National Colloquium for
Information System Security EducationComputer Ethics Education - ISSUES
Themes and Issues in Computer Ethics
The following themes and issues are intended to provide a point of departure for a broad-based discussion on the topic of Computer Ethics Education. It is hoped that other practitioners in the field of Information System Security will identify additional themes, as well as contribute their comments and ideas to those already listed. An on-line discussion group is provided as a forum for this exchange.
N. Codes of Professional Conduct; Protection for Whistleblowers
A. Intellectual Property Issues
In this section you will find information on:
The protection of both fair use and intellectual property through Copyright and Patent Law, and the International Harmonization of Intellectual Property Law.
- Fair use vs. Protection of Intellectual Property
1. The House recently voted to extend copyright protection 20 years. Library and academic organizations oppose the extension: would impede scholarship by keeping literature, art, music out of public domain.
2. The Case of David LaMacchia , an MIT student who allegedly used university hardware to distribute commercial software over the Internet. (ECS&T website)
3. "Copyright Easy" journals: UCS Nucleus
- International Harmonization
First to invent v. first to file
What’s "fixed" mean in electronic terms: ease of copying
- Term Paper/Internet Plagerism
- Center for Information Law and Policy, of Villanova University recently hosted an international conference on "Deference of National Sovereign Governments to New Systems of Internet Governance" dealt especially with the new domain name system.
- IpFrontline is an electronic journal covering intellectual property. It contains briefs of current litigation cases:
B. Privacy
This page covers: The right to privacy, the threats to that right which in some way involve computing or computer applications, and the kinds of institutional arrangements our society has developed to resolve some of these issues.
1. Constitutional Basis for a "Right to Privacy"
Privacy rights are not explicitly defined in the constitution, but is interpreted to be a "right" implicit in the First, Fourth amendment, [prohibiting "unreasonable searches and seizures", the "quartering of troops"] and in the 5th Amendment, guaranteeing "due process", the 9th [" The enumeration of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people] and 14th Amendments [Equal Protection]. This has led to the formulation that U.S. citizens have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" in the home; that a "man's home is his castle". Debates are over the exact dimensions and conditions of the "zone of privacy".
Another much debated issue is whether a right to privacy implies a right to anonymity, and how such anonymity relates to our obligations of accountability. Doe we live in a society where we can "escape responsibility", by disappearing into an endless frontier, real or virtual? Recent debates over stalking behaviors of Paparazzi, or former spouses raise the same set of issues.
2. What are the threats to Privacy?
The risks to privacy from computer data gathering are:
a. the data can be used for some purpose other than that for which it was collected;
b. the data can be inaccurate, incomplete or irrelevant;
c. unauthorized persons may obtain access to personal information;
d. individual databases can be linked, increasing the range of information about individuals;
e. the increased ability to construct individual profiles from multiple sources may affect "decisions concerning the individual’s qualifications, credit eligibility, health, insurance consumption patterns, social security, employment and so on.
There is also much debate over how speech invades the privacy of others, and whether in the interests of privacy, speech can be suppressed. We worry over the capacity of governments to both use the Internet and suppress the use of it. Under what conditions can governments inhibit the use of the Internet by citizens? Under what conditions can it use the Internet to invade our expectations of privacy? How do we separate the legitimate use of computing technology for law enforcement, from illegitimate [privacy-threatening] uses either by citizen-snoopers or government spooks?
3. How does the technology work?
One technical threat to the privacy of e-mail lies in the "store and forward" nature of the Internet. The service passes messages from server to server in the general direction of the addressee, but at each stage, it might be read or copied by third parties, and the sender cannot control the path. Sniffer programs exist that intercept messages containing key words. Thus the privacy of e-mail is at least as low as a post card.
4. Encryption: the solution or another problem?
Private protection against government or private spying lies in encryption, but encryption by private citizens, corporations and organized crime is also a threat to legitimate law enforcement. Some argue any encryption scheme to protect legitimately private information CAN be broken by some hacker somewhere; Some argue that key’s should be kept by a special board so that with a legitimate court order, law enforcement breaking of encryption can be reliable and speedy. But criminals can illegally encrypt as well as illegally hack.
The development of commercial transactions on the Internet require "strong encryption", so that customers are sure their credit card numbers or other information is not vulnerable to theft. Does the existence of keys, accessible by government (or vulnerable to theft) reduce consumer confidence in Internet commerce?
5. Are we becoming a Culture of Surveillance?
Discussion of the relationship of computer technology to privacy is really part of a larger debate over the proliferation of surveillance technologies generally. Videocameras are increasingly used to monitor citizen behaviors -- for example, the use of surreptitious cameras to monitor the nanny (CSM), children on school bus, or cops during an arrest. Similarly, there is increasing use of the internet and computer capability as part of an increased surveillance culture in the workplace: Use of cameras in locker rooms or hallways both to provide increased security for workers, as well as to curtail coffee breaks and thefts by workers. The use of lie detectors, the monitoring of keystrokes, or voice-mail conversations, or Internet searches, to increase efficiency and quality of work, or to prohibit the use of corporate property for private interests. At what point, then does legitimate interests of the company in protecting the quality of the work, invade the legitimate space of the worker, and his or her right to a private life, even at the workplace? For example, IT Direct, Inc. of Reston, Va., markets Data Detective Search, that lets users find and manage files and e-mail based on content. The US [as well as Australia, Canada, New Zealand] does not offer protection to personal data handled by private corporations. There is no legal protection for the privacy of e-mail at work
Employee privacy interests are no less real or weighty because they stand in opposition to private parties rather than the government, although that difference may dictate a different balancing of interests in the two cases. The need for such employee protection is acute because many private employers have power and influence comparable to that of government entities, and because even the smallest private employer can exercise enormous control over employees. ACLU6. The Private Sector Big Brother: Profiles created through multiple sources
Another privacy threat comes from the compilation of consumer profiles, which are collected under premises of "warranty protection", but are used in market research, and for which the data is bought and sold without the knowledge or consent of the original informant.
7. International Dimensions of Privacy/Encryption
In other countries, the government’s propensity to snoop is enhanced by schemes of "registration" of Internet users, [E.g. Singapore registers political or religious websites], the monitoring of e-mail, and pressure on ISP to block certain sites. China has even promulgated new laws: "Computer Crime" and Collusion with foreign organizations or individuals to overthrow the government by "fabricating rumors or other means. Is it ethical for US Software firms to knowingly participate in laying down computer systems for foreign governments, that would violate the human rights of citizens, or would be illegal in the United States?
Industrial Spying: Is it ethical for governments to engage in economic espionage in order to protect or enhance the market position of its computer industry?
NSA’s Echelon Network intercepts European non-military email, Norway and European Parliament object
Jurisdiction of Enforcement: Nazism being illegal in Germany, who is legally prosecutable for the use of white supremacy websites: the sender, who may be outside Germany, or the receiver?
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] has formulated a Code of Conduct The OECD [Western, Developed Nations] have agreed on the following principles, though with some exceptions:
a. Collection Limitation: Data should be obtained lawfully and fairly, while some very sensitive data should not be held at all.
b. Data Quality: Data should be relevant to the stated purposes, accurate, complete and up-to-date; proper precautions should be taken to ensure this accuracy
c. Purpose Specification: The purposes for which data will be used should be identified, and the data should be destroyed if it no longer serves the given purpose.
d. Use Limitation: Use of data for purposes other than specified is forbidden, except with the consent of the data subject or by authority of the law.
e. Security Safeguards: Agencies should establish procedures to guard against loss, corruption, destruction, or misuse of data
f. Openness: It must be possible to acquire information about the collection, storage and use of personal data.
g. Individual Participation: The data subject has a right to access and challenge the data related to him or her.
h. Accountability: A data controller should be accountable for complying with measures giving effect to all these principles.8. Law enforcement databases: a threat to privacy?
Law enforcement generally argues that they should have access to all information that they had under the current communications technology, such as searches and wiretaps. Unbreakable encryption is a threat to this principle. But is the nature of the technology so fundamentally different as to preclude this? Does the provision of access to Law enforcement itself create a system more vulnerable to abuse by criminal elements?
Crime-fighting databases:
- IBIS: Integrated Ballistics Identification System, [Forensic Technology, Montreal] matches shell casings and bullets. 27 IBIS computers now exist all over the country, including Newark, N.J., the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, NYC,
- DRUGFIRE [Mnemonics Systems] system is used by 115 forensic labs around the country, including the FBI. DNA samples of felons, sex offenders, and other convicts in 38 States, are sent to FBI for the National registry. Jennifer Smith
- Tire Tread and Shoe print database software is in development.
- Virginia Forensic Services, provides a data base of felons; see Paul Ferrara
- Lie Detectors: Israeli "Truster" software, measures voice tremors over the phone. Recording phone conversations without the knowledge of the person is illegal in the US, but not in Israel. On the other hand, French law and Israeli law protect details about a citizen's private live from being used for any purpose other than that for which they were provided.
9. The Development of Public Policy to Protect Privacy
Fair Credit Reporting Act, 1970
The Privacy Act of 1974 provided for the first time that individuals may inspect information about themselves in public agency files and challenge, correct or amend materials. Agencies may not make their files on an individual available to other agencies without that individual’s consent. (CIA, FBI, Secret Service and Law Enforcement agencies exempt.
Family Education Rights and Privacy Act
Right to Financial Privacy Act
Electronic Communications Privacy Act 1986
Computer Security Act of 1987
Cryptography Control Act of 1995
Sexual Predator Law
Legislation against Data-base matching
European Union Data Protection Directive
National Security Agency believes that with more than 800 encryption products on the world market, it is hard to believe that opposition to "strong encryption" is now even possible. It differs in this regard from the FBI and the U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, who would like to require some kind of guaranteed access.
The Federal Trade Commission held hearings in 1997? in order to advise Congress on safeguarding the privacy of Americans on the Internet. see: http://www.merc.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=3380986-e5d
In 1994, Wisconsin became the first state to create an institutional structure for the protection of privacy. Its Office of the Privacy Advocate, Privacy Council and Guidelines for the protection of privacy provide a structure through which citizens and government agencies can ask questions about the use of computers by government agencies.
Nexis’s P-Track service (Reference) made attempts at self-regulation of privacy, but came up short: framework does not guarantee citizens the right to access information that is collected about them, nor find out what’s being used.
Direct Marketing Association, developed an admirable set of data protection practices, but they lack a reliable enforcement mechanism, or prohibition on collection of info about young children.
The Clinton administration has prohibited export of encryption software unless the government is provided with a "key", or more typically, can get access to a key held by a Third Party. He eased this stance somewhat in July 1998, allowing U.S. companies, like Cisco Systems, to sell encryption technology to financial institutions in some countries. Cisco announced a new kind of system that could give law enforcement agencies access to encrypted messages under certain conditions. There are two fears: one, that the keys will fall into the wrong hands, eventually, and that by restricting exports of US technology, we are hurting the competitiveness of US software firms in the global market.
Gore warned high-tech industry executives, in a speech to the World Congress on Information Technology, Fairfax, VA June 1998, that new regulation is in store unless they develop ways to protect consumer privacy. Names, postal and e-mail addresses and personal preferences collected by businesses as part of a transaction should be protected, not sold to third parties.
Sen Barbara Boxer [D-CA], Rep. Tom DeLay [R-TX] oppose government policy on computer encryption. Plans underway for public-private center sharing industry’s best encryption expertise with government.
The Online Privacy Alliance, a trade organization of nearly 50 companies, intends to develop privacy rules for businesses, such as not collecting information from children under 13 years old, and providing a choice to consumers to decline the collecting of information. How will enforcement be handled?
10. Other Thoughts
There is as much ignorance among citizens about what is POSSIBLE as there is among them about specific ABUSES.
Will the merger of cable TV, Telephone and Computing Internet services facilitate the erosion of presumed privacy in the home?
Pharmacy Records and Insurance Companies
Casses for Discussion
1. Federal Law [Hatch Act] prohibits putting a taxpayer-financed program to partisan use. Clinton ordered a new computer system in 1993 to track lawmakers, reporters, political supporters and others who attended White House functions. Invitation lists, thank-you notes and other social correspondence were developed from the list of 200,000 + names. Data such as birth dates, telephone and fax numbers, nicknames, dietary needs, pet projects were collected.
a. Is this a legitimate use of tax money? Is it legal?
b. Would it have been ethical to also indicate whether a person had been a donor to the Democratic Party?
c. Suppose the Democratic National Committee wants to identify prospects for increased donations. Can it use the list?
d. Must the President reveal the existence of the list? To whom?
He tells reporters and congresspersons that the database is not used to track political donors or to solicit donations.
2. Now that there is no longer a Cold War, what information collected by U.S. and Russian military researchers should be released publicly?
a. Scientific information about the Arctic Ocean, weather, currents, ice?
b. Names of secret agents who once operated in the Soviet Union?
c. Names of Russians recruited to work for the US?
d. Stories of famous espionage events?
e. Should the information be shared with Russian Scientists? Iranian Scientists?
f. How much should the federal government charge for a CD of this kind of data?
3. Two investigative journalists, working for the ABC program "Prime Time Live" apply for a job at the Food Lion in North Carolina. They are hired, and secretly film [a camera is hidden in their baseball cap] the goings on in the meat department, while they are working. The raw film is edited into a piece that alleges in its narration, that the employees were given instructions by supervisors to rewrap and sell of spoiled meat and fish.
a. Is this an acceptable practice of newsgathering?
b. Should the use of hidden cameras be illegal?
c. If it is acceptable, what is the justification?
d. If it is not acceptable, should the journalists be fired? Should ABC pull the story? Should they run the story and apologize about the techniques?
e. Is Food Lion owed any compensation?
f. Should the FDA use the film in its regulatory function?
[Food Lion sued ABC, claiming they were victims of fraud, trespassing, and breach of loyalty; Food Lion claimed that the employees had an obligation to prevent spoiled meat from being sold rather than permitting it while filming it, Food Lion was awarded $5.5 Million in damages]
4. NBC "Dateline" producers were doing a study of a pickup truck with an allegedly faulty design: the fuel tank is mounted outside the frame, so that several side-impact crashes resulted in fiery explosions severely burning passengers who might otherwise have survived the crash. Since they need footage showing this event, and they obviously don’t have film of the real-life crashes, they rig a truck with detonators so that they can "simulate" what supposedly happens in these cases.
[The network apologized and several officials resigned under pressure]
5. In China, a software engineer was detained and charged with incitement to overthrow the government. He had provided a pro-democracy web-based magazine with 30,000 email addresses in China. .
6. The State of Massachusetts planned to build a computer databank of prisoner’s DNA, something 47 other states already have. A Superior Court judge has blocked the move, on the grounds that forcing prisoners to give blood is unconstitutional. The 14th article of the Massachusetts Constitution, along with the US Constitution, limits the ability of governments to gather evidence of crimes. Rhode Island and Vermont are other States not allowing collection of blood, semen, and saliva sampling of prisoners. While other states’ practices are being challenged, the majority of court rulings have favored the States’ rights to collect genetic information. "The prisoner DNA database could make the difference between solving a serious crime and letting someone literally get away with murder" Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger
7. The World Trade Center bomber used coding technology to mask terrorist plans outlined on his laptop computer. Could any technology, laws or institutions have prevented this?
8. A Professor at Case Western Reserve argued that the First Amendment protected his right to teach about computer encryption, including the export of encryption software. Was export of encryption software or information about it protected under the First Amendment?
[No, according to a federal court (Chronicle of Higher Education article)]
9. IBM advertised in France for computer specialists, and hired three people, who were actually working for French Intelligence. The French employees stole IBM trade secrets for use by French government-owned industries, and were discovered. IBM contacted the U.S. government, which complained to French Foreign Ministry. The French government apologized, and lightly punished the three industrial spies. Should the U.S. CIA be involved in industrial espionage to protect U.S. Industry? Former CIA Director Robert Gates cites an intelligence officer who once said, "You know, I’m prepared to give my life for my country, but not for a company".
10. Two Graduate Students at the University of California, discovered flaw in Netscape software, threatening encryption of credit card information on the Internet. What should they do? [They published their findings on an Internet Listserve]. What should Netscape do?
11. The Social Security Administration started to use the Internet in 1997 to allow individuals to check on benefits and earnings. It suspended the service shortly after, due to privacy concerns of the public.
12. A spouse of a sailor discovered information on AOL written by Petty Officer Timothy R. McVeigh indicating a sexual interest in young men. [McVeigh, 32, is a highly decorated senior enlisted man with 17 years of service, and is no relation to the McVeigh of Oklahoma Bomb fame]. Seeking further information, the Navy wrested confidential information from AOL, concerning the identity of the author of the information found by the Navy spouse. The Navy now wants to dismiss McVeigh as a homosexual, in violation of an electronic privacy law and the military’s "don’t ask, don’t tell policy on homosexuality.
13. GeoCities settled with FTC over a privacy violation issue. [Aug 1998]. The issue was whether the site misled its members by distributing personal data it had collected, to marketers, without full permission. The settlement reportedly included no admission of wrongdoing, but GeoCities agreed to disclose how it used the information. "FTC Backs OnLine Privacy", Time, Aug 24, 1998.
14. A man is riding the subway with his video camera, and surreptitiously films "upskirt" or "downblouse" film, and then posts the film on the Internet. What, if any, laws have been violated?
It is legal to videotape in public. Republican State Assemblyman Jim Morrissey (California) plans to introduce legislation in California to deal with this "high tech perversion". The Virginia Law, like that of California, prohibits filming where someone "would have a reasonable expectation of privacy"
15. Children's Privacy Protection and Parental Empowerment Act of 1996 [Introduced by Diane Feinstein [D-CA] May, 1996 Would prohibit the distribution of information about children without parental consent and would require database brokers to disclose on demand from parents, where they got their information and to whom it has been distributed. It would prevent prisoners and child molesters from processing information about children. The bill is supported by Kids Off Lists, a coalition including Consumer Federation of America, the Family Research Council, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Privacy Times.
Sources on Privacy and Computing
Movies of Interest
The Net
Sneakers
The Conversation
Fiction
George Orwell, 1984
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
William Gibson, Idoru
American Bar Association
Criminal Justice Section,
6th Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy,
held "moot court" on the Cyptography Control Act of 1995
decision at: http://swissnet.ai.mit.edu/~switz/cpf96/plenary-court.html
Americans for Computer Privacy
Jack Quinn, former Gore Staff, counselCDB Infotech
Center for Democracy and Technology
Jerry Berman, Director
Has helped design legislation on privacy issues
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Frank Cilluffo, Senior Analyst
Council for Electronic Government (I.T Direct, Inc.) http://www.e-gov.com
Electronic Privacy Information Center http://epic.org
Fund for Constitutional Government: A supporter of "strong encryption"
Innocence Project
Massachusetts: uses DNA evidence to review old casesBarry Scheck
Open Financial Networks
Berkeley CA, a developer of commerce software for the Internet.
Eric Hughes, President
Privacy International http://www.privacy.org/pi/
Washington Office
666 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Suite 301
Washington, DC 20003 USA
202-544-9240 (phone) 202-547-5482 (fax)
pi@privacy.org(email)
Global Internet Liberty Campaign http://www.gilc.org/news/
David BanisarInternet Privacy Coalition http://www.privacy.org/ipc/
National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
University of Illinois,
Larry Smarr, Director
Felon-Tracking Websites: U.S. Government
- Dept. of Justice http://www.doj.gov
- Federal Bureau of Investigation http://www.fbi.gov/mainIE.htm
- Treasury Dept., Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms http://www.atf.treas.gov
- Southeast Bomb Task Force http://www.atf.treas.gov/core/explarson/searching.htm
America’s Most Wanted, Television Program http://www.amw.com
Books
Bok, Sissela, Secrets: On The Ethics of Concealment and Revelation, Vintage, 1983
Branscomb, Anne Wells, Who Owns Information? From Privacy to Public Access, Basic Books, 1994
Burnham, David, The Rise of the Computer State: The Threat to our Freedoms, our Ethics and Our Democratic Process, Random House, 1983
Flaherty, David H., Protecting Privacy in Surveillance Societies: The Federal Republic of Germany, Sweden, France, Canada and the U.S., Chapel Hill, UNC Press, 1989
________________, Privacy and Government Data Banks: An International Perspective, 1979
Freedman, Warren, The Right of Privacy in the Computer Age, Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 1987
Johnson, Deborah G. and Helen Nissenbaum, Eds., Computers, Ethics and Social Values, Englewood Cliffs, N.Y.: Prentice Hall, 1995
Lane, Carol, Naked in Cyberspace
Perritt, Henry H. Jr. Law and the Information Superhighway: Privacy, Access, Intellectual Property, Commerce, Liability, New York: Wiley Law Publications, 1996
Rothfeder, Jeffrey, Privacy for Sale: How Computerization has made everyone’s Private Life an Open Secret, Simon & Schuster, 1992
Rose, Lance, NetLaw: Your Rights in the Online World, McGraw Hill, 1995
Roszak, Theodore, The Cult of Information, Shattuck, Roger Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography, St. Martin’s Press, 1996 346pp $27.95
Severn, Bill, The Right To Privacy, 1973
Smith, H. Jeff, Managing Privacy: Information Technology & Corporate America, Chapel Hill, UNC Press, 1994
Official Reports
Office of Technology Assessment, Issue Update on Information Security and Privacy in Network Environments, U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, August, 1995
Office of Technology Assessment, Information Security and Privacy in Network Environments, U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1994
U.S. Department of Health, Education & Welfare, Records, Computers and the Rights of Citizens, Chair, Willis H. Ware, 1973
Articles
Associated Press, "Massachusetts DNA Database Blocked", Daily News Record, 8-15-98
_____________, "Gore Issues Warning On Internet Use" Daily News Record, June 25, 1998
Belsie, Laurent, "Cyber Angst: A Web that Both Lures and Repels", Christian Science Monitor, August 26, 1998
Davies, Simon "NSA Reads Europe’s Email" Wired, June 1998, p. 106
Denning, Dorothy E. "To Tap or Not to Tap", Communications of the ACM, March 1993 reprinted in Easton, Taking Sides
Frontiers of Knowledge, special issue of Foreign Policy 1998
"Does Caller ID Invade Privacy" Issue 16 in Katsh, M Ethan, Editor, Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Legal Issues, Guilford, CT:Dushkin, 1993
Godwin, Mike "A Chip over My Shoulder: Problems with Clipper", Internet World, July, 1994 reprinted in Easton, Taking Sides
Kahin, Brian, "The Software Patent Crisis", Technology Review, April, 1990
Mason, Richard O. "Four Ethical Issues of the Information Age", Management Information Systems Quarterly, March 1986
O’Leary, Daniel E. "Some Privacy Issues in Knowledge Discovery: The OECD Personal Privacy Guidelines", IEEE Expert, Vol. 10, No.2, April, 1995
Rosen, Jeffrey, "Is Nothing Private?", The New Yorker, June 1, 1998 pp. 36-41
Scherer, Ron "Bullet Database: New Crimefighter", Christian Science Monitor, July 16, 1998
Solomon, Monty, "FBI Surveillance Demands Rejected on Privacy Grounds", CDT Policy Post [on-line], Vol. 2 N. 32 Sept. 20, 1996
Thomas, Beth, "Confidential Communications on the Internet", Scientific American, Vol. 273 No. 6, Dec. 1995
Van Stambrouck, Paul "In Internet Age, Who’ll Eavesdrop?" Christian Science Monitor, July 15, 1998
C. Justice
1 - Domestic
The 1996 Telecommunications Act mandated that Universal Service be provided to underserved populations. For information on the background and administration of this concept, the New Universal Sevice: Guide for Users, National Technical Information Agency:
The States Inventory Project a joint project of the Federation of American Research Networks, and the Arizona State University is tracking the activities of States in creating the National Information Infrastructure, as an embodyment of the concept of "distributed maintenance". Topics include laws and regulations, and implementation of universal access.
Discrimination/Gender Differences in use of computers
If research shows that males and females adopt computer technology differently, then are we under obligation to present the technology differently?Does the Technology=power and power = male equations hold?
The use of gender stereotypes in computer advertising
2 - International Fairness/TradeD. Justice: International Fairness/Trade
"New International Information Order"
Harmonization of Intellectual Property Rights
Trade Practices
Internet Conventions: Domain Addresses
9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld lower court which ruled it illegal to buy a Web site name that is trademarked and then try to sell it to the trademark owner. Dennis Toeppen "enganged in a scheme to register Panavision's tradementarks as his domain names on the Internet and then to extort money from Panavision by trading on the value of those names"
European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee objects to NSA’s Echelon global surveillance network, which intercepts non-military (government, organizations and businesses) electronic messages and extracts information using selective keyword searches. Norway has called for an inquiry
SORM, the Russian "System for Ensuring Investigative Activity" is discussed at the Moscow Libertarium Site: www.fe.msk.ru/libertarium [in my server, it came up first in unreadable font, but after a refresh, I could read the Russian, and link to an English version.]
D. First Amendment/Free Speech
Local Community Standards v. Universal standards: whose laws apply?
Communications Decency Act
First Amendment: Political Speech/Campaign Finance
Should broadcasters give free time to political candidates, under FCC "Public Responsibility" clause?
For "1st Amendment Issues Abroad
Links
Internet Free Expression AllianceE. Quality of Information
Web-Based Journalism
Slate Michael Kinsley (Microsoft)
Max Frankel at Aspen Institute
F. Archiving and History
Decentralization of the University, and information flowsG. Accountability and System-wide Failures
Satellite Communications Failure: May 20, 1998: Satellite shifts in orbit affected paging, TV s services globally
Air Traffic Control: Power Failure at New York Terminal Radar Approach Control ("TRACON) caused surge which damaged old IBM Mainframe Dec 19, 1997
Year 2000 Problem: Prioritizing the "repairs", insuring the breakdowns
Therac 98 Glitch
The Center for National Software Studies is studying the concept of "trustworthy" software certification/parameters.
H. Secrecy
Encryption: publically owned "Clipper Chip" keys vrs private encryption
Government "Classification System" and Openness/Sunshine Laws.
DOE Openness Committee: E.G. Mahler (spoke at JMU March 19, 1998
I. Ubiquitous Computing and the Quality of Life
* KAPLAN EDUCATIONAL CENTERS, a company best known for test-preparation courses, is starting the nation's first on-line law-degree program, which it says will allow students to earn a juris doctor without leaving home.J. Artistic and Futuristic Ideas
"Wearable Computers" MIT fashion showK. Computers as "Agents"
Actor Network Theory, Bruno Latour, Michel Callon , John LawL. Organization of the Industry/Convergence of Computing/Telecommunications/Content
Antitrust
Microsoft Case, Intel
"Colonization of the Mind", Big Brother, monopoly of information sources
M. Computer Crimes
N. Codes of Conduct and Protection of Whistleblowers
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Updated: 05/19/2003