STUDY QUESTIONS FOR FINAL EXAMINATION
COS291 Spring 1999

The final examination will consist of a subset of these study questions, and it will be closed book. You will not be allowed to use any study materials during the exam. The questions on your examination will be written in precisely the form given here with one exception. Please draw our attention to any questions that seem unclear or ambiguous. Some exam clarifications have been posted here.

We expect concise answers to the questions. You might be able to answer some with a few phrases or a single sentence; none should take much more than a half-page.

Full and complete answers to all the questions require reference only to required readings in textbooks, course reader and to your lecture notes.



1. According to James Moor, what is the chief source of the problems that make up the area known as "computer ethics?"

2. Briefly explain the three kinds of computer invisibility that have ethical significance according to Moor. Give an example of each.

3. Explain how Gotterbarn uses the law-book and scalpel analogies to support his argument that unethical acts involving the use of a computer do not necessarily constitute failures of computer ethics. What does Gotterbarn advocate instead of computer ethics?

4. Briefly summarize how Gotterbarn's x-ray machine example constituted what he sees as a failure of professional ethics.

5. Briefly summarize Winograd's three analogies for how we solve ethical dilemmas.

6. Mosco says myths can be seen in two ways. What two ways? How (briefly) do each of these relate to the Internet?

7. According to Mill, when can the government exercise power over an individual? When should they not exercise power (in instance where they might be tempted to?)

8. According to Greenawalt's "minimal principle of liberty," the government should not prohibit people from acting as they wish unless the government has a positive reason to do so. What are Greenawalt's positive reasons?

9. This question has three parts. a) Briefly list the main points in the Child On-line Protection Act of 1988. b) In a few sentences, defend COPA. (Cite at least two of the justifications offered by defenders of the Act.) c) In a few sentences, cite the most plausible criticisms. (viz. Why critics think it violates the First Amendment. Hint: see whether criticisms from the CDA apply.)

10. Briefly describe two of the reasons Mill offers for protecting freedom of expression.

11. If you could enforce the law of the land as you pleased, what would you do about the "Chihuahua Haters of the World" website and the Abortion Doctors List website respectively. Give reasons for your answers. (Reasons can be brief -- one or two sentences will suffice.)

12. What two problems do proofs of correctness have according to Smith?

13. Why, under the Cardozo opinion, is the program "Harry's Medical Home Companion" and its publisher safe from liability issues if errors in the software cause a user to become ill? Why might the Cardozo opinion even apply in this case?

14. Cite two reasons for thinking that the risks of harm posed by computing are different and perhaps more difficult to cope with than those posed by other technologies.

15. In what way does a standard of care contribute toward accountability? Hint: Nissenbaum's accountability paper and Ripstein (as discussed in lectures.)

16. What, according to Nissenbaum, are the 4 barriers to accountability in regards to computing? Briefly describe each. In what ways does the Y2K problem illustrate the barriers? (In answering, you should say what the Y2K problem is.)

17. Explain the connection between Friedman and Millett's research findings and the question of responsibility.

18. Privacy advocates say that the Privacy Act of 1974 has serious limitations. Briefly describe two.

19. How do a) Warren and Brandeis, b) Fried/Westin/Regan answer the question "What is privacy?"

20. Briefly describe Ruth Gavison's account of privacy.

21. Define dataveillance. List two techniques of mass dataveillance. Give one reason why you think it is a problem.

22. Briefly describe and illustrate traceable anonymity, untraceable anonymity, and pseudo-anonymity. We could say that anonymity on the Internet is a two edged sword. Give two examples each of potential benefits (valuable uses) and harms (the "dark side")

23. Rivest thinks government should not regulate cryptography. What are government's main reasons for wanting to sustain some restrictions? What are Rivest's main arguments against this?

24. Gostin et. al. state that in regards to public health information, "a basic tensions exists between the need for information and the right to privacy." Give three benefits (there are five listed) of close, continuous public health surveillance according to Gostin et. al.

25. Give two argument offered in favor of "genetic exceptionalism" and two counter-arguments offered by Murray.

26. Why does Murray feel that the genetic "diary" analogy is wrong?

27. What is computer matching?

28. Define and contrast "opt-in" and "opt out" strategies to protecting privacy.

29. Cite two of the reasons Gottlieb gives for arguing that privacy's time has come and gone. For each of the reasons give counter-arguments.

30. Describe three of the privacy principles covered in the Principles of Fair Information Practices.

31. Briefly summarize the metaphor about looking through windows in the Hunter article. How does this pertain to the privacy discussion?

32. What is the Greatest Happiness Principle? Briefly explain some of the key terms and illustrate how it might be applied to any one of the issues we have discussed in the course.

33. How does Mill refute the following criticism of utilitarianism? "To suppose that life has no higher end than pleasure -- no better and nobler object of desire and pursuit -- the [objectors] designate as mean and groveling."

34. Describe two objections to Utilitarianism.

35. What does Goodin mean when he discusses Utilitarianism as a public philosophy? What does he compare this?

36. What do critics consider to be a major difficulty with deontological (or duty based) ethical theories? Use any example from the course to illustrate this.

37. Vice President Gore, Chapman and Rotenberg, offer views on the criteria for developing the Information Infrastructure into a public good. List two.

38. Give two measures Walzer offers for deciding whether a certain good is owed to the members of a given society ("political community"). Do you think that access to the Internet counts as such a good? Give one reason why.

39. Why has software been difficult to fit into the two traditional categories of intellectual property: copyright and patent? (Two reasons will suffice.)

40. Should you let your roommate make an unauthorized copy of a program that you own? Give one reason for and one against.

41. Do intellectual property rights enable us to own ideas? Explain your answer. How does the law of copyright take into consideration free speech and other public interests?

42. How would/does Langdon Winner respond to this: "W all know that people have politics; things do not."

43. What are Winner's two interpretations of the ways in which artifacts can have politics?

44. Explain the "values in design" example regarding female fire fighters from lecture.

45. Using articles from the Friedman volume, briefly describe two examples of systems that "embody values."

46. Briefly describe the categories: pre-existing bias, technical bias, and emergent bias.

47. Spafford evaluates several arguments given in defense of unauthorized access to computer systems -- some represented in Stallman's paper. Briefly describe and evaluate two of Spafford's critiques.

48. Explain Lessig's idea of code regulating behavior. Give an example.

49. Lessig writes, "To the extent that code can be made to regulate directly, because code is plastic, code can regulate more. Code in cyberspace can more easily substitute for law, or norms." Explain. Use an example.

50. Why does Lessig think "PICS is the devil."

51. What do the following acronyms stand for: IP, ISP, DARPA, PICS, W3C, MUD, DNS?

52. Has computerization made for a better world? (I will not ask this one of the exam but perhaps this is one for those lazy summer months. Does the question make sense? How would you begin even to frame the answer?)