NET 208 - Cyber Ethics and Legal Issues

Credits: 3
Lecture Hours: 3
Lab Hours: 0
Practicum Hours: 0
Work Experience: 0
Course Type: Voc/Tech

Professionals face ethical and legal issues which present conflict with their own beliefs, morals, and professional responsibility. They are exposed to sensitive, confidential, and secret data where they are charged to maintain the integrity and compliance. The Internet presents a quagmire of issues, ethical dichotomies, and legal processes. This course will explore various ethical and legal issues that are unique to the cyber landscape through analysis of current trends and historical decisions by government and private industry. It is recommended to have taken Composition I prior to this course but is not required.
Competencies

Evaluate the internet and ethical values
1. Define morals, ethics, and philosophies
2. Compare and contrast the origins of personal morals, ethics, and philosophies
3. Discuss what makes people break their own moral or ethical codes
4. Classify cyberethics and code
5. Discuss current macroethics, normative principles, and ethical values and the digital frontier
6. Examine the application of opposing moral theories when professional and personal beliefs collide
Critique information and power regulating and governing networked technologies
1. Discuss the dichotomy of social networks and their influences within societies
2. Compare and contrast the early history of the Internet and the current world wide web
3. Explain current controversial topics associated with Internet use, Internet governance, and contested sovereignty in Cyberspace
4. Examine the digital frontier and potential/actual monopolies that exist in Cyberspace
Summarize free speech and censorship in cyberspace
1. Discuss the dichotomy of censorship and free speech in an online space versus traditional public forums
2. Classify online threats, hate speech, anonymous speech, and consequence for each
3. Compare and contrast various countries censorship and controls employed for its citizenry
Evaluate intellectual property in cyberspace
1. Discuss the differences relating to intellectual property for individuals and corporations and legal concerns for each
2. Examine digital/e-books relating to intellectual property and digital restrictions
3. Review current case studies and compare the pros and cons of each side
Judge privacy rights in the age of surveillance
1. Define the theory of privacy
2. Compare and contrast personal information on the Internet
3. Differentiate the United States and the European Union and their divergent paths to privacy protection
4. Explain the anatomy of privacy in the workplace and expectations of privacy
5. Discuss topic related to privacy in the digital space and individuals’ rights to their collected data
Examine concepts for securing digital infrastructure
1. Discuss responsibilities for vulnerabilities in networked technologies; who is responsible for securing personal/corporate devices and services used by individuals
2. Explain the concepts of digital trespass, hackers, and hacktivism
3. Weigh the pros and cons of encryption and government, personal, legal, and enforcement issues with encryption technologies
4. Examine the consequence of cybersecurity as a moral obligation
Evaluate laws influencing information security
1. Classify types of information and data which various regulatory policies cover
2. Discuss the challenges in protecting children on the Internet and how conflicting laws increase these challenges
3. Review various state laws protecting citizen information and breach notifications standards
4. Explore the role of contracts and contracting with/for companies.

Competencies Revised Date: AY2022