Discussion #1C: Should there be external intervention to curb

technology addiction?
As a game designer, are you ethically responsible to consider the
potential for addiction in the game you create? Should a designer
build time limits of play into their games in order to force people to
stop playing for a set amount of time?
I don't necessarily disagree with the other discussion members
about current game makers not being at fault for people being
addicted to games; however, I do disagree with some of the points
that have been brought up. I think it's interesting that Michael
brought up a point about addiction to technology not being a
problem until it interferes with responsibilities. I think Michael's point
is interesting because in the e-paper Ivan Goldberg "observed the
phenomenon of people leaving their family obligations to go and sit
at the computer." which would mean that technology addiction is a
problem. I feel that there is a very near future in which games should
be required to display and warn people of their addictive qualities
comparable to similar addictive substances or activities.
Discussion #2C: Tech firm hoax
Discuss who you think is responsible for the consequences of the
hoax. What should the punishment be? What should be done to
prevent this in the future? What ethical connections can be made to
this story and recent events relating to the Enron corporation?
I agree with Desirae's point about News stations and websites
needing to vet their sources. I think its interesting that news can be
published without checking the credibility of a source considering a
college paper or research paper or professional journal cannot be
published without credible and sited sources. I think largely the
blame falls on Mark Simeon Jakob who fraudulently affected the
market by lying about the financial status of the company. But to
Kristopher's point about a grudge, Mark Simeon Jakob did it for a
profit, as far as most of the articles I've read say. It had nothing to do
with trying to take down the company. He was most definitely
punished paying penalties and and a civil fine that is approximately

$455,642; Mark Simeon Jakob only made a profit of $186,000 when

he sold his shares.
I think the big difference between the incident with Enron and
Emulex is that Andersen was paid by the company specifically to
audit them and by no means was he doing his job in any sort of
acceptable capacity. But it wasn't just Andersen, both Jeffrey
Skilling and Andrew Fastow were both part of this scandal. It really
brings up the question of whether or not their need to be external
checks and balances to maintain a safe and ethical market.
http://www.economist.com/node/940091
http://www.cnet.com/news/23-year-old-arrested-in-emulex-hoax/
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr17094.htm
http://fortune.com/2013/07/01/the-confessions-of-andy-fastow/
Discussion #3C: eMail after death
A few years ago a CSUMB student's parents requested copies of
their child's emails (both sent and received) after the student
committed suicide. If you were the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for
the university how would you respond to their request? State the
ethical issues involved and your rationale for the action(s) you would
take. As in every ethical issue relating to IT we're exploring this
semester, consider the differences between how we interact with
digital vs. analog information. Postings due by 9pm, Sunday of this
week.
I agree with Brayanne about the suicide but I dont think a murder
changes things. I think I would denied their request, it very similar to
how we treat situations at the apple store. If a parent brings in a
deceased family members device we arent allowed to do anything
to unlock that device for them. First and foremost because every
customer has the right to privacy and we are really big on privacy,
but also because our devices dont have a back door built-in. Given
that if I had the ability I still wouldnt because whether they are a live
or dead I would still protect their privacy. I understand how important
those emails are to the parents, but if the child didnt feel
comfortable sharing those email passwords with them then I am not
comfortable sharing the email with them. I think I disagree with Maria

because sharing any of the incoming or outgoing emails sent to and

sent from other people would be a breach of those other peoples
privacy not just their family members.
Discussion #4C: 12-year olds and the Internet
Under the heading of "what would you do if..." imagine the following
scenarios and provide a response for each. You walk into your 12year old child's room and on his/her computer screen you see: a)
pornography b) instructions on how to build a bomb c) a guide to
safer sex d) online gambling
a) If I walked into my childs room and they had pornography on the
computer I think I would be shocked really shocked at first. I think
the best approach would be to calmly talk to them, explain that
pornography isnt for children and why, and try to answer questions.
Children are curious and I think helping them to understand some of
what is going on is important, because leaving them with questions
is only going to have them searching for it again.
b) I think its important to know why the child was looking up how to
build a bomb. The simplest answer could be that they were just
curious, but kind of like Michael Vargus was saying, the mindset or
the intent behind the curiosity is what is important. If the intend
behind the bomb is negative or destructive I think its important to
figure out whats going on with my child, and if this is the first time I
am noticing hostile or violent tendencies than may be its would be
time to start paying more attention to my child and finding ways to
get them more help.
c) This one would be challenging because if they are already look up
guides to safer sex and I didnt know. The most important thing
would be talking to them about it in a way that lets them feel
comfortable talking to me about it. I would also want to make sure
that if they are thinking about it because they are trying to have sex
Id rather them have the appropriate tools for safe sex.

d) The online gambling is an interesting one, because there is the

potential for addiction. I think I would pretty much handle it the same
way as all of the rest of the topics. The biggest part about this one
would be figuring out the motivation for seeking out online gambling.
Discussion #5C: Human/ATM interaction
1.You use an ATM machine outside your local bank and it gives you
an extra 20 bucks. The receipt shows it gave you only the amount
you requested for withdrawl. What do you do?
2. A human teller makes a similar mistake as described above. You
don't notice the extra $20 until you're in your car. Again, what do you
do?
If it was an ATM machine that gave me the money, and the bank was
closed I would keep the money. In most cases even if you receipt
doesnt show that it gave you extra money the bank will pursue the
clerical error and seek recompense. Basically theyll pull the money
out of your account or ask you to pay them the money back. If a
human teller did it I would attempt to return the money, if there was a
large line, the bank was closed, or my car was a substantial distance
from the bank I would try to remedy the issue over the phone. In
most cases banks will make sure to take care of them selves and
resolve the issue.
Michael Vargas, I am not sure where you got the secondary account.
If anything the money would just be pulled from your account to
compensate for the bank error.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/01/19/what-would-you-do-witha-billion-dollar-bank-error/
Discussion #6C: It Gets Better (except for Tyler C.)
Question 0ne: If you were an administrator at Rutgers, how would
you discipline the students involved in the Clementi incident and
would you include the campus IT professionals in the investigation?

Question Two: How effective do you believe the It Gets Better

project can be in addressing the issue of bullying young lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgendered youth?
If you were an administrator at Rutgers, how would you discipline the
students involved in the Clementi incident and would you include the
campus IT professionals in the investigation?
I really strongly agree with Elias Ramirez about how I would proceed
as administrator, especially with IT. I would definitely expel both
students involved in the incident. Depending on the state that they
are expelled in it could potentially keep the student from getting into
to any other state schools. I am not entirely sure how helpful the IT
department would be aside from assisting the police in any way
possible.
Discussion #7C: That Vision Statement thing
How effective do you believe the It Gets Better project can be in
addressing the issue of bullying young lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgendered youth?
I think that It Gets Better Project is a really cool idea, and it seems
like a great format for getting support and knowing that people care
about you. I disagree with Maria Rivera, I think that 53,292
subscribers is a small portion of the people the could be reaching.
The fact that this is the first time that I have heard about this
program may be a flaw in how effective the It Gets Better Project is.
http://www.itgetsbetter.org/#9GGAgtq_rQc
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/01/dharun-ravi-trial-gayroommate-webcam-spying_n_1314912.html
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/30/tyler-clementi-gaystudent-suicide
Discussion #8C: Surveillance on campus
In a March 19 article from a few years ago, the Monterey Herald
wrote about racist activities on the CSUMB campus. A brief
statement refers to surveillance cameras. According to the CIO,
there are approximately 300 cameras on campus but they are not

"surveillance" cameras but rather "safety and security" cameras

used exclusively for forensic purposes. We've had numerous
discussions in class about privacy issues and have often referred to
England's use of cameras in public areas. What are the positive AND
negative aspects of having cameras on our campus? What are the
ethical issues?
I feel like the positive effects are the schools ability to go back and
have evidence of a crime being committed. I agree with Hector
Sandoval, the issue is that without someone constantly monitoring
than the crime happens and the only thing it does is catch the
criminal, it doesn't stop the crime from happening. I used two
sources specifically, but from most of the articles I read in most
situations the cameras rarely prevented crimes from happening. So if
the cameras only prevent the crime from happen again, instead of
preventing the crime. I would say that negative effect of people
feeling like their privacy is breached and the sense of 1948 feeling of
"Big Brother" watching potentially out way the good that the
cameras may do.
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3751958
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/06/10/incidents-ofschool-crime-and-violence-on-the-rise-for-students-and-teachers
Discussion #10c: Paper
When the personal computer started to become popular it was often
marketed as a product that would reduce our society's need for
paper and that we might even become a "paperless"
society. Recently, in a single year CSUMB used over 10 million
sheets of paper in its copiers and printers. Do you think CSUMB
should be doing more to reduce its use of paper? Is paper use an
ethical issue for you personally? How "green" do you
think CSUMB is when it comes to other uses of communication
technology? What would you recommend, if anything, CSUMB
should do to be more environmentally responsible in its use of
communication technologies?
This is a kind of a given, of course the school should try to reduce its
use of paper. I think that a lot of my classes primarily have online

content, which is automatically going to change the paper usage. I

personally dont have an ethical issue with paper use, because my
classes rarely use paper and when we do its for something that
needs to be on print so we can practice for our profession. Almost all
of my work is submitted online, I am currently working on an
assignment that is only facilitated through ilearn.
I am not sure what the frame of reference is for other uses of
communication technology, I think I missed the context for other.
I dont know I think the introduction of the B.I.T. building is a good
example of how the school is being more environmentally
responsible especially surrounding communication technology
considering the classes are taught in that building. Not to mention in
general the schools commitment to sustainability.
https://csumb.edu/monterey-bay-film-festival
I think I disagree with Karen the school offers the use of computers,
printers, and $10 worth of prints a semester. So the school certainly
provides all the necessary technology for people to print papers out
if they have to.
Discussion #11c: Technology as a core CSUMB value
Over the last few years the University administration and faculty have
been studying the University Learning Requirements and how they
serve students. One primary concern is that the ULRs do not align
with other CSU campuses which creates some problems for transfer
students and may discourage new students from applying to
CSUMB. As a result of the investigations, a number of proposals
were presented and after significant feedback and revisions, one
final proposal called the Otter Model is currently being implemented.
Like all of the proposals, the Otter Model eliminates the Technology
proficiency ULR, formerly satisfied by CST 101/Tech Tools and a few
other tech-related courses offered by other departments. Previously,
we discussed the Vision Statement. This week, consider the positive
and negative effects, including the ethical implications, of eliminating
technology proficiency from the ULR/General Education
requirements.
I think that eliminating the technology proficiency would have the

positive effect of making it easier on transfer students, but would

have the negative effect of making it so that graduate students are
not fully prepared for the job market with their bachelors degree.
By either taking away the technology ULR or adding it would pose
multiple ethical issues for either scenario. The first scenario being
that it doesnt seem right to have a program that allows students to
make it through school and not be prepared for the job market,
which higher education is supposed to do. The ethical implication of
the second scenario would be that students transferring in with the
adequate amount of units would have to pay for school longer due to
the added classes, potentially posing added financial hardship.
I think that one way to accommodate incoming transfer students
without imposing too much would be to add a single short
accelerated learning course. The course could be taken in the year
either during the transitional summer to CSUMB or winter break, it
would be specifically designed to help students become acclimated
to the technology rich environment at CSUMB. In general though I
think that having technological literacy is going to only become more
important, according to the article I read from insidehighered.com in
the coming years there could potentially be a test required in order
to take high level classes in the CSU system.
Discussion #12c: Etzioni and the Boston Marathon bombings
Recently, in Paris and then in San Bernardino, we witnessed yet
another act of urban terrorism similar in some ways to the Boston
Marathon bombings. The Boston event illustrated the power of
digital forensics and "crowd sourcing" to solve crimes. For this
discussion you need to take two perspectives. First, consider how
Amatai Etzioni would assess the events in terms of individual privacy
vs. communitarian ideals. Second, state your views and then
recommend policies for how the authorities should deal with
individual data acquired and shared on networks that may be useful
in solving crime.
I agree with Austin, as long as the idea of using social media to help
the community and it was still for the common good, I could see
Etzione approving of the Communitarian perspective of this situation.

And as far as individual privacy goes what happened on reddit would

easily count has having the effect of creating harm within the
community and having the potential to become bad enough for it not
to be worth it when you look at things from the greater good
perspective that Etzione likes to compare things by. Slate.com has
an article that talks about how reddit turned this situation into a
witch hunt. As much good as the information sharing by the police
cause with the expedient manhunt and capture of one of the two
brothers. The effect that an anonymous thread, reddit, discussing
and sharing information had a largely harm full effect on the situation.
http://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Social-Media-Big-Lessonsfrom-the-Boston-Marathon-Bombing.html
Discussion #13c: The Importance of Steve
A lot of discussion has taken place in the blogosphere since Steve
Jobs' death comparing his importance, or the importance of the
"inventions" he inspired, to other great American innovators such as
Grace Hopper, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford. Of the four, state
where you rank Jobs and why....
To be honest the only person I think truly invented anything is Grace
Hopper, she created the first compiler for computers. I know Steve
Jobs played a large part in how Apple functions as a company, and
Henry Ford modified the assembly line so that it was a moving
assembly line. While Thomas Edison may have created some
inventions, so many things were designs taken from another person
that I would be hesitant to attribute any inventions to him. If I had to
create a list I suppose it would be as follows:
1) Grace Hopper
http://www.biography.com/people/grace-hopper-21406809#careerin-computing
2) Henry Ford
http://knowledgenuts.com/2013/07/17/ford-did-not-invent-theassembly-line/
3) Thomas Edison
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/03/21/why-thomas-

edison-isnt-the-inventor-of-the-light-bulb
4) Steve Jobs
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2011/12/12/steve-jobs-didntreally-invent-anything-really/#5bac456e36b1
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/10/15/356393531/
why-kids-sext-describes-nude-photos-as-social-currency-amongteens
Discussion #14C: Sexting felons
Listen to this very interesting story on Fresh Air about sexting. Do
you think minors caught sexting should be charged with a felony? If
not, should it be a crime? What should the govt. be doing about this
issue? Who else is responsible?
I think that charging minors caught sexting could potential put a
majority of the teens in the United States in jail. According to the
article from NPR sexting is a common place thing among teens now
a days. I think I definitely agree with Hanna Rosin and the Louisa
County police departments stance, that the sexting should
necessarily be a crime unless the pictures were shared without the
picture takers consent. I also think that its important for
adolescences to be educated about sexting means in the grand
scheme of thing, making sure that they know its considered child
pornography. I think that there should be stronger distinctions
between taking them, sending them, forwarding them, or distributing
them. I think that the government could change the laws specifically
around sexting versus child pornography. Right now the legal
ramifications of sexting are decided on a case by case basis and its
up to the police, judge and prosecutor how it is handled. This site
kind of outlines a lot of different ways in which it could be handled.
http://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/crimepenalties/juvenile/sexting.htm

Discussion #14c: A threaded reflection

Note: This thread is not intended to be a discussion but rather a
personal reflection of your scrapbooks. By this time you should have
completed a minimum of 13 scrapbook entries. Of your entire
scrapbook portfolio, which single entry do you believe has the most
relevance to this course (looking at current Information Technologies
from an ethical perspective). State your rationale for your choice.
I think my scrapbook entry that retains the most relevance to this
course is Geolocation Data. There arent a lot of regulations as to
how telecommunications companies use geolocation data, that
means that police and consumer cellular companies can do
whatever they want with it. A lot of times they are doing things that
fall into a gray area and seem to be ethically. Primarily I think that its
true relevance is the issues that arise from privacy, right now in
society there is this huge debate about whether people have privacy
and how much. I think that geolocation data will continue to have
relevance in the years to come.