-
The Ethics of Ad-Blocking
As the number of people who are downloading ad-blocking software has grown, so has the volume of the debate about the ethics of ad-blocking.
-
A Personal Privacy Policy
If consumers were to write their own privacy policies, what might one include? (What would yours?)
-
Nothing to Hide? Nothing to Protect?
When asked whether they care about privacy or are concerned about various kinds of surveillance, many people respond that they "have nothing to hide." What might be hiding behind that response?
-
What Does An Engineer Look Like?
If this question conjures up the image of a young white guy, take a look at some of the more than 75,000 photos posted on Twitter under the hashtag “#ILookLikeAnEngineer.”
-
Death and Facebook
Have you designated a "legacy contact" person for your Facebook account? Should you?
-
IoT: The Internet of Trees
A project in Melbourne assigned email addresses to the city's trees, and generated some unexpected responses.
-
Internet Values?
Does the Internet embody particular values, and do those values transfer to its users?
-
The Social Network of Discourse and Discomfort
Do we need a social network intentionally designed to make us uncomfortable?
-
Privacy and Diversity
Teams that work on privacy-protective features for our online lives are much more likely to be effective if those teams are diverse, in as many ways as possible.
-
Harrison Bergeron in Silicon Valley -- Part II
Some suggested reading (and a wish) for the Memorial Day weekend.
-
How Google Can Illuminate the"Right to Be Forgotten" Debate
80 Internet scholars sent an open letter to Google asking the company to release additional aggregate data about its implementation of the European Court of Justice's decision.
-
BroncoHack 2015 (Guest Post)
Santa Clara University hosted a hackathon organized by the OMIS Student Network, with the goal of creating “a project that is innovative in the arenas of business and technology” while also reflecting the theme of “social justice.”
-
Is Facebook Becoming a Better Friend?
As of April 30, 2015, Facebook's modified APIs will no longer allow apps to collect data both from their users and their users' Facebook friends.
-
A New Ethics Case Study
What would you decide if you were part of the decision-making team tasked with evaluating right to be forgotten requests?
-
Harrison Bergeron in Silicon Valley
How should we teach Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" in Silicon Valley?
-
Trust, Self-Criticism, and Open Debate
The efforts to promote increased collaboration between the public and private sectors--and in particular between Washington and Silicon Valley--on cybersecurity issues have to begin with rebuilding trust.
-
Covering Sexism in Tech
One more Silicon Valley perspective on Newsweek's controversial article and cover about the treatment of women in the tech world.
-
On Spirituality, Social Justice, and Social Media
Guest blogger Christine Cate reflects on the role that news and social media play in our lives, and how that impacts both our spirituality and capacity to enact social justice."
-
Ethical Hacking and the Ethics of Disclosure
A conversation about the ethical issues associated with disclosures of discovered vulnerabilities.
-
Content versus Conversation
Calling social media posts "content" turns them into a commodity, and makes them sound less personal. Thinking of them as "parts of a conversation" invokes different social norms.
-
Readings in Data Ethics
A list of readings that provides a starting point for conversations about the ethical issues in big data.
-
Cookies and Privacy
A Delicious Counter-Experiment
Poll after poll finds that people do value their privacy, are deeply concerned by its erosion, and want more laws to protect it.
-
Dickens on Big Data
What would Charles Dickens have said about life regulated and shaped by data and algorithms?
-
Practically as an Accident
Social Facts and the Common Good
With every book subtitled "Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking)," we become more likely to assume that someone's always looking.
-
Who (or What) Is Reading Whom
An Ongoing Metamorphosis
-
Are You A Hysteric, Or A Sociopath?
Welcome to the Privacy Debate
Privacy is an inherent part of all of our lives. The question is how to deploy it best.
-
Should You Watch?
On the Responsibility of Content Consumers
Internet users have been able to view videos of beheadings and domestic violence, and naked images from hacked celebrity accounts.
-
Revisiting the Right to Be Forgotten
As it begins to comply with the European Court decision about de-indexing certain search results, Google appoints an advisory council and seeks public input.
-
Singing in the Shower
Privacy in the Age of Facebook
The amount and kinds of information that people post on Facebook does not mean that people don't care about privacy.
-
More to Say about Internet Ethics
It's been a tumultuous summer for people interested in Internet Ethics - and we've decided to restart the blog!