Paper 2: Privacy and Ethics


Due: March 14, 2008                    Comp 317/417, Dordal

Ellen has always been good with figuring out all those extra gadget features most of us ignore. Among family, friends, and coworkers, she's the one who gets asked to program the TiVo, fix the phone, or explain what the IT guy would have said if he'd had time. Ellen is low-key and nonthreatening; people find her easy to trust and are happy to let her set things up for them. Recently, Ellen has found out some new ways she can use the information she has to track people's location.

At work, Ellen's boss has put her in charge of her department's company-provided cell phones, and Ellen has discovered that if she goes to the provider's website she can find realtime records of each call. She was puzzled by one undocumented field of the record, but after a google search she discovered that it represented the GPS coordinates of the location of call origination; all she has to do is paste into googlemaps, insert a comma, and there's the spot. Most of the times she's tried this, everything checks out appropriately. Once, though, someone called in claiming to be at a site visit when they were actually at Wrigley Field, and her boss's location was a surprise to Ellen sufficiently often that she decided she better not check on her any more.

Ellen's kids (one in high school, one just starting college) use CTA cards to get around, and Ellen knows that every trip is logged at chicago-card.com within a couple days. She's debating whether to ask the younger one about a 2:00 am Red Line trip last weekend.

Ellen's friend Barb was over showing off her new car the previous month, and Ellen set up the OnStar system for her. As Barb bragged that she got the fanciest version, Ellen noticed that apparently it was a version intended for fleet owners. Ellen can now track Barb's car over the Internet whenever the ignition is on. Ellen has noted with some smugness that despite Barb's allegedly glamorous life, her car seems to be spending every weekend night at home in its garage.

Finally, Ellen's father is getting forgetful. A year ago Ellen bought him a Health Watch unit, that allows him to summon help. Through its integrated GPS facility, which her father isn't really aware of, it also allows Ellen to check on his location and find him if he leaves the house.

Discuss the ethical implications of all these, from both deontological and utilitarian perspectives. Address how Ellen should act. Can she properly make use of any of the location information? Can she share it with anyone else? Should she tell the other parties that tracking them is even possible? Should she tell her boss about the potential to keep tabs on everyone at work? If so, should she leak the information to her coworkers? Should she suggest to her boss or to Barb that access codes be changed? Or should she just keep silent, and just stop using the information?