Ethics and Legal Issues in Computing Dannelly's CSCI 101 class

Ethics - SPAM Costs CAN SPAM Act of 2003 Ethics Issues Ethics - SPAM www.spam-uk.com/images/BlackPepperCan.jpg Costs 40% of email is SPAM consumes lots of disk space!!! bandwidth? CAN SPAM Act of 2003 The bill permits e-mail marketers to send unsolicited commercial e-mail as long as it contains all of the following: an opt-out mechanism; a valid subject line and header (routing) information; the legitimate physical address of the mailer; and a label if the content is adult http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can_Spam_Act_of_2003

Ethics - Web Censorship Ethics Issues Ethics - Web Censorship The US government does not censor content several anti-web-porn laws have been struck down as unconstitutional CIPA requires libraries to install filter software Many Foreign governments do censor web content Are ISPs responsible for what their users' post? maybe

Ethics - Online Privacy Q: Does shopping online at home give you more or less privacy? more privacy - your neighbors will not see you there less privacy - online shopping gives the company much more info about you (exactly what you looked at, how long you looked, other places that you shop, etc…) Beware of those cookies!

Online Privacy Example Ethics Issues Online Privacy Example DoubleClick.com gathers cookie data from advertising banners placed on many web sites DC can cross-reference data to build profiles of individual users' surfing habits DC owns Abacus Inc., a consumer database company containing the names, addresses, phone numbers, etc... of 90% of American Households

Legal Issue: Workplace Privacy Legal Issues Legal Issue: Workplace Privacy Question: How much privacy are you entitled to at work? Is your company allowed to read your email? … Answer: They can do almost anything. It is their office, their phone, their computer, etc.

Privacy v. Government Katz v US USA PATRIOT Act Legal Issues Privacy v. Government Katz v US police must have a warrant to eavesdrop and record a phone conversation USA PATRIOT Act warrants to monitor phones and email are VERY easy to get

Legal Issues Katz v United States without a warrant, police placed a bug on the outside of a public phone booth used by Katz to make illegal bets In 1967, the US Supreme Court ruled Katz's rights were violated. Katz reasonably thought his conversation was private, hence the recording was an illegal search and seizure the 4th amendment protects people, not places the 4th amendment governs seizure of tangible items, as well as recording of oral statements

Legal Issues Patriot Act Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) allows officials to track emails without showing probable cause allows roving surveillance for intelligence (not just crime investigation) tapped device does not have to be owned by the suspect search warrants no longer have to be served warrants for records do not require probable cause …

Legal Issues - Intellectual Property Intellectual Property is any unique product of the human intellect that has commercial value. For example: books, songs, movies, software No Electronic Theft Act of 1997 illegal to reproduce or distribute (even without profit) more than $1,000 worth of copyrighted material in 6 months.

Opinion Homework Dannelly Software Inc. created software to allow researchers to share data files over the internet. Should Dannelly Software Inc be held responsible if you use its software to illegally share files over the internet?

Sony v Universal Studios Legal Issues Sony v Universal Studios In 1976, Universal and Disney sued Sony stating that the Betamax enabled people to copy copyrighted material. In 1983, the supreme court ruled 5-4 that the private, noncommercial use of copyrighted material is "fair use". Also, the Betamax machine could copy non-copyrighted as well as copyrighted material.

Legal Issues MGM v Grokster MGM et.al. sued because 90% of Grokster content was copyrighted. Lower court judge quickly ruled in favor of Grokster. citing Sony v Universal, Grokster has "substantial noninfringing uses" August 2004 Supreme Court overruled in favor of MGM et.al. "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties." June 2005, vote count was 9-0

Digital Millennium Copyright Act Legal Issues Digital Millennium Copyright Act illegal to possess the technology to circumvent copyright protection technology eg. figuring out how to decode a DVD that you own is illegal making any copy of a digital copyrighted work is prohibited eg. making a backup copy of a software application is illegal (unless the maker says okay).

Computer Crime Most corporate computer crime is done by employees Legal Issues Computer Crime Most corporate computer crime is done by employees 58% unauthorized employees 24% authorized employees 13% outside hacker 5% other

Computer Crime Stealing Corporate Data Destroying Corporate Data Legal Issues Computer Crime Stealing Corporate Data Destroying Corporate Data Denial of Service Attack you can shut down cnn.com by quickly hitting it with thousands of bogus requests Making and Spreading Viruses

Harmful Software Virus Worm usually destroys files copies itself Viruses Harmful Software Virus usually destroys files copies itself ex - a MSWord macro sent via email Worm objective: destroy the network, not your PC copies itself via network connections

Harmful Software Trojan Horse Spyware arrives inside something else Viruses Harmful Software Trojan Horse arrives inside something else replicates itself the really bad ones wait for a particular date Spyware objective: steal information personal information (bank account info, …) passwords monitor and transmit web activity

Virus Protection Anti-Virus Software Firewalls Be Careful of Cookies Viruses Virus Protection Anti-Virus Software looks for known viruses and common virus formats Firewalls prohibits unauthorized external access good for cable modem users who leave their machine on Be Careful of Cookies

Next Classes… Next Week: Storing Information Two Weeks from Today: media : flash drives, CDs, … image and movie files the defrag program etc... Two Weeks from Today: Midterm Exam