Computer and Society Course fall 2022

Dr. Hatem Abdelkader and Dr. Sherif Tawifik

1-What are three important differences between copyrights and patents?

2. Professor Smith has been invited to give a presentation at a major conference. She will be paid
a $1000 honorarium. Those attending her talk will be required to register for the conference and
pay the admission fee. To inject some humor into her talk, Professor Smith has selected three of
her favorite Dilbert cartoons from one of the Dilbert books she owns. She has scanned them into
her computer and included them in the slides she will show during her talk. (a) Is this most likely
fair use? Explain. (b) Does it make any difference if she posts her slides on the Internet after her
talk? (c) What if she gives the presentation to her class rather than at the conference?

3. Should Google be permitted to scan and index library books and make short snippets from
them available via Google Book Search without obtaining permission from each book's
copyright holder? Write a short essay (roughly 500 words) in which you argue your position and
support it with appropriate citations to the assigned reading materials and other sources. Your
essay should clearly present your argument and explain why you disagree with some of the
arguments made by people on another side of the debate (this means you need to cite articles
supporting at least two different sides of the debate).

4. What do you believe is the proper role of Internet content filters? Write a short essay (roughly
500 words) in which you argue your position and support it with appropriate citations to the
assigned readings or other materials (and include a properly-formatted Chicago/Turabian
reference list). Make sure you give a clear statement of the position you are arguing at the
beginning of your essay. Your essay should address some (but not necessarily all) of the
following questions: Are there any situations in which you believe filters should be mandated by
law? Even if not mandated by law, should they be permitted to be used on public computers, and
if so, who should decide what filters to use? Should parents use filters in their own homes to
protect their children? Should employers use filters to block access to material inappropriate in a
workplace? Should ISPs or search engines use filters? Should web sites be required to rate
themselves to facilitate easier filtering? Are filters effective?