PROFESSIONAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES IN COMPUTING

GUIDELINES/SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE PAPER 
Investigate the topic. Use articles and/or books, etc., for background. Your project must include some background research and some activity, e.g., an interview or a site visit. (If you choose a topic for which you can't think of an appropriate activity, discuss it with the instructor.) 
Don't just report. Discuss pros and cons. Evaluate. Use your own words. Quote where appropriate. Give citations for facts and quotes. Discuss how your topic relates to material covered in the text and/or in class discussions. The paper should be approximately 2000 words. 
Outline for the paper (roughly): 
•	Cover page with title and your name.
•	Introduction/overview of topic and issues to be discussed.
•	Background, description, and/or history of the issue.
•	Issues, various points of view.
•	Results of interviews, observations, etc.
•	Your comments or evaluation.
•	Summary.
•	List of references.
•	Appendix.

Submission Date: Before 01 / 05 / 2013. 

THE TOPIC LIST
1. Devices to assist people with disabilities.  
Report on computer-based technologies that assist people with disabilities.  Consider blind people, deaf people, people who use wheelchairs, people with limited use of their hands and arms, etc. Describe some of the new tools and their impact.  Discuss issues such as cost, any problems with these devices, etc.  (Focus on newer developments, e.g., devices not mentioned in the textbook.)

2. Identification and biometrics.
A company announced plans to sell an identification chip that is implanted under a person's skin.  About the size of a grain of rice,  it could contain personal information and emit a radio signal that identifies the person.  Discuss beneficial uses, potential problems  and abuses, and appropriate guidelines for use of such a chip and  other identification technologies, including various biometrics.

3. Telemedicine.
Describe applications, from remote consultation to remote surgery.  Benefits, possible problem areas (privacy, errors, loss of personalized care).

4. Health information on the Web.
Research and report on Web-based health information sites, including such issues as benefits, reliability of the information, privacy protections, techniques being developed to rate or accredit sites,  impact on medical care.  Patients of some healthcare providers can access their own records online.  Describe an example.  How does it affect medical care?

5. Computerized medical record systems.
Many large HMOs have implemented computerized patient record systems. Report on one or more such systems, focusing on benefits, privacy risks  and protections, how well it is accepted by doctors and staff, and other relevant issues.  

6. Privacy on the Web.  
What's happening now? Recent abuses and improvements. Describe and evaluate Web site policies and technical and policy privacy protections provided by the market, and current proposals for government regulations.

7. Privacy for organizations and businesses.
All our discussion of privacy concerns privacy for people.  There have been incidents in which sensitive information that organizations and businesses must provide to government agencies has been made public, intentionally, accidentally, or by leaks.  Release of information about
fund-raising, sales plans, pricing, members, or customers might aid competitors.  Release of information about manufacture of, storage of, and security for certain chemicals could aid terrorists.  Report on some cases and discuss reasonable extensions of principles about privacy for organizations and businesses.

8. Personal data privacy regulations in other countries.
Report on personal data privacy regulations, Web site privacy policies, and law enforcement access to personal data in one or more countries, e.g. the European Union.

9. Computers in law enforcement.
Issues include benefits to crime fighting, invasion of privacy, problems caused for innocent people because of errors. Describe cases where a computer system has been very helpful in catching a criminal or vindicating an innocent person, and describe cases where a computer system has caused serious problems.  An activity for this project could include a ride-along in a police car.  (A few students did this in the past and found it very instructive.)  Another possible activity is to interview someone who runs or supervises the use of local law enforcement computer systems.  What databases do they access?  How do they prevent unauthorized access?  Have errors in NCIC been reduced?

10. Computers in the legal/justice system.
Describe systems in use, from legal databases to artificial intelligence programs that help judges determine sentences.  Consider the possibility of AI systems making judgments in some legal cases. Describe and evaluate pros and cons.

11. Government surveillance of communications.
How are arguments about Echelon and Carnivore affected by the terrorist attacks in 2001?  

12. Technological responses to terrorism.  
Describe and evaluate some of the computer-based technologies implemented  or expanded after Sept. 11, 2001.  (Include unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with cameras and sensors.)  Consider effectiveness, cost, impact on daily life, air travel, risks, etc., and arguments related to privacy and civil liberties.

13. Children on the Internet.
There are several problem areas: availability of material not appropriate for children, contact with people who seek to abuse children, and privacy risks from game sites that ask children for extensive personal and family information (for marketing purposes).  How serious are these problems?  What is being done about them?  Evaluate various solutions. Do benefits for children on the Net outweigh risks?  Can we arrange to have the benefits without the risks?

14. The Global Economy.
What are the roles and impacts of computers and communications technology in the increase of trans-border economic activity (e.g., eBay as a global garage sale; customer service workers in other countries handling U.S. consumer calls; databases to track the origin of a cow with Mad Cow Disease; etc.)?  What are the benefits?  What are the problems?  Is this aspect of increased globalization a good thing for people in the U.S., for people in other countries, for humanity in general?

15. Electronic commerce.  
Implications for the economy, for privacy, etc.  Which industries will benefit?  Which will be hurt?  How will daily activities be affected? Are there significant social benefits or detriments from electronic commerce?

16. Electronic commerce.  
There are many more specific topics.  For example, Smart Cards: uses, benefits, privacy implications and protections in a particular application or industry.  Another example: Several companies are working on technology for micropayments on the Net.  What will the impact be (on the structure of businesses, physical store locations, communities, etc.) if we can easily make small purchases on the Net? What are the privacy and security issues?

17. Automated systems.
Study progress, safety, and social issues related to an automated system such as automated highways and self-driving vehicles.  

18. Safety-critical applications.
Find a local application to study, or study the Air Traffic Control system, which uses antiquated computers that break down often. Another  idea: the Ariane 5 rocket which exploded because of a software problem. Investigate the safety measures used in software for other rockets. Nancy Leveson's book _Safeware_ is a good reference.  

19. Use of computers in restaurants.
Investigation and discussion of the issues such as customer service, impact on employment, food safety, ambiance.  Visit a restaurant with self-service ordering terminals. Some fast food restaurants use robotic devices for food preparation; report of one. Interview a waiter  or restaurant manager. (This could be part of a paper that looks at the impact of computer automation in two or three industries or consumer services.)

20. Spam. 
Describe and evaluate technical solutions, current legislation and regulation.  Some people propose that the federal government create a "Do not spam" list, like the "DO not call" list for telemarketers.  Discuss privacy problems that could occur with implementation of such a list.  Discuss the roles of technical and legislative solutions for spam.  Consider the relevance of freedom of speech.

21. Censorship of the Internet.
Some aspect not covered in the text, or study some issue in more detail. Some possibilities: filtering Internet terminals in libraries, control  of the Net in other countries.  (For historical background on libraries:  Louise S. Robbins, Censorship and the American Library: The American Library Association's Response to Threats to Intellectual Freedom, 1939-1969, Greenwood Press, 1996.)  

22. Information warfare.
Will the next wars be fought without bombs?  Will computer networks and  computer-controlled infrastructure be the targets of military hackers? What is happening now?  What kind of defenses are possible?

23. Recent copyright battles for music and movies.
Since A Gift of Fire was published, the music and movie industries have continued to develop new methods to fight copyright infringement of digital media.  These include threatening lawsuits against universities and small retailers, uploading damaged files to file-sharing sites, and offering rewards for information about movie-pirating operations.  They also include building copy-protection into CDs and DVDs and some attempts to sell authorized works on the Web.  Report on several recent strategies used by the industries (legal, technological, and business).  Evaluate the effectiveness and ethics of the methods.  Describe current controversies about digital rights management.

24. Free software.
What's happening with "free" software?  What is the impact of Linux and Apache, for example?  What are the implications for consumers?  For big companies like Microsoft?

25. Hacking.
Report on the community of hackers who hack to improve security. Are their actions responsible and beneficial, or immature and harmful, or both?

26. Identity theft. 
What is the current state of the problem?  Describe relevant laws.  How have consumers and businesses changed behavior in response to Identity Theft?  What technical solutions have developed?

27. Hacktivism.
Report on specific incidents or organizations engaged in hacktivism. Compare to civil disobedience and to other kinds of hacking.

28. Government surveillance of the Internet.
The terrorist attacks on the U.S. in 2001 led to laws reducing restrictions  on government surveillance of the Internet.  Before that, the Clinton  administration proposed massive monitoring of major computer networks  by the government to protect their security.  Are these good ideas?  What are the pro and con arguments?  

29. Are Web issues really new?  
Choose two other technologies or innovations, such as radio, telegraph, railroads, or electricity, and find out what ethical, social, and legal issues and controversies arose about them.  Compare the problems and issues to current problems and issues about the Web.  What solutions developed?  How well do those solutions fit the Web?

30. Computers and the environment.
How are computers used by nature researchers and organizations.  Describe applications that help protect the environment.  Describe aspects of computers that cause environmental problems.  What do environmentalists think of computers?  

31. Political activism on the Net.
How has the Internet helped or hurt political groups outside the mainstream? How is it used by major political parties and candidates?  What is the impact?  How do/should current regulations about political campaigns affect individuals and small organizations that set up Web pages to support/oppose candidates and issues?  (Look at the Resources page, Chap. 9, for a useful article.)

32. Communications technology and political protests.
How were communications technologies used by protestors in the fall of the Soviet Union, the democracy protests in China's Tiananmen Square, and in the protests following the Ukraine elections of 2004?  Choose one or two major anti-government protest from before 1980 and compare.  What do these experiences suggest for the future of political freedom and democracy?
33. Blogs.  
What are they?  How and when did they arise?  For background, describe Usenet news groups (and perhaps 18th and 19th century newspapers).  How are blogs similar to and how do they differ from news groups?  Evaluate benefits and weaknesses.  Do blogs illustrate empowerment and increased availability of information, or do they illustrate the avalanche of gossip and inaccurate or useless information on the Net?

34. Electronic Voting and Internet Voting.  
In a few states in the U.S., some people voted in the 2000 presidential primary elections on the Internet.  By 2004, several states and countries (e.g., India) began using electronic voting machines.  How successful were the first experiments?  Will most political elections be held on the Internet in the future?  Discuss the problems of maintaining secret ballots, preventing election fraud, and providing for recounts (for both electronic voting machines and Internet voting).  What other issues are relevant?  How are the states (and other nations) handling these issues?

35. Violence in video/computer games.
What is the impact on children?  There haven't been many serious studies yet.  You could use studies on the impact of violence on television for background.  Interview people who write and publish computer games to find out their policies and views about violent games.

36. Use of computers in schools.
How are they used?  Are they really helping to teach or to baby-sit? Visit an elementary school or middle school and observe how computers are used.  Interview a teacher and a few students.  For background, find some of the many research articles on the effectiveness of computers in education.

37. Distance learning.
What are the common uses?  What will be the impact on universities?  On adult education?  Is cheating a problem?

38. Monitoring of employees' Web use and e-mail.  
What policies are employers using?  Perhaps study a few large businesses in your area.  A useful part of a project on e-mail privacy could be  collecting and evaluating (or writing) sample policies for different kinds  of employers (e.g., for your university, covering students, faculty, and  staff, and for a software company in a highly competitive business).

39. Cyberspace communities.
What makes a "community"?  How do cyberspace communities handle decision making, dealing with troublesome members, etc.?  Find one community to study in depth, preferably one that you are a member of or have a special interest in.  Possibilities: an online game community; the Open Directory Project, etc.  (Please respect the community's privacy guidelines and ask permission if quoting members.)

40. Gender or ethnic issues.
The _Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering_ might have some useful articles for background and ideas for specific projects.  There have been several studies of differences in the way men and women use computers.  There are many Web sites aimed at women or at specific ethnic minority audiences.  You could study the differences and similarities between such sites and the Web in general.  

41. Computing and network access in other countries.
For example, how are computers used in rural, poor areas of Africa?  How do politics restrict access in Vietnam?  Choose one country to study in depth or compare a few.

42. Science fiction and prediction.
Find several science fiction stories published at least 30 years ago that are set in the present time or near future and describe computer  and communications technologies.  Report on how closely their view of the technology corresponds to what is actually available.  What social benefits and problems did they anticipate?

43. What will the world be like 50 years from now?  
How will electronic communications and commerce affect the power of centralized governments?  Everyday life?  What will happen as computers  are connected to the human body?  Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov at chess  in 1997.  Will human intelligence be of less value in the future?  Several experts have written books addressing these issues.  You could read two or three and evaluate their predictions.

Thanks for: Sara Baase
Author of:   A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology (Fourth edition)