Computer Ethics

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Chapter 1:
Catalysts for
Change

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Organization of Chapter

• Introduction
• Milestones in computing
• Milestones in networking
• Milestones in information storage and retrieval
• Information technology issues

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Information Age

• Era characterized by unprecedented access to information
• Catalysts

Low-cost computers

High-speed communication networks

1.1 Introduction

Advances in Past Two Decades

• Smartphones
• MP3 players
• Digital photography
• Email
• World Wide Web

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Technology and Values

• Dynamic between people, technology

People adopt technology

Technology changes society

• Using technology can change people

Our experiences physically change our brains (e.g., London taxi drivers)

Experiences with technology can have psychological effects, too (e.g., effects of dependency on cell phones)

• Technologies solve problems, but may create new problems

Automobile

Refrigerator

Low-cost international communication

Amish bishops meet twice a year to discuss matters of importance to the church, including whether any new technologies should be allowed.

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Aids to Manual Calculating

• Tablet: a flat piece used especially for an inscription

Clay, wax tablets (ancient times)

Slates (late Middle Ages)

Paper tablets (19th century)

• Abacus

Rods or wires in rectangular frame

Lines drawn on a counting board

• Mathematical tables

Tables of logarithms (17th century)

Income tax tables (today)

1.2 Milestones in Computing

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Early Mechanical Calculators

• Calculators of Pascal and Leibniz (17th century)

Worked with whole numbers: Did * and / through repeated + and -

Unreliable

• Arithmometer of de Colmar (19th century)

Took advantage of advances in machine tools

Adopted by insurance companies

• Printing calculator of Scheutzes (19th century)

Used method of differences pioneered by Babbage

Adopted by Dudley Observatory (mainly for astronomy) in New York

Completed astronomical calculations

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Social Change  Market for Calculators

• Gilded Age (1870-1900. Era of rapid economic growth)

Rapid industrialization

Economic expansion

Concentration of corporate power

• New, larger corporations

Multiple layers of management

Multiple locations

Needed up-to-date, comprehensive, reliable, and affordable information

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Calculator Adoptions  Social Change

• Fierce market

Continuous improvements in size, speed, ease of use

Sales increased rapidly

• “Deskilling” and feminization of bookkeeping

People of average ability quite productive

Calculators 6 faster than adding by hand

Wages dropped

Women replaced men

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Cash Register

• Store owners of late 1800s faced problems

Keeping accurate sales records for department stores

Preventing misuse from clerks

• Response to problems: cash register

Created printed, itemized receipts

Maintained printed log of transactions

Rang bell every time drawer was opened

Punched Card Tabulation

• Punched cards (late 19th century)

One record per card (or LOC)

Cards could be sorted into groups, allowing computation of subtotals by categories

• Early adopters

U.S. Bureau of the Census,

Railroads, Retail organizations

Heavy industries…

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Tabulators  Data-processing Systems

• Data-processing system: 3 main components

Receives input data

Performs one or more calculations

Produces output data

• Punched cards: Are within these systems

Stored input data and intermediate results

Stored output

On most sophisticated systems, also stored programs

Precursors of Commercial Computers

• Atanasoff-Berry Computer to solve linear equations: vacuum tubes: Not programmable
• ENIAC (electronic numerical integrator and computer): externally programmed with wires: Each instruction was programmed by puting wires into plugboards.
• EDVAC: program stored in memory
• Small-Scale Experimental Machine used the CRT (Cathode R ay Tube) as a storage device for digital information. It was the first operational, fully electronic computer system that had both program and data stored in its memory.

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First Commercial Computers

• Remington-Rand

Completed UNIVAC (universal automatic computer) in 1951

Delivered to U.S. Bureau of the Census

Predicted, successfully, winner of 1952 Presidential election

• IBM

Larger base of customers

Far superior sales and marketing organization

Greater investment in research and development

Dominated mainframe market by mid-1960s

CBS News Coverage of 1952 Presidential Election Featured UNIVAC Computer

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Programming Languages

• Assembly language

Symbolic representations of machine instructions

one assembly language instruction was required for every machine instruction.

• FORTRAN

First higher-level language (shorter programs)

Designed for scientific applications

• COBOL

U.S. Department of Defense standard

Designed for business applications

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Time-Sharing Systems and BASIC

• Time-Sharing Systems

Divide computer time among multiple users

Users connect to computer via terminals

Cost of ownership spread among more people

Gave many more people access to computers

• BASIC

Developed at Dartmouth College

Simple, easy-to-learn programming language

Popular language for teaching programming

Transistor

• Replacement for vacuum tube
• Invented at Bell Labs (1948)
• Semiconductor

Faster

Cheaper

More reliable

More energy efficient

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Integrated Circuit

• Semiconductor containing transistors, capacitors, and resistors
• Invented at Fairchild Semiconductor and Texas Instruments
• Advantages over parts they replaced

Smaller

Faster

More reliable

Less expensive

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IBM System/360

• Before System/360

IBM dominated mainframe marked in 1960s

IBM computers were incompatible

Switch computers  rewrite programs

• System/360

Series of 19 computers with varying levels of power

All computers could run same programs

Upgrade without rewriting programs

IBM System/360

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Microprocessor

• Computer inside a semiconductor chip
• Invented in 1970 at Intel
• Made personal computers practical

Antecedents to the Personal Computer

• Whole Earth Catalog: A magazine and product catalog

“Sort of like Google in paperback form” (Steve Jobs)

Stewart Brand saw “technology as a tool for individual and collective transformation” (Fred Turner)

• People’s Computer Company

Educated people on how to use computers

People gathered around time-share computers

Culture promoted free exchange of software

• Homebrew Computer Club

Meeting place for hobbyists

Steve Wozniak created system that became Apple I

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Personal Computer

• Altair 8800

Gates and Allen created BASIC interpreter

Interpreter pirated at Homebrew Computer Club meeting

• Personal computers became popular

Apple Computer: Apple II

Tandy Corporation: TRS 80

• Businesses drawn to personal computers

Computer spreadsheet program: VisiCalc

IBM launches IBM PC

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs with Apple I Personal Computer

Time for Questions

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Early Networking: Semaphore Telegraph Tower

1.3 Milestones in Networking

Photo l’Adresse Musée de La Poste, Paris / La Poste

Electricity and Electromagnetism

• Volta invented battery (In 1799 He produced an electric current by submerging two different metals close to each other in an acid.)
• In 1820 Christian Oersted discovered that electricity creates magnetic field
• Sturgeon constructed electromagnet
• Henry: communication using electromagnets (1830: Page 51)

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Telegraph

• U.S. government funded first line

40 miles from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore

Built by Samuel Morse in 1843-1844

• Private networks flourished

12,000 miles of lines in 1850

Transcontinental line in 1861 put Pony Express out of business

200,000 miles of lines by 1877

• Technology proved versatile (adaptable)

For instance, people kept finding new applications for the telegraph:

Fire alarm boxes

Police call boxes

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Telephone

• Alexander Graham Bell

Constructed harmonic telegraph: All of the dots and dashes of Morse code have the same note (sound). The harmonic telegraph assigned a different note (different sound frequency) to each message.

Leveraged concept into first telephone

• Social impact of telephone

Blurred public life / private life boundary

Eroded traditional social hierarchies

Reduced privacy: Responsible for the system overheard conversations

Enabled first “online” communities: Party lines (page 54)

Typewriter and Teletype

• Typewriter

Individual production of “type set” documents

Common in offices by 1890s

• Teletype

Typewriter connected to telegraph line

Popular uses

Transmitting news stories

Sending records of stock transactions

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Radio

• Pioneers

Hertz generated electromagnetic waves

Marconi invented radio: Wireless Telegraph Co.

• First used in business

Wireless telegraph

Transmit voices

• Entertainment uses

Suggested by Sarnoff: The receiver can be designed in the form of a simple music box . . . can be placed in the parlor or living room

Important entertainment medium by 1930s

Television

• Began in 1884, Invented in 1927 and Became popular in 1950s

Price fell dramatically

Number of stations increased

• Social effects

Worldwide audiences

Networks (Channels) strive to be first to deliver news

Impact of incorrect information; e.g., 2000 presidential election

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Remote Computing

• Stibitz and Williams built Complex Number Calculator at Bell Labs
• Bell Labs part of AT&T (phone company)
• Teletype chosen for input/output
• Allowed operator to be distant from machine
• Long-distance demonstration between New Hampshire and New York City (page 57)

ARPANET

• In reaction to the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union in 1957, the Department of Defense (DoD) created the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), which created the ARPA Network (ARPANET).
• Licklider conceived of “Galactic Network”: a Global Network Computer
• Decentralized design to improve survivability in case of nuclear attack. Every computer on the network would have the ability to make decisions about how message traffic should be routed.
• Packet-switching replaced circuit switching

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Circuit-switched v. Packet-switched Networks

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Email

• Creation

ARPANET users relied upon the telephone for communications, until Tomlinson at BBN wrote software to send, receive email messages

Roberts created email utility: list email, read them, reply to them,forward them and save them.

• Current status

One of world’s most important communication technologies

Around 200 billions of messages sent in U.S. every day

Internet

• ARPA researchers anticipated the need to connect the ARPANET with other networks based on different designs.
• Kahn conceived of open architecture networking
• Cerf and Kahn designed TCP/IP protocol
• Internet: network of networks communicating using TCP/IP

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NSFNET

• Created by National Science Foundation
• Provided access grants to universities
• Encouraged commercial subscribers for regional networks
• Banned commercial traffic on NSFNET Backbone
• Private companies developed long-distance Internet connections
• After private networks established, NSF shut down NSFNET Backbone 1955
• There is similar initiative in UAE: ANKABUT

Broadband

• Broadband

High-speed Internet connection

Makes feasible transfer of very large files (e.g., video)

The growth of file swapping among Internet users has paralleled the growth of broadband connections.

• Typical broadband speeds

Taiwan 85.02 average download speed (megabits/second)

Singapore 70.86

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Wireless Networks

• Cell phones

Motorola demonstrated the first cell phone in 1973, weighed 2 ½ pounds

Now weigh a few ounces and also support texting and broadband Internet access

• Public access wireless local area networks

In 1993 Sjodin proposed the development of public access wireless local area networks.

Today wireless Internet access points, or hotspots, are everywhere

Most hotspots use a technology known as Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi or Wireless Fidelity, meaning you can access or connect to a network using radio waves, without needing to use wires.

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Time for Questions

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Greek Alphabet in the Ancestor of the English Alph.

• True alphabet: letters for both consonant and vowel sounds
• 750 BC: Greeks developed first true alphabet with 24 characters
• Simple, efficient way of transforming spoken words into written form compared with earlier writing systems in Mesopotamia and Egypt
• Oral culture transitioned to written culture

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1.4 Milestones in Information Storage and Retrieval

Codex and Paper

• Codex

Rectangular pages sewn together on one side

Replaced papyrus scrolls as way of storing books

Allowed quicker access to particular passages

First produced by hand, then by wood engraving

• Paper

Invented by Chinese, brought to Europe in late Middle Ages

By 15th century replaced parchment for pages in less expensive codices

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Gutenberg’s Printing Press

• Based on movable metal type rather than wood blocks (Codex)
• Church principal customer of early publishers
• Powerful mass communication tool
• Printing press’s impact on Reformation

More than 300,000 copies of Luther’s publications

Protestants out-published Catholics by 10-to-1 in the middle 16th century

Newspapers

• Newspapers: Stimulated free expression
• Governments responded

Licensing

Censorship

• Impact on American Revolution

Newspapers helped unify colonies

Persuaded public opinion toward independence from Great Britain

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Hypertext

• Vannevar Bush envisioned Memex (Memory and Index): an information retrieval system equipped with “any item may select immediately and automatically another”
• Ted Nelson

Coined word hypertext: a linked network of nodes containing information

Proposed creation of Xanadu: a worldwide network of connected literature

• Douglas Engelbart

In 1960s, people submitted computer jobs in the form of decks of punch cards and waited hours to run.

Computer output was pages full of numbers that programmers had examine.

Engelbart wondered why people couldn’t interact directly with computers and view the output on a CRT, like radar images.

Directed construction of NLS (oNLine System)

Demonstrated windows, email, mouse, videoconferencing

Douglas Engelbart Rehearses for
“The Mother of All Demos”

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Graphical User Interface

• Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center)

Alan Kay saw Doug Engelbart demo in 1968

Alto personal computer (early 1970s)

Bit-mapped display, keyboard, and mouse

• Apple Computer

Steve Jobs visited Xerox PARC in 1979

Apple released Macintosh (1984)

Bit-mapped display, keyboard, mouse and affordable price

• Microsoft released Windows 3.0 (1990)

Released in May 1990

Quickly became dominant graphical user interface

Single-Computer Hypertext Systems

• Peter Brown at University of Kent

Guide (1982)

Released versions for Macintosh and IBM PC

• Apple Computer

HyperCard (1987)

Hypertext system based on “stacks” of “cards”

Links represented by buttons

Basis for best-selling games Myst and Riven

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World Wide Web

• First browser built at CERN in Switzerland

Tim Berners-Lee: WorldWideWeb (1990)

Berners-Lee created Web protocols

Protocols based on TCP/IP  general

• Later browsers

Mosaic

Netscape Navigator

Netscape Mozilla

Microsoft Internet Explorer

FireFox

Google Chrome(most popular)

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Traffic Information on the Web

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Copyright © 2011 by WSDOT. Reprinted with permission.

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Search Engines

• Crawler-based engines (Google, AltaVista)

Programs called spiders follow hyperlinks and visit millions of Web pages

System automatically constructs Web page database

• Human-assisted engines (Open Directory)

Humans build Web page database

Web page summaries more accurate

Far fewer Web pages in database

• Hybrid systems (MSN Search)

Time for Questions

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Information Technology

• Definition:

Devices used in creation, storage, manipulation, dissemination of data, sound, and/or images

• Examples

Tablets, smartphones, laptop computers

• People making greater use of IT

Costs keep falling

Capabilities keep rising

1.5 Information Technology Issues

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IT Issues

• Email

Easy way to keep in touch

Spam has become a real problem

• Web

Free access to huge amounts of information

Harmful consequences of some sites

• CDs, MP3s

Free or cheap copies readily available

May be unfair to musicians

• Credit cards

Convenience over cash and checks

Increases possibility of identity theft

Who owns information about transactions?

• Loan applications

Based on credit history, not personal interview

Lower interest rates, but less flexibility

• Telecommuting

Saves time, allows more flexible work hours

Do teleworkers get overlooked for promotions?

• Improved global communication network

Allows companies to sell to entire world

Allows companies to move jobs out of U.S.

Should IT consumers be concerned about working conditions in factories in developing countries?

• World Wide Web

A conduit for democratic ideas?

Another tool for totalitarian governments?

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Summary

• Revolutionary discoveries are rare; change is usually incremental
• Information technology has long history
• Social conditions give rise to new technologies
• Adoption of technologies can change society
• Rate of technological change accelerating

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