Accountability

Tom Kelliher, CS 200

Mar. 9, 2004

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Assignment

Read Chapter 8; bring in a related article for discussion.

From Last Time

Property rights in software.

Coming Up

Travis's presentation and ethics and the Internet II.

Chapter Summary

1. Several notions of responsibility: causally responsible, liable, etc.

2. Strict liability and software as product or service.

3. Y2K issues. Accountability?

4. Therac-25.

Discussion Questions

1. Should software vendors be liable if their software doesn't perform as ``specified?''

2. Should ISPs be liable for activity occurring on their networks?

3. Should someone be liable for all the losses resulting from virus activity? If so, who?

4. Should businesses be liable if servers are hacked, resulting in the loss of personal information (more and more online businesses waive this in their Terms of Use agreement).

5. Should our real-world rights and responsibilities transfer over to the virtual world? If so, how?