Next Question: Tech Ethics?
About a month from now York will be hosting a forum on Tech Ethics. Ok, I'll admit it, I'm coordinating this event. A couple of guys from Stanford (one of whom you can call Mr. Torg) are willing to come down and talk a little about the kinds of tricky and sticky areas consumers and, particularly, undergraduate students should know more info about... like identity theft, password encryption, harassment, downloading and hidden archiving. If you don't know much about these topics or the difference between hacking and cracking, you may learn something.
In order to give these two fellows some sense of what they might cover, I've collected a few faculty queries about tech's ethical quagmires and passed on the kinds of questions I've heard students ask in the past. The good news is, these presenters are hoping to tailor their talk to those areas you're most curious about. So though they'll probably touch on most of the topics I've mentioned above, they invite you to submit more specific questions in advance. If there's something you've ever wondered about that's at all relevant, send it to me (ctorg) or post it here as a comment (always including your name) and I'll forward it to them a few days in advance of the forum.
These guys know a lot, too much to cover in 50 minutes. If you can get me your questions in advance, they'll be much more likely to address the things that you really want to know. Hey, how often do you get a say in the content of these forums? Steer away! Be informed! In this case there are definitely no stupid questions.
posted by ctorg @ 6:25 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Difference between a hacker and cracker (I know there is but want to put it out), Peer-to-peer networking/file sharing (downloading songs, what makes it "unethical", is sharing the hard copy of a CD ok but downloading a song online not and if so why)
Is using unlicensed "unethical"
Should I assume these last two entries are both from Mr. Hand? Should I wonder why Mr. H. hasn't signed his name?
Obviously using unlicensed software is problematic. The trickier questions have to do with the nuances of licensing agreements and full/partial compliance.
Would you care to refine your question?
Heck, that was why I was asking them due to my unablity (is that a word) to phrase it correctly. Mabye more like when does having licensed software become unethical. A hypothetical question: which of these is "unethical" a person(1 person) owning unlicensed software, a company (for profit) owning unlicensed software or a not for profit company owning unlicensed software??
As for my forgetfulness to sign my name, it was late and thinking had pasted me.
TH
Defining Tech Ethics isn't as easy as it looks, so you've raised a key question, AK, one that I suspect I will struggle to do justice.
The gist is this: every new technology raises new questions in regard to what is right and wrong behavior. With computers, some things are obvious, but not everyone agrees about what is "appropriate"--even here on the York campus. In the AUP we try to spell out some basic rules that will keep the majority of people safe, equipment secure and resources functioning efficiently for as many people as possible. When it comes to defining appropriate internet use on campus, though, the lines get blurry. You'll find that there's a wide range of opinions on whether students should be allowed to play games, edit MySpace, download free music, copy and paste parts of a paper, etc. Are these kinds of activities ethical or unethical? moral or immoral? Who do they hurt? Who do they help? Why? When? Is it context specific?
You see how it can get complicated.
The same kinds of questions about right & wrong pop up on college campuses, in businesses and even in the larger public domain. You often read about "identity theft" where someone takes someone else's social security number, credit card numbers and steals their money. Even steals their name. Clearly unethical.
At HP recently, board members allowed employees to track other employees' email without their knowledge. Most of us would consider this bad.
Other things like downloading music or photos without permission are not exactly ethical, but people are doing them left and right. It's quick, it's free. It's easy. At this moment there's nothing's physically stopping us all from "borrowing" from the internet, nothing except our conscience and a sense of integrity. Is that enough?
In my opinion, if somebody makes/writes/records something that is available online, he or she owns it and other people should respect that. Even so, I've been known to "borrow" an image; I tell myself it's ok because I at least mention where that image originally came from. Adding this kind of attribution is a hassle, but it seems to me the moral minimum step to take.
On the other hand, some would argue that our cultural standards are changing and we need to adjust our expectations.
Not everyone online has our best interests at heart. That's just a fact. Fortunately, there are some steps we all can take to protect our information and keep others from using our info in nefarious ways online. I hope the guest speakers will talk about these kinds of things too.
I've got to go to Health & Fitness, so I'll stop for the moment. Overall, the Tech Ethics questions remain: when it comes to technology, who decides what is ok and what is not? How do they make their decisions? What are the consequences of our actions, both good and bad? How can we protect ourselves from people who'd like to take advantage of unsuspecting tech users. Tech Ethics involve all of these kinds of issues...and more.
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