Sample Essay Questions for Chapter 2 (See also exercises on pp. 87-89.) In many cities, some unemployed people wash the windshields of cars stopped at traffic lights and then ask to be paid. In Vancouver, police in plain clothes wash car windshields so that they can look into the cars and see if the people inside are wearing seatbelts. Those who aren't are fined. Compare this to enforcing seatbelt laws by using surveillance cameras at traffic intersections. Discuss pros and cons of both methods, and indicate whether each benefit or disadvantage applies to both the high- and low-tech methods or only one of them. How has computer technology affected privacy in public places? Discuss at least two kinds of technologies and explain their impact using examples. Discuss the impact of data bases and surveillance technologies on "expectation of privacy." Mention some relevant cases and some court decisions. (a) Describe two distinct current or potential privacy problems associated with shopping on the Web. (b) For each problem, give arguments, data, and/or examples to show that the problem is or could be significant. (c) For each problem, describe one or two ways to reduce the negative impact of the problem. Give examples of a few different types, e.g., technical, management policy, education, legal. (d) Describe one relevant trade-off. i.e., one benefit that comes with reduced privacy. For each of the following situations tell if you think the use of video recording systems (that can be monitored in real-time or viewed later by administrators, police, employers, etc.) is reasonable or not. Give the criteria for your choices, making clear what characteristics of the situations are most important to your conclusions. 1) Underwater systems in swimming pools to detect swimmers in trouble. 2) Cameras in convenience stores open late at night. 3) Offices in which employees process financial documents (e.g., credit card payments, mortgage documents). 4) Public streets and public parks. 5) In restaurants, so waiters can see when customers are ready for the next course or the bill. 6) Cameras on the roofs of buildings on college campuses and in public areas of classroom buildings and dormitories. A high-class restaurant installed a digital camera system in the dining room so that the kitchen staff can watch the tables on monitors to see when the people at each table have finished salads or appetizers and are ready for their entrees. (a) What is your initial reaction to this use of cameras? How would you feel about eating in the restaurant? (b) If you were the restaurant manager, what policies would you establish about use of the cameras? Would you inform customers of their use? How? (c) Is such use of cameras an invasion of privacy? Do you think it will become more common in restaurants? Do you think it should? Give reasons. A company called Digitizer provides a service for many other companies by converting their paper documents to digital files on CDs. The documents include employee information, medical records, business records, and many others. Digitizer hires relatively unskilled employees to organize the documents and get them ready to scan. (a) What are some potential risks here? Describe at least two actual examples that have some relevance to this situation. (b) Describe some actions or policies Digitizer can adopt to reduce the risks. Several companies are developing devices to help parents track and locate their children. One device is built into an ordinary pair of athletic shoes. The parents get a password to check their own child's location on the company's Web site. (a) Describe some potential benefits of such a system. (b) Describe some potential risks or problems with such a system. Discuss how the use of computer technology has weakened the protections provided by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Give examples of kinds of information that is now available to law enforcement agents without needing a court order. The motor vehicles departments of several states sold their driver photo databases to a private company that said it was collecting the photographs to provide security services. (a) What is the specific term for this kind of use of personal information? Explain how it applies in this case. (b) Suppose the motor vehicles departments decided to give drivers a choice about whether their photo was sold. What are the two policies used for such choices? (Give their names and tell briefly what they mean.) (c) What are some ways the photo database could be used that would have been unlikely or impossible with photos on paper? (Include at least one good use and one bad use.) (d) It later became known that the Secret Service, a federal government agency, was providing money for the company and wanted the photo database for use by the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies. Give one argument that Secret Service involvement in this case is more acceptable than if it were really just a private company. Give one argument that Secret Service involvement in this case is less acceptable than if it were really just a private company. A dead newborn infant was found in a trash dumpster. After a month of unsuccessful attempts by police to locate or identify the mother, the police ordered family planning clinics to turn over their records of results of pregnancy tests done in the time period that the mother might have had such a test. (a) Choose any two principles or guidelines for use of personal information in databases and discuss how they relate to this case. (b) Do you think the police action was reasonable and acceptable? (Yes or no?) Give what you think would be a major argument for the _opposite_ side from the position you take. Then give your reason for your position, and explain why you reject the opposing argument. A young girl was kidnapped and murdered. The police investigation was stalled. The police obtained subpoenas for the employee attendance records and absence excuses for all employers in the area to determine who was absent from work, and why, on the day the girl disappeared. They asked the employers to keep the subpoenas secret. (a) Principles or guidelines for use of personal information in databases concern disclosure, secondary use, security, and accuracy. Choose any two of these and discuss how they relate to this case. (b) Do you think the government action was reasonable and acceptable? (Yes or no?) Give what you think would be a major argument for the _opposite_ side from the position you take. Then give your reason for your position, and explain why you reject the opposing argument. Discuss differences between the free-market viewpoint and the consumer-protection viewpoint about the role of law and regulation for privacy issues related to consumer data used in the private sector. (Include examples.)