Cyberfluency Issues

Tom Kelliher, CS 102

Feb. 28, 2001

Administrivia

Announcements

Why did I send that e-mail the other night?

Assignment

From Last Time

Chart insertion exercise.

Outline

1. Various cyberfluency issues. What do I mean by ``cyberfluency?''

Coming Up

What would you like to discuss?

Mass e-mail

1. ITAG has recommended to President's Council that mass e-mail privileges be granted to SGA President.

2. A radical proposal: eliminate all mass e-mail.

   What right does someone I don't even know have to force their message before my eyes?

   It's the wrong tool for the job. E-mail should be for personal communications. There's nothing personal about mass e-mail.

   The right tool? GNAV. (Fear of change? Have we done our job?)

Napster

1. How does it work?

2. How do they avoid storing MP3 files?

3. What is an MP3 file?

4. What were their arguments regarding copyright infringement and non-commercial use?

5. Are artists being hurt?

6. Shouldn't the artists decide? Recording industry muddies the water.

7. Are we against, in principle, but use, in practice?

8. Why Gnutella will fail?

Internet Cookies

1. What are they? Are they programs? Do they send information?

2. Why were they invented?

3. What are the ``evil'' uses?

4. Companies conspiring to use one pixel gifs from a central server and a unique cookie to build a profile.

   No identifying information (name), but who needs that?

5. Segue. Database cross-referencing. Defunct dot-coms selling databases. Amazon changing their privacy policy.

   Opt-in vs. opt-out Internet privacy.

Online Communities

1. Online references for teachers.

2. Online communities. D & D sites. Chat sites.

3. Are they really communities?

4. ebay.