50,000
WORDS ON ETHICS
BY
ESPIRITU, KEVIN RUSSEL T.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to express my thankfulness and deepest regards to my family and my friends
because without them, I may not have enough strength, knowledge, and guidance to be able to
finish this ITETHIC book. I am thanking my family and friends for always supporting me in
everything I do.
I would like to thank my Professor, Sir Paul Amerigo Pajo for giving me an opportunity to
create this book. At first, I did not believe in myself that I would be able to finish this book ontime but everything has changed after going through the course. The help and guidance given
by him helped me to finish this book on-time. Everything that he has taught me for the whole
term has inspired me to write an entire book.
Kevin Russel Taino Espiritu
De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde
11151641
Bachelor of Science in Information Systems
PREFACE
In the 20th century, there has been a significant improvement in the technology used.
One of the most remarkable inventions and innovations created was the computer which has
helped a lot in the everyday lives of people, businessmen and families. With the evolution of the
internet the use of computers has been more popular; however, the evolution of technology and
cyberspace has had its disadvantages. Ethical issues have constantly evolved; thus, the author
has decided to write a book about cyber ethics.
The author decided to write about cyber ethics due to its relevance; since everything
nowadays has been done in the internet. Communication has now been faster and more public;
thus, it is important to observe proper ethics as to not step onto anyone’s foot. The author was
motivated to write on this particular subject due to the arising issues that has surfaced the
internet, news and through word of mouth; the author believes that when everyone is aware on
the impact these issues have on people, then the cyber world would not have a bad connotation
and there would be less issues.
This book will discuss cyber ethics and the internet, starting from the evolution of
technology in the old ages and how it has grown into what we know of today. The book will also
tap into the different cyber ethic theories and apply it to different situations where one might
find it useful. The author will also be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of internet
use.
This book is intended to educate readers especially the youth on cyber ethics. This book
will give awareness and show the different theories and issues in relation to cyber ethics and
how it affects us humans. The purpose is also to describe and discuss to the readers the
different theories on cyber ethics which can help readers academically and intellectually.
It has been a significantly long and meaningful journey in writing this book, a lot of
extensive research has been done in order to provide an in depth look and study about the
internet and cyber ethics. However, despite the long journey the author has learned throughout
writing this book, that having ethics is very important and when everyone values their values
and ethics of other people there will be less conflicts in the internet world. Also, another lesson
learned is that when it comes to the internet, one mistake, and one wrong word can rapidly
spread like wildfire and whatever it is put out will be up to the audience and the people to
judge. Therefore, we always have to be aware of what we say or do as not affect people in a bad
way. Moreover, one small insult or mistake done to one person can have significant effects to
others; we may perceive it as a simple mistake done, but to another person it can be a severe
effect emotionally and mentally.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1................................................................................................................................................... 1
CONTEMPORARY MORAL PROBLEMS............................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Egoism and Moral Scepticism – – James Rachels .................................................................... 1
1.2 Religion, Morality, and Conscience – – John Arthur ................................................................ 5
1.3 Master- and Slave-Morality – – Friedrich Nietzsche ................................................................ 9
1.4 Trying Out One’s New Sword – – Mary Midgley .................................................................... 11
1.5 Utilitarianism – – John Stuart Mill ............................................................................................ 13
1.6 A Debate over Utilitarianism – – James Rachels..................................................................... 16
1.7 The Categorical Imperative – – Immanuel Kant ..................................................................... 19
1.8 Happiness and Virtue – – Aristotle ........................................................................................... 21
1.9 Nature and Value of Rights – – Joel Feinberg ........................................................................ 23
1.10 Taking Rights Seriously – – Ronald Dworkin ........................................................................ 25
1.11 A Theory of Justice – – John Rawls ........................................................................................ 27
1.12 The Need for More Than Justice – – Annette Baier ............................................................. 29
CHAPTER 2................................................................................................................................................. 32
CYBER ETHICS ........................................................................................................................................... 32
2.1 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................... 32
2.2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF TECHNOLOGIES................................................. 34
2.3 CYBER ETHICS AND THE INTERNET ......................................................................................... 35
2.4 COMPUTER VIRUSES .................................................................................................................. 39
CHAPTER 3................................................................................................................................................. 41
ALL ABOUT GAMES ..................................................................................................................................... 41
3.1 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................... 41
3.2 GENRES OF VIDEO GAMES ....................................................................................................... 42
CHAPTER 4................................................................................................................................................. 44
THE LIFE OF A PERSON WITH A BIG DREAM ................................................................................................... 44
4.1 BEGINNING OF KYLE’S LIFE ....................................................................................................... 44
4.2 PRE- SCHOOL.............................................................................................................................. 45
4.3 GRADE SCHOOL ......................................................................................................................... 48
4.4 SOCIAL MEDIA: FRIENDSTER .................................................................................................... 54
4.5 GRADE SCHOOL GRADUATION ............................................................................................... 57
4.6 HIGH SCHOOL ............................................................................................................................ 58
4.7 SOPHOMORE YEAR .................................................................................................................... 60
4.8 TWENTY THREE: A NEW BEGINNING ...................................................................................... 62
4.9 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION .................................................................................................. 68
4.11 COLLEGE: DE LA SALLE COLLEGE OF SAINT BENILDE ......................................................... 69
CHAPTER 5................................................................................................................................................. 71
REFLECTIONS ............................................................................................................................................ 71
CHAPTER 6................................................................................................................................................. 75
STEALING AND ETIQUETTE ........................................................................................................................... 75
6.1 PATENT INFRINGEMENT – SAMSUNG V.S. APPLE ................................................................. 75
6.2 TAKING AWAY PROFIT............................................................................................................... 78
6.3 PROPER SOCIAL NETWORKING ............................................................................................... 85
CHAPTER 7................................................................................................................................................. 92
7.1 HACKING ......................................................................................................................................... 92
CHAPTER 8............................................................................................................................................... 109
THE TECHNOLOGY OF PRINTING ................................................................................................................. 109
8.1 THREE DIMENSIONAL PRINTING AVAILABLE TODAY ......................................................... 109
CHAPTER 9............................................................................................................................................... 111
ROBOTICS ............................................................................................................................................... 111
9.1 REPLACING HUMAN WITH ROBOTS ..................................................................................... 111
CHAPTER 10 ............................................................................................................................................ 116
TELCO WARS ........................................................................................................................................... 116
10.1 GLOBE VS PLDT ...................................................................................................................... 116
CHAPTER 11 ............................................................................................................................................ 122
PRIVACY ISSUES ...................................................................................................................................... 122
11.1 GOOGLE GLASS ...................................................................................................................... 122
11.2 APPLE ....................................................................................................................................... 128
CHAPTER 1
CONTEMPORARY MORAL PROBLEMS
1.1 ETHICAL THEORIES
ITETHIC – Egoism and Moral Scepticism – – James Rachels
Review Questions
1. Explain the legend of Gyges. What questions about morality are raised by the story?
- The legend of Gyges is about a shepherd who was said to have found a magic ring in a fissure
opened by an earthquake. The ring would make its wearer invisible and thus would enable him
to go anywhere and do anything undetected. Gyges used the power of the ring to gain entry to
the Royal Palace where he seduced the Queen, murdered the King, and subsequently seized the
throne. According to the legend that was recalled by Glaucon, there were two rings. These two
rings are given to two people. The first ring was given to a man of virtue. The second ring was
given to a rogue. The questions raised in the story about morality were of as follows. The first
question is “But how will the so-called virtuous man behave?”. The second question is “Why
shouldn’t a man simply do what he pleases?”. The third question is “What reason is there for him
to continue being “moral” when it is clearly not to his own advantage to do so?”.
2. Distinguish between psychological and ethical egoism.
- Glaucon said that these skeptical views are known to be firstly, Psychological Egoism and
secondly, Ethical Egoism. Psychological Egoism, as it was discussed in the book is a view that all
men are selfish in everything that they do, that is the only motive from which anyone ever acts is
self-interest. This means that the actions of one’s self are only for the benefit of only him or her.
In other words, a person will do a certain action because of his or her own self-Interest. While
Ethical Egoism as it was discussed in the book is, by contrast, a normative view about how men
ought to act. It is the view that, regardless of how men do in fact behave, they have no
obligation to do anything except what is in their own interest. This means that as an individual,
our actions should be morally right and at the same time that it should maximize one’s selfinterest.
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3. Rachels discusses two (2) arguments for psychological egoism. What are these
arguments, and how does he reply to them?
- James Rachels discussed two (2) arguments and the first (1st) argument is that “If we describe
one person’s action as selfish, and another person’s action as unselfish, we are overlooking the
crucial fact that both cases, assuming that the action is done voluntarily.”. He replied to this
argument by saying that the agent is merely doing what he most wants to do. By agent, he is
referring to the person who is doing the actions. By saying that merely doing what he most
wants to do, this means that it depends on his choice whether he would act selfishly or he would
act unselfishly. The second argument of Psychological Egoism is the so -called “unselfish actions
always produce a sense of self-satisfaction in the agent, and since this sense of satisfaction is a
pleasant state of consciousness, it follows that the point of the action is really to achieve a
pleasant state of consciousness, rather than to bring about any good for others.”. He replied to
this argument by saying that the unselfish action that the agent has done was also satisfying
him or her. These arguments suffer from defects similar to the previous one. This means that
both actions were unselfish because the agent in both arguments chose to help a friend with his
or her studies because since the agent is unselfish, he or she wants his or her friend to succeed
as well because he or she simply cares for his or her friend.
4. What three commonplace confusions does Rachels detect in the thesis of psychological
egoism?
- Rachels have faced three commonplace confusions through the thesis Psychological Egoism.
The first confusion is that “the confusion of selfishness with self-interest.”. These two are
completely different from each other because selfishness means that when you are doing
something, you only do it for yourself because you put yourself above all other people. An
example for being selfish is that when you do not share something what you have to other
people. Another example for being selfish is that when you only think about yourself and not of
the well-being of the other people. While on the other hand, having self-interest means that
you only focus on the things that you desire or simply you do what you want but you do not
have to put yourself above any other person. An example for having self-interest is that when
you want to buy yourself something you want. This doesn’t mean that you are being selfish with
anyone else because no other person was put degraded. The second confusion is the
assumption that “every action is done either from self-interest or from other regarding
motives.”. Regardless of what is said from the second confusion above, the actions that were
committed was the choice of the smoker and it doesn’t mean that he or she is being selfish and
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this is purely from his or her self-interest because he or she still wanted to smoke even though
that he or she learned that smoking leads to cancer. The third confusion is the “common but
false assumption that a concern for one’s own welfare is incompatible with any genuine concern
for the welfare of others.”. I can say that this is false because that’s why we have a conscience,
our conscience leads us to thinking whether the actions that we have done is morally right or
wrong. By having conscience, I am sure that since there are a lot of people around us, it is
impossible for us to not think about one’s self or the well-being of the other people. An example
of having to be concerned with other people is when we are just walking around the street and
we see some beggar, most of us would automatically think about something that concerns them
or that has something to do with them. Even if what we thought about does not have anything
to do with their well-being, we still had a chance to think about them, this means that we do not
completely only think about ourselves but also we think about the well-being of other people.
5. State the argument for saying that ethical egoism is inconsistent. Why doesn’t Rachels
accept this argument?
- The argument that Rachels has been saying that Ethical Egoism is inconsistent is that “To say
that any action or policy of action is right(or that it ought to be adopted) entails that it is right
for anyone in the same sort of circumstances.”. As for the example that was stated “I cannot hold
that it is all right for me to drink your beer and then complain when you drink mine.”, this would
be completely unfair and unjust. It is unfair because I get to drink your beer and when it comes
to my beer, I would not let you drink it. This is simply being selfish. This is unjust simply because
it is morally wrong. Rachels could not accept this argument because he thinks that from the
egoist’s position from a sympathetic way “we should say that he has in mind a certain kind of
world he would prefer over all others.; it would be a world in which his own interests were
maximized, regardless of the effects on other people.”.
6. According to Rachel, why shouldn’t we hurt others, and why should we help others? How
can the egoist reply?
- As it was said by Rachels, “The reason one ought not to do actions that would hurt other
people is: other people would be hurt. The reason one ought to do actions that would benefit
other people is: other people would be benefited.”. What is trying to be said here is that we do
not want to hurt people because it simply would hurt other people; this means that we are
concerned about the well-being of the people around us. We are concerned about the other
people and this makes us unselfish because I do believe that most of the people around us do
not want to hurt people because of this reason. Maybe there would be some people who would
hurt somebody else but I am sure he or she will be hurting this person for some reason we do
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not know. But regardless of this reason of the person who will hurt somebody, it is still unjust for
him or her to hurt that person because there are a lot of ways for him or her to do besides
hurting that person. We should help other people simply because it is the right thing to do. We
are not obliged to help other people but when we see an opportunity, we should grab it so to
make us not look selfish. When we see somebody that is in need of help and we still did not
help this person even though we can, we would look selfish. The egoist in this part can reply in a
way that he would not be happy because “He will protest that we may accept this as a reason,
but he does not.”. This means that the egoist would say that most would accept the reason but
he will not accept it. He would believe in his own reason.
Discussion Questions
1. Has Rachels answered the question raised by Glaucon, namely, “Why be moral?” If so,
what exactly is his answer?
- Yes, I believe that James Rachels have answered the question raised by Glaucon. Rachels have
answered this question “Why be moral?” In a way of explaining what is Psychological Egoism
and Ethical Egoism. To recall, Psychological Egoism means that a person will do a certain action
because of his or her own self-Interest. While Ethical Egoism means that as an individual, our
actions are required to be morally right and at the same time it should maximize one’s selfinterest. James Rachels also answered the question in a way of explaining the three
commonplace confusions namely, “the confusion of selfishness with self-interest.”, “every action
is done either from self-interest or from other regarding motives.”.”, and “common but false
assumption that a concern for one’s own welfare is incompatible with any genuine concern for
the welfare of others.”. And lastly, Rachels also explained why we should not hurt other people
and why we should help other people.
2. Are genuine egoists rare, as Rachels claims? Is it a fact that most people care about
others, even people they don’t know?
- James Rachels claimed that genuine egoists are rare in a way of saying that one person should
care for another person not only about themselves that this is a fundamental fact of human
psychology. And yes it is a fact that most of the people care about other people as well even if
they do not know each other. We can prove this by saying that most of us have a conscience
that runs through our minds. If we have done something to another person, regardless whether
it is a good thing or a bad thing about what we’ve done, we would automatically think about
that action we have committed to that person. There are a lot of ways to show other people that
you care for the and one of these ways is to simply smile at other people when you pass by
them, you can also hold the door for them when you are about to go in or out, you can also
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help a stranger carry some stuff when they look like they are having a hard time, you can also
invite your neighbors for dinner, and etc. If you have done some of these ways to show that you
care for another person, you will most likely receive or get back what you have done in return.
3. Suppose we define ethical altruism as the view that one should always act for the benefit
of others and never in one’s own self-interest. Is such a view immoral or not?
- I believe that this would not be immoral. I can say this because it does not matter about who
are you with or what situation you are in. If you act about helping another person, you helped
him, that’s it. You helped that person because you wanted to help him or her. It is not important
that you will only act for the benefit of another person only to those who are close to you. All
that matters is that most of the people help one another for the benefit of each other.
1.2 ETHICAL THEORIES
ITETHIC – Religion, Morality, and Conscience – – John Arthur
Review Questions
1. According to Arthur, how are morality and religion different?
- As it was said by John Arthur, the practices of morality and religion are importantly different.
The practice of Morality involves “our attitude toward various forms of behavior, typically
expressed using the notions of rules, rights, and obligations.”. What this means by various forms
of behavior is that we may act in a lot of ways such as lying to other people, killing other people,
and other such behaviors you can think about. But these behaviors do not have to be limited to
the bad things; these can also be good things that can benefit the well-being of other people.
And these behaviors are typically expressed by the idea of having rules, rights, and obligations.
These rules, rights, and obligations are present so that there could be a limit to our freedom.
There should be and always be a limit to our freedom because we cannot have all things that we
want or we cannot do everything we desire for. We have limits to our freedom so that there
could be a balance of doing good and doing bad. I believe that the limit to our freedom is when
we are already interfering with some other person’s freedom. By interfering, what I mean is
when we have done something that would make the other person feel hurt for the action that
we have committed. The practice of Religion involves “prayer, worship, beliefs about the
supernatural, institutional forms, and authoritative texts.”. Just by reading the two practices, we
can already say that these two are completely different from each other. If the practice of
Religion and the practice of Morality are the same, then we should be able to explain the
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similarities of the two practices but it seems almost impossible to explain that both the practices
of Morality and Religion are the same.
2. Why isn’t religion necessary for moral motivation?
- It is said from the first claim is that “religion is necessary to provide moral motivation.”. But this
claim is not completely true because there is a problem with the argument that it was also said
that “religious motives are far from the only ones people have”. Religion is not necessary for
moral motivation because of many reasons that may come up as we are about to do an action
whether we should we do the right thing or we should do the bad thing. If we choose to do the
right thing, then we would most probably not suffer from the consequences that would happen
if we get caught doing the wrong thing. But whatever we choose to do all depends on us,
knowing that we have a God that is present at all times, I do believe that we should always do
the right thing since there is no reason for us to do the wrong thing. And besides, when we do
some good to other people, we would most likely get back what we have done to them.
3. Why isn’t religion necessary as a source of moral knowledge?
- Religion is not necessary as a source of moral knowledge because we would have to study a
lot more about both religion and revelation for religion to serve as a moral guidance or moral
knowledge to us. But it doesn’t mean that it is the only reason that makes it not necessary as a
source of knowledge, by it I was referring to “we have to study a lot more about religion and
revelation”. What the reason for religion being not necessary as a source of moral knowledge is
that we do not have to be completely religious for us to have a source of moral knowledge. And
it does not matter what Religion we have, we just have to think about what we think is the right
thing to do. And it was also stated from the article that I have read that using “revelation for
guidance often creates more questions and problems. ”.
4. What is the divine command theory? Why does Arthur reject this theory?
- The divine command theory, according to Bishop R. C. Mortimer, is the view that “the divine
command theory, would mean that God has the same sort of relation to moral law as the
legislature has to statutes it enacts: without God’s commands there would be no moral rules,
just as without a legislature there would be no statutes.”.
John Arthur rejects this theory
because of the reason that “is what it implies.”. This theory would be best explained in a way of
giving an example; let us say that in a school it says on the rules that cheating is the right thing
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to do. It would appear to us that there is nothing wrong with cheating just because it was said
by the rules from the school.
5. According to Arthur, how are morality and religion connected?
- Before we can answer the question about how are morality and religion connected, we must
first know what morality is. Morality, I believe that is the difference between how right an action
is and how wrong the action is. It is stated in this article that “morality depends on God whether
or not one supports the divine command theory.”. Morality is connected to Religion in a way
that Religion requires us human beings to be moral. Religion is what teaches us to be moral.
Religion is something that can explain some questions that a person could not answer because
that person lacks knowledge and understanding of the topic.
6. Dewey says that morality is social. What does this mean, according to Arthur?
- There were some arguments that were discussed about Morality being social. The first
argument is that “the existence of morality assumes that we possess a socially acquired
language within which we think about our choices and which alternatives we ought to follow.”. I
believe that from the terms “acquired language” this simply means that we should have a
language literally so that we could communicate with another person, or, to say in other words,
so that we could exchange information. The second argument means that “morality is social in
that it governs relationships among people, defining our responsibilities to others and theirs to
us.”. By saying that “it governs relationships among people”, I believe that what is being said is
while we communicate with other people or while we socialize with another person we tend to
grow relationships with one another. And these relationships strengthen as you and the other
person continue to communicate with each other. By saying that “defining our responsibilities to
others and theirs to us.” means that we have different responsibilities with each of the
relationships we have with other people, it may be our friend, it may be our family, it may be our
lover, and it may also be a stranger to us. I believe that having the same treatment with our
friends, family, lover, or even a stranger would be extremely unfair because we all know that our
family comes above all other people and that we should prioritize our lover more than our
friends and our friends than the strangers around us. But these prioritizations do not make us
selfish in a way that we put someone else above the other person or it does not make us have
self-interest with who we chose to prioritize over the others. It just means that we have different
responsibilities with the different types of relationships we have with the people around us. The
third argument is that “morality is social in the sense that we are, in fact, subject to criticism by
others for our actions.”. What is meant by the third argument is that we hear about on how
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moral our actions were, on how acceptable the decisions were made. We may hear about these
criticisms from most of the people we encounter through our daily lives.
Discussion Questions
1. Has Arthur refuted the divine command theory? If not, how can it be defended?
- Yes, Arthur has refuted the Divine Command Theory. He has refuted this theory by explaining
to us, first, what is the divine command theory, and secondly, why John Arthur rejected this
theory. John Arthur rejected this theory because of what it implies. What it is trying to say is that
an action does not become
2. If morality is social, as Dewey says, then how can we have any obligations to nonhuman
animals? (Arthur mentions this problem and some possible solutions to it in footnote 6:)
- About the questions that were stated in the footnote # 6, of course it is wrong to torture
animals. It is wrong not only because other people could be expected to disapprove but also
that it doesn’t mean that when they are nonhuman, they should not be respected for what they
are. We should respect everybody and everybody including animals and we should treat them
with goodness because doing the right thing is the correct thing to do. The answer to the
second question raised in the footnote was that, of course the animal itself would disapprove
because why would he or she even think of him or her being tortured in the first place? It just
makes no sense that an animal or even a person would think of himself or herself being
tortured. We can have obligations to these animals by saying that we need to take care of them
and we have to treat them with care.
3. What does Dewey mean by moral education? Does a college ethics class count as moral
education?
- According to John Dewey, “then it sees clear there is an important sense in which morality not
only can it be taught but must be.”. What he meant by moral education is that, morality, which is
the difference between how right an action is and how wrong the action is needs to be taught
to the people. It needs to be taught because it is what makes the people know what the right
things to do are and what the wrong things to do are. Yes, a college ethics class counts as a
moral education. It is considered to be a moral education because the ethics class itself is where
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we would learn the different concepts and terminologies that are related to the rightness or
wrongness of an action or simply morality.
1.3 ETHICAL THEORIES
ITETHIC – Master- and Slave-Morality – – Friedrich Nietzsche
Review Questions
1. How does Nietzsche characterize a good and healthy society?
- According to Friedrich Nietzsche, a good and healthy society is for those who are superior
above the inferior people. By superior, I was referring to those people who practice their “will to
power”. These superior people follow a “master-morality” and they are called Barbarians while
the inferior people follow a “slave-morality”. The definition of master-morality and slavemorality will be explained in the question after the next.
2. What is Nietzsche’s view of injury, violence, and exploitation?
- Friedrich Nietzsche viewed injury, violence, and exploitation as a “Will to the denial of life, a
principle of dissolution and decay.”. This means that if we are to injure, to be violent, and to
exploit someone or something, we are growing into a harsh community. I am quite sure that no
person would like to have a harsh community filled with injuries, violence, and exploitation.
Exploitation, according to Nietzsche, “does not belong to a depraved, or imperfect and primitive
society: it belongs to the nature of the living being as a primary organic function; it is a
consequence of the intrinsic Will to Power, which is precisely the Will to Life.”. If you think about
injury, violence, and exploitation towards the good side, I believe that this is where we would
learn from our mistakes from these three.
3. Distinguish between master-morality and slave-morality?
- As I have said earlier, this is the part in which I would explain the definition of “MasterMorality” and “Slave-Morality”. Master-Morality is the morality that emphasizes power, strength,
egoism, and freedom. Slave-Morality is the morality that emphasizes weakness, submission,
sympathy, and love. Barbarians follow the “Master-Morality” since they have that trait.
Barbarians, as we know it, are physically strong, violent, and have desire for power.
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4. Explain the Will to Power.
- Friedrich Nietzsche said that “…Will to Power, it will endeavour to grow, to gain ground, attract
to itself and acquire ascendency...”. I believe that what he is trying to say is that we, the people,
should master about what we do best. By saying “…to gain ground…”, I believe means that we
should have a good foundation for us to be good at something we want to do. By the terms
“…attract to itself…”, I believe that this means that we should have confidence with anything that
we do so we can accomplish it. And about “…acquire ascendancy…”, I believe that it means that
we should continue to improve because once we are good at something, it does not mean that
we should stop there.
Discussion Questions
1. Some people view Nietzsche’s writings as harmful and even dangerous. For example,
some have charged Nietzsche with inspiring Nazism. Are these changes justified or not?
Why or why not?
- I believe that Friedrich Nietzsche did not have any intention on inspiring Nazism because
Nietzsche’s only intention was to explain his view about a “good and healthy society” and about
what was the difference between a “Master-Morality” and a “Slave-Morality”. But it seems quite
obvious that Adolf Hitler follows a “Master-Morality” due to his trait of being strong-willed.
2. What does it mean to be “a creator of values”?
- As it was said in the book, a creator of values, “…honours whatever he recognizes in himself:
such morality is self-glorification.”. I believe that a creator of values is a type of person who
“does not require to be approved of; he passes the judgment: “What is injurious to me is
injurious in itself”; he knows that it is he himself who only confers honour on things;”. This is the
type of person who does the judging, does the approval, and he or she thinks highly of himself
or herself even when he or she is helping people who are not much well-off in life.
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1.4 ETHICAL THEORIES
ITETHIC – Trying Out One’s New Sword – – Mary Midgley
Review Questions
1. What is “moral isolationism”?
- Moral Isolationism, according to Mary Midgley, is for “Those who recommend this hold that
the world is sharply divided into separate societies, sealed units, each with its own system of
thought.”. What this means for me is that, we should not be worried about the people that are
not with the society that we are in, because the people that are not a part of the society we are
in, is not accepted due to their separate society to ours. She also said that “People usually take it
up because they think that it is a respectful attitude to other cultures.”, but how will it be a
respectful attitude if the societies are sharply divided. I believe that for us to respect other
people or other societies around the world; we should be able to know them and we should be
able to understand them for us to give a “favourable judgement”.
2. Explain the Japanese custom of tsujigiri. What questions does Midgley ask about the
custom?
- The word Tsujigiri, means “crossroads-cut”. There is a Japanese saying which means “to try out
one’s new sword on a chance wayfarer.” And this saying refers to the practice of Samurais when
they are about to try out a new sword. The Samurais need to try out the sword on wayfarers to
know if it works very effective. By effective, I mean, if it could “slice through someone at a single
blow”. It is important for Samurais to strike with the least amount of tries so to have less effort
on killing. Midgley asked if “Does the isolating barrier work both ways?” and “Are people in
other cultures equally unable to criticize us?”.
3. What is wrong with moral isolationism, according to Midgley?
- As it was discussed by the past question, Moral Isolationism means to not worry about any
other society besides ours because they are separate from ours. What is wrong with Moral
Isolationism is that “Moral Isolationism forbids us to form any opinions on these matters”. It
forbids us to criticize other cultures because we do not understand their culture that much
because we are separate from others but we also do not criticize their culture because we
ourselves do not completely understand our own culture.
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4. What does Midgley think is the basis for criticizing other cultures?
- I believe that the basis of Mary Midgley for criticizing other cultures is that we first need to
understand their culture and that we should be able to understand our culture completely for us
to contrast and compare or criticize our culture from the different societies that could be found
all over the world. And finally, we should never forget to respect other cultures because I am
quite sure that we would want the same amount of respect from other societies when it is them
who are doing the criticizing.
Discussion Questions
1. Midgley says that Nietzsche is an immoralist. Is that an accurate and fair assessment of
Nietzsche? Why or why not?
- No, I do not believe that Nietzsche is an immoralist because all what Friedrich Nietzsche did
was to characterize what he believes to be is a good and healthy society; and Friedrich Nietzsche
characterized his good and healthy society by saying that it only exists for the superior people
who are barbarians and the inferior people are below them. I believe that it is not an accurate
and fair assessment of Friedrich Nietzsche since all he did was to express what he thinks is a
good and healthy society and we all have that right of freedom to express. Each one of us has
our own rights and having to express what we would want to express is one of them.
2. Do you agree with Midgley’s claim that the idea of separate and unmixed cultures is
unreal? Explain your answer.
- Yes, I agree with Mary Midgley’s claim that the idea of separate and unmixed cultures is unreal
because we have different cultures all over the world and we have to try to understand these
different cultures for us to have an idea of what their culture is all about. We all live in one
world, so the least that we can do is to give respect about their culture so as to receive the
respect that we expect from them.
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1.5 ETHICAL THEORIES
ITETHIC – Utilitarianism – – John Stuart Mill
Review Questions
1. State and explain the Principle of Utility. Show how it could be used to justify actions that
are conventionally viewed as wrong, such as lying and stealing.
- According to John Stuart Mill, the Principle of Utility, “holds that actions are right in proportion
as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.”.
What this means is that the Principle of Utility will only be right if most of the people who would
be happy would outweigh the people would less be happy from the action and it would only be
wrong if it does not fit the definition which holds the greatest amount of happiness. An example
of this could be when there is a group of people who are talking about putting up a school or
not to put up a school. Of course the utilitarian would respond in a way that he or she wants to
put up a school because he or she knows that a lot of people would benefit from that school or
a lot of people would be happy when a school will be put up. An example that involves lying
and stealing is when there is a situation of a family that has sick children and that family does
not have enough money to buy some medicine so what he or she does is to lie to one of the
family members that he or she would just go somewhere to look for a way to get some money
for the children but all he or she is about to do is to steal some medicine for their children. This
is an example of the Principle of Utility regarding lying and stealing because it promotes the
greatest amount of happiness or benefits, it was promoted in a way that he or she lied and stole
medicine for the happiness or benefit of their children.
2. How does Mill reply to the objection that Epicureanism is a doctrine worthy only of
swine?
- John Stuart Mill replied to this objection by saying that, “To suppose that life has (as they
express it) no higher end than pleasure—no better and nobler object of desire and pursuit—
they designate as utterly mean and groveling; as a doctrine worthy only of swine...”. Mill also
stated that “… beast’s pleasures do not satisfy a human being’s conceptions of happiness.
Human beings have faculties more elevated than the animal appetites, and when once made
conscious of them, do not regard anything as happiness which does not include their
gratification.”. I believe that saying that human beings are not capable of pleasure is absurd,
because we people can do more things that gives us pleasure than a beast that only have a
limited amount of things to do that pleasures them.
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3. How does Mill distinguish between higher and lower pleasures?
- How John Stuart Mill distinguished higher pleasure from lower pleasure is when Higher
Pleasure is all about the “…pleasures of intellect, of the feelings and imagination and of the
moral sentiments,” and the Lower Pleasure is “a much higher value as pleasures than to those of
mere sensation”. It was also stated here that the higher pleasure, is occasionally under the
influence of temptation. We all know what temptation can do to us especially when most of the
people around us are doing the same exact thing and we get peer-pressured into doing bad
habits.
4. According to Mill, whose happiness must be considered?
- The happiness that must be considered, as it was stated by John Stuart Mill, is “is an existence
exempt as far as possible from pain, and as rich as possible in enjoyments, both in point of
quantity and quality; the test of quality, and the rule for measuring it against quantity, being the
preference felt by those who in their opportunities of experience, to which must be added their
habits of self-consciousness and self-observation, are best furnished with the means of
comparison.”. I believe that this line means that we should consider the happiness that would
have the highest amount of enjoyment possible, just as how the Principle of Utility was
discussed.
5. Carefully reconstruct Mill’s proof of the Principle of Utility.
- John Stuart Mill’s Proof of the Principle of Utility means that “…the sole evidence it is possible
to produce that anything is desirable, is that people do actually desire it.”. We all have our own
desires, whether it may be a thing we want, whether it may be someone we want to be with, or
whether maybe it could be a place that we want to be in. All of this will lead us to achieving
something we desire for, which is to become happy. When we are happy, we tend to feel that
we are complete. We feel complete simply because it is the only thing we truly desire for, is for
us to be happy.
Discussion Questions
1. Is happiness nothing more than pleasure, and the absence of pain? What do you think?
- I do not believe that happiness is nothing more than just pleasure, and the absence of pain
because being happy is the only thing that we truly desire for. The only thing that we truly
desire for is for us to be happy because as I have just said, we feel that we are complete once we
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become happy. And about the absence of pain, it does not have to do anything with happiness
because we can still be happy even though that we are feeling pain, whether it is physical or
mental pain. It does not also mean that we can only have one at a time; it does not work like
that. We can still be happy even though we have something in our minds that disturbs us by
simply making the most of the laughs that we are having when we are with our families, friends,
or loved ones. There could be a lot of signs to know that we are unhappy about our lives. One
sign could be when we feel like nothing that we do seems to be fun, maybe what we are doing
does not fit what we really want to do in life, or maybe we were just forced to do something we
do not really want, or maybe we were just forced to take up a course in college that we do not
really want so we grew not following what we desire for, and we end up hating why we did not
just follow what we truly desire for in the first place and we should not have to be dictated on
what we want for us to be happy, BUT it does not mean that we should do everything we want
without any limits. Another sign could be when we cannot sleep because we think too much or
we worry too much about what has been recently happening with us or around us. We should
not be too much affected with things that does not have to do anything with us because I
believe that there are some people that gets affected easily because they simply do not like
what the other person did and want the person to do is what they want, even though they do
not have to do anything with the business of another person.
2. Does Mill convince you that the so –called higher pleasures are better than the lower
ones? What about the person of experience who prefers the lower pleasures over the
higher ones?
- I am not convinced about higher-pleasures are better than lower-pleasures because of the
stated terms, “the higher pleasure, is occasionally under the influence of temptation” and as I
have discussed from the other question above there could be a lot of things that could happen
once we give in to the temptations that we may face. I believe that we should avoid these
temptations simply because it is a sin.
3. Mill says, “In the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth, we read the complete spirit of the
ethics of utility.” Is this true or not?
- I can say that this is true because Jesus of Nazareth served as a model for us to follow. Jesus
has helped a lot of people and He has sacrificed a lot for us. What Jesus has done is a sample of
the Principle of Utility because His action served a lot of people and these people were
benefited. This is a sample that we should follow for us to be able to help other people because
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once we do good stuff we would surely expect to receive the same treatment on how we treated
other people.
4. Many commentators have thought that Mill’s proof of the Principle of Utility is defective.
Do you agree? If so, then what mistake or mistakes does he make? Is there any way to
reformulate the proof so that it is not defective?
- Yes. I agree that the Proof of the Principle of Utility is defective because God created us
differently and no one can be completely the same as with another person. Each one of us has
different personalities and each one of us has handled a situation differently. There may come a
similar situation that happens with another person but I am quite sure that we will approach that
situation differently; we would act differently in a way that our actions correspond with our
personalities. And about happiness, we all may want a lot of things, we all may want someone to
be with, and we all may want to be in a place that looks special to us but I am sure that there
would no person be who would have similar wants.
1.6 ETHICAL THEORIES
ITETHIC – A Debate over Utilitarianism – – James Rachels
Review Questions
1. Rachels says that classical utilitarianism can be summed up in three proportions. What
are they?
- The first proportion that classical utilitarianism that is summed up is, that “actions are to be
judged right or wrong solely in virtue of their consequences.” The second proportion is that, “in
assessing consequences, the only thing that matters is the amount of happiness or unhappiness
hat is caused.”. The third and last proportion is that, “in calculating the happiness or
unhappiness that will be caused, no one’s happiness is to be counted as more important than
anyone else’s.”. The first proportion, I believe, means that nothing else matters but what the
right action is, of course the right action would have the best consequences because why would
the wrong action have the better consequence than the right action. Right actions lead to good
consequences while the wrong actions lead to the bad consequences. The second proportion, I
believe, means that the right actions give the best amount of happiness more than doing the
wrong action. And lastly, the third proportion, I believe, means that it is not enough for us to be
happy by considering only ourselves because as how utilitarianism is explained that most of the
people who are happy will overweigh the people who are least happy. So what we should do is
to consider not only ourselves but also the people around us for us all to be equally happy.
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2. Explain the problem with hedonism. How do defenders of utilitarianism respond to this
problem?
-For us to explain the problem with Hedonism, we first must explain what Hedonism is. What is
Hedonism? Hedonism is “the idea that happiness is the one ultimate good (and unhappiness the
one ultimate evil)…”. The problem with Hedonism is that, “Hedonism misunderstands the nature
of happiness. Happiness is not something that is recognized as good and sought for its own
sake, with other things appreciated only as means of bringing it about.” And that “happiness is a
response we have to the attainment of things that we recognize as goods, independently and in
their own right.”. An example of this could be when you are a basketball player and you have
broken your shin bone split in half. This injury would make you feel unhappy because you know
that this injury could end your career. This example of Hedonism is showing unhappiness.
Another example of Hedonism can be when you are granted 100% scholarship from the school
that you want. You will be happy due to this grant because you know that the school is the one
that pays for your tuition. The defenders of Utilitarianism responded by saying that “…the
English philosopher G. E. Moore (1873—1958), have tried to compile short lists of things to be
regarded as good in themselves.”, “Moore suggested that there are three obvious intrinsic
goods—pleasure, friendship, and aesthetic enjoyment…”.
3. What are the objections about justice, rights, and promises?
- The first objection is about Justice and means that “Justice requires that we treat people fairly,
according to their individual needs and merits.”. The second objection is about Rights and
means that “Quite the reverse: it is a notion that places limits on how an individual may be
treated, regardless of the good purposes that might be accomplished.”. The third and last
objection is about Promises and an example could best fit the description, “Suppose you have
promised someone you will do something—say, you promised to meet him downtown this
afternoon. But when the time comes to go, you don’t want to do it—you need to do some work
and would rather stay at home.”. I believe that the first objection could be explained by how it
was stated above. A suggestion for the second objection is that we should practice our rights
and we should have them in mind so that we would know what we can do and what we cannot
do in life. It also gives us limits on what we do, in order for us to stay out of trouble.
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4.
Distinguish between rule- and act-utilitarianism. How does rule-utilitarianism reply to
the objections?
- Rule-Utilitarianism, means that “…, is an unnecessarily watered-down version of the theory,
which gives rules a greater importance than they merit.”. Act-Utilitarianism, on the other hand
means that, “…, recognized to be a radical doctrine which implies that many of our ordinary
moral feelings may be mistaken. In this respect, it does what good philosophy always does—it
challenges us to rethink matters that we have heretofore taken for granted.”. The RuleUtilitarianism replied to the objections by saying that “… cannot be convicted of violating our
moral common sense, or of conflicting with ordinary ideas of justice, personal rights, and the
rest.”.
5. What is the third line of defense?
- The Third Line of Defense is about a “small group of contemporary utilitarians has had a very
different response to the anti-utilitarian arguments.”. It also stated that we could not rely on our
moral common sense because it may include various irrational elements, “…including prejudices
absorbed from our parents, our religion, and the general culture.”. This is an Act-Utilitarianism
because it talks about some of our senses, feelings about the people that are around us.
Discussion Questions
1. Smart’s defense of utilitarianism is to reject common moral beliefs when they conflict
with utilitarianism. Is this acceptable to you or not? Explain your answer.
- I would have to say that it is not acceptable for me simply because we all have different
perspectives on how we see things. What I mean by this is, what may make me happy may not
make other people happy and vice versa. But whatever our perspectives may be, we should and
always respect the perspectives on how other people see things.
2. A utilitarian is supposed to give moral consideration to all concerned. Who must be
considered? What about nonhuman animals? How about lakes and streams?
- I believe that we should consider all of people that are around us, all of the animals, all of the
other living things or even the non-living things, even lakes and streams because all of these
were made by one God and it is our responsibility to take care of what He has left for us. We
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should keep in mind that we should respect one another because it is one way of showing that
we care for that person even though he or she may be a stranger to us.
3. Rachels claims that merit should be given moral consideration independent of utility. Do
you agree?
- Yes, I agree with Rachels because I believe that each one of us has different moral
considerations and it is important for each and every one of us to think first before we act so to
avoid hurting other people with what we have to say.
1.7 ETHICAL THEORIES
ITETHIC – The Categorical Imperative – – Immanuel Kant
Review Questions
1. Explain Kant’s account of the good will.
- According to Immanuel Kant, “IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to conceive anything at all in the world, or
even out of it, which can be taken as good without qualification, except a good will.”. I believe
that we should have a good motive for doing an act because if we do an act just because we
want to do it and we are not thinking about the welfare of other people, we would look like we
are selfish. The only way for us to consider that an act is good, we should have time to think not
only about us but also we should think about the person that we are going to help. And we
should have a clear conscience because it is also not right for us to help someone just because
we know that helping people is a good thing but if we are just forcing ourselves to help
someone, it would be like nothing because it is not really what we want to do. I believe that if
we would have good motive of helping someone, I am quite sure that they would be glad to
know that there are people who care for one another, and we would grow relationships due to
our good act.
2. Distinguish between hypothetical and categorical imperatives
- As it was stated, hypothetical imperative is, “… in general, I do not know beforehand what it
will contain—until its condition is given.”. To say this in other terms, what this line is trying to say
is that we do not know at first what we are going to do because we first have to analyze the
situation then we would find out what to do after. On the other hand, Categorical Imperatives
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mean that, “… I know at once what it contains. For since besides the law this imperative contains
only the necessity that our maxim should conform to this law, while the law, as we have seen,
contains no condition to limit it, …”. I believe that the moment we are in a situation, we would
know right away what to do because it is automatic to us about what we must do.
3. State the first formulation of the categorical imperative (using the notion of a universal
law), and explain how Kant uses this rule to derive some specific duties toward self and
others.
- The first formulation of the categorical imperative is that, “Act only on that maxim though
which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.”. And I can explain how
Immanuel Kant uses this rule to derive some specific duties towards self and others by saying
that, “… then even although we leave it unsettled whether what we call duty may not be an
empty concept, we shall still be able to show at least what we understand by it and what the
concept means. . . .”.
4. State the second version of the categorical imperative (using the language of means and
end), and explain it.
- The second version of the Categorical Imperative is, “…must be such that from the idea of
something which is necessarily an end for every one because it is an end in itself forms an
objective principle of the will and consequently can serve as a practical law.”. I believe that what
this is trying to tell us is that, we should have a good motive in whatever we are about to do and
we should treat each person with respect to another person.
Discussion Questions
1. Are the two versions of the categorical imperative just different expressions of one basic
rule, or are they two different rules? Defend your view
- I believe that the two versions of the Categorical Imperative show two different rules because
the first version talks about the universal law and the second version talks about the means and
end. It has two different rules but both of those rules guide us through our actions.
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2. Kant claims that an action that is not done from the motive of duty has no moral worth.
Do you agree or not? If not, give some counterexamples.
- I do not agree with Kant’s claim and it does not mean that if an action was not done from the
motive of duty, it has no moral worth, because I believe that whatever our actions may be, as
long as we know that we have a good motive of doing an act, it already has the moral worth. All
that is important is that we do an action with good motive.
3. Some commentators think that the categorical imperative (particularly the first
formulation) can be used to justify non-moral or immoral actions. Is this a good
criticism?
- I have to say that it is a good criticism simply because the first formulation talks about the
universal laws. Our actions should be ethical for the action to be acceptable through the
universal laws that may apply.
1.8 ETHICAL THEORIES
ITETHIC – Happiness and Virtue – – Aristotle
Review Questions
1. What is happiness, according to Aristotle? How is it related to virtue? How is it related to
pleasure?
- According to Aristotle, happiness, “…argues that all human beings seek happiness, and that
happiness is not pleasure, honor, or wealth, but an activity of the soul in accordance with the
virtue.”. How is this related to virtue? First of all, virtue is the quality of being good and that
virtue has two kinds. The first kind is Moral, which means that it comes from training and habit.
The second kind is Intellectual, which is found in the activity of reasoning or contemplation.
These are related to pleasure by saying that good or happiness was identified to be pleasure.
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2. How does Aristotle explain moral virtue? Give some examples.
- Aristotle has explained Moral Virtue by saying that it comes from training and habit, this
means that it does not come to us naturally and “… generally is a state of character that is a
mean between the vices of excess and deficiency.” An example of this that was stated is that “…
the virtue of courage as a mean between the extremes of rashness, which is the excess and
cowardice, which is the deficiency.”. He used this as an example because it is very hard to find
the intermediate between the two extremes.
3. Is it possible for everyone in our society to be happy, as Aristotle explains it? If not, who
cannot be happy?
- Of course it is possible for everyone in our society and in any other society to be happy.
Aristotle explained happiness by saying that some of the people identify pleasure as to be
happiness or goodness but it really is not. We tend to look for happiness in different things such
as money and power. It was also stated that “If happiness is activity in accordance with virtue, it
is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest virtue; …” I believe that what he is
trying to tell us here is that, if we do the virtuous activities rather than looking for money and
power, we would find our true happiness. And those who cannot be happy are the other animals
that are deprived of such activities.
Discussion Questions
1. Aristotle characterizes a life of pleasure as suitable for beasts. But what, if anything, is
wrong with a life of pleasure.
- Aristotle stated that Moral virtue “… is a mean between the vices of excess and deficiency” and
Intellectual virtue as, “… found in the activity of reason or contemplation”, a life of pleasure does
not have any place because pleasure is only mistaken to be happiness or goodness. Having
money and power will not make you truly happy but doing the virtuous activities will.
2. Aristotle claims that the philosopher will be happier than anyone else. Why is this? Do
you agree or not?
- I cannot say that a philosopher will be happier than anyone else because each one of us have
different things that could make us truly happy and what may seem to be happy for me, does
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not seem to be happy for the other people out there. And I believe that Aristotle claims this
because philosophers have achieved a satisfaction for intelligence.
1.9 ETHICAL THEORIES
ITETHIC – Nature and Value of Rights – – Joel Feinberg
Review Questions
1. Describe “Nowheresville”. How is this world different from our world?
- As it was stated, Nowheresville is, “a world like our own except that people do not have rights.
As a result, people in this world cannot make moral claims when they are treated unjustly. They
cannot demand or claim just treatment, and so they are deprived of self-respect and human
dignity.”. It is different from our world by saying that people in Nowheresville do not have any
rights and it was said that if the flaw makes Nowheresville too ugly, we can also shape it to as
pretty as we can in other moral respects. Nowheresville is like a place of experiment because we
can think about the different types of situations with no limits at all.
2. Explain the doctrine of Logical Correlativity of Rights and Duties. What is Feinberg’s
position on this doctrine?
- The Doctrine of Logical Correlativity of Rights and Duties has two parts. The first part is that,
“all duties entail other people’s rights and…”. The second part is that “all rights entail other
people’s duties.”. Feinberg’s position on this is that, “It should not be surprising that my answer
is: “In a sense yes and in a sense no”.” Feinberg also said that, there are many people who
believe that they have to do something for another person in excess of what that person
demands of him or her. What I can say about this is that, a person does not have to help
another person because it is not their duty but helping other people is not a bad thing, it is the
point of thinking that you are required to help another person that makes it not agreeable.
3. How does Feinberg explain the concept of personal desert? How would personal desert
work in Nowheresville?
- Feinberg has explained this concept of personal desert by saying that it was compared to how
people treat each other because when a person does some good deed to another person. What
usually happens is that the person who helped would receive some good deed from the person
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he or she had helped. It is just like giving and taking. An example of this concept that was stated
is when a servant has done a job less than what is expected, he or she would be paid in a lower
amount than usual because he or she did not meet the expected job. But if however the servant
has done a job more than what is expected of him or her, the employer does not have any
obligations of rewarding his or her servant and it all depends on the employer if he or she would
be morally sensitive enough to give his or her servant a reward because all what the servant has
done is his or her job.
4. Explain the notion of sovereign right monopoly. How would this work in Nowheresville
according to Feinberg?
- The notion of sovereign right monopoly, according to Feinberg is that, “… had a certain duty to
treat his subjects well, but this duty was owed not to the subjects directly, but to God, just as we
might have a duty to person to treat his property well, but of course no duty to the property
itself but only to its owner.”. I believe that what is being said here is that we should treat each
other well but we should devote what we do to God. In Nowheresville however, it was said that
“… that no one, hardly any one, has rights.” I believe that Nowheresville, serves like an
experiment for us if we want to look at things in different ways.
5. What are the Claim Rights? Why does Feinberg think they are morally important?
- The definition of Claim Rights is that it, “… logically entail other people’s duties.”. I believe that
these are morally important because all of us, as human beings, have rights, and these rights
were made for us to follow and so that we have a limit and for us to be equal with the rest of
the people.
Discussion Questions
1. Does Feinberg make a convincing case for the importance of rights? Why or why not?
- I do not believe that Joel Feinberg made a convincing case for the importance of rights
because almost everything that he had explained was explained through the imaginary world
just like ours and it is named Nowheresville. I would be more convinced if he gave examples
about our rights and our duties in more real life situations.
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2. Can you give a non-circular definition of claim right?
- I don’t believe that there could be a non-circular definition of a claim right because the
definition itself means that it involves that a person has a duty to another person.
1.10 ETHICAL THEORIES
ITETHIC – Taking Rights Seriously – – Ronald Dworkin
Review Questions
1. What does Dworkin mean by right in the strong sense? What rights in this sense are
protected by the U.S. Constitution?
- What Dworkin means by right in the strong sense is that, “… In most cases when we say that
someone has “right” to do something, we imply that it would be wrong to interfere with his
doing it, or at least that some special grounds are needed for justifying any interference.”. I
believe that this means is that when a person is doing something and he or she does not harm
anything or anyone, it would be wrong for us to interfere with him or her until something wrong
has been done that is against the rights. An example that was stated here says that, “The claim
that citizens have a right to free speech must imply that it would be wrong for the Government
to stop them from speaking, even when the Government believes that what they will say will
cause more harm than good.”.
2. Distinguish between legal and moral rights. Give some examples of legal rights that are
not moral rights, and moral rights that are not legal rights.
- I believe that from the word legal itself, we could define what it is and this type of right are the
ones that has something to do with the law. Moral rights on the other hand, we could define
this by saying that it has something to do with our beliefs or in what we believe in.
3. What are the two models of how a government might define the rights of its citizens?
- The first model is that, “… has great plausibility, and most laymen and lawyers, I think, would
respond to it warmly.”. The second model is that, “… the more familiar idea of political equality.
This supposes that the weaker members of a political community are entitled to the same
concern and respect of their government”.
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4. According to Dworkin, what two important ideas are behind the institution of rights?
- There are two important ideas behind the institution of rights that Ronald Dworkin mentioned
and the first idea is that, “… is therefore crucial, because it represents the majority’s promise to
the minorities that their dignity and equality will be respected”. The second idea is that it, “…
requires an act of faith on the part of the minorities, because the scope of their rights will be
controversial whenever they are important, and because the officers of the majority will act on
their own notions of what these rights are really are.”.
Discussion Questions
1. Does a person have a right to break the law? Why or why not?
- I believe that every person can break the law but then why would we choose to break the law
when we can always do the right thing, which is to not break the law. We should be able to
reason out about our actions. No one can control us and no one can stop us from doing what
we want to do so we better think before we act and we should make wise decisions in life so for
us to stay out of trouble.
2. Are rights in the strong sense compatible with Mill’s utilitarianism? (See the footnote
about institutional utilitarianism.)
- I believe that there is way that it could be compatible, such as John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism
promotes that the people who has the most amount of happiness would outweigh the people
who have a less amount of happiness.
3. Do you think that Kant would accept rights in the strong sense or not?
- Yes, I believe that Immanuel Kant would accept the rights in the strong sense.
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1.11 ETHICAL THEORIES
ITETHIC – A Theory of Justice – – John Rawls
Review Questions
1. Carefully explain Rawls’s conception of the original position.
- I believe that Rawls’s conception of the original position is that, “these principles primarily
apply, as I have said, to be the basic structure of society,”. They are to be the basic structure of
society because these principles “govern the assignment of rights and duties and to regulate the
distribution of social and economic advantages”.
2. State and explain Rawls’s first principle of justice.
- According to Rawls’s, the first principle of justice is that, “Each person is to have an equal right
to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others.”. I believe that this
means is that each and every one of us should have the same rights and duties since no one
person is greater than another because we were created equally in the image and likeness of
God.
3. State and explain the second principle. Which principle has priority such that it cannot be
sacrificed?
- According to Rawls’s, the second principle of justice is that, “Social and economic inequalities
are to be arranged so that they are both (a) reasonably expected to be to everyone’s advantage,
and (b) attached to the positions and offices open to all. . . .”. I believe that the first principle has
a priority that it cannot be sacrificed due to what it means, since we were created equally in the
image and likeness of God, it believe that no one person should think or believe that he or she
has a right or duty higher than the other people.
Discussion Questions
1. On the first principle, each person has an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty
as this does not interfere with a similar liberty for others. What does this allow people to
do? Does it mean, for example, that people have a right to engage in homosexual
activities as long as they don’t interfere with others? Can people produce and view
27
pornography if it does not restrict anyone’s freedom? Are people allowed to take drugs
in the privacy of their homes?
- These rights were created for the people to follow and to have limits for us to stay out of
trouble and this allows us to have the freedom to do whatever we want and whenever we want
as long as we do not interfere with the other people around us. I do not believe that people
should engage in homosexual activities just because they do not interfere with other people and
it is morally wrong since we were created with two genders, each gender has its own role to play
and engaging in homosexual activities are not one of those roles that we should play. Producing
and viewing pornography does not restrict anyone’s freedom but then it would be morally
wrong and we should think before we act because we never know when our actions already
violate somebody because they might think that our actions are not suitable. People have a
choice to make and I am quite sure that people are aware of what drugs can do to them, so
choosing to take drugs in the privacy of their homes would not be an issue since no other
person gets interfered with and he or she chose to take drugs on his or her own knowing that
his or her health could be in danger.
2. Is it possible for free and rational persons in the original position to agree upon different
principles than those given by Rawls? For example, why wouldn’t they agree to an equal
distribution of wealth and income rather than an unequal distribution? That is, why
wouldn’t they adopt socialism rather than capitalism? Isn’t socialism just as rational as
capitalism?
- Yes, I believe that it is possible for free and rational persons to agree upon different principles
since each and every one of us has our own beliefs and we see life in different ways as well. They
would not agree to an equal distribution of wealth and income because there are some jobs that
are a bit harder than some other jobs and it would be completely unfair to the person who does
a harder job and would only receive the same amount of money to the person who does an
easier job.
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1.12 ETHICAL THEORIES
ITETHIC – The Need for More Than Justice – – Annette Baier
Review Questions
1. Distinguish between the justice and care perspectives; According to Gilligan, how do
these perspectives develop?
- According to Baier, she distinguished justice and care perspectives in the means of arguing
that “… justice perspective by itself is inadequate as a moral theory. It overlooks inequalities
between people (as in parent-child relationships), it has an unrealistic view of freedom of choice,
and it ignores the importance of moral emotions such as love.” While Care Perspectives is, “… a
less authoritarian humanitarian supplement, a felt concern for the good of others and for
community with them”. These perspectives develop when people grow older and they tend to
learn from their mistakes.
2. Explain Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. What criticism do Gilligan and Baier
make of this theory?
- Kohlberg’s theory of moral development has three levels. The first level is “pre-conventional”
and It means that, “… where what is senn to matter is pleasing or not offending parental
authority-figures,”. The second level is “conventional” and it means that, “… the child tries to fit
in with a group, such as a school community, and conform to its standards and rules”. The third
and final level is “post-conventional” and it means that, “in which such conventional rules are
subjected to tests, and where those tests are of a Utilitarian, or, eventually, a Kantian sort—
namely ones that require respect for each person’s individual rational will, or autonomy, and
conformity to any implicit social contract such wills are deemed to have made, or to any
hypothetical ones they would make if thinking clearly.”. The criticism that Gilligan made about
this theory is that, “… wonder if there might not be a quite different pattern of development to
be discerned, at least in female subjects.”. The criticism of Baier about this theory is that, “the
most obvious point is the challenge to the individualism of the Western tradition, to the fairly
entrenched belief in the possibility and desirability of each person pursuing his own way …”.
29
3. Baier says that there are three important differences between Kantian liberals and their
critics. What are these differences?
- The three important differences between Kantian Liberals and their critics is that, firstly, “…
relative weight put on relationships between equals”. The second important difference is that, “…
relative weight put on freedom of choice”. The third and last important difference is that, “… the
authority of intellect over emotions”.
4. Why does Baier attack the Kantian view that the reason should control unruly passions?
- Baier stated that, “… tends to seem less useful when we are led to consider what sort of person
we need to fill the role of parent, or indeed want in any close relationship”. I do not believe that
“reason” should control unruly passion because in a relationship, reasoning does not matter that
much, what matters is that we are honest.
Discussion Questions
1. What does Baier mean when she speaks of the need “to transvalue the values of our
patriarchal past”? Do new values replace the old ones? If so, then do we abandon the old
values of justice, freedom, and rights?
- I believe that what Baier means when she said “to transvalue the values of our patriarchal past”
is that the values that have been taught before should be carried on and we should live with
these values. I do not believe that the new values should replace the old ones; I do believe
however that these values should keep on adding up.
2. What is wrong with the Kantian view that extends equal rights to all rational beings,
including women and minorities? What would Baier say? What do you think?
- I believe that what is wrong about the Kantian view is that, people should not have equal rights
that include minorities because I believe that minors should first be taken care of.
30
3. Baier seems to reject the Kantian emphasis on freedom of choice. Granted, we do not
choose our parents, but still don’t we have freedom of choice about many things, and
isn’t this very important?
- We do not have an option to choose which parents we would want because our parents are
the ones who created us and it is their decision. Yes, we have freedom of choice about many
things and we must decide carefully about our actions so to not regret it. And that we should
not let other people dictate what we should do because we know ourselves better than the
other people.
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CHAPTER 2
CYBER ETHICS
2.1 INTRODUCTION
As a member of our society, each and every one of us has our own roles to play. We are
all living in a generation of technology that continuously develops. But before we move on, we
first must know what technology is. Technology I believe is the creation, application, adjustment,
and knowledge of looking for a solution to a problem. Technology can also improve a former
solution to a problem to be able to provide a better service or product.
Technology started with the Paleolithic or the Old Stone Age which was dating back
from 2.5 million years ago until 10,000 BC. Early human beings have been using stones as tools
and it has greatly helped their lives because it is the only tool that they have for them to
perform a task. There are a lot of kinds of stones and each and every kind of stone has its own
use depending on the situation that they may come up to. If we compare the uses of stones
back at the Paleolithic or the Old Stone Age and the modern day uses of stones, we would find
out that a lot of change has happened. Our human ancestors used stones as tools in order for
them to perform a task such as hunting, butchering skeletons, chopping, taking an animal’s skin,
forming another tool, and etcetera. While the uses of stones nowadays are just for building
structures, for industrial purposes such as extracting the chemical properties for farming and
manufacturing industry and etcetera. Just like the Paleolithic or the Old Stone Age, we also have
a lot of kinds of stones and the uses of each and every kind of stone has changed as well
depending on what it is made of, where we would put it to be used as a decoration, which stone
is better to use at constructing buildings, houses, and etcetera. There are machines nowadays
that could have a test on stones for them to achieve the different characteristics of stones that
depends on its kind. And there are also machines nowadays store a lot of information about the
different types of stones that could be found in the internet with only a few button presses. The
reason for these changes is that we have newly innovated tools which can perform much better
than how stones we used before. The tools that we use nowadays are much improved in a lot of
ways; I can say this because we do not have to use stones at our generation since there are a lot
of tools with different features and functions that have been created by different people. The
discovery of fire for our human ancestors was a turning point from the Paleolithic or the Old
Stone Age. The discovery of this is a turning point because they can now use fire when they are
feeling cold; they can now fire for cooking which improves not only the taste but also the
nutrients that they could gain from it. The use of fire for cooking can also widen the type of
foods that could be eaten. The clothing and shelter that were used by the early human beings
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from the Paleolithic or the Old Stone Age were more of just fur and skins that could be taken
from an animal.
Neolithic Period or the New Stone Age dated back from 10,000 BC to 300 AD. This
evolution of technology from the Old Stone Age to this New Stone age has become more
technological in a lot of ways. There has been a great increase of population which means that
labor of different types would be more available. These people should be specialized in different
types so that they could focus on different things because imagine if there are a lot of people
specialized in just one type of work, people would just have to compete with each and every one
who is specialized in which he or she is specialized in. These people should work hand in hand
with each other for them to provide an effective service or for them to produce a product with
quality. Metal Tools stepped up at this period and has become more effective than using stones
as tools because they can build a more firm structure. These metals could also be used not only
for construction but also as a weapon, as a tool for cooking food, and etcetera. The uses of
these metals from before compared to how metals are used nowadays are somewhat the same
because some of the tools that we use are metal and the only thing that is different is how it
was made and what is it made of. And it was also stated that metals can be used as weapons
and nowadays, metals are still used to make weapons and the difference that we can state is
also that it was only designed in a different way and maybe another kind of metal was used to
create these weapons to make them more powerful than we could imagine. These weapons are
dangerous and some of these weapons could kill a person with just one hit. There are also
weapons that could kill hundreds of people or maybe could wipe out a place. There are a lot of
sources where energy could be achieved. And one of the first known ways to achieve energy is
by the use of wind power from the sailboat. Energy is one of the essential needs of machines
from different kinds of industries because it is what powers the machine, or in other terms, it is
what makes the machine work. To serve as an example of an industry, I would talk about the
Information Technology Industry because it is a part of what this book is intended to discuss
about. The machines in the Information Technology Industry requires a lot of energy because it
is what makes the machine work, it needs power to produce an output. These machines in the
Information Technology Industry are called computers. These computers have different uses that
depend on the situation or industry you are in. We use these computers for our workload to be
done easier and to produce more accurate outcomes. These computers can also be used to
store data or information. These computers can be used as a source of communication. That is
why these machines require a lot of energy because imagine if you have a lot of information
stored in a computer and you run out of energy. Do you think you would still have access to
your information even if there is no power that makes the machine work? The answer is no,
because these information are stored into the Hard Disk Drive. This Hard Disk Drive is where
your files get stored and retrieved For you to transport products to different places, you would
33
most likely need to travel by foot but when they have discovered wheeled wagons, the
transportation of products are made easier, faster, and less tiring.
The evolution of technology has been improving quickly and almost anything could be
done automated. The Medieval to the Modern Period was a great technological advancement
because it is the time when they have discovered that the electricity could be formed into a bulb
which produces light. We need electricity for these light bulbs to work because we would not
even have light to brighten up a room when it is dark, we would not have light to brighten up
the streets when it is already night. This is also the period where in they have discovered the
electric motor, which commonly runs inside machines. An example of machines that requires
electric motors is an electric fan, blower, machine tools, household appliances, and etcetera. All
of this advancement in technology allowed a lot of possibilities that we may think of. Almost all
of these inventions have now been improved to provide us the best services or products that we
may want. Our wants are just like the evolution of technology because there are infinite
possibilities for technology and our wants never ends, if we have satisfied something we want,
there would be another thing that we would want and the process goes on.
2.2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF TECHNOLOGIES
Our world has been continuously improving in every aspect of technology. Despite the
constant evolution of technology it also has its positive effects and negative effects. There are
several advantages and disadvantages that are about technologies. One of these advantages
that has a concern about students is that, a computer can analyze the specific mistakes the
student has made and can react in a different way from the usual teacher- this leads the student
not only to self-correction, but also to understanding the principles behind the correct solution.
This is an advantage because there is a lot of information that a teacher could not provide the
students and the internet can. I believe that a student could learn a lot of stuff through the
internet and these students must learn to be independent so that they will be able to study on
their own. Being curious with a lot of things is a good thing in some ways because it leads to
self-studying and you can learn a lot of information from the internet. Another advantage is
that, when you store data into a database that has a security system, is that all of your
information that is stored will be safe from unethical actions done by people. Such actions that
are unethical is about, hacking; the data that you have stored into the database will most likely
be hacked if those people know that they can use some important information against you.
There are a lot more advantages in the Information Technology Industry and all of these
advantages today have made a big change, I can say this because it has made our lives easier.
Communication has also been improved in a way that conversing with other people is made
34
possible through your cell phones. Imagine if this technology was not invented, the only way for
us to communicate with each other is through writing to each other or by talking face to face.
After going through all of these benefits that the Information Technology Industry has given us,
we should remember that there are always disadvantages to each action that has been done.
One of these disadvantages is that it eliminates the jobs of the people since almost everything
nowadays can be done automated. To serve as an example, the live receptionists in many
organizations have been replaced by automated telephone answering systems. Another
disadvantage is that there could be some security breaches since the information are placed in a
database which could be possible to hacked or breached. These information could be destroyed
so the best thing for us to do is that we should have a backup of our files to avoid losing the
files that are important to us.
2.3 CYBER ETHICS AND THE INTERNET
According to Wikipedia, Cyber Ethics is the “philosophic study of ethics pertaining
to computer networks, encompassing user behavior and what networked computers are
programmed to do, and how this affects individuals and society.” Cyber Ethics I believe entitles
people that we should be responsible not only in our daily lives but also in the internet. This is
because we do not own everything that we see on the internet. We should never attempt to
perform any illegal activity so to avoid being in trouble. These illegal activities can be accessing
other computers which are not yours, spreading viruses around the internet and etcetera. And if
we do not become responsible users, we might hurt somebody else’s feelings by our wrong
doings. As I have said earlier that we do not own everything on the internet, this means that we
should not plagiarize some other person’s work, we should not be a part of those people who
pirate software. For the internet to run smoothly without any problems or complaint, we should
follow the 10 commandments that were created in 1992 by the “Computer Ethics Institute”.
These 10 commandments were created to guide the people through the use of computers and
the internet with the good intention.
These are 10 Commandments of Computer Ethics:
1. Thou shall not use a computer in ways that may harm people.
2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people's computer work.
3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's computer files.
4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.
5. Thou shalt not use a computer to false witness
35
6. Thou shalt not copy or use proprietary software for which you have not paid.
7. Thou shalt not use other people's computer resources without authorization or
proper compensation.
8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual output.
9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you are writing or
the system you are designing.
10. Thou shalt always use a computer in ways that ensure consideration and respect for
your fellow humans.

Commandment 1
o
Simply put: Do not use a computer in ways that may harm other people.
o
Explanation: This commandment says that it is unethical to use a computer to harm
another user. It is not limited to physical injury. It includes harming or corrupting
other users' data or files. The commandment states that it is wrong to use a
computer to steal someone's personal information. Manipulating or destroying files
of other users is ethically wrong. It is unethical to write programs, which on execution
lead to stealing, copying or gaining unauthorized access to other users' data. Being
involved in practices like hacking, spamming, phishing or cyber bullying does not
conform to computer ethics.

Commandment 2
o
Simply put: Do not use computer technology to cause interference in other users'
work.
o
Explanation: Computer software can be used in ways that disturb other users or
disrupt their work. Viruses, for example, are programs meant to harm useful
computer programs or interfere with the normal functioning of a computer.
Malicious software can disrupt the functioning of computers in more ways than one.
It may overload computer memory through excessive consumption of computer
resources, thus slowing its functioning. It may cause a computer to function wrongly
or even stop working. Using malicious software to attack a computer is unethical.

Commandment 3
o
Simply put: Do not spy on another person's computer data.
o
Explanation: We know it is wrong to read someone's personal letters. On the same
lines, it is wrong to read someone else's email messages or files. Obtaining data from
another person's private files is nothing less than breaking into someone's room.
36
Snooping around in another person's files or reading someone else's personal
messages is the invasion of his privacy. There are exceptions to this. For example,
spying is necessary and cannot be called unethical when it is done against
illegitimate use of computers. For example, intelligence agencies working on
cybercrime cases need to spy on the internet activity of suspects

Commandment 4
o
Simply put: Do not use computer technology to steal information.
o
Explanation: Stealing sensitive information or leaking confidential information is as
good as robbery. It is wrong to acquire personal information of employees from an
employee database or patient history from a hospital database or other such
information that is meant to be confidential. Similarly, breaking into a bank account
to collect information about the account or account holder is wrong. Illegal electronic
transfer of funds is a type of fraud. With the use of technology, stealing of
information is much easier. Computers can be used to store stolen information. One
should not forget though, that doing so is unethical.

Commandment 5
o
Simply put: Do not contribute to the spread of misinformation using computer
technology.
o
Explanation: Spread of information has become viral today, because of the Internet.
This also means that false news or rumors can spread speedily through social
networking sites or emails. Being involved in the circulation of incorrect information
is unethical. Mails and pop-ups are commonly used to spread the wrong information
or give false alerts with the only intent of selling products. Mails from untrusted
sources advertising certain products or spreading some hard-to-believe information,
are not uncommon. Direct or indirect involvement in the circulation of false
information is ethically wrong.

Commandment 6
o
Simply put: Refrain from copying software or buying pirated copies. Pay for software
unless it is free.
o
Explanation: Like any other artistic or literary work, software is copyrighted. A piece of
code is the original work of the individual who created it. It is copyrighted in his
name. In case of a developer writing software for the organization he works for, the
37
organization holds the copyright for it. Copyright holds true unless its creators don't
announce it is not. Obtaining illegal copies of copyrighted software is unethical.

Commandment 7
o
Simply put: Do not use someone else's computer resources unless authorized to.
o
Explanation: Multi-user systems have user specific passwords. Breaking into some
other user's password, thus intruding his private space is unethical. It is not ethical to
hack passwords for gaining unauthorized access to a password-protected computer
system. Accessing data that you are not authorized to access or gaining access to
another user's computer without his permission is not ethical.

Commandment 8
o
Simply put: It is wrong to claim ownership on a work which is the output of
someone else's intellect.
o
Explanation: Programs developed by a software developer are his/her property. If he
is working with an organization, they are the organization's property. Copying them
and propagating them in one's own name is unethical. This applies to any creative
work, program or design. Establishing ownership on a work which is not yours is
ethically wrong.

Commandment 9
o
Simply put: Before developing a software, think about the social impact it can have.
o
Explanation: Looking at the social consequences that a program can have, describes
a broader perspective of looking at technology. A computer software on release,
reaches millions. Software like video games and animations or educational software
can have a social impact on their users. When working on animation films or
designing video games, for example, it is the programmer's responsibility to
understand his target audience/users and the effect it may have on them. For
example, a computer game for kids should not have content that can influence them
negatively. Similarly, writing malicious software is ethically wrong. A software
developer/development firm should consider the influence their code can have on
the society at large.
38

Commandment 10
o
Simply put: In using computers for communication, be respectful and courteous
with the fellow members.
o
Explanation: The communication etiquette we follow in the real world applies to
communication over computers as well. While communicating over the Internet, one
should treat others with respect. One should not intrude others' private space, use
abusive language, make false statements or pass irresponsible remarks about others.
One should be courteous while communicating over the web and should respect
others' time and resources. Also, one should be considerate with a novice computer
user.
2.4 COMPUTER VIRUSES
Computers are just like us, humans. How can I say this? I can explain this concept by
proving that both, computers and human beings are vulnerable to a lot of things. Similar to us
people, computers get infected as well. People have imperfections, same goes with machines,
computers, gadgets, and etcetera. That is why information technology experts constantly
improve these in order to fix and improve on imperfections. In a similar way, humans need
experts as well and they are called doctors. We may sometimes ask ourselves why our machines
or our computers become slower and slower while it ages. And even though we take care of our
machines or computers very well, we can never avoid getting infected with viruses. Even though
how strong our computers may be and even though we have anti-viruses installed, there will
always be that one virus that could penetrate our machines. What are computer viruses by the
way? A Computer Virus according to Wikipedia is “a type of malware that, when executed,
replicates by inserting copies of itself (possibly modified) into other computer programs,
data files, or the boot sector of the hard drive; when this replication succeeds, the affected areas
are then said to be "infected". Viruses often perform some type of harmful activity on infected
hosts, such as stealing hard disk space or CPU time, accessing private information, corrupting
data, displaying political or humorous messages on the user's screen, spamming their contacts,
or logging their keystrokes. However, not all viruses carry a destructive payload or attempt to
hide themselves — the defining characteristic of viruses is that they are self-replicating
computer programs which install themselves without the user's consent.” There are a lot of ways
for you to avoid getting infected with a virus. One of these ways is for you to install an anti-virus
that is highly recommended or with high quality. Having your computer installed with an antivirus really helps because it protects your machine from getting infected with a virus but this
39
does not mean that your computer is perfectly safe. As I have said earlier, “there will always be
that one virus that could penetrate our machines.” We could be infected with a virus by our
carelessness. I can explain this by relating how we use our emails. I am saying that we should not
just keep on reading every email we get, especially when the one who sent us an email is a
random person and we do not know them. Those people who send emails to random people
sometimes contain file attachments, and these file attachments might contain viruses that could
damage our computers, could access our files, and pretty much the one who created the virus
can let his or her virus do what he or she wants to do. It is not enough that we have an installed
anti-virus on our computers, we should be smart users as well, and we should not be easily
tricked into something that could lead us to getting infected with a virus. An example of these
tricks that could lead us to getting infected is by simply believing every advertisement tells that
you have just won this amount, you are the winner of, and etcetera. I do not mean by this that
every advertisement that you see on the internet are fake but we should know when they are
real and when they are fake. Another way is by having our computers or machines scanned
daily using our anti-virus software because it really helps knowing that there is an application
that would take care of getting rid of all these viruses.
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CHAPTER 3
ALL ABOUT GAMES
3.1 INTRODUCTION
A game, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary, is “activity engaged in for diversion
or amusement”. Our daily lives are not all about pure hard work. Sometimes if we think too
much about our work, we tend to become stressed about them. Although feeling stressed is
normal since there are no person in our world that does not feel stressed. So having these
information about thinking too much about work and having stressed, said, how can we now
reduce the feeling of being stressed? The article on TheWeek’s website is saying that there are
several health benefits that you can get from playing video games.
A benefit of playing video games is that these video games are therapeutic for children
with chronic illnesses. As it was said from the website, this means that “The University of Utah
released a study last year that examined the effects of regular gaming on children diagnosed
with illnesses like autism, depression, and Parkinson's disease. Kids who played certain games,
including one designed just for the study, showed signs of improvement in "resilience,
empowerment, and a 'fighting spirit.'" Researchers believe the games' ability to act on "neuronal
mechanisms that activate positive emotions and the reward system" helped improve kids'
demeanors as they faced the daily challenges of their illnesses.”.
Another benefit of playing video games is that it reduces stress and depression, as I have
said it from the earlier paragraph which could be seen above. As it was said from the website,
this means that “2009's Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine included a study that
found that gamers who suffered from mental health issues such as stress and depression were
able to vent their frustration and aggression by playing video games — and showed a noted
improvement. The study hypothesized that games gave certain "Type A" personalities time to
relax in "a state of relative mindlessness" that allowed them to avoid reaching "a certain level of
stressful arousal" as they tried to relax.”.
It also says that video games provide pain relief is another benefit of playing video
games. And as it was said from the website, this means that “Video games don't just provide
relief from emotional pain. They can also help those who are suffering from physical pain.
Psychologists at the University of Washington developed a game that helps hospital patients
suffering from immense physical pain by using an age-old mental trick: distraction. The virtual
reality game "Snow World" put patients in an arctic wonderland in which they throw an endless
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arsenal of snowballs at a series of targets, such as penguins and snowmen. Military hospitals
found the experience helped soldiers recovering from their battlefield wounds. The soldiers who
played "Snow World" required less pain medicine during their recuperation. ”.
It also says that video games improve your decision-making skills. And as it was said
from the website, this means that “Most video games require fast reactions and split-second
decisions that can mean the difference between virtual life and virtual death. Cognitive
neuroscientists at the University of Rochester in New York found these games give players'
brains plenty of practice for making decisions in the real world. Researchers suggest that actionoriented games act as a simulator for the decision-making process by giving players several
chances to infer information from their surroundings and forcing them to react accordingly.”.
There are a lot more benefits that you could gain from playing video games, not only
video games by the way, but all kinds of games such as sports, tabletop games, role-playing
games, business games, and simulation. Playing games is not just for kids, it is for all ages
because it does not mean that when we grow up, we cannot play games anymore, this is a false
statement. I believe that playing games is not just fun but it can also be good for our health
because it reduces stress and we can also gain benefits from playing games. We can also learn a
lot from playing video games just like it was said a while ago, that playing video games help
improve our decision-making skills so this means that playing video games can also be used as
an educational tool. I believe that this would be a perfect activity for students because these
students does not only become happy but they also learn, but of course, we should pick what
kinds of games we would introduce to students for them to learn something from the activity
that will be done.
After talking about all of these benefits or advantages of playing video games, the
disadvantages about playing games will never be absent. And there are several disadvantages of
playing video games as well. One of these disadvantages is that there are some kinds of games
that are available for single player only. This means that it could isolate you from your family
and friends when you put too much attention to the game.
Another disadvantage of playing video games is that you could most likely be addicted
to playing video games and this is a bad thing because it could take you a lot of hours just
playing around rather than doing work. We should learn to balance the time when we will work
and the time when we will play around.
3.2 GENRES OF VIDEO GAMES
A Gamer, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary, is, “a person who plays games and
especially video or computer games”. Each gamer has his or her own preferred genre of a video
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game and there are various genres of video games such as Action. According to Wikipedia,
Action Game Genre means that “An action game requires players to use quick reflexes, accuracy,
and timing to overcome obstacles. It is perhaps the most basic of gaming genres, and certainly
one of the broadest. Action games tend to have gameplay with emphasis on combat. There are
many subgenres of action games, such as fighting games and first-person shooters.”.
Another game genre is Adventure. According to Wikipedia, the Adventure Game Genre
means that “Adventure games were some of the earliest games created, beginning with the text
adventure Colossal Cave Adventure in the 1970s. That game was originally titled simply
"Adventure," and is the namesake of the genre. Over time, graphics have been introduced to the
genre and the interface has evolved… Unlike adventure films, adventure games are not defined
by story or content. Rather, adventure describes a manner of gameplay without reflex challenges
or action. They normally require the player to solve various puzzles by interacting with people or
the environment, most often in a non-confrontational way. It is considered a "purist" genre and
tends to exclude anything which includes action elements beyond a mini game.”.
Another game genre is Strategy. According to Wikipedia, the Strategy Game Genre
means that “Strategy video games focus on gameplay requiring careful and skillful thinking and
planning in order to achieve victory. In most strategy video games, says Andrew Rollings, "the
player is given a godlike view of the game world, indirectly controlling the units under his
command." Rollings also notes that "The origin of strategy games is rooted in their close
cousins, board games." Strategy video games generally take one of four archetypal forms,
depending on whether the game is turn-based or real-time and whether the game's focus is
upon strategy or military tactics. Real time strategy games are often a multiple unit selection
game (multiple game characters can be selected at once to perform different tasks, as opposed
to only selecting one character at a time) with a sky view (view looking down from above) but
some recent games such as Tom Clancy's EndWar, are single unit selection and third person
view. Like many RPG games, many strategy games are gradually moving away from turn based
systems to more real-time systems.”.
There are a lot more game genres available to play and having to focus on one game
genre would make you become a Hardcore Gamer. A Hardcore Gamer may be represented as a
game geek. They are called like this because they are most likely to be the ones who lead in the
game they chose to focus and play on.
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CHAPTER 4
THE LIFE OF A PERSON WITH A BIG DREAM
4.1 BEGINNING OF KYLE’S LIFE
On the fourteenth (14th) day of September in the year nineteen ninety three (1993),
Marissa and Anthony gave birth to their second son, Kyle. Kyle is the second and youngest child.
He has a brother, Basile, he was born on the twenty first (21) day of December, in the
year nineteen ninety one (1991) and works at Hewlett Packard Company (HP). Basile is a two (2)
years older than Kyle, he graduated in La Salle Greenhills (LSGH) and in De La Salle College of
Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) with a Magna Cum Laude award. Due to this, Kyle has always looked up
to his older brother in hopes of reaching and even surpassing his brother’s achievements. In
addition to this, Basile also gives a portion of his salary for Kyle’s tuition fee for his college
education. This gives Kyle the motivation to strive and study harder; in order to give in return for
his brother’s love and sacrifice.
His father’s name is Anthony, born on the sixteenth (16) of January nineteen sixty two
(1962); who currently works for Tupperware Brand Philippines. Although Kyle might have
different physical features than his father, he and his father are similar in other aspects; such as
in interests, Kyle grew up passionate for cars, whether it be in magazines, movies or even video
games; he has inherited this from his father which had drag car racing as a hobby when he was
younger.
And lastly, his mother Marissa, she was born on the fourteenth (14) of November,
nineteen sixty four (1964); she currently works as a bank manager at Bank of the Philippine
Islands (BPI). Marissa takes care of Kyle and his brother; since she and her husband split during
Kyle’s teenage years. Presently, Kyle’s mom pays for all the house bills and for Kyle’s schooling.
They live in a small house in SSS Village in Marikina City. Their house sheltered for ten
(10) people; where in all his relatives lived in. Due to this, he grew up to be a person who loves
and cares for his family. He has his Uncle Michael, Aunt Michelle; three cousins, Cyrill, Andrei
and Nathan; his grandparents Oscar and Soledad; his parents Marissa and Anthony and his big
brother Basile.
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The house was an old house bought by Kyle’s grandparents; thus, old furnishings and
furniture is evident. The house is a wide bungalow type of house with four bedrooms, three (3)
bathrooms and two (2) living rooms. Once people enter the house, the living room will be the
first thing they will see, the living room is furnished with traditional wood furniture; from Laguna,
where Kyle’s grandparents are from. The living room is usually where everyone hangs out and
relaxes; thus, it has a flat screen television and surrounds sound good for movie nights with the
family. The second living room is where all the family pictures are placed and where all the toys
of his younger cousins are put in place. The second living room has a piano; however, no one in
the house plays it. Next to the living room is the dining area, it is circular table where most of
the people in the house dine; however, since the table cannot accommodate ten (10) people all
at once, people in the house eat in two batches. The dining area has the refrigerator, kitchen
counters and cabinets that serve as pantry where in all dry gods and chips are placed. There is a
door in the dining room leading to the kitchen; this is where the food is cooked. The house
usually cooks dishes which are specialties from Laguna and family recipes; Kyle’s mother and
grandmother usually does the cooking in the house aside from the maid. Kyle sleeps in a big
room together with his grandmother, grandfather, brother and maid. The room is where he
spends most of his time; the room is where his computer is placed, so he does all his play and
school work. There is also a small section of the room dedicated for fitness; there are gym
equipment such as weights and barbells. The house has a garage with three (3) cars; one (1)
green Toyota Starex van which is what he and his family uses most of the time, silver Toyota
Altis and a blue Tucson which is what his other relatives and cousins use when they need to get
somewhere.
4.2 PRE- SCHOOL
Kyle started schooling when he was three (3) years old; he studied in La Salle Green hills (LSGH)
because of his mother’s influence. Since Kyle was the youngest child, he grew up fond of his
mother and other relatives. His mom would always tell him that he was still his baby; sending
him to school was a difficult milestone to make. Since Kyle’s birthday was in September, he
turned four (4) in the middle of his nursery year. Little did he know that this will be the start of
the never ending flame and spirit brought about by his alma mater; La Salle.
During his pre-school years, he was the shy and quiet type of person; this may have been
the result of being the youngest in the family and a mama’s boy. Therefore, he did not like
joining in various pre-school presentations. Due to the fact that little Kyle was not used to being
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away from home, there was an incident where he was walking through the school corridors
crying because he was so hungry; until a Lasallian brother from the school saw him and bought
him a doughnut from the school’s cafeteria. When Kyle was in his pre-school years, he was
already given money by his parents; as a result, Kyle started to save money as early as this. He
would save the money given by his parents so that he could buy himself toys and other things
he would want without asking from her parents.
He performed well in pre-school years and this is where his growth started to begin; Kyle
was the type of student who quietly participates in class and was never absent or late. As a result
to this, he incurred high grades that made him eligible to apply to the same school for his
elementary years.
Kyle’s pre-school graduation was a very memorable moment for everyone in the family;
as this marked the moving up of the family’s youngest member. Everyone attended Kyle’s
graduation, his parents, his brother, his grandparents and his aunts and uncles. This is where
Kyle and his classmates performed “You will be in my Heart” by Mr. Phil Collins from the movie
The Tarzan.
"You'll Be In My Heart"
Come stop your crying
It will be alright
Just take my hand
Hold it tight
I will protect you
From all around you
I will be here
Don't you cry
For one so small,
You seem so strong
My arms will hold you,
Keep you safe and warm
This bond between us
Can't be broken
I will be here
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Don't you cry
'Cause you'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more
You'll be in my heart
No matter what they say
You'll be here in my heart, always
Why can't they understand the way we feel?
They just don't trust what they can't explain
I know we're different but deep inside us
We're not that different at all
And you'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more
Don't listen to them
'Cause what do they know (what do they know)?
We need each other
To have, to hold.
They'll see in time
I know
When destiny calls you
You must be strong (you gotta be strong)
I may not be with you
But you've got to hold on
They'll see in time
I know
We'll show them together
'Cause you'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
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[another version says: "Believe me, you'll be in my heart"]
I'll be there from this day on,
Now and forever more
Oh, you'll be in my heart (you'll be here in my heart)
No matter what they say (I'll be with you)
You'll be here in my heart (I'll be there), always
Always
I'll be with you
I'll be there for you always
Always and always
Just look over your shoulder
Just look over your shoulder
Just look over your shoulder
I'll be there always.
4.3 GRADE SCHOOL
Kyle also continues his elementary schooling in La Salle Green hills (LSGH); and these
were the years where Kyle and his family travelled a lot. They went to Hong Kong (HK), where in
they got to experience and see what is was like and the family also got to bond in Disneyland.
They also went to the United States of America (USA) where they visited relatives in Los Angeles
(LA), California. This is when Kyle discovered his love for travelling and going to different places;
discovering new things, meeting new people and observing other people’s culture.
His elementary years were when he grew and became more independent as a person.
Unlike his experience during his pre-school year, due to the fact that he was moving up to the
same school; therefore, he adjusted very well to the environment and the people.
This is where he gained friends and fights with others; this is where he grew and
discovered more about himself. This is where he developed his skills and knowledge. Despite
gaining new friend; another part of his experience was fights he encountered with other
classmates. When Kyle was in the first grade he made friends and made buddies with them; this
made it hard for Kyle to transition himself to the second (2nd) grade because he was not used to
not being with his first (1st) grade friends. However, this made Kyle learn and experience that
people in life come and go that is why; he should be friendly and always treasure his friends so
that he can have someone to lean on in the future in times of trouble of problems.
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Since Kyle is a Roman Catholic, on his third (3rd) grade in elementary he was already
preparing for his first communion. This was a milestone that he did not understand the
importance at first; however, now that he is all grown up, he has realized it importance and
significance for Catholics. Kyle grew as a God fearing person; because of the values and morals
instilled by his grandparents and parents who are very religious. He would go to church every
Sunday with the family and would pray before and after each meal and before they go to bed.
Thus, when Kyle was preparing for his first communion in school he had learned the significance
of the “Blood and Body of Christ” and the significance of confessing since to the Lord. Kyle’s first
communion was a remarkable memory for his family as all his relatives witnessed and watched
him go through what every other Catholic has gone through. The school would constantly
practice the flow of the holy mass until everyone got it perfect and knew it by heart. As a result
to this, Kyle has mastered the flow of the mass and all its prayers and songs played during mass.
Glory To God In The Highest
Glory to God in the highest
And peace to His people on earth
Glory to God in the highest
And peace to His people on earth
Lord God, Heavenly King, Almighty God and Father
We worship You
We give You thanks
We praise You for Your glory
Glory to God in the highest
And peace to His people on earth
Glory to God in the highest
And peace to His people on earth
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father
Lord God, Lamb of God
You take away the sins of the world
Lord, have mercy on us
You are seated at the right hand of the Father
Receive our prayer
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Glory to God in the highest
And peace to His people on earth
Glory to God in the highest
And peace to His people on earth
For You alone are the Holy One
For You alone are the Lord
For You alone are the Most High
Jesus Christ
With the Holy Spirit
In the glory of God the Father
Glory to God in the highest
And peace to His people on earth
Glory to God in the highest
And peace to His people on earth
Anima Christi
Soul of Christ
Sanctify me
Body of Christ save me
Water from the side of Christ
Wash me, Passion of Christ
Give me strength
Chorus:
Hear me Jesus
Hide me in thy wounds
That I may never leave thy side
From all the evil that surrounds me
Defend me and when the call of death arrives
Bid me come to thee
That I may praise thee
With thy saints forever
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Soul of Christ
Sanctify me
Body of Christ save me
Water from the side of Christ
Wash me, Passion of Christ
Give me strength
Chorus:
Hear me Jesus
Hide me in thy wounds
That I may never leave thy side
From all the evil that surrounds me
Defend me and when the call of death arrives
Bid me come to thee
That I may praise thee
With thy saints forever
One More Gift
One more gift
Refrain:
If there's one more gift
I'd ask of you,
Lord it would be peace here on earth
as gentle as your children's laughter
All around, all around
Verse 1:
Your people have grown weary
Of living in confusion
When will we realize
That neither heaven is at peace
When we will live not in peace
(Refrain)
One more gift
Refrain:
If there's one more gift
I'd ask of you,
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Lord it would be peace here on earth
as gentle as your children's laughter
All around, all around
Verse 2:
Grant me serenity within
For the confusions around
Are mere reflections.
Of what's within.
What's within in me?
(Refrain)
One more gift
Refrain:
If there's one more gift
I'd ask of you,
Lord it would be peace here on earth
as gentle as your children's laughter
All around, all around
These are the songs that Kyle remembers singing in his first communion. This was
memorable for him because for Catholics, taking the body and blood for the first time is very
significant. After this, he has paid more attention when it comes to listening to the mass because
he is no longer a child; however, he is an angel and symbol of God.
With regards to his academic performance in grade school; he never had interest in Math
and Science subjects. Although he did not have much failing subjects; these subjects just do not
seem to catch his interest and attention. Thus, learning Science and Math became difficult for
him growing up. However, despite his lack of interest for Math and Science; he loved his
computer subject. He found himself very relaxed upon studying computers in class even when
he was still in elementary. He was fond of computers at a very early age and understood easily
lessons about them. Working with computers had him interested and he was a fast learner.
On his fourth (4th) grade, another significant milestone was experienced by Kyle. When
he was ten (10) years old, he was circumcised. Circumcision is the surgical removal of
the foreskin (prepuce) from the human penis. The procedure is most often elected for religious
reasons or personal preferences (Wikipedia, 2013) He underwent circumcision together with his
big brother, Basile, who was already in the seventh (7th) grade then. However, since at that time
Kyle did not have many friends who had gotten circumcised as well, he did not know what to
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expect. He did not try using the computer and searching it online because computers then were
not as fast and were outdated. They both did it at the same time because they both wanted to
experience it together as brothers in order to keep themselves brave during the operation and
recovery period. They were circumcised in Medical City. They have both done this during their
summer breaks in order to not disrupt their schooling.
Aside from these, Kyle has also gotten into bad actions. There was an incident when Kyle
and his classmate had an argument. This resulted to both of them being sent to the principal’s
office. Kyle was not aware at that time that any form of violence towards students and teachers
on school premises. This led to Kyle’s first disciplinary warning; which made his mom very upset.
However, his mom forgave him right after once Kyle had explained the situation and had
happened. From this experience, he learned that it is very important to keep cool when tensions
start to rise and to always manage one’s temper, as to not make bad decisions which can result
to bad actions and effects that one will eventually regret after.
Kyle also went to fieldtrips facilitated by the school. He went to Enchanted Kingdom; a
theme park located somewhere in Laguna; it was his second (2nd) time being there when he
went. He found it fun because he was with all his friends. He rode all the rides his classmates
would ride except for the roller coasters. Kyle had a strong fear of roller coasters as it made him
feel like he was going to die. Therefore, as to this day, Kyle has never ridden a roller coaster.
Aside from this, Kyle also played different games in Enchanted Kingdom; games such as,
basketball, ring toss and other games which are usually found in fairs and theme parks. Despite
the simplicity of these games; it still is difficult for him because he has not mastered the skills
needed in order to do well on particular games. Thus, Kyle tried to make the most out if in order
for him to gain and learn new skills and also to keep him active. Presently, one can see the
significant difference between the games played in fair and traditional theme parks versus the
type of games the youth plays today; games played by younger generation focuses more on
computer skills and just require brain activity and minimal physical movement unlike games
such as the one in Enchanted Kingdom that keep people active. However, despite Enchanted
Kingdom’s popularity among families and kids, they still do not get rid of these traditional
games that take people away from the usual. Thus, Kyle will never ever forget his experience;
and up to this day, still remembers the cheerful song played throughout the park.
He also went to Manila zoo with his schoolmates; this is where he was and learned about
different animals. Which he then used for his science home works from school. It was his first
time going to Manila Zoo that time, he was amazed by all the animals and different creatures he
saw. He saw different insects such as beetles, moth, butterfly, worms, and so on. This is where he
learned that butterflies and moths were two completely different creatures. He learned a lot
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about the habitat of various animals. He also saw exotic animals that can only be found in the
wild such as tigers, bears, peacock and so on. He also saw the different snakes and learned how
they live; he also learned that these snakes crush and wrap around their pray or bite them and
their venom in order to defend themselves and live. He also learned that these wild animals do
their best to survive; by either competing with others, depending on others or adapting to the
habitat they are in; since they do not have a choice and because they only have one chance for
survival. Throughout the tri he had learned that the animals he saw caged was there for a reason
in order to prolong and preserve it life and its existence; because by not doing so, these
creatures have a great chance of being extinct. As a result, the people keeping Manila Zoo alive
tries their best to produce and prolong the existence of specie and animals created by God in
order for others and for the younger generation to see, hold and learn about. Kyle has learned
all of this from his experience and journey to the zoo; which for him was much more valuable
and worthwhile rather than just Google-ing them online.
Studying for Kyle has been very difficult and challenging. Therefore, his mother enrolled
him in tutoring class to help him improve on his studies and help with studying; since his mom
is very busy and does not have time to teach and study with him. This helped Kyle with his
studies; he achieved the required grades in order for him to pass and make through his
elementary years. Tutoring Kyle was also an advantage because unlike today with the presence
of internet, he did not have enough resources at hand in order to help him study, do home
works and research.
4.4 SOCIAL MEDIA: FRIENDSTER
Another significant development during Kyle’s elementary years was Friendster.
According to Find the Best, Friendster is a leading global online social network. Friendster is
focused on helping people stay in touch with friends and discover new people and things that
are important to them. Online adults, 18 and up, choose Friendster to connect with friends,
family, school, social groups, activities and interests. Friendster prides itself in delivering an easyto-use, friendly and interactive environment where users can easily connect with anyone around
the world via www.friendster.com and m.friendster.com from any Internet-ready mobile device.
Friendster has a growing portfolio of patents granted to the company on social networking.
During Kyle’s elementary years, Friendster was a very popular social networking site and
one of the first that he and his peers have used. Due to this, he and his friends spent of their
time online using the computer. With this site, people could post pictures, messages,
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relationship status and other personal information about a person, Thus, Friendster was a tool
used by others to meet new people.
One of the main features of Friendster is the ability to add friends which will enable them
to see one’s profile. Kyle would add and submit friend requests to his friends, family, celebrities
and even people he would like to get to know. This resulted to him meeting new friends and
making new friendships with other people.
“Pahingi ng testi!” (Can I have a testi?)
This was one of the marking memories Friendster would have on Kyle. This phrase was one of
the popular phrases he would hear and say to other people. Testi is short for testimonials. Based
from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, testimonial is a statement testifying to benefits received;
character reference; expression of appreciation; letter of recommendation. In Friendster, this is
where friends, families and strangers would comment on one’s profile writing things about the
user; it can either be funny, offensive and sweet. However, this fast trending activity was done by
a lot of people and people would even as for it!
Public sharing is another feature of Friendster; users would make profiles of themselves;
wherein they put information about themselves, interests, age, gender, relationship status, job,
school and etc. However, a good feature on Friendster is people have the choice to make their
profiles private or public; depending on their preferences towards their privacy.
Another aspect of public sharing is the sharing of thoughts and photos. People have the
privilege to post their thoughts; which can either be quotes, things that happened, something
they would want to tell others, announcements, news and etc. Kyle kept himself entertained at
times just by reading posts made by his friends. He was interested on reading how his other
friend’s days have been. His Friendster was filled with different posts; may it be about their
birthdays, storms, and issues, experiences in and outside of the country, cravings, wants,
different quotes on life and love and a lot more. Basically, the site promotes that anyone can
post anything under the sun; therefore, there is not really a rule or a filter whenever people post
offensive things online. This would result to feuds and fights among Kyle’s friends on Friendster.
He would see people saying bad things to other people; either it be about boys, school or issues
among friends. Kyle has witnessed this himself, he would see his friends post mean things about
others. This made him realize that publicity can harm other as well; due to the fact that most of
the things people may post can be seen publicly by other people.
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Friendster also gives the privilege for people to post albums and photos for their friends
to see. With this, Kyle got to see his cousins from abroad which he has not seen in a long time.
For him, it seemed that the world was smaller and that the site brought people much closer
together because communication among friends and family was much easier; as compared to
old ways of communicating, such as e-mails, snail mails and etc.
Despite this, Kyle did not like the fact that he could not limit the people who can see his
photos; thus, people had the chance to see photos that were not meant to be seen by friends
only by family and photos meant to be seen by family and not by friends. Therefore, Kyle had
gone through people teasing him and making fun of him due to pictures posted; for the reason
that he knew that he could not please everyone he also knew that everyone had their own
opinion.
Another thing that Kyle liked about the social networking site was the groups; groups are
usually made by other Friendster users in order to promote a certain thought, celebrity, movie,
song, singer, actress and anything that interests them. Basically anyone who also had the same
interest could join the group; and there people could post things and testimonials on the
comment page. Kyle liked interacting and knowing that other people also had those same
interests as he has.
With the popularity of Friendster, issues such as stalking, threatening and even hacking
arose. Stalking was a problem most people had at that time, since most people can freely and
publicly post and view photos and information about a person. Most people stalk and follow the
people they idolize, hate and even have a crush on; which for most people found irritating,
annoying and scary.
When he was in sixth (6th) grade, the use of Friendster got out of hand, because one of
his friends had a fight with the teacher during class and he posted something rude and bad to
his teacher. This all started when his classmate, Michael got very noisy to the point that the
teacher yelled at him and embarrassed him in front of everybody in his class; in addition to that,
the teacher sent Michael to the principal’s office in which he got scolded by the principal. When
Kyle got home and checked his Friendster account, which was already part of his everyday
routine, he saw that Michael posted a cartoon picture, representing is teacher, with the caption:
“I am the worst teacher ever! I will make your life miserable!”
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This post made by his friend lit up flames in Friendster; little did Michael know that what
his action would only make things worse. As a result to what he had done, he had been called to
go to the principal’s office the following day. This is where the principal, again, scolded him for
posting inappropriate words and pictures towards his teacher. The talk with the principal
resulted to a three day suspension given to Michael. As a result to the incident, all elementary
pupils of Kyle’s school was reminded and given a talk about the proper use of the internet and
social media. This is where the speakers emphasized that:
“Always be watchful and careful of everything you post and say publicly; not just in Friendster or
other social media sites but in real life as well.”
This is where Kyle learned that the use of social media also had its disadvantages,
although the use of Friendster turned out to be fun; he always remembered that it could easily
be a facilitator for fights and issues if people do not watch and monitor what they say.
In two thousand and five (2005), Kyle and his whole family went to Hong Kong (HK)for
three (3) days and two (2) nights; though the stay was short, he still had a lot of memories kept
and treasured. This was during his semester break; it was his first time to go out of the country
and so he was so excited and happy. Kyle would post pictures that he wanted to share with
everyone, such as pictures when he and his family went to Hong Kong (HK). They stayed at
Marco Polo Gateway Hotel; he found the hotel he stayed at unique because it had a shopping
mall under it. This is where he would take pictures and email it to relative in Manila to see if they
wanted them to buy something in Hong Kong (HK) as “pasalubong” to give out for other people
when they get back to the Philippines. Kyle’s first trip to China was a memorable experience for
him because that is where he saw the Chinese’ people passion for entrepreneurship and buying
and selling of goods. Malls in Hong Kong (HK) were jam-packed with shoppers and Chinese
sellers. He then went to Disney land and Ocean Park; he was so excited because he would just
see those places in the internet and on television before. He and his family took a lot of pictures
as remembrance and Kyle posted most of the pictures on his Friendster account because he
wanted to share his experience and his happiness to all his friends.
4.5 GRADE SCHOOL GRADUATION
Finally, after seven years in elementary, Kyle graduated in the year two thousand and
seven (2007). He graduated like how most of his batch mates graduated; having an average
performance throughout his elementary years. The school celebrated the graduation ceremony
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on campus; where Kyle brought his whole family: his mom, dad, big brother, grandmother,
grandfather and nanny. Kyle’s parents took lots of pictures of him and his friends since some of
his best friends were leaving the school and moving to another school for high school and some
of his friends leaving for schooling out of the country. This is where he truly understood the
message and meaning of the alma mater of his school; because it was played during his
graduation and his whole batch sang it with heart and passion.
Alma Mater Hymm
Hail, Hail
Alma Mater,
Hail to De La Salle!
We'll hold your banner high and bright,
A shield of green and white,
We'll fight to keep your glory bright,
And never shall we fail,
Hail to thee our Alma Mater!
Hail! Hail! Hail!
This is where he realized, that he was part of a family, the Lasallian family. This was the
last moment they could all be together in school; thus, this was a bittersweet memory and
moment for Kyle. However, Kyle kept reminding his friends that they would still keep in touch
with each other, either through phone, e-mail (electronic mail) or Friendster.
4.6 HIGH SCHOOL
Kyle’s transition from elementary to high school was very hard for him; he did not expect
what will happen, how the teachers are going to be like and who his friends will be. The night
before his first (1st) day of classes, he checked his Friendster and Multiply account and ask other
people what their classes and sections were; he also saw a lot of posts from different friends
nervous and anxious about first day of classes, he knew for sure that he was not alone. He
prepared himself a week before the first (1st) day of classes, he bought new bags, school
supplies, had a new haircut and also read a lot of articles on what to expect on first day of
classes.
It was the most nerve wrecking day of two thousand and eight (2008), Kyle first day in
high school. Although he still went to the same school that he went when he was in elementary,
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he still was nervous since he did not know if his old friends would talk to him or would have new
set of friends. Due to the fact that most of his friends transferred to a different school and for
some, to a different country; Kyle resorted to being his shy and timid self during first (1 st) day of
classes. During first (1st) day of classes he was seatmates with a guy; having curly hair and tan
skin, Francis, this was Kyle’s one of his best friends up to now. He thanked his lucky stars that all
was well for him in the first (1st) day of high school and this for him determined an amazing
journey to come.
One significant memory of Kyle is when his teacher, on the first (1st) day of school made
the, say seven (7) things that is unique about them. Kyle found this difficult because he thought
he was just like everybody else; the average teenager.
He did participate in the activity;
however, he did not finish the seven attributes and skills he only mentioned four.
1. Born on the fourteenth (14) of September in the year of nineteen ninety three (1993)
2. Youngest of two (2) brothers
3. Does not know how to swim
4. Loves playing and using the computer
Despite this, his teacher understood even him he did not accomplish the seven (7)
adjectives, the teacher lectured the class that it is normal that most people in the class would
not be able to finish the activity; due to the fact that it was just first (1st) day of classes and that
everyone will still have time to discover themselves and grow, throughout the four (4) years of
high school.
Physical Education (P.E.) was one of Kyle’s most hated subjects when he was in high
school. Though he was physically active, he did not like the fact that his physical education (P.E.)
subject required the class to go swimming. Kyle is not afraid of water; however, he did not know
how to swim and he found this embarrassing. So, his physical education (P.E.) subject really set
him back because he would cut classes during physical education (P.E.) class and pretends to be
sick, injured and even makes a fake excuse letter copied and pated from Google so that his
teachers would believe him and excuses him from class. Although his swimming class would
actually teach the students how to swim, he still did not like the feeling of being behind and
possibly being the only one who did not know how to swim. Although he has already been
given violation reports for skipping class and not attending physical education class, he still did
not mind this. As a result of this, Kyle got fairly average and low grades for his Physical
Education (P.E.) subject.
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As said by his teacher during his first (1st) day of classes;
“High school will be the four (4) years of your life where you will learn more about yourself and
grow as a person.”
4.7 SOPHOMORE YEAR
Kyle has truly grown and experienced a lot during his high school years; he has learned
that he was the type of person who always wanted something new and something different. He
got bored with the routine activities and undertakings done in school. This is where he starts
thinking about other things he could do; he asked and talked to his friends on Facebook and
other social media sites on how to skip classes and on what to do in school. He also searched on
Google ways on how to cut and get out of the school without getting caught. Kyle already had
an initiative on skipping classes, he had the intention of making not going to school and just
copy and forge the signature of his parents so that he could get away with it.
On the first (1st) day of his intention of skipping class, he did not go inside the campus
and school when his mom sent him to school. He waited outside and sat on the waiting bench
telling his mom that he would just be waiting for his friends. Little did his mom know that Kyle
already spoke with some of his friends the night before that they would not be attending
classes. Although Kyle felt guilty by betraying and lying to his mother, he got tempted with the
option of going out with his friends rather than going to school and studying.
However, Kyle and his friends still did not get away with what they have done. All of
them have received violation reports and warning letters given by the principal with a letter of
warning indicating that they have already skipped classes for five (5) days already. This did not
stop Kyle with his agenda of not attending classes; he forged all the warning letters with the
signature of his mom so that he could get away with what he has done and do it again.
On the other hand, Kyle did not know that his mom was already getting suspicious about
what Kyle was doing. His mom searched online on what to do with the situation at hand. Since it
was a growing trend in her mom’s workplace to search and Google everything. She has read an
article on how to have a tracker on a phone. This is what Kyle’s mom did, she put and
programmed Kyle’s phone to have a tracker so that his mom would know where he is every
second and every minute of the day.
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Kyle’s mom used the tracker the following day she got it installed on Kyle’s phone. This is
where his mom found out what Kyle has been doing. She knew immediately that Kyle was not at
school but in other places; such as Green hills, Megamall and other malls and public places near
La Salle Green hills (LSGH).
As a result to this, Kyle’s mom went to Kyle’s school (La Salle Green Hills) to talk with the
principal and find out how many days he has been absent and not attending classes. She then
found out that Kyle has been forging her mom’s signature so that he could get excused from
being absent all the time. This made Kyle’s mom very upset and disappointed because his mom
did not know that he could do such a thing.
The following day, he got called by the principal for a confidential meeting. It was to his
surprise to his mom there in the principal’s office. Right then and there he knew that he got
caught and he was in big trouble. The principal laid out all the excuse slips and warning letters
where Kyle had forged his mom’s signature; furthermore, the principal informed his mom of his
truancy case. This resulted to Kyle having a major offense of thirteen (13) forgery cases and
seven (7) unexcused truancy cases.
The principal of his school informed Kyle and his mom that he is subjected to expulsion
due to his numerous cases that were not backed up with exceptional grades. Therefore, Kyle got
really worried as he did not realize the gravity and effect of what he has done in the past.
Luckily, his grandmother and the vice principal are close friends; Kyle’s grandmother talked to
the vice principal pleading for consideration for Kyle. This was granted. However, Kyle signed a
promissory note or contract stating that from this day on he would not have any offenses, minor
or major or else it would cause for immediate expulsion. This really straightened up Kyle’s
behavior and attitude in school; he needed to have the proper uniform, haircut and he could not
be late or else he might get expelled.
Things for Kyle were not getting any better. Problems he had from schooled has moved
to their home. It was already usual and normal for Kyle’s parents to be arguing and fighting all
the time. However, as time went by during Kyle’s sophomore year, things have not been getting
better at home; they were only getting worse. His parent’s relationship was slowly getting
broken and Kyle did not expect this. Kyle grew being fond of his father, as they shared the same
interests; about cars, computers and even alcohol. To Kyle, his father was a very approachable
and cool man. That is why he did not expect that his parent’s relationship will be at its worst,
because he knew and expected that things will get better between them eventually. Yet this did
not happened, his parents fought more and more as days and weeks went by; and this really
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worried Kyle and his brother Basile. Kyle was afraid because he did not know what it was like to
have an incomplete family; as he would just read those types of experiences in books, internet
and social media by posts written by his friends. One day all of a sudden on the verge of a very
bad fight; Kyle’s dad got and packed all his stuff and left the house. Kyle and his brother cried as
their father left the house; because they did not want anyone to fight and leave. However, this
did not stop his father. Up to now, his mom and dad are separated.
All of this happened d\uring Kyle’s sophomore year in high school. It can be said that
this was a roller coaster type of experience in his life.
4.8 TWENTY THREE: A NEW BEGINNING
Kyle’s junior year in high school started off as a pretty boring, ordinary and usual year;
due to the fact that he was not able to break rules anymore and also due to family problems at
home. The only thing that Kyle had to do to keep him company was his friends. He did
everything with his friends; and they spent every lunch together, went out together during the
weekends and even had study groups to make school more fun.
Although he was had a lot of limitations in school and is strictly bounded by rules that he
had to comply and follow; he still had a hard time coping with the studies of subjects and
grades for high school. Every day after school, he would go to a tutor where he will receive help
in terms of doing his homework, studying for a quiz or exam.
On the fifth (5th) of September in the year two thousand and nine (2009), Kyle and his
friends went to a mall to watch a concert of an international dance icon. He and his friends went
to Alabang Town Center (ATC) an old mall in Muntinlupa City where they watched
Jabbawockeez, a famous dance group that won in a hit American dance contest television
show, America’s Best Dance Crew (ABDC) which was produced by Randy Jackson, an icon known
for his appearances as judges for American Idol (AI). The Jabbawockeez dance crew won the first
season of America’s Best Dance Crew (ABDC) which made them very famous as they were the
pioneer winners of the show. The Jabbawockeez dance crew became a very famous in the
Philippines as some of their members are Filipinos and are from the Philippines.
Kyle and his friends watched Jabbawockeez dance crew’s very first dance concert in the
Philippines at Alabang Town Center (ATC) for free. They enjoyed and had a good time since this
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was their first time going to Alabang Town Center (ATC) which was the farthest mall they have
ever gone together as a group.
When they were on the way home, walking around Alabang Town Center (ATC), one of
Kyle’s friends, Francis saw his cousin and aunt in Alabang Town Center (ATC). So Francis’ aunt
accommodated Kyle and his friends for free dinner at Burger King (BK). As Kyle and his friends
were waiting and sitting at the table waiting for their food, Janine’s school friends suddenly
came up and said “hi” to Janine and her friends snce they were all school mates. This is where
Kyle got attracted to one of the girl’s that came in. After the group of friends left Burger King
(BK) Kyle immediately asked Francis’ cousin, Janine “What is the name of the girl wearing
purple?” Right after, Janine gave him a cellphone number for Kyle to text.
When Kyle got home, he immediately texted the number his newly made friend gave
him. However, when he texted the number Janine mistakenly gave the wrong number and gave
another girl’s number instead of what Kyle was asking for. He then went online on Facebook,
talked to Janine and reassured that he wanted the number of the girl who was wearing purple;
Janine then came to her senses and gave the right number, the girl whom he was asking for was
Eunice, the girl who wore purple.
The following day, Kyle finally texted Eunice:
Kyle: Hello 
Eunice: Who is this? :)
Kyle: This is Kyle the guy from Burger King the other day. I asked your number from
Janine. Are you the one who was wearing purple that time? 
Eunice: Oh yes! I was wearing purple that time. Hey I do not have load anymore. Just
add me on Facebook maybe you could continue to talk to me there.  Eunice Vista.
Kyle and Eunice’ chat continued on Facebook when Kyle already added Eunice.
Kyle: Hey  So why were you at Alabang Town Center last Saturday?
Eunice: We were supposed to watch the Jabbawockeez dance concert but it was too
crowded so we watched a movie instead. 
Kyle: Well too bad the concert was great! We had a good spot so we had a nice
view of
the dance concert.
Eunice: Too bad! Where are you from? How did you know Janine? 
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Kyle: I’m from La Salle Green Hills, and Janine is my best friend’s cousin. We did
expect to see her there; so we got surprised when Francis’ aunt invited us for
not
dinner
at
Burger King.
Kyle: I’m looking at you photos on Facebook.
Eunice: No do not look at them! I look ugly!
Kyle: No you do not. Hahaha! Where are you from?
Eunice: I am from San Beda College Alabang, I am scshool mates with Janine.
This was Kyle and Eunice’ first conversation; but during this time Kyle tried to take things
fast so he scared off Eunice and have not talked with each other since. Kyle was known to have a
lot of friends from different schools due to his tutoring classes, school soirees and because he
was friendly. He met a lot of girls during his junior year in high school and would text them
every morning greeting them a good morning, good afternoon or good evening.
After three (3) months, of not talking and keeping in touch with Eunice, Kyle texted her:
Kyle: How are you?
Eunice: I am good; It has been a long time since we last talked.
Their conversation took longer and continued on. Kyle and Eunice were texting with each
other every day. Kyle and Eunice’ relationship grew into a much deeper relationship. They both
now had feeling for each other after over a month of talking and socializing with each other.
Since Eunice had very strict parents; texting with boys was not allowed for her and going out
with boys as well. She would have a hard time lying to her parents about who she was texting;
because she was not used to lying. Kyle and Eunice had a big age gap, three (3) years, which is
why it was hard for Eunice to trust Kyle at first.
Kyle and Eunice’s first date was in Mall of Asia (MoA) this is the second time they saw
each other and their first official date. It was Eunice’ first time to go on a date because she was
not allowed to go to one; because of her parents. And so, she lied to her parents and asked the
help of her sister so that she and Kyle could go out. Their first date was a pretty memorable one,
while waiting for the movies to start, Kyle and Eunice waited by the bay where fireworks
suddenly started to explode and pop out! This for Eunice was one of the most memorable
nights; because she has always loved fireworks and she took it as a sign of destiny to be in the
exact spot at the exact moment in time. However, Kyle and Eunice’ date only lasted for three (3)
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hours since Eunice had to leave early so that her parents would not find out what she has been
up to.
On the twenty third (23rd) of January of the year two thousand and ten (2010), this was
when Kyle and Eunice went for a date in Mall of Asia (MoA). Eunice brought her friends and Kyle
came along to spend to spend the day with Eunice. They watched a scary movie, Legion, where
in there were demons who eat people. This was when Kyle tried to kiss Eunice for the first time;
after this, Kyle asked Eunice “When do you think we could have own number?” and the Eunice
answered a short but simple answer “Twenty Three (23).” Kyle was ecstatic and happy to know
that he and Eunice are officially together. Although they were both happy at first, they both new
that it was just the start of a new journey they both would take part on together. Their
relationship had a theme song, which to them resembled and embodied their relationship very
well; and this was “I am Yours” written by Lamilla Soraya and sung by Mr. Jason Mraz a famous
singer in the western part of the globe.
“I’m Yours”- Jason Mraz
Well you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted
Before the cool done run out I'll be giving it my bestest
And nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some
But I would not hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours
Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
Listen to the music of the moment people, dance and sing
We are just one big family
And it's our God-forsaken right to be loved loved love love
So I would not hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm sure
There's no need to complicate, our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours
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D-d-do do you, but do you, d-d-do
But do you want to come on
Scooch on over closer dear
And I will nibble your ear
I've been spending way too long checking my tongue in the mirror
And bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer
But my breath fogged up the glass
And so I drew a new face and I laughed
I guess what I be saying is there ain't no better reason
To rid yourself of vanities and just go with the seasons
It's what we aim to do, our name is our virtue
But I will not hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I am yours
Open up your mind and see like me
(I will not hesitate)
Open up your plans and damn you are free
(No more, no more)
Look into your heart and you'll find that the sky is yours
(It cannot wait, I'm sure)
So please do not please do not, there is no need
(There is no need to complicate)
There is no need to complicate
(Our time is short)
Our time is short
(This is our fate)
This is, this is, this is our fate
I'm yours
Oh, I am yours
Oh, I am yours
Oh, whoa, baby you believe I am yours
You best believe, best believe I am yours
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Since Eunice’ parents are strict and did not allow her to have a boyfriend; going out with
Kyle became a challenge for her. Since she was not used to lying to her parents she would get
caught most of the time and get scolded at for disobeying her parents. Although Eunice never
seemed to understand why her parents did not let her have a relationship; since Eunice had very
high grades and was one of the top students in her class; and even when having a boyfriend, it
does not affect her schooling at all.
This was the hardest part of their relationship where Eunice would give up most of the
time because she could no longer take the pain she got when her parents scold her. Eunice’
parents would get her phone so that she would not have any communication with Kyle.
However this did not stop the both of them with communicating; Eunice would talk to Kyle on
Facebook when her parents are not around or even leave an e-mail message time after time.
Sometimes, Eunice would lose hope and give up; however, Kyle would always cheer her up and
force her to fight and to never give up, because he knew that someday they would get through
this.
However there were also downs in terms of their relationship. Trust was an issue that
never seemed to go away for both of them. They would fight most of the time because Eunice
would open and hack Kyle’s account of Facebook (social media web site) and read his messages.
Although Kyle was open to Eunice’ questions about who he was talking to and what they were
talking about, Eunice was still skeptic and doubted the words said by Kyle. This led to a lot of
fights between Kyle and Eunice because Eunice would get upset that her boyfriend is talking to
other girls; while Kyle on the other hand would get angry because he does not understand why
he is not allowed to talk to other girls; because clearly he had nothing to hide and had done
nothing wrong.
Despite the fact that a lot of people doubted Kyle and Eunice’s relationship; they with
stood two years of having almost no means of communication and with only each other once in
two months, they beat the odds and shocked a lot of people on how strong the two of them
were. On their third year, luckily, Eunice’ parents finally accepted her having a boyfriend as long
as both of them would be open to the parents and follow curfew and limitations set by her
parents made Kyle and Eunice very happy and made their relationship even stronger. Eunice
thanked Kyle for never giving up on them despite the fact that she herself was already giving up;
this is when both of them realized that they were destined for each other and through thick and
thin they would both make it because they love each other.
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Since Kyle and Eunice’s relationship was no longer illicit or prohibited to his girlfriend’s
parents, they had more freedom to do whatever they wanted, go wherever they wanted because
of the trust both of them earned. This made their relationship stronger and also made both of
them realize that everything that they both fought for is all worth it.
4.9 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION
After four (4) years of a whirlwind of emotions, experiences and leanings in high school.
Kyle has finally graduated; he was very proud of himself when he knew he as going to
graduated; due to the fact that he almost got expelled the previous school year due to his
offenses.
Similar to his grade school graduation, his graduation ceremony was held in the school,
La Salle Green Hills (LSGH) gymnasium. La Salle Green Hills (LSGH) gymnasium accommodated
about 1 thousand (1000) attendees; which was just enough to fit all the fourth (4th) year students
and their parents. At first Kyle got upset and dismayed because his dad did not go and come to
the graduation ceremony. However, he was determined that the situation would not ruins his
graduation; one of the most special and memorable moments in is life.
The graduation ceremony took longer as compared to his grade school graduation
because there were more speeches and ceremonies done; such as, the speech of valedictorian,
awarding of honor students and awarding of special awards. Although Kyle did not receive any
awards and special mentions; he and his parents were still very proud of him just the fact that he
graduated without any failing grades. This was also an emotional moment for Kyle and his
friends since this was, for them, the last time they would be all together in their school.
Therefore, Kyle made sure that he would savor and live the moment.
Alma Mater Hymm
Hail, Hail
Alma Mater,
Hail to De La Salle!
We'll hold your banner high and bright,
A shield of green and white,
We'll fight to keep your glory bright,
And never shall we fail,
Hail to thee our Alma Mater!
Hail! Hail! Hail!
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Since Kyle was already determined that he was going to study college in De La Salle
College of Saint Benilde (DLS- CSB) he already knew which of his batch mates are going to go at
the same school as him. Also, since Kyle had strong school spirit and would only want to study
in La Salle, college choices for him were only between, De La Salle University Manila (DLSU) and
De La Salle College of Saint Benilde (DLS- CSB). Graduation high school would mean that most
of them would be separated and would go to different collages and even different countries,
ether to migrate or study. However, he did not fret because he knew that with the use of
internet whether it be through Facebook or any other future social media sites made in the
future; that they would still talk and see each other soon.
4.11 COLLEGE: DE LA SALLE COLLEGE OF SAINT BENILDE
Ever since Kyle was in fourth (4th) year in high school; he has already determined the
college he wanted to study at; and that was De La Salle University (DLSU) or De La Salle College
of Saint Benilde (DLS- CSB). However, he was interested at studying in De La Salle College of
Saint Benilde (DLS- CSB) because technology facilities such as computer are much newer as
compared to other local colleges such as; Mapua, University of Sano Tomas (UST), University of
the Philippines (UP, Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU), Adamson University (AdU) and other
well-known, popular and famous universities and colleges on the country. Since Kyle was
planning to take a computer related course, which was similar to the college course and the
degree his older brother had, John Basile; he concluded that he would study at De La Salle
College of Saint Benilde (DLS- CSB). Another reason why Kyle wanted to study at De La Salle
College of Saint Benilde (DLS- CSB) as because he did not want to have a different college
because since he was in pre- school he was already studying in La Salle; as a result to this, he did
not want to go to any other school and was loyal to his alma mater.
College for Kyle was so much better than high school; he liked the fact that in college, he
got to pick his course where in he had good subjects where he was actually interested in
learning; such as computer programming and information technology (IT) subjects and topics.
Due to this, Kyle had the motivation and determination to do well and study hard in school
because he liked the things he was learning and he also knew that this would be crucial and a
significant need and important for him in the future when he is already working.
Currently, Kyle is in second (3rd) year college studying Bachelor of Science major in
Information Systems at De La Salle College of Saint Benilde (DLS- CSB). He is a nearly graduating
student; however, he still has a long way to go in order for him to achieve his goal of graduating
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and being a great programmer in the future. With all of his experiences in life, he as surely been
stronger and may have already distinguished who he really is and he thinks of himself. Through
self-development, determination and motivation; clearly he can do anything and everything he
desires in life.
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CHAPTER 5
REFLECTIONS
5.1 SAVING 10,000: WINNING A WAY ON SUICIDE IN JAPAN
The movie “Saving 10,000: Winning a War on Suicide in Japan” is a story that talks about
the true causes of the high suicide rate in Japan. By watching the movie, we could learn about
why there are a lot of people that commits suicide in Japan. And to be exact about the rate of
suicide in Japan compared to the different countries around the world based on what was said
in the movie, the suicide rate in Japan is twice that of America, three times that of Thailand, nine
times higher than Greece, and twelve times higher than the Philippines. To answer that if the
rate of committing suicide is acceptable, I would have to say that it would never be acceptable
simply because why would one person want to die? I believe that it should not be an option for
anyone and I repeat that, it SHOULD NOT be an option even to those people who are not
wealthy, because being wealthy would not make you happier in life. Having to buy stuff with our
money will not make us happy either because it would just satisfy our wants. And we all know
that our wants are unlimited. It is unlimited because after we have satisfied our wants, there
would be something new that we would want after that but this does not mean that we could
not enjoy our wants. All I am saying is that it would not make us happy completely. We should
make the most out of our life because we only have one life to live. There are a lot of ways for us
to be happy rather than keep on buying stuff to satisfy our wants. When we are with our
families, we should focus on them and not to think about random stuff that happens at work,
about the deadlines in school, or any other stuff to think about that is not involving our families.
We should also laugh because laughing as we know it is the greatest antidepressant. We could
be happy by simply talking and laughing with our families, loved ones, and friends.
The movie also featured a book that talks about death. What the book contains is on
how you can commit suicide. It also contains different techniques about suicide. I believe that
the book was created for the people who wanted to go kill themselves. The thought of
committing suicide does not even go through my mind, not even a bit. If people during that
time thought that there is a way of committing suicide without any pain, then they have made a
mistake about it, because it is impossible for someone or anyone to not feel anything, physically
and mentally. It was also said that there is a beautiful place in Japan called Aoikigahara Forest
and that a lot of people commit suicide here and after all of those people who have already
committed suicide in this forest. And it seems like there are a lot of people who are talking,
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promoting, and watching about those deaths and almost no one wants to do something about
suicide to avoid it.
The first question is making us think of an internet service or an application that would
make the idea of saving people who would want to commit suicide more viral in the Philippines.
The application that I can think about will operate on both iOS and Android. The application will
be named “Get-Up-And-Go”. It will be named like this simply because of the meaning. What it
means is like it motivates you to do something. Life can be a synonym for “Get-Up-And-Go”.
The use of this application is to educate the users and to give them some ideas on how to live a
more happy life, to live a less stressful life, and to make the most out of your life. Wherever you
are and you are with an electronic gadget that is operating on either iOS or Android, you could
access the application when you have some concerns about the uses of the application that was
stated above. This application was created to show the people that committing suicide is not an
option. The application can provide information about the history of suicide and about the
movie “Saving 10,000: Winning a War on Suicide in Japan”. It will provide information about the
movie because it is where I got the idea of helping people. Through this application, I hopefully
can help people by providing different information about life. The application can provide many
views on committing suicide through random people all over the world by using the forums that
would be found by accessing the application. People who would like to share what they have to
say about committing suicide or killing yourself can also be posted in the forums. The
application will provide a login feature for the users to create an account. Each user will be
provided a profile that he or she can customize the details and the design. This profile can be
set as public for people to see or can be set as private if he or she does not want random people
seeing his or her information. If the users have already registered and have already logged into
the application, they will be able to see a tab for the list of your friends and an “Add a Contact”
button will be available of course for you to add contacts. The use of the friends list is for the
chat feature if contacts or friends would like to talk. All of these information would be placed in
different tabs that could be always be found at the top part of the screen. The design of the
application would obviously have a design that would be pleasing.
Ethical Egoism, as it was discussed in the book “Contemporary Moral Problems” by
James White, is a normative view about how men ought to act. It is the view that, regardless of
how men do in fact behave, they have no obligation to do anything except what is in their own
interest. This means that as an individual, our actions should be morally right and at the same
time it should maximize one’s self interest. I understood John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism by
saying that, the needs of most of the people would outweigh the needs of the few people. This
means that the action that would be done will be the action that would benefit most of the
people or the action that would make you happy the most. To serve as an example for
Utilitarianism; let us say that there is a petition about removing a hospital for children and if they
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are being asked to pay for a huge amount but the problem is that there are a lot of people who
benefit from that hospital because it is cheap there and sometimes the medication is free of
charge. Of course if it is the Utilitarian’s choice, he or she would not have the hospital
demolished or removed because a lot of people are benefitting from the hospital. The creator of
the movie acted in self-interest because the intention of the creator was to let people from all
over the world understand about what the situation in Japan is. What the creator of the movie
did was really helpful because I believe that with his action, there would be more concerned
people about what happened and I believe that someone who got informed through the movie
will do something about suicide to be prevented. The utilitarian purposes by creating the movie
will serve as information for a lot of people so that someone could possibly do something about
how to avoid suicide. The benefit of creating the movie and showing it to a lot of people would
be the help that they can get from people who would respond to the movie. The purposes of
this is that it helps a lot of people to create and give ideas to people so there could be
something done to that high suicide rate in japan.
5.2 FAIRPHONE SMARTPHONE
There are three types of Egoism that will be discussed in this reflection and these types
are Ethical Egoism, Psychological Egoism, and Rational Egoism. First of all, what is Egoism?
Egoism is the theory that one’s self is the inspiration of his or her own action or simply having
self-interest of what we do. Ethical Egoism means that as an individual, our actions are required
to be morally right and at the same time it should maximize one’s self-interest. As an example, if
one person decides to sell a certain product or service that he or she knows that a lot of people
will need it and there is no other competitor available, he or she can monopolize that certain
place so what he or she will do is to sell that product of provide the service to the people at his
or her own self-interest. Psychological Egoism means that the actions of one’s self are only for
the benefit of only him or her. In other words, a person will do a certain action because of his or
her own self-Interest. To serve as an example for this, a person might help or do something for
someone else because he or she feels like the work that will be done by the person he or she
helped is not good enough. So for him or her to feel better, he or she decides to help someone
with a work. In Rational Egoism, it means that an action of one’s self should be reasonable and
that his or her action should maximize his or her self-interest. An example of this could be when
a person allots a budget for a project to help people who are a victim of tragedy but keeps most
of the money for him or her instead because we all know that when we talk about money, we
would do anything for us to earn more than how much we earn now.
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What is the Fairphone? The Fairphone is the very first “Ethical Smartphone” which has
just been launched in London last September 2013. I believe that the Fairphone Smartphone
was designed to promote the use of materials found from war zones or dangerous factories and
to give the people an idea from what their smartphones were made of. Not only does the
materials of a smartphone came from war zones or dangerous factories but also the workers
that have been working to create the smartphone have been treated badly, so bad that some
factory workers even commit suicide.
Ethical Egoism can be differentiated with Psychological Egoism in terms of how it will
affect someone by creating this Fairphone Smartphone by saying that it is said to be that the
materials of this Fairphone Smartphone came from conflict-free minerals, this is what made it an
Ethical Egoism. Ethical Egoism because the actions that were committed had been morally right
and at the same time it maximized their self-interest. It maximized their self-interest because
this is what the Fairphone Smartphone creators wanted in the first place, they wanted to change
the system of having badly treated factory workers into having well treated factory workers and
the materials of the smartphones to conflict-free minerals. As of Psychological Egoism, I believe
that it can be differentiated by saying that the Fairphone Smartphone Creators provided a way
to change the system into having well treated workers and to have a more conflict-free minerals
that will be made into the Fairphone Smartphone making it eco-friendly. It was differentiated by
saying that people now are getting to know more about what their smartphones were made of
and because the actions that were made by the people who created Fairphone created the
smartphone because of their own benefit and of their own self-interest. To look at this from the
Rational Egoism point of view, it can be said that the customers of the Fairphone Smartphone
will only buy the Fairphone Smartphone because of a specific feature which the other
smartphones do not have or the customers will only buy this Fairphone Smartphone because it
is a new phone, not because of what is behind the story why was the Fairphone Smartphone was
created. Rational Egoism because the actions that were done was with reason and maximized his
or her self-interest.
To conclude this reflection about the Fairphone Smartphone, if we do really want to help
change the system, we can start in small ways such as spreading the story that an Ethical
Smartphone called the Fairphone has been created and it promotes the reuse and recycling of
materials and treating workers well. But it will always depend on us if we will continue to be
selfish in everything we do and that we won’t be treating each person equally.
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CHAPTER 6
STEALING AND ETIQUETTE
6.1 PATENT INFRINGEMENT – SAMSUNG V.S. APPLE
These two companies have been going around the news for quite some time because of their
rivalry about their technologies and products. These two companies both have a great icon to
the public. Who would have ever wondered that Samsung does not have much time to check
the patent of the products that they are going to produce? The image of Samsung has been
frowned upon by a number of people because of this action that they had a lack of care to
check. The following paragraph will contain the article regarding this issue against Samsung
versus Apple Patent Infringement.
According to the article that Silicon Valley wrote about the issue with Samsung and Apple, it
says that “SAN JOSE -- With a fresh $290 million jury verdict in hand, Apple (AAPL) got exactly
what it wanted from a federal jury Thursday in its continuing patent feud with archrival Samsung
-- another stern message that copying iPhone and iPad technology comes with a steep price.
On the third day of deliberations, an eight-member jury awarded Apple $290 million in damages
in the latest round of its legal battle with Samsung, close to the amount the Silicon Valley tech
giant sought for Samsung's copying of the iPhone and iPad in 13Samsung smartphones and
tablets.
Jurors said after the verdict that they were aware the outcome would send a broader message
about patent infringement, particularly in the valley's tech center.
"We felt that was the message of this trial," said juror Barry Goldman-Hall, a San Jose therapist.
"If you invent something, that's a valuable commodity. In this particular business, that's serious."
With the verdict, Apple is owed a total of nearly $930 million for its overall patent infringement
case against Samsung, including the results of last year's trial in which a separate jury found the
South Korean maker of Galaxy smartphones and tablets and other devices violated Apple's
patent rights in dozens of products.
In the most recent trial, the jury largely sided with Apple's demands to be compensated for 13
Samsung smartphones and tablets already found to have copied iPhone and iPad patents, such
as Apple's bounce back and pinch-to-zoom features. The jury broke down damages for each of
the smartphones, finding the Samsung Infuse 4G, at nearly $100 million, and the Droid Charge,
at $60 million, warranted the most damages.
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The Samsung products are an older line of smartphones and tablets long since replaced by
newer models, but the damages case was considered important to the two rivals' patent feud
unfolding in courts around the world. The damages verdict also finally positions the case to
move forward to a federal appeals court, which may decide a host of key legal issues in the
evolving patent battles over smartphone and tablet technology.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ordered a retrial of the damages issue on the 13 Samsung products
after she concluded the first jury improperly calculated damages and slashed more than $400
million from its original $1 billion verdict. The latest jury verdict restores much of that amount.
During the trial, Apple argued that Samsung owed nearly $380 million in damages for infringing
its iPhone and iPad technology, based on Apple's lost profits, Samsung's profits from selling
infringing products and royalties. Samsung, meanwhile, told the jury that Apple had inflated the
worth of its patents and overstated their importance to consumer choice, arguing damages
should not exceed $52 million.
Jurors said Samsung failed to produce much evidence to counter Apple's position. Colleen Allen,
the jury forewoman, said the panel agreed their verdict would "set precedent in the future for
our patent laws."
"If we don't award Apple much, we're saying it's OK to infringe out patent laws," added Allen, an
emergency room nurse from Aromas.
Apple praised the verdict, saying it shows "Samsung that copying has a cost." Samsung vowed
to appeal, calling the verdict "disappointing."
Barring a global settlement, which has eluded the two companies, Apple and Samsung are far
from done with each other. The competitors are set to square off again in March in another
patent trial, this time over more recent smartphones and tablets, although even that case will be
well behind the release of even newer versions of Apple and Samsung products.
In addition, a federal appeals court this week revived Apple's bid to block the U.S. sales of
Samsung infringing products in the case that has been resolved. The issue was sent back to Koh
for further review.
"There is no end in sight," said Brian Love, a Santa Clara University law professor.
Meanwhile, Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the worldwide market for smartphones
and tablets, fueling Apple's parallel rivalry with Google (GOOG) and its Android operating
system, which runs Samsung's products.
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Howard Mintz covers legal affairs. Contact him at 408-286-0236 or follow him at
Twitter.com/hmintz
THE JURY's verdict
The breakdown by products from Thursday's jury verdict in the San Jose federal trial that
restored $290 million in damages awarded in Apple's lawsuit against Samsung for Samsung's
violation of patents in these older devices:
Captivate $21.1 million
Continuum $6.4 million
Droid Charge $60.7 million
Epic 4G $37.9 million
Exhibit 4G $2.4 million
Galaxy Prevail $22.1 million
Galaxy Tab $9.5 million
Gem $4.8 million
Indulge $9.9 million
Infuse 4G $99.9 million
Nexus S 4G $10.5 million
Replenish $3 million
Transform $2.1 million”
I believe that from this article, it is fair that Samsung should pay Apple for the damages that it
had incurred to Apple. I can say this that they should have checked the patent for each of the
products that they are going to produce. These actions should be highly present since they are
one of the biggest technology companies in the world. I believe that they should assign a team
or create a team to avoid losses of money such as this big. This amount of money could be a
great help for them rather than paying it to Apple for their patent issues regarding their
products.
From the Apple Company’s perspective, I believe that they are the opposite of Samsung
Company in a way that they are good with the patent of the products that they are producing.
The process of the Apple Company is complete in terms of filing their products patent because
they make sure that they are the first to create such products just like an Apple iPhone, Apple
iPod Touch, Apple iPod Nano, Apple Mac Book Pro, Apple Mac Book Air, Apple Mac Pro, Apple
iMac, Apple Mac Mini and the previous Apple products such as, Apple iPod Classic, Apple iPod
Photo, Apple iPod Video.
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6.2 TAKING AWAY PROFIT
According to the article that ZDNet wrote about the issue with torrents, it says here that “Italy
looks set to block The Pirate Bay and four other file sharing sites, citing massive illegal
downloading of music, films and other copyrighted digital content.
It is the second time in five years that an Italian court has ordered ISPs to block access to The
Pirate Bay, which was founded in Sweden in 2003. An appeals court quashed the first block in
2008 just months after it had been instituted. Italy's highest court reinstated the block in 2010,
but earlier this year The Pirate Bay came back online in Italy, offering its services through a
different domain name.
The
other
four
sites
blocked
under
Thursday's
ruling
by
the
Bergamo
court
are 1337x.org, h33t.eu, extratorrent.com and torrenthound.com. The Pirate Bay, though blocked
on Friday, remains accessible in Italy through proxy servers.
Illegal downloading is said to be rampant in Italy and music streaming site Spotify wrote in a
recent report that three-quarters of residential Italian internet connections downloaded at least
one song illegally in 2012. The impetus for the court case came from Federazione Industria
Musicale Italiana (FIMI), Italy’s music industry lobby, which has been engaged in an ongoing
battle with file sharing sites. On Friday it defended its actions as both necessary and useful.
"Sure it's easy to get around the block, but no more than 10 to 15 percent of internet users in
Italy know what a proxy is or how to use it," said Luca Vespignani, general secretary of the
FIMI."Generic proxies are unstable, crash often and are exponentially slower than downloading
directly from a file sharing site. If The Pirate Bay sets up its own proxy for Italy, like it has done in
the past, that too will be shut down."
In announcing the court verdict, Italy’s finance police, the Guardia di Finanza, which filed the
case together with the FIMI, said The Pirate Bay’s headquarters were moved to Iceland and
then Saint Martin, an island in the Caribbean, after the site's founders were found guilty by a
Swedish court in 2009 of facilitating copyright infringement.
"Sharing copyrighted content through the internet still leads to heavy losses for the legal market
and leads to a loss of tax revenue (for Italy)," the finance police said in a statement. "This sort
ofillegal activity by the pirate sites generates large profits for their owners, above all through
advertising banners that are hosted on their web pages."
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Vespignani said he was confident the court's decision would not be overturned on appeal since
Italy's highest court has already set the precedent of the illegality of the file sharing sites in the
previous The Pirate Bay case.
"We know illegal downloading of copyrighted material is not going to disappear," Vespignani
aid. "There is no magic wand to make it disappear. The idea is to get it under control and that is
what blocking these sites helps do."”
The issue here about using the idea of torrents is that, companies that get affected lose profits
because their customers would rather download their product than to purchase the original
copy which would be more expensive than just downloading the product which is for free. There
are numerous examples regarding this issue and one of these examples can be of the music
industry. The music industry is composed of music producers, music composers, artists
themselves, technical staff, and etcetera, who invests large amount of money for their industry
for them just to produce a single album for an artist. The issue here about the music industry is
that people from all over the world would only have access to an artist’s album through buying
the original copy or downloading it illegally by using torrents.
People both who upload and download these torrent files for other people to download are
considered as criminals in such ways because these people are the ones doing the illegal act by
not supporting the original copy of the artist’s album by purchasing them.
Another example of this can be in the movies industry, companies who invest in this industry
would most likely to lose more amount of money than the music industry because there would
be more personnel that are involved such as the movie producer, directors, movie artists,
cinematographers, the crew, and etcetera. The movie industry would have to invest more
amount of money for them to gain a large amount of profit as well. But they would not earn
their estimated amount of return in income if people who upload and download would not
support the movies by purchasing the original copy as well. And for them to cam cord the movie
would have another violation and some criminal charges, criminal penalties, and there is a law
regarding the Anti-Camcording Law which will be stated below.
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“REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10088
AN ACT TO PROHIBIT AND PENALIZE THE UNAUTHORIZED USE, POSSESSION AND/OR
CONTROL OF AUDIOVISUAL RECORDING DEVICES FOR THE UNAUTHORIZED RECORDING OF
CINEMATOGRAPHIC FILMS AND OTHER AUDIOVISUAL WORKS AND/OR THEIR SOUNDTRACKS
IN AN EXHIBITION FACILITY, PROVIDING PENALTIES THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:
Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Anti-Camcording Act of 2010".
Section 2. Definition of Terms. - For purposes of this Act:
(a)"Audiovisual work" means a work that consists of a series of related images which are
intrinsically intended to be shown by the use of machines or devices such as projectors, viewers
or electronic equipment, together with accompanying sounds, if any, regardless of the nature of
the material objects, such as films or tapes, in which the works are embodied.
(b)"Audiovisual recording device" means a digital or analog photographic or video camera, or
any other technology or device capable of enabling the recording or transmission of a
cinematographic film or other audiovisual work, or any part thereof, regardless of whether
audiovisual recording is the sole or primary purpose of the device.
(c)"Authorized person" means the members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and/or any other person duly authorized by the same to
exercise powers conferred upon by this Act.
(d)"Camcording" means any of the unlawful acts enumerated under Section 3 of this Act.
(e)"Cinematographic film" means any audiovisual work consisting of a series of related images
which, when shown in succession, impart an impression of motion, together with accompanying
sounds, if any.
(f)"Copy" means any article or thing in which the visual images or sounds comprised in any
cinematographic film or audiovisual work are embodied, and includes the making of a copy
which is in electronic format or transient or incidental to some other use thereof.
(g)"Copyright owner" means any one who has the exclusive rights comprised in a copyright as
provided under Republic Act No. 8293, otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code of the
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Philippines and related international treaties, conventions or agreements to which the Republic
of the Philippines is a party.
(h)"Exclusive licensee" means a licensee who is authorized in writing and who, on behalf of the
owner or prospective owner of copyright, to the exclusion of all other persons, is authorized to
do an act within the Philippines that, by virtue of this Act, the owner of the copyright would, but
for the license, have the exclusive right to do or to perform.
(i)"Exhibition facility" means any cinema, film theater, screening room, projection room or other
venue that is used for the public exhibition of a cinematographic film or audiovisual work,
whether or not a fee is chargeable.
(j)"Operator of an exhibition facility" means any person or entity who holds or is required to
hold a license by the Securities and Exchange Commission CSEC, for companies and
partnerships), the Department of Trade and Industry ('DTI', for sole proprietorships), the Movie
and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) or any and all other relevant
government offices that have, or will have jurisdiction over exhibition facilities to operate the
exhibition facility.
(k)"Relevant authority" means the officers, members and responsible personnel of law
enforcement agencies such as the PNP and their adjuncts and the NBI.
(l)'Transmit" means to convey by any means, whether over a path or a combination of paths,
provided by a material substance or by wireless means or otherwise, and whether or not in
response to a request made.
Section 3. Acts Constituting Unauthorized Possession, Use and/or Control of Audiovisual
Recording Devices. - It shall be unlawful for any person, at a time when copyright subsists in a
cinematographic film or other audiovisual work or its soundtrack and without the authorization
of the copyright owner or exclusive licensee thereof, to:
(a)use or attempt to use an audiovisual recording device to transmit or make a copy of any
performance in an exhibition facility of such cinematographic film or other audiovisual work or
its soundtrack, or any part thereof;
(b)have in his/her possession, an audiovisual recording device in an exhibition facility, with the
intent of using or attempts to use the audiovisual recording device to transmit or make a copy
of any performance in the exhibition facility of such cinematographic film or other audiovisual
work or its soundtrack, or any part thereof; or
(c)aid, abet or connive in the commission of the acts prohibited under this section.
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Section 4. Penalties. - A person who will be found guilty of violating the provisions of Section 3
shall be subject to a fine of Fifty thousand pesos (Php50,000.00) but not exceeding Seven
hundred fifty thousand pesos (Php750,000.00) and imprisonment of six (6) months and one (1)
day to six (6) years and one (1) day.
If the purpose of the commission of the abovementioned acts is the sale, rental or other
commercial distribution of a copy of the cinematographic or audiovisual work or its soundtrack,
or any part thereof, the penalty shall be imposed in the maximum.
If the offender is an alien, said person shall immediately be deported after payment of the fine
and after serving his/her sentence. He/She shall thereafter be refused entry into the Philippines.
If the offender is a government official or employee, the penalty shall include perpetual
disqualification from public office and forfeiture of his/her right to vote and participate in any
public election for a period of five (5) years.
Section 5. Presumptions as to the Subsistence of Copyright and/or Ownership of Copyright. For purposes of Section 3, copyright shall be presumed to subsist in the subject
cinematographic film or other audiovisual work or its soundtrack if the accused does not put in
issue the question as to whether copyright subsists therein. However:
(a)where the accused puts such question in issue but does not satisfy the court that he/she does
so in good faith, the presumption as to the subsistence of copyright herein shall apply,
notwithstanding that the accused puts that question in issue;
(b)where the name of a person appears on copies of the subject cinematographic film or other
audiovisual work or its soundtrack as made available to the public in such a way as to imply that
the person was the maker thereof and, in the case of a person other than a body corporate, that
name was his/her true name or a name by which he/she was commonly known, that person shall
be presumed to be the maker thereof and the copyright owner thereof, unless the contrary is
established; and/or
(c)where the accused puts in issue the question of whether copyright subsists in the subject
cinematographic film or other audiovisual work or its soundtrack, or the ownership of the
copyright therein, an affidavit made in behalf of the copyright owner in which he/she makes
assertions of facts relevant to showing that: (1) copyright subsists in the work or other subject
matter; and/or, as the case may be, (2) he/she is the owner of the copyright, shall be admitted in
evidence and shall be prima facie proof of the matters stated therein until the contrary is
proved, unless the court requires that oral/testimonial evidence be adduced to prove those
matters.
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Section 6. No Defense on Account of Use for Private or Domestic Purposes. - It shall not be a
defense that the transmission or making of the copy of the cinematographic film or other
audiovisual work or its soundtrack, or any part thereof, was for private or domestic purposes or
in connection with a fair use deal.
Section 7. Requirement for Posting of Notices in an Exhibition Facility on the Prohibition Against
the Bringing into Said Exhibition Facility of Audiovisual Recording Devices and the Like. - All
exhibition facilities, cinemas or theaters shall be required to conspicuously post in at least two
(2) areas in the exhibition facility including, but not limited to, the areas where tickets are sold
and the entrances of the exhibition facilities, notices or signages warning against the bringing of
audiovisual recording devices into the cinematographic film/audiovisual screening/exhibition
area, with a reservation that the management/operator of the exhibition facility will take into
preventive and temporary custody such audiovisual recording device/s until the film/movie
theater patron leaves the screening/exhibition area/facility.
Failure of the management/operator of the exhibition facility to comply with the foregoing
requirement will subject said management/operator liable to pay a fine of Fifty thousand pesos
(Php50,000.00).
Nothing in this Act shall prevent the management from performing such other precautionary
measures so as to prevent the commission of the acts punishable herein.
Section 8. Powers of Authorized Persons to Enter an Exhibition Facility and Search the Same. An authorized person, without a warrant and without payment of any admission fee or other
charge, may enter and search any exhibition facility if the authorized person has reasonable
ground to believe that any violation of this Act has been or is being committed and, due to the
delay necessary to obtain a warrant could result in the loss or destruction of evidence, or for any
other reason it would not be reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant.
Section 9. Other Powers of Authorized Persons. - An authorized person who has reasonable
ground to believe that a violation under this Act has been or is being committed may:
(a)search any person if the person subject of the search has in his/her actual possession, any
audiovisual recording device, in respect of which an offense under this Act has been or is being
committed;
(b)seize, remove or detain any audiovisual recording device or other object which appears to
contain, or likely to contain evidence of an offense committed under this Act;
(c)use reasonable force to remove any person or object obstructing the authorized person in the
exercise of any power conferred upon him/her by this Act;
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(d)detain any person, within a reasonable time not exceeding eighteen (18) hours, found in any
place which the authorized person is empowered to enter and search if, after inquiry made, said
authorized person has reasonable ground to believe that the person subject of the search is
connected with the subject matter of the search and it is considered necessary to detain the
person subject of the search to be able to adequately perform the search; and
(e)require the operator of an exhibition facility or any other person who appears to be at the
time responsible for the control or management of the exhibition facility to give information or
render assistance that may be necessary to enable the authorized person to carry out the
functions under this Act.
Section 10. Forfeiture and Disposal of Unauthorized Copy of Cinematographic Film or Other
Audiovisual Work /Audiovisual Recording Devices Used in the Commission of the Acts Penalized
Under this Act. - The court before which a person charged with an offense in
violation/contravention of this Act, whether or not said person charged is convicted of the
offense, may order that any copy of a cinematographic film or other audiovisual work in which
copyright subsists, or parts thereof which appears to the court to be an unauthorized copy, and
any audiovisual recording device or other equipment in the possession of the alleged offender
or the court, be destroyed or delivered to the owner or the exclusive licensee of the copyright
owner concerned or otherwise dealt with in such a manner as the court deems fit.
In the event that the court retains representative samples of the unauthorized copy of a
cinematographic film or other audiovisual work, or audiovisual recording devices or other
equipment for evidentiary purposes in the prosecution of the offense for which an accused is
charged, the retained samples shall remain in custodia legis until the final resolution of the court
proceedings thereon.
Section 11. Enforcement. - The PNP, in coordination with the NBI, the Optical Media Board
(OMB), operators of the cinemas, theaters or exhibition facilities and owners of the
cinematographic films or audiovisual works and other soundtracks, shall enforce the provisions
of this Act. The PNP may deputize, for a defined period, the heads or personnel of such agencies
and instrumentalities of government or private sector representatives or stakeholders of rights
over cinematographic films/audiovisual works and their soundtracks, to perform, the
enforcement functions required under this Act.
Section 12. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act is declared invalid, the other parts or
provisions hereof not affected thereby shall remain and continue to be in full force and effect.
Section 13. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, ordinances or rules and regulations which are
inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions of this Act are hereby amended or repealed.
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Section 14. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its complete publication
in at least two (2) newspapers of national circulation.”
Upon seeing and reading this Law, we should not be a supporter of those pirated copies of
movies, music albums, games, and applications so that those people who pirate these copies
would not be encouraged of pirating these products again and again. This is how we can control
the piracy of products.
But there is also a good side in supporting these torrent files and those who upload and
download these products because these products such as the movies, music albums, games,
and applications would be easily popular since the viewers, users, and listeners would greatly
increase because it is free for download.
6.3 PROPER SOCIAL NETWORKING
According to the article that Forbes’ has written, it says here that “After a long day at the office,
imagine logging onto Facebook to see what your friends have been up to, only to have your
boss or colleague message you about an urgent work matter. Aside from the fact that you are
officially off duty, is it appropriate for your coworker to reach out to you through a social
networking forum? Was it wise to accept a colleague or higher-up as a “friend” to begin with?
And–perhaps more importantly–in this day and age, when people are seemingly available
around the clock because of smart phones and our endless appetite for all things online, is
anyone ever really “off duty?”
As Facebook, Twitter and 24-hour BlackBerry access blur the lines between business and
personal lives, managers and employees are struggling to develop new social norms to guide
them through the ongoing evolution of communications technology. Wharton faculty and other
experts say the process of creating rules to cope with the ever-expanding reach of modern
communications has just begun, but will be shaped largely by individuals and organizations, not
top-down decrees from a digital Emily Post.
Generational differences in the approach to openness on the Internet will also be a factor in
coming to common understandings of how and when it is appropriate to contact colleagues,
superiors or clients.
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“There are huge etiquette issues around the new social media, especially the interactive type,”
says Wharton management professor Nancy Rothbard. “What if your boss friends you on
Facebook? That’s a dilemma. How do you not accept that friend? What if you really are friends?”
According to Rothbard, new communications technology is eroding the boundaries
between home and office, which creates a “double-edged sword” for companies. “On the one
hand, it enables flexibility. In some ways, it makes you more effective. But it can also lead to a lot
of burnout. In the long term, it may lead to conflict about how you feel towards your other life
roles and your ability to be fully present in any one domain.”
For example, a BlackBerry can allow parents to attend their children’s soccer games while
remaining in contact with colleagues at the office in case an emergency comes up. But, she
adds, “you have your BlackBerry at your kid’s soccer game. That’s another … line you may be
crossing.”
The explosion in the popularity of Facebook has made the site a key battleground in the
struggle to establish consensus on correct social networking behavior. Rothbard notes that
initially, many businesspeople attempted to use LinkedIn for business contacts, reserving
Facebook for more personal interactions. Gradually, however, professional colleagues, clients
and supervisors have now become “friends.”
Wharton professor of legal studies and business ethics Andrea Matwyshynhad intended to keep
her Facebook page strictly personal, but was forced to open it up when colleagues in Europe
chose to use Facebook as a means for organizing a conference. Through that initial group of
professional friends, other business contacts began to reach out to Matwyshyn on Facebook. “I
felt social pressure to build out my social network, because at that point I had about three
friends,” she says. “That’s how Facebook gets you.”
Multiple ‘Selves’
For most people who use Facebook and other social networking sites, says Wharton marketing
professor Patricia Williams, “there is an understanding of the multiple roles we play. There is the
self we are for our friends, a self for our family [and] a professional self. What’s interesting is the
degree to which we are comfortable playing all of those ‘selves’ at one time.” And that is
something that people are not used to doing. Before the advent of such networks, it was
unusual for someone to display a persona that would seem familiar to friends, coworkers and
family–all at the same time.
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“I’ve heard people say that Facebook is for personal friends and LinkedIn is for professional
contacts,” Williams notes. “But many of my Facebook friends are my colleagues–people who
work just down the hall–and I don’t have a problem with that. I do, however, have some
discomfort being ‘Facebook friends’ with my students, because it gives them access to my
personal self that’s not normally available to them.”
At the same time, Williams’ students, especially the undergraduates, have not yet developed a
sense of their professional self. Consequently, she believes, they may be less cautious about the
image they project on social networks, even when they may be visible to bosses, clients–or
teachers.
Williams and a colleague, Wharton marketing professor Americus Reed II, are conducting
research that examines the conflict between individuals’ various identities, “such as when my
role as a professional comes into conflict with my role as a mother,” Williams says. In mixing up
personal and professional roles, people can get themselves into embarrassing situations. “I think
some people are good, and some people are not so good, at finding a balance in these roles”
and keeping information that would be perceived as too personal out of a professional context.
Workplace conflicts have also come up at companies where managers have limited or banned
Facebook for being a distraction and monitor employees’ personal pages for images or
comments that might reflect poorly on the business. At the same time, Matwyshyn says some
companies require employees to maintain blogs or to Twitter as a way to market the
firm.Microsoft , she notes, encourages social networking on the job. “It all depends on how
people use the social media. For some people, Twitter feeds can be a great business outreach
mechanism, and so posting items to Twitter may be considered by some companies or
individuals to be part of their job.” Social networking can help personalize or humanize a
business culture, and many companies have their own Facebook page, she adds.
Generational Approaches
Communications researchers, and the companies that look to them for advice, have a lot to
learn about how or if employers should control or encourage their employees’ use of social
networks, according to Williams. Certainly, employees who are talking about their workplace on
Facebook could be considered to be “exposing the brand,” which can be good or bad,
depending on what aspect of the brand is being exposed. “So, the question is whether that is
helpful or harmful to the workplace or the brand.”
Monica McGrath, a Wharton adjunct management professor, says that some of the
misunderstanding about social networking is generational. Older workers and managers may
have a Facebook page, but it is not essential to them. Younger workers now entering the
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corporate world rely heavily on Facebook, Twitter and other social media to communicate.
“Right now, there is tension between those two generational approaches,” notes McGrath.
While networking etiquette is in flux, standards will develop, she predicts. Typically, business
norms evolve through official policy disseminated by organizations and by “reality” that bubbles
up from the organization’s grassroots. “The question is: How accessible do you want to be?
[Today,] young people want to be very accessible, and in an international corporation you are
expected to be available [around the clock]. Time zones mean nothing. The norms will continue
to develop based upon generational leadership.”
While the norms are in transition, McGrath says she does not think that corporations will try to
create standards through official policies. “It really depends on the corporate context or even
the individual context. If you are working on an important project and a number of people
depend on your input, you would [want to] be much more available than if you have finished
the project and are on vacation. The etiquette of that is more dependent on the individual and
his or her priorities.”
McGrath, who is also a human resources consultant, says she–like most entrepreneurs–is
typically available around the clock. But “as long as nothing is perking,” she turns off her phone.
“People need to determine what makes sense. If the boss is up at midnight sending e-mail,
some people are OK with that, but other people are not. If you have family priorities that are
different than [those of] the boss, you have to work that out.”
Business consultant Terri Thompson, founder of Etiquette in Action in Paris, Ky., says the same
idea applies to managing the scope of social networks. Cautious friending is one way to keep a
Facebook page from becoming a business liability, she adds. “It’s not that impressive to have
500 friends on Facebook or LinkedIn whom you don’t know, and you don’t know what they
might say.”
BlackBerrys in Meetings
Sigal Barsade, a Wharton management professor, says the uncertainty over access etiquette is
the result of fundamental changes that computer-mediated technologies have made to basic
human communication. Much of the confusion is due to the inability to have a reciprocal
conversation in the context of, say, Twitter or Facebook postings. “So it’s hard to cue in exactly
as to what the etiquette should be at the moment, because it’s sequential. The brevity and lack
of richness of these computer-mediated technologies make it harder to behave in ways that
people are used to.”
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She says there are likely to be two major paths to developing etiquette for today’s new forms of
communication. One is through the introduction of new people into an organization who bring
with them norms that gradually become accepted. For example, she recalls a student who had
worked at an investment bank in New York and transferred to an office in the Midwest. During a
one-on-one meeting with a manager, the newcomer made the mistake of answering his
BlackBerry. The manger scolded the transplant, who was baffled because his former manager in
New York had always answered his BlackBerry during meetings. For now, Barsade says, the
Midwest customs would prevail in that setting, but as others from outside organizations enter,
the office’s subculture is likely to change.
The other way that etiquette around new communication devices is likely to evolve is through
social information within the organization. “People influence each other,” she says. The most
important determinants of socialization in any organization are managerial role models. Workers
watch top managers and their immediate supervisors to learn what is accepted and, better yet,
rewarded in the organization. This is more powerful than corporate edicts issued by the human
resources department, and even stronger when senior leaders and operational managers are in
sync. “If this is something senior management cares about, it will be a top-down process, which
can be more systematic and effective than a bottom-up process,” she notes.
Given that power, wouldn’t managers demand all-access, all the time? Not necessarily, says
Barsade: “Senior management is increasingly recognizing the downside to constant availability,
and may well need to [rein] employees in from over-using the technology. This can be seen in
firms that have days, or times of day, that employees are told not to use computer-mediated
technology. Also, senior management would have to manage being [on the receiving end] of
that much access, which could be a problem in its own right.”
Communication ‘Pecking Order’
According to Thompson, there is a general “pecking order” in the business community when it
comes to responding to different forms of communication. E-mail should be answered within 24
hours and a telephone call returned even sooner. Social networking sites take the lowest
priority. The order makes sense because a phone call or e-mail seeks specific information from
the one individual being contacted. Social networks come last because, she notes, they are a
wide-open forum where communications is less targeted at one individual.
Then there is the question of the professional colleague on Facebook who, while eagerly
awaiting your response to a work-related deliverable, notices that you have been busy updating
your Facebook page with social news. Is it proper to call someone out for such an apparent
dereliction of duty? Again, it all boils down to context, says Williams. “I can imagine being in a
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situation where maybe I need to take a break and blow off steam by saying something on
Facebook.”
Rothbard notes that Facebook itself is not likely to take a role in establishing norms to sort out
the conflicts between business and personal friending. “I don’t know if Facebook wants to be
Emily Post,” she says. Social networking sites might emphasize options that allow users or
organizations to tailor their own norms for dealing with problems that can crop up when mixing
business and personal communications, she suggests.
Matwyshyn does not expect another site to evolve as a replacement for the highly personal
space that once defined Facebook before it was infiltrated by business and professional users. “If
you have built up 500 Facebook friends, that’s a sunk cost,” she says. “If you stop using it, you’re
cutting off 500 connections and the switching costs are high. So, there’s a stickiness in the use of
the application.”
Meanwhile, the root of many of the awkward situations that arise around the use of Facebook
and other social networking sites is giving out too much information, faculty emphasize.
Rothbard says that in face-to-face communications, people are much more careful about the
volume and nature of the information they disclose. On the Internet, however, “there is a lot of
lack of awareness–or obliviousness–about who is receiving this information.” Someone using
Twitter, for example, may think that only 20 people will read their message; meanwhile, millions
of unknown people may stumble upon the information. Matwyshyn agrees that users of social
networking sites must be more cognizant of the viral nature of their posts, especially in any
context where work and private life are intertwined. “They have to realize there do potential
negative consequences that can flow from coworkers know more about you than is prudent.””
Upon seeing and reading this article, we may have to say that we should practice proper
networking etiquette because we may somehow affect someone else. There are some tips I
believe that would help to practice and follow the proper etiquette. The first practice that I have
thought about is to avoid taking selfies. Selfies, according to Oxford Dictionaries mean that it is
“a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam
and uploaded to a social media website”. If we would really want to contribute to the affected
people such as the victims of the Typhoon Yolanda or also known as the Typhoon Haiyan, we
should avoid taking these selfies because to some other people, it may seem like a sign of
disrespect. To explain what the Typhoon Yolanda or the Typhoon Haiyan means, according to
Wikipedia, they described it by saying that “Typhoon Haiyan, known as Typhoon Yolanda in the
Philippines, was an exceptionally powerful tropical cyclone that devastated portions of
Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines, in early November 2013.” Rather than thinking only
about ourselves, we should also learn to think about the welfare of other people specially those
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who are in affected. Another tip rather than taking selfies of your self is to take pictures of
statements that contain important details to help those in need.
Another thing that we should notice is that we should avoid taking pictures of food since there
are other people who are hungry.
Another thing is that we should stop joking around especially when the joke is about the
affected by the typhoon, because this would seem to be disrespectful as well.
Another thing is that we should not boast around and let other people know that we helped the
needy.
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CHAPTER 7
CYBER CRIME
7.1 HACKING
According to the article that Yahoo! News have written that I have just read, it is about Microsoft
and hacking and it says that “REDMOND, Washington (Reuters) - The maker of the most popular
computer operating system in the world is launching a new strategy against criminal hackers by
bringing together security engineers, digital forensics experts and lawyers trained in fighting
software pirates under one roof at its new Cybercrime Center.
Microsoft Corp's expanded Digital Crimes Unit inside the 16,800-square foot, high-security
facility combines a wide array of tactics that have worked the best: massive data gathering and
analysis, gumshoe detective work, high-level diplomacy and creative lawyering.
The new approach, to be launched on Thursday, is the latest attempt to close the gap created in
the past decade as criminal hackers innovated in technology and business methods to stay
ahead of adversaries mired in the slow-moving world of international law enforcement.
Already, many of the biggest victories against organized online criminals have come when
private companies have worked together to seize control of the networks of hacked computers,
called botnets, that carry out criminal operations. Though it is at times derided for the security
shortfalls in its own products, Microsoft has led more of those seizures than any other company.
"Cybercrime is getting worse," Digital Crimes Unit chief David Finn told Reuters during an
exclusive visit to the Redmond, Washington, campus building this week. But Finn hopes that by
mixing specialists from various professional arenas, Microsoft can get better.
The center features a lab for dissecting malicious software samples that is accessible only with
fingerprint authorization. In another room, a monitor tracks the countries and Internet service
providers with the greatest number of machines belonging to some of the worst botnets.
Next to a situation room with a wall-sized, touch-screen monitor sit rows of empty offices for
visiting police, Microsoft customers or other allies expected to join specific missions for days or
weeks at a time.
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There are hundreds or thousands of botnets, and Microsoft is trying to get only the biggest or
most damaging, or else to pursue fights that would establish key precedents.
In the past few years "at least half of the major, significant takedowns have been driven by
Microsoft," said Steve Santorelli, a former Microsoft investigator and Scotland Yard cybercrime
detective who now works at a security nonprofit group called Team Cymru.
Microsoft has tangled with a Mexican mafia family that proudly put brand labels on pirated
Xbox game CDs, a ring that took online payments via a parking garage in Malaga, Spain, and a
Russian virus writer paid with a paper bag full of cash -- by a 12-year-old boy on a bike.
Outside security experts praised the cross-pollination of fraud, security and software specialists.
"That kind of integration is only for the better. The financial sector has been thinking along
those lines as well," said Greg Garcia, a former cybersecurity official at the Department of
Homeland Security and at Bank of America who now advises the banking industry's main
cybersecurity coordination group, known as FS-ISAC.
The crimes unit doesn't tackle government spying, where Microsoft is among the major Internet
companies that have turned over large amounts of data on users to the U.S. National Security
Agency (it is suing for the right to disclose how much). And another unit within Microsoft is in
charge of making the company's products less susceptible to hacking.
PIRACY SQUAD PROTECTS WINDOWS
About 80 of the crime unit's 100 staffers have focused on the piracy of Microsoft products, with
far fewer devoted to deconstructing the methods of criminals attacking Microsoft users and
stopping them when possible.
But time and again, the piracy squad has found counterfeiters who were using botnets that also
sent spam or attacked websites with denial-of-service attacks, or who slipped malicious software
into copied Microsoft wares, or who had other ties to broader security issues.
In one test, undercover Microsoft employees bought 20 new computers in China the way
average consumers would. All had pirated versions of Windows, and all had at least traces of
malicious software. An expanded pool of 169 machines included 18 percent ready to receive
electronic commands as part of a botnet called Nitol.
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More critically, the piracy people bring experience with unusually powerful U.S. copyright laws.
With a strong preliminary showing in court that their goods are being misrepresented, copyright
owners can win orders allowing them to seize the offending property without prior notice.
In an innovative and aggressive twist, Microsoft has been using that law to seize website
addresses, including those used by criminals to control botnets.
"Microsoft really has done a very positive job in a couple of areas, and one of those is
construction of legal frameworks that create precedents that allow future actions," said Jeff
Williams, head of security strategy at Dell Inc's SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit.
The Nitol case was remarkable in that it and other botnets were connecting to 70,000 addresses
at a Chinese web domain-name seller called 3322.org. Microsoft won the right to filter all
connections to those addresses and blocked more than 7 million attempts in 16 days. The owner
of 3322 agreed to settle Microsoft's lawsuit and to drop other bad addresses identified by
Microsoft or Chinese Internet security officials in the future.
Microsoft also felled a botnet called Rustock, once one of the biggest sources of spam on the
planet. More recently, it teamed with banks to seriously hurt two operations that sell do-ityourself kits for crafting smaller botnets that have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from
online accounts.
The takedowns are often dramatic, with armed raids on multiple locations where servers are
housed. If there are many control computers and they don't get disconnected within minutes of
one another, the surviving machines can issue new commands and recreate the entire network.
During one raid in Pennsylvania, an executive at the bad web page's hosting company was
cooperating when the site's owner realized what was happening and changed his password
from afar, locking out the official. The Microsoft team pulled out the cables to save the day.
Finn and Microsoft crime expert Richard Boscovich, a fellow former federal prosecutor, said they
are working on new means to take down even more sophisticated botnets, which are controlled
through a peer-to-peer mechanism instead of through centralized servers.
"You'll be seeing some interesting stuff in the near future," Boscovich promised. "This is an area
where what is good for the business is good for society."”
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Based from this article, I believe that this is a real turning point that Microsoft came up
with a new strategy to use against hackers. Cyber Crime has been going around the news for
quite some time now. And I believe that this is the right time to make a move against these
cyber criminals which are called the hackers. These hackers are so dangerous because they can
do almost what they want to do with your machine or your accounts. I believe that hackers are
so dangerous that they can get access to your machine or your accounts without you even
noticing. Good thing that Microsoft has found out a new system that is more secure. This would
really make us feel more secure since we know that a company, which is Microsoft, is doing
something against Cyber Crime. If hackers are to continue what they usually do, which is illegal,
they would be in a very big trouble, especially when it comes to the people or the companies or
the organizations that are really serious when it comes to illegal acts such as this and if they will
not stop hacking, they would have violations against the law, some criminal charges, criminal
penalties, and there is a law regarding the Cybercrime Law which will be stated below.
“Republic Act No. 10175
AN ACT DEFINING CYBERCRIME, PROVIDING FOR THE PREVENTION, INVESTIGATION,
SUPPRESSION AND THE IMPOSITION OF PENALTIES THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
SECTION 1. Title. — This Act shall be known as the “Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012″.
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. — The State recognizes the vital role of information and
communications industries such as content production, telecommunications, broadcasting
electronic commerce, and data processing, in the nation’s overall social and economic
development. The State also recognizes the importance of providing an environment conducive
to the development, acceleration, and rational application and exploitation of information and
communications technology (ICT) to attain free, easy, and intelligible access to exchange and/or
delivery of information; and the need to protect and safeguard the integrity of computer,
computer and communications systems, networks, and databases, and the confidentiality,
integrity, and availability of information and data stored therein, from all forms of misuse, abuse,
and illegal access by making punishable under the law such conduct or conducts. In this light,
the State shall adopt sufficient powers to effectively prevent and combat such offenses by
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facilitating their detection, investigation, and prosecution at both the domestic and international
levels, and by providing arrangements for fast and reliable international cooperation.
SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. — For purposes of this Act, the following terms are hereby defined
as follows:
(a) Access refers to the instruction, communication with, storing data in, retrieving data from, or
otherwise making use of any resources of a computer system or communication network.
(b) Alteration refers to the modification or change, in form or substance, of an existing computer
data or program.
(c) Communication refers to the transmission of information through ICT media, including voice,
video and other forms of data.
(d) Computer refers to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electrochemical, or other data processing
or communications device, or grouping of such devices, capable of performing logical,
arithmetic, routing, or storage functions and which includes any storage facility or equipment or
communications facility or equipment directly related to or operating in conjunction with such
device. It covers any type of computer device including devices with data processing capabilities
like mobile phones, smart phones, computer networks and other devices connected to the
internet.
(e) Computer data refers to any representation of facts, information, or concepts in a form
suitable for processing in a computer system including a program suitable to cause a computer
system to perform a function and includes electronic documents and/or electronic data
messages whether stored in local computer systems or online.
(f) Computer program refers to a set of instructions executed by the computer to achieve
intended results.
(g) Computer system refers to any device or group of interconnected or related devices, one or
more of which, pursuant to a program, performs automated processing of data. It covers any
type of device with data processing capabilities including, but not limited to, computers and
mobile phones. The device consisting of hardware and software may include input, output and
storage components which may stand alone or be connected in a network or other similar
devices. It also includes computer data storage devices or media.
(h) Without right refers to either: (i) conduct undertaken without or in excess of authority; or (ii)
conduct not covered by established legal defenses, excuses, court orders, justifications, or
relevant principles under the law.
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(i) Cyber refers to a computer or a computer network, the electronic medium in which online
communication takes place.
(j) Critical infrastructure refers to the computer systems, and/or networks, whether physical or
virtual, and/or the computer programs, computer data and/or traffic data so vital to this country
that the incapacity or destruction of or interference with such system and assets would have a
debilitating impact on security, national or economic security, national public health and safety,
or any combination of those matters.
(k) Cybersecurity refers to the collection of tools, policies, risk management approaches, actions,
training, best practices, assurance and technologies that can be used to protect the cyber
environment and organization and user’s assets.
(l) Database refers to a representation of information, knowledge, facts, concepts, or instructions
which are being prepared, processed or stored or have been prepared, processed or stored in a
formalized manner and which are intended for use in a computer system.
(m) Interception refers to listening to, recording, monitoring or surveillance of the content of
communications, including procuring of the content of data, either directly, through access and
use of a computer system or indirectly, through the use of electronic eavesdropping or tapping
devices, at the same time that the communication is occurring.
(n) Service provider refers to:
(1) Any public or private entity that provides to users of its service the ability to communicate by
means of a computer system; and
(2) Any other entity that processes or stores computer data on behalf of such communication
service or users of such service.
(o) Subscriber’s information refers to any information contained in the form of computer data or
any other form that is held by a service provider, relating to subscribers of its services other than
traffic or content data and by which identity can be established:
(1) The type of communication service used, the technical provisions taken thereto and the
period of service;
(2) The subscriber’s identity, postal or geographic address, telephone and other access numbers,
any assigned network address, billing and payment information, available on the basis of the
service agreement or arrangement; and
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(3) Any other available information on the site of the installation of communication equipment,
available on the basis of the service agreement or arrangement.
(p) Traffic data or non-content data refers to any computer data other than the content of the
communication including, but not limited to, the communication’s origin, destination, route,
time, date, size, duration, or type of underlying service.
CHAPTER II
PUNISHABLE ACTS
SEC. 4. Cybercrime Offenses. — The following acts constitute the offense of cybercrime
punishable under this Act:
(a) Offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems:
(1) Illegal Access. – The access to the whole or any part of a computer system without right.
(2) Illegal Interception. – The interception made by technical means without right of any nonpublic transmission of computer data to, from, or within a computer system including
electromagnetic emissions from a computer system carrying such computer data.
(3) Data Interference. — The intentional or reckless alteration, damaging, deletion or
deterioration of computer data, electronic document, or electronic data message, without right,
including the introduction or transmission of viruses.
(4) System Interference. — The intentional alteration or reckless hindering or interference with
the functioning of a computer or computer network by inputting, transmitting, damaging,
deleting, deteriorating, altering or suppressing computer data or program, electronic document,
or electronic data message, without right or authority, including the introduction or transmission
of viruses.
(5) Misuse of Devices.
(i) The use, production, sale, procurement, importation, distribution, or otherwise making
available, without right, of:
(aa) A device, including a computer program, designed or adapted primarily for the purpose of
committing any of the offenses under this Act; or
(bb) A computer password, access code, or similar data by which the whole or any part of a
computer system is capable of being accessed with intent that it be used for the purpose of
committing any of the offenses under this Act.
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(ii) The possession of an item referred to in paragraphs 5(i)(aa) or (bb) above with intent to use
said devices for the purpose of committing any of the offenses under this section.
(6) Cyber-squatting. – The acquisition of a domain name over the internet in bad faith to profit,
mislead, destroy reputation, and deprive others from registering the same, if such a domain
name is:
(i) Similar, identical, or confusingly similar to an existing trademark registered with the
appropriate government agency at the time of the domain name registration:
(ii) Identical or in any way similar with the name of a person other than the registrant, in case of
a personal name; and
(iii) Acquired without right or with intellectual property interests in it.
(b) Computer-related Offenses:
(1) Computer-related Forgery. —
(i) The input, alteration, or deletion of any computer data without right resulting in inauthentic
data with the intent that it be considered or acted upon for legal purposes as if it were
authentic, regardless whether or not the data is directly readable and intelligible; or
(ii) The act of knowingly using computer data which is the product of computer-related forgery
as defined herein, for the purpose of perpetuating a fraudulent or dishonest design.
(2) Computer-related Fraud. — The unauthorized input, alteration, or deletion of computer data
or program or interference in the functioning of a computer system, causing damage thereby
with fraudulent intent: Provided, That if no
damage has yet been caused, the penalty imposable shall be one (1) degree lower.
(3) Computer-related Identity Theft. – The intentional acquisition, use, misuse, transfer,
possession, alteration or deletion of identifying information belonging to another, whether
natural or juridical, without right: Provided, That if no damage has yet been caused, the penalty
imposable shall be one (1) degree lower.
(c) Content-related Offenses:
(1) Cybersex. — The willful engagement, maintenance, control, or operation, directly or
indirectly, of any lascivious exhibition of sexual organs or sexual activity, with the aid of a
computer system, for favor or consideration.
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(2) Child Pornography. — The unlawful or prohibited acts defined and punishable by Republic
Act No. 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, committed through a computer
system: Provided, That the penalty to be imposed shall be (1) one degree higher than that
provided for in Republic Act No. 9775.
(3) Unsolicited Commercial Communications. — The transmission of commercial electronic
communication with the use of computer system which seek to advertise, sell, or offer for sale
products and services are prohibited unless:
(i) There is prior affirmative consent from the recipient; or
(ii) The primary intent of the communication is for service and/or administrative announcements
from the sender to its existing users, subscribers or customers; or
(iii) The following conditions are present:
(aa) The commercial electronic communication contains a simple, valid, and reliable way for the
recipient to reject. receipt of further commercial electronic messages (opt-out) from the same
source;
(bb) The commercial electronic communication does not purposely disguise the source of the
electronic message; and
(cc) The commercial electronic communication does not purposely include misleading
information in any part of the message in order to induce the recipients to read the message.
(4) Libel. — The unlawful or prohibited acts of libel as defined in Article 355 of the Revised Penal
Code, as amended, committed through a computer system or any other similar means which
may be devised in the future.
SEC. 5. Other Offenses. — The following acts shall also constitute an offense:
(a) Aiding or Abetting in the Commission of Cybercrime. – Any person who willfully abets or aids
in the commission of any of the offenses enumerated in this Act shall be held liable.
(b) Attempt in the Commission of Cybercrime. — Any person who willfully attempts to commit
any of the offenses enumerated in this Act shall be held liable.
SEC. 6. All crimes defined and penalized by the Revised Penal Code, as amended, and special
laws, if committed by, through and with the use of information and communications
technologies shall be covered by the relevant provisions of this Act: Provided, That the penalty
to be imposed shall be one (1) degree higher than that provided for by the Revised Penal Code,
as amended, and special laws, as the case may be.
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SEC. 7. Liability under Other Laws. — A prosecution under this Act shall be without prejudice to
any liability for violation of any provision of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, or special
laws.
CHAPTER III
PENALTIES
SEC. 8. Penalties. — Any person found guilty of any of the punishable acts enumerated in
Sections 4(a) and 4(b) of this Act shall be punished with imprisonment of prision mayor or a fine
of at least Two hundred thousand pesos (PhP200,000.00) up to a maximum amount
commensurate to the damage incurred or both.
Any person found guilty of the punishable act under Section 4(a)(5) shall be punished with
imprisonment of prision mayor or a fine of not more than Five hundred thousand pesos
(PhP500,000.00) or both.
If punishable acts in Section 4(a) are committed against critical infrastructure, the penalty of
reclusion temporal or a fine of at least Five hundred thousand pesos (PhP500,000.00) up to
maximum amount commensurate to the damage incurred or both, shall be imposed.
Any person found guilty of any of the punishable acts enumerated in Section 4(c)(1) of this Act
shall be punished with imprisonment of prision mayor or a fine of at least Two hundred
thousand pesos (PhP200,000.00) but not exceeding One million pesos (PhP1,000,000.00) or
both.
Any person found guilty of any of the punishable acts enumerated in Section 4(c)(2) of this Act
shall be punished with the penalties as enumerated in Republic Act No. 9775 or the “Anti-Child
Pornography Act of 2009″: Provided, That the penalty to be imposed shall be one (1) degree
higher than that provided for in Republic Act No. 9775, if committed through a computer
system.
Any person found guilty of any of the punishable acts enumerated in Section 4(c)(3) shall be
punished with imprisonment of arresto mayor or a fine of at least Fifty thousand pesos
(PhP50,000.00) but not exceeding Two hundred fifty thousand pesos (PhP250,000.00) or both.
Any person found guilty of any of the punishable acts enumerated in Section 5 shall be
punished with imprisonment one (1) degree lower than that of the prescribed penalty for the
offense or a fine of at least One hundred thousand pesos (PhP100,000.00) but not exceeding
Five hundred thousand pesos (PhP500,000.00) or both.
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SEC. 9. Corporate Liability. — When any of the punishable acts herein defined are knowingly
committed on behalf of or for the benefit of a juridical person, by a natural person acting either
individually or as part of an organ of the juridical person, who has a leading position within,
based on: (a) a power of representation of the juridical person provided the act committed falls
within the scope of such authority; (b) an authority to take decisions on behalf of the juridical
person: Provided, That the act committed falls within the scope of such authority; or (c) an
authority to exercise control within the juridical person, the juridical person shall be held liable
for a fine equivalent to at least double the fines imposable in Section 7 up to a maximum of Ten
million pesos (PhP10,000,000.00).
If the commission of any of the punishable acts herein defined was made possible due to the
lack of supervision or control by a natural person referred to and described in the preceding
paragraph, for the benefit of that juridical person by a natural person acting under its authority,
the juridical person shall be held liable for a fine equivalent to at least double the fines
imposable in Section 7 up to a maximum of Five million pesos (PhP5,000,000.00).
The liability imposed on the juridical person shall be without prejudice to the criminal liability of
the natural person who has committed the offense.
CHAPTER IV
ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION
SEC. 10. Law Enforcement Authorities. — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the
Philippine National Police (PNP) shall be responsible for the efficient and effective law
enforcement of the provisions of this Act. The NBI and the PNP shall organize a cybercrime unit
or center manned by special investigators to exclusively handle cases involving violations of this
Act.
SEC. 11. Duties of Law Enforcement Authorities. — To ensure that the technical nature of
cybercrime and its prevention is given focus and considering the procedures involved for
international cooperation, law enforcement authorities specifically the computer or technology
crime divisions or units responsible for the investigation of cybercrimes are required to submit
timely and regular reports including pre-operation, post-operation and investigation results and
such other documents as may be required to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for review and
monitoring.
SEC. 12. Real-Time Collection of Traffic Data. — Law enforcement authorities, with due cause,
shall be authorized to collect or record by technical or electronic means traffic data in real-time
associated with specified communications transmitted by means of a computer system.
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Traffic data refer only to the communication’s origin, destination, route, time, date, size,
duration, or type of underlying service, but not content, nor identities.
All other data to be collected or seized or disclosed will require a court warrant.
Service providers are required to cooperate and assist law enforcement authorities in the
collection or recording of the above-stated information.
The court warrant required under this section shall only be issued or granted upon written
application and the examination under oath or affirmation of the applicant and the witnesses he
may produce and the showing: (1) that there are reasonable grounds to believe that any of the
crimes enumerated hereinabove has been committed, or is being committed, or is about to be
committed: (2) that there are reasonable grounds to believe that evidence that will be obtained
is essential to the conviction of any person for, or to the solution of, or to the prevention of, any
such crimes; and (3) that there are no other means readily available for obtaining such evidence.
SEC. 13. Preservation of Computer Data. — The integrity of traffic data and subscriber
information relating to communication services provided by a service provider shall be
preserved for a minimum period of six (6) months from the date of the transaction. Content data
shall be similarly preserved for six (6) months from the date of receipt of the order from law
enforcement authorities requiring its preservation.
Law enforcement authorities may order a one-time extension for another six (6) months:
Provided, That once computer data preserved, transmitted or stored by a service provider is
used as evidence in a case, the mere furnishing to such service provider of the transmittal
document to the Office of the Prosecutor shall be deemed a notification to preserve the
computer data until the termination of the case.
The service provider ordered to preserve computer data shall keep confidential the order and its
compliance.
SEC. 14. Disclosure of Computer Data. — Law enforcement authorities, upon securing a court
warrant, shall issue an order requiring any person or service provider to disclose or submit
subscriber’s information, traffic data or relevant data in his/its possession or control within
seventy-two (72) hours from receipt of the order in relation to a valid complaint officially
docketed and assigned for investigation and the disclosure is necessary and relevant for the
purpose of investigation.
SEC. 15. Search, Seizure and Examination of Computer Data. — Where a search and seizure
warrant is properly issued, the law enforcement authorities shall likewise have the following
powers and duties.
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Within the time period specified in the warrant, to conduct interception, as defined in this Act,
and:
(a) To secure a computer system or a computer data storage medium;
(b) To make and retain a copy of those computer data secured;
(c) To maintain the integrity of the relevant stored computer data;
(d) To conduct forensic analysis or examination of the computer data storage medium; and
(e) To render inaccessible or remove those computer data in the accessed computer or
computer and communications network.
Pursuant thereof, the law enforcement authorities may order any person who has knowledge
about the functioning of the computer system and the measures to protect and preserve the
computer data therein to provide, as is reasonable, the necessary information, to enable the
undertaking of the search, seizure and examination.
Law enforcement authorities may request for an extension of time to complete the examination
of the computer data storage medium and to make a return thereon but in no case for a period
longer than thirty (30) days from date of approval by the court.
SEC. 16. Custody of Computer Data. — All computer data, including content and traffic data,
examined under a proper warrant shall, within forty-eight (48) hours after the expiration of the
period fixed therein, be deposited with the court in a sealed package, and shall be accompanied
by an affidavit of the law enforcement authority executing it stating the dates and times covered
by the examination, and the law enforcement authority who may access the deposit, among
other relevant data. The law enforcement authority shall also certify that no duplicates or copies
of the whole or any part thereof have been made, or if made, that all such duplicates or copies
are included in the package deposited with the court. The package so deposited shall not be
opened, or the recordings replayed, or used in evidence, or then contents revealed, except upon
order of the court, which shall not be granted except upon motion, with due notice and
opportunity to be heard to the person or persons whose conversation or communications have
been recorded.
SEC. 17. Destruction of Computer Data. — Upon expiration of the periods as provided in
Sections 13 and 15, service providers and law enforcement authorities, as the case may be, shall
immediately and completely destroy the computer data subject of a preservation and
examination.
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SEC. 18. Exclusionary Rule. — Any evidence procured without a valid warrant or beyond the
authority of the same shall be inadmissible for any proceeding before any court or tribunal.
SEC. 19. Restricting or Blocking Access to Computer Data. — When a computer data is prima
facie found to be in violation of the provisions of this Act, the DOJ shall issue an order to restrict
or block access to such computer data.
SEC. 20. Noncompliance. — Failure to comply with the provisions of Chapter IV hereof
specifically the orders from law enforcement authorities shall be punished as a violation of
Presidential Decree No. 1829 with imprisonment of prision correctional in its maximum period
or a fine of One hundred thousand pesos (Php100,000.00) or both, for each and every
noncompliance with an order issued by law enforcement authorities.
CHAPTER V
JURISDICTION
SEC. 21. Jurisdiction. — The Regional Trial Court shall have jurisdiction over any violation of the
provisions of this Act. including any violation committed by a Filipino national regardless of the
place of commission. Jurisdiction shall lie if any of the elements was committed within the
Philippines or committed with the use of any computer system wholly or partly situated in the
country, or when by such commission any damage is caused to a natural or juridical person who,
at the time the offense was committed, was in the Philippines.
There shall be designated special cybercrime courts manned by specially trained judges to
handle cybercrime cases.
CHAPTER VI
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Sec. 22. General Principles Relating to International Cooperation — All relevant international
instruments on international cooperation in criminal matters, arrangements agreed on the basis
of uniform or reciprocal legislation, and domestic laws, to the widest extent possible for the
purposes of investigations or proceedings concerning criminal offenses related to computer
systems and data, or for the collection of evidence in electronic form of a criminal, offense shall
be given full force and effect.
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CHAPTER VII
COMPETENT AUTHORITIES
SEC 23. Department of Justice (DOJ). — There is hereby created an Office of Cybercrime within
the DOJ designated as the central authority in all matters related to international mutual
assistance and extradition.
SEC. 24. Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center. — There is hereby created, within
thirty (30) days from the effectivity of this Act, an inter-agency body to be known as the
Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), under the administrative supervision
of the Office of the President, for policy coordination among concerned agencies and for the
formulation and enforcement of the national cybersecurity plan.
SEC. 25. Composition. — The CICC shall be headed by the Executive Director of the Information
and Communications Technology Office under the Department of Science and Technology
(ICTO-DOST) as Chairperson with the Director of the NBI as Vice Chairperson; the Chief of the
PNP; Head of the DOJ Office of Cybercrime; and one (1) representative from the private sector
and academe, as members. The CICC shall be manned by a secretariat of selected existing
personnel and representatives from the different participating agencies.
SEC. 26. Powers and Functions. — The CICC shall have the following powers and functions:
(a) To formulate a national cybersecurity plan and extend immediate assistance for the
suppression of real-time commission of cybercrime offenses through a computer emergency
response team (CERT);
(b) To coordinate the preparation of appropriate and effective measures to prevent and
suppress cybercrime activities as provided for in this Act;
(c) To monitor cybercrime cases being bandied by participating law enforcement and
prosecution agencies;
(d) To facilitate international cooperation on intelligence, investigations, training and capacity
building related to cybercrime prevention, suppression and prosecution;
(e) To coordinate the support and participation of the business sector, local government units
and nongovernment organizations in cybercrime prevention programs and other
related projects;
(f) To recommend the enactment of appropriate laws, issuances, measures and policies;
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(g) To call upon any government agency to render assistance in the accomplishment of the
CICC’s mandated tasks and functions; and
(h) To perform all other matters related to cybercrime prevention and suppression, including
capacity building and such other functions and duties as may be necessary for the proper
implementation of this Act.
CHAPTER VIII
FINAL PROVISIONS
SEC. 27. Appropriations. — The amount of Fifty million pesos (PhP50,000,000.00) shall be
appropriated annually for the implementation of this Act.
SEC. 28. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — The ICTO-DOST, the DOJ and the Department
of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) shall jointly formulate the necessary rules and
regulations within ninety (90) days from approval of this Act, for its effective implementation.
SEC. 29. Separability Clause — If any provision of this Act is held invalid, the other provisions not
affected shall remain in full force and effect.
SEC. 30. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees or rules inconsistent with this Act are hereby
repealed or modified accordingly. Section 33(a) of Republic Act No. 8792 or the “Electronic
Commerce Act” is hereby modified accordingly.
SEC. 31. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after the completion of its
publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.”
Upon seeing this Law, I believe that we should study the basics about hacking, not because we
want to hack people but we would like to have an idea on about how the real hackers are going
to approach our machines or our accounts.
Of course, having to study about hacking comes with good things and bad things. And one of
the bad things about knowing the basics of hacking is that, we might be overly impressed on
the power of hacking. And if this would continue to catch our interests and if we would continue
to practice our skills on hacking, we might turn into those hackers which we hate and who we
would really want to get caught because they are dangerous and they can get access to a lot of
people’s information.
The good thing about knowing the basics of hacking and that if we would continue to be on the
good side, is that we would know how to prevent these hackers that we are talking about from
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having access to our information, machine, and accounts. Feeling and being secure is a must
because who would want their information to be on the hands of another person, knowing that
this person is a hacker and he or she does not have good intentions to do with that information
he or she has just stolen from you. This hacker could even gain access to your bank accounts
and could steal your money. So there are a few ways to be more secure and one way is for us to
change our passwords on our accounts every now and then. Another way is for us to install a
firewall on our computer. Another way for us to be secure is for us to install known or popular
anti-virus software because we would feel more safe knowing that we have the best and most
trusted anti-virus software installed on our machine.
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CHAPTER 8
THE TECHNOLOGY OF PRINTING
8.1 THREE DIMENSIONAL PRINTING AVAILABLE TODAY
According to the article that Forbes’ has written, it says here that “There seems to be a
certain mismatch between legislators and reality here as Philadelphia passes a law that bans the
3D printing of guns like the Liberator. For rather the point about the 3D printing of guns is that
it doesn’t actually matter what the law says: anyone with a 3D printer can make them. But then
there is a certain disease that infects politicians which is that by making a speech, passing a law,
they have made that thing actually happen in the real world. Something that Healthcare.gov
should rather disabuse them of. The law says that people will be able to buy insurance on the
exchanges, the President has assured everyone that they will be able to by now. But reality can
be a tad stubborn at times.
Here’s a report of the announcement:
The Liberator made quite a name for itself a few months back when it became the first
functioning all-3D printed gun, and while its maker designed it with mass distribution in mind,
we now know one place where it’s unwelcome: Philadelphia. The city of Brotherly Love lived up
to its name yesterday, when the city council voted unanimously to ban folks from being able to
print plastic pistols with which to shoot each other. That’s right, it is now illegal to manufacture
guns via 3D printer in Philadelphia. As of this writing, Philly’s the first city to put such a ban in
place, and it’s not in response to a a rash of plastic pistols flooding the streets, either —
Philadelphia Magazine reports that it’s just a preventative measure.
The problem with this of course is that passing such a law is going to have absolutely no effect
whatsoever on the real world. It doesn’t matter whether you think that people should be able to
print guns in the privacy of their garage: or whether it’s an absolute outrage that people can
indeed print guns in their living room. The point is that whatever the law says they do now have
that technical capability. And the law isn’t really going to change the ability of anyone with a 3D
printer and an internet connection to do so.
Quite how simple this all is can be seen in Andy Greenberg’s excellent reporting here.
Now it could be that the Good Solons of the City of Brotherly Love know they are just making a
PR announcement here. But what worries me rather more is the idea that they might actually
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think that by passing a law they have solved the real world problem. And this is an excellent
example of a law that will have no such effect at all. Whatever the law about it people will still be
able to print guns as they wish: meaning that if this is a problem that needs to be solved then
it’s one that needs to be solved in some other manner.”
Based from this article, we can say that it is more dangerous nowadays because we no
longer need a license to purchase a weapon; all we need is to have the machine for printing
three dimensional objects and the blueprint for the object which we would like to print.
On the positive note, these would be really helpful to a lot of people such as, engineers,
carpenters, workers, and etcetera. With this technology, they can easily produce their own tool
that they would need through printing it three dimensionally. If there would be missing parts,
or misplaced parts, or lacking parts, they do not need to purchase the parts from the store
anymore because they could just do it where the machine is located.
Behind every positive feature that this three dimensional printing is presenting to us, the
negative side will always be present. There are numerous threats that this technology presents,
one of the things that I have noticed with this technology is that the crime rates could greatly
increase and no one could track the bullets with each gun because there are no serial numbers
or what so ever.
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CHAPTER 9
ROBOTICS
9.1 REPLACING HUMAN WITH ROBOTS
According to this article regarding artificial intelligence that TheGuardian has written, it
says here that “From personalised searches of Google to the seductive experience of driverless
cars, from educational robots that hone your French to prosthetics that are stronger and faster
than our own limbs: artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionise our lives.
Now scientists, legal experts and philosophers are joining forces to scrutinise the promise of
intelligent systems and wrangle over their implications. This week in Brighton, the fourth
EuCogIII members' conference is set to tackle these issues head on. "Fundamentally we're
interested in considering the ethical and societal impact of such systems," says Alan Winfield,
professor of electronic engineering at UWE Bristol. It is time, he says, to make some crucial
decisions. "If we get it wrong, there are consequences right now."
It's a point well illustrated by IBM's intelligent system, Watson. Two years after thrashing human
contestants at the quickfire quiz Jeopardy!, Watson has graduated from gameshows to medical
school and could soon be diagnosing diseases. This year commercial products based on Watson
were unveiled for clinical use, harnessing the system's ability to crunch through swaths of
medical information and make decisions.
"There is a huge amount of knowledge now that doctors can potentially have. Obviously they
can't absorb all of it and they can't necessarily remember all of it," says Tony Prescott, professor
of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Sheffield. With access to the latest developments
as well as the medical records of patients, systems such as Watson could suggest an accurate
diagnosis faster and more often, as well as predicting an individual's health risks.
But there is a hitch. With intelligent systems accessing medical records comes the fear of
compromised privacy and security, as many will be connected via the internet. Could we, or even
should we, be allowed to opt out of such an intelligent system? "It is a decision we have to make
as a society," says Prescott. "Whether we want to give up some of our privacy in order to get
improved services like better healthcare."
But how far can we trust such systems? Putting your faith in a "black box" may seem at best
naive, at worst reckless. It is an issue that boils down to trust, making it essential that doctors are
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closely involved in training such systems, understanding how they work and confirming the
diagnoses are spot on.
At the heart of the revolution is you, the consumer. With computers getting smaller, more
powerful and more energy-efficient, few areas of our lives will remain untouched by intelligent
machines. Driverless cars are expected to cause a storm. "The technology is ready," says
Winfield. "The problem is insurance and legislation." While driverless cars could offer many
benefits, from bringing independence to the elderly to reducing the number of road accidents,
disasters ould still happen. Who then pays the damages – the owner, or the car producer?
Last year a European research project, RoboLaw, was created to tackle such legal conundrums
and will deliver its guidelines on regulations to the European commission in the spring. One
question is whether it's time to rethink liability to ensure safety and justice without
compromising the incentive for companies to develop the technology – "for instance, through
the usage of compulsory insurance schemes or by assessing so-called 'safe harbours' to shield,
in some cases under certain conditions, the liability of the producer of the car," explains Andrea
Bertolini, a post-doctoral fellow in private law at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in northern Italy
and a member of the RoboLaw team.
And it is not just issues of liability that could be reformed. Fallible humans are constrained by
speed limits to reduce the number of crashes, but with an all-encompassing knowledge of road
layout and road users, intelligent cars could themselves decide how fast they travel, banishing
the need for fixed limits.
One of the greatest issues, says Bertolini, is that there are many types of robots each posing
different legal problems. State of the art prosthetic devices – essentially wearable intelligent
robots – could soon outperform our natural limbs, raising new concerns that the technology
could become available to individuals who may wish to trade in their healthy body parts for a
prosthesis. "Should this be regulated, and eventually if it should be regulated, how should it be
regulated?" asks Bertolini.
The questions become even more pressing when the possibility of implants are considered –
imagine a brain chip that could let you check your email, search the internet or tap in to GPS. It's
the ultimate "hands-free" device.
This possibility of becoming "bio-hybrid" may sound futuristic, unlikely even. But when
technology develops, it develops quickly. "It is moving way faster than legislation can keep up
and yes, it's a problem," says Tony Belpaeme, professor of cognitive systems and robotics at the
University of Plymouth.
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And the issues are international. "The trouble is that your data is now globally spread and
legislation isn't the same across various regions across the planet," says Belpaeme. With recent
revelations over the access and use of data by various government agencies still reverberating,
issues of data storage, privacy and security need to be aired openly. "How much worse would it
be if there were such external and covert constraints on cognitive technology?" asks Dr Ron
Chrisley, reader in philosophy at the University of Sussex and one of the conference organisers.
With the possibility of technology becoming intertwined with our very bodies, the threat of
unauthorised access looms large.
Running scared is not an option. Intelligent systems offer us the chance to hone many
fundamental areas of our lives, including education. It's an effect Belpaeme has seen firsthand
through his research into use of social robots in education. While current computer systems can
support learning, robots, particularly those sporting a face and personalised conversation, evoke
a stronger response. "What we found is that if you have a robot there taking you through
exactly the same exercises, the children learn faster and better," says Belpaeme.
"I can just see a future where you have one or two robots sitting in the corner of a classroom,"
he says. "If you just need a little push or you want to be challenged, you get 20 minutes or half
an hour with a robot." According to Belpaeme, hospitals could benefit from such technology,
with robots teaching children how to manage their medical conditions, while in care homes such
robots could help the elderly with their daily exercises.
With such technological leaps set to transform our lives we, the public, need to be involved in
the discussion, shaping policy and priorities from the outset. "I think that the greatest risk with
these kinds of technologies is that they come along and they are a big surprise to people," says
Prescott. Which is why, before the conference, you are invited to post questions for experts to
discuss. You can also follow the event on Twitter through the hashtag #robotsandyou.
Intelligent machines could turn education, healthcare and daily life into optimised, tailored
experiences. Getting society on side is big, and it's clever.
FUTURE QUESTIONS
Driverless cars
Who pays damages in an accident?
Should children and the elderly be allowed to 'drive' them too?
Should such cars have to obey current road rules, such as speed limits?
Intelligent prostheses
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Will robotic enhancements give users an unfair advantage?
Should intelligent prostheses be available to the able-bodied?
Who decides whether you should be allowed a prosthesis?
Social robots
Could faults in or hacking of intelligent robots cause physical harm to users?
Will intelligent robots redefine the roles of teachers, carers and others?
Implanted devices
Will intelligent implants mean the end of privacy?
Who will technically own the device and its data?
Will implants make exams worthless, as inherent ability becomes blurred?
Medical assistants
How far should doctors trust intelligent systems?
Who gives consent to sharing medical records with intelligent systems?
Will intelligent systems be able to democratise access to the best diagnostic medicine?”
Based from this article, I can say that this is really a turning point when it comes to
dealing with people because they will lose jobs. After they lose their jobs, they will not be able
to earn money for their children, families, wants, needs, and etcetera. Robots will be the
dominant work force that will take over the regular jobs that could be done by regular humans.
Of course the positive effects will always be present and one of the effects that I have
noticed is that robots do not eat or sleep which is really good for companies that never has time
to stop the process such as, security companies, fire departments, ambulances, hospitals, and
etcetera. Another thing that I have noticed is that high risk jobs would be done by the robots as
well. On the side of the military, it would be much better since fewer lives would be lost.
On the other hand, the negative effects will always be present as well; one of these
negative effects is that having to create your own private army is possible since they are only
robots and hackers could be able to program these robots to do something that they wish it
would do. These robots could be used to do crime rather than doing it yourself. Speaking of
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these negative effects, robots are programmed through the Three Laws of Robots which was
made by Isaac Asimov, which are stated below:
“A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to
harm.
A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict
with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First
or Second Law.“
Upon seeing these three laws on robotics, we should be able to feel more safe since we
know that these robots cannot injure human beings or harm human beings, robots will obey the
orders given, and that the robot itself must protect its own existence.
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CHAPTER 10
TELCO WARS
10.1 GLOBE VS PLDT
According to the article I have found in Rappler, telephone companies have initiated a
war, it says here that “MANILA, Philippines - The war between the country's two largest
telecommunication firms Globe Telecom and Philippine Long Distance Co (PLDT) is reaching
fever pitch.
In June, both claimed to be No. 1 in the postpaid segment – PLDT by number of subscribers and
Globe by revenue per subscriber in the first 3 months of 2012.
In August, a "word war," which used to be confined among industry players, intensified and
became more public. Globe CEO Ernest Cu lashed out at PLDT for the ads of its mobile arm
Smart Communications on dropped calls of "other networks."
"They choose to focus on a negative aspect of advertising against us. If you look at Globe, our
advertising has always been on the positive side… It's a little bit surprising to see this type of
advertising going on," he told Rappler at an August 23 press briefing.
In early September, Globe customers took to social media to vent their complaints about
connectivity problems. Smart, on the other hand, cited the social media posts to stress that
more subscribers want to shift carriers.
In the months ahead, both are racing to snap up customers for Long Term Evolution (LTE)
service, considered a faster and more reliable form of 4G technology. PLDT offered the first LTE
service for broadband on August 25. While Globe is following with a broadband LTE option,
called Tattoo Black, in September.
Rappler decided to take a closer look to see how the two competitors really match up. Rappler
interviewed top executives from both companies and reviewed nearly a decade of reports
submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
We found that in terms of revenue and market share, PLDT still dominates the prepaid market,
which it has catered to historically. PLDT's lower-end brand Talk 'N Text is not only retaining
customers but pulling in the majority of the firm's prepaid growth.
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Meanwhile, Globe, which has been strong in the lucrative postpaid market in the past, is
retaining customers and still brings in a bigger profit than its competitor. Yet PLDT has made
notable inroads in the postpaid segment, and is quickly closing the revenue gap and has even
surpassed Globe's postpaid subscriber count, thanks to the acquisition of rival Digital
Telecommunications Philippines Inc last year.
Globe's stronghold on postpaid
A key battle ground is the lucrative postpaid market, in which customers are bound by a service
contract and billed monthly. Postpaid subscribers have 3 key attributes prized by mobile phone
operators in a competitive environment – they are loyal, usually willing to pay more, and hungry
for broadband service.
For both firms, the postpaid segment is crucial as a source of future growth. Globe's senior
advisor for consumer business Peter Bithos explained: "As the Philippines gets more developed,
[and] as households get richer, more and more customers will choose postpaid."
It's a trend telecommunications companies have to invest in, he added.
Globe started out catering to premium postpaid users and has largely managed to hold onto
those users.
Churn rate, a market measure for how fast a company is losing customers, stood at a low 1.8%
in the first 6 months of the year. That number could reflect longtime subscribers' unwillingness
to change brands when their co-workers, friends or family members are on the same network.
This means they can take advantage of promotions that make connecting to those within the
same network cheaper.
By comparison, Smart lost a slightly higher 2.8% of postpaid customers for the same 6 month
period.
"Maybe in the past, Smart was not really the primary number, and, therefore, if it was not the
primary number, it was easier to shift out. I see that changing, given the fact that we're pushing
harder to deliver better services," explained the head of Smart's Wireless Consumer Division
Noel C. Lorenzana.
Globe also managed to add more postpaid customers than its rival brand Smart in the latest 3
month fiscal period.
From April to June, Globe added 59,322 postpaid subscribers or about 27 every hour, while
Smart added 24,862 or roughly 11 every hour. But Smart was coming from a lower base. The
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two brands were neck-in-neck where it counts – growth rate, which stood at 4% quarter-onquarter.
The additions came at quite a cost to Globe, which shelled out P8,119 to attract each additional
customer. PLDT's first half financial report did not list subscriber acquisition cost for the period.
It remains to be seen if the seemingly high cost was worthwhile for Globe since, according to
Bithos, the company mainly added lower-paying customers. Still, those are customers who will
be locked into postpaid contracts with Globe temporarily.
As of end-June, postpaid market share by brand was led by Globe with 43%, followed by
Digitel's Sun Cellular brand with 39.7%, Smart with 17.2%, then Red Mobile with less than 1%.
Mobile brands Sun, Smart and, previously also Red Mobile, are all under the PLDT umbrella.
However, Smart-operator Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) has begun to
dominate pockets of the postpaid market that should worry its competitor.
PLDT's strategy in postpaid
As a group, PLDT holds the lion's share of postpaid customers since the group acquired Sun
Cellular operator Digital Telecommunications Philippines (Digitel) in late 2011. By end-June, 2.12
million postpaid customers were under the umbrella of PLDT companies, while Globe Telecom
held 1.6 million.
Aside from subscriber count, however, the creditors' and investors' points of view are also
important to consider given that this capital intensive industry constantly needs access to
financing. These creditors and investors also watch how much the companies are making from
each subscriber.
Although Globe was once primarily associated with the premium market and Smart with the
mass market, Smart has cornered a high-paying niche of the postpaid market. Smart now makes
more on average from each postpaid subscriber.
In the graph below, Smart has steadily been making more on average from customers, as
measured by the industry indicator known as ARPU, or average revenue per user. Looking at
gross ARPU for the first half of the year, Smart made P1,290 from each postpaid customer, while
Globe made P1,189.
*The 2011 period for Sun Cellular begins in October 26 when the brand and its subscribers were
acquired by PLDT.*The 2011 period for Sun Cellular begins in October 26 when the brand and its
subscribers were acquired by PLDT.
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"The new customers that are coming in are very different than our historical postpaid base," said
Globe's Bithos.
"We're bringing many more customers than the competition into the business at the mid and
low-end, and that's bringing down the weighted average," he explained.
In a seeming flip-flop of strategies, Smart is now seeking to define itself as the top premium
brand.
"Well, apparently, that's their (Globe's) strategy now. They're actually choosing price to get subs
(subscribers). For us, our strategy is to provide quality. We are now the higher ARPU," said
Smart's Lorenzana.
"If that means pushing Smart above all the others, we will do that. It's now looking like Smart is
more and more the leading edge brand. Talk 'N Text becomes the everyday brand for every
Filipino. Filipinos love sachet pricing. Talk 'N Text will give them that. We need to cover all
relevant segments," said Lorenzana.
Acquiring Digitel has given PLDT flexibility to tailor its brands and target the high-end postpaid
market with Smart and the low-end prepaid market with Talk 'N Text. With more brands, PLDT is
able to focus in on different segments of the market. With Smart, Sun Cellular, and Talk N' Text
all under the same parent firm, each can take advantage of synergies, including a vast
infrastructure network system of the PLDT group.
In the Philippines, it is not uncommon for those who can afford a phone to have two, one for
each network, or a single phone with two SIM card slots. Thus, PLDT is hoping to harness more
partnerships between the brands it holds.
"Remember, the reason Sun [Cellular] grew was because it was the favorite second number.
What we'd like to do is, if there was a chance to make the Smart-Sun combo for the subscriber,
[then] why not? Because you have to go deep into what do the subscribers want. Maybe for the
primary number they want the cutting edge service like LTE, and for the secondary number they
want it for emergencies or the extended circle. It's all about circles, who is your primary circle
and who is your secondary circle," said Lorenzana.
Despite the advantage of partnering brands, PLDT's brands don't bring in as much total revenue
as Globe's. PLDT still has some catch-up to do since, in the first 6 months of the year, postpaid
revenue came in at P8.16, compared to Globe's P10.9 billion.
Prepaid still lion's share of profits
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In the future, postpaid is an important market to keep an eye on, especially looking at
developed countries like the US, where service contracts are standard. Yet as a developing
country, much of the Philippines' present is dominated by pay-as-you-go, or prepaid, customers.
"Postpaid remains a very critical line of business for us. But prepaid is still the lion's share of
revenue and profitability," admitted Bithos.
From January to June, the prepaid market made up 67% of Globe's mobile revenues and 82% of
PLDT's – the most sizable chunk of the profit pie.
Of the over 95 million prepaid subscribers on the two networks, the majority (68.4%) reside with
PLDT and just under a third (31.6%) belong to Globe.
In terms of number of customers, average revenue from each, and total revenue, PLDT has
clearly retained its historic hold on the prepaid market.
*The 2011 period for Sun Cellular begins in October 26 when the brand and its subscribers were
acquired by PLDT.*The 2011 period for Sun Cellular begins in October 26 when the brand and its
subscribers were acquired by PLDT.
The average prepaid user may not bring in much revenue, but Smart has consistently made the
most money from each one over the years. Globe comes in with the second highest ARPU,
followed by Talk 'N Text and trailed by Red Mobile.
Most brands are losing customers at about the same rate. PLDT's Red Mobile was the exception,
losing 19.2% of its customers from January to June, when PLDT said it would surrender CURE,
Red Mobile's operator, to the National Telecommunications Commission.
Globe and Smart were neck and neck, respectively shedding 5.6% and 5.9% of customers during
the same 6 month period. Globe's Bithos was quick to point out that while the rates are similar,
Smart has many more prepaid customers so their equivalent number of lost customers
represents a greater overall loss.
However, one of PLDT's largest prepaid brands, Talk 'N Text, only lost 4.9% of its customers
during the period. Globe's equivalent brand, Touch Mobile, was relatively higher with a 6.3%
turnover.
What's different about the prepaid market today is that the majority of growth is coming from
Talk 'N Text.
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PLDT's Talk 'N Text not only retained the most customers, but also grew 21% in the first half of
the year, compared to the same period in 2011. The high growth figure is affirmation of PLDT's
more targeted approach and shift away from Smart as its mass market brand. Prepaid customers
of main mobile brand Smart only grew a mere 1%.
Globe's growth wasn't nearly as robust at Talk 'N Text's. In the same period, Globe prepaid grew
9% and Touch Mobile increased 12%.
However, Globe's figures still show steady growth in the prepaid market.
Healthy competition
In the telco wars, it actually benefits the Filipino customer to have no clear winner. Battling it out
for subscribers forces both companies to improve their service as they see the opponent making
gains in key territory.
Arguably, even more competitors would benefit consumers. Lorraine Carlos Salazar's insightful
book "Getting a Dial Tone: Telecommunications Liberalization in Malaysia and the Philippines"
chronicles the high rate of dropped calls and the long time it took customers to get a phone
when PLDT was the only national network for decades before the turn of the century.
Customer favorites, like bucket unlimited pricing, are the result of a healthy 3 way competition
among telecommunications firms.
Filipinos should be worried if one competitor takes it all in the telco wars. - Rappler”
Based from this article, I can say that these two telephone companies are the ones who
are providing the best services to the Filipino People. The issue on this article is that if one of
these two telephone companies accepts its defeat against the other telephone company, the
Filipino people would have no choice but to follow the pricing offered by the monopolizing
company.
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CHAPTER 11
PRIVACY ISSUES
11.1 GOOGLE GLASS
According to this article I have read about Google Glass, there are questions raised and
should be answered, and it says here that “To hear some people tell it, Google Glass is leading
us down a path toward a world where every citizen is a walking, hidden spy, surreptitiously
recording videos and photos of everything — and everyone — we see. What’s more, they’re
afraid that those videos and images are being posted on the Internet for all the world to see,
warts and all.
Some are afraid that Glass is auto-recording (or will) everything it can see or hear, and each
word you’ve ever spoken within earshot of Glass will be available in Google’s search index.
These fears typically come from people that don’t know how Glass works. They’ve never worn it.
And despite that lack of first-hand knowledge, they’ve decided that Glass is a privacy disaster
waiting to happen.
The problem: Those folks aren’t contributing anything of substance to a discussion that needs to
take place. Hysterical fear-mongering makes for good headlines, but it doesn’t advance the
conversation.
In this latest installment of our Google Glass Diary series, I’d like to make the case that some of
the privacy concerns with Google Glass are overblown, while others are very legitimate issues
that we should be discussing. I’m not arguing against any discussion on Glass and privacy; I’m
arguing for a more balanced and intelligent discussion than I’ve seen so far.
What They’re Saying About Google Glass & Privacy
A group of US Congress members sent Google a letter in mid-May with several privacy-related
questions about Glass. Among other things, they asked
if Glass unintentionally collects data (they referenced the recent Street View wifi sniffing mess)
if non-users are also covered by Google’s privacy policies and protections
if Google Glass will support facial recognition technology
if Glass stores user data and, if so, how is it protected
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Canadian privacy officials followed suit in mid-June with their own letter to Google on Glass and
privacy. Among other things, they asked
how Glass complies with data protection laws
what data is collected via Glass and is that data shared with developers
is Google doing anything about the “surreptitious collection of information about other
individuals”
how does Google plan to deal with facial recognition issues in the future
Beyond governmental questions, some businesses have banned Glass from their premises over
privacy concerns. Numerous articles in recent months have covered how strip clubs, casinos,
movie theaters and at least a couple restaurants/cafés are putting up proverbial “no Glass
allowed”signs. (This NBC News article on the topic is pretty good.)
Consumer Watchdog, a group that’s been hammering Google for years over privacy issues,
recently described Glass as “one of the most privacy invasive devices ever” and called on Google
to give citizens a way to remove videos or photos taken of them by Glass users without
permission from Google’s servers.
Even Google reportedly banned Glass from its own shareholders’ meeting in June! (The
Consumer Watchdog quote is from a news release reacting to that news.) Word spread like
wildfire — and plenty of laughter did, too. Reality check: All recording devices were banned.
In a recent UK survey, 20 percent of consumers said they think Glass should be banned
completely due to privacy issues.
Clearly, there’s a lot of concern about Glass and privacy. Some of it is legitimate. Some of it is
born of ignorance about how Glass works. And some of it sounds like nothing more than
overstated hysterics.
Why Some Privacy Concerns Are Overstated
In its current form, the way Glass is built and the way it works makes some of the public fears
over Glass little more than hype. Many of those fears center on the idea that Glass wearers will
be secretly taking photos and recording videos of others. But consider this:
Glass goes into standby mode very quickly. And from there, it requires noticeable
movement/gestures to be activated. You either have to reach up and touch Glass to activate it,
or you have to tilt your head back (like “Randall Meeks” did in the hysterical Saturday Night Live
skit that wasn’t too far from reality).
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When Glass is activated, the user can only photograph what s/he’s looking at. There’s no quiet
way to take pictures around corners or over walls like you could easily do with smartphones and
small cameras.
The camera isn’t very powerful and has no zoom capabilities. When I’m taking pictures or
shooting video, it’s hard to see people (and what they’re doing) unless they’re within 30-40 feet.
A still photographer with a DSLR camera that connects to the internet is much more capable of
violating someone’s privacy than I am when wearing Glass.
Photos and videos done with Glass aren’t uploaded publicly to the web, despite what some
would have you believe. They are uploaded privately to Google+ via Auto-Backup and can be
shared publicly from there. “Potential privacy violation!,” some scream. But that’s exactly how
iPhone photos work with Apple’s “Photo Stream” app. (However, unlike Photo Stream, you can’t
currently turn off the Auto-Backup feature on Glass. Google says that’s because Glass has
limited storage space — 16GB, minus space for application information and software libraries —
and it doesn’t want Glass users to lose their photos and videos or run out of space. I think
Google should give users the option of turning off Auto-Backup for Glass, just like they can do
when using iOS or Android devices.)
In a group of people, it’s almost impossible to activate Glass and take photos/videos without
being noticed. Many of the concerns and scenarios that people are dreaming up about Glass
could be applied just as equally to smartphones. Consider this:
A Glass vs. Smartphone Privacy Scenario
I walk up to you at our SMX East marketing conference with Glass on and join a conversation
that you’re having. You might be worried that I’m recording video without your knowledge.
There’s no red indicator light flashing, after all. Fair enough. But if I’m shooting video, you will
see the Glass display cube lit up, and that’s a signal I might be recording video. Or I might not.
Iphone-pocketBut what if I walked up to you and joined that conversation without Glass on, but
instead with my iPhone tucked into my shirt pocket — like you see in the image at right.
Just like Glass, there’s no flashing red light there to let you know that I’m shooting video. I could
record the whole conversation and you’d never know. With the smartphone’s superior battery
life, I could record a lot longer than with Glass. And with its superior audio and video quality, it’d
be a much better video than with Glass.
Or forget about the phone-in-pocket scenario. I could be holding my iPhone in my hand, down
at waist level, and still be recording the whole conversation without your knowledge.
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But you don’t hear anyone talking about the privacy dangers of smartphones that can shoot
photos and video. Consumer watchdog groups aren’t calling for Apple and Samsung and other
phone manufacturers to give citizens a way to remove photos that are taken of them with
iPhones and other smartphones. You don’t see 20 percent of UK citizens saying smartphones
should be banned. There’s plenty of privacy fear surrounding Glass, but smartphones are
capable of the same things (and more) that are driving the fear.
(Despite the above, I do think that Google should add a small red light indicator that flashes
when Glass is recording video, primarily to calm people’s nerves.)
Google’s Response on Glass Privacy
Google addressed Glass and privacy with a few brief comments during its I/O conference in May
— when news of that Congressional letter broke.
It explained more in the four-page response to that Congressional privacy letter. Susan Molinari,
Google’s VP for Public Policy and Government Relations, talked about the social cues that make
it evident when Glass is in use.
Those social cues are laid out most clearly in a new Google Glass FAQ that the company has just
published.
Q: What have you done to inform non-Glass users if a picture or video is being taken?
A: We have built explicit signals in Glass to make others aware of what’s happening. First, the
device’s screen is illuminated whenever it’s in use, and that applies to taking a picture or
recording a video. Second, Glass requires the user to either speak a command — “OK Glass, take
a picture” or “OK Glass, record a video” — or to take an explicit action by pressing the button on
the top of Glass’s frame. In each case the illuminated screen, voice command or gesture all make
it clear to those around the device what the user is doing.
That FAQ contains the most comprehensive look at Glass and privacy — from Google’s point of
view and in Google’s words — that I’ve seen to date. It’s a welcome addition to the privacy
discussion, but I suspect Google will need to do much more about educating the public on the
subject of Glass and privacy.
Privacy Has To Be Discussed
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying Glass is free from privacy issues and that no one should
worry about or discuss Glass this way. Quite the contrary. There should be — has to be — a
discussion about Google Glass and privacy. But it needs less hype, less fear, and more balanced,
rational conversation. A few things that conversation should include:
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Facial Recognition
This is one of the hot-button topics with Glass and privacy. There are fears that Glass could allow
wearers to learn information about anyone that its camera sees.
Google has already announced that it won’t approve any Glass apps that use facial recognition,
and the new FAQ says Google isn’t planning to add the technology to Glass itself.
Glass doesn’t do facial recognition, and we have no plans to add it.
Prior to that statement in the Glass FAQ, Google’s policy has been that it “won’t add facial
recognition features to our products without having strong privacy protections in place.” That
obviously opens the door to someday allow facial recognition in Glass (and other Google
products). So, this is something that needs to continue to be discussed.
Glass & User Data
The new FAQ addresses this topic in a couple different spots. It says that Google doesn’t always
know what the Glass user is doing or seeing; it points to the company’s privacy policy when
answering a question about what user data is collected; and it explains that apps specifically
indicate what account permissions they need when being installed.
Not mentioned is this little-known fact: Searches that you do via Google Glass don’t show up in
your Google account’s search history. As long as that’s the case, you could argue that Google
stores less user data from Glass than it does from other devices and platforms.
Still, given Google’s history with user data and privacy (think back to the WiSpy and Google Buzz
screw-ups, for example), this is a topic that needs to be discussed more as Glass and its app
ecosystem develop.
Glass for Prescription Glasses
Yikes. This is going to get dicey. In that Glass FAQ, Google says it expects to release frames that
will let users add prescription lenses to Google Glass.
Great news for glass (lowercase “g”) wearers! But just watch the privacy battles roll in left and
right.
Casinos, for example, are starting to ban Google Glass, just like they also ban the use of
smartphones while gambling. But if Joe Gambler is wearing Google Glass with his prescription
lenses, will they tell him he has to gamble with less than full vision? Movie theaters are also
starting to say “no Glass” just like they ban talking on phones and recording with smartphone
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cameras. Are they going to tell Sally Moviefan that she has to take her prescription Google Glass
off if she wants to (try to) watch Iron Man 4?
Telling consumers they’re not allowed to wear prescription glasses because Google Glass is
attached sounds like a recipe for trouble.
Current Privacy Laws
In the US, we have laws that give citizens a “reasonable expectation of privacy” and protect them
from privacy invasions when such an expectation exists. I’m not a lawyer, but as I understand it,
that expectation doesn’t exist when you’re out shopping, at a sporting event or concert, or
pretty much anywhere in public. Others have the right to record you — whether it’s with Glass
or with any other device. (In Hawaii a couple weeks ago, I was perfectly within my rights to shoot
a photo of a stranger sitting on a beach admiring the sunset.)
We’d all be well-served to remember this when we’re discussing Glass and privacy. If you’re out
in public, the law already states that you shouldn’t expect privacy.
Final Thoughts
Glass isn’t the first piece of wearable computing. But it is the most mainstream, and that means
we’re getting into new territory where personal tech is concerned. Glass already raises many new
questions on privacy, and as time passes, there’s no doubt it’ll raise more — likely some
questions that we can’t even imagine right now.
But that doesn’t justify the hysterics and hype about outlandish scenarios where Glass turns us
all into walking spies, secretly recording every movement we make, and every movement the
people around us make.
The reality is, on one hand, that Glass does have a number of safeguards built in and there are
several ways in which it’s easier for you to be recorded by someone with other devices (digital
cameras, smartphones) than by someone wearing Glass. On the other hand, there are legitimate
privacy issues that we need to work through as more people begin to wear Glass.
As I said, I’m not dismissing all of the privacy concerns that Google Glass raises. I’m not
dismissing the privacy debate at all. It’s a discussion that needs to happen. When it does, let’s
make sure it’s based on real information and awareness, not on fear and hype.”
Based from this article regarding Google Glass, this is one of the first most advanced
wearable technologies that we have gotten our attention because you can now make phone
calls without even having to wear a set of earphones. The technology used for the audio sends
vibrations through the bones of the skull until they reach the inner ear. The technology has a
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computer like capability because you can take photos, record videos, talk to people through
using the Bluetooth technology which is connected to your smartphone.
Regarding the Privacy Issues that struck Google Glass, if this technology was hacked, we
would never know if we are being recorded, stalked, being followed, or audio tracked, and may
have access to the photos we have taken, and the videos that we have shot.
11.2 APPLE
According to the article written in Wired, it says here that Apple collecting your iPhone
Location Data, and it says here that “iPhone and iPad customers were spooked Wednesday to
find out that their devices have recorded a detailed history of their geographical locations for
the past year in an unprotected file. But it turns out that Apple already explained its locationcollection practices in a detailed letter — almost a year ago.
And even though Apple has provided an explanation, there’s still a problem — the fact that this
file containing the data is so easily accessible to anyone, and the fact that this data is stored in
such an intricate manner that doesn’t seem to benefit the customer.
“I’m guessing someone screwed up,” said David Navalho, a pHD student specializing in location
services on mobile devices with advanced sensors. “It’s basically bad for users. If someone steals
the phone they have access to a lot of data.”
The privacy scare stems from a discovery by two data scientists, who revealed Wednesday that
iPhones and iPads contain an unencrypted file called “consolidated.db,” which has been tracking
and recording your location data in a log accompanied with time stamps for the past 10 months.
Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell in July 2010 sent a 13-page letter (.pdf) explaining its
location-data-collection techniques in response to a request from Congressmen Joe Barton and
Edward Markey asking for Apple to disclose such practices (.pdf). (Incidentally, Markey authored
the “Do Not Track” bill to stop online companies from tracking children.)
Apple doesn’t specifically note the “consolidated.db” file in the letter, but the letter explains how
and why Apple keeps such a detailed log of location data from mobile devices.
How is Apple collecting geodata?
According to Apple’s letter, geodata is being tracked and transmitted to Apple only if a
customer toggles the Location Services option in the settings menu to “On.” If it’s off, no
location-based information will be collected.
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If the Location Services setting is flipped on, the iPhone, 3G iPad and, to a more limited extent,
the iPod Touch and the Wi-Fi iPad, are transmitting geodata to Apple under different
circumstances.
Apple is collecting information about nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi access points whenever you
request current location information. Sometimes it will also do this automatically when you’re
using a location-based service, such as a GPS app.
As for GPS information, Apple is collecting GPS location data only when a customer uses an
application requiring GPS capabilities.
Apple claims the collected geodata is stored on the iOS device, then anonymized with a random
identification number generated every 24 hours by the iOS device, and finally transmitted over
an encrypted Wi-Fi network every 12 hours (or later if there’s no Wi-Fi available) to Apple. That
means Apple and its partners can’t use this collected geodata to personally identify a user.
At Apple, the data gets stored in a database “accessible only by Apple,” the letter says.
“When a customer requests current location information, the device encrypts and transmits Cell
Tower and Wi-Fi Access Point Information and the device’s GPS coordinates (if available) over a
secure Wi-Fi Internet connection to Apple,” Apple wrote in the letter.
Why is Apple collecting geodata?
The purpose of all this, according to Apple, is to maintain a comprehensive location database,
which in turn provides quicker and more precise location services.
“Apple must be able to determine quickly and precisely where a device is located,” Apple said in
its letter. “To do this, Apple maintains a secure database containing information regarding
known locations of cell towers and Wi-Fi access points.”
In older versions of Apple’s mobile OS (1.1.3 to 3.1), Apple relied on Google and Skyhook
Wireless to provide location-based services — so Apple left data collection to them. But ever
since April 2010, starting with iPhone OS 3.2 and continuing into the current iOS 4 software,
Apple has started using its own databases to provide location-based services to iOS devices.
“These databases must be updated continuously to account for, among other things, the everchanging physical landscape, more innovative uses of mobile technology, and the increasing
number of Apple’s users,” Apple said in its letter.
Navalho explained that mobile location services work like this: To get your location, first the
iPhone or iPad pulls from Apple’s database containing previously stored information about
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nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi spots to quickly triangulate your location, and then finally the GPS
chip analyzes how long it takes satellite signals to reach the device in order to pinpoint location.
In short, Apple’s stored location database is intended to assist and quicken location processes
on iOS mobile devices.
The problems
However, one problem here is that after this information is sent to Apple, there’s no customer
benefit for that geodata to be stored on your iPhone or iPad for any longer, Navalho said.
In other words, after that data is transmitted to Apple “every 12 hours,” Apple’s database should
already have the data needed to improve your location services, and there’s no reason for it to
stick around on your device — especially after 10 months.
Plus, Apple explicitly said this database is “accessible only to Apple” — but in actuality the
database of your approximate locations is accessible to anyone with physical or remote access
to your iPhone or iPad. Again, that’s a security issue.
“There’s really no reason for the information to be there,” Navalho said. “I’ll just assume they
didn’t erase it and that it’s a security issue, and hopefully they’ll fix it.”
Therefore, the core issue reported Wednesday remains the same: A hacker or thief gaining
access to your iPhone or iPad can easily dig into the consolidated.db file and figure out where
you live, or other places you’ve frequented. Apple uses rich geodata to assist your location
services, but it doesn’t need to be stored on your device permanently.
“What Apple is doing actually puts users very much at risk,” said Sharon Nissim, consumer
privacy counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “If one of these devices is stolen,
[the thief] could easily discover details about the owner’s movements.””
After reading and knowing about the article stated above, it would really feel
uncomfortable knowing that Apple has your Location Data because they could be able to track
you wherever you are without even asking for permission.
There are numerous positive and negative effects that this states, one of these positive
effects is that, when your phone gets stolen, there could still be a way for you to retrieve it back
knowing that apple has the Location Data of your phone, you could just contact them and tell
them about what happened and they might be able to track down your stolen phone for you to
retrieve it from thief.
One of the negative effects is that you are putting the trust with Apple about your
Location Data, and what if they do not use it for the good.
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Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberethics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_motor
http://tools4clil.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/advantages-and-disadvantages-in-usinginformation-technologies/
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-of-information-technology.html
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disadvantages-information-technology-business-4020.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberethics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments_of_Computer_Ethics
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-computer/
http://www.infosec.gov.hk/textonly/english/yourself/acceptable.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/game
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