The Internet of Things Needs a Code of Ethics; The Atlantic, May 1, 2017

Kaveh Waddell, The Atlantic; 

The Internet of Things Needs a Code of Ethics

"The Internet of Things, as it’s called, is also lacking a critical ethical framework, argues Francine Berman, a computer-science professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a longtime expert on computer infrastructure. Together with Vint Cerf, an engineer considered one of the fathers of the internet, Berman wrote an article in the journal Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery about the need for an ethical system.

I spoke to her about ethical design, and how to balance individual privacy with the potential for social good of connected devices that share data with one another. A transcript of our conversation, lightly edited for concision and clarity, follows."

Internet access “not a necessity or human right,” says FCC Republican; ArsTechnica.com, 6/26/15

Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica.com; Internet access “not a necessity or human right,” says FCC Republican:

"Federal Communications Commission member Michael O’Rielly yesterday argued that "Internet access is not a necessity or human right" and called this one of the most important "principles for regulators to consider as it relates to the Internet and our broadband economy."...

World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee says that Web access should be considered a human right.

"Access to the Web is now a human right," Berners-Lee said in a 2011 speech. "It's possible to live without the Web. It's not possible to live without water. But if you've got water, then the difference between somebody who is connected to the Web and is part of the information society, and someone who (is not) is growing bigger and bigger."

A United Nations report in 2011 said disconnecting people from the Internet is a human rights violation. Vint Cerf, who co-created the networking technology that made the Internet possible, wrote that Internet access is not a human right, arguing that "technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself... at one time if you didn’t have a horse it was hard to make a living. But the important right in that case was the right to make a living, not the right to a horse. Today, if I were granted a right to have a horse, I’m not sure where I would put it.""