Deck 15: Making Decisions About Computers, Information, and Society

Question 1

A fundamental question in ethics is what criteria to use when "measuring" the rightness or wrongness of a particular act.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Banning dissemination on the Web is difficult, since the Web is global and most laws are limited to physical borders.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Both phone calls and emails require extensive technology support, and the information in both passes through circuits and routing systems that are controlled by others.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Making critical decisions about computing technology is unavoidable.

Question 5

The power of analogy is that it can transfer our understandings and intuitions about something well-known to a situation or entity that is less well-known.

Question 6

One of the challenges when using a utilitarian argument in a dialectic about hacking is that it is sometimes difficult to predict consequences with any accuracy.

Question 7

The most well-known consequentialists are the utilitarians.

Question 8

MP3 file copying has encouraged CD buying as a long term effect.

Question 9

Using the utilitarians' criterion requires subjective judgements.

Question 10

Napster lost its case and to this day is still shut down.

Question 11

The MP3 protocol allows one level of compression.

Question 12

The three methods of communication: face to face conversation, phone calls, and email, all differ in the amount of bandwidth.

Question 13

The majority of music that Napster users shared was copyrighted.

Question 14

A compression ratio of 12 to 1 has become popular, with the resulting sound quality almost comparable to a music CD purchased at a store.

Question 15

Since there are many more music publishers than listeners, MP3 copying is OK.

Question 16

The more you compress music data, the more sound quality you gain.

Question 17

In 1997, Tomislav Uzelac, a software developer at Advanced Multimedia Products, created what is regarded as the first MP3 compression scheme.

Question 18

Ideally, in a dialectic the ultimate goal is for both sides to "win" by moving closer to the truth from two different perspectives.

Question 19

The digital representation of audio information can produce massive and unwieldy data files. To reduce these files to a more manageable size, you can compress them using a compression algorithm such as FTP.

Question 20

Phone calls typically include less information than emails.

Question 21

Kant thought about what duties we humans have to each other. He came up with ____ that characterized these duties.

A) 10 laws
B) a mathematical formulation
C) categorical imperatives
D) an algorithm

Question 22

According to the Web site, Wikipedia, the "hacker ethic" makes ____ claims.

A) one
B) two
C) three
D) four

Question 23

____ efforts such as GNU, Linux, and Apache provide useful software for little or no money to many computer users.

A) Hacker
B) Peer-to-peer
C) Free thought
D) Open source

Question 24

The opponents to MP3 copying hold that in the long run there may be far less music available for copying because artists and publishers will have far less incentive to create and disseminate music.

Question 25

Technically, ____ is still illegal to export to other countries, but it is available globally via the Internet.

A) FTP
B) PGP
C) Linux
D) MP3

Question 26

The word ____ is from the Greek and means "the science of duty."

A) encryption
B) hacker
C) deontology
D) modus ponens

Question 27

The term ____ refers to someone who breaks into computer systems, launches Internet worms and viruses, or perpetrates other dubious computer-related vandalism.

A) encryption
B) PGP
C) utilitarian
D) hacker

Question 28

All music artists are naturally opposed to MP3 copying.

Question 29

In ____, the Fraunhofer Institute patented MP3 in Germany, and a few years later MP3 became an international standard.

A) 1989
B) 1999
C) 2000
D) 2002

Question 30

In a(n) ____, we move back and forth between different viewpoints, criticizing each and trying to learn from each.

A) encryption scheme
B) dialectic
C) utilitarian scheme
D) PGP

Question 31

____ answer the question "Good for whom?" with a hearty, "Good for everyone!".

A) Deontologists
B) Consequentialists
C) Utilitarians
D) Intelligent agents

Question 32

Apple computer's music distribution system called the iTunes Music Store allows users to download songs for a relatively small fee.

Question 33

Perhaps the most famous deontologist was the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who lived in the ____ century.

A) sixteenth
B) seventeenth
C) eighteenth
D) nineteenth

Question 34

Some proponents of hacking believe that the consequence of hacking is improved security against malicious hackers.

Question 35

A(n) ____ focuses more on the intent of an act and how that act either is or is not a defensible, responsible act.

A) utilitarian
B) consequentialist
C) hacker
D) deontologist

Question 36

The ____ is an outline that can help guide you in a productive dialectic.

A) dialectic method
B) analogy
C) utilitarian theory
D) paramedic method

Question 37

In 1991, a software engineer named ____ developed an encryption algorithm that he humorously called "Pretty Good Privacy," nicknamed PGP.

A) Linus Tavares
B) Bill Gates
C) Alan Turing
D) Phillip Zimmermann

Question 38

An ethical dialectic usually has a clean stopping point.

Question 39

A(n) ____ focuses on the consequences of an act to determine if the act is good or bad.

A) consequentialist
B) utilitarian
C) PGP
D) dialectic

Question 40

Ethicists depend on what is called a(n) ____ to try to get better and better ethical decisions.

A) PGP
B) dialectic
C) MP3
D) deontology

Question 41

What does PGP allow email users to return to?

A) privacy
B) attachments
C) lengthy emails
D) images

Question 42

____ is the specific action of gaining unauthorized access to someone else's computer system.

A) File sharing
B) Break-in
C) Cracking
D) Spoofing

Question 43

Good analogies have a strong ____ appeal, but we should look deeper when using analogies in ethical analysis.

A) affordable
B) intuitive
C) utilitarian
D) effective

Question 44

What is the first step in the paramedic method?

A) ask what is at stake
B) identify stakeholders
C) identify duties and responsibilities
D) think of analogies

Question 45

The philosopher ____ was known to say "never treat a fellow human merely as a means to an end".

A) Descartes
B) Turing
C) Aristotle
D) Kant

Question 46

The new way of thinking about making and sharing music will deemphasize the need for large ____ companies.

A) record
B) music
C) software
D) publishing

Question 47

What is the final step of the paramedic method?

A) make a decision or loop
B) identify stakeholders
C) identify what is at stake
D) think of analogies

Question 48

Napster is an example of ____ file sharing software.

A) freeware
B) MP3
C) peer-to-peer
D) client-server

Question 49

What would a careful utilitarian declare an act if HAPPINESS_AFTER = HAPPINESS BEFORE?

A) good
B) evil
C) ethically neutral
D) none of the above

Question 50

Criminals and terrorists increasingly use ____ for their communication.

A) email
B) phone calls
C) face to face contact
D) walkie talkies