Ronnie Cohen

What's mine is mine; what's yours is mine: private ownership of ICTs as a threat to transparency

In the face of ubiquitous information communication technology, the presence of blogs, personal websites, and public message boards give the illusion of uncensored criticism and discussion of the ethical implications of business activities. However, little attention has been paid to the limitations on free speech posed by the control of access to the Internet by private entities, enabling them to censor content that is deemed critical of corporate or public policy. The premise of this research is that transparency alone will not achieve the desired results if ICT is used in a one way system, controlled by the provider of information. Stakeholders must have an avenue using the same technology to respond to and interact with the information. We propose a model that imposes on corporations a public trust, requiring these gatekeepers of communication technology to preserve individual rights to criticism and review.

How Can It Be Wrong When It Feels So Right?: Ethical Decision Making and New Technology

In this study, 663 participants, both undergraduates and professionals, were asked to indicate their ethical judgment of, and behavioral intention regarding, 34 behaviors utilizing new technology. The authors found partial support for all hypotheses: as age increased behaviors were judged as being more unethical and participants reported that they were less likely to engage in the behaviors; professionals judged behaviors as being more unethical than students and reported they were less likely to engage in the behaviors than students; females judged behaviors as being more unethical than males and reported that they were less likely to engage in the behaviors than males; and participants indicated that they were more likely to engage in behaviors than would be suggested by their ethical judgment of those behaviors. The findings are important for developing codes of conduct, laws, and training programs that will lead to greater ethical behavior using new technology.

Internet content regulation: what method?

The law and regulation of electronic communications in the United States (Us) is fragmented, overlapping, and controversial, with overarching First Amendment limitations for government action directed toward content. Because the law was written for “legacy” systems of telecommunications without regard for the present convergence of the industry and media, there are different laws, different administrative oversight, and sometimes conflicting legislative policies depending on the delivery mechanism and media. Because of this complexity, this article focuses on content regulation of internet communications broadly defined, how it impacts providers of telecommunications, and conversely how the private actions of providers impact content regulation. We begin with a discussion of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, as it is essential to an understanding of the limitations to federal regulation. Then, federal statutory attempts to regulate internet content are examined followed by a discussion of the applicable administrative law. The last section of the article describes how private entities have filled in the gap in the absence of government regulation by private terms of use, and in conclusion compares this approach to other regulatory mechanisms.RésuméAux Etats-Unis, les lois et réglementations sur les communications électroniques sont fragmentées, se chevauchent, sont sujettes à controverse, et sont soumises aux limitations fondamentales du Premier Amendement pour toute mesure gouvernementale sur les contenus. La loi a été écrite pour des systèmes traditionnels de télécommunication sans considérer la convergence actuelle entre l’industrie et les médias. Le résultat est l’existence de lois différentes, de supervisions administratives différentes, et parfois de politiques législatives contradictoires selon les mécanismes de distribution et les médias. En raison de cette complexité, cet article insiste sur la réglementation du contenu des communications par l’Internet (définies de façon large), la manière dont elle affecte les fournisseurs de télécommunication, et comment, à leur tour, les actions des fournisseurs affectent la réglementation des contenus. Nous commençons par une discussion du Premier Amendement à la Constitution des Etats-Unis, car il est essentiel à la compréhension des limitations à la réglementation fédérale. Ensuite, nous examinons les tentatives fédérales pour réglementer le contenu de l’Internet et nous discutons les textes administratifs qui s’appliquent. La dernière partie de cet article décrit comment des entités privées ont compensé le manque de réglementation gouvernementale en établissant des conditions d’utilisation privées et conclut en comparant cette approche à d’autres mécanismes de régulation.