Phil 327 – Ethics in the Information Age --Fall, 2019 

Metropolitan State University

 

Syllabus

 

Position Paper Assignments (Note: these are carried over from last semester. They probably won't change much, if at all, but check back to make sure you have the current version.)

 

 First Position Paper Assignment (due Monday Oct. 7 by 10 am -save as a Word Doc and send attached to an email)

 

Second Position Paper Assignment (due Monday Nov. 19, by 10am by email)

 

Third Position Paper Assignment (due Monday, Dec. 16, by 10AM)

Philosophy paper writing guides (relevant more to Position Papers #2 and#3 than to #1): 

from Jim Pryor of NYU

from Joe Cruz of Williams College

 


Schedule of assignments
Date Topic Reading Writing Due Handouts - in class stuff

August 30

 Introduction none   Cases for Discussion;
Discussion Project #1: Identifying Ethical Issues

Sept. 6

 Overview: Personal, Professional, and Social Issues in Information Technology

1. Quinn, Chapter 1 (optional);  
2. Benkler, Wealth of Networks, Introduction (online here - HTML formatted for easy reading - or here - PDF formated for saving paper when printing) -- you may safely skip the section called "Four Methodological Comments" but do read the section that comes after it.
3. The Case of the Killer Robot (online here -- you will need to scroll down and click on the titles of the individual articles that gradually describe the case.)

 Response to Readings Discussion Project Killer Robot

Sept. 13

 Ethical Theories 1: Relativism, Religion, Kant

1. Quinn, Chapter 2, the first six sections, through p. 72; 
2. Excerpts from Kant (with notes);
3. "The Truth in Ethical Relativism" by Hugh LaFollette

Response to Readings Discussion Project: Applying Kant

Sept.20

 Ethical Theories 2: Utilitarianism, Social Contract theory 1. Quinn, Chapter 2, the rest (but skip section 10 on virtue ethics for now);
2. "The Singer Solution to World Poverty" by Peter Singer;
3. Prisoners' Dilemma: Game and Explanation: "We are all Prisoners" and "An Ethic Based on Prisoners' Dilemma" by Jonathan Blumen; (another version of the game) 		Response to Readings Discussion Project: Applying Utilitarianism;
First Paper Assignment handed out

Sept. 27

 Professional/Business ethics 1: responsibilities, standards, codes 1. Quinn, Chapter 2, section 10, pp. 88-94;
2. Quinn, Chapter 9, the first five sections, through p. 436 		Response to Readings Discussion Project: Applying the Software Engineering Code of Ethics

Oct. 4

 Professional/Business ethics 2: whistleblowing, loyalty 1. Quinn, Chapter 9, the rest;
2. "Illusions of whistleblower protection" by Brian Martin,
3.   Brian Martin's summary of Robert Jackall's discussion of whistleblowing;
4. Summary of Jackall's book "Moral Mazes" (pdf) by Damian Grace, University of New South Wales 		Response to Readings;
First Paper Due on Monday, Oct. 7 by email		 Discussion Project: Whistleblowing

Oct. 11

 Computer Security and Reliability

1. Quinn, Chapter 7: the whole thing.  If you are pressed for time, skip section 7.3 on malware.
2. Chapter 8: the first four sections and the last two (pp. 365-381 and 392-404);
3.Who should be liable for data breaches?
4. (Optional). Hacking law can't hack it?

Response to Readings Discussion Project: Liability for Data Breaches

Oct. 18

 Spam, Pornography, Free Speech, Censorship

1. Quinn, Chapter 3;

2. Brian Leiter on Cyber-Cesspools, cleaner version, explicit version

3. Entropy and the Internet (a New Yorker cartoon)

4. Optional: Andrew Sullivan on Internet addiction: I Used To Be a Human Being -- a long personal narrative of the author's struggles. Skip this if you are pressed for time

5. A shorter article that makes some of the same points as Sullivan's: The Destructive Switch from Search to Social

6. As much as you can of: this research report on Technology Addiction (TL;DR)

 Response to Readings

Second Paper Assignment handed out

Discussion project on host responsibility for moderating/censoring online content

Oct. 25

 Privacy 1 - What is privacy and why is it important? -- private sector policies and practices 1. Quinn, Chapter 5;
2. MSNBC article on privacy law 		Response to Readings Discussion project on privacy;

Nov. 1

 Privacy 2 - Privacy and the Government

1. Quinn, Chapter 6;
2. Daniel Solove, "Why Privacy Matters Even If You Have 'Nothing To Hide'"
3. William Simon, "Rethinking Privacy"

plus whatever you have time for from the articles listed on this page

 Response to Readings Discussion project on Surveillance

Nov. 8

 Intellectual Property 1 1.Richard Stallman, Misinterpreting Copyright—A Series of Errors 
2. Quinn, Chapter 4
3. links to further (optional) materials on copyright		 Response to Readings; Second paper due by email by 10AM Monday, Nov. 11

Discussion Project on Copyright

Larry Lessig's TED talk

Nov. 15

 Intellectual Property 2

1. Benkler, Wealth of Networks, Introduction to Chapter 2 (pp. 35-41);
2. Chapter 3 (pp. 59-90);
3. last section of Chapter 5 (pp. 161-175) (Here's a page with more detailed information on this reading assignment.)

 Response to Readings;  Second Position Paper due by email by 10am Monday November 19
 Film: Revolution OS

Nov. 22

 The Internet and Democracy

Read in this order:

1. "The Daily Me" by Cass Sunstein (You can skip the last five pages, i.e., the section called "What isn't the Issue".);

2. Sunstein on Group Polarization and Cybercascades

3. Benkler, Wealth of Networks, Chapter 7, selections

4. Interview with Benkler:  http://bostonreview.net/politics/yochai-benkler-deborah-chasman-selling-outrage

Optional Extras that give more insight into Benkler’s latest thoughts (read if you have time and interest):


5. Benkler, et al. on the Right Wing Media Ecosystem and the 2016 election


6. Brief summary by a journalist: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/a-new-book-details-the-damage-done-by-the-right-wing-media-in-2016

 Response to Readings Discussion Project on the Internet and Democracy Benkler Notes

Nov. 29

 Thanksgiving holiday No class    

Dec. 6

 Access and Equity Quinn, Chapter 10 Response to Readings Story of Stuff videos: Stuff in general Electronic stuff

Dec. 13

 Wrap Up
  1.  Nicholas Carr (author of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing To Our Brains) responding to the news that Facebook ran experiments on the emotional psychology of its users (and explaining why Benkler was wrong):   "The Platform Is the Conversation"

  2.  New Yorker writer Anna Wiener on Jack Dorsey (CEO of Twitter) and his efforts to deal with criticisms of the platform:
    Jack Dorsey’s TED Interview and the End of an Era

  3. Software designer Tobias van Schneider on design ethics:  "The Art of Being a Hypocrite Designer" Alternative site for this essay, in case Medium is limiting your access: https://www.vanschneider.com/can-good-design-be-bad-design

  4. Salkever and Wadwa. "How Design Can Make Tech Products Less Addictive"

  5.  https://slate.com/technology/2019/04/a-teenager-is-accusing-apple-of-misidentifying-him-with-a-facial-id-system.html

  6. Here’s a catchy set of slides from Farhad Manjoo of the New York Times you can click through in a couple of minutes:  “It’s Time to Panic About Privacy”  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/10/opinion/internet-data-privacy.html 

Response to readings

Third paper due by 10am on Monday Dec. 16 by email