Social and Ethical issues, Week 12, 22nd October 2007

LECTURE why are there problems? characteristics of the Internet

• open protocols
• no enforceable standards

characteristics of Internet information

• anyone can publish
• no control on bias or unethical information

Characteristics of Internet users

• a lot of smart people
• a lot of dumb/naive people

Intellectual property

inventions,ideas,music, movies. intellectual property does not require registration.

Copyright

literally means the right to copy! we live in a digital age, therefore the issues will always increase

plagiarism

using other peoples' ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information. copyright is ignored or abused.

Privacy

digital trails left behind, freedom vs protection of personal information, rights of individuals and or organisations.

Security

Internet uses multiple computers to transmit data, interception can occur anytime.

Workshop

task

1

Access to copyright material: Australia v the US G087

Computer software G050

Artworks: Getting permission G086

Copyright in Australia: information sources G004

Broadband content & copyright G071

Databases, compilations, tables and forms G066

2

US vs Sankas

sankas was a leader of the online software piracy group known as DrinkOrDie. they acquired new software and released it over the Internet, he was caught along with his team.

In addition to JOHN SANKUS, Jr., the following individuals have either been sentenced or have pled guilty and are awaiting sentence in the Eastern District of Virginia: BARRY ERICKSON, age 35, of Eugene, Oregon, pled guilty on May 2, 2002, before U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton, to one felony count charging conspiracy to violate the criminal copyright laws, and was sentenced to a term of 33 months’ imprisonment, with a special term of three years supervised release. Erickson, who used the screen nickname radsl, was a systems engineer at Symantec Corporation who provided Symantec software to the warez groups DrinkOrDie and RiSCISO before that software was commercially available. Erickson was also a founding member of Parents On Puterz (POPZ), a warez group that specialized in the release of children’s learning software and games. he was sentenced for 46th months in federal prison.

3

how to protect against attacks on privacy

• set up a firewall
• don't give out information to anyone on the Internet
• do not use Internet cafes to buy tickets, you can be tracked