Computers in our World
CS 110
Fall 2005
Computer Ethics

Ethical problems aggravated, transformed,
or created by computer technology (Walter
Maner, 1970s)

The way in which computers pose new
versions of standard moral problems and
moral dilemmas, exacerbating the old
problems, and forcing us to apply ordinary
moral norms in uncharted realms (Deborah
Johnson, 1985)
Computer Capabilities

How could computers possibly create
new moral dilemmas?
• They think
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Best backgammon player in the world is a
computer (it learned to play w/o human
intervention)
Navlab truck (CMU) drove cross-country
Many Wall Street trades are automatic
Unmanned aerial vehicles search and destroy
Computer Capabilities

How could computers possibly create
new moral dilemmas?
• They collect a lot of data

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Sensors at every intersection
Track every phone call
Monitor every key click
Your biological make-up
Computer Capabilities

How could computers possibly create
new moral dilemmas?
• They are fast

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Search through data efficiently
“Persistent” has a new meaning
Human scale of time is quaint
Computer Capabilities

How could computers possibly create
new moral dilemmas?
• They are networked
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New uncertainty about who speaks to whom
New coordination capabilities
Communication is fast
Computer Capabilities

How could computers possibly create
new moral dilemmas?
• They are distant and anonymous

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Who did that
Are laws applicable where actions take place
or where instructions are given
Internet hunting
Computer Capabilities

How could computers possibly create
new moral dilemmas?
• Who owns what?

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The algorithm that represents the “idea”
The source code written by a programmer
The object code that is a machine-language
translation of the code
The look and feel of a program
Intellectual Property Law

Protects marks, copy, and inventions
• Trademarks
• Copyrights
• Patents
Trademarks

Protects company names, logos,
color schemes, sounds
• No expiration date but requires use to
preserve
• Cannot be ordinary
• Cannot be misleadingly similar to
preexisting trademarks
Complications of Internet

Global Communication
• Can companies in Canada claim
trademark infringement by companies in
Mexico?

Mass marketing
• You cannot disparage someone’s
trademark even when you can do it
quickly and anonymously (1995)
Complications of the Internet

Anticybersquatting Consumer
Protection Act (1999)
• You cannot create domain names that
are too close to existing marks
• You cannot infringe on marks of the
Olympics or the Red Cross
Copyright

Protects the expression of ideas
• Literary works
• Musical works
• Dramatic works
• Pantomimes and choreography
• Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
• Motion pictures and audiovisual works
• Sound recordings
• Architectural works
Copyright

Protected on the Internet
• Graphics/images
• Sound files
• Text
• Email
• Java programs on the web
Copyright

Does not protect
• Idea
• Procedure
• Process
• System
• Method of operation
• Concept
• Principle
• Discovery
Only the tangible
expression
Copyright

Rights last until 70 years past the
death of the author
• Or 95 years from publication
• Or 120 years from creation

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Work for
hire
Copyright requires no registration
Copyright holder must grant
permission for others to use
Copyright

Fair use (without consent)
• For criticism, comment, news, teaching,
scholarship, research (typically for nonprofit only)
• Not all work is worthy of protection
• Not too much is used (less than 10%)
• No harm on market
Complications of the Internet

You copy entire web pages to your
machine every time you view them
• Violation?

Copying other images to your web page
• Violation?

Use pointers to other images on your web
page
• Violation?

Include links to other web pages from
yours
• Violation?
Complications of the Internet

HTML Frames
• A web page “nests” another web page
within their context

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It can permit a web page to remain on some
parts of the screen while displaying other
pages as well
If it is confusing to the viewer, it’s a
violation
Complications of the Internet

Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA)
• Better protection for music/movies
• Limits liability of internet service
providers (ISP) and universities

They cannot be sued as easily if *you*
violate copyrights on *their* servers
Complications of the Internet

TEACH Act 2001
• Extends privileges to distance learning
• Copyrighted works can be placed on
servers and distributed
Patents

Protects useful and improved
• Processes
• An article of manufacture
• Machines
• Composition of matter
Patents

Must be new and useful
• No “prior art”
• Cannot be obvious

Must be detailed and registered with
patent office
• One-year from when idea first revealed
to world

Protection lasts 20 years (nonrenewable)
Patents and Internet

“Idea” factories are a new economy
• IBM received 3428 patents in 2004
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HP, Micron, Intel, Canon, Panasonic,
Samsung, Hitachi, Toshiba, Philips,
Renesas Technology Corp (clearing house
for patents)
• M-Cam

Charlottesville company that measures
“value” of patent holdings