CSCI 3030 UGA MIDTERM, Break out material

society

association of people organized under a system of rules that advance the good of members over time

morality

a society's rules of conduct

ethics

rational examiniation of morality and evaluation of people's behavior

rationalization

moral excuse/justification for an immoral action

why do we rationalize?

to maintain positive self image

what is wrong with rationalizations

we forget our duties, others rights, the actin's consequences and what a virtuous person would do

workable ethical theory

produces explanations that might be persuasive to a skeptical yet open minded audience

ethical relativism

no universal standards of right and wrong

subjective relativism

each person decides right and wrong for themself

case for subjective relativism

well meaning and intelligent people can disagree

case against subjective relativism

- makes it easy to rationalize

- makes no moral distiction between actions of different people

- decisions may not be based on reason

workable ethical theories

- kantianism

- act utilitarianism

- rule utilitarianism

- social contract theory

- virtue ethics

cultural relativism

society's moral guidelines determine what's right/wrong

- differ from place and time

case for cultural relativism

- different social contexts demand different moral guidelines

- arrogant for one society to judge another

case against cultural relativism

- just because 2 societies have different moral view doesn't mean they ought to have different moral views

- doesn't explain how moral guidelines are determined

- doesn't account for evolution of moral guidelines

- provides no way out for cultures in conflict

- societies do share core values

non workable ethical theories

- subjective relativism/ethical relativism

- cultural relativism

- divine command theory

- ethical egoism

Divine Command Theory

- good actions are aligned with God's will and bad actions are contrary to God's will

-Holy books used as moral decision making guides

Case for Divine Command Theory

- we owe obedience to creator

- god is all good and all knowing and is ultimate authority

case against divine command theory

- different holy books contradict

- society is multicultural

- modern problems aren't addressed in scripture

- based on obediance not reason

ethical egoism

Each person should focus exclusively on his or her self-interest and take actins that provide the self with max long term benefit

case for ethical egoism

- practical

- let other people take care of themselves

- community can benefit when individuals put their well being first

- other moral principles are rooted in principle of self interest

case against ethical egoism

- we know what is good for someone else

- self interest can lead to immoral behavior

- other moral principles are superior to principle of self interest

-

Good will

desire to do the right thing

Kantianism

an ethical philosophy claiming that motives and universal rules are important aspects in judging what is right or wrong

1st categorical imperative

act only from moral rules that you can at the same time will to be universal moral laws

2nd categorical imperative

- act so that you treat both yourself and other people as ends in themselves and never only as a means to an end

case for Kantianism

- treats people as moral equals

- produces universal moral guidelines

perfect duty

duty obliged to fulfill without exception

imperfect duty

duty obliged to fulfill in general but not in every instance

case against kantianism

- no rule adequately characterizes an action

- sometimes there is no ay to resolve conflict between rules (perfect duty trumps imperfect duty but no solution to 2 perfect duties)

- allows no exceptions to perfect duties

Act Utiliarianism

- add up change in happiness of all affected beings

- right action to take maximizes the sum

utilitarianism

- morality of an action has nothing to do with intent

- focuses on consequences

- consequentialist theory

case for act utilitarianism

- focuses on happiness

- practical

-comprehensive

Case Against Act Utilitarianism

- unclear whom include in calculations and how far out into the future to consider

- too much work

- ignores innate sense of duty

- cannot predict consequences with certainty

- susceptible to problem of moral luck

rule utilitarianism

- applies principle of utility to moral rules instead of individual actions

case for rule utilitarianism

- not every moral decision requires calculus

- moral rules survice exceptional situations

- avoids problem of moral luck

- reduces problem of bias

case against utilitarianism

- all consequences must be measured on a single scale

- ignores problem of an unjust distribution of good consequences

social contract theory

- we implicitly accept establishment of moral rules to govern relations among citizens

- government capapble of enforcing these rules

- no one is above rules, preventing socieyt from enacting bad rules

Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau

creators of sct

negative right

a right that another can guarantee by leaving you alone

positive right

- a right obligating others to do something on your behalf

absolute right

a right guaranteed without exception

limited right

- a right that may be restricted based on circumstances

john rawl

wrote principles of justice

first principles of justice

each person may claim a fully adequate number of basic rights and liberties so long as these claims are consistent with everyone else having a claim to the same rights and liberties

The difference principle

economic and social inequalities should be organized to benefit the least advantaged members of society.

case for social contract theory

- framed in language of rights

-provides clear analysis of citizen/government problems (why its ok for gov to deprive criminals of certain rights)

case against social contract theory

- no one signed social contract

- some actions have multiple characterizations

- conflicting rights problem

- may unjustly treat people incapable of upholding contract

virtue ethics

a right action is an action that a virtuous person acting in character would do in the same circumstances

intellectual virtues

virtues associated with reasoning and truth

moral virtues

virtues of character

- developed by habitually performing the right action

- disposition to act in a certain way and feel in a certain way

virtues

character traits humans need in order to flourish and be truly happy

vices

a character trait that prevents a human being from flourishing or being truly happy

case for virtue ethics

- makes more sense to focus on virtues than obligations rights or consequences

- personal relationships relevant to decision making

- recognizes moral decision-making skills develop over time

- emotions play an important role in living a moral life

case against virtue ethics

- people may disagree on traits needed for human flourishing

- cannot use virtue ethics to guide government policy

- undermines attempts to hold people responsible for bad actions

benefits or networked communications

conducting business

online education

connecting with friends and relatives

entertainment

harms of networked communications

scams

bullying/harassment

possible threats to democratic institutions

spam

unsolicited bulk email

how firms get our email addresses

web sites

chat room conversations

computer viruses

dcitionary attacks contests

bot herders

control botnets and send spam

botnets

huge networks of compromised computers

web

networked hypertext system, decentralized with each object having unique address

how we use the internet

- buying/selling

socializing

contributing content

visiting secret web sites

crowdsourcing

learning

exploring our roots

virtual worlds

paying taxes

controlling internet of things

taking humanitarian action

gambling

cryptocurrency

virtual currency independent of any bank or government

features of a cryptocurrency

- global accessibility

- decentralization

-anonymity

- security

- limited supply

use of cryptocurrencies

illegal transactions

funds transfer

investment vehicle

blockchain

ledger of transactions distributed on network o ref computers

proof of work

a requirement to define an expensive computer calculation, also called mining, that needs to be performed in order to create a new group of trustless transactions (blocks) on the distributed ledger or blockchain

proof of stake

- A consensus distribution algorithm that rewards earnings based on the number of coins you own or hold

- The more you invest in the coin, the more you gain by mining with this protocol

- uses validators that stake some of its cryptocurrency as collateral, earns cryptocurrency by validating transactions

M-Pesa

a mobile-phone-based money transfer service that is popular in parts of Africa

examples of political activisim organized through social networking

- ouster of philippine president joseph enstrada

- arab spring uprisings

- Massachusetts special election

- black lives matter protests

- storming of capital

massachusetts special election

- twitter used to spread misinformation about one candidate fooling google search engine into promoting web page with misinformation

occupation of us capitol

- trump tweeted democrats tried to steal election prompting stop the steal groups to form on facebook

- trump encouraged supporters to come to washington dc

- supporters organized storming of capitol on parler and gab

internet research agency

a russian group that bought and spread ads about the election, facebook has a thing where you can see of you followed or liked any of these ads purchased by a russian entity.

Macedonian Entrepreneurs

• Facebook and Google make money when people click on links leading to pages with advertising• Macedonian entrepreneurs in 2016- Created more than 100 pro-Trump websites- Registered websites with Google's AdSense program- Put pro-Trump stories on websites with sensationalized headlines- Used Facebook's "share" feature to drive traffic to websites- Made money when people clicked on stories

basis of fear of democracy being threatened

- concerned about social media -> undermine trust

- facebook provides americans with news

- engages users with content that the like building user preferences

- creates ideological echo chambers

censorship

attempt to supress or regulate public access to material considered harmful or offensive

- traditionally exercised by governments and religious institutions

impact of the printing press

broke monopoly on distributing information held by governments and churches

direct censorship

censorship by the government

Government monopolization

government controls all media outlets (ex soviet union)

prepublication review

everything reviewed and approved before being disseminated

licensing and registration

used to control media with limited bandwideth (ex radio and television)

self censorship

group decides for itself not to publish

reasons for self censorship

- avoid subsequent persecution

-maintain good relations with government officials ( sources of information)

censorship challenges posed by the internet

many to many communications

dynamic connections

huge number of web sites

global (extends beyond national borders and laws)

hard to distinguish between minors and adults)

mill's principle of harm

"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant."

(censoring is only justified if protecting community/others)

freedom of expression

right of people to speak, publish, and assemble

FCC v. Pacifica Foundation

ruled that government has the right to prohibit broadcasting of patently offensive material

web filter

software that prevents display of certain web pages

child internet protection act

Libraries receiving federal networking funds must filter pages containing obscenity or child pornography

sexting

sending sexual content, particularly photos or videos, via cell phones or social media

identity theft

when a person misuses another person's identity

how identity thieves gain access

- dumpster diving

- shoulder surging

- phishing

intstant messaging

software supporting realtime chat over the internet

online predators

use instant messaging apps to find victims

police run sting operations to catch them

cyberbullying

use of the internet or phone system to inflict psychological harm

revenge porn

posting pornographic image with malicious intent without consent of particpants

Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act

- Federal crime to send any communications with intent to cause "substantial emotional distress"

- Introduced in 2009, not yet passed

3 variants of internet addiction

- excessive gaming

- sexual preoccupations

-messaging

4 characteristics of internet addiction

- excessive use

-withdrawal symptoms

-tolerance

- negative social consequences