Legal and Ethical Issues

The article from Technician online discussed Open access research, a movement to make tax-funded research available to the public.  According to the article open access started gaining public attention in the 1990s and when the National Institute of Health requested the research it funded be made open access, attention grew. Now researchers who don’t meet these obligations may jeopardize future funding.

Aaron Swartz was the one who brought open access to the public’s attention.  He was an MIT student and a supporter of open access. Swartz protested closed-access research and was charged with fraud, millions of dollars in fines and potential lengthy prison time. He ended up committing suicide as a result.

From the information I read it seems like the Legal and Ethical issues addressed in common law do not always translate so easily to Cyberlaw.  The Internet brings its own unique challenges relating to rights and wrongs; most of which seem to be addressed  only as they arise. I feel like the anonymity of the Internet may also play a role in a person’s decision to do the right thing. In my opinion laws need to be very clear in defining Internet rights and responsibilities without limiting its ability to expand knowledge.

Internet Security and Privacy

According to an OpEd piece in the New York Times and frankly many other news articles our privacy is being compromised and we don’t even know it.  Google, Facebook and other widely visited Internet companies collect information about us and sell it to other companies without us being aware of it. Data brokers, like Acxiom, have highly sophisticated software tools that run blindly as we surf the web to allow them to gain access to our personal information. They know everything about us; our health, food preferences, sexual orientation, finances, you name it and they probably already know it.  This industry is currently unregulated despite efforts by President Obama to pass legislation to put some controls in place. Data brokers have become pirate like in their efforts, taking what is not there's and doing what they they want with it. It is imperative that we spread the word to bring the much needed urgency to this issue. We need to stand together to make sure our rights and privacy are not being violated  and demand legislation that helps protect the private citizen.