This weeks lecture was about the social and ethicl issues assiciated with the intternet. Due to people posting their personal details on the internet there are isses with fraud and identity theft. These problems are due to:
The Characteristics of the Internet:
- Open portocols
- No enforceable standards
The Characteristics of Internet Information:
- Anyone can publish
- No control on bias or unethical information
The Characteristics of Internet Users:
- A lot of smart people
- A lot of not so smart people
We were also introduced to the problems with the internet, being:
- Intellectual property
- Copyright
- Plagiarism
- Security
- Privacy
- Freedom of speech
We were then told how we can protect ourselves from the problems surrounding the internet:
- Installing a firewall
- Installing anitvirus software
- Be wary of attachments
- Be wary of spyware
- Do not give personal information
- Do not reply to SPAM
- Set online programs to maximum security settings
- Use peer to peer (P2P) software with caution
- Regularly update antivirus software
- Always scan documents before opening
- Turn e-mail preview off
Tutorial:
Task 1:
We were asked to visit the Australian copywrite council's website: http://www.copyright.org.au/ and were asked to choose five (5) information sheets that would be relevant to us as undergraduates.
To locate the files we had to click on the "copyright information" tab:
Then click on the "all information sheets" link:
The first information sheet I clicked on was the "An introduction to copywrite in Australia" document:
It outlined that:
- Copyright is free and applies automatically when material is created
- There is no registration system for copyright in Australia
- Copyright doesn't protect ideas, information, styles or technique
- Copyright doesn't protect names, titles or slogans
- There are no general exemptions from copyrihgt law for non-profit organizations
- There are some situations where copyright law allows people to use copyright material for their own personal us, but these are narrow and specific
- Australian copyright laws apply to action taken place in Australia
The second information sheet I clicked on was the "Broardband content" document:
It outlined the main isses you need to consider, including:- Whether you need a copyright or moral rights clearance to use other people's material as part of your content
- What licensing arrangements you will enter into for the use of your content by broardband distributors
- How will you or the broadrband service provider will protect content against infringement
The third information sheet I clicked on was the "Databases, compilations, tables & forms" document:
This document outlined that:- Copyright doesn't protect facts or information
- Copyright may, however, protect "compilations" of information such as catalogues, databases, dictionaries, directories and tables, even though individual facts or items in the compilation are not protected
- You do not need particular facts to reproduce particular facts from a compilation.
- Copyright also protects forms, if they are sufficiently "original"
The fourth information sheet I opened was the "Editors & copyright" document:
The document outlined that:- Permission is usually needed to includecopyright materialin a book or other publications
- People using copyright material usually need to make sure the creators are attributed and that they do not use the material in a way that might be damaging to the creators "honour or reputation"
- Copyright laws are broardly similar from country to country
The fifth information sheet I opened was the "Internet: copying & downloading material" document:
The document outlined that:
- Material on the internet may be protected by copyright, as may emails
- In many cases, permission to download material from a website is given on the site itself, but the fact that material is available to be viewed on a website, or is accessible using P2P software or networks over the internet, or is contained in an email, does not, by itself, mean that you can use it
- Do not assume that everything on the internet or in an email was put there or copied with the permission of the copyright owner
Task 2:
We were then asked to visit http://www.apra.com.au/music-users/online_mobile/online_mobile.asp. This site is all about dowbloading music from internet sources. It starts off by correcting the missconception that downoading songs from the internet is somehow "free," this is not true. As you the consumer may not be paying a price, the artist is. The downloading of music rips off the artist and they get no monitary benefit from the download of their music. It then goes on to explain how copyright laws are in place to protect artist and their music.
Task 3:
Our last task was to design a way to protect ourselves from privacy attacks. We were asked to visit http://netsecurity.about.com/, http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virus6.htm and http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2100282,00.asp to get ideas on how we can protect ourselves.
http://netsecurity.about.com/ suggested that we:
- Back up information on external hard drives
- Configure UAC (User Account Control)
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virus6.htm suggested that we:
- Buy virus protection software
- Avoid programs from unknown sources
- Enable macro virus protection
- Never open unknown email attachments
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2100282,00.asp suggested that we:
- Install anti virus software
- Be wary of phishing
Extra Reading:
EFF's Top 12 Ways to Protect your Online Privacy
We were asked to visit http://www.eff.org/wp/effs-top-12-ways-protect-your-online-privacy and read about ways to protect yourself on the internet.
This site suggetsted that we:
- Do not reveal personal infiormation inadvertently
- Turn on cookie notices in your Web browser
- Use cookie management software or infomediaries
- Keep a "clean" email address
- Avoid send personal email from work as they may be monitored
- Avoid sites/links taht offer rewards for your personal information
- Do not reply to spam
- Be conscious of web and home security
- Examine privacy policies
- Use encryption
Ethics in Computing - Social Justice Issues: Electronic Monitoring
The second site, http://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/social/workplace/monitoring/ talks about:
- Types of monitoring
- Privacy issues
- Suggested policies
- Privacy resources
Brown & Michaels - Overview or Intellectual Property
The third site, http://www.bpmlegal.com/overview.html discusses protecting individual intellectual property. It outlines the three ways in which you can do this:
- Patents - unity patents, plant patents and design patents. All of which are used for "useful things" or methods of doing something.
- Trademarks - cover the name or symbol
- Copyrights - protect works of authorship, composition or artistry
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