New assignments are added at the end of the list.
Comments to instructors
In addition to the assignments below, many of the Class Discussion Exercises in the text on pages 133-135 are suitable for student presentation assignments.
General instructions given to students
The presentations should analyze the situation, use analogies and similar cases where possible, mention various possible risks or consequences, etc. Include some discussion of how the new technology changes the situation. What advantages or problems result from using it, compared to the old way of doing things? Present the group's proposals and/or conclusions, supported by arguments.
Asmt. 1: Developing policies for handling consumer information (See Sec. 2.1.3)
The groups develop policies for use of customer information by a large online business. Consider the variety of information the company might collect (e.g., billing and demographic data; a subscriber's purchases; logs of which pages onthe Web site a subscriber views; statistical summaries of customer attributes and activities). Consider who might want the information. Decide on what information will or may be collected and stored, and what information will or may be sold or released. Consider requests from advertisers, list brokers, law enforcement agencies, news media, etc. You may decide to treat different kinds of information differently and to treat different requesters differently. Present your policy and the reasons for some of your choices. (Present what you consider reasonable, not necessary what is required or permitted by current law.)
Group 1: a company that rents movies (on DVD and via streaming on the Internet) and posts reviews by susbscribers
Group 2: a free video-sharing site such as YouTube
Group 3: a free site that supplies photo handling tools and provides space for people to store their photos and e-mail photos to others.
Group 4: a major online retailer such as amazon.com
Note to instructors:
In one class, I assigned three groups to
develop company policies and they came up with three quite different
policies: (1) sell or release no personal info on subscribers and
emphasize this privacy policy as a marketing point, (2) let it be known
to prospective subscribers that the company may sell anything at all
(except social security numbers and credit card numbers), and (3) a
system where subscribers can choose which categories of info about them
may be sold, and they get specified discounts on the subscription fee
based on how many categories they permit.
The variety of policies proposed was useful in shaping the discussion of
appropriate laws.
In another semester, the groups all came up with similar policies,
unfortunately, making the discussion less interesting.
Asmt. 2: Disclosing names of drivers/commuters (See Sec. 2.2.2)
A company manages toll bridges and toll roads, where customers have a small radio transmitter that permits them on the bridge or road without stopping to pay a toll. All such customer travel is electronically recorded for billing purposes. Police are investigating a murder in a town near one end of a major bridge. They want the company to provide the travel records of a particular customer. The company says it will provide the information only if the police get a court order. The police claim they do not need a court order.
Group 1: The police, arguing that they do not need a court order
Group 2: The company, supporting its positon that the police must get a court order
Group 3: You, presenting and supporting your position
Asmt. 3: Databases and terrorism
After the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in 2001, government agencies wanted to build a database of all people trained as scuba divers, drivers of large trucks, and others with similar kinds of skills that could be used in future terrorist attacks. The FBI asked a large scuba diving business for its customer database.
Group 1: The board of directors of the scuba business, deciding how to
respond to the FBI request
Group 2: The FBI arguing in Congress for a law authorizing it to build
a database containing all scuba divers and heavy truck drivers
Group 3: The American Civil Liberties Union arguing in Congress against
such a law
Asmt. 4: ID chips in products (See Sec. 2.3.2)
Several manufacturers and retailers are considering putting radio frequency ID (RFID) chips into products such as clothing and appliances. The chips emit a signal that identifies the item.
Group 1: Sales team for a company that manufactures the chips, making a presentation to a large retailing chain to convince them to buy the chips to install in their products. Explain the uses and advantages of the chips. Mention likely privacy objections and refute them.
Group 2: A privacy organization, making a presentation to the board of directors of the retailing chain to convince them not to use the chips. Explain the risks and argue that the risks outweigh the benefits.
Group 3: The board of directors, presenting their decision and the reasons for it.
Group 4: Some libraries are considering putting RFID chips in books. Are there issues about chips in books that are different from issues for other products? Discuss pros and cons about putting chips in library books, and take a position.
Asmt. 5: College student networking sites (See Sec. 2.3.4.)
Read the user agreement of a social-networking site such as MySpace.com or FaceBook.com.
Group 1: You are the parents of 19-year-old twins, Dan, a computer science major who hopes to start his own company, and Jan, a political science major interested in a job in government. Warn them about the risks of putting a lot of personal information and a blog on such a site.
Group 2: You're a marketing team for a new social-networking site, and you are visiting college campuses to meet with students in their dorms and promote the benefits (and safety) of the site. Make your presentation.
Group 3: You're you. Describe the most significant benefits and risks of using these sites. Tell whether you use one and why (e.g. why you think the benefits outweigh the risks or vice versa).
Asmt. 6: Putting judges' financial statements on the Web (See Sec. 2.3.5)
Judges are required to file full financial statements that become public record and are available for people to examine at a government office (for example, to see if a judge has a conflict of interest in a particular case).
Group 1, in favor of putting the financial statements on a Web site
Group 2, against
Note to instructor: In addition to adressing the issues in the text, one student raised the question: Does posting information on the Web meet the government's obligation of notifying the public? This might be interesting to discuss in class.
Asmt. 7: Serving search warrants by fax
Some states and legal conventions require that a search warrant be served in person by police officers. A police officer, conducting an investigation, obtained a search warrant for an ISP in another state. The warrant was for the files of a particular customer. The officer faxed the warrant to the ISP, and the ISP collected all files on the customer, including e-mail, and mailed a disk to the officer.
Group 1: Argue that such a process is positive, useful, and should be permitted.
Group 2: Argue that such a process has risks and that service of search warrants in person should continue to be required.
Asmt. 8: Disclosing names of people in chat room (Exercise 2.47)
Group 1, the public health department
Group 2, the company that hosts the Web site, explaining why it decided not to provide the list
Group 3, an independent ethics board asked to evaluate the situation and recommend action
Asmt. 9: Ivy League snooping (Exercise 2.48 in the text)
Asmt. 10: ISP logs
Note to instructors: You could use this with Chapter 2, but you might prefer to use it after covering Chapter 5, where we discuss the use of ISP logs to catch hackers and other criminals.
Many telephone companies and Internet Service Providers destroy logs of customer activity when the information is no longer needed for business purposes. Governments in several countries proposed laws requiring that such logs be kept longer for use by law enforcement agencies. You are presenting arguments in Congress about such a law.
Group 1: Law enforcement agencies arguing for the new law
Group 2: A privacy and civil liberties organization arguing against the law
Group 3: A major ISP, taking whatever position the group decides
Asmt. 11: Cell phone tracking
A cell-phone tracking service, when activated by a user on his or her cell phone, allows friends of the user to view the location of the person on their own phone or online. (Actually, the location provided is the location of a cell tower near the person's cell phone.) Discuss the merits, risks, and trade-offs of each of the following features. What modifications, if any, would you suggest?
1) The location service follows the "opt-in" protocol.
2) The location service reports only the most recent
location. It does not store or provide a history of locations.
3) No identification is required to initiate the service on a
particular phone. Thus, someone else
with access to a person's phone could activate the service without the
owner's knowledge.
4) It is not easy to check whether the tracking service is turned on
for your phone.
Asmt. 12: Guidelines for social networking sites
A panel of regulators in the European Union devised guidelines for
social networking sites that, the regulators say, would meet the
requirements of the EU's privacy laws. They include the following:
Set default privacy settings at a high level.
Tell users to upload a picture of a person only if the person consents.
Allow the use of psuedonyms.
Set limits on how long data on inactive users are retained.
Delete accounts that are inactive for a long time.
Group 1: Evaluate these simply as guidelines, not legal requirements.
Group 2: Evaluate these as legal requirements for social networking sites.
(Consider, among other issues, how to define the sites to which the rules
would apply.)
Asmt. 12a: Tracking drivers
Police investigators placed a GPS tracking device on the car of a man they thought might have committed several assaults. They did not have a court order to do so. There was some evidence that the man might be the perpetrator, but perhaps not enough evidence to get a search warrant. The police argue that a tracking device simply automates the old practice of using officers to follow a suspect. Privacy and civil liberties advocates argue that the tracking device does more than that.
Group 1: A spokesperson for the police department, defending the use of such
tracking device by police without court orders.
Group 2: A spokesperson for a privacy and civil liberties organization opposing
it.
Group 3: Assume the police caught the person who committed the assaults, and it
was not the man they were tracking.
Comment on whether and how this outcome affects
the arguments of the first two groups.
Group 4: Assume the tracking device helped the police catch the man committing
an assault very similar to the series of assaults they suspected
he had committed.
Comment on whether and how this outcome affects
the arguments of the first two groups.
Asmt. 13: Cameras in televisions (Relates to Secs. 2.1.2 and 2.2.3)
A camera is built into the frame of Sony 3-D televisions. It warns children if they are sitting too close.
Group 1: Discuss whether this feature is useful or a waste of money.
Would you prefer that the camera be an option, and that similar models
be available without it? Discuss any other factors about this feature as
it is now.
Group 2: In the future, the cameras could have the potential to
store what they see and transmit images outside the customer's home.
You are the product development team at a TV manufacturer.
Describe potential useful services that such storage and/or transmission could
provide.
Group 3: You are a privacy organization. Describe the risks and potential
abusive uses of the cameras storing and/or transmitting images.
Asmt. 14: Choosing jurors
In jury trials, the list of people in the jury pool is provided to attorneys shortly before the jury selection process begins. Some attorneys bring staff members with laptops to court to search for information about prospective jurors on social-network sites and elsewhere on the net. The attorneys use this information in deciding which potential jurors to accept.
Group 1: Discuss implications of this practice for the people in the jury
pool and for the goal of having a fair trial.
Group 2: Argue that judges should prohibit this practice.
Group 3: Argue that judges should not prohibit this practice.
Asmt. 15: Location tracking (Section 2.3.2)
Many applications on smart phones and other smart devices require detecting and tracking the user's exact location. Choose one or two popular devices. How do these devices incorporate the privacy principles in Figure 2.1 (page 54)? These principles were developed long before such devices existed. What other principles or specific guidelines or options would you suggest for applications that track location?
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