HIVA03101U Information Ethics: Privacy and Surveillance

Volume 2013/2014
Education
Kandidat i Informationsvidenskab og kulturformidling
Content

Most activities in contemporary information society leave digital footprints which together might reveal stories about people and their lives.  Many governments and corporations collect, analyze, and disseminate these digital footprints to gain insights into the behavior and affairs of its citizens and costumers.  Sometimes this creates a tension between the watched and watchers.  It can create tensions between the desire to gather and use private data and the wish to remain private. Between the nature of public and private. This course explores conceptual, theoretical and practical consequences of the rise of the surveillance society and the changed state of privacy.  The course introduces students to key concepts and frameworks that allow them to analyze and interpret surveillance and privacy situations and actions in a rigors manner and from an ethical perspective.  Students will be given opportunities to pursue their own interest in the area, e.g. surveillance and privacy issues with CCTV cameras, Facebook, Google, third party cookies, the Danish logningsbekendgørelse, NSA, censorship, big data, terms of service agreements, etc. Students will after completing the course be prepared to engage in the formulation of information policies.

Learning Outcome

Objective

Having completed the module, the student must:

Knowledge

  • have knowledge of privacy and surveillance theories and concepts, their relevance to theoretical research, and practical application to particular cases.
  • be familiar with key examples of literature that influenced the history and traditions of information ethics, privacy and surveillance studies.
  • be aware of the range and scope of privacy and surveillance issues arising in the information society.

Skills

  • have skills in recognizing and articulating privacy and surveillance conflicts within an ethical framework.

Competences

  • be able to draw on multiple frameworks to guide policy and ethical responses to privacy and surveillance challenges.
Literature

Literature

  • Lyon, David. 2001. Surveillance Society: Monitoring Everyday Life. Buckingham: Open University Press.
  • Nissenbaum, Helen. 2010. Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life. Stanford, CA: Stanford Law Books.
  • Rachels, James & Stuart Rachels. 2012. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
  • Solove, Daniel. 2008. Understanding Privacy. Cambridge, MA: Harward University Press.
The course is organized as a graduate seminar, based on discussions of the readings. There will be no lectures. It is expected that students come to class well prepared; having read the assigned readings and ready to engage in discussions about the readings.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 0
  • Total
  • 0
Credit
15 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment
Written paper with subject chosen by the student:
Assessment form: 7-step scale
Marking form: Internal marking
Examination language(s): English
Scope: The examination may be taken individually or as a group examination with max. 5 participants and individual assessments.
The scope of the assignment is max. 20 standard pages + 10 standard pages per student in addition to one. Each student's contribution must be a complete whole, which is identified and can be assessed on its own. The participants' joint contribution must not exceed 50 % of the entire length of the paper.
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Exam period
June 2014
Re-exam
The re-examination form is the same as for the ordinary examination (i.e. a revision of the original paper).
Criteria for exam assesment

The module is assessed according to the 7-point grading scale.

The mark 12 is given to:
For an excellent performance displaying a high level of command of all aspects of the relevant material, with no or only a few minor weaknesses:

  • demonstrates high level of knowledge of privacy and surveillance theories and concepts, their relevance to theoretical research, and practical application to particular cases, with no or only a few minor weaknesses.
  • demonstrates high level of familiarity with key examples of literature that influenced the history and traditions of information ethics, privacy and surveillance studies, with no or only a few minor weaknesses, with no or only a few minor weaknesses.
  • demonstrates high level of awareness of the range and scope of privacy and surveillance issues arising in the information society, with no or only a few minor weaknesses.
  • demonstrates high level of skills in recognizing and articulating privacy and surveillance conflicts within an ethical framework, with no or only a few minor weaknesses.
  • demonstrates high level of ability to draw on multiple frameworks to guide policy and ethical responses to privacy and surveillance challenges, with no or only a few minor weaknesses.

The mark 7 is given to:
For a good performance displaying good command of the relevant material but also some weaknesses:

  • demonstrates good - though with some weaknesses -- knowledge of privacy and surveillance theories and concepts, their relevance to theoretical research, and practical application to particular cases.
  • demonstrates good - though with some weaknesses - familiarity with key examples of literature that influenced the history and traditions of information ethics, privacy and surveillance studies.
  • demonstrates good - though with some weaknesses -- awareness of the range and scope of privacy and surveillance issues arising in the information society.
  • demonstrates good with some weaknesses skills in recognizing and articulating privacy and surveillance conflicts within an ethical framework.
  • demonstrates good - though with some weaknesses -- ability to draw on multiple frameworks to guide policy and ethical responses to privacy and surveillance challenges.

The mark 02 is given to:
For a performance meeting only the minimum requirements for acceptance:

  • demonstrates only minimum knowledge of privacy and surveillance theories and concepts, their relevance to theoretical research, and practical application to particular cases.
  • demonstrates only minimum familiarity with key examples of literature that influenced the history and traditions of information ethics, privacy and surveillance studies.
  • demonstrates only minimum awareness of the range and scope of privacy and surveillance issues arising in the information society.
  • demonstrates only minimum skills in recognizing and articulating privacy and surveillance conflicts within an ethical framework.
  • demonstrates only minimum ability to draw on multiple frameworks to guide policy and ethical responses to privacy and surveillance challenges.