CS 480: Computers and Society

Description: CS 107 or 110, or an introductory computer course and permission of instructor. Study of the larger ethical and social issues of computing, including the role of a digital society in the modern world.. Practical and theoretical applications of computer privacy and security, including network security measures and encryption protocols. Ethical theory and its application to problems in computing. Seminar discussion on value systems, social impact, and human factors, and about use and misuse of computers. Application of computing skills to service in local nonprofit agencies. Four hours lecture, plus lab.

Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Privacy and Security
  • Identify and articulate situations, reasons, problems, solutions in computer privacy and security.
  • Distinguish the needs of the different parties having a stake in the privacy/security of a computer system.
  • Understand and use different theories and technologies for achieving computer security as well as their strengths and weaknesses.
  • Relate privacy and security considerations to real and constructed ethics cases.
• Computers and Society: Service Learning
  • Characterize the issues and controversies surrounding free speech, intellectual property, and fair use with respect to computers and the Internet.
  • Explain the issues and problems involved with placing trust in computational entities.
  • Discuss the growth and development of online communities.
  • Develop a greater understanding of the ways in which a student's skill set and career can influence and impact the larger world.
  • Write about and reflect on the ways in which they are able to apply their skills and knowledge toward community service.
• Ethics
  • Understand and evaluate the way that their skills and careers impact the larger world.
  • Identify and articulate central ethical problems concerning equality, justice, and rights, and understand the role these play in personal and professional life.
  • Investigate ways of settling ethical disputes in arriving at ethical judgments.
  • Think and write critically about classic and contemporary moral issues, in particular those relating to computers and technology.
  • Identify the contributions of diversity and recognize the challenge that it presents in resolving contemporary ethical issues
  • Demonstrate an ability to apply ethical theories and values in personal and professional decision-making.

List of Topics:

• Cryptography and Security
• Privacy and Personal information in a Networked World
• The Legal and Practical issues of Trust and Computers
• Freedom of Speech, the First Amendment, and Cyberspace
• Intellectual Property and Fair Use
• Ethical Theory and Professional Ethics in Computing and the Workplace
• The Role of Computers in Creating and Maintaining Communities

Readings: Readings will be taken from:

• A Gift of Fire . Sara Baase.
• Network Security Essentials, 2nd ed. William Stallings
• Many readings will be provided online, including articles about technical topics and current events.

Assignments

The course will consist of the following graded components with the percent contribution to the grade listed. Grades (including +/-) are assigned as follows: A 90% and above; B 80--89%; C 65--79%; D 50--64%; F 49% and below. For CS majors, C = 70% is the lowest passing grade.

• Midterm exams (25%). There will be three midterm exams. No absences or make-ups will be allowed, but the lowest score of the three will be dropped.
• Weekly quizzes (10%). There will be weekly quizzes on the reading and discussion materials. These will take approximately 10 minutes, and should be quite easy if you have done the required reading.
• Presentations and Project (25%). Each student will give three presentations in total, two during the semester and one at the end. The first two presentations will be presentations of approximately 15 minutes each in which he or she will describe in more depth a technical societal, or ethical topic covered in class. Students will be expected to a) articulate the basic issues surrounding this topic, b) fairly and accurately characterize the different positions around this issue, and c) advocate and argue for a particular position. A more detailed description, with examples, will be provided in class.

  The project will consist of a ten-page paper analyzing a real-life ethical or societal issue relevant to the course. You will also give a presentation on the contents of this paper. This may be sone individually or in pairs. These presentations will be scheduled for the final exam period. There will be no final exam.

  Blog/journal (15\%). Each student will keep a blog (weblog), which serves the purpose of an online journal. (Please see www.livejournal.com or www.blogger.com for examples; we will host our own site, using MovableType to allow students to easily add their entries.) In this, you should record your thoughts on the contents of the course, including (but not limited to) the progress of your service learning, your thoughts on topics that have been covered in class and (especially) related current events, and links to other relevant material on the Web. You are especially encouraged to link to other parts of the 'blogosphere'. As always, you are expected to post and conduct discussions with respect for all participants. Flaming, name-calling, or insults will not be tolerated. We will also maintain a separate bulletin board/discussion group for class discussion and exchange; the purpose of the blog is an online setting for each student to express his/her own ideas, as opposed to free-form discussion.

• Personal journal (5%). Each student must also keep a personal journal. This could be done online, but we wish to encourage a written journal. Specific weekly topics to be addressed will be announced in class. The purpose of this journaling is to deepen your own awareness of your perceptions and reactions to challenging ethical and social situations. This has been a well-received component of the last three offerings of CS 480. Unlike your blog, these entries are completely private and are not shared with other students.
• Service Learning lab component (20%, pass or fail the course). The lab period affords scheduled time for service learning, to be performed in conjunction with the Community Connections project, at a local nonprofit organization, such as the YMCA or Network Ministries. Students are expected to spend at least 4 hours every two weeks onsite at this organization, assisting them with their computer-related and IT problems. Potential tasks include working with users, providing tutoring, upgrading of machines, software installation and maintenance, troubleshooting and repair of system problems, database installation and maintenance, Web page design, and documentation of existing systems. This activity will satisfy students' Service Learning Core requirement.

  Student performance on this aspect of the class will be evaluated by both the instructor(s) and the onsite liaison at the end of the semester. Students who do not satisfactorily complete this portion of the course will not receive a passing grade in the class.

  Topics

  The following is an unordered list of potential topics to be covered in this course.

  • Encryption. Public-key (asymmetric) algorithms, such as PGP and RSA, and private-key (symmetric) algorithms, such as DES and RC5. Applications of this technology to higher-level applications, such as SSL, S/MIME, digital signatures, and online payment.
  • Security. System-wide security, including Kerberos, firewalls, Secure Electronic Transaction protocol, as well as a discussion of practical security and countermeasures (e.g. password sniffers, system exploits)
  • Privacy and Use of Personal Information. Legal rights in the US (particularly post-Patriot Act), ways in which personal information is gathered, data mining, anonymization techniques, legal, ethical and security issues regarding the gathering of personal information, both by businesses and the government.
  • Intellectual Property, Fair Use, and Copyright. What is intellectual property? How is copyright established? Terms of use. GNU Public license and copyleft. Philosophy of open source. File sharing and piracy, including the ethics thereof. Pros and cons of digital rights management (e.g. watermarking, copy protection).
  • Ethical Theories Applicable to Computing. Deontological and utilitarian approaches. Characterizations of ethics in computing. Distinctions peculiar to computing.
  • Professional Ethics. Professional and student ethical codes. Positive and negative influences of codes. Case studies and discussion of ``real-world'' ethical dilemmas, disputes, legislation, and litigation.
  • Ethics in Practice. Ethics in programming. Reflections from students' service-learning experiences.
  • Role of Computers and Information in Society. Impact of the computer and the Internet on education, the workforce, and the media. Impact of the 'digital divide' on US and global society. Consequences of a changing US workforce (telecommuting, loss of blue-collar jobs, repetitive strain injury). Role of the Web in providing timely access to information (for example, during the recent Iraq war, Web coverage compared to television coverage.) Consequences of automation in society; for example in credit checks, system failures, etc. Rights and responsibilities of automated programs and their creators. (for example, who is responsible for unintended damage caused by a computer program?)
  • Digital Society. Discussion of online communities, forums, blogs, and means of communication. Emphasis on the traditional and novel social and ethical issues that are raised by a digital society: diversity, access, fairness, democracy. Rights and regulation.
  • Computer Crime. Hacking/cracking, viruses, the ethics of developing potentially harmful or dangerous programs. Fraud and embezzlement. Ethical tradeoffs between privacy and law enforcement.

  Potential Weekly schedule

  (Note: this is very tentative, and likely to change.)

  Week 1: ``Code.'' Code as social structuring; code as law; code as programming; codecs implementing privacy, security, efficiency, and economy. Alan Turing, the code-breaker. [handout, video]

  Theory and results of service learning. [Baase Ch. 1, handout, online]

  Week 2: History of code. Early codecs. Public and private key. sDES. [Baase Ch. 3, Stallings Ch. 2, handout, online]

  Week 2-3 DES, AES, RSA, and other cryptological products and protocols. Discussion of Public Key Infrastructure - trust models, key exchange, certificates [reserve, Stallings Ch. 3, handouts, online]

  Week 3 Privacy and security on computers. Technologies, laws, customs. [Baase Ch. 2, Stallings Ch. 1&9, online]

  Week 3-4 Privacy and security on networks. Technologies, laws, customs. [Baase Ch. 2, Stallings Ch. 4&7, Baird Pt. 3, online]

  Week 5: First student presentations, midterm.

  Week 6-7 Intellectual property issues. Who owns programs? Who owns the Web? Patent and copyright. Open source, GNU GPL/lesser GPL, Creative Commons, peculiar qualities of information goods, digital rights management - watermarking, usage tracking. [Baase Ch. 6, cf. Lessig]

  Week 8: Cybercommunities. Digital society. Democracy, access, diversity, issues of online identity [Baase Ch. 5, Stallings Ch. 5, handouts, online]

  Week 8-9: Reliability and risk. Protection, consequences, cases, also legal and ethical resposibility and liability [Baase Ch. 4, Stallings Ch. 11, online]

  Week 9: Computer mischief and crime. Hackers and crackers. also viruses, some piracy. [Baase Ch. 7, Stallings Ch. 10, online]

  Week 10: second presentations, midterm

  Week 11: Ethical theories. Deontological vs. utilitarian, with many subforms. Applications of theory in computing. [Baase Ch. 10.1, Johnson Ch. 2, Edgar Pt. 1, handouts, online]

  Week 11-12 Practical and professional computer ethics. Codes of practice. Ethical programming. [Baase Ch. 10.2, video, Johnson Ch. 3, Edgar Ch. 10, handouts]

  Week 12-13 Application of ethics in computing - case studies. [Baase Ch. 10.3, Parker, Johnson, Edgar, Baird, additional cases online]

  Week 14 Social impacts of computing. Computers and work. Ethical and moral decisions of the past and future. [Baase Ch. 8 & 9, Lessig]

  Week 15 ``Code'' revisited. [no additional reading]