A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing and the Internet

Third Edition   SARA BAASE

A Gift of Fire, Third Edition is the most comprehensive and up-to-date text on the social and ethical issues associated with computing, networking, and the Internet. Thoroughly updated to reflect the latest trends and technologies, this book will help readers understand and evaluate the crucial issues they will face as technology professionals, users, and citizens.

Baase offers thoughtful, in-depth coverage - and diverse viewpoints - on issues ranging from privacy to hacking, censorship to piracy of music and movies, social networking to computer crime. She helps readers consider difficult and provocative questions such as: In what form will copyright survive the revolutionin technologies for sharing? Which technology decisions should be left to the marketplace, and which require government regulation? Who's in charge when digital actions cross borders? What are the ethical responsibilities of a computer professional?

This book's far-reaching coverage includes:

• Impact and quality of user-supplied Web content
• Privacy and computer technology: Records of online activity, video surveillance, GPS location tracking, consumer dossiers, national ID systems, and more
• Internet censorship laws and alternatives, spam, political campaign regulation, anonymity, and Net neutrality
• Intellectual property: Copyright law, fair use, the DMCA, video sharing, software patents, free software, piracy, and new business models
• Computer crime: Identity theft, hacking, credit card fraud, online scams, auction fraud, click fraud, stock fraud, digital forgery, and more
• Computers and work: Job destruction and creation, global outsourcing, telecommuting, and employee monitoring
• Errors, failures, and risk: System failures, safety-critical applications, software design problems, and techniques for improving reliability and safety
• How societies make decisions about new technologies

About The Author

Sara Baase, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at San Diego State University, has won three Outstanding Faculty awards. Her computer science textbooks have been translated into Sapnish, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, and Korean. Dr. Baase served on the College Board's committee to develop the Advanced Placement program in Computer Science. She holds a doctorate from UC Berkeley.

About The Author

Sara Baase is Professor Emeritus with the Department of Computer Science, San Diego State University, where she won awards for outstanding teaching. Her textbooks in computer science have been translated into several languages. Dr. Baase received her doctoral degree from the University of California, Berkeley.