Web 2.0, the Global Village, and the Code of Fair Information Practices

1. Web 2.0, the Global Village, and the Code of Fair Information Practices Michael J. Quinn Seattle University

2. Topics • What are biggest threats to privacy? • Privacy implications of Web 2.0 • Code of Fair Information Practices • Posting photos • Case-based analysis

3. Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher “ Your new taxplan’s gonna tax memore, isn’t it?”

4. “Joe the Plumber” • No plumbing license • Didn’t completeapprenticeship in 2003 • Earned $40,000in 2006 • Owed $1,182 in backtaxes

5. “Joe the Plumber” private citizen “I’m just a private citizen… That scares me justfor the simple fact that other people might hesitate on questioning our elected officials and that worries me greatly for America.” October 15, Katie Couric interview Ocrober 16, Good Morning America October 16: Press conference October 16, Hannity & Colmes October 28-30, McCain campaign rallies November 2, Your World with Neil Cavuto

6. “Star Wars Kid”

7. Privacy • “Zone of inaccessibility” (Edmund Byrne) • Privacy = control over zone • Physical • Mental • Informational

9. Code of Fair Information Practices • No secret record-keeping systems • Right to know • what information held • how used • No information re-use • Correction of erroneous information • Reliability and prevention of misuse Privacy Act of 1974 Government Databases Only

10. Private Corporations • Data collection • Data sharing • Data mining • Direct mail

11. Public Information

12. Web 2.0 • Users contribute content • Blogs • Wikis • Social networks • People are contributors • People are subjects

13. Global Village • Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962) • Electronic mass media collapse communication barriers • Global-scale human interactions

14. Television: Funeral of John Paul II

15. Web: “Bus Uncle”

17. www.gawker.com/stalker

19. Code of Fair Information Practices • No secret record-keeping systems • Right to know • what information held • how used • No information re-use • Correction of erroneous information • Reliability and prevention of misuse

20. In the absence of legal restrictions, how should we behave?

21. Rule-based Decision-making R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 … Rn

22. Rule-based Decision-making R1 R2 Contemplated actionx R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 … Rn

23. Rule-based Decision-making R1 R2 Contemplated actionx R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 … Rn

24. Rule-based Decision-making R1 R2 Contemplated actionx R3 R4 R5(x)  or R5 R6 R7 … Rn

25. Problems with Rule-based Methodologies • Conflicting rules • Strips away details • Binary result (right or wrong)

26. Utilitarian Decision-making Contemplated actionx

27. Utilitarian Decision-making Contemplated actionx Consequence 1 Value 1 Consequence 2 Value 2 Consequence 3 Value 3 Consequence 4 Value 4 … Consequence n Value 5

28. Utilitarian Decision-making Contemplated actionx Consequence 1 Value 1 Consequence 2 Value 2 Consequence 3 Value 3 Consequence 4 Value 4 … Consequence n Value 5 

29. Problems with Utilitarianism • Single scale for all consequences • Ignores unjust distribution of good consequences • Doesn’t give principles their due

30. Case-based Reasoning • “Bottom-up” approach • Allows consideration of rights, duties, consequences • Based on +, - paradigm cases • Identify negative paradigm case • Identify features that make it negative • Alter features to create positive case • Compare test case against paradigm cases

31. Warm-up Case Ann is an accountant at Acme Corporation, a medium-sized firm with about 50 employees. All of the employees work in the same building, and everyone knows everyone else on a first-name basis. Ann’s daughter is a Girl Scout. During the annual Girl Scout cookie sale, Ann sends an email to all of the other Acme employees, inviting them to stop by her desk and order some cookies. Did Ann do anything wrong?

32. Evaluation of Warm-up Case

33. Case #1 Benjamin attends a birthday party for his good friend Chris, a member of the Orange Party. Someone gives Chris a Yellow Party T-shirt as a gag gift, and Chris puts it on. Benjamin takes a picture of Chris wearing the T-shirt and posts it on his blog, identifying Chris and explaining the context of the photo. When Chris runs for governor, organizations supporting his opponent in the Orange Party primary post the photo out of context, along with stories questioning his party loyalty. Was Benjamin wrong to post the photo?

34. Evaluation of Case #1

35. Case #2 A group of citizens opposes the opening of a strip club in their neighborhood. The group creates a Web site to build support for its cause. After the City Council votes to approve the club and the club opens, the citizens try to reduce the club’s business by posting to their Web site photos of people entering the club. Are the citizens wrong to post the photos?

36. Evaluation of Case #2

37. “You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.”  Scott McNealy

38. control over your zone of inaccessibility “You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.”  Scott McNealy

41. Sources • ABC News, Obama talks with ‘Joe the Plumber,’ October 15, 2008. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6031110 • John Seewer, Is ‘Joe the Plumber’ a plumber? That’s debatable. Associated Press, October 16, 2008. • Bridget Tharp and Mark Zaborney, “`Joe the Plumber’ is focus of presidential debate’s first few minutes.” Toledo Blade. October 16, 2008. • 3 Searches of ‘Joe’s’ BMV files probed. The Columbus Dispatch, October 25, 2008. • Star Wars Kid is top viral video. BBC News, November 27, 2006. • Tu Thanh Ha, ‘Star Wars Kid’ cuts a deal with his tormentors. Globe and Mail, April 7. 2006. • Edmund F. Byrne, Privacy. In Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, Academic Press, 1998. • Michael J. Quinn, Ethics for the Information Age, 3rd edition, Addison Wesley, 2009. • Original “Bus Uncle” video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H20dhY01Xjk • Hong Kong’s “Bus Uncle” beaten up by three men, Channel NewsAsia, June 8, 2006. • Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the Internet  and How to Stop It, Yale University Press, 2008. • C. E. Harris, Jr., M. S. Pritchard, and M. J. Rabins. Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases, 3rd Edition, Wadsworth Publishing, 2004. • Michael J. Quinn, “Case-based analysis: a practical tool for teaching computer ethics,” Proceedings of SIGCSE ’06, March 2006.