and didn’t find a role for her daughter to play Ann should have found a way for her daughter to help, and she should have found another way to advertise that respected her co-workers Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Summary (1 of 3) Analyses reached different conclusions, but Ann could have taken a less controversial course She could have posted a sign-up sheet to identify those interested in cookie sale That way, she would have sent email only to those interested, avoiding the problems of grumbling and lost productivity She could have found a way to get her daughter more engaged Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3.3 Internet Interactions Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved The World Wide Web Web: networked hypertext system Stimulated tremendous growth in popularity of Internet Two important attributes – It is decentralized – Every Web object has a unique address (the U R L) Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Mobile Apps People spending more time on smartphones and tablets Using Web browsers awkward on mobile devices Mobile apps replace Web browsers as way to access Internet on mobile devices Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved How We Use the Internet (1 of 2) Buying and selling Socializing (e.g., Facebook) Contributing content (e.g., wikis and blogs) Visiting secret Web sites Crowdsourcing Learning Exploring our roots Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved How We Use the Internet (2 of 2) Entering virtual worlds Controlling the Internet of Things Paying taxes Gambling Taking humanitarian action So much more… Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3.4 Text Messaging Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Transforming Lives in Developing Countries M-PESA in Kenya – Save money – Pay bills – Transfer funds Communicate information about crop prices Protect against counterfeit medicine Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Twitter Web-based social networking service More than 300 million users Blogging tool Business promotion Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3.5 Political Impact of Social Media and Online Advertising Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Political Activism Ouster of Philippine president Joseph Estrada (2001) – Text messaging used to organize demonstrations Debatable role of social networking in Arab Spring uprisings – Argument for: Social networks lead to politicization – Argument against: Ties in social networks too weak for high- risk activism Massachusetts special election (2010) – Twitter used to spread misinformation about one candidate – Fooled Google search engine into promoting Web page with misinformation Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Macedonian Entrepreneurs Facebook and Google make money when people click on links leading to pages with advertising Macedonian entrepreneurs in 2016 – Created more than 100 pro-Trump websites – Registered websites with Google’s AdSense program – Put pro-Trump stories on websites with sensationalized headlines – Used Facebook’s “share” feature to drive traffic to websites – Made money when people clicked on stories Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Internet Research Agency Internet Research Agency (IRA) based in St. Petersburg Indictment in February 2018 – Grand jury in District of Columbia – 13 Russian nationals including 10 employees of IRA – Set up social media accounts using false US personas – Posted inflammatory material to help Trump, harm Clinton 80,000 posts seen by nearly 100 million Americans No consensus on whether posts changed outcome of election Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Is Democracy Being Threatened? Concern that social media can harm democracy – Undermine trust, “informed dialogue,” and a “shared sense of reality” Basis for concern – Facebook provides nearly half of Americans with news – To keep users engaged, Facebook feeds them content they like – Facebook builds profiles of user preferences and feeds people stories aligning with their preferences – Facebook doesn’t feed people news that contradicts their view of world – People segregated into ideological “echo chambers” Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Troubling Times for Traditional Newspapers Craigslist and social media have reduced newspapers’ advertising income Many newspapers have gone out of business; many others have lost most of their value Future looks bleak because advertisers shifting spending toward mobile devices where people spending more time Traditionally the press (the Fourth Estate) has informed citizens and held power to account Without traditional newspapers, what will happen to the Fourth Estate? Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3.6 Censorship Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Censorship Definition: Attempt to suppress or regulate public access to material considered harmful or offensive Traditionally exercised by governments and religious institutions Printing press a game changer because it broke monopoly on distributing information held by governments and churches Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Direct Censorship Government monopolization: government controls all media outlets (e.g., former Soviet Union) Prepublication review: everything reviewed and approved before being disseminated Licensing and registration: used to control media with limited bandwidth, such as radio and television Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Self-Censorship Most common form of censorship Group decides for itself not to publish Reasons – Avoid subsequent persecution – Maintain good relations with government officials (sources of information) Ratings systems created to advise potential audience – Movies, TVs, CDs, video games – Not the Web Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Challenges Posed by the Internet Many-to-many communications Dynamic connections Huge number of Web sites Global: extends beyond national borders, laws Hard to distinguish between minors and adults Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Governmental Filtering and Surveillance of Internet Content North Korea: Internet virtually inaccessible Saudi Arabia: All Internet traffic flows through two government-controlled gateways, which can block sites China – Blocks Internet access at times of social unrest – Has one of world’s most sophisticated filtering systems Germany: Forbids access to neo-Nazi sites United States: Repeated efforts to limit access of minors to pornography Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Ethical Perspectives on Censorship Kant opposed censorship – Enlightenment thinker – “Have courage to use your own reason” Mill opposed censorship – No one is infallible – Any opinion may contain a kernel of truth – Truth revealed in clash of ideas – Ideas resulting from free and open discourse are more likely to influence “character and conduct” Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Mill’s Principle of Harm “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.”  John Stuart Mill Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3.7 Freedom of Expression Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Freedom of Expression: History Court of Star Chamber (England) – Administered broad anti-sedition law called De Scandalis Magnatum (1275) – Reported directly to King – Did not have to obey traditional rules of evidence – Convictions arose from verbal insults or private writings 18th century – No prior restraints on publication – People could be punished for sedition or libel American states adopted bills of rights including freedom of expression Freedom of expression in 1st amendment to U.S. Constitution Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 1st Amendment to U.S. Constitution Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Freedom of Expression Not an Absolute Right 1st Amendment covers political and nonpolitical speech Right to freedom of expression must be balanced against the public good Various restrictions on freedom of expression exist – Justified when results in greater public good – Example: forbidding cigarette advertising on television and radio Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Figure 3-3 Jeremy Jaynes Jeremy Jaynes was convicted under Virginia laws for sending millions of spam messages. His conviction was overturned by the Supreme court of Virginia because the antispam law was too broad and prohibited the anonymous transmission of unsolicited bulk emails “containing political, religious or other speech protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution”. (The News & Observer/A P images) AP Photo/Loudoun County Sheriff’s office Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved FCC v. Pacifica Foundation et al. George Carlin records “Filthy Words” WBAI in New York airs “Filthy Words” (1973) FCC issues declaratory order to Pacifica Pacifica sues the FCC U.S. Supreme Court ruled FCC did not violate 1st Amendment (5-4 decision) – Broadcast media “uniquely pervasive” – Broadcasting uniquely accessible to children Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Case Study: Kate’s Blog Kate: Maintains a popular “life on campus” blog Jerry: Another student; active in Whig Party At private birthday party, someone gives Jerry a Tory Party T-shirt as a gag, and Jerry puts it on Kate uses cell phone to take picture of Jerry when he isn’t looking, posts it on her blog Story read by many people on and off campus Jerry confronts Kate and demands she remove photo; she complies, and they remain friends Kate’s blog and Jerry both become more popular Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Kantian Analysis (2 of 2) Kate uploaded Jerry’s photo to her blog without asking his permission She treated him as a means to her end of increasing the readership of her Web site Her action was wrong Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Social Contract Theory Analysis (2 of 2) Birthday party held in apartment of one of Jerry’s friends Jerry had a reasonable expectation of privacy Kate violated Jerry’s right to privacy Kate’s action was wrong Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Act Utilitarian Analysis (2 of 2) Benefits – Popularity of Kate’s blog increased (definitely) – Jerry become more popular on campus (definitely) Harms – Jerry’s anger at Kate (only temporary) – Photo could discredit Jerry at some point in future (unlikely) Benefits greater than harms, so Kate did a good thing Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Rule Utilitarian Analysis (2 of 2) What if everyone were constantly taking photos of people they encountered and posting them? Positive consequences – People would have more opportunities to keep up with what their friends are doing – People might be more reluctant to engage in illegal activities Negative consequences – People would become more self-conscious – Some relationships would be harmed Negative consequences more weighty than positive consequences, so Kate’s action was bad Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Virtue Ethics Analysis (2 of 2) True friends trust each other and seek each other’s good Reciprocity and equality are fundamental elements of friendship Lack of reciprocity: Kate took something from Jerry without giving him anything in return Lack of equality: She put her own interest above that of Jerry Kate’s actions did not seem to be characteristic of a good friend Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Summary (2 of 3) Four out of five analyses: Wrong for Kate to post the photo without asking Jerry’s permission Kate figured it would be better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission, but she cut Jerry out of a decision that affected both of them, and that’s no way to treat a friend Kate should have tried to get Jerry’s consent Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3.8 Children and Inappropriate Content Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Web Filters Web filter: Software that prevents display of certain Web pages – May be installed on an individual P C – I S P may provide service for customers Methodologies – Maintain “black list” of objectionable sites – Examine content for objectionable words/phrases Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Child Internet Protection Act Libraries receiving federal networking funds must filter pages containing obscenity or child pornography U.S. Supreme Court ruled C I P A did not violate 1st Amendment guarantees (6-3 decision in June 2003) Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Ethical Evaluations of CIPA Kantian evaluation: C I P A is wrong Act utilitarian evaluation: depends on how benefits and harms are weighed Social contract theory: freedom of conscience should be given precedence Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Sexting Definition: sexually suggestive text messages or emails with nude or nearly nude photographs Between 3 and 7 percent of teens are sexting Only 1 percent have sent photos of bare breasts, genitalia, or “bottoms” Case of Jesse Logan Case of Ting-Yi Oei Case of Phillip Alpert Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3.9 Breaking Trust Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Identity Theft (1 of 2) Definition: When a person misuses another person’s identity Leading form of identity theft is fraudulent use of an existing credit card or bank account In 2017 about 7% of adults in U.S. reported being victims Consumer’s liability for credit card losses limited to $50 Most banks and credit card companies over zero-liability fraud protection Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Identity Theft (2 of 2) Point-of-sale fraud has declined rapidly with adoption of E M V (embedded chip) credit cards and terminals Fraud increasingly happening online Nearly half of cases from lost credit card, checkbook, etc. How identity thieves gain access – Dumpster diving – Shoulder surfing – Phishing College students 5 times more likely to be victims – Live in close quarters with others – Some do not take care to secure sensitive information Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Fake Reviews Survey of North Americans in 2014 – 88% used online reviews in past year – 39% read reviews regularly – Restaurants, hotels, doctors and dentists, beauty salons Significant percentage of reviews are fraudulent Yelp spends millions of dollars annually to identify and remove fake reviews Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Online Predators Instant messaging: software supporting real-time “chat” over the Internet Popular apps: Kik Messenger, Whisper Child predators use apps to find victims Police run sting operations – Sometimes result in dozens of arrests – Allegation: Extreme methods to maintain arrest rates Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Ethical Evaluations of “Stings” Goal of police is laudable – Identify and arrest pedophiles – Protect children Means are controversial – Police relying on deception: posing as children – Revealing conversations thought to be private – Are they encouraging criminal behavior? More likely to be viewed as morally acceptable by a consequentialist, who focuses on results more than methods Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved False Information Quality of Web-based information varies widely Other media also have information of varying quality – The New York Times v. The National Enquirer – 60 Minutes v. Conspiracy Theory Google attempts to reward quality – Ranking uses “voting” algorithm – If many links point to a page, Google search engine ranks that page higher Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Cyberbullying Definition: Use of the Internet or phone system to inflict psychological harm In a 2009 survey, 10% admitted to cyberbullying, and 19% said they had been cyberbullied Case of Ghyslain Raza Case of Megan Meier Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Revenge Porn Special case of cyberbullying Posting pornographic image with malicious intent without consent of participant(s) Case of Hunter Moore, creator of web site Is Anyone Up? Criminalized in Germany, Israel, U K, and about half of U.S. states Reddit, Twitter, Google have taken action to protect victims Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3.10 Internet Addiction Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Is Internet Addiction Real? (1 of 2) Digital device users get immediate positive feedback through dopamine “hits” that make it difficult to break away from devices Psychiatrist Jerald Block: Three variants of Internet addiction – Excessive gaming – Sexual preoccupations – Messaging Block: Four characteristics of Internet addiction – Excessive use – Withdrawal symptoms – Tolerance – Negative social consequences Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Is Internet Addiction Real? (2 of 2) American Psychiatric Association: insufficient data to list as a mental disorder South Korea – Average high school student spends 23 hours/week gaming – Law prohibits children from gaming between midnight and 6 a.m. China – Software discourages children under 18 from playing more than 3 hours/day Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Online Games Many South Koreans play online games in centers called P C bangs. In 2005 a 28-year-old South Korean man died after playing one game practically nonstop for 50 hours. (Kim-Jae-Hawn/A FP/Getty Images) Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Contributing Factors to Addiction Social factors – Peer groups Situational factors – Stress – Lack of social support and intimacy – Limited opportunities for productive activity Individual factors – Tendency to pursue activities to excess – Lack of achievement – Fear of failure Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Ethical Evaluation Enlightenment view (Kantianism, utilitarianism, social contract theory) – Individuals can and should govern their lives – People are responsible for their choices Jeffrey Reiman’s view – Addict’s behavior makes sense if addict has no hope for a better future – Society bears responsibility for putting people in hopeless situations Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Summary (3 of 3) Internet and cellular networks have revolutionized communication – More people than ever can interact to socialize, conduct business, organize political movements, and more – New opportunities for exploitation as well Web is enormous, reflecting best and worst of humanity Social media – Increasingly important way for people to get news – May be increasing political polarization Governments must determine how to intervene, if at all – Controlling the kind of information that is available – Responding to Internet addiction Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Copyright This work is protected by United States copyright laws and is provided solely for the use of instructors in teaching their courses and assessing student learning. Dissemination or sale of any part of this work (including on the World Wide Web) will destroy the integrity of the work and is not permitted. The work and materials from it should never be made available to students except by instructors using the accompanying text in their classes. All recipients of this work are expected to abide by these restrictions and to honor the intended pedagogical purposes and the needs of other instructors who rely on these materials. Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved