In public opinion surveys, Americans always favor privacy. Then they turn around and sell it cheaply. Most vehemently oppose any suggestions of a national identification system yet volunteer their telephone numbers and mothers' maiden names and even---grudgingly or not---their social security numbers to merchants bearing discounts or Web services offering "membership" privileges. For most, the abstract notion of privacy suggests a mystical, romantic cowboy-era set of freedoms. Yet in the real world it boils down to matters of small convenience. Certainly where other people's privacy is concerned, we seem willing to lower our standards. We have become a society with a cavernous appetite for news and gossip. Our era has replaced the tacit, eyes-averted civility of an earlier time with exhibitionism and prying. Even borderline public figures must get used to the nation's eyes in their bedrooms and pocketbooks. That's not Big Brother watching us. It's us.
1.Explain why you agree or disagree that Americans seem willing to sell their own privacy cheaply while simultaneously craving private information about one another.
2.Describe what role you think technology has played in these trends towards privacy.
3.Describe how technology could be used that might affect these trends.
Discussion 2
1. Explain what is meant by Professor Miller's "the cruelest corruption of Darwin's theories" in the Carrie Buck story.
2. Identify "all" the stakeholders in the Burlington Railroad scenario.
3. Describe the ethical issues involved in the Burlington Railroad scenario.