Networked Communications - Ethics for the Information Age - page 151

39. A school district forbids students from using their cell phones on school buses, but many
students ignore this rule. A frustrated bus driver installs a cell phone jammer on his bus.
When the jammer is turned on, cell phones within 40 feet stop working. (The use of
jammers is against the law.) The bus driver says, “The kids think they are sneaky by
hiding low in their seats and using their phones. Now the kids can't figure out why their
phones don't work, but can't ask because they will get in trouble! It's fun to watch them
try to get a signal” [110].
Discuss the morality of the bus driver's use of the jammer.
40. According to some commentators, Facebook and Twitter played a vital role in the Arab
Spring uprising because they made it possible for activists to organize large protests in a
short amount of time. Others argue that Facebook and Twitter were simply tools used by
activists and that genuine social grievances led to the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.
What is your view?
41. After popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011, the United States government said
it would spend $30 million to fund the development of new services and technologies
designed to allow activists in other countries to get around Internet restrictions imposed
by their governments.
Announcing this initiative, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “We are con-
vinced that an open Internet fosters long-term peace, progress and prosperity. The re-
verse is also true. An Internet that is closed and fractured, where different governments
can block activity or change the rules on a whim—where speech is censored or pun-
ished, and privacy does not exist—that is an Internet that can cut off opportunities for
peace and progress and discourage innovation and entrepreneurship” [111].
Should the US government provide activists in other countries the tools to get
around Internet restrictions imposed by authoritarian governments?
42. In July 2011, activists shut down a San Francisco subway station as a way of protesting
the death of a drunk man shot by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer [112].
A month later, the subway system blocked cell phone service at several stations in an
effort to prevent another protest. According to BART officials, protesters had said they
“would use mobile devices to coordinate their disruptive activities and communicate
about the location and number of BART Police” [113]. The agency said, “A civil dis-
turbance during commute times at busy downtown San Francisco stations could lead
to platform overcrowding and unsafe conditions for BART customers, employees and
demonstrators” [113].
Was BART justified in blocking cell phone service?
In-Class Exercises
43. Divide the class into groups. Each group should come up with a variant of the case study
“Ann the Acme Accountant,” in which both a Kantian evaluation and an act utilitarian
evaluation would conclude Ann did something wrong.
44. Divide the class into groups. Each group should come up with a variant of the case study
“Kate's Blog,” in which the analysis from the perspective of social contract theory would