Managing the Risks of Generative AI; Harvard Business Review (HBR), June 6, 2023

Kathy Baxter 

and 

Yoav Schlesinger

, Harvard Business Review (HBR); Managing the Risks of Generative AI

"Guidelines for the ethical development of generative AI

Our new set of guidelines can help organizations evaluate generative AI’s risks and considerations as these tools gain mainstream adoption. They cover five focus areas."

Map shows which internet provider is fastest where you live; The Hill, June 30, 2023

ALIX MARTICHOUX  , The Hill; Map shows which internet provider is fastest where you live

"Before you sign a contract and set up your wifi, you probably want to know what your options are. A map maintained by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lets you examine which internet provider offers the fastest speed where you live."

ChatGPT Maker OpenAI Accused of Misusing Personal, Copyrighted Data; The San Francisco Standard, June 30, 2023

 Kevin Truong, The San Francisco Standard; ChatGPT Maker OpenAI Accused of Misusing Personal, Copyrighted Data

"The suit alleges that ChatGPT utilizes "stolen private information, including personally identifiable information, from hundreds of millions of internet users, including children of all ages, without their informed consent or knowledge."

The complaint states that by using this data, OpenAI and its related entities have enough information to replicate digital clones, encourage people's "professional obsolescence" and "obliterate privacy as we know it."

The complaint lists several plaintiffs identified by their initials, including a software engineer who claims that his online posts around technical questions could be used to eliminate his job, a 6-year-old who used a microphone to interact with ChatGPT and allegedly had his data harvested, and an actor who claims that OpenAI stole personal data from online applications to train its system."

Coppedge: Do ethics and a moral compass matter?; Longview News-Journal, July 2, 2023

Dr. John Coppedge , Longview News-Journal; Coppedge: Do ethics and a moral compass matter?

[Kip Currier: The Mont Blanc pen part of this article is a jaw-dropping example of ethical decision-making in the moment. (A good defense lawyer could, I suppose, assert that the accused pen purloiner absent-mindedly picked up the pen or mistakenly thought it was his...but this is still a thought-provoking ethics example.)

American philosopher Aldo Leopold famously opined that "ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching -- even when doing the wrong thing is legal."

In this instance, someone was watching: albeit a surveillance camera.]

"If you came upon an expensive fountain pen someone left on a security tray at your local courthouse, you would be confronted by an ethical dilemma. Would you have a duty to turn it in? Or would you pocket the pen for your personal use?

That was the ethical question confronting then state Sen. Ken Paxton (the recently impeached Texas attorney general) at the Collin County Courthouse. The item in question was a Mont Blanc pen. He chose to keep it.

Backing up a bit, the person to whom the pen belonged was local attorney Joe Joplin. The pen had been a gift from his wife.

Mont Blanc pens are a status symbol, prized by many. On the Mont Blanc website, they are advertised for between $380 and $168,000, with the average price approaching $1,000. It is inconceivable to this author that someone could pick up any Mont Blanc pen and not realize it is something special, desirable and valuable.

Immediately after his hearing, Joplin, who inadvertently left the pen at the security checkpoint, rushed back to inquire if it was still there. It was gone.

Joplin then contacted Collin County Sheriff Terry Box and asked him to look at the security video recording. He did and recognized that the person coming through the security portal after Joplin and taking the pen was Ken Paxton. 

Sheriff Box had one of his deputies call Paxton saying that he was seen on security video taking the pen. Paxton admitted he had taken it. Res ipso loquitur*.

People can decide for themselves about Ken Paxton’s ethics and moral compass, or lack thereof...

Carl Sandburg is quoted as saying: “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell."...

* "Res ipso loquitur" is a Latin term meaning the thing speaks for itself."

Keeping true to the Declaration of Independence is a matter of ethics; Ventura County Star, July 2, 2023

Ed Jones, Ventura County Star; Keeping true to the Declaration of Independence is a matter of ethics

"How do we keep faith with Jefferson, Franklin and the other founders? Due to the imperfections in human nature, there is no foolproof way, but a good plan would be to have all levels of our government — national, state and local — adopt ethical training similar to that of elective office holders here in California. Periodically, they must participate in ethics training which assumes there are universal ethical values consisting of fairness, loyalty, compassion trustworthiness, and responsibility that transcend other considerations and should be adhered to. This training consists of biannual computer sessions in which they must solve real-life problems based on the aforementioned ethical values.

I believe a real danger for elected officials and voters as well is the idea that certain societal values are so vital, so crucial, that they transcend normal ethical practices. This might be termed an “ends — means philosophy,” the idea that the ends justify the means. Mohandas Gandhi, former leader of India, observed that “the means are the ends in a democracy and good ends cannot come from questionable means.” 

No matter how exemplary our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, we are still relying on human beings to fulfill their promise. Ever since the Supreme Court took the power of judicial review — the power to tell us what the Constitution means and, in the process, affirm certain laws by declaring them constitutional or removing others by declaring them unconstitutional — the judgement of nine people has had a profound effect on our society. Was the Supreme Court correct in 1973 by saying the Ninth Amendment guarantees pregnant women the right to an abortion, or was it correct in 2022 by saying it didn’t?

In the final analysis we must conclude that it will be well-intentioned, ethical citizens and their elected and appointed representatives who will ensure the equitable future of what Abraham Lincoln referred to as our “ongoing experiment in self-government.”"

APA names new chief of ethics; American Psychological Association (APA), June 29, 2023

American Psychological Association (APA); APA names new chief of ethics

"The American Psychological Association has named Lindsay Childress-Beatty, JD, PhD, as its new chief of ethics, recognizing her 20-plus years of ethics work at APA.

“Dr. Lindsay Childress-Beatty brings a wealth of experience to this position, having served as the head of the ethics adjudication team before becoming interim ethics director in 2017,” said APA CEO Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, in announcing the appointment. “She brings a future-oriented, strategic vision and strong leadership to move the association’s ethical work forward.”

Childress-Beatty provided strategic vision and leadership, administrative oversight and operational management of the Ethics Office as it underwent a period of transition. She has worked closely with the Ethics Committee and its ethics code task force, guiding the association through its most recent revision of its Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, one of the most widely cited professional ethics codes among associations. She has presented on ethics at national and international psychology conferences, as well as association, medical and multidisciplinary legal conferences, and provides consultations on psychological and organizational ethics.

“I am gratified for the opportunity to be a part of this new era of ethics at APA,” Childress-Beatty said. “The pairing of psychology and ethics can provide meaningful guidance regarding the impact of new technologies on society, while a new ethics code will guide the future work of the discipline of psychology while ensuring that the public understands psychologists’ commitment to transparent, ethical behavior based on clear values.”

Why haven’t Ohio lawmakers passed any ethics reforms since Larry Householder’s arrest?; Cleveland.com, July 1, 2023

Jeremy Pelzer, cleveland.com; Why haven’t Ohio lawmakers passed any ethics reforms since Larry Householder’s arrest?

"Nearly three years after ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was arrested for overseeing the largest bribery scheme in state history, Ohio lawmakers haven’t passed a single piece of legislation to change state ethics or campaign-finance law."

AMP v. Myriad: The Fight to Take Back Our Genes; ACLU, June 13, 2023

Lora Strum , ACLU; AMP v. Myriad: The Fight to Take Back Our Genes

"Ten years after the Supreme Court invalidated the patents on two human genes in AMP v. Myriad, we revisit the landmark case amid renewed calls for gene patenting."

Those 10,000 5-star reviews are fake. Now they’ll also be illegal.; The Washington Post, June 30, 2023

Geoffrey A. Fowler, The Washington Post ; Those 10,000 5-star reviews are fake. Now they’ll also be illegal.

"The Federal Trade Commission on Friday proposed new rules to take aim at businesses that buy, sell and manipulate online reviews. If the rules are approved, they’ll carry a big stick: a fine of up to $50,000 for each fake review, for each time a consumer sees it."

Copyright Office: Sorry, but you probably can’t protect your AI-generated art; Fast Company, June 30, 2023

 JESUS DIAZ, Fast Company; Copyright Office: Sorry, but you probably can’t protect your AI-generated art

"Well, there’s nothing to see here, folks. You don’t need any of the generative AI tools in our weekly roundup because they will produce stuff you don’t really own. At least that’s what the United States Copyright Office (USCO) says. The federal agency doubled down on its AI doctrine during a recent webinar, labeling anything produced by AI as “unclaimable material.”

In other words, anything that comes out of an AI program can’t be protected under copyright law and will not be accepted even if it’s included in a work created by a human. So those extra trees and mountains you added to your landscape photo with Photoshop Firefly beta? They are not yours, sorry.”

Robert Kasunic of the USCO says, “The Office will refuse to register works entirely generated by AI. Human authorship is a precondition to copyrightability.” But it’s more complicated than that. As Petapixel reports, USCO will register your images if they are modified with AI, but you will have to declare which parts are made using AI, making them “unclaimable, essentially discounting them” from the copyright protection. Kasunic went on to say that USCO believes that using any AI to generate content is akin to giving instructions to a commissioned artist.

How will USCO enforce this policy in a world where generative AI work is practically undetectable? It’s a question that only has one obvious answer: LOL."

AI ethics toolkit updated to include more assessment components; ZDNet, June 27, 2023

 Eileen Yu, ZDNet ; AI ethics toolkit updated to include more assessment components

"A software toolkit has been updated to help financial institutions cover more areas in evaluating their "responsible" use of artificial intelligence (AI). 

First launched in February last year, the assessment toolkit focuses on four key principles around fairness, ethics, accountability, and transparency -- collectively called FEAT. It offers a checklist and methodologies for businesses in the financial sector to define the objectives of their AI and data analytics use and identify potential bias.

The toolkit was developed by a consortium led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) that compromises 31 industry players, including Bank of China, BNY Mellon, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Visa, OCBC Bank, Amazon Web Services, IBM, and Citibank."

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Launches The Institute for Technology, Ethics, and Culture (ITEC) and its First Applied Corporate Ethics Roadmap in Collaboration with the Vatican; Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, June 28, 2023

Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University ; The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Launches The Institute for Technology, Ethics, and Culture (ITEC) and its First Applied Corporate Ethics Roadmap in Collaboration with the Vatican

"About the Institute for Technology, Ethics, and Culture (ITEC)  

The Institute for Technology, Ethics and Culture (ITEC), housed at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, is  an initiative of the Center which has been developed with support from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education. The Institute convenes leaders from business, civil society, academia, government, and all faith and belief traditions, to promote deeper thought on technology’s impact on humanity. For more information on ITEC and to access its many resources, see https://www.scu.edu/institute-for-technology-ethics-and-culture/."

What Is Educational Ethics? A Teacher Turned Harvard Prof Explains; Education Week, June 29, 2023

 Rick Hess, Education Week; What Is Educational Ethics? A Teacher Turned Harvard Prof Explains

"Meira Levinson is the Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. While we disagree on much, I’ve always found her provocative, insightful, and wonderful company. We first met maybe 20 years ago, when she had only recently left teaching middle schoolers in Atlanta and Boston. Since that time, she’s become one of the nation’s most influential education philosophers. In recent years, she’s been working to develop the field of “education ethics.” It’s an intriguing endeavor, which raises all kinds of questions about what that even means, if it has any practical value, and whether it can be in a way that isn’t political? The summer seemed like a good time to sit down and chat with Meira about all this. Here’s what she had to say.

—Rick

Rick: Meira, you’ve been working to build out the field of educational ethics for a while, but it’s probably new to a lot of readers. So, let’s start with the basics: What exactly is educational ethics?

Meira: Think about educational ethics as a field that is analogous to bioethics but focused on ethical questions that arise in educational policy and practice rather than on ethical questions that arise in medicine, public health, and biomedical science. Like bioethics, educational ethics provides theoretical, pedagogical, and policy-oriented tools to help practitioners and policymakers identify, analyze, discuss, and enact the ethical dimensions of their work in more complex ways...

Rick: Educational ethics isn’t a big field today, is it? Who else is doing this besides you?...

Meira: It is and it isn’t. If you were to go around the world and ask educators, philosophers, policymakers, researchers, and so forth, “Are you an educational ethicist, or do you know anyone who is?,” you’d basically hear a chorus of “Huh? No. What even is that?” On the other hand, if you were to ask, “Do you research and write about values and moral principles in education or do you think carefully about the ethical dimensions of your work in education?,” a ton of people would say, “Absolutely! That’s central to my work!” So in part I’m just trying to name something that a lot of people already identify with and care about. But it is also true that I’m trying to recruit people to the field. Even though many people care about the ethical dimensions of educational policy and practice, many fewer are working directly with educators, school and district leaders, state policymakers, nonprofits, ministries of education, and the like to help them reflect upon and address the specific ethical issues they are wrestling with in their work. This is different from a field like bioethics, where every major hospital in the U.S. has bioethicists on staff or on call as consultants, and most major policy decisions say about kidney-distribution policies, vaccine mandates, or end-of-life care directives include bioethicists among the consulting stakeholders. I don’t know of any major school district, charter network, or education agency that has educational ethicists on call, so I’m trying to change that!"

Artificial intelligence: Partnership between UNESCO and the EU to speed up the implementation of ethical rules; UNESCO Press Release, June 27, 2023

UNESCO Press Release; Artificial intelligence: Partnership between UNESCO and the EU to speed up the implementation of ethical rules

"UNESCO and the European Commission have just signed an agreement to accelerate global implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation on the ethics of artificial intelligence adopted in November 2021 by the 193 Member States of the Organization. A budget of €4 million will be dedicated to supporting the least developed countries in the establishment of their national legislation."

The Vatican Releases Its Own AI Ethics Handbook; Gizmodo, June 28, 2023

 Thomas Germain, Gizmodo; The Vatican Releases Its Own AI Ethics Handbook

"The Vatican is getting in on the AI craze. The Holy See has released a handbook on the ethics of artificial intelligence as defined by the Pope. 

The guidelines are the result of a partnership between Francis and Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Together, they’ve formed a new organization called the Institute for Technology, Ethics, and Culture (ITEC). The ITEC’s first project is a handbook titled Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: An Operational Roadmap, meant to guide the tech industry through the murky waters of ethics in AI, machine learning, encryption, tracking, and more."

Tech leaders discuss A.I. ethics and regulation at Aspen Ideas Festival; NBC News, June 26, 2023

NBC News; Tech leaders discuss A.I. ethics and regulation at Aspen Ideas Festival

"Entrepreneur Eric Schmidt, professor Walter Isaacson, and MIT dean Daniel Huttenlocher discuss how to regulate A.I. while maximizing its positive influence. NBCUniversal News Group is the media partner of Aspen Ideas Festival."

Buolamwini: Optimistic About Using Ethical AI Systems; Bloomberg, June 27, 2023

Bloomberg; Buolamwini: Optimistic About Using Ethical AI Systems

"Algorithmic Justice League founder and MIT AI Researcher Joy Buolamwini recently sat down with President Biden in a closed door meeting about AI. She joins Ed Ludlow to discuss her meeting and the rise of the AI hype, what the tech industry is getting right and wrong, and the need for AI regulation."

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED TEACHING ETHICS TO MIDSHIPMEN; CIMSEC, June 28, 2023

Bill Bray , CIMSEC; WHAT I HAVE LEARNED TEACHING ETHICS TO MIDSHIPMEN

"Regardless of the journeys these midshipmen take, all will face difficult ethical choices as officers. Some will be of the life-and-death variety. Many will be immensely consequential, especially for those who choose to make the Navy or Marine Corps a career and ascend to command.

Whether better studies someday shed more light on the efficacy of ethics instruction, I believe the Naval Academy’s Ethics course reinforces the seekers and plants seeds for growth in the other students. Someday, in the crucible, these future officers will have to rely on their knowledge and character to make the best decision in an agonizing situation. When that moment comes, they are on their own."

Supreme Court ethics v. pride, prejudice and political movers and shakers; NPR, June 28, 2023

Nina Totenberg, NPR; Supreme Court ethics v. pride, prejudice and political movers and shakers

"The annual cascade of Supreme Court decisions this week will make lots of headlines, but polls show that Americans of all political stripes are increasingly troubled by the lack of a code of ethics for the high court.

Chief Justice John Roberts has more than once said the court is working on an ethics code for itself, but so far, crickets.

Meanwhile, investigative reporters are finding that Supreme Court conduct is rich ground to plow."

Over half of Americans report targeted online harassment - ADL survey; The Jerusalem Post, June 28, 2023

 ZVIKA KLEIN, The Jerusalem Post; Over half of Americans report targeted online harassment - ADL survey

"A recent survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has revealed on Wednesday a troubling trend of online hate and harassment, affecting more than half of all Americans. The fifth annual survey found that 52 percent of respondents reported experiencing some form of online hate or harassment in their lifetimes, marking a significant increase from previous years.

The survey, which sampled 2,139 individuals across the United States, uncovered a surge in reports of hate and harassment over the past 12 months, affecting various demographic groups. Notably, the LGBT community, Black/African American individuals and Muslims experienced the highest increases in hate and harassment, with rates of 47 percent, 38 percent, and 38 percent, respectively.

Shockingly, transgender individuals faced the highest rate of harassment, with a staggering 76 percent reporting incidents of online abuse in their lifetimes. In the past year alone, 51 percent of transgender respondents experienced harassment, the highest among any reported demographic category."

How Review-Bombing Can Tank a Book Before It’s Published; The New York Times, June 26, 2023

 Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris, The New York Times; How Review-Bombing Can Tank a Book Before It’s Published

"Reviews can be weaponized, in some cases derailing a book’s publication long before its release."

AI ghosts are coming. But must we perform from beyond the grave?; The Washington Post, June 22, 2023

 Bina Venkataraman, The Washington Post; AI ghosts are coming. But must we perform from beyond the grave?

"At a minimum, consider putting your wishes regarding an AI avatar into your will. You might also exert some control by creating your own ghost in advance instead of leaving critical design choices to your descendants."

Ethics in the digital era; The Times of Israel, June 27, 2023

The Times of Israel; Ethics in the digital era

"A new course offered by Dr. Jeremy Fogel at the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science presents fresh perspectives on issues that Computer Science students at Reichman University will deal with in their careers. According to Dr. Fogel, a lecturer in Jewish philosophy, “The role of an educational institution is not only to transmit information, but also to cultivate and encourage the development of ethical thinking amongst its students and give them the space to do so.”

Students are being asked to discuss moral issues that have arisen as a result of the Digital Revolution, using the viewpoints of great philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, etc. Dr. Fogel believes that analyzing current digital developments through the eyes of these philosophers might give students some insights about these developments. Since reality constantly changes with new initiatives and inventions, it has become very hard to explore their ethical outcomes...

Dr. Fogel explains that there’s an ethical component in every action we take in our lives, such as what we eat, where we work, etc. When our students develop their new application or software, they will have to ask themselves, “What are the moral and ethical issues that could arise by using this?” Dr. Fogel also says that “The students I have met, want to make the world a better place. I am not teaching them anything new; they already have these ethical questions in their minds. I am just giving them the tools and inspiration to try and answer them.”"

Harvard professor who studies dishonesty is accused of falsifying data; NPR, June 26, 2023

Juliana Kim, NPR; Harvard professor who studies dishonesty is accused of falsifying data 

"Francesca Gino, a prominent professor at Harvard Business School known for researching dishonesty and unethical behavior, has been accused of submitting work that contained falsified results.

Gino has authored dozens of captivating studies in the field of behavioral science — consulting for some of the world's biggest companies like Goldman Sachs and Google, as well as dispensing advice on news outlets, like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and even NPR. 

But over the past two weeks, several people, including a colleague, came forward with claims that Gino tampered with data in at least four papers."

A Dishonesty Expert Stands Accused of Fraud. Scholars Who Worked With Her Are Scrambling.; The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 22, 2023

Stephanie M. Lee and 

Nell Gluckman

, The Chronicle of Higher Education; A Dishonesty Expert Stands Accused of Fraud. Scholars Who Worked With Her Are Scrambling.

"To Maurice Schweitzer, a University of Pennsylvania professor, it seemed logical to team up with Francesca Gino, a rising star at Harvard Business School. They were both fascinated by the unseemly side of human behavior — misleading, cheating, lying in order to profit — and together, they published eight studies over nearly a decade.

Now, Schweitzer wonders if he was the one being deceived."

ChatGPT and Generative AI Are Hits! Can Copyright Law Stop Them?; Bloomberg Law, June 26, 2023

Kirby Ferguson, Bloomberg Law; ChatGPT and Generative AI Are Hits! Can Copyright Law Stop Them?

"Getty Images, a top supplier of visual content for license, has sued two of the leading companies offering generative AI tools. Will intellectual property laws spell doom for the burgeoning generative AI business? We explore the brewing battle over copyright and AI in this video. 

Video features: 

• Riddhi Setty, Bloomberg Law IP reporter
• Ian B. Crosby, Susman Godfrey partner
• Mark A. Lemley, Standford Law School professor of tech and IP law"

75 Years After ‘The Lottery’ Was Published, the Chills Linger; The New York Times, June 26, 2023

Scott Heller , The New York Times; 75 Years After ‘The Lottery’ Was Published, the Chills Linger

Stephen King, David Sedaris, Carmen Maria Machado and others on how Shirley Jackson’s eerie classic first got under their skin.

"Josephine Decker

Filmmaker, “Shirley”

The first time was in middle school, and I think it affirmed my nascent understanding that the world has cruel rules, and no one understands why they are there. I recently worked with a teen mother whom Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) separated from her child for two weeks because her partner “smelled like marijuana.” No actual evidence. Shirley Jackson managed to get to the core of something incredibly true, which is that people will be attacked, without mercy, and society will approve. Because it’s something we’ve always done."

Documents reveal justices’ long-running tensions over ethics; The Washington Post, June 26, 2023

 Tobi Raji

, 

Theodoric Meyer

 and 

Leigh Ann Caldwell

, The Washington Post ; Documents reveal justices’ long-running tensions over ethics

"Newly released and previously unreported court documents that belonged to Justice John Paul Stevens, who led the marble palace’s liberal wing, show just how aware the justices were of charges that the appearance of impropriety could shake the public’s faith in the institution. They also show just how quick they were to push back against these concerns. 

The Library of Congress opened the papers to the public on May 2.

The issues the justices wrestled with back then echo the controversies engulfing the court today. Although the court often puts up a united front in public, the documents provide a rare glimpse into its inner workings and show that at least one justice — Stevens — found Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist’s rationale for not recusing himself from a major case to be insufficient."

ChatGPT Lawyers Are Ordered to Consider Seeking Forgiveness; The New York Times, June 22, 2023

 Benjamin Weiser, The New York Times; ChatGPT Lawyers Are Ordered to Consider Seeking Forgiveness

"A Manhattan judge on Thursday imposed a $5,000 fine on two lawyers who gave him a legal brief full of made-up cases and citations, all generated by the artificial intelligence program ChatGPT.

The judge, P. Kevin Castel of Federal District Court, criticized the lawyers harshly and ordered them to send a copy of his opinion to each of the real-life judges whose names appeared in the fictitious filing.

But Judge Castel wrote that he would not require the lawyers, Steven A. Schwartz and Peter LoDuca, whom he referred to as respondents, to apologize to those judges, “because a compelled apology is not a sincere apology.”

“Any decision to apologize is left to respondents,” the judge added."

Alito’s wrongdoing makes a supreme court ethics overhaul an imperative; The Guardian, June 22, 2023

Margaret Sullivan, The Guardian ; Alito’s wrongdoing makes a supreme court ethics overhaul an imperative

"What’s to be done about these persistent judicial ethics lapses?...

In 2019, the well-respected Brennan Center for Justice, in an extensive report, urged the court to voluntarily adopt a formal ethics code, rather than wait for Congress to impose one. It also called for the court to explain justices’ reasons for recusal, in order to provide more transparency, and to strengthen its informal – and all-too-weak – practices governing gifts and financial disclosures.

All good and necessary ideas. And it would be ideal for the court to get to work on all of that.

But since there seems little appetite to do so, it’s left up to Congress to do it for them. Checks, balances and all of that.

Today’s supreme court is extremely powerful, increasingly political and decreasingly trusted. It’s never been more obvious that ethics reform needs to happen now."

'Snitch' rule adopted by California bar amid ethics scandals; Reuters, June 22, 2023

 Karen Sloan, Reuters; 'Snitch' rule adopted by California bar amid ethics scandals

"The California Supreme Court on Wednesday adopted a lawyer professional misconduct reporting rule that brings it in line with every other state.

Lawyers in California starting on Aug. 1 will be required to report fraud, misappropriation of funds and other criminal acts or conduct that raise "a substantial question" about another lawyer's "honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer."

Adoption of the so-called “snitch rule” comes after intense debate within the State Bar of California, which recommended the rule change to the court earlier this month."

WHY DON’T LIBRARY PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS REQUIRE AN ETHICS COURSE?; Book Riot, April 24, 2023

Kelly Jensen, Book Riot ; WHY DON’T LIBRARY PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS REQUIRE AN ETHICS COURSE?

[Kip Currier: Very interesting to read this author's experiences and thoughts regarding the important role of ethics decision-making and curricula in MLIS Programs. 

In the University of Pittsburgh's MLIS Program, Dr. Toni Carbo and the late Father Stephen Almagno pioneered an elective Information Ethics course for many years.

In 2011, I relaunched that Information Ethics course, adding topics like Cyberbullying/Ethics of Social Media and IP/Open Movements. Several years later, I revamped the course again as LIS 2194: Ethics of Data, Information, and Emerging Technologies, building in cutting edge topic areas, e.g. ethical issues of AI, Internet of Things (IoT), Drones, Autonomous Vehicles, and Killer and Helper Robots. Two of the course's learning outcomes directly address the author's stated desire for emerging information professionals to attain more experience with ethical decision-making:

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• to recognize the utility of ethical decision-making models and codes of conduct
• to develop the basic skills needed to create and apply ethical decision-making models and professional codes to real-world issues facing librarians and information professionals 

The author also mentions the importance of information professionals gaining greater awareness of legal and ethical issues, with which I wholeheartedly agree. In my LIS 2700: Managing and Leading Information Services course (formerly a required MLIS core course and now an elective since 2020), we delve into management and leadership-related legal and ethical issues throughout the course, including a two-week block, with one week specifically examining legal issues of management/leadership and a subsequent week exploring ethical issues. Students in the course also grapple with hypothetical and real-world ethical dilemmas in order to become more comfortable with addressing not-easily-answered ethical challenges.

Regarding a required course that includes information on ethics, Pitt's MLIS Program in 2020 inaugurated a new required core curriculum. One of the new core courses is LIS 2040: The Information Professional in Communities, which I have solo taught and also taught with a colleague. Ethics is embedded throughout this course, with a stand-alone unit on ethics, ethical codes, ethical decision-making and models, etc. Several assignments also require students to conduct analysis of bonafide case studies and to spot key components of ethical decision-making, such as identification of stakeholders and issues, facts known and unknown, and lessons learned.]

[Excerpt from WHY DON’T LIBRARY PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS REQUIRE AN ETHICS COURSE?]

"My program did not have a course on ethics or the law as it pertains to libraries. Were those topics covered in other core classes? They were. But was an entire course dedicated to working through the decision-making models taking ethics and laws into account? Nope. And even today, 15 years later, the only required core course in the program is a “Perspectives on Information,” which most likely covers ethics and law in some capacity, but not over an entire semester...

Without more focus on ethical and legal responsibilities of librarians, where do they turn when a tricky situation emerges? Where and how do they build a decision-making model taking into account both the legal needs and ethical needs of the situation in question?"

Facing book bans and restrictions on lessons, teachers are scared and self-censoring; Fresh Air, NPR, June 22, 2023

Dave Davies , Fresh Air, NPR; Facing book bans and restrictions on lessons, teachers are scared and self-censoring

"Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson explains how new laws about teaching race, racism, gender identity and sexuality have created new fears and burdens in schools and classrooms."

What we've learned from pro-Trump attorney John Eastman's state bar trial; NPR, June 23, 2023

Tom Dreisbach, NPR ; What we've learned from pro-Trump attorney John Eastman's state bar trial

"Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School, told NPR in an interview that those actions represent an attempt by the legal community to uphold professional standards.

"Lawyers hold positions of public trust in our society," Levinson said. "There's a reason that we have to take and pass moral character exams, that we have to agree to certain rules of the profession. Because we do have a lot of control over our clients' lives and their finances and even on larger policy issues."

Levinson said Eastman's defense faces serious challenges."

Mattel once sued over the ‘Barbie Girl’ song — before learning to love it; The Washington Post, June 23, 2023

  Jennifer Hassan, The Washington Post; Mattel once sued over the ‘Barbie Girl’ song — before learning to love it

"“Mattel lost all those cases and got the message,” Tushnet said. “These were important precedents protecting commentary at a time when the internet was just allowing people to reach larger audiences without traditional gatekeepers. Then the ‘Barbie Girl’ case confirmed that traditional, commercial media also had the freedom to parody and comment on well-known trademarks.”"

If the ‘Secret Invasion’ title credits aren’t an ethical use of AI art, what is?; TechCrunch, June 22, 2023

 Devin Coldewey, TechCrunch; If the ‘Secret Invasion’ title credits aren’t an ethical use of AI art, what is?

"In the case of Secret Invasion, a show rooted in the idea of alien beings impersonating humans, Method likely pitched AI-generated imagery as a timely visual parallel. What could be better to suggest uncanny imitation and the discomfort it brings? And what’s more, they probably pitched this look way back in 2021 or early 2022 in order to ship it on time. That rather contradicts the idea that Marvel is turning to AI as a result of the writers strike or as some other cost-cutting measure."