CS499: Computers, Ethics, and Society. Syllabus BBVista (check for course updates regularly – at least once per day!) Course website:

CS499: Computers, Ethics, and Society

Syllabus BBVista (check for course updates regularly at least once per day!) Course website: https://www.cis.uab.edu/cs499/spring2012/1D Book Computers, Ethics, and Society: Ermann and Shauf, Oxford, ISBN 0-19-514302-7, 2003. Recommended Book Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. Kuhn, Chicago, 3/e. Wiki Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions Google Book Review: http://books.google.com/books?id=xnjS401VuFMC&sitesec=reviews&rf=st:us

Syllabus (cont.) Course Schedule: Faculty and guest lecturers will hold class each week. The Major Field Test Examination is taken as a required part of the course. Course Objectives: A review of key concepts in the undergraduate level study of computer science. All professors in the department participate in giving at least one lecture each (under normal circumstances). Some may lecture more than once. A discussion of various aspects of Computer Ethics. Discussion of Scientific Thought and philosophy. Oral and written communication/presentation about Ethics in Computer Science Required.

Syllabus (cont.) Grading: The Major Field Test is a requirement, but undergraduates dont have to get a specific grade on it to pass CS 499. It is a learning outcomes measurement. Presentation Summaries (10*25 = 250 points) You must turn in ten or more one-page (200-250 word) summaries of CS499 lectures you have attended (or departmental lectures, with instructors permission to substitute). These are lectures by the faculty. Faculty lecturing twice (e.g., two days lecture) on same subject, you can only use for a single summary. Term Paper (225 points total) You must write a five-to-seven page (approximately 1500-1800 word) essay about computer ethics based on readings at the end of the term (see below). Additional assignment rules and intermediate assignments (title abstract, etc.) plus instructions to be provided. Correct citation, use of sources, strategy, for written and verbal presentation all count towards the grade.

Syllabus (cont.) Grading (cont.) Second paper (200 points) A five-page write-up (1250- 1500 words) on Structure of Scientific Revolutions or other pre-approved will be required. Grading will include emphasis on grammar, style, quality of writing and relevance of presentation. Due before the Spring Break. Presentation of one of your papers (175 points) You must make a 15-minute presentation on one of your papers. PowerPoint slides are required. Detailed instructions to be provided. This is either the ethics paper, or the other pre- approved topic paper. Class Participation (100 points). Attendance and active participation.

Syllabus (cont.) Late Submission: All assignments are due as indicated on BBVista. Any assignment turned in after this deadline is considered late. Late assignments will lose 10% for every 24-hour period, up to a maximum of 50% (weekends and holidays count as one 24-hour period). Any assignment submitted after expiration of time supported on BBVista will receive a score of zero. See BBVista for due dates of the reviews of presentations and the presentation summaries. All required assignments must be turned in even if they are late to pass this course. Failure to submit any assignments will result in a grade of F for the course.

Syllabus (cont.) Class Attendance: Attendance is mandatory for this course. If you know you will be absent for a legitimate reason, let the instructor know. If you are sick bring a doctor's excuse or a written university excuse to resolve the absence(s). An absence has to be resolved as soon as possible - otherwise it will not be treated as an excused absence. The Major Field Test information is documented on BBVista. You must register for the test.

Syllabus (cont.) Academic Honesty: Any student who violates the university's academic honesty policy will be reported for academic discipline. All university and department policies related to students are included here by implication. IMPORTANT: All papers and summaries will be submitted to Turnitin for comparison against the most comprehensive digital repository of potentially plagiarizable material in the world!

Cheating will not be tolerated You must do your own homework It is acceptable to discuss the reading assignments and general approaches to solving homework problems with your classmates It is not acceptable to discuss detailed homework answers or to copy homework answers from other students Hopefully you already knew this.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to Failure to indicate the source with quotation marks or footnotes where appropriate if any of the following are reproduced in the work submitted by a student: 1. A written phrase. 2. A graphic element. 3. A proof. 4. Specific language. 5. An idea derived from the work, published or unpublished, of another person.

11 Avoiding plagiarism If you use someones specific words, put them in quotes and cite the source. If you use someones ideas expressed in your own words, cite the source. If you paraphrase, summarize in your own words, but still cite source Dont use the same sentence structure with a few word substitutions If you use some of the sources words, put them in quotes. When in doubt, put it in quotes and cite the source! Good resource on avoiding plagiarism http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/QPA_plagiarism.html Includes nice examples of good and bad paraphrasing

Syllabus (cont.) E-mail: Every student will be required to use his/her official email address that is [email protected]. New students must login and configure their email addresses. For more details on obtaining blazerid and configuring email please see: http://www.uab.edu/blazerid. http://www.uab.edu/blazerid Key email communications will be made using this address. You must regularly log in to BBVista, since emails will also be sent there and they do not forward. Assignments and information will appear only there.

Assignment schedule Term paper topic due: Mar. 16 th Term paper due: Apr. 16 th Second paper due: Mar. 16 th Second paper topic due: Feb. 17 th Presentation summary due: Feb. 20 th : three summaries due Mar. 26 th : four summaries due Apr. 30 th : three summaries due Term presentations: Apr. 23, 25, 27, and 30 (3 presentations in each session)

14 Why study ethics? Ethical analysis can provide a structured way to evaluate an issue and choose a course of action Ethical analysis can help illuminate multiple sides of an issue Ethical analysis can help produce persuasive arguments In your personal and professional life you will confront difficult decisions

What is computer ethics Problems: Internet Privacy Spyware Browser cookies Wikileaks Core issues: Professional responsibility, intellectual property rights, privacy, censorship, and the impact of technology in society Social responsibility

No lecture on 13 th but you need to do the required readings Reading list will be uploaded to BBVista by tonight. Lecture schedule for next two weeks: Jan. 16: MLK day (no class) Jan. 18: Gary Warner (Computer Forensics) Jan. 20 th : Wei-Bang Chen (Spam Image Mining) Jan. 23rd: ACM distinguished lecture Software Economics 2:30 3:30pm, HUC Auditorium Meeting with students (4pm 4:40pm)

A Sample Scenario You are the senior software engineer at start-up developing software for handheld computers to help nurses keep track of patients Sales force has promised product by next week Product still contains many minor bugs No major bugs have been found, but QA recommends another month of testing A competitor plans to release a similar product in a few weeks If your product is not the first to market your start-up will probably go out of business

Should you recommend release of the product next week? Who will benefit if the company follows your recommendation? Who will be harmed if the company follows your recommendation? Do you have an obligation to any group of people that may be affected by your decision?

20 Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. Subjective Relativism Relativism No universal norms of right and wrong One person can say X is right, another can say X is wrong, and both can be right Subjective relativism Each person decides right and wrong for himself or herself Whats right for you may not be right for me

21 Subjective relativism evaluation of spam Spammers say spam is good Spam brings advertisements to the attention of some people who want to buy their products Spammers make money Purchasers are happy to buy their products (true?) Most spam recipients and ISPs say spam is bad Spam wastes time and computer resources, congests networks, slows processing of non-spam email

22 Case for Subjective Relativism Well-meaning and intelligent people often disagree on moral issues One example is self-plagiarism a non ending battle Ethical debates are often disagreeable and pointless Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

23 Case Against Subjective Relativism Blurs distinction between doing what you think is right and doing what you want to do Makes no moral distinction between the actions of different people SR and tolerance are two different things Decisions may not be based on reason Not a workable ethical theory Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

24 Case for Kantianism Rational Produces universal moral guidelines Treats all persons as moral equals Workable ethical theory Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

25 Case Against Kantianism Sometimes no rule adequately characterizes an action. There is no way to resolve a conflict between rules. Monogamy vs Polygamy Kantianism allows no exceptions to moral laws. Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

26 Utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill An action is good if it benefits someone An action is bad if it harms someone Utility: tendency of an object to produce happiness or prevent unhappiness for an individual or a community Happiness = advantage = benefit = good = pleasure Unhappiness = disadvantage = cost = evil = pain Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

27 Principle of Utility (Greatest Happiness Principle) An action is right (or wrong) to the extent that it increases (or decreases) the total happiness of the affected parties. Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

28 Act Utilitarianism Utilitarianism Morality of an action has nothing to do with intent Focuses on the consequences A consequentialist theory Act utilitarianism Add up change in happiness of all affected beings Sum > 0, action is good Sum < 0, action is bad Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

29 Bentham: Weighing Pleasure/Pain Intensity Duration Certainty Propinquity Fecundity Purity Extent Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

30 Highway Routing Scenario State may replace a curvy stretch of highway New highway segment 1 mile shorter (benefit) 150 houses would have to be removed (cost) Some wildlife habitat would be destroyed (cost) Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

31 Evaluation Costs $20 million to compensate homeowners $10 million to construct new highway Lost wildlife habitat worth $1 million Benefits $39 million savings in automobile driving costs Conclusion Benefits exceed costs Building highway a good action Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

32 Act utilitarian evaluation of spam A spammer sent a spam email to 100 million people 1 in 10,000 buy product 90% of people who buy product are happy with it, other 10% feel ripped off People who dont buy product waste time and money, get annoyed, etc. - unhappy Spammer makes lots of money and is VERY happy 9001 happy people, 99,990,000 unhappy people Conclusion: 99.991% of people are unhappy, so spam is wrong

34 Case for Act Utilitarianism Focuses on happiness Down-to-earth (practical) Comprehensive (??) Workable ethical theory Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

35 Case Against Act Utilitarianism Unclear whom to include in calculations Too much work Ignores our innate sense of duty Susceptible to the problem of moral luck Sometimes actions do not have intended consequences - Moral worth of action is dependent on consequences that may not be under control of moral agent An example: China's Three Gorges Dam: An Environmental Catastrophe? http://www.scientificamerican.com/a rticle.cfm?id=chinas-three-gorges- dam-disaster

36 Rule Utilitarianism We ought to adopt moral rules which, if followed by everyone, will lead to the greatest increase in total happiness Act utilitarianism applies Principle of Utility to individual actions Rule utilitarianism applies Principle of Utility to moral rules

37 Anti-Worm Scenario August 2003: Blaster worm infected thousands of Windows computers Soon after, Nachi worm appeared Took control of vulnerable computers Located and destroyed copies of Blaster Downloaded software patch to fix security problem Used computers as launching pad to try to infect other vulnerable PCs

38 Evaluation using Rule Utilitarianism Proposed rule: If I can write a helpful worm that removes a harmful worm from infected computers and shields them from future attacks, I should do so ??? Who would benefit People who do not keep their systems updated Who would be harmed People who use networks People whos computers are invaded by buggy anti-worms System administrators Conclusion: Harm outweighs benefits. Releasing anti-worm is wrong.

39 Case for Rule Utilitarianism Compared to act utilitarianism, it is easier to perform the utilitarian calculus. Not every moral decision requires performing utilitarian calculus. Moral rules survive exceptional situations Avoids the problem of moral luck Workable ethical theory

40 Case Against Utilitarianism in General All consequences must be measured on a single scale. Intangible benefits/costs (must be expressed in dollars?) Utilitarianism ignores the problem of an unjust distribution of good consequences. Utilitarianism does not mean the greatest good of the greatest number That requires a principle of justice What happens when a conflict arises between the Principle of Utility and a principle of justice? Greatest amount of good VS distribute the good as widely as possible ?

Before next class: Find concrete examples for/against each ethic theory (SR, Kantianism, and Act Utilitarianism) We will discuss those in class

42 James Rachels Definition (Social Contract Theory) Morality consists in the set of rules, governing how people are to treat one another, that rational people will agree to accept, for their mutual benefit, on the condition that others follow those rules as well.

43 People act out of self-interest w/out agreement Morality is the result of an implicit agreement among rational beings who understand that there is a tension between self-interest and the common good The common good is best realized when everyone cooperates Cooperation occurs when those acting selfishly suffer negative consequences Examples: Recycling, energy conservation

44 Kinds of Rights Negative right: A right that another can guarantee by leaving you alone Positive right: A right obligating others to do something on your behalf Absolute right: A right guaranteed without exception Limited right: A right that may be restricted based on the circumstances Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

45 John Rawlss Principles of Justice Each person may claim a fully adequate number of basic rights and liberties, so long as these claims are consistent with everyone else having a claim to the same rights and liberties Any social and economic inequalities must Be associated with positions that everyone has a fair and equal opportunity to achieve Be to the greatest benefit of the least-advantaged members of society (the difference principle) Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

46 Social contract theory evaluation of spam Everyone has right to free speech You can send email to anyone you want No requirement that people listen to your speech People can send you angry replies if they dont like your email If 99,990,000 people are unhappy with a spam message, they should be able to send an angry reply to the spammer, which should have cost to spammer But spammers forge headers so they do not get angry replies This violates social contract, thus spamming is wrong

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=tsagrkfab&et=1109194333284&s=1637&e=001cBGW9zAdR_6 M8XJB2Ov-UnxI0gL3WO3HDXrBZdyfNEIWqb63OgG6_8XtK0I3J- kk72K5ya1gXaowwLtTtOSiZ62ARQOBWkA821Lb852LvxIhttp://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=tsagrkfab&et=1109194333284&s=1637&e=001cBGW9zAdR_6 M8XJB2Ov-UnxI0gL3WO3HDXrBZdyfNEIWqb63OgG6_8XtK0I3J- kk72K5ya1gXaowwLtTtOSiZ62ARQOBWkA821Lb852LvxI=

48 Case for Social Contract Theory Framed in language of rights Principle of Justice Explains why people act in self-interest without common agreement Provides clear analysis of certain citizen/government problems E.g., it provides a logical explanation of why it is morally acceptable to punish someone for a crime. Workable ethical theory

49 Case Against Social Contract Theory No one signed contract Some actions have multiple characterizations Conflicting rights problem May unjustly treat people who cannot uphold contract What about people who, though no fault of their own, are unable to follow the moral rules?

50 Objectivism vs. Relativism Objectivism: Morality has an existence outside the human mind Relativism: Morality is a human invention Kantianism, utilitarianism, and social contract theory examples of objectivism Source: Slides for Chapter 2 of Ethics for the Information Age by Michael J. Quinn. Copyright 2005 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.

51 Mail Abuse Prevention System MAPS is a not-for-profit organization Contacts marketers who violate MAPS standards for bulk email Puts marketers who violate standards on a Realtime Blackhole List (RBL) Some mail relays refer to RBL list Looks up email host name on RBL list If name on list, the email gets bounced back All email from blacklisted hosts gets bounced, even email from non-spammers

52 Was the creation of the RBL ethical? Utilitarian evaluation: ISP using RBL benefits by getting better network performance, fewer angry users But their users are unable to receive email from innocent users of blacklisted ISPs, reducing their utility Innocent users of blacklisted ISPs unable to communicate with ISPs that user RBL Conclusion depends on magnitude of benefit and ratio of blacklisted innocent users to total email users Kantian evaluation: MAPS puts ISPs on RBL with goal of getting innocent users to complain and pressure ISP to drop spammers Innocent users are treated as means to an end This violates Categorical imperative -> RBL is unethical

53 Finding info with search engines General purpose search engines Google, Yahoo, Altavista, A9, etc. Clustered searching Vivisimo, Dogpile Search CS research literature http://portal.acm.org http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/ http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ http://scholar.google.com/ When you find a useful paper, look at its reference list for other possibly relevant sources, also use cited by features in search engines

54 Advanced searching Boolean searching Operators: AND, OR, NOT, NEAR Implied operators: AND is often implied Parentheses for grouping Wildcards Quotes Getting to know the ins and outs of your favorite search engines Many search engines do not use pure boolean searching Most search engines have some special syntax Search engines use different algorithms to determine best match Research and Communication Skills

55 Advanced Googling See http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Google.ht ml http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Google.ht ml Ranks results using PageRank algorithm, taking into account popularity, importance, word proximity Special syntax intitle, inurl, site, intext, filetype, daterange, numrange Boolean operators: OR, - Fuzzy searching: ~,.., * Exact phrases: 10-term limit Special searches Definitions (define), calculator, area codes, flight searches, and more Research and Communication Skills

56 HW1 discussion http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/hw1.html Identifying plagiarism Essay on social or ethical issue related to computing or the Internet Interactions with computes List Most significant changes if interactions took place without computers

57 Creating a bibliography and citing sources Do you know how to create a properly formatted bibliography? Why is a list of URLs not a proper bibliography? Research and Communication Skills

58 Citing sources Whenever you take words, images, or ideas from another source you need to cite that source Direct quotes and paraphrases Images,photographs, tables, graphs Ideas, measurements, computations Also use citations as evidence to back up assertions If you use somebody elses words, you must quote them Short excerpts appear in quotes Long excerpts (3 or more lines) are introduced and then appear as indented text, often in a smaller font, single spaced If you leave out words in the middle use If you leave out words at the end use . If you substitute or add words, put them in square brackets [] If you add italics say [emphasis added] Failure to cite sources = plagiarism Research and Communication Skills

59 Paraphrasing Usually paraphrasing ideas is preferable to quoting unless Exact wording is important You are quoting famous words You are critiquing or comparing specific words rather than ideas The original words say what you want to say very well and succinctly Usually paraphrasing lets you convey an idea more succinctly because you can focus on the part of the idea most relevant to your paper If you end up using some of the original words in your paraphrase, use quotes around those words Research and Communication Skills

60 Forms of citation Full bibliographic citation inline Typically used on a slide Footnote or endnote Used in legal writing, many books, some conferences and journals Inline short citation with bibliography, references cited section, or reference list Used by most technical conferences and journals, some books, most dissertations Research and Communication Skills

61 Citations in text Format depends on style you are using Usually a number or author and date, sometimes a page number reference too Citation usually goes at the end of the sentence Privacy is not absolute, (Westin 1967). Privacy is not absolute, [3]. If Author is mentioned, in sentence, name does not appear in citation Westin (1967, p. 7) claims that individuals must balance a desire for privacy with a desire to participate in society. Multiple citations can appear together [3, 4, 5] (Westin 1967; Cranor 2002) Research and Communication Skills

62 Footnotes Used heavily in legal writing Usually used sparingly in technical writing Each footnote appears only once If you reference the same source multiple times you must repeat the reference information, however you can abbreviate it on second and subsequent references and use ibid to indicate same as previous reference Research and Communication Skills

63 Creating a bibliography Similar rules apply to other forms of citation (footnotes, etc.) Pick an appropriate style and use it consistently throughout your paper Most conferences and journals have style requirements Popular styles: Chicago/Turabian, MLA, APA, APSA APA: http://www.apastyle.org/http://www.apastyle.org/ Complete bibliographic entry includes author, title, date, publisher, place of publication, pages, volume number, etc. Bibliographic entries should be ordered - usually either alphabetically or in order referenced in the text Research and Communication Skills

64 Word processing tools Microsoft Word Word has built in support for footnotes and endnotes Use cross reference feature for numbered reference lists Third party bibliographic add-ons may be useful LaTeX Built in support for footnotes and endnotes Use Bibtex! Research and Communication Skills

66 Spam / Regulating Online Speech

67 Bill of Rights First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

68 The Internet cant be censored The Net treats censorship as damage and routes around it. - John Gillmore

69 Cartoon dogs are anonymous on the Internet

70 Real dogs are anonymous on the Internet too!

71 Actually, none of this is true It is easy to adopt a pseudonym or a persona on the Internet, but it is difficult to be truly anonymous Identities can usually be revealed with cooperation of ISP, local sys-admins, web logs, phone records, etc. The Internet can put up a good fight against censorship, but in the end there is still a lot of Internet censorship Repressive governments and intellectual property lawyers have been pretty successful at getting Internet content removed Google and Wikipedia Protest Anti-Piracy Bill http://news.discovery.com/tech/sopa-google- wikipedia-blackout-120118.html

72 Communications Decency Act Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 Prohibited Internet distribution of indecent or patently offensive material to minors Created restrictions for the Internet similar to broadcast media Introduced by Sen. James Exon (D-Nebraska) Cited Marty Rimm study Immediately challenged in court Supreme Court struck down CDA in 1997 (Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union)

73 Opposition to the CDA Over-broad, vague, unenforceable CDA includes indecency standard Obscenity and child pornography are already illegal to distribute (child pornography is also illegal to possess) But indecency is defined in CDA as any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image, or other communications, that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs. What community do we look at when regulating the Internet? Internet should not be regulated like broadcast Law would chill free speech Internet filters are a better solution

74 Support for the CDA Senator James Exon (D-Nebraska), sponsor of Bill: Need to protect children from online pornography Laws that restrict selling porn to children in other media should apply to the Internet Filters are not sufficient Parents may not be able to figure out how to use them Children may access computers away from home

76 Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium Specification for associating metadata with Internet content Supports self-labels and third-party labels Supports the development of many rating systems Implemented in MS Internet Explorer and other products

77 How technology tools work Person or tool classifies content For what age group is it appropriate? Is it educational? Is it fun? Tool takes an action Suggest Search Inform Monitor Warn Block Internet content Web Usenet Email Chat Gopher FTP

78 Who does the classification? Third-party experts Automated tools Evaluation of safety tools SafeFamilies.org GetNetWise.org FilterReview.com SafeFamilies.org GetNetWise.org FilterReview.com Local administrators Content providers Survey or vote

79 Classification scheme Good for kids Bad for kids Characteristics of content Age suitability Who created content

80 Rating systems and vocabularies Math Science English Spelling History French Spanish Gym Art Music Drama A B B+ D- C A- F A+ B- C B

81 Descriptive versus subjective Many variables Few variables SubjectiveDescriptive simple complex

82 Cant derive descriptive from subjective Characters not well developed Gratuitous sex and violence ? Bad acting? Boring plot? Bad script? Dull characters? Unbelievable premise? Unoriginal? Too much violence? Not enough violence?

83 Scope Web sites FTP, gopher, etc. Chat Instant messaging Newsgroups Email Telnet

84 Actions Suggest Inform Search Monitor Block Warn

Suggest Recommend appropriate content for children

86 Search Select content that is appropriate for children and matches a query Google, Yahoo: SafeSearch

87 Inform Provide information about the content

88 Warn Provide information about content and recommend against accessing that content before it is displayed

89 Block Prevent children from accessing content Guiding Children through Information Searches on the Internet http://www.ils.unc.edu/daniel/214/InternetSearchEngines.html Awesome Library - K-12 Education Directory http://www.awesomelibrary.org/ http://www.awesomelibrary.org/ "Over 14,000 sites have been classified into a directory, specifically organized for teachers, students and parents. Information can be found by browsing or searching." --Search Engine Watch

90 Monitor Record for later inspection a list of the content accessed or attempted to be accessed by a user E.g., PC Tattletale offers a Internet Monitoring and Parental Control Software solution.

91 Customizability Action Allow and block list elements Categories of content Words and phrases Time of day Policies for each user

92 Other features Time limits Separate settings for each child Protect parents files Block individual words and pictures vs. full page or whole site Explanation of why blocked vs. silent blocking

93 Discussion Diversity of tools in the marketplace is important Need for increased transparency from vendors about the criteria used to classify content

94 CDA Sequels Child Online Protection Act (COPA) - passed in 1998 Banned commercial distribution of material harmful to minors Struck down by Supreme Court in 2004 Childrens Internet Protection Act (CIPA) passed in 1999 Requires schools and libraries that receive federal funds for Internet access to filter out child pornography, obscene materials, and materials harmful to minors Upheld by Supreme Court in 2003 Many state laws Most have been declared unconstitutional

Suing Spammers Partly based on Serge Egelmans slides

1-96 The Spam Epidemic (1/3) Spam: Unsolicited, bulk email Spam is profitable More than 100 times cheaper than junk mail Profitable even if only 1 in 100,000 buys product Amount of email that is spam has ballooned 8% in 2001 90% in 2009

Statistics http://www.spamhaus.org/statistics/spammers.lasso

Background Its cheap! Wider audience Profit guaranteed Little work involved

Background Address harvesting Web pages Forums USENET Dictionary attacks Purchased lists No way out

Profile of a Spammer Alan Ralsky 20 Computers 190 Servers 650,000 messages/hour 250 millions addresses $500 for every million messages Convicted Felon 1992 Securities fraud 1994 Insurance fraud

Technical Means Text recognition Black hole lists Statistical modeling Neural networks, SVM, etc. Cryptography Digital signatures Payment schemes Image spam analysis

Graylisting Whitelist maintained Other mail temporarily rejected Spammers might give up Mail delivery delayed Spammers will adapt

The Hunt Contact Info URLs Email Addresses WHOIS/DNS USENET news.admin.net-abuse.email Databases: Spews.org Spamhaus.org OpenRBL.org

Virginia Laws Virginias anti-spam criminal section, it states that if Volume of SPAM transmitted exceeds 10,000 in any 24 hour time period, 100,000 in any 30-day time period, or 1 million in any 1 year period, or revenue generated from specific SPAM exceeds $1,000, or total revenue generated from all SPAM transmitted to any ISP exceeds $50,000, the crime will be published as a Felony.

Pennsylvania Laws The Unsolicited Telecommunications Advertisement Act (73 2250) Illegal activities: Forged addresses Misleading information Lack of opt-out Only enforced by AG and ISPs $10/unsolicited message for ISPs 10% from AG

Small Claims Court Court summons: $30-80 Maximum claim: $8000 Winning by default because the spammer didnt bother to show up: Priceless

Documents

CS499: Computers, Ethics, and Society. Syllabus BBVista (check for course updates regularly – at least once per day!) Course website: