Ethics  in an Information Age                        Final Exam     Due: April 17

 

 

General Directions:   Write a total of 5-8 pages, typed, double-spaced.  Make your answers as clear and concise as you can.  Explain any technical terms you use.  Pretend that, instead of being read by a teacher who has read all the class readings, your answers will be read by an intelligent and well-informed person who has read no such material, and who needs to have the issues explained in a way that does not assume any acquaintance with academic writing about ethics or about information technology, policy, or law. 

            Answer mainly in your own words.  Put quotations in quotation marks (and use quotes sparingly).  When you borrow a phrase or argument or idea from another writer, give them credit. 

 

Answer all of the following questions:

 

1. What do you see as the most significant threats to privacy in the information age and what (if anything) do you think should be done about them?  (Explain and defend your answer.)

 

2.  Why do some people think that it is important that our legal system provide strong protections for ‘intellectual property’ in the form of patent and copyright laws?  Why does Benkler (among others) think that these protections have become counter-productive, given the economics of information production and, especially, the growth of ‘commons-based peer production’?  What do you think?

 

3.  Benkler (among others) thinks that the Internet makes possible a more vibrant and democratic ‘public sphere’.  Sunstein (among others) thinks the effects on democratic politics may well be negative.  Explain briefly the arguments on each side of this debate.  What do you think?