Raphael Cohen-Almagor

Lecture Plan Section I -- Introduction Section II -- moral and social responsibility. Section III -- responsibility of Net agents. Section IV -- responsibilities of Internet providers and web-hosting companies

Introduction The Internet is a macro system of interconnected private and public spheres: household, literary, military, academic, business and government networks. The mix of open standards, diverse networks, and the growing ubiquity of digital devices makes the Internet a revolutionary force that undermines traditional media and challenges existing regulatory institutions based on national boundaries

The Internet The Internet contains the best products of humanity

5

Ufff…

Worse of Humanity Unfortunately, the Internet also contains the worse products of humanity: Child Pornography, Pedophilia Terror Racism, Hate speech and Holocaust denial Crime-facilitating speech

Relevant Factors History Culture Morality Law

The Object of this Paper The object of this Paper is to discuss moral and social responsibility of people who utilize the Internet for their own purposes. The Paper addresses the ethical problems rooted in technology in response to potential risks on the Internet. The Internet is not the problem. The problem arises where it is utilized to undermine our well-being as autonomous beings living in free societies

Moral and Social Responsibility Legal responsibility refers to addressing the issue by agencies of state power. In moral responsibility, the personal responsibility of the agent to conscience is at issue, with appeals to moral consideration. Social responsibility relates to the societal implications of a given conduct

Aristotle Only a certain kind of agent qualifies as a moral agent and is thus properly subject to ascriptions of responsibility, namely, one who possess a capacity for decision. Choice is important, to have desirable ends and relevant means to pursue the end. By moral responsibility it is meant that autonomous agents have the understanding of the options before them, have access to evidence required for making judgments about the benefits and hazards of each option, and able to weigh the relative value of the consequences of their choice

William J. FitzPatrick all cases of moral responsibility for bad actions must involve a strong form of akrasia, i.e. acting against ones better judgment. If an agent does something bad, either she does so in full knowledge that she should not be doing it, which is clear-eyed akrasia, or she is acting from ignorance. In the former cases she will be held responsible. In the latter case whether she is responsible or not will depend on whether or not her ignorance is culpable

Online/Offline The Internet has a dis-inhibition effect. The freedom allows language one would dread to use in real life, words one need not abide by, imagination that trumps conventional norms and standards

Agent's Responsibility An agent will be held blameworthy for her bad conduct when she clearly aims at doing bad or when she can be held culpable for her ignorance in making bad choices. As Aristotle said, an autonomous agent is aware of what she was doing

Power of Words Words can wound. Words can hurt. Words can move people to action. The anonymity of the Internet is most convenient for spreading unfounded allegations, for backstabbing, for malicious rumours, for pushing people to conduct harmful actions to others as well as to themselves

Suicide suicide pills and "exit bags "save the planet, kill yourself Notwithstanding the extent of the agents' liberalism, they should consider the prudence of such postings given the vulnerability of the people that such sites might attract

The Megan Meier Affair Youre the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over. Lori Drew and her co-conspirators are blameworthy and morally culpable for their involvement in this tragedy, for playing on Megans emotions in a crude and cynical way without thinking which way this game might lead. They were fully aware of what they were doing. No one coerced them to take this crude path. They chose it freely, exhibiting a strong form of clear- eyed akrasia, acting against their adult better judgment

The Megan Meier Affair parental responsibility

Responsibility of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Web Hosting Services Those who object the idea of holding ISPs responsible for content on their servers argue that the Internet is like a telephone carrier. But the Internet is different from the phone in some critical technological, organizational and geographical ways that make the comparison unconvincing. Let me uncover some of the major differences. Better analogies than the Internet and a phone carrier are those between the Internet and a large first and second hand bookstore, or between the Internet and a large library

Cryptome.com Cryptome welcomes documents for publication that are prohibited by governments worldwide, in particular material on freedom of expression, privacy, cryptology, dual-use technologies, national security, intelligence, and secret governance -- open, secret and classified documents

US Nuclear Weapons Storage Kwajalein, Marshall Islands

ISPs and web-hosting rules and regulations ISPs and web-hosting companies have the right and the duty to report potentially criminal activities to the appropriate law enforcement agency. ISPs may prohibit posting legally seditious or offensive content. What a legitimate realm includes may vary from one ISP to another. child pornography

Should ISPs and host companies be proactive? They are obviously reluctant for very practical reason – the costs involved in employing professional staff who will scrutinize the information

Rowdiness The Red Light District in Amsterdam. Likewise, there are rowdy websites entertained by rowdy ISPs

Restricted areas In many research libraries, books known to be problematic for their content are kept in designated area, under the open eye of an experienced librarian. Similar arrangement can be made on the Net. Some problematic material will have restricted access and people will have to sign up for reading it, providing some details about their identity and why they wish to read this particular piece of information

VampireFreaks.com It is possible to monitor traffic on large websites. It is a question of will and of priorities in allocating resources for monitoring

Child Pornography The ISP can detect criminal behavior by analyzing patterns of use, much as a bank can detect credit card theft by monitoring each customer's pattern of purchases. It is difficult to understand why newsgroups which are known to carry child pornography are allowed to survive, let alone made available to ISP subscribers

Child Pornography In February 2009, Facebook removed more than 5,500 accounts of convicted sex offenders. This came after Myspace announcement that it removed more than 90,000 accounts of sex offenders

Suicide In mid-2004, Internet Service Providers, police, academics and NGOs in Japan discussed what actions should be taken regarding suicide chatrooms and prevention of online suicide pacts. ISPs should continue to develop and embrace initiatives designed to protect users, especially children. These include technological tools as well as educational campaigns

Hate Anti-Defamation league (ADL). The YouTube Abuse & Safety Center

Business aspects 80% of the British public believes that large companies have a moral duty to society. Four forms of Corporate social responsibility. Economic concerns. Naming and shaming Internet Service Providers

Conclusion The Internet does not have any borders but it does have limits. Aristotles Rule of the Golden Mean. ISPs should scrutinize their servers. Readers should use tip lines and alert the authorities upon encountering dangerous, anti-social content. Global cooperation

From Alberto Ríos/In Us This Day Sometimes, we are brutal and dark green. We are the fishhook thorns on the wild cactus. But sometimes as well, we are the sky itself, That great blue living room filled with endless space In every direction there is to see. We are, As things turn out, the answer and the problem both. Every day we must choose our suit of clothes

We are in a border time, The border between countries, between centuries, The border between yesterday and tomorrow, What we have been and what we are going to be. We are a state of many languages, many cultures. We must translate this into a state with many ideas. Let us choose the best from this treasury of dreams. Let us create a future We would want to speak in any language. We should not try to predict the future Instead, let us make it, and let us make it our own. Governor On the occasion of the Inauguration of Janet Napolitano Governor of the State of Arizona January 2003

Thank you