Ethics Pre-Finals CaseStudy

1. Think about Napster, both in its original free form and in its new incarnation as a paid music subscription service. Now think of Lessig's "modalities of constraint":

• Law
• Social Norm
• Market
• Code

How did each modality play a role in the history of Napster? What values do you think were embedded in each? Which modality "won"?

Answer:


- Napster is a name given to two music-focused online services. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer to peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files, typically music, encoded in mp3 format. Lessig's "modalities of constraint" of Law I think this is an absent in Napster because it is against the Copyright Law, its like copying it without paying for it. Just a click or two and a few minutes later you can have the music or audio files you want, you can also play it as many times as you want. If you like it, you might send it to a dozen of your closest friends. It affects the artists and the composers, why? Because they do not gaining profit for their work. Social Norm, the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit. Failure to stick to the rules can result in severe punishments, the most feared of which is exclusion from the group. A common rule is that the some norms must frequently be displayed neutrality is seldom an option so that in this case this is not ethical to the Social Norm because Napster is also like stealing or like a theft. It also affects the Market because they also do not gaining profit from the albums that they are selling. Code Lessig means both hardware and software both computers themselves and the series of zeros and ones that program how they perform. The modality Law won, because these can protect the artists and composers work.

2. How do you think Michael Eisner of Disney would respond to Courtney Love?

Answer:

- When you look at the legal line on a CD, it says copyright 1976 Atlantic Records or copyright 1996 RCA Records. When you look at a book, though, it’ll say something like copyright 1999 Susan Faludi, or David Foster Wallace . Authors own their books and license them to publishers. When the contract

runs out, writers gets their books back. But re c o rd companies own our copyrights forever.

Last November, a Congressional aide…with the support of the RIAA, added a “technical amendment” to a bill that defined recorded music as “works for hire” under the 1978 Copyright Act. …

That subtle change in copyright law will add billions of dollars to re c o rd company bank accounts over the next few years — billions of dollars that rightfully should have been paid to artists. A “work for hire” is now owned in perpetuity by the record company.

3. Lars Ulrich would no doubt be as aware as Courtney Love of the "math" involved in signing with a major recording company. Yet he and his band, Metallica, joined the RIAA in suing Napster. In what way might he respond to love's argument?

Answer:

- In these way he respond to love's argument , Lars Ulrich: Obviously, it was our concern, 'our' meaning the four members of the band. The record company had nothing to do with it whatsoever. There has been no [support] from the record companies; they never instigated anything, so we took it upon ourselves, there was never really much in term of support. There's been the occasional pat on the back, the occasional call, but I would say that I'm quite, I'd say, more than surprised, I'm quite stunned at the lack of communication and input from the record company. Obviously, you know, with record companies we never really usually depend much on what they have to offer in terms of creative things, but I am stunned at the low volume of support from the record company, both publically and privately. That leaves the record company out if it.

Ethics Midterm Case Study

1. How does Judge Weiner explain why Michael Smyth lost any “reasonable expectation of privacy” in his e-mail comments? List as many reasons as you can find and then try to rank them. Which seems most important to the final ruling here?

-Plaintiff communicated the alleged unprofessional comments to a second person over an e-mail system which was apparently utilized by the entire company, any reasonable expectation of privacy was lost.

-The defendant did not require plaintiff as in the case of a urinalysis or personal property search, to disclose any personal information about him.

-Plaintiff voluntarily communicated the alleged unprofessional comments over the company e-mail system. We find no privacy interests in such communications.

-Even if he found that an employee had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of his e-mail system, he do not find that a reasonable person would consider the defendant’s interception of there communications to be a substantial and highly offensive invasion of his privacy.

-Defendant's actions did not tortuously invade the plaintiff's privacy and therefore, did not violate public policy.

-The most important to the final ruling here is they find that the defendant's actions did not tortuously invade the plaintiff's privacy and therefore, did not violate public policy.

2. Is there any difference between a password-protected message sent on company e-mail and a memo, sealed in an envelope marked “private,” sent through company mail? Consider the judge’s reasons for his ruling that you articulated above. Would they also apply to the memo?

-Yes, there is a difference between a password-protected email and a memo sealed in an envelope sent through company mail. The difference is that a password-protected message sent on company e-mail is digital, and the email account is made available to you because of your company while a memo sealed in an envelope sent through company mail, a company cannot monitor what you write and send to other people. The only possible ways for the company to monitor what you write would be to read what you wrote before it is sent out, after it is received, or while it is being sent.

3. How ethical were the actions of Smyth? Of Pillsbury? What appears to be the ethical framework underlying the judge’s ruling?

-The action of Pillsbury Company was ethical because the defendant did not require plaintiff as in the case of a urinalysis or personal property search to disclose any personal information about himself. While plaintiff voluntarily communicated the alleged unprofessional comments over the company e-mail system. They find no privacy interests in such communications.

4. Corporate culture varies, and with it, corporate surveillance policies. Some companies give notice to employees that their e-mail communications are not private. Kmart’s policy, for example, introduced at every employee orientation, states that “misuse of the e-mail system could result in denial of access to the Kmart computing environment or dismissal”. Apple Computer, on the other hand, has an explicit policy of not monitoring employee e-mail. What might be the advantages and disadvantages of such policies from an employer’s viewpoint? An employee’s?

-The advantages from an employer's viewpoint would consist of reasons like being able to know what is going on with your company's employees. It is important for a company to know what the employees are doing in the workplace because employers need to make sure the workers are not doing anything that goes against the company's rules. It also helps to know that workers the are being as productive as possible and not using their labor hours as some kind of personal free time. The disadvantages from the employer's viewpoint would be aggravated workers because they would feel less trusted. A worker that knows that they are being monitored would be very unhappy with the employer, and might become less productive because of it. The disadvantages from the employees viewpoint also have to do with trust. Employees that know that they are being monitored will most likely feel betrayed, and since they were hired because they could be trusted in the workplace, they feel like being monitored goes against the trust that they were hired with.

5. Suppose you were responsible for developing a surveillance policy where you worked. How would you go about setting its parameters? How would you implement it?

-Every company should have a clearly stated surveillance policy that lets employees know where and how they will be observed so that policy should be well known and employees need to be regularly reminded of its reach. Lawsuits have reinforced the need for organizations to develop and publicize their video surveillance programs. Hidden cameras can create legal liability and angry employees so before installing a surveillance system, then you might consult first a local employment to help draft a policy and set parameters for using a system.

6. Judge Weiner points out that Smyth’s e-mail messages were “voluntarily” placed on the Pillsbury system and that Pillsbury never forced the kind of disclosure that goes along with urine testing for drugs, for example. In a sense, the judge is saying that Smyth consented to the monitoring. Do you agree?

-Yes, I agree!

7. Hi-tech surveillance is not solely directed by employers at workers. American businesses have always been interested in capturing confidential information and trade secrets from competitors. Today, thanks to computer technology, they are able to spy on one another with more sophisticated means than ever before. What are some of the latest developments in this area? How far can a company go in this direction without crossing the line? Visit the Website of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals.

-The latest development in this area are the surveillance cameras, video etc. By this, they are able to spy on one another with more sophisticated means than ever before.

8. Should educational institutions be free to randomly monitor student and faculty e-mail? What is your school’s policy on e-mail privacy? Once you have found it, review it and discuss with others. Are there elements of the policy that you would change, in light of what you have read? Rewrite it.

-No, because it’s their privacy. But if the educational institutions have the permission so why not, they may free to randomly monitor student and faculty e-mail.

ETHICS PRELIM CASE STUDY - VASQUEZ, KEVIN RON J.

1. Attacks on People

– Financial Hacks What are some of the ways that people can hack into financial systems and steal money? Is it ethical for banks and other companies to always give themselves the financial benefit of rounding down balances and interest payments so that they get the benefit instead of the customer?

-The ways that people can hack into financial systems and steal money is by means of a computer crime. Computer crime refers to any crime that involves a computer and a network. The computer may have been used in the commission of a crime because many criminals are using internet to steal money.

-It is not ethical for banks or to other companies to always give themselves the financial benefit of rounding down balances and interest payments so that they get the benefit instead of the customer because in terms of money, banks are the only one we can trust so that if they just give themselves the financial benefit instead of the customers they are just taking advantage to benefit themselves so these customers might lose their willingness to go to that bank.

2. Safety Critical Applications

As our economy becomes more and more dependent upon computer controlled devices, how much faith should be placed in the hands of software programs? Are there ways to ensure that a program is failed safe? Should a safety critical application such as a network of nuclear defense missiles or an air traffic control system be controlled only by a computer program rather than having a human element to over ride potential consequences?

-For me, even if computer gives us an accurate and fast result in work we cannot fully trust computer program because sometimes computer program have some errors. But in nuclear defense missiles, computer can handle it more than humans because in this case humans can possibly to have more mistakes than computer. But then again we cannot fully trust computer, we should always check it for us to be safe.

Stolen Content: Avoiding Trouble on the Internet

1. Assume that Donna Prima taught at a school whose dean was less vigilant. If no one at her school questions her, is it ethical for her to continue to create her Website without permission?

- It is not ethical to continue to create her Website because even if no one questions her at her school somebody will still criticize her for her work. But she can teach her students in proper just ask authorization to the real author and give proper credits to their work.

2. Assume a newly hire professor spends his summer preparing a set of PowerPoint presentations to accompany his class lectures. Is it ethical for a student to take copious notes of the lectures and share them with classmates? Sell them to classmates? Sell them to a company called "Better Notes" to be copied and re-sold? How would your analysis differ if the professor linked an in class presentation prepared on Microsoft PowerPoint to his own Web site? Posted them on a Web site created especially for his class?

-It is ethical because it is okay to take copious notes of the lecture if their professor created it. But it is not ethical if they sell them it to their classmates. And if the professor linked an in class presentation prepared on Microsoft PowerPoint to his own Web site it is ethical because it is his own work he did not copy it to others. And if he posted them on a Web site created especially for his class it is okay because it is his own work.

3. Suppose that the professor does not get tenure-- or leaves for a better job. Would it be ethical for the university to demand he leave his notes behind for the teacher who replaces him? To retain the Website with it as a "course outline" or a profit?

- It is not ethical for the university to demand the works of professor because the professor only copied the work of others. The next professor should have his or her own course outline or if he/she want it she must first get the authorization to the real author.