CS 301 sharing copy

God I hate this retarded class

The author speculates that AIChat is likely to be very valuable in several specific areas. List 3

Repurposing Codebases

Supporting Database Query Languages

Extending the capabilities of scene analyzers and pattern recognizers

What is the area in which AIChat is least likely to have much to offer?

Automated content generation

What is the alternative phrase that the author uses for automated content generation?

Bloviation generation

What two major characteristics define the World Wide Web as we know it?

The deployment of HTTP - a new, platform-independent, application-layer communication protocol supporting extensible, distributed, collaborative hypermedia

The integration of HTML - a variation of SGML that incorporated hypertext into documents/web pages.

The author lists four advantages that the World Wide Web offered beyond the capabilities of preceding Internet application - layer protocols. Name 3 of them.

1. Open architecture

2. Platform and media independence

3. native web-compliant browser

4. unidirectional hyperlinks

List two elements of hypertext as it was invented by Ted Nelson in 1965 that are still absent in the Web version of hypertext

Content transclusion - the ability to reuse content with is original context intact, across multiple documents.

Copyright management (transcopyright) - built-in mechanisms for attribution, source identification, and rights protection.

In the 1960’s Ted Nelson said that any network-based information sharing system worthy of the name should have 7 characteristics. Which of the 7 does the Web have partially supported?

Only the first one: Support of hyperlinks to network file resources

What is the limitation that the Web places on network links?

Web hyperlinks are unidirectional - they point only one way and do not automatically provide a return link back to the source.

According to Doug Engelbart (inventor of the mouse, joystick, GUI, etc.) the focus of the Web is too limited. What is needed to overcome the limitations of the Web?

A tool that focuses on a universal knowledge base capable of augmenting human intellect, with structured, addressable knowledge objects, flexible views, and dynamic integration of information across documents.

What is the difference between a URN and a URL? Which is used by the Web?

URN (Uniform Resource Name) - Specifies the identity of a resource independently of its location (urn:isbn:043242143). It tells you what it is, not where it is

URL(Uniform Resource Locator) - Specifies the location of a resource on the internet (https://example.com). It tells you where to find it.

The Web uses URLs, duh, which means links depend on the resource’s location rather than a permanent identity

In 2022, Google settled with forty states for $391.5 million. What was the charge against google?

it misled users about the collection of their personal location data. Google stored time-stamped location data even when users had turned off Location History.

The 2022 court settlement was based upon a 2018 expose by the Associated Press. What did the AP document in their expose?

they documented that Google services on Android devices and iPhones stored users’ location data even if they had turned off the “Location History” setting.

What explanation did Google offer to justify the behavior documented by the Associated Press in 2018?

They explained that the collection of location data was intended to improve people’s experience. They framed the tracking of location data as a benefit to users rather than acknowledging it as a privacy issue.

What specific protections are there for personal privacy in the U.S. Constitution?

The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly provide protections for personal privacy; any privacy rights are implied, such as in the ‘penumbras’ of other constitutional problems, according to Supreme Court interpretations like Griswold v. Connecticut.

According to Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas in Griswold v. Connecticut, any implied Constitutional guarantees of personal privacy would have to be found buried somehow in _________

penumbras

In 2023, the Department of Justice filed a second suit against Google for what crime?

anticompetitive practices in its online advertising business

In 2022 the U.S. House of Representative Judiciary Committee published a report on competition in digital markets that listed several examples of illegal activities by online companies. List 2 of them.

1. Misappropriating content from third parties to boost their own offerings

2. Imposing search penalties to demote third-party providers and maintain monopolistic control.

The 2022 House Report identified 3 common problems attributed to the four online platforms Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook. What were they?

1. The platformers serve as gatekeepers over a key channel of distribution.

2. They use this gatekeeper position to maintain market power.

3. They abuse their role as intermediaries to enrich themselves and dominate markets.

The author lists 9 questionable business practices of Google that resulted from the recent international litigations. List 4 of them.

1. Misleading customers/ breaking contracts

2. Anticompetitive practices

3. Maintaining a monopoly

4. Blocking competition

What was the term that pioneers of modern economics Adam Smith and David Riccardo used to describe the business practices of which Google and the other online platform providers were accused in recent international courts.

“rent seeking”

What is the best-selling book that provides a backdrop to this article?

The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki, published in 2004

The article contrasts our experience with two categories of “online crowds/’ what are they?

Social Media Crowds - self-selection, herd mentality, disinformation, manipulation

Wikipedia Crowds - structured and moderated, reliable information, more optimstic

The author gives three reasons why he is averse to assign any inherent value to groups. What are they?

Social Dominance - group settings often lead to hierarchies where certain individuals or factions dominate others

Integroup Conflict - groups tend to fosters “us vs. them” dynamics, increasing tensions and conflict between different groups

Societal Discord - The cohesion and identity within groups can contribute to broader societal division and unrest

James Surowiecki holds that there are three necessary conditions for wise crowds. List them

Diversity - A variety of perspectives, backgrounds, and viewpoints among group members.

Independence - Individuals must form their own opinions, free from the influence of others in the group.

Decentralization - Decision-making is distributed, not controlled by a central authority; people can draw on their local knowledge

What does the author of the article say about the three necessary conditions for wise crowds/groups?

Author believes that Surowiecki’s conditions are idealistic and often unrealistic in online settings, especially on social media.

What does convergence theory have to say about the behavior of crowds over time?

Over time, groups will tend to become more similar, converge toward of uniformity, loss of diversity, and like-mindedness. This results in crowds becoming less intellectually diverse.

List two twentieth-century scholars who held that crowds tend to be less rational and intellectual than their smartest members.

Elias Canetti - In his book Crowds and Power (1960), he argues that crowds tend to become more partisan, defensive, and emotionally volatile, rather than more intelligent.

Gustave Le Bon - In The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1896), he characterized crowds as irrational, impulsive, and prone to herd mentality, calling their thinking of a “very inferior order.”

The author discusses one common feature of all crowds. What is it?

They share a common focus

The author lists three debilitating features of crowds. What are they?

Singularity of focus - Crowds tend to concentrate on a single idea or goal, which limits openness to alternative perspectives.

Self-selection - People voluntarily join crowds that align with their own vies, which discourages diversity and promotes ideological homogeneity.

Resistance to challenge - Crowds often reject or resist any challenge to their core beliefs or focus, making them more susceptible to disinformation, conspiracies, and irrational behavior.

What features of crowds seem to explain crowd’s willingness to accept disinformation, fake new, unsupported claims, conspiracies, etc.?

The three features: singularity of focus, resistance to challenge, and self-selection

The author claims that some crowds can exhibit sagacity but only when _______

but only when the collective crowd behavior rises above the limitations of individual participants.

What is the thesis that the author labels naive crowd psychology?

naive crowd psychology is the idea that collective crowds are always more insightful, intelligent, or sagacious than their individual members.

Jaron Lanier: the use of the term “wisdom” in the context of crowds is analogous to Adam Smith’s use of the term _______ in the context of markets

“invisible hand”

Why doesn’t the success of the Delphi method of forecasting confirm the wisdom of crowds?

Its not a crowd, it’s made up of carefully selected subject-matter experts

What is the term used to describe the phenomenon where wiki contributors try to inject self-serving malicious, defamatory disinformation into a record or narrative?

“wiki vandalism”

According to the author, what do wikis excel at?

the collection and organization of settled knowledge.

What does our recent experience with social media demonstrate?

online platforms are highly susceptible to both bias and manipulation

The article reports ample evidence for three dark, anti-social features of online crowds: List them

Disinhibition - people say and do things online that they would not in face-to-face interactions.

Herd behavior - users imitate or follow others uncritically, amplifying misinformation or harmful trends.

Toxicity - interactions often devolve into hostility, harassment, or other destructive behaviors.

The Paycheck GPS start interrupt system is used for what purpose?

Used by car dealers and finance companies to locate and remotely disable vehicles

The label that the author uses to describe the irrational belief in the security of a computing/network system that was not built around a robust security model.

“faith-based security” (FBS)

What vehicle telematics component was exploited by the FBI in operation G-Sting?

OnStar’s preinstalled microphones which could be activated remotely

Why did the Ninth Circuit rule that the Operation G-Sting convictions were illegal?

the FBI’s use of OnStar to spy on conversations violated corporate terms of service.

What type of computer appliances are “never optimal for security-sensitive applications?”

RF (radio-frequency) appliances, such as keyless entry fobs are susceptible to hacking, replay attacks, and denial-of-service attacks.

What is the name of the tool developed by Samy Kamar to run replay attacks against keyless entry systems?

OwnStar

(T/F) The use of rolling code algorithms defeat replay attacks against keyless entry systems.

False.

What is Samy Kamkar’s program that offers replay attacks for RF based keyless entry systems that use rolling codes?

Rolljam. It targets RF- based keyless entry systems that use rolling codes to perform replay attacks.

What information is in principle accessible to Black Box OBD devices?

Wide range of vehicle data including

• Historical accelerometer data

• Speed data

• GPS and location data

• Trip timings and usage patterns

• Engine parameters

• Brake and steering data

• Seatbelt and airbag status

Which is more vulnerable to hacking, a modern mobile phone or a modern automobile’s computer system?

Automobile’s computer system since they carry constant connectivity alongside poor security design.

What is disnformatics?

The proposed study of misinformation and its use or misuse. Focuses on how false or misleading information (unknowledge) is created, disseminated, and exploited for ideological, political, or social purposes.

How is disinformation used?

to intimidate and restrict media, scapegoat minorities and foreigners, silence political opposition, delegitimize opponents, and spread unvetted information online through fake news, social media trolling, and Twitterstorms.

What is unknowledge?

Berghel’s label for the entire collection of false, misleading, or manipulative information that gets injected into public discourse. It includes things such as fake news, alt-facts, post-truths, partisan propaganda, BS, intentional lies and deceptions, and rhetorical tricks uses to distort understanding.

Jeff Colgan lists several warning signs of democratic erosion. List 3 of them.

1. Politicization of independent institutions (like courts, law enforcement, or the civil service)

2. Spreading disinformation to confuse citizens and undermine truth

3. Attacking the legitimacy of elections or weaking electoral rules

What constitutes success to a disinformatician? Give 3 examples?

1. Winning an election by spreading disinformation that sways voters

2. Silencing political opposition through smear campaigns or coordinated online harassment

3. Discrediting critics or institutions (e.g., delegitimizing a judge as a “so-called judge”)

According to computer scientist Peter Denning, an academic discipline is defined by 4 hallmarks. What are they?

1. A durable domain of human concern

2. A codified body of knowledge

3. A set of guiding principles

4. A standard curriculum for teaching

Why does the addition of disinformation (fake news, alt-facts, etc.) prevent the collective knowledge from reaching equilibrium?

because it creates “information entropy.” False information doesn’t just vanish; it forms persistent clumps of unknowledge in the record. Truth and falsehood coexist without resolution, keeping society from ever converging on a shared, fact based understanding.

What is the popular netizen refrain regarding trolling?

“Don’t feed the trolls”

How does the article define “online trolling”?

The practice of anonymously interrupting normal and customary information exchange in order to lure the recipient into reacting to the message.

How is online trolling different from other interference technologies like signal jamming, network blocking, network filtering, etc.?

1. Anonymity: Trolls typically hide their identity, whereas technical interference is usually overt and traceable.

2. Psychological focus: Trolling seeks to provoke, manipulate, or inflame the recipient’s emotions, rather than just prevent communication.

3. Content- driven: Trolling uses lies, misinformation, distortions, or inflammatory content to achieve its effect, unlike technical methods that disrupt communication mechanically.

4. Engagement-oriented: Trolls aim to elicit a reaction from their target, turning the disruption into an interactive social manipulation.

What is one of the main goals of trolling?

to manipulate or provoke a reaction from the target.

Trolling is a part of the Internet’s ________ space.

negative

List two examples of pedestrian online trolling.

1. Hit--and-run posting: making brief, provocative posts and then leaving the conversation.

2. Shitposting: posting low-quality or nonsensical content to disrupt discussions.

Define kakistocracy

a form of government ruled by the least component or most unqualified people. The term comes from the Greek words kakistos (worst) and kratos (rule).

Define pathocracy

a form of government o leadership dominated by individuals who are psychologically maladjusted, often psychopaths or narcissists, who pursue power at the expense of the well-being of the population.

List five different types of trolling defined in the article.

1. Provocation trolling: to elicit a specific response from participants

2. Social engineering trolling: to manipulate participants into actions they normally wouldn’t take.

3. Partisan trolling: to de-legitimize a political opponent or party for political gain.

4. Ad hominem trolling: to harass, defame, or discredit individuals or groups.

5. Nuisance trolling: to derail or disrupt the thread of an online forum.

Why is online trolling so effective at manipulating public opinion?

it escapes detection by the uninitiated and exploits emotional reactions rather than rational thought. Trolls provoke strong responses, create confusion, and polarize audiences.

List and explain the 4 categories of trolling stimulus & response.

Ordinary Exchange: Neither party is trolling, A normal, manipulated communication.

Troll injection: The troll injects themselves into an otherwise ordinary exchange.

Sucker/ Victim: The troll targets an unwitting victim who is not trolling.

Troll warfare: Both parties are actively trolling. It can escalate into online “wars.”

In what 3 ways does the social media communication model move beyond earlier rectified asymmetrical email/text messaging?

1. It’s nonrectified: conversations aren’t linear; anyone can join in at any time

2. It’s mutlidirectional: many-to-many communication rather than just one-to-one or one-to-many

3. It’s not content-bounded: participants can embed and share links, media, and resources beyond the original message.

How does the article describe how social media transformed communication?

transformed communication by making it nonrectified, multidirectional, and not content-bounded. Content can expand dynamically through links, media, and contributions from others.

Provide three examples of disrupting technologies.

1. Printing press

2. Moveable type

3. The Web

The article provides several “downsides” of social media. List three.

1. Distraction: it pulls attention away from other tasks.

2. Shallowness: encourages surface-level engagement rather than depth.

3. Echo chambers: reinforces existing biases instead of exposing users to diverse perspectives.

The article claims that one inherent feature of social media has been both widely appreciated by users and also underappreciated by social scientists and scholars. What is this feature?

ambient connectivity

The article gives three reasons why social media exchanges (as virtual exchanges) tend to encourage anti-social behavior.

1. Disinhibition: people feel freer to say or do things online that they would not in face-to-face settings.

2. Anonymity: the ability to hide one’s identity lowers accountability.

3. Lack of consequences: virtual interactions often don’t carry the same immediate social costs as real-world exchanges.

List two mock reality psychology studies discussed in the article.

1. Stanly Milgram’s obedience experiments

2. Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment

What did the Milgram experiment attempt to measure?

the extent to which ordinary people would obey authority figures, even when instructed to inflict what they believed were painful or harmful electric shocks on another person.

What did the Stanford prison experiment attempt to measure?

how social rules and situational pressures influence behavior, specifically how quickly ordinary people would conform to roles of guards and prisoners in a simulated prison environment, and whether those roles would lead to abusive or submissive behavior.

What did the Carnahan and McFarland experiment attempt to measure?

the effects of participant self-selection on behavior in mock reality experiments. Specifically, it investigated whether volunteers’ personality traits significantly influence the outcomes of experiments such as the Stanford Prison Experiment.

What was the important observation that Hannah Arendt made about the Nazi Holocaust?

situational contexts could be powerful enough to induce otherwise normal, stable individuals to engage in abnormal, immoral, or criminal behavior. Horrific acts may result not just from psychopathy but also from the influence of social environment and structure on individuals’ moral agency.

Give three examples that would confirm Jaron Lanier’s claim that social media brings out the worst in some people.

1. Cyberbullying and shaming: using social media to harass or humiliate others online.

2. Doxing: publicly revealing someone’s private information to intimidate or harm them.

3. Spreading conspiracy theories or promoting hate groups: using social media to reinforce harmful beliefs and mobilize antisocial behavior.

The author claims that in addition to being a mock psychology testbed, social media is also a global, unsupervised experiment in what?

naive crowd psychology

What is the “lock-in” network effect?

when users face strong disincentives to stop using or switch social media platforms, often due to social pressures or fear of missing out (FOMO). It keeps people engaged on a platform even if they might want to leave. THEYRE LOCKED IN.

The author offers an alternative social media model. What is it?

multitiered behavior modification environment, where the higher tiers are based on economic manipulation and the lower tiers are based on psychosocial manipulation.

The author describes five characteristics of an ideal communication platform for use in soliciting memberships in anti-social causes (e.g., insurrections). What are they?

1. Unique messaging capability (microtargeting): Ability to appeal directly to potential recruits who share the intended objectives.

2. Geographical transparency: The platform can reach a widely dispersed audience without needing them to be in one location.

3. Interactive, biodirectional, multimedia capable, and participatory: support memes, deepfakes, video, generative AI content, and other disinformation-rich resources.

4. Support for idea-reinforcing “thought swarms”: Continuous reinforcement of beliefs and motives to strengthen commitment to risky or extreme goals.

5. Continuous availability: The platform is always accessible to the target audience, typically via the Internet.

What are the “five Ds” of sociopathy?

1. Disinformation: spreading false or misleading information

2. Deception: deliberately misleading or tricking others

3. Dishonesty: lying or withholding the truth

4. Delusion: holding false beliefs despite evidence to the contrary

5. Duplicity: acting in two different ways to manipulate or exploit otherss=

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, what does “post truth” mean?

The word used to reflect the 2016 political climate, where factual accuracy became largely irrelevant. During the election, politicians’ statements often ignored facts entirely, and many voters either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

List three categories of “fake news” (excluding satire)

1. Disclosed sources: sources that openly identify themselves and take responsibility for content.

2. Anonymous sources: sources that conceal authorship, often hiding behind pseudonyms or avatars.

3. Bogus sources: sources that appear authentic but are entirely fabricated, deliberately misleading readers.

What news services can help expose fake news?

1. FactCheck

2. PolitiFact

3. The Washington Post fact-checker

4. Snopes Field Guide to Fake News Sites and Hoax Purveyors

5. Real or Satire?

What was the “unanimous agreement” relating to Generative AI mentioned in the article?

it poses an existential threat, a kind of “bloviating Armageddon risk”

What did H.L. Menken mean by bloviation?

a form of empty, pompous political speech, language full of noise but lacking substance, crafted to persuade or impress rather than to inform.

According to the author, what is deceptive about generative AI?

it creates the appearance of meaningful, thoughtful content when in fact it is only generating fluent noise.

According tot he author, if society is to deal with generative AI’s automated bloviation, it must deal with a fundamental question. What is that question?

“How do we separate useful information from manufactured nonsense?”

What would be an appropriate internet comparison to the author’s “hypothetical online all-inclusive digital media library”?

an idealized form of the World Wide Web

What are three situations that arise when one extracts information from the internet (aka the “hypothetical online all-inclusive digital media library”)?

1. Exact matches: when the information retrieved directly and accurately matches what the user was seeking.

2. No matches: when the desired information simply doesn’t exist in the system.

3. Semantic entropy: when the retrieved information exists but is obscured by noise, ambiguity, or distortion, making it hard to separate truth from misinformation or nonsense.

According to the author, “history has shown that spontaneously generated nonsense and disinformation have a definite, measured, and predictable influence on people who have what characteristics?

people with low or negative cognitive inertia. Those who are less able or willing to critically evaluate and resist misleading information.

According to the author, what is the political effect of “disinformedia?”

hyperpartisanship. It fosters echo chambers and amplifies ideological polarization, reinforcing biases and increasing societal divisions.

Which of the following represents the higher order problem: “semantic entropy” or “communication entropy”?

“semantic entropy”

Why does semantic entropy represent a higher order problem than communication entropy?

communication entropy deals with errors in sending information; semantic entropy deals with errors in the information itself.

Where may society look for the best hope of cultivating skills that will be effective in recognizing the disinformation that results from generative AI?

lies in education. A strong, well-rounded, liberal (non-STEM-focused) education that emphasizes:

1. Domain knowledge in humanities and social sciences

2. Reasoning skills

3. Disinformatics

List three characteristics or topics will be required of any educational environment to deal effectively with disinformation?

1. Domain knowledge: Understanding controversial or easily weaponized topics, especially in the humanities and social sciences

2. Reasoning skills: developed through philosophy, logic, and mathematics, enabling careful evaluation of claims and arguments

3. Disinformatics: knowledge of language use and misuse, propaganda, biased messaging, perception management, cognitive biases, and the technological amplification of disinformation.

Is STEM education the best hope for cultivating skills that will be effective in recognizing the disinformation that results from generative AI?

No. the most effective preparation comes from a strong general education.

What DOES Bill Bishop mean by the “big sort?”

the social and political phenomenon in which people increasingly cluster themselves with others who share similar beliefs, values, and political affiliations, leading to ideologically homogeneous communities. This clustering reinforces partisan thinking, reduces exposure to different perspectives, and accelerates societal polarization.