CIS3210 – Computer Networks
Ethics in Networking
Jason Ernst, University of Guelph - Fall 2011 1
Outline
Benefits of Computer Networks Why Study Ethics & “Cyberethics” Privacy
Property and Intellectual Property
Encryption and Interception of Communications Reliance on Computer Networks
Ethical Protocols and Use of Networks
Freedom of Speech, Censorship, Accessibility Professional Standards for Ethical Behaviour
Benefits of Computer Networks
Many obvious benefits
Sharing files, data & information in general
Revolutionized many fields and industries Connects people
Reduces the need for travel
Why Study Ethics & “Cyberethics”
Knowledge about some of the current unsolved social issues
related to networking
To be a more rounded student
To understand motivations for people we may be required to guard
against (if you end up as a network admin for example)
To understand both sides of issues, and “grey areas”
To help you use your technical knowledge of networks in a
responsible manner
To help find a balance between use and misuse, security without over
Privacy: Information expected to be private
Location
Usage information
Cookies, History
“Profiling”, Usage matching
Secondary information use (other than what it was intended
for)
Usage matching: combining info from different databases to
Privacy
Users of computer equipment and networks usually expect
their information to be protected
Companies like Facebook may sell information in exchange for
free use of their service
How long is this information kept How is it used
Keeps information on search history Can build up digital fingerprint profile
Recently caught recording Wi-Fi AP mac addresses + locations +
Costs & Benefits of Using this Information
Companies can use this information responsibly To provide increased service in particular areas To provide customized service to individuals
Likes, dislikes, trends
And Irresponsibly
Losing the information
Using the information to take advantage of customers
Selling the information, using information to sell items are higher prices (amazon is rumoured to do this:
Poor Privacy: Philadelphia School District
Gave out laptops to students (2010) Automatically collected webcam captures, IM monitoring etc.
Justification was to identify someone in case of laptop theft Ended up capturing images of partially dressed students,
students sleeping etc.
Ended up settling out of court and revising their policy
Outline
Benefits of Computer Networks Why Study Ethics & “Cyberethics” Privacy
Property and Intellectual Property
Encryption and Interception of Communications Reliance on Computer Networks
Ethical Protocols and Use of Networks
Freedom of Speech, Censorship, Accessibility Professional Standards for Ethical Behaviour
Property and Intellectual Property
Virtual property
Second Life WoW
Intellectual Property
Music, Movies, Research, Books, Corporate & Trade Secrets DRM vs Fair Use
Real Property
Identity Theft
Second Life Digital Property
What happens when servers shut down?
Even services such as Xboxlive (online purchases) or Steam
must respond to this question…
In some cases, ie) Xboxlive + EA game servers are shut after a
couple of years for games like NHL, Tiger Woods etc.
Who settles disputes?
What is the jurisdiction of a country if the property physically
Software Piracy Rates
Music Sales: Piracy?
DRM: Spore
Originally required online access to validate software Limited to only 3 activations
After this reviewed by EA for further
activations on case by case basis
Outline
Benefits of Computer Networks Why Study Ethics & “Cyberethics” Privacy
Property and Intellectual Property
Encryption and Interception of Communications Reliance on Computer Networks
Ethical Protocols and Use of Networks
Freedom of Speech, Censorship, Accessibility Professional Standards for Ethical Behaviour
Encryption and Interception and Hiding of
Communications
Encryption
Originally illegal to “export” from United States
Interception
Used by governments to track people, find threats to security
etc.
Can also be used by individuals for identity theft, fraud etc.
Stenography
Hiding information in normal communications
Ex) hiding information in images, facebook posts, spam email
Stenographic Image
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography Some process known only to each end of communicating partiesBenefits of Encryption and Stenography
Can help people in dangerous situations communicate
with the outside world
Spies
People in volatile countries
People who fear political persecution
Can help malicious people from accessing private
information
Banking
Government Documents Online Voting
Cons of Encryption
Makes it difficult for governments, police and authorities
to identify threats to national security
Some overhead required, so lowered performance in
terms of computation and network performance
Some forms of encryption have been broken provide false
sense of security
Case of Mistrust in WEP
2011: Man Hacks Neighbours Wi-Fi and tries to frame
him for Child porn
http://techland.time.com/2011/07/14/man-hacks-into- neighbors-wi-fi-network-to-frame-them-for-child-porn-and-more/
Recently: Corporations forced to allow
encryption to bypassed
Research in Motion:
Markets the security of their devices
Bows to pressure from governments who will ban sale of their
devices is encryption cannot be bypassed in their countries
Backed completely out of countries where pressure was
Ethical vs Unethical Hacking
Breaking wireless networks for penetrating testing
Determining vulnerabilities and fixing them
Usually hired by the person / company you are doing this for For your own knowledge on your own equipment
Hacking for National Security
US/ Israel virus deployed against Iranian nuclear enrichment
machines ethical?
Hacking for personal gain
Stealing money, corporate secrets, R&D from countries Neighbours Wi-Fi, especially in Canada with usage caps
Outline
Benefits of Computer Networks Why Study Ethics & “Cyberethics” Privacy
Property and Intellectual Property
Encryption and Interception of Communications Reliance on Computer Networks
Ethical Protocols and Use of Networks
Freedom of Speech, Censorship, Accessibility Professional Standards for Ethical Behaviour
Reliance on Computer Networks
Arab Spring Movement
Egyptian Gov’t cut most of country out from the Internet
Large Outages
Power outage in North America several years ago
Some tasks strictly online now:
Distance education courses
News (many people do not get paper copies)
Communications (many people use email, skype, mobile
phones) rather than landlines, mail, etc.)
Power Outage 2003
55 Million people affected Cellular communications
disrupted
Cable television, internet
services disrupted
Wired telephone access
worked, but overwhelmed
Dialup Internet Access Ham radio operators Radio broadcasters
Continued available of services
Should corporations and governments offer traditional
services at high cost?
Ex) traditional mail, physical records, etc.
How can we make current infrastructure more reliable?
Self-healing networks
Heterogeneous networks which use multiple technologies Redundancy
Ethical Protocols and Use of Networks
“The People” vs ISPs
Packet Shaping vs Traffic Usage Patterns
Strain on Networks vs Investment
How to provide equal QoS for people paying the same
amount without traffic shaping?
Investment from ISP
Competing interest of investors who discourage investment by
wanting more profits
Requirements to provide service across broad sparsely
VOIP Traffic Offsetting Traditional Voice
Traditional wired
Streaming Traffic
Streaming Data
Up to 30% of Internet traffic used by streaming services
such as Netflix
Vint Cerf (helped connect the first nodes on the
APRAnet, also Google’s “Internet Evagelist”)
Argues that significantly increasing capacity of the networks so
that streaming is unnecessary will solve many problems with todays Internet
Responsibility for Poor Networks
Is it up to the user to use applications and technology
that does not put a strain on networks
Is it up to the providers to continually provide faster
networks with high capacity
Is there some balance between?
Packet shaping?
Bandwidth Limit Caps?
Outline
Benefits of Computer Networks Why Study Ethics & “Cyberethics” Privacy
Property and Intellectual Property
Encryption and Interception of Communications Reliance on Computer Networks
Ethical Protocols and Use of Networks
Freedom of Speech, Censorship, Accessibility Professional Standards for Ethical Behaviour
Freedom of Speech and Networking
Social movements
Occupy
“Arab Spring”
Toronto / Vancouver Riots
Government control of Internet backbone
Recall: DNS, registrars still under control of governments
Government ability to cut whole populations off Internet
Solutions include:
Internet over Amateur Radio (Ham) Delay tolerant networking
Toronto Riots, 2010: Organized by Social
Media
Vancouver Riots, 2011: Evidence Captured
with Social Media
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbCgJvAODqg&featur
Freedom of Speech and Networking
What content is allowed on the Internet?
Who decides? Who has jurisdiction to enforce? Ex) Torrent Tracker Websites (The PirateBay) Ex) Wikileaks
Ex) Pornographic and Offensive content
Libraries try to allow all content since it is their obligation to
provide information, not deem information offensive
Professional Standards for Ethical
Behaviour
RFC1087: Ethics and The Internet:
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1087
ACM Code of Ethics:
http://www.acm.org/about/code-of-ethics
IEEE Code of Ethics:
“Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics”
(Computer Ethics Institute, 1992)
1. Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.
2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people's computer work. 3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's computer files. 4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.
5. Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.
6. Thou shalt not copy or use proprietary software for which you have not paid. 7. Thou shalt not use other people's computer resources without authorization or
proper compensation.
8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual output.
9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you are writing or the system you are designing.
10. Thou shalt always use a computer in ways that ensure consideration and respect for your fellow humans
Next Classes
Next Generation Networks
Delay tolerant networks Wireless mesh networks Wireless sensor networks
3G, 4G, LTE, Mobile Networks Heterogeneous networks
References
Sarah Base, A Gift of Fire, Social, Legal and Ethical Issues for
Computers and the Internet, 2003.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberethics ACM, IEEE