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Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Internet Ethics: Views From Silicon Valley

  • The Ethics of Ad-Blocking

    As the number of people who are downloading ad-blocking software has grown, so has the volume of the debate about the ethics of ad-blocking.

  • Nothing to Hide? Nothing to Protect?

    When asked whether they care about privacy or are concerned about various kinds of surveillance, many people respond that they "have nothing to hide." What might be hiding behind that response?

  • What Does An Engineer Look Like?

    If this question conjures up the image of a young white guy, take a look at some of the more than 75,000 photos posted on Twitter under the hashtag “#ILookLikeAnEngineer.”

  • Death and Facebook

    Have you designated a "legacy contact" person for your Facebook account? Should you?

  • IoT: The Internet of Trees

    A project in Melbourne assigned email addresses to the city's trees, and generated some unexpected responses.

  • Internet Values?

    Does the Internet embody particular values, and do those values transfer to its users?

  • Privacy and Diversity

    Teams that work on privacy-protective features for our online lives are much more likely to be effective if those teams are diverse, in as many ways as possible.

  • BroncoHack 2015 (Guest Post)

    Santa Clara University hosted a hackathon organized by the OMIS Student Network, with the goal of creating “a project that is innovative in the arenas of business and technology” while also reflecting the theme of “social justice.”

  • A New Ethics Case Study

    What would you decide if you were part of the decision-making team tasked with evaluating right to be forgotten requests?

  • Trust, Self-Criticism, and Open Debate

    The efforts to promote increased collaboration between the public and private sectors--and in particular between Washington and Silicon Valley--on cybersecurity issues have to begin with rebuilding trust.

  • Covering Sexism in Tech

    One more Silicon Valley perspective on Newsweek's controversial article and cover about the treatment of women in the tech world.

  • Content versus Conversation

    Calling social media posts "content" turns them into a commodity, and makes them sound less personal. Thinking of them as "parts of a conversation" invokes different social norms.

  • Readings in Data Ethics

    A list of readings that provides a starting point for conversations about the ethical issues in big data.

  • Cookies and Privacy

    A Delicious Counter-Experiment

    Poll after poll finds that people do value their privacy, are deeply concerned by its erosion, and want more laws to protect it.

  • Dickens on Big Data

    What would Charles Dickens have said about life regulated and shaped by data and algorithms?

  • Practically as an Accident

    Social Facts and the Common Good

    With every book subtitled "Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking)," we become more likely to assume that someone's always looking.

  • Should You Watch?

    On the Responsibility of Content Consumers

    Internet users have been able to view videos of beheadings and domestic violence, and naked images from hacked celebrity accounts.

  • Revisiting the Right to Be Forgotten

    As it begins to comply with the European Court decision about de-indexing certain search results, Google appoints an advisory council and seeks public input.

  • Singing in the Shower

    Privacy in the Age of Facebook

    The amount and kinds of information that people post on Facebook does not mean that people don't care about privacy.

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