Chapter 8 - Computers In Polite Society:Social Implications of IT

• Discuss examples of how social networking technology can improve society

• Describe several tips associated with netiquette and explain the benefits of following them

• Give the requirements of a good password, and how to achieve them

• Name three permitted/not permitted uses of licensed software

• Discuss what rights are granted to owners/creators of material that is copyrighted

The Power of the Crowd

• The Internet has brought substantial changes to society

• Positive or Negative?• Social interactions have been extended well

beyond the experiences that previous generations could have.

• We will consider a few examples that have ostensibly brought “positive change”

Crowdsourcing

• Refers to solving a problem or achieving a goal by combining the contributions of a large, unconstrained volunteer population

• Wikipedia is perhaps the most famous of the crowdsourcing enterprises

• The goal is to build a database of all (?) knowledge through a global effort

• Issues: Control, Cliques, Deletionism

Be a Martian

• Volunteers help NASA by tagging images from the Mars rovers

• Crowdsourcing is a new phenomenon made possible by the “free” and easy communication enabled by the Internet

• “Crowd” is obviously important because it increases the number of people working on a project, a benefit for the people with the problem

• Issues?

Be a Martian

• By opening up the project to a wide variety of people, participants will have a wide variety of skill sets

• Volunteers might actually be faster and more efficient at the task!

• Their skills and knowledge might lead to a better solution, as Wikipedia proves in most cases

Crowdsourcing

• So, what’s in it for the participants? – It’s fun– Earn points, win prizes– Participants receive a sense of satisfaction

that they are contributing to a project– Many projects require skills that are more

challenging than watching TV– Issues?

Foldit

• Foldit is a game program in which teams compete to fold a protein• Proteins get all twisted as they float

around in cells.• How they fold largely determines how

they work (medicine doesn’t “know a protein” until it knows how it folds)

Foldit

• Foldit program works on proteins that are important to AIDS, cancer, and Alzheimer’s research

• Using Foldit, the structure of the protein associated with the AIDS virus was solved in three weeks

Freerice • Freerice has a vocabulary game (also others) : • The player is given

an English word and four possible definitions• Picking the right

answer donates 10 grains of rice

Kickstarter

• People with creative projects pitch their ideas:– They say what they’ll do

– How much money they need to do it

– Why it’s important, etc.

• Donors can contribute toward the goal• If the goal is achieved the project is

funded; otherwise, the donors get their money back

Out on Good Behavior

• The online world we live in today is different in many ways than the real world many grew up in

• Our range of interactions is much broader; we may never meet face-to-face with the online people

• Families and relatives usually influence our online behavior very little

• Unintended consequences? Concerns?

Out on Good Behavior

• We can be anonymous on the Internet, so no one knows if we behave badly…Right?

• We are not entirely anonymous online. There are means to get the identities of people on the Internet

• We all want to enjoy the benefits the Internet gives us, so our daily uses of the Internet should encourage us to behave

Improving the Effectiveness of Email

• Problems with email and online comms:

– Conveying emotion

– Emphasis

– Conversational pace

– Ambiguity

– Flame-a-thons

– Spam

– Scams

Conveying Emotion• Difficult to convey subtle emotions

using email

– Medium is too informal, impersonal, and casually written.

– Conversational cues are missing

– Good Writing still important - consider classic letters

• Emoticons are (somewhat) popular

– Tags a sentence indicating the emotion we mean to communicate

Emphasis

• Typing for emphasis can convey the wrong meaning– Text in all caps can be interpreted

as yelling

• Email is still largely ASCII based and may not allow italics or underlining– Asterisks or underscores can

replace underlining

Conversational Pace

• Asynchronous medium makes dialog difficult– For interactive purposes (like negotiation)

synchronous medium like telephone may be best

Ambiguity

• Text can be interpreted in ways we don't intend– People often don't proofread what they

write in email to avoid ambiguity

Flames

• Flame is slang for inflammatory exchanges

• Flame-a-thon is ongoing exchange of angry emails

• When angered by email, it's best to delay answering until you cool down

Netiquette (more rules in the book)• Originally rules to promote civilized email usage

• Now interpreted more broadly: civilized behavior in any of the social settings on the Internet

– Ask about one topic at a time

– Include context (quote previous text as needed)

– Use an automated reply when away (careful!)

– Get sender's permission before forwarding email

– Use targeted distribution lists (don't send latest joke to everyone you've ever emailed)

– Posted Content lives forever! Like a bulletin board.

Please, Don’t Be Offended

• The “Offensensitivity” perspective can be summarized as follows:1. Your post will be seen by people all over

the world, and you will see posts from people all over the world

2. You can easily and unintentionally offend them; they can easily and unintentionally offend you

Please, Don’t Be Offended

• The “Offensensitivity” perspective can be summarized as follows:3. The “problem” is our different cultures,

social norms, backgrounds, religions, assumptions, and so forth. You’re not wrong; they’re not wrong. And they are no more likely to change their thinking than you are. Be tolerant. Be respectful.

4. Are norms and standards relative or absolute?

Expect the Unexpected

• Expecting the unexpected is a valuable survival skill in life and in computing.

• When something unexpected happens, we should ask – “Why did that happen?”

– “What’s going on?”• An essential skill in the social world of

computing is, Expect the Unexpected

The Onion

• The Onion is a humor magazine specializing in news satire

• It produces “news” stories that are almost believable

• Rather than checking an unbelievable story by asking if it makes sense many people simply believe it and repeat it

Suspicious Activity

• Other kinds of online activity are of greater concern.

• Is your software:

– “acting” strange?

– “behaving” unusually?• These could be indicators of a software problem

such as disk fragmentation, or a computer virus infection

• If the behavior continues after a reboot, you might need some help

Authentication and Passwords: Are, Have, Know

• The Role of Passwords– To limit computer or system access to only those

who know a sequence of keyboard characters– To help track who did what - protect the innocent

• Breaking into a Computer without a Password– Trying all possible passwords algorithmically

would eventually find correct password, but software usually limits the number of tries

• Forgetting a Password– Passwords are scrambled or encrypted and

stored, so system administrator usually can't tell you your password if you forget it

Guidelines for Selecting a Password

• Don’tchoose something easily guessed

• Should have at least 8 characters (if possible)

• Mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation characters, symbols like % and *).

• Avoid “dictionary words”

• No personal association (like your name)

• Phrase-to-password “algorithm”

Heuristics for picking a password

• Select a personally interesting topic

– Always select passwords related to topic

• Develop a password from a phrase rather than a single word. (Or use phrase)

• Encode the password phrase

– Make it short by abbreviating, replace letters and syllables with alternate characters or spellings

Changing Passwords

• Should be changed periodically

• Resets/ “Security” Questions

• Managing Passwords

– Using a single password for everything is risky; using a different password for everything is hard to remember

– Passwords can be recycled• Make good changes to good passwords or• Rotate passwords

– Password safe or “keychain”

Viruses and Worms

• Virus - a program that "infects" another program by embedding a copy of itself. When the infected program runs, the virus copies itself and infects other programs

• Worm is an independent program that copies itself across network connections

• Trojan is a program that hides inside another useful program, and performs secret operations– May record keystrokes or other sensitive data, or load

malicious software

• Exploit is a program that takes advantage of security hole (Say in an Internet browser )– Backdoor access enters computer and reconfigures it for

remote control

How to "Catch" a Virus

• Email attachments. Do not open attachments before checking:– Is this email from someone I know?– Is the message a sensible follow-up to the last

message from the sender?– Is the content of the message something the

sender would say to me?– Is there a reason for the sender to include an

attachment?• When in doubt, be cautious - save and scan

How to "Catch" a Virus (cont'd)

• Copying software from an infected computer

• Peer-to-Peer Exchange

– Downloading files from unreliable sources

• New Software

– Any software is a potential source of infected code

– Most software distributors are careful to avoid infection

Virus-Checking Software

• Free and Shareware scanners exist - AVG

• Three companies are McAfee, Norton, and Sophos, Inc.

• Programs check for known viruses, worms, etc. May also use heuristics.

• New viruses are created all the time, so update often

Phishing• Password harvesting fishing

• “Social Engineering”

• Users are sent SPAM emails asking for credit card or banking information, or even just passwords.

• Message is disguised to appear to be from a bank or other company

– Often reports a security problem the user needs

to address

– When the user clicks legitimate looking link, they are linked to bogus sites set up to steal the information entered

What Can Be Done About Phishing?

• Never respond to requests for personal information like passwords via email; legitimate businesses do not request information this way

• Do not click on links or pre-typed addresses. They can be spoofed (faked); type the URL yourself.

• Check to make sure the website is using encryption - Lock Icon, etc.

• Routinely review credit card and bank statements for unusual activity

• Report suspected abuses to proper authorities

Protecting Intellectual Property• Intellectual property is any human creation like

photograph, music, textbooks, cartoons, etc.

• Licensing of software– You don't buy most software; you lease it– Commercial Licenses gives you the right to use

personally, but not sell or give away

• Try before you buy– Shareware allows you to download and try software for

free, then pay the person who built it if you like it (honor system)

• GPL - alternate license, allows almost any use, as long as you distribute the source code of any changes you make. (Based on Copyright Law)

Copyright on the Web• A person automatically owns copyright of what he

creates in the U.S. and most nations

• Copyright “temporarily” protects owner's right to

– Make a copy of the work

– Use a work as the basis for a new work (derivative work) (exception for satire/parody)

– Distribute or publish the work, including electronically

– Publicly perform the work

– Publicly display the work

Copyright on the Web (cont'd)

• Free Personal Use

– You are free to read, view or listen to protected work

• When is permission needed?

– Information placed in public domain is free for anyone to use (Creative Commons.)

– Otherwise you must get permission from the owner of the copyright

Copyright on the Web (cont'd)

• The Concept of Fair Use

– Allows use of copyrighted material for educational or scholarly purposes, to allow limited quotation for review or criticism, to permit parody

• When Is It Fair Use? Depends on several factors:

– What is the planned use?

– What is the nature of the work in which the material is to be used?

– How much of the work will be used?

– What effect would this use have on the market for the work, if the use were widespread?

Copyright on the Web (cont'd)

• Violating the Copyright Law– You break the law whether you give away

copyrighted material or sell it– Commercial use usually results in

higher fines (Could even result in criminal penalties - but rare.)

• Alternatives: Public Domain. Creative Commons, Original material, Others?

Ensuring the Reliability of Software

• Safety-Critical Applications (systems that support life or control hazardous devices or materials)

– Hardware failures can be avoided or resolved using redundancy

• Have three computers perform all computations of safety-critical system

• Compare results - 2 out of 3 rule

– Burn-in

• Most errors show up after a few hours of operation

Software Failures

• How can programmers be sure their programs work correctly?

– All reachable configurations (states the software can get into), cannot be examined for correctness—there are too many

– A program is said to be correct if its behavior exactly matches its specification

– What can we do about the fact that we can't prove correctness?

Software Failures (cont'd)

• The Challenge

– Accept that software may contain bugs. Monitor usage, be alert to unusual behavior and be prepared to limit the harm they can do

– Demand high-quality software, refuse buggy software, and be prepared to change to better software

Software Failures (cont'd)

• Fail-Soft and Fail-Safe Software

– Fail-soft means the program continues to operate under stress, providing a possibly degraded level of functionality

– Fail-safe means the system stops functioning to avoid causing harm

• Perfectly safe software is just as impossible as perfectly correct software; there is always a risk