Denial of Access as a Social Justice Issue

Denial of Access as a Social Justice Issue

Is denial of access in computing a social justice issue? Discuss your answer.

First of all, let us use the definition of social justice of Jose P. Laurel. One way of looking at the problem is “if access to computing is a social justice issue.” Computing is one of the factors that contribute to the welfare of the people. And if computing promotes the welfare of the people, it is the responsibility of the state to uphold it. The existence of denial of access to computing entails the fact that there is inequity of access; Equity of access is a concern of social justice according to the module. If this is the case, then we could infer that denial of access to computing is a social justice issue.

An Example of a Social Justice Issue

An Example of a Social Justice Issue

Choose one of the social justice issues in computing discussed above and find out to what extent it is an issue in the Philippines. Then find out what is being done to address it in specific countries. For example, in the case of the digital divide due to language differences, Soriano reports the adoption of the ‘Unicode Standard, “a character coding system designed to support the worldwide interchange, processing, and display of the written texts of the diverse languages of the modern world.” Developed, extended and promoted by a non-profit organization, the Unicode Consortium (www.unicode.org), the Unicode Standard makes international communication easier.’

An example of a social justice issue in computing discussed in the module is “Are women more disadvantaged in the Information Age?” In the Philippines, women are generally more disadvantaged in computing relative to the men not because women are less entitled to computing facilities but because women have more responsibilities (like childcare) that lessens their time to do computing-related activities. Among the factors listed in the module (literacy and education, language, time, geographical location) social and cultural norms are the least likely to be factors applicable to Philippine women. Specific countries like the Philippines and the US have laws addressing the equality of men and women in general. There are also various active women’s rights groups in both countries that specifically fight for gender equality in the field of ICT. In the Philippines, there are two Republic Acts formulated during the term of Corazon Aquino addressing general gender equality issues.

An Example of a Violation of Privacy

An Example of a Violation of Privacy

Think of an act, other than those already discussed in this module, that would constitute a violation of privacy in computing. Explain.

An interesting example of this happened on the part of eTours, its customers and Ask Jeeves. eTours is a direct marketing company that sponsors a privacy policy which it violated when eTours was sold to Ask Jeeves. The privacy was like usual policies; it promises that customer information will not be given out to other parties. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a complaint to the US Federal Trade Commission about the sale of eTours to Ask Jeeves. The eTours customer information that were given out, which they promised previously not to, include a database of 4.5 million registered users and 2.2 million unique newsletter subscribers. The eTours acquisition was intended to expand Ask Jeeves’s targeted advertising products.

An Example of Computer Abuse

An Example of Computer Abuse

Choose one of computer abuse which you think is morally wrong. Explain why you consider it as morally wrong using any of the ethical principles you have learned in the earlier modules.

A computer abuse example that I consider as morally wrong is the trap door. Some developers of electronic systems, usually those concerning financial systems, device holes in the systems that enable them to circumvent security of the system or create functionalities of the systems that are not part of the systems’ intended use. Examples of trap door implementations are systems that exploit rounding errors of financial transactions to transfer the almost negligible values to an unauthorized account. Even if the source code of the system does not contain a trap door, the trap door could be injected to the system through the compiler.

This is just a sophisticated method of stealing. Most of the ethical and legal principles from the previous modules are against stealing and breach of trust, which make trap doors morally wrong. For example, most Divine Natural, and Moral laws with the preliminary theories of ethical altruism, the finalist theories of Mill’s utilitarianism, the Kantian Categorical Imperatives, and the Nichomachean Ethics, condemn stealing and dishonesty so trap doors are not acceptable.

Spamming vs. Flaming

Spamming vs. Flaming

What is Spamming? Differentiate it from flaming.

Spamming is the Internet version of junk mail. Unsolicited commercial mail has been an inexpensive way for companies to promote their goods and services but results in clogging of email inboxes for most people. Flaming on the other hand, is the act of sending abusive or disrespectful messages to other people in the Internet through email, newsgroups, mailing lists, etc.

Computer Worms and Viruses

Computer Worms and Viruses

What are computer worms and viruses? Explain how these operate. Give examples.

Worms and viruses are malicious programs that have mechanisms for spreading themselves throughout many computers.

Viruses attach themselves to other executable files as their means of spreading to other systems. When the host executable program is run, the executable code of the virus is also run. Viruses have an infection phase where the virus is reproduced to other systems, and an attack phase where the virus unleashes its damaging mechanisms. Examples of viruses are Melissa and the “I Love You” virus / Love Bug.

Worms’ mechanism for spreading themselves does not rely on mechanisms used by viruses. Examples of worms include the Morris worm, and the Bagle worm.