Thursday, December 30, 2010

'Conditioned on' kidney donation, sisters' prison release prompts ethics debate; Washington Post, 12/30/10

Krissah Thompson, Washington Post; 'Conditioned on' kidney donation, sisters' prison release prompts ethics debate:

"Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's decision to commute the prison sentences of two sisters drew wide attention in part because their cause has been embraced by civil rights activists. But an unusual aspect of the arrangement is also drawing scrutiny: Barbour said his action was "conditioned on" one sister donating a kidney to the other."

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Incivility Can Have Costs Beyond Hurt Feelings; New York Times, 11/20/10

Alina Tugend, New York Times; Incivility Can Have Costs Beyond Hurt Feelings:

"“To fail to be civil to someone — to treat them harshly, rudely or condescendingly — is not only to be guilty of bad manners,” he wrote in a 2006 article, “The Value of Civility?” for the journal Urban Studies. “It also, and more ominously, signals a disdain or contempt for them as moral beings. Treating someone rudely, brusquely or condescendingly says loudly and clearly that you do not regard her as your equal.”

Or to use an example Professor Forni offered: when a mother corrects her son for chewing with his mouth open, and tells him people don’t like looking at half-chewed food, “she has given him a rule of table manners, but also a fundamental notion of all ethical principles — actions have consequences for others. Good manners are the training wheels of altruism.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/your-money/20shortcuts.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=business&src=me

Saturday, November 20, 2010

The Shadow Scholar; Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/12/10

Ed Dante, Chronicle of Higher Education; The Shadow Scholar:

"Editor's note: Ed Dante is a pseudonym for a writer who lives on the East Coast. Through a literary agent, he approached The Chronicle wanting to tell the story of how he makes a living writing papers for a custom-essay company and to describe the extent of student cheating he has observed. In the course of editing his article, The Chronicle reviewed correspondence Dante had with clients and some of the papers he had been paid to write. In the article published here, some details of the assignment he describes have been altered to protect the identity of the student."

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Shadow-Scholar/125329/

Saturday, November 13, 2010

[Podcast] How to Anger the Internet; NPR's On the Media, 11/12/10

[Podcast] NPR's On the Media; How to Anger the Internet:

"Two weeks ago, the internet erupted in anger over unapologetic plagiarism by a small Massachusetts magazine Cooks Source. Bob and Brooke ponder what happens the internet becomes an angry mob."

http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/11/12/04

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Are Facebook ads outing gay users?; CNN.com, 10/21/10

Doug Gross, CNN.com; Are Facebook ads outing gay users?:

"Facebook ads are guessing whether users are gay and targeting a broad range of products to them based on the answer, according to a research study making the rounds on the internet Thursday."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/10/21/facebook.gay.ads/index.html?hpt=T2

Monday, October 11, 2010

New Web Code Draws Concern Over Privacy Risks; New York Times, 10/11/10

Tanzina Vega, New York Times; New Web Code Draws Concern Over Privacy Risks:

"In the next few years, a powerful new suite of capabilities will become available to Web developers that could give marketers and advertisers access to many more details about computer users’ online activities. Nearly everyone who uses the Internet will face the privacy risks that come with those capabilities, which are an integral part of the Web language that will soon power the Internet: HTML 5."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/11/business/media/11privacy.html?src=me&ref=homepage

Thursday, October 7, 2010

[Podcast] Schools Urged To Teach Youth Digital Citizenship; NPR's All Things Considered, 10/6/10

[Podcast] Nancy Solomon, NPR's All Things Considered; Schools Urged To Teach Youth Digital Citizenship:

"Commonsense Media, a nonprofit that provides information about movies, video games and technology for children, has written a curriculum to help schools teach digital citizenship. It focuses on how to teach youth to think critically about the Internet and make ethical decisions about its use. Steyer says he was flooded with requests for the curriculum as soon as it was released."There is so much education that needs to be done," he says. "For the most part, kids who are in college today never received any form of digital citizenship or media training when they were in high school or middle school.""

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130380236

Sunday, October 3, 2010

[Podcast] Poisoning the Press; NPR's On the Media, 10/1/10

[Podcast] NPR's On the Media; Poisoning the Press:

"Jack Anderson was an investigative reporter whose syndicated newspaper column – "Washington Merry-Go-Round" – outed countless political scandals beginning in the 1950s. Only Anderson did what he had to to get the story, ethical or not, legal or not. George Washington University professor Mark Feldstein, talks about his new book, Poisoning the Press."

http://onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/10/01/07

Bullying, Suicide, Punishment; New York Times, 10/3/10

John Schwartz, New York Times; Bullying, Suicide, Punishment:

"What should the punishment be for acts like cyberbullying and online humiliation?

That question is as difficult to answer as how to integrate our values with all the things in our lives made of bits, balancing a right to privacy with the urge to text, tweet, stream and post...

There is also the question of society’s role. Students are encouraged by Facebook and Twitter to put their every thought and moment online, and as they sacrifice their own privacy to the altar of connectedness, they worry less about the privacy of others."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/weekinreview/03schwartz.html

Before a Suicide, Hints in Online Musings; New York Times, 10/1/10

Lisa W. Foderaro and Winnie Hu, New York Times; Before a Suicide, Hints in Online Musings:

"Under a leaden sky, students debated whether the surreptitious broadcast was a thoughtless prank or a crime. Gay and lesbian students demanded that the university re-examine its policies on bias and bullying, and called for safe housing and other programs.

On Wednesday night, after the start of the university’s two-year campaign to foster courtesy and respect, demonstrators for gay rights got into a screaming match with residents of Mr. Ravi’s dormitory, Davidson Hall, who objected to some of their language. Several students had to be physically separated."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/nyregion/01suicide.html?scp=4&sq=tyler%20clementi&st=cse

Private Moment Made Public, Then a Fatal Jump; New York Times, 9/30/10

Lisa W. Foderaro, New York Times; Private Moment Made Public, Then a Fatal Jump:

"The Sept. 22 death, details of which the authorities disclosed on Wednesday, was the latest by a young American that followed the online posting of hurtful material. The news came on the same day that Rutgers kicked off a two-year, campuswide project to teach the importance of civility, with special attention to the use and abuse of new technology."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/nyregion/30suicide.html?scp=2&sq=tyler%20clementi&st=cse

U.S. Apologizes for Syphilis Tests in Guatemala; New York Times, 10/2/10

Donald G. McNeil, Jr., New York Times; U.S. Apologizes for Syphilis Tests in Guatemala:

"From 1946 to 1948, American public health doctors deliberately infected nearly 700 Guatemalans — prison inmates, mental patients and soldiers — with venereal diseases in what was meant as an effort to test the effectiveness of penicillin...

In a twist to the revelation, the public health doctor who led the experiment, John C. Cutler, would later have an important role in the Tuskegee study in which black American men with syphilis were deliberately left untreated for decades. Late in his own life, Dr. Cutler continued to defend the Tuskegee work.

His unpublished Guatemala work was unearthed recently in the archives of the University of Pittsburgh by Professor Reverby, a medical historian who has written two books about Tuskegee."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/health/research/02infect.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=facebook%20ethics&st=cse

When Lawyers Can Peek at Facebook; New York Times, 10/1/10

John Eligon, New York Times; When Lawyers Can Peek at Facebook:

"Could the legal world be moving toward a new set of Miranda warnings: “Anything you say, do — or post on Facebook — can be used against you in a court of law”?"

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/when-lawyers-can-peek-at-facebook/?scp=2&sq=facebook%20ethics&st=cse