“The ‘anti-circumvention’ provisions of the DMCA [discourage] copyright ‘pirates’ from defeating DRM and other content access or copy restrictions on copyrighted works” (EFF). More specifically, “the DMCA makes it a crime to circumvent technological access controls. Breaking any type of…
The biggest motivations for building self driving cars are that they would make the roads safer and would probably be incredibly convenient. In defense of autonomous vehicles, “one common rationale for autonomous vehicles is the massive increase in safety they could provide…
Artificial intelligence is the concept of machines having the ability to reason through logical decisions. Oftentimes, this problem solving can be informed through repeated trials (i.e. experience) with which it can “learn.” It’s similar to human intelligence in the sense that humans’ reasoning and…
Trolls are people who intentionally incite emotional responses in order to cause fights or hurt people. They may do this because they’re sadistic, but sometimes, they use it to rile people up in support for a specific view they may support. They…
“Net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon should treat all content flowing through their cables and cell towers equally” (Finley). This includes not creating “fast lanes” offered to companies who pay a premium. Also, under net neutrality…
Corporate personhood is the idea that corporate entities are entitled to some, but not all, of the same legal rights as people. For example, “they have free speech rights” (Cox) and, as of the Hobby Lobby case, “for-profit corporations can have a religion that the…
I think the main ethical issues surrounding online advertising at least from my experience are whether or not it is ethical to block advertisements with software like AdBlock and whether or not it is ethical for companies to collect your data so that they can…
I guess I have a mixed opinion on whether or not companies like Apple should weaken their encryption for the purposes of government surveillance. On the one hand, I am not so concerned with the idea of the government watching me because I do not really have anything to hide, and I…
From the Vice article, it seems that the primary cause of the Challenger disaster was that “O-rings performed poorly at low temperatures, and that they wouldn’t properly form a seal in the cold” (Pasternack). During the launch, the outside temperatures were below the safely tested…
