Homework 5: Reckon n’ Reflect

Due: Tuesday February 25, 2020 at 9:00PM EST.

Howdy, partner! As we go chasing the outlaws in the Urban East, you and the cowboy posse want to take a moment to reflect on what’s been happening in our crazy adventures.

In the past few homeworks, we’ve discussed targeted ads and data privacy through code and readings. As you begin Project 1 and look at more sophisticated data aggregation and manipulation, we want to dig deeper into the ethical implications of our work.

Topic: Information Technology and Social Responsibility

Task: Read this New York Times article about the use of online ad campaigns to manipulate behavior (content warning: this article mentions suicide attempts).

Task: Read this article on how the United States lacks consumer data protection law and an indenpendent agency to enforce it.

You can use this guide to access the New York Times through a free academic pass.

Responses

Task: Answer these four questions in a document called hw5-written, clearly marking which question is which. Each answer should be a few sentences long and reflect both an understanding of the reading and your take on it (personally, through other classes, through what we’ve worked on in this class, etc).

  1. From the ad campaign article, why do you think might be Google’s rationale for not reviewing both of the writer’s redirected ad campaigns? Do you think that this process or lack thereof is problematic? What mechanism would you put in place if you think any is necessary?
  2. Given its potentially beneficial and malicious uses, to what extent should Google make their redirection campaign blueprint available to the public?
  3. From the consumer data protection article, the writer argues that like other products that are regulated by federal agencies that develop safety practices, it is time that the U.S. government establishes an independent federal agency that to enforce data protection laws. Why do you think that the federal government has yet to enact such measures to curb data exploitation?
  4. What implications do you think might arise from stronger federal regulations of digital services? Think about their impact on the tech industry, or even how they might change how consumers understand personal responsibility over their own data.

Task: Download or save this document as a PDF with the name hw5-written.pdf and upload it to Gradescope.

Grading

We will check that your responses:

Theme Song

Wild Wild West by Will Smith

Brown University CSCI 0111 (Spring 2020)
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