CS 293 Social and Ethical Issues in Computing

Wednesdays 2:00–2:50 — CENT 1030

Prof. Patrick Gage Kelley

pgk @ cs.unm.edu
office: FEC (Farris) 301B
office hours:
     Tuesday 3:00 – 5:00 PM
     Wednesday 12:00 – 1:00 PM

Textbook: Sara Baase, A Gift of Fire, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall, 2007.

Course Community Site:

Topics

• philosophical ethics,
• privacy and databases,
• intellectual property,
• computer security,
• computer crime,
• safety and reliability,
• professional responsibility and codes,
• electronic communities and the Internet, and
• social impact of computers.

Assignments

Each week you will have to turn in a short written homework. Largely describing something you read, arguing against or for it, or answering a short prompt. These should be turned in, printed out, each Wednesday in class. These must also be posted to the course website, details to follow.

There will be one larger project which you will create a final written report for, and present to the class. The topic will be selected by you, and you will convince me it is of the write scope and related to the course. This project could be a book review, an original essay, an experimental study, a website, or something completely different.

Expectations

You are expect to attend class, to have completed the assigned readings, and to participate in class discussion. If you must miss a class, please send me an email in advance. All assignments should be done individually.

Grade

• Class discussion – 30%
• Short weekly assignments – 40%
• Longer project – 30%

Schedule

• Wednesday January 16
  In class: Introduction and class goals. Who is Aaron Swartz?
• Wednesday January 23
  Read: Chapter 1.1 and 1.2 for class.
  Read: *something(s)* from collection of Aaron Swartz articles.
  In class: Discussing Chapter 1.1-1.2 of Baase.
  Turn in: Aaron Swartz mini-essay.
• Wednesday January 30
  Read: Chapter 1.3 for class.
  Read: Chapter 7.1.1 for class.
  Read: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/26/wiki (and some of the comments) for class.
  Read: http://chronicle.com/article/The-Undue-Weight-of-Truth-on/130704/ (and some of the comments) for class.
  In class: Discussing Chapter 1.3 and wikis.
  Turn in: Mini-essay on "new developments."
• Wednesday February 6
  Read: Chapter 1.4 for class.
  Read: Computer Ethics (SEP)
  Note the existence of: Ancient Ethics (SEP)
  Peek at: The Ethicist Blog
  Read: Ordine Geometria Demonstrata
  Turn in: Mini-essay on wikis.
• Wednesday February 13
  Read: http://dbem.ws/FeelingFuture.pdf for class (not the whole thing it is SO long).
  Turn in: Mini-essay on ethics.
• Wednesday February 20
  No readings for class today
  Turn in: Mini-essay on privacy.
• Wednesday February 27
  Read: Chapter 2.1 (p45-56) for class
  Read: http://commondataproject.org/paper-policies-intro
  Interesting privacy topics here: https://www.privacyassociation.org/publications/daily_dashboard/
  Turn in: Analysis of privacy policy.
• Wednesday March 6
  Turn in: 1-page project proposal

Additional Readings

Aaron Swartz readings (borrowed from Liz Lawley)

Larry Lessig, legal scholar at Harvard, founder of Creative Commons: Prosecutor as Bully
http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/40347463044/prosecutor-as-bully

Alex Stamos, the expert witness in Aaron's case: The Truth About Aaron Swartz's Crime
http://unhandled.com/2013/01/12/the-truth-about-aaron-swartzs-crime/

James Grimmelman, legal scholar at New York Law School:
Aaron Swartz, Was 26: http://laboratorium.net/archive/2013/01/12/aaron_swartz_was_26
Two for Aaron: http://laboratorium.net/archive/2013/01/14/two_for_aaron

Tim Wu in The New Yorker: Everyone Interesting is a Felon
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/01/everyone-interesting-is-a-felon.html

danah boyd, social media scholar at Microsoft and NYU: processing the loss of Aaron Swartz
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2013/01/13/aaron-swartz.html

Harvard Business Review: "Aaron Swartz's "Crime" and the Business of Breaking the Law
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/01/aaron_swartzs_crime_and_the_bu.html

Boston Globe: On humanity, a big failure in Aaron Swartz case
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/01/15/humanity-deficit/bj8oThPDwzgxBSHQt3tyKI/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw(may need to open an incognito window to view)

Tim Burke: Academe is Complicit
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/01/15/essay-role-academe-tragedy-aaron-swartzs-death

The Economist: Remembering Aaron Swartz
http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/01/remembering-aaron-swartz

Remembering Aaron Swartz Tumblr
http://www.rememberaaronsw.com

BoingBoing collecting articles
http://boingboing.net/tag/aaronsw