• Instructor Information
• Course Description
• Textbooks
• Course Outline (brief)
• Course Schedule (more detailed)
• Grading/Requirements
• Policy on academic dishonesty
• The course currently . . .

• 961-2660 x7826 (office)
• 968-7170 (PHIL office)

• Peter Ludlow, ed., High Noon on the Electronic Frontier: Conceptual Issues in Cyberspace, MIT Press, 1996.
• Other essays, to be distributed, and things available via the World Wide Web.

This course treats ethical issues created, aggravated, or transformed by computing technology and by the movement of humans onto the "electronic frontier" of cyberspace. From a sufficiently abstract vantage point, the course is about how we ought to live our lives and arrange our society, given these new technologies. It is about how we ought to arrange our technologies to bring about good social and ethical outcomes.

At a lower level of abstraction, this course is about how facts of technology affect what ought to be or what we ought to do. It is about the differences between human and technological solutions to problems, and about developing appropriate metaphors to guide our conduct in the face of these new technologies. It is about things we value, such as privacy and freedom of expression.

Viewed another way, the course is about hacking, mind control, piracy, crypto-anarchy, Big Brother, the rush of re-inventing oneself and of confronting other minds, and about making the world a better place.

Course Outline

A slightly more detailed calendar of topics appears below. Topics overlap one another to some extent. On whim, the instructor may alter the schedule. Precise reading assignments will be announced later. Put simply, in outline, the course topics are:

• Meet online with PHIL 2080. Weeks 1-8. Much (but not all) of the focus will be on information technology and privacy.
• Fall recess.
• Privacy. Weeks 8-9.
• Property, piracy, computer intrusion. Weeks 9-11.
• Freedom of Expression. Weeks 11-12.
• Self & Community. Weeks 12-14.
• Ethics in the choice of infrastructures: Crypto-anarchy, Big Brother, commodification, alienation, virtual community, personal and professional responsibility. Weeks 14-16.
• Final examination. 1-3 p.m., December 12.

Case study                     10%
Two exams                     35%
Leading discussion online  10%
Term project                   15%
Collegial participation      30%

Each student is to prepare a written case study of an episode or pending issue relating to ethical concerns about cyberspace. I have a healthy list of such topics prepared, and I encourage you to draw from it, although I will entertain your alternative suggestions. The finished product for this assignment should run about 1000 words. It is due September 24. It counts ten percent towards your grade for the course.

Two exams

A mid-term examination and a final examination, at the end of the 2080 class online and on December 12, respectively, offer the opportunity to demonstrate your mastery of material covered in the course. Each exam will cover the entirety of the course to that point. The exams will mix essay and short answer questions. The two together account for thirty-five percent of your grade in the course.

Leading discussion online

Each student will be responsible for researching and leading discussion online on an assigned topic, early in the first eight weeks. Grades for this assignment will reflect both the mastery of content and the skill at leading discussion that might be displayed. This assignment counts for ten percent of the course grade.

Term project

Each student is to complete a project relating to the course. This may be either a standard research paper, or it might be a Web presentation. In either case, it should be a substantial piece of work that treats an issue having to do with "ethics for cyberspace" in a thoughtful and professional way. (So, for example, a chatty, "Why I like (hate) computers a lot" probably does not qualify, nor does a collection of hot links "My favorite sites on the World Wide Web.") The research you do to lead discussion and your case study may furnish a preliminary basis for the project, which constitutes fifteen percent of your course grade.

Collegial participation

Each student will be expected to participate in class discussion. Your efforts and success at contributing to your colleagues' education will be the basis for thirty percent of your grade in the course.

Attendance

The basic structure of grading in the course does not involve me awarding you credits in virtue of your mere presence online or in the classroom. Rather, what we seek is active engagement with the course readings, with the instructor, and with classmates. It may go without saying that this sort of engagement is not possible without your being present in the online space and in face-to-face class meetings. So, students are encouraged to attend every class, and to participate regularly in the class conference online. (Online, in an important sense, if you do not participate, then you were not there.) Moreover, there is ordinarily a strong correlation between good class attendance and good grades in a class such as this one. Much information will be presented in class, including examples and elaboration not to be found in our texts. Announcements will be made. Handouts will be distributed. You are responsible for knowing all this and for having any additional materials distributed in class.

Although I will make myself available to help students outside class, students who do not attend class meetings should not expect to be rewarded with intensive assistance. In addition, students who do not attend class cannot earn collegial participation credit in their absence. Finally, note that I reserve the right to reward students who have attended class faithfully, displayed significant effort, and made significant contributions to the class.

Policy on academic dishonesty