Chapter 4:

Networked Communication

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 Chapter Overview

• Email and spam

• Censorship
• Freedom of expression
• Trust on the Internet
• Internet addiction & Digital well-being

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 Email and Spam

• Email: Messages embedded in files

transferred between computers
• Email address: Uniquely identifies
cyberspace mailbox
• Messages broken into packets
• Routers transfer packets from sender’s
mail server to receiver’s mail server

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 The Spam Epidemic

• Spam: Unsolicited, bulk email

• Spam is profitable
– More than 100 times cheaper than “junk mail”
– Profitable even if only 1 in 100,000 buys product
• Amount of email that is spam has ballooned
– 8% in 2001
– 90% in 2009

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 The Spam Epidemic

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 The Spam Epidemic

• How firms get email addresses

– Web sites, chat-room conversations, newsgroups
– Computer viruses harvest addresses from PC address
books
– Dictionary attacks
– Contests
• Most spam sent out by bot herders who control
huge networks of computers
• Spam filters block most spam before it reaches
users’ inboxes

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 Need for Socio-Technical Solutions

• New technologies sometimes cause new social

situations to emerge
– Calculators → feminization of bookkeeping
– Telephones → blurred work/home boundaries
• Spam an example of this phenomenon
– Email messages practically free
– Profits increase with number of messages sent
– Strong motivation to send more messages
• Internet design allows unfair, one-way
communications
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 Case Study: Ann the Acme Accountant

• Ann: Accountant at Acme Corporation

• She distributes paychecks to all 50 employees
• Ann sends email advertising Girl Scout cookie
sale
• 9 recipients order cookies; average 4 boxes each
• Other 40 recipients unhappy to get email; half
complain to a co-worker
• Did Ann do anything wrong?

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 Kantian Analysis

• We should always respect autonomy of others, treating

them as ends in themselves and never only as the means
to an end (2nd formulation of Categorical Imperative)
• Ann didn’t misrepresent what she was doing
• She didn’t force anyone to read the entire email
• Some who read her email chose to order cookies
• Therefore, she didn’t “use” others, and her action was not
strictly wrong
• An “opt in” approach would have been better

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 Act Utilitarian Analysis

• Benefit to Girls Scouts = $108

– $3 profit per box of cookies
– 36 boxes sold
• Harm to company: time wasted
– Orders taken during breaks
– Lost productivity from complaining: $70
• 20 employees ×2 ×5 minutes/employee = 200 minutes
• 3.5 hours ×$20/hour = $70
• Benefits exceed harms, so action good
• Company may create policy against future fundraisers

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 Rule Utilitarian Analysis

• Q: What would be consequences of everyone in

company used email to solicit donations?
• A: Plenty of employee grumbling and lower
morale
• If all doing it, unlikely any one cause would do
well
• Harms greater than benefits, so Ann’s action was
wrong

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 Social Contract Theory Analysis

• Acme Corporation has no prohibition against

using its email system this way
• Ann was exercising her right to express herself
• Some people didn’t appreciate message, but she
didn’t act like a spammer
– She didn’t conceal her identity
– She wasn’t selling a fraudulent product
• Ann did nothing wrong

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 Summary

• Analyses reached different conclusions, but Ann

could have taken a less controversial course
• She could have posted a sign-up sheet to identify
those interested in cookie sale
• That way, she would have sent email only to
those interested, avoiding the problems of
grumbling and lost productivity

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 Censorship

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 Forms of Direct Censorship

• Government monopolization
• Prepublication review
• Licensing and registration

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 Self-censorship

• Most common form of censorship

• Group decides for itself not to publish
• Reasons
– Avoid subsequent persecution
– Maintain good relations with government officials
(sources of information)
• Ratings systems created to advise potential
audience
– Movies, TVs, CDs, video games
– Not the Web

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 Challenges Posed by the Internet

• Many-to-many communications
• Dynamic connections
• Huge numbers of Web sites
• Extends beyond national borders, laws
• Hard to distinguish between minors and
adults

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 Ethical Perspectives on Censorship

• Kant opposed censorship

– Enlightenment thinker
– “Have courage to use your own reason”
• Mill opposed censorship
– No one is infallible
– Any opinion may contain a kernel of truth
– Truth revealed in class of ideas
– Ideas resulting from discourse are more influential

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 Mill’s Principle of Harm

“The only ground on which intervention

is justified is to prevent harm to others;
the individual’s own good is not a
sufficient condition.”

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 Freedom of Expression

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 Freedom of Expression: History

• De Scandalis Magnatum (England, 1275)

• Court of Star Chamber
• 18th century
– No prior restraints on publication
– People could be punished for sedition or libel
• American states adopted bills of rights
including freedom of expression
• Freedom of expression in 1st amendment to
U.S. Constitution

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 1st Amendment to U.S. Constitution

Congress shall make no law respecting an

establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the government for a
redress of grievances.

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 Freedom of Expression
Not an Absolute Right

• 1st Amendment covers political and

nonpolitical speech
• Right to freedom of expression must be
balanced against the public good
• Various restrictions on freedom of
expression exist

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 FCC v. Pacifica Foundation et al.

• George Carlin records “Filthy Words”

• WBAI in New York airs “Filthy Words” (1973)
• FCC issues declaratory order to Pacifica
• Pacifica sues
• U.S. Supreme Court ruled FCC did not violate 1st
Amendment (5-4 decision)
– Broadcast media “uniquely pervasive”
– Broadcasting uniquely accessible to children

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 Case Study: Kate’s Blog

• Kate: Maintains a popular “life on campus” blog

• Jerry: Another student; active in Whig Party
• At private birthday party, someone gives Jerry a Tory
Party T-shirt as a gag, and Jerry puts it on
• Kate uses cell phone to take picture of Jerry when he
isn’t looking, posts it on her blog
• Story read by many people on and off campus
• Jerry confronts Kate and demands she remove photo;
she complies, and they remain friends
• Kate’s blog and Jerry both become more popular

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 Kantian Analysis

• Kate uploaded Jerry’s photo to her blog

without asking his permission
• She treated him as a means to her end of
increasing the readership of her Web site
• Her action was wrong

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 Social Contract Theory Analysis

• Birthday party held in apartment of one of

Jerry’s friends
• Jerry had a reasonable expectation of
privacy
• Kate violated Jerry’s right to privacy
• Kate’s action was wrong

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 Act Utilitarian Analysis

• Benefits
– Popularity of Kate’s blog increased (definitely)
– Jerry become more popular on campus (definitely)
• Harms
– Jerry’s anger at Kate (only temporary)
– Photo could discredit Jerry at some point in future
(unlikely)
• Kate did nothing wrong by posting Jerry’s photo

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 Rule Utilitarian Analysis

• What if everyone were constantly taking photos of people

they encountered and posting them?
• Positive consequences
– People would have more opportunities to keep up with what their
friends are doing
– People might be more reluctant to engage in illegal activities
• Negative consequences
– People would become more self-conscious
– Some relationships would be harmed
• Negative consequences more weighty than positive
consequences, so Kate’s action was bad
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 Summary

• Three out of four analyses: Wrong for Kate to

post the photo without asking Jerry’s permission
• Kate figured it would be better to beg for
forgiveness than ask for permission, but she cut
Jerry out of a decision that affected both of them,
and that’s no way to treat a friend
• Kate should have tried to get Jerry’s consent

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 Trust on the Internet

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 Identity Theft (1/2)

• Identity theft: When a person uses another person’s

electronic identity
• Leading form of identity theft is credit card fraud
• Financial institutions contribute to problem by making it
easy to open new accounts
• About 10 million cases of identity theft in U.S. in 2010
• Consumer’s liability for credit card losses limited to $50

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 Identity Theft (2/2)

• Nearly half of cases from lost credit card, checkbook, etc.

• In 20% of cases, credit card number stolen at time of
making purchase (skimmers)
• About 1 million cases of identity theft annually in United
States from online activities
• Phishing: Use of email to attempt to deceive people into
revealing personal information
• Identity theft a federal crime, but only 1 in 700 cases
results in an arrest

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 Chat-Room Predators

• Chat room: Supports real-time discussions

among many people connected to network
• Instant messaging and chat rooms
replacing telephone for many people
• Some pedophiles meeting children through
chat rooms
• Police countering with “sting” operations

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 Ethical Evaluations of “Stings”

• Utilitarian evaluation
• Kantian evaluation
• Social contract theory evaluation

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 False Information

• Quality of Web-based information varies widely

• Other media also have information of varying
quality
– The New York Times v. The National Enquirer
– 60 Minutes v. Conspiracy Theory
• Google attempts to reward quality
– Ranking uses “voting” algorithm
– If many links point to a page, Google search engine
ranks that page higher

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 Cyberbullying

• Cyberbullying: Use of the Internet or phone

system to inflict psychological harm
• In a 2009 survey, 10% admitted to
cyberbullying, and 19% said they had been
cyberbullied
• Case of Ghyslain Raza
• Case of Megan Meier
• Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act
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 Internet Addiction

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 Is Internet Addiction Real?

• Some liken compulsive computer use to

pathological gambling
• Traditional definition of addiction:
– Compulsive use of harmful substance or drug
– Knowledge of its long-term harm
• Some people spend 40-80 hours/week on
the Internet, with individual sessions
lasting up to 20 hours

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 Is Internet Addiction Real?
• Kimberly Young created test for Internet addiction
– Sample question: “Have you repeatedly made
unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop
Internet use?”
– Patients who answer “yes” to at least 5 of 8 questions
may be addicted
• Others disagree, noting
– Computer use is generally considered a positive
activity
– Excessive use does not lead to criminal activity
– More accurate to call excessive use a compulsion

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 Contributing Factors

• Social factors
– Peer groups
• Situational factors
– Stress
– Lack of social support and intimacy
– Limited opportunities for productive activity
• Individual factors
– Tendency to pursue activities to excess
– Lack of achievement
– Fear of failure

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 Ethical Evaluation

• Enlightenment view
– Individuals can and should govern their lives
– People are responsible for their choices
• Jeffrey Reiman’s view
– Addict’s behavior makes sense if addict has no
hope for a better future
– Society bears responsibility for putting people
in hopeless situations

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