Networked Communications (Quinn Chapter 3 )

1. Networked Communications(Quinn Chapter 3) CS4001 Kristin Marsicano

2. What your classmates are saying… • “One very interesting thing I found while reading was how quick Kantian views would strike down things as immoral. I suppose if you simply think about how Kantian thinking works, this would not be very surprising but it was definitely interesting to see how things that I thought were "correct" things to do, such as CIPA, would be considered wrong in a Kantian perspective.”

3. What your classmates are saying… • “The section on freedom of expression is interesting. The Supreme Court regularly finds itself needing to balance the First Amendment and the public good. A relevant current controversy is the role of the newly formed super-PACs in the Republican primary race. Their existence, which allows unlimited anonymous donations for political purposes, is ruled constitutional by the Citizens United case the Supreme Court heard in 2010. On the one hand, corporations should perhaps have the right to collectively speak on political issues (I disagree: corporations are not people; they pay taxes, but one needs to be a member of society to contribute politically). On the other hand, unlimited money flowing into the campaign allows special interests to saturate the media with ads and quite easily influence elections.”

4. What your classmates are saying… • “Censorship is most interesting to me. While the internet has always been an open, unrestricted playground for ideas and communication, government crackdowns are growing more widespread. I'm particularly interested because many of my friends have visited China and noticed the censorship of the internet there. Iran has been locking up bloggers who say nasty things about their government. Twitter recently announced that they are going to comply with censorship laws in various countries all around the world; for example, in Germany, pro-Nazi tweets will automatically be hidden. The move has triggered anger from the entire internet community. However, Twitter will allow users to change their country in their profile settings, or change their country to "Worldwide", both of which will evade the censorship. Whether that will last is unknown.”

5. What your classmates are saying… • “I liked the section on Censorship. Many governments, such as China, censor the flow of information on the internet. While I tend to think that censorship should not exist (or at least be very limited), I have a Chinese friend who argues that it is actually good for society for the government to censor information so that riots do not break out and cause instability. It was interesting to read the different ethical takes on this issue in the book.”

6. What your classmates are saying… • Many people indicated they were most interested with the discussion on “sting” operations

7. Overview questions • What are some examples of government control of the Internet?

8. Overview questions • What are some examples of government control of the Internet? • Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, North Korea: Internet virtually inaccessible • Saudi Arabia: centralized control center • People’s Republic of China: “one of most sophisticated filtering systems in the world” as well as censorship • Germany: Forbids access to neo-Nazi sites • United States: Repeated efforts to limit access of minors to pornography

9. Overview questions • What are forms of censorship? Describe each.

10. Overview questions • What are forms of censorship? Describe each. • Direct Censorship • Government monopolization • Prepublication review • Licensing and registration • Self censorship

11. Overview questions • According to the U.S. Supreme Court, why do broadcasters have the most limited First Amendment rights?

12. Overview questions • Why is “cold calling” considered to be an acceptable sales practice, but spamming isn’t?