Agenda for Week 3 - Computers, the Internet, and Society

Last updated: 9/15/00
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Agenda for Class 3
9/16/03
(Computers, the Internet, and Society only)

Review of course
1. Syllabus
2. Books
3. Topics
  1. Computer applications - documents go from unstructured (word processing) to structured (database)
  2. The Internet
  3. Social issues - effects both on and of society
  4. Common web site for both courses. Sections are:
    1. Announcements
    2. Policies, assignments, course meetings
    3. Online tools
    4. Information about the class
    5. Lectures and other information
    6. General information
  5. Now working on the course web site:
    1. Sign in / sing out form. Sign in at the beginning of each class, sign out at the end.
    2. Weekly report. Review of information. No excuses.
    3. Course information form. Please complete.
      1. Password
      2. Grade Reports
    4. Web Hub
    5. Server monitor
4. Computer conference
  1. You should be able to
    1. Re-read a message you have read before
    2. Read your list of new messages, mark it as read
    3. Post, Reply and Reply/Quote
  2. There is an online manual linked on the course web site
  3. Students teaching students / I may not reply
5. Last week these computers crashed regularly. What to do:
  1. Save regularly
  2. Close programs when you are done with them, even for awhile. Keep open only the program(s) you are using right now.
  3. Keep a watch on % of resources - My Computer > Help > About Windows
Digital photos for class photo album, also can be used as image for personal web page. Voluntary, not a course requirement.
1. Know who your fellow students are, helps me also
2. It uses the Internet
3. I put up some weird pictures of me
4. It's fun
The Internet in the News
1. "The bubble" - the recent Internet past
  1. Market share driving growth in late 1990s - lock in customers, profits were secondary - "irrational exuberance"
    1. Stock price led to many weird acquisitions - AOL acquiring Time-Warner
    2. Idea of a new business model - profits were not an issue
  2. Drove part of stock market growth at end of 1990s
  3. Also over-investment in Intranet infrastructure (routers and gateways) - Cisco Systems
  4. When stock market started falling, Internet stock often became worthless, for companies with no profits. DJIA went from 15,000 to 7,000 and has now partially recovered to about 9,500
  5. However:
    1. Number of servers continues to grow, number of users, number of web pages.
    2. Number of computers has continued to grow, but prices are so low that manufacturers are in trouble.
    3. Tech stock prices now may be starting to increase again.
  6. Boom and bust like the early auto industry
2. Internet security got a lot more dicey at the end of the summer. See section on computer security below.
3. A new type of dating service uses cell phones. The position of a cell phone can be triangulated by translating the relative delays from cell antennas. Two subscribers in the same vicinity with compatible characteristics will be beeped (the cell phones must be turned on at the time). They can then use a phone conversation to decide whether or not to meet in person.
4. The ISP SBC is the only ISP that is currently refusing the subpoenas from the RIAA for the identities of people trading music files over the Internet. Over 200 suits have been filed against the largest file traders. The RIAA subpoenas are issued without the review of a judge. Verizon lost a suit challenging the subpoenas on this basis, but is appealing the case.
Worms, viruses and so forth
1. Sources
  1. Free programs, unauthorized copies, etc.
  2. Scripts in email attachments, word processing documents, spreadsheets, etc.
  3. Internet downloads, may be silent (cookies, web bugs)
2. Types
  1. Virus. A program (*.exe, *.com etc) that gets into your computer, is executed, and does harm there, such as erasing files.
    NOTE: your computer may not be configured to show file extensions, or it may be reconfigured by a script. I always recommend seeing the extensions.
  2. Worm. An executable part of an email message or a word processing document that may damage files on your computer, but which also emails copies of itself to other computers using a list of email addresses.
  3. Trojan horse. A back door that sits on your computer and allows others to download and execute files, or take other actions. Can be used in Denial of Service attacks.
  4. Cookie. A web server can leave a cookie on your computer, which is meant to enable a dialog with the web server. Malicious cookies can look at and report back on your other cookies, however. Netscape will allow cookie control, but Internet Explorer will not.
  5. Web bug. A tiny web graphic that can work the same way as a cookie.
  6. Spyware. Software that reports your keystrokes to another computer, often used to report personal information such as credit card numbers or social security numbers.
  7. Operating system vulnerabilities. For example, Telnet and FTP are two features of many operating systems. Telnet allows an external user to use the command line on your computer. FTP allows an external user to download files to your computer, and execute them. If the passwords for these are left at some default, your computer is vulnerable. Other vulnerabilities or exploits use malicious messages to overflow data areas, allowing the user to download and execute code.
  8. Spam - widely distributed often anonymous email that clogs up mailboxes and the Internet.
  9. Denial Of Service (DOS) attacks.
  10. Webjacking. Intercepting traffic to a legitimate web site, and convincing the unsuspecting that they are supplying a trusted site with their identification.
  11. Identity theft. Can occur through spyware, intercepting Internet traffic (rare, especially with secure communication), hacking into the merchant's server or (most common) through authorized employees.
3. Why do they do it? What motivates people who do this? Does it matter?
  1. Exploits. Some people just get a kick out of showing that they can harm or take over your computer.
  2. Malice. Malice tends to be directed against larger systems, such as Google, etc. Eastern European countries, for example, have skilled programmers with no jobs after the fall of the communism.
  3. Greed. Some computer exploits take over your computer as a server for computer information such as pirated videos, pornography, and so on, with payment being made before the customer is sent to your web site. Or stolen information can be bundled and sold.
4. Protection
  1. Caution.
    1. Do not open an email attachment if you do not know the person who sent it. Possibly you need to expect it.
    2. Pay attention to the URL for all sites you are visiting. Watch for webjacking.
    3. Be slow to give out personal information. Watch out for requests for your mother's maiden name.
  2. Antivirus program. Looks for matches to known viruses. Used to be the standard for protection, but most likely is now not enough.
    1. Virus definition files. Must be updated frequently, something like two weeks. Most new antivirus programs can be set to update themselves in the background whenever you are connected to the Internet.
    2. Scan engine. The program that searches for the viruses. Each time a new "road in" is discovered, an update is necessary so that the engine will scan that road in, certainly every three or four years. Often requires paying an upgrade fee.
    3. Should now protect against all files brought in to your computer through the Internet, on floppy diskettes or zip disks, etc.
  3. Firewall. Hardware or software that allows only trusted sites and programs to use network connections, including the Internet. Also blocks and restricts access to "ports."
  4. Internet Security Suite. Combines antivirus and firewall, with other security features. MacAfee and Symantec (Norton).
  5. Operating system updates for Windows ME, 2000, XP.
File sharing and ethics.
1. Sharing music files is an example of an intellectual property issue. Intellectual property did not used to be valued, compared with material property, but today this is changing.
  1. Developed to protect inventor or originator, allow them to earn money for idea, for a limited time.
  2. Increasing length of patents and copyrights (now 70 years after death of copyrighter)
  3. Patenting ideas and methods (one-click purchasing, for example), DNA for a cell
2. Competing idea is that "information wants to be free."
  1. Development of Internet
  2. Unix / Linux - Free Software Foundation
3. Music is clearly copyrighted by distributors and copying is illegal. DMCA of 1998. Some criticism that pendulum may have swung two far away from public's right to information, and innovator's right (and heirs?) to make money. The original idea behind a right to profit from an idea was to encourage innovation.
4. Effects of Internet
  1. Copies are as good as the original, easy to make
  2. Can be done easily, on a massive scale.
5. Generations:
  1. Napster kept a directory on their own central computer, they got sued
  2. Peer software (KaZaa, etc.), no central directory, must find IP addresses, get mailing addresses from ISPs and sue users
  3. Programmers now working to better hide the IPs of users
6. Effects
  1. One consistent effect of the Internet has that "the middleman" is put out of business or has a reduced role - direct connection between customer and seller.
  2. Music industry is the middleman here, between artist and audience. Can the music industry escape a crisis?
  3. Effect on musicians is unclear. Musicians have always claimed they don't earn enough from record sales, and this is typical when distribution is a bottleneck. Unknown artists may benefit by providing free music over the Internet, pulling people to concerts.
Social Issues - productivity. The US economy is growing now, the stock market is recovering from the crash, but jobs are not increasing. What is going on?
1. Sharp increase in productivity recently - $ of output per hour of labor
2. Normally followed by a corresponding increase in demand, but currently this is not happening
3. Without increase in demand, employers are laying off workers
Markets - background
1. Stages
  1. Before markets there was, presumably, barter one-on-one on the road or wherever
  2. The first markets were still barter (no money yet) but in a central location. Better chance of someone who had an extra hog and needed a dozen chickens, but still had to match both parties. Increased level of trade.
  3. Invention of money meant that this person could sell his chickens for money, then go find someone with a hog to sell, allowed segmentation into the chicken area and the hog area. More efficient, faster transactions. Production "for the market" became more important than production for self or barter.
2. Theory
  1. Market directly shows everyone what people want, wage or profit steers people to meet demand, theoretically leads to efficient production and low price to meet demand
  2. Competition is an important factor. If A and B are both selling nails at about the same price, and A lowers the price, A will get almost all of the business if the products are similar. If A could make money at this price, profits would be higher.
  3. Communism's alternative was a centrally planned or command economy, where central planners set goals for each sector and plant. The theory was that this could be done more efficiently and at lower cost, centrally. However, people turned out to act in self-interest. Production levels were falsified, central decisions were made for personal gain, freedoms were curtailed, and these economies collapsed. As Friedman writes, they were destroyed by the people who lived under them.
3. Reality
  1. Markets often require an infrastructure, and often this infrastructure has to be regulated, since it is for the benefit of all, not any one party. (Electric power grid)
  2. Markets often destroy themselves without regulation - motivation is too high
    1. Fur trade then timber trade in Michigan, before cars. Both resources were depleted, destroying the industry.
    2. Temptation to hide information from customers, present a product as worth more than competitors, or even as much if it is not. The seller gains temporarily, but customers loose confidence and sales fall.
  3. Dislocations are probably inevitable, are personally painful or even devastating, and also can depress markets.
    1. Friedman quotes Schumpeter - creative destruction. Peter Drucker: "There is nothing more wasteful than doing efficiently that which should not be done at all."
    2. Safety net for taking risks
4. International markets
  1. Selling to US is the fastest way for developing countries to become rich. US consumer has generally gone for the lowest cost, regardless of source.
  2. International trade increases if tariffs and import duties fall. But most countries, including US, have political problems in doing this across the board. Gradual process.
  3. Collapse of Cancun talks for WTO this weekend. Developing countries felt that US would not lower agricultural tariffs so close to a Presidential election.
5. Effect of Internet
  1. Faster, cheaper information flow
  2. Worldwide access.
  3. Cultural interchange: populations in third world and developing world want prosperity now, since they can see it more easily.
Review of reading
The Lexus and the Olive Tree
1. Part 1 Seeing the System
  1. Chpt 1 Tourist With An Attitude
    1. States, multinational companies, superempowered individuals
    2. Role of Internet - defining technology of globlization
    3. Interplay of politics, culture, technology, finance, national security, ecology
  2. Chpt 2 The Lexus and the Olive Tree
    1. Lexus represents international, current
    2. Olive tree represents local and traditional
  3. Chpt 3 ...And the Walls Came tumbling Down
    1. Democratization of
      1. Technology
      2. Finance
      3. Information
    2. Increasingly unwilling to accept low standards of living
    3. (US may no longer be the ideal)
  4. Chpt 4 Microchip Immune Deficiency
    1. Individual can become an entrepreneur even if the state does not want it
    2. Democratization of decision making
    3. Push information down, delegate
    4. Lighting contractor example
  5. Chpt 5 The Golden Straitjacket
    1. Set of rules you must play by in order to be a good investment
    2. Top of Pg 87
  6. Chpt 6 The Electronic Herd
    1. Became source of much of corporate scandals, now more difficult
    2. Governors try to attract international investment
2. Part 2 Plugging into the System
  1. Chpt 7 DOS Capital 6.0
    1. DOS Capital 0 is kleptocracy - bribes, central direction
    2. Golden Straitjacket is DOS 6.0
  2. Chpt 8 Globalution
    1. Revolution from beyond - play by the rules to join the game
    2. Transparency, Standards, Corruption, Freedom of the Press, Democratization
  3. Chpt 9 Buy Taiwan, Hold Italy, sell France
    1. Countries can choose prosperity
    2. How wired is your country?
    3. How fast is your country?
    4. Is your country harvesting its knowledge? information applied to manufacturing
    5. How much does your country weigh, or its exports - information over raw materials
    6. Does your country dare to be open?
    7. How good is your country at making friends? - alliances, trade groups
    8. Does your country's management get it?
    9. How good is your country's brand? - not just tourissm, attracting investment
  4. Chpt 10 The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention
    1. Economic integration makes war more costly
Common elements in Windows - go to handout / Windows common elements
Word Processing overview - go to handout / Word Processing.
Making your web page - handout
Assignments - look at Syllabus