Bachelors Degree in E-Business & Commerce

EC 340 - LEGAL AND ETHICAL ASPECTS OF COMPUTING

Instructor: Suzanne Doty Core, BA, JD

SYLLABUS

Welcome to Legal and Ethical Aspects of Computing, a Bachelor Level course in the curriculum for the degree Bachelor of Business Administration. I am pleased to be your instructor for this course.

In the beginnings of the 21st Century, every computer-literate person should have some knowledge of both the legal aspects and the ethical aspects of "life online." This is particularly true for those whose information highway speeds through their workplace, whose employment involves being online in any way, for those who maintain a web presence and those who buy or sell online, especially sell. IT and Info Systems professionals in particular must be well equipped to cope with legal and ethical challenges in their workplace. This course will explore these areas.

I know you will enjoy this course and I trust that you will take away from it a solid understanding of "when to worry" about either legal or ethical aspects of your own computing or that of your employer or online companies with which you deal.

This course lays down an important foundation for the rest of your degree program.

TIME FRAME: This is a five-semester hour course. This course is allotted 10 weeks of time. You must complete all of the requirements for the course successfully by the end of the 10-week period. The first day of week one will begin the day that you register for the course, or the day which you notify me that your textbooks have arrived and you are ready to begin your studies. Please be cognizant of the time frame. It is rare that extensions of time are permitted, unless you have good justification. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be awarded five semester hours of credit.

TEXTBOOKS: There are three (3) required textbooks for this course.

Book 1: A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal and Ethical Issues of Computing by Sara Baase. Prentice Hall 2nd ed 2002. ISBN # 0-13-008215-5.

Book 2: The Gigalaw Guide to Internet Law by Doug Isenberg. Random House 2002. ISBN # 0-8129-9198-2.

Book 3: Ethics and Technology: Ethical Issues in an Age of Information and Communication Technology by Herman Tavani. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN # 0-471-24966-1.

These texts may be found at your local bookstore. Your local bookstore most often will order them as a special order for you. Or, you may purchase them online at www.amazon.com or other online bookstores. The Baase text may be obtained in the used books section at considerable savings.

[I would appreciate receiving your feedback on these textbooks. I would like to know from you which book or books if any met your expectations and which one or ones were most useful to your understanding of the subject matter of the course. An email to this effect at the end of the course would be appreciated.]

EXAMINATIONS AND ESSAY: There are two examinations for this course, a mid-term exam and a final exam as well as one essay/research paper of five to ten pages. The midterm is 40 percent of your grade. The final is 40 percent of your grade. The paper is 20 percent of your grade. The exams are given heavier weight because they are primarily objective.

The mid-term examination must be taken by the end of the 5th week in the course.
The final examination must be taken by the end of the 10th week in the course.
The essay may be turned in at any time.

Both exams are programmed and are located in the classroom for this course. The examinations are "open book" objective type. You will have one (1) day to complete your exam, once you access it from the classroom. To access the exam, you must send me an email and request to have access to the exam. Upon registration, you will receive your email address. I will then program your access in. You will receive an email back from me telling you that you are now authorized to go ahead and to access your exam. To access, you will come into the classroom, click on testing, and click on the exam you are taking. You will need your User ID and PASS WORD to access the exam. The exam will appear on your screen. Once you access the exam, you have 24 hours to submit your answers. The program provides me the exact date and time that you accessed the exam. The program also notifies me of the exact date and time that you submitted your answers. Thus, the program is timing you. When you are ready, go back into the classroom and click in your responses and then click submit. Shortly, you will receive the exam in your email box with your computed score. You will also know what questions, if any, that you missed, and what the correct answer is. I also receive a copy of your exam and your score.

Essay/Research Paper: The paper must be on one of the following topics:

1. Internet privacy and security issues (including but not necessarily limited to identity theft, spam, hacking, spying, spyware, adware)

2. Economic impacts of e-commerce on local businesses: WalMart v E-Bay (legal and ethical issues and impacts)

3. Regulation of internet site content (yes or no, why or why not, regulate what?) (you might look at everything from obscenity and child porn to false advertising)

4. Copyright laws, trade secrets, and infringement on the internet (in-depth look)

5. Internet crime/s (and punishment/s)

6. The Constitution in the Computer Age (relevance, applicability, problems, solutions)

7. Legal and Ethical Issues of Online Selling (including recourse for buyer/seller)

8. How to protect yourself/business while doing business online

9. Legal and Ethical Differences between online stores and brick-and-mortar (if any)

10. A topic of your own choice: Email me for prior approval
Your grade will probably reflect the amount of research you do as well as the amount of original thought. You do not need to footnote but you should include end notes and/or a list of your sources.

GRADING: The grading scale for this course is as follows:

90-100 % = A
80-89 % = B
70-79 % = C
Below 70% = Fail

COMMUNICATION: You are encouraged to communicate with me by email. You may anticipate a same-day response in most cases. I am available as a teacher, coach, and mentor to assist you in meeting your goals for this course. I am also available for conversation by telephone if you like. Our classroom for this course has a "chat" room. I am also very willing to meet with you one-on-one in the chat room upon request and with 24-hours notice. From time to time, depending on how many students are enrolled in this course at a particular time, we may schedule group chats. You will receive more detailed information at the time such chat sessions are scheduled. Please keep my email address handy so that you can contact me whenever necessary. If at any time during this course you change your email address, please be sure to notify me right away.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this course you should:

1. Know what to ask your lawyer (and when to call him/her)

2. Understand the difference between "legal" and "ethical" actions

3. Understand the basics of cyberlaw and computer crimes

4. Understand ethical decision making and professional codes of conduct

5. Understand intellectual property, copyrights and trademarks, applied to the WWW

6. Be able to recognize and evaluate potential legal problems before they arise

7. Be familiar with federal laws resulting from the Computer Age

8. Be able to draft simple disclaimers for use on a website

9. Recognize differences in legal issues between a Virtual and a brick-and-mortar store

10. Understand the constitutional issues related to internet use

COURSE CONTENT: This course will include covering the following topics:

- Codes of Ethics

- Intellectual Property
Privacy

- Cybercrime and security

- Constitutional issues
Employment issues

ASSIGNMENTS: For specific assignments, please click on the link "Assignments"

QUESTIONS: If you have any questions concerning this syllabus and /or the course, please contact Breyer State University at admassistant@breyerstate.com An administrative faculty member will respond to all questions.

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