Frances S. Grodzinsky

Advantages and Problems in Using Information Communication Technologies to Support the Teaching of a Multi-institutional Computer Ethics Course

The ‘political push’ and technological ‘pull’ currently prevalent in many higher education institutions is encouraging educationalists to increasingly experiment with tools that promote collaborative work, which, in turn, is perceived to help in the develop ment of more autonomous, responsible learners. This study will focus on the advantages and problems of using Information Communication Technologies to support a blended learning approach to the teaching of a multi-institutional Professional Issues/Computer Ethics course. First, it will examine how the collaboration was facilitated by the use of a commercially available collaborative learning management tool, Blackboard. It will detail how Blackboard was used in two fieldwork studies (years one and two of this collaboration) to enhance the teaching of professional issues in computing/computer ethics at the University of Limerick in Ireland, at De Montfort University in England and at Sacred Heart University in the United States of America. Next, it will examine how, in the second year, the Belbin (1981) Self-Perception Inventory was used to help in the establishment of virtual teams by getting students to consider individual differences in determining group roles. Finally, the results in terms of outcomes and student/staff reactions will be given.

Revealing the commercialized and compliant Facebook user

Purpose – Facebook users are both producers and consumers (i.e. “prosumers”), in the sense that they produce the disclosures that allow for Facebooks business success and they consume services. The purpose of this paper is to examine how best to characterize the commercialized and compliant members. The authors question the Facebook assertion that members knowingly and willingly approve of personal and commercial transparency and argue, instead, that complicity is engineered.Design/methodology/approach – A survey of Facebook users was conducted between December 2010 and April 2011 at one private and four public universities. Respondents were questioned about: the level of their consumer activity on Facebook; their knowledge of Facebook advertiser data sharing practices and their attitude toward such; their use of sharing restrictions and the groups targeted; and their assessment of transparency benefits versus reputation and consumer risks.Findings – No evidence was found to support the Facebook account ...

P2P Networks and the Verizon v. RIAA Case: Implications for Personal Privacy and Intellectual Property

In this paper, we examine some ethical implications of a controversial court decision in the United States involving Verizon (an Internet Service Provider or ISP) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In particular, we analyze the impacts this decision has for personal privacy and intellectual property. We begin with a brief description of the controversies and rulings in this case. This is followed by a look at some of the challenges that peer-to-peer (P2P) systems, used to share digital information, pose for our legal and moral systems. We then examine the concept of privacy to better understand how the privacy of Internet users participating in P2P file-sharing practices is threatened under certain interpretations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the United States. In particular, we examine the implications of this act for a new form of “panoptic surveillance” that can be carried out by organizations such as the RIAA. We next consider the tension between privacy and property-right interests that emerges in the Verizon case, and we examine a model proposed by Jessica Litman for distributing information over the Internet in a way that respects both privacy and property rights. We conclude by arguing that in the Verizon case, we should presume in favor of privacy as the default position, and we defend the view that a presumption should be made in favor of sharing (rather than hoarding) digital information. We also conclude that in the Verizon case, a presumption in favor of property would have undesirable effects and would further legitimize the commodification of digital information – a recent trend that is reinforced by certain interpretations of the DMCA on the part of lawmakers and by aggressive tactics used by the RIAA.

Developing artificial agents worthy of trust: Would you buy a used car from this artificial agent?

There is a growing literature on the concept of e-trust and on the feasibility and advisability of “trusting” artificial agents. In this paper we present an object-oriented model for thinking about trust in both face-to-face and digitally mediated environments. We review important recent contributions to this literature regarding e-trust in conjunction with presenting our model. We identify three important types of trust interactions and examine trust from the perspective of a software developer. Too often, the primary focus of research in this area has been on the artificial agents and the humans they may encounter after they are deployed. We contend that the humans who design, implement, and deploy the artificial agents are crucial to any discussion of e-trust and to understanding the distinctions among the concepts of trust, e-trust and face-to-face trust.

On the meaning of free software

To many who develop and use free software, the GNU General Public License represents an embodiment of the meaning of free software. In this paper we examine the definition and meaning of free software in the context of three events surrounding the GNU General Public License. We use a case involving the GPU software project to establish the importance of Freedom 0 in the meaning of free software. We analyze version 3 of the GNU General Public License and conclude that although a credible case can be made that the added restrictions are consistent with the definition of free software, the case requires subtle arguments. Strong arguments against the added restrictions are less subtle, and may therefore be more convincing to many users and developers. We also analyze the Affero General Public License and conclude that it is inconsistent with the definition of free software.

Artificial Agents, Cloud Computing, and Quantum Computing: Applying Floridi’s Method of Levels of Abstraction

In his paper “On the Intrinsic Value of Information Objects and the Infosphere,” Luciano Floridi asserts that the goal of Information Ethics (IE) “is to fill an ‘ethical vacuum’ brought to light by the ICT revolution, to paraphrase Moor” (1985). He claims “IE will prove its value only if its applications bear fruit. This is the work that needs to be done in the near future” (Floridi 2002). Our chapter proposes to do part of that work. Initially we focus on Floridi’s Method of Levels of Abstraction (LoA). We begin by examining his methodology as it was first developed with J. W. Sanders in “The Method of Abstraction” (Floridi and Sanders 2004) and expanded in “The Method of Levels of Abstraction” (Floridi 2008a, b). Then we will demonstrate the general applicability and ethical utility of the method of levels of abstraction by considering three different computational paradigms: artificial agents, cloud computing, and quantum computing. In particular, we examine artificial agents as systems that embody the traditional digital computer (modeled as a single Turing machine). This builds on previous work by Floridi and Sanders (2004) and Grodzinsky et al. (2008). New contributions of this chapter include the application of the method of levels of abstraction to the developing paradigm of cloud computing and to the nascent paradigm of quantum computing. In all three paradigms, we emphasize aspects that highlight ethical issues.

Responding to the challenges of teaching computer ethics

The proposed panel will discuss the challenges of teaching computer ethics in four different colleges/universities and the problems inherent in different educational environments: size of school, size of class, support as a stand-alone course within the department, across the curriculum, and as a mixed major course. It will also address interactive pedagogic techniques, use of webbased tools and writing across the curriculum. We intend this to be an interactive panel with short presentations by each and then an open discussion with the members of the audience to address their questions and particular problems. The references reflect the expertise of the panelists.

Blackboard: a Web-based resource in the teaching of a multi-disciplinary/multi-institutional computer ethics course

This paper will focus on the use of a commercially available collaborative learning management tool (CLMT), Blackboard and how it has been used to enhance the teaching of professional issues in a large cohort given at the University of Limerick in Ireland and a small writing-based senior ethics course given at Sacred Heart University. This study details the various facilities offered by Blackboard, some of the ways in which the tools were used to enhance learning and critical thinking and some reflections on the strengths and weaknesses of the tool. A prospective design and implementation of an international collaboration between the two classes will be explained along with the objectives and outcome assessment methods.

Online file sharing: resolving the tensions between privacy and property interests

This essay expands upon an earlier work (Grodzinsky and Tavani, 2005) in which we analyzed the implications of the Verizon v RIAA case for P2P Networks vis-à-vis concerns affecting personal privacy and intellectual property. In the present essay we revisit some of the concerns surrounding this case by analyzing the intellectual property and privacy issues that emerged in the MGM Studios v. Grokster case. These two cases illustrate some of the key tensions that exist between privacy and property interests in cyberspace. In our analysis, we contrast Digital Rights Management (DRM) and Interoperability and we examine some newer distribution models of sharing over P2P networks. We also analyze some privacy implications in the two cases in light of the theory of privacy as contextual integrity (Nissenbaum, 2004).

This "Ethical Trap" Is for Roboticists, Not Robots: On the Issue of Artificial Agent Ethical Decision-Making.

In this paper we address the question of when a researcher is justified in describing his or her artificial agent as demonstrating ethical decision-making. The paper is motivated by the amount of research being done that attempts to imbue artificial agents with expertise in ethical decision-making. It seems clear that computing systems make decisions, in that they make choices between different options; and there is scholarship in philosophy that addresses the distinction between ethical decision-making and general decision-making. Essentially, the qualitative difference between ethical decisions and general decisions is that ethical decisions must be part of the process of developing ethical expertise within an agent. We use this distinction in examining publicity surrounding a particular experiment in which a simulated robot attempted to safeguard simulated humans from falling into a hole. We conclude that any suggestions that this simulated robot was making ethical decisions were misleading.