Jennifer Tryba

Digital Media Ethics Journal 1

There are a number of Ethical quandaries in existence, there is nothing about that that is new to humanity who has been studying what is “right” and what is “wrong” since he could discern the different between pain and pleasure. A question that arises from the development of new technologies such as the computer and the internet is if it is necessary to create new theories of ethics to attempt to regulate the actions of users or if the problems that come from these technologies are ones that have always existed and are simply passing through a new medium. I believe that the ethical problems that come from Digital Media are the same ethical problems that have always existed depending on where one lives and the culture of the environment.

There is also the question of whether can be a global ethics system that is agreed upon by all cultures, I found it interesting that the key to having a global ethics in digital media ethics might be using the underlying emotions involved in the way people make ethical choices in their everyday life and studies that question why certain choices are believed to be more ethical than other such as Carol Gilligan’s study of the way both men and women make ethical choices. It shows a critical difference in the way in which men and women make ethical choices. Women use emotions in making ethical choices while men tend to use more reason. Women also appreciate that ethical choices surround the relationships between those involved where men see those involved as more isolated nodes that are able to interact but are not necessarily defined by their actions and inactions.

I was most surprised by the part of the readings for this journal was the fundamental differences in Western and Eastern views of the way people are defined. In Western tradition people are thought of like peaches. They believed that though the outsides of an individual develop and change and rote away, their insides are hard and permanent. While in Eastern traditions people are thought of as like onions were they’re defined by their interactions and relationships they hold as represented by the many layers of an onion. As well as the difference between western views of copying other’s work which consider illegal as compared to the eastern idea that something that is great should be copied and shares without consequence as it is considered an honor.

Reflection Blog #1-McGlasson-Maynard

To summarize my reflections from the past four weeks is almost as overwhelming as the new ways of thinking about how I and we behave in the information world. I honestly had not examined much of anything in terms of how I ethically proceed on the Internet. I would read a story like the one in Vanity Fair last month, “Enter the Cyber-dragon” and be curious and think “Geez, a country or nation-state shouldn’t do that, it’s terrible” or “What does this mean?” but I really never gave an in depth thought to the matter. I have my own set of morals that I abide by and have not had the opportunity before to analyze why I believe what I do, or why I should ethically consider other points of view on the subject.

The first week was difficult for me, as I was having a hard week at work and had to read and re-read this class material a couple of times. Understanding of the different frameworks has not come easily to me. As I read about ethical relativism, pluralism and absolutism, I found I don’t like subscribing to a specific set of beliefs. My own preference is to remain much more fluid. “listening for and accepting differences” is not the same as agreeing with and condoning behaviors I feel are wrong (Ess, 22). And it is quite funny, as I tell people which classes I am involved in this semester, and I say the title, Information Technology Ethics, every single person says, “Are there any?” I guess we are all trying to feel out ways to proceed in this new frontier.

The second and third weeks were a bit easier, as Ess Chapter 6 really explained the ethical theories more in depth and probed the strengths and limits of subscription to those theoretical frameworks. My classmate’s postings and responses as well as Dr. Compton’s input really clarified some discrepancies I had and created some new confusion as well! It becomes harder and harder to just say a thing or behavior is right or wrong, when you are forced to defend and explain why you believe so, or what if the tables were turned in this other direction. While I find Tavani’s explanations and definitions helpful, the writing is dry for my liking and I really have to concentrate to get through the reading. After having a week or two to digest the readings, I feel my grasp on the material getting firmer.

I feel the class as a whole really getting into the groove during the fourth week. We all can relate to illegal downloading and bring different perspectives to the beast. I really found Tavani’s explanations of patents, trademarks, and trade secrets interesting. The class postings have been great! I have shared the Paul Garrin videos with a couple of people and he and his ideas fascinate us. The Digital Fascism video was an eye-opener, as I have never before considered the possibility of the Internet being composed of “nation-states” and the flaws and controls that entails.

Ess, Charles. Digital Media Ethics: Digital Media and Society Series. 1st. Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2009. Print.

"Digital Fascism-Paul Garrin." Video. YouTube. Paul Garrin. 2008. Web. 2 Oct 2011. .

Gross, Michael Joseph. "Enter the Cyber-dragon." Vanity Fair. Sep 2011: n. page. Web. 2 Oct. 2011. 201109>.

Tavani, Herman T. Ethics and Technology: Controversies, Questions, and Strategies for Ethical Computing. 3rd. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011. Print.

Blog Entry - Oct. 2

Being much older than your average college student, I have a much different perspective of this class than most. This is not to say that there are not others like me in this class, it is just an emphasis on the fact that this class is geared more towards the “younger” crowd. Perhaps I am way off the mark on this, perhaps I am not…no matters, in ethics, there is no right or wrong. There is only perspective.
To be perfectly honest, I merely trudged through the first three weeks of this class with a minimal amount of interest. The readings of Ess and Tavani had no impact on my ethical train of thought. It seemed as if I were in grade school all over again…. To make matters worse, the font size in our textbooks is so damn small; I had to break out the reading glasses. To make my point short and concise, I am set in my ways. I have life experiences that back up my sometimes centrist mentality. Despite being open to new perspectives, I tend to be unwilling to change my views on anything. It takes more than the readings of a few chapters to perk my attention span. …Which is why I love the discussion boards!  <---Supposed to be a smiley face.
I love nothing more than constructive and interesting candor. Since people (myself included) tend to be much more forthcoming with information and personal thought online than in person, discussion boards provide the best insight into a person’s true beliefs. I find it very interesting to see how many in the class lean towards their own cultural views when dealing with ethical decisions instead of their own personal ethical views. Perhaps this is why I tend to get in hot water so often; I follow my own ethical views. So much so, my wife calls me a crotchety old man sometimes.
Despite the boredoms I have encountered during the first three weeks of this class, I am looking forward to a favorable experience as this class evolves. I have enjoyed the conversation in the discussion room so far. I hope this trend continues.

Blog Entry Post 1 (Andrew Pape

Being introduced to the world of information ethics has probably been the most eye opening experience that I’ve had in a long time. In reading about ethics and the different theories through the writings of Ess and Tavani it really gives me a clear definition as to how to handle ethical dilemmas. I’m amazed that just by having an ethical debate can really open up critical thought on an issue, as well as change my absolute beliefs into questions.

Weeks two and three have taught me that in taking a “melting pot” approach to the use of different ethical theories is probably the best approach to take in ethical dilemmas. Tavani sums chapter 2 up with Moor’s Just-Consequentialist Framework which includes stages to deliberate on a topic, but then to select the best policy by ranking the ones agreed upon in the deliberation stage. This is the framework that will be used in the analysis of cyber ethics issues further examined by Tavani (p.71).

Week 4 covered copyright issues and intellectual property issues. I enjoyed this week, in that I am a huge music fan and I never get tired of the ongoing debate about downloading music. The discussions that interested me were the ones about illegal downloading. What was cool was that most of the discussions turned into discussions as to how the recording industry works, and in which direction it is going all because of the ability to download and new technology.

To top weeks 1-4 off I watched the videos of Paul Garrin. The first video about Internet Tyranny kind of set the tone as to what Mr. Garrin is talking about. If anyone has followed the debate about network neutrality and has taken a side then these videos are great to watch. The second video about digital fascism blew my mind. The internet is essentially being ruined by the government and corporations and us as citizens are the ones suffering. In watching this I believe people should open their eyes and become more knowledgeable as to what the internet actually is, and what it can do for us. Mr. Garrin makes a great comment at the end of the video. He says, “Forget about your 15 minutes of fame. What about 5 minutes of truth?”(Garrin, 8:15) This is in reference to how we are seduced into thinking that being famous on the internet is more important than grasping onto the power of the internet.

Works Cited:
Tavani, E. T. (2010). Ethics and technology, controversies, questions, and strategies for ethical computing. John Wiley & Sons Inc. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books/feeds/volumes?q=978047050950

Garrin, P. (2008, November 23). Digital Fascism [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/dVxwfFdo81o

Reflection Blog #1 - Lewis

I believe that I have discovered certain things about myself throughout the readings that I never would have thought about otherwise. For example, while working on week 4's postings, I realized that even though I had downloaded music from P2P sites when I was younger, I had not done it in years, and I no longer felt it was ok. I now look at it as someone else's work, and feel that they should be paid for it, even if they are rich already. Without being a hypocrite, I cannot say that they should not be paid because they have enough money, because I would want to get paid for my labor and ideas if I had the choice. I also realized that I probably did something illegal, or at least unethical, without even realizing it. Several years back, I decided to get rid of most of my CD's, as I had several hundred. Before I sold them at a garage sale or local used music store, I ripped all the songs that I wanted to keep on my computer. Then I sold the discs. In considering Ess's writings in chapter three with regards to the ethics of copying, it made me reconsider what I had done.

In the past, if I bought a CD, it was mine to do with as I pleased, including selling it to someone else if I wanted. Now anyone with a computer has the option of buying a physical CD, ripping a copy of it to their computer, then reselling it. I never even thought twice about what I was doing, and have no explanation why. I just felt I was making copies of the music I purchased. Thinking about this during the last few weeks made me consider how I felt about it.

I bought it, and some of the music I know I ripped to my computer years ago, before I even considered selling the discs. This was done so that I could have a copy in the house, and use the others in the car. Now, if ethically I think it is wrong to download music without paying for it, technically, I suppose I should delete music I have ripped from a CD if I later choose to sell it. I don't know how I feel about that. Here is my thoughts. 15 years ago, if I bought a CD and it got scratched beyond repair, I would have to buy another CD if I wanted the music. Today, I legally can create backups of that CD so if I damage it, I can burn another one. That is a gain for me and a loss for record companies. Now I can also make a copy of it and sell the physical disc to someone else, then burn myself another copy of the disc, which decreases my overall cost for the music.

I feel that it is my right to have the music since I purchased it, but I'm not sure if I can say it's is right or wrong to keep a copy if I sell it. Technically, since I no longer have the source file, I would say that it could be considered illegal.

I believe this class has definitely opened my mind to some things like this and made me examine what I do/have done and how I feel about it.

Blog 1 (Marc)

In L&I Sci I have found numerous discussions and topics extremely interesting to myself and brought up many good debates.  Each of the weekly discussions really forced me to think about my answer fully and many people would comment and add or ask me to prove why I think a certain topic or idea.  The topics that we have discussed has brought up points and different views that I wouldn’t normally think of because I have my personal thought about it and don’t see much else. The topic that really caused some good debate was illegally downloading music. There were many different views that were brought up and also the reading for that week was good.  Ess brought up good ideas in chapter three in the section labeled the ethics of copying.  The section discussed copy write laws in different countries and the actually laws there are against it.

There are times in the course were I don’t fully understand the question. We have two good books to reference to when I need help understanding something.  The books do a good job with explaining the topic and giving firm, clear examples of how to apply the subject to real life.  For example, during week three and moral objectivism. In the book it did a good job describing it and then relating it to an example of professional sport players.  Even if I still wouldn’t understand it, there are numerous people in the class that through the discussion board I would understand the meaning of a term.

This past week I really enjoyed getting into some good talks about illegally downloading music, movies and software. I really like to hear what people have to say about this topic and its fun to discuss why I think the way I do and for other people to come back and say they agree but they also believe in something else.  In Ess it states, “We – especially young people – are thoroughly interconnected through, and thereby saturated with, what are sometimes called “New Media” or digital media.“ (Ess 6). This is saying no matter what age or where you are from we are connected to this life of digital media. There is much to learn about this lifestyle and much to understand about how all the digital media is applied in our lives and this class is showing us how we can apply this knowledge later in life. 

Reflection Blog 1 (Hogden)

My introduction into Information Technology Ethics has been eye opening to say the least. Intrinsic interpretation is developed through experience and shared norms; the concept of objective evaluation of an individual’s personal opinion seems counter intuitive to this notion. The ethical frameworks explored thus far seek to address this conundrum while providing a platform to impartially assess the issue at hand. Cybertechnology has presented unprecedented challenges to the world of ethics, many of which implicate cross-culturally sensitive moral dilemmas. I have been fascinated by the sheer complexity that can be uncovered when an unbiased yet educated theoretical approach toward evaluation occurs.

The current hot topic issue of digital file sharing is a prime example of what can appears to be a superficial concern and have a finite answer which either agrees or disagrees with the issue at hand. When exploring this topic through the perspective of differing ethical theory we see that this finite answer is all in perspective. Herman Tavani provides a thorough introduction into these theories within chapter 2 of “Ethics and Technology.” A utilitarian view would suggest that digital file sharing is wrong because the act is akin to stealing and the majority of society as a whole views stealing as wrong for the good of the people. A deontologist who views digital file sharing as stealing would suggest that it is our duty to each other to not take another’s possessions. A social contract theorist would refer to the laws or other explicit moral contracts that society has collectively decided upon in regarding to stealing. Value ethics perspective would assume that the consideration of stealing would be absent as moral character development would imparted stealing as an act that is wrong. While each of these theoretical views provides a basis as to why or how a conclusion was derived, they neglect to address the greater question. Is the assumption they make legitimate? Is digital file sharing truly akin to stealing?

What I was most intrigued by during this educational experience was the discovery that the foundation of my own personal assumptions may be wrought with error. The above assumption that digital file sharing in the form of music downloading is identical to the act of stealing a tangible product from a retail store is based on interpretation, rooted in personal experience and intrinsic moral values. I will admit that personally the act of online music downloading did not initially strike me as an illegal activity a decade ago. I had recorded music onto cassette tape from the radio for years. The thought of intellectual property theft never crossed my mind. In the US we refer to laws that have been created to pertain to tangible goods such as first-use provisions and copyright. However, the virtual realm of cybertechnology introduces disorder to rules and regulations that historically have maintained integrity and rights of intellectual property. It is evident that globally associated cybertechnology cannot be policed by laws of one nation alone.

How do we challenge internationally systemic issues that threaten the integrity of arguably one of the most innovative forms of communication established while maintaining cultural sensitivity? More importantly, is it realistic to think that we can reasonably rein in this unregulated beast?

Works Cited
Tavani, H. T. (2011). Ethics and Technology - Controversies, Questions, and Strategies for Ethical Computing. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.