Ethics and Values in the Information Age

by Rudinow, Joel; Graybosch, Anthony

• ISBN13: 9780155079564
• ISBN10: 0155079565
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-05
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

In this timely volume, Joel Rudinow and Anthony Graybosch have gathered together a set of readings that bridge the perceived gap between industrial age information systems--journalism and the mass media--and those emerging in the digital age of computers and networks. You'll find incisive essays in applied ethics from such writers as Ben Bagdikian, Sissela Bok, Noam Chomsky, the Dalai Lama, Nat Hentoff, Bill Joy, Sherry Turkle, and Catharine MacKinnon. Explore such contemporary issues as: professional ethics in the news, entertainment, and advertising; the ethics of popular mass media; information subterfuge and security; electronic privacy; Napster and intellectual property; personal identity and community in the age of virtual reality.

Table of Contents

Introduction	iv
Acknowledgments	ix
Ethics ``Informationalized'': From Walden to DotComGuy	1	(44)
Introduction	1	(1)
The Cult of Information	2	(20)
``In Defense of the Naked Mind''	4	(17)
Theodore Roszak
Case Study: Amateur Cyber-Porn	21	(1)
Case Study: This Coke's for George	21	(1)
Case Study: Don't Ask, Don't Tell	21	(1)
The New Information Ethics	22	(12)
Richard T. De George, ``Business Ethics and the Information Age''	23	(10)
Case Study: Realjukebox	33	(1)
Case Study: A Reliable Source?	33	(1)
Exercise	34	(1)
Toward a Global Information Ethic	34	(11)
Elizabeth A. Buchanan, ``Information Ethics in a World-Wide Context''	35	(6)
Case Study: The Digital Divide	41	(1)
Case Study: Democracy and Technology	42	(1)
Suggested Readings	42	(3)
Media Values I: Freedom and Information	45	(49)
Introduction	45	(2)
Freedom of Speech	47	(13)
Nat Hentoff, ``Free Speech for Me, But Not for Thee''	48	(11)
Case Study: Student Newspaper Runs Offensive Editorial Cartoon	59	(1)
Limiting the Freedom of Speech	60	(19)
Catharine A. MacKinnon, ``Equality and Speech''	61	(17)
Case Study: The Santa Rosa Junior College SOLO Case	78	(1)
Sexual Harassment in Cyberspace	79	(15)
Leslie Regan Shade, ``The Santa Rosa Case''	80	(9)
Case Study: Gender Equity	89	(1)
Case Study: Industry Self-Regulation	89	(1)
Case Study: Mediation Review	89	(1)
Case Study: The Communications Decency Act	90	(1)
Case Study: Suicide.net	90	(1)
Suggested Readings	90	(4)
Media Values II: Assessing Media Performance	94	(42)
Introduction	94	(3)
How Media Ownership Affects Press Performance	97	(18)
Ben H. Bagdikian, ``The Political Economy of the Mass Media''	99	(14)
Case Study: Media Watch Groups	113	(1)
Case Study: Industry Self-Assessment	113	(1)
Case Study: Public Broadcasting	113	(1)
Case Study: Pacifica Radio	114	(1)
The Press and ``Public Relations''	115	(12)
Walter Lippmann, ``The Truth, Public Opinion, and the Nature of News''	117	(10)
Exercises	127	(1)
The Free Press and Propganda	127	(9)
Noam Chomsky, ``1984: Orwell's and Ours''	129	(5)
Case Study: Project Censored	134	(1)
Case Study: Elian Gonzalez	134	(1)
Exercise	134	(1)
Suggested Readings	135	(1)
Ethics and Advertising	136	(39)
Introduction	136	(2)
The Subtext of Advertising	138	(8)
Leslie Savan, ``The Bribed Soul''	139	(6)
Exercise: Decoding Adspeak	145	(1)
Advertising and Free Market Economics	146	(13)
Alan Goldman, ``The Justification of Advertising in a Market Economy''	147	(10)
Case Study: PentaCom	157	(1)
Case Study: NetZero	157	(2)
Advertising in the Public Sphere: Are There Limits?	159	(16)
Joel Rudinow, ``Whittling Away at Education''	161	(9)
Case Study: ZapMe!	170	(3)
Suggested Readings	173	(2)
Ethics and Entertainment I: Humor and Comedy	175	(44)
Introduction	175	(2)
The Ethics of Slapstick Comedy	177	(9)
``Are the Three Stooges Funny? Soitanily! (or When Is It OK to Laugh?)''	179	(7)
Robert C. Solomon
Case Study: Cartoon Culture	186	(1)
Case Study: Cartoon Violence	186	(1)
The Ethics of Sexist Humor	186	(14)
``How Many Feminists Does It Take to Make a Joke?''	187	(12)
Merrie Bergmann
Case Study: Lenny Bruce and ``the N-Word''	199	(1)
Humor and Bad Taste	200	(19)
``Taste, Morality, and the Propriety of Joking''	201	(13)
Ted Cohen
Exercise: Three-Minute Standup, with Six Rules of Thumb, an ``Etiquette for Jokers''	214	(1)
Suggested Readings	215	(4)
Ethics and Entertainment II: Sex and Violence	219	(66)
Introduction	219	(4)
Pornography and Liberalism	223	(27)
``Pornography and the Criminal Law''	224	(25)
Joel Feinberg
Case Study: The Child Pornography Prevention Act and ``Virtual Child Pornography''	249	(1)
Exercise	250	(1)
Crimes of Violence and Mass Media Coverage	250	(15)
``Ethical Problems of Mass Murder Coverage in the Mass Media''	251	(13)
Clayton Cramer
Case Study: Violence in Sports	264	(1)
Violence and Misogyny in Rap Music	265	(20)
``Rap Music and the Uses of Stereotype''	266	(15)
Crispin Sartwell
Case Study: What Is Violence?	281	(1)
Case Study: False Prophets	281	(1)
Suggested Readings	282	(3)
Information Access I: Privacy	285	(35)
Introduction	285	(2)
Privacy in the Information Age	287	(13)
``Toward a Theory of Privacy in the Information Age''	289	(10)
James Moor
Case Study: Monitoring Employee E-mail	299	(1)
Case Study: Oops	300	(1)
E-Mail Privacy	300	(20)
``Electronic Mail and Panoptic Power in the Workplace''	302	(10)
Richard A. Spinello
Case Study: A University E-Mail Policy	312	(5)
Exercises	317	(1)
Suggested Readings	317	(3)
Information Access II: Secrecy and Confidentiality	320	(37)
Introduction	320	(2)
The Concept of Secrecy	322	(7)
``Definning Secrecy---Some Crucial Distinctions''	323	(4)
Sissela Bok
Case Study: Whistleblowing: The Pentagon Papers	327	(2)
Exercises	329	(1)
Cryptography and the National Security Agency	329	(14)
``Decrypting the Puzzle Palace''	332	(10)
John Perry Barlow
Case Study: Balancing Law Enforcement and Civil Liberties	342	(1)
Trust and Confidentiality in Journalism	343	(14)
``Trust, Trustworthiness, and the Relationship between Journalists and Sources''	345	(7)
Stephen Klaidman
Tom Beauchamp
Case Study: Confidentiality	352	(1)
Case Study: The Private Lives of Public Figures	352	(2)
Suggested Reading	354	(3)
Information Access III: Intellectual Property	357	(37)
Introduction	357	(2)
Property Rights and Computer Software	359	(11)
``Intellectual Property Rights and Computer Software''	360	(9)
Deborah C. Johnson
Case Study: What's Gnu?	369	(1)
Case Study: Richard Stallman and the Free Software Movement	369	(1)
The Romantic Author	370	(12)
``Authors Are Special''	371	(9)
James Boyle
Case Study: The No Electronic Theft Act	380	(1)
Case Study: Online Tape Trading and the RIAA	381	(1)
Case Study: Moore v. Regents	382	(1)
Intellectual Property and Popular Culture	382	(12)
``Napster: Spreading the Music''	383	(8)
Anthony Graybosch
Case Study: John Lennon Collectibles	391	(1)
Case Study: Napster and SOLO	391	(1)
Suggested Readings	391	(3)
Information Access IV: Security	394	(31)
Introduction	394	(3)
Information Warfare	397	(4)
United States Navy, ``Information Warfare---Capabilities for the New Millennium''	398	(1)
Case Study: Cyberterrorism, NATO and Serbia	399	(1)
Case Study: Radio Free Bosnia	400	(1)
Exercises	400	(1)
Just War Theory and Information	401	(14)
``Can Information Warfare Ever Be Just?''	403	(11)
John Arquilla
Case Study: Hacking into the Space Program	414	(1)
Case Study: The I Love You Virus	414	(1)
Case Study: Economic Cyberwar	414	(1)
Cyber Civil Disobedience	415	(10)
``Computer Assisted Civil Disobedience''	416	(5)
Anthony Graybosch
Case Study: Crashing the White House Server	421	(1)
Exercises	421	(1)
Suggested Readings	422	(3)
Information Technology, Everyday Life, and the Future of Human Civilization	425	(56)
Introduction	425	(1)
Redesigning Ourselves	426	(17)
``Life on the Screen''	427	(15)
Sherry Turkle
Case Study: Virtual Rape	442	(1)
Case Study: Carnivore	442	(1)
Ethics and the New Millennium	443	(5)
The Dalai Lama, ``Ethics for a New Millennium''	444	(4)
Exercises	448	(1)
Our Wired Future	448	(22)
``Why the Future Doesn't Need Us''	449	(20)
Bill Joy
Exercises	469	(1)
The Long Now	470	(11)
``The Long Now''	470	(6)
Stewart Brand
Exercises	476	(1)
Suggested Readings	477	(4)
Credits	481