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Book Review: A Gift of Fire
benrothke writes "In the 4th edition of A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology, author Sara Baase takes a broad look at the social, legal and ethical issues around technology and their implications. Baase notes that her primary goal in writing the book is for computer professionals to understand the implications of what they create and how it fits into society. The book is an interesting analysis of a broad set of topics. Combined with Baase's superb writing skills, the book is both an excellent reference and a fascinating read." Read below for the rest of Ben's review.
A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology (4th Edition)
author
Sara Baase
pages
496
publisher
Prentice Hall
rating
9/10
reviewer
Ben Rothke
ISBN
978-0132492676
summary
Superb reference on social and other issues in computing
The books gets it title from the mythical tale of Prometheus, who stole heavenly fire and gave it to the human race, which then used it to empower civilization. Someone commented to the author that perhaps Pandora's Boxmay be a better metaphor to use, as Pandora's Box held all of the ills of mankind.
While Baase wrote the book to be used in her computer science course, the book is not an indigestible academic tome; rather a very topical reference. Its 9 densely packed chapters covering nearly 450 pages provide a comprehensive locus.
While legal themes are pervasive throughout the book, Baase writes that she is a computer scientist and not a lawyer and that appropriate legal counsel should be obtained before drawing any legal conclusions.
Chapter 1 opens with an overview of how change and unexpected developments effect IT projects and information technology. And that is the overall theme of the book, of how new things often have unexpected problems and results. Anyone familiar with the Risks Digestedited by Peter Neumann will be at home with these topics.
The chapter details the notion of a kill switchand details some of the potential uses and risks involved, and how that more often than not, theses kill switches are improperly designed and deployed.
The chapter concludes with the important thought that there are no simple answers (contrary to popular media belief) and that we can't solve ethical problems by simply applying a formula, algorithm or deploying a piece of software. This is due to the complexity of human nature and that ethical theories don't always provide clear and incontrovertible positions on all issues.
The chapter closes, like all of the chapters in the book with a series of review exercises, general exercises, assignments (remember this is a textbook), a list of books and articles for further reading, and an extremely detailed set of endnotes. Each chapter has a long set of endnotes due to Baase's attention to details and excellent research. This assignments and exercises for the class the book is used for can be downloaded here. Baase also has a web site with other supplementary information and resources.
Chapter 2 details various issues around data and personal privacy. An interesting fact detailed is that Maricopa Country in Arizona was one of the first municipalities to put complete public records on the web. Little did county official know that such an action would eventually lead the county to have the highest rate of identity theft in the USA.
The chapter also compares US privacy regulations with that of the European Union (EU). Baase notes that the perception is that US privacy policy is far behind that of the EU. But what many people don't realize is that the US and EU have very different cultures and traditions, which manifest itself in how each regulates privacy.
Baase writes that the EU tends to put more emphasis on regulation and centralization; whereas the US puts more emphasis on contracts, consumer pressure, flexibility and freedom of the market. The US also has higher penalties for abuse of personal information via deceptive and unfair business practices.
Chapter 7 deals with how to evaluate and control technology and is the most insightful chapter in the book. Baase writes of the inherent conflict between a democracy and open Internet, while dealing with the plethora of incorrect, foolish and biased information. She makes note of some totalitarian regimes that prohibit anti-government use of social media. She illustrates cases where these countries (China and Syria are just two of them) that create bogus dissident sites, find out which people are sympathetic to the cause, and then arrests these people.
Baase details and defends against many neo-Luddite views of computers, technology and quality of life. Baase provides numerous anecdotes of environmental and other anti-technology groups that rail against technology, but use computers and the web. She writes of the editor who considers himself a neo-Luddite, a person who sees technology as inherently evil; yet disseminates his views via email, computers and laser printers. Compare this with members of various anti-vaccination movements, who are obvious to the millions of lives saved by vaccinations.
The chapter also details some of the duplicitous views of Kirkpatrick Sale, another neo-Luddite who rages against the computer machine, while simultaneously benefiting significantly from it, and using it.
Baase defends technology in writing that those who are critical of modern technology point out their weaknesses, but often ignore the weakness of the alternatives. An example she gives is the millions of acres once needs to grow feed for horses and the hundreds of tons of horse manure dropped on the streets of cities, as recent as a century ago. Candles, gas lamps and kerosene filled homes with fumes and soot; doesn't that make electricity a valuable commodity?
Baase gives many other examples of the problems and controversial issues surrounding technology. But more importantly, notes, and celebrates the enormous benefits that computer technology and the Internet has brought us.
The only significant negative of the book is its price tag. While it is officially a textbook, it is manifest in its suggested retail price of $102.00. Note though the book is available on Amazon for much cheaper, in addition to used copies which are even less.
Social media, computers and other aspect of technology have brought massive changes to society. Many of these changes are highly beneficial, others not. There are myriad questions that need to be asked, and ideas that need to be understood, and the books covers and answers those in details.
For those looking for an across-the-board superb reference on social and other issues in computing, A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology is a terrific resource and an invaluable reference guide.
Ben Rothke is the author of Computer Security: 20 Things Every Employee Should Know.
You can purchase A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology (4th Edition) from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
While Baase wrote the book to be used in her computer science course, the book is not an indigestible academic tome; rather a very topical reference. Its 9 densely packed chapters covering nearly 450 pages provide a comprehensive locus.
While legal themes are pervasive throughout the book, Baase writes that she is a computer scientist and not a lawyer and that appropriate legal counsel should be obtained before drawing any legal conclusions.
Chapter 1 opens with an overview of how change and unexpected developments effect IT projects and information technology. And that is the overall theme of the book, of how new things often have unexpected problems and results. Anyone familiar with the Risks Digestedited by Peter Neumann will be at home with these topics.
The chapter details the notion of a kill switchand details some of the potential uses and risks involved, and how that more often than not, theses kill switches are improperly designed and deployed.
The chapter concludes with the important thought that there are no simple answers (contrary to popular media belief) and that we can't solve ethical problems by simply applying a formula, algorithm or deploying a piece of software. This is due to the complexity of human nature and that ethical theories don't always provide clear and incontrovertible positions on all issues.
The chapter closes, like all of the chapters in the book with a series of review exercises, general exercises, assignments (remember this is a textbook), a list of books and articles for further reading, and an extremely detailed set of endnotes. Each chapter has a long set of endnotes due to Baase's attention to details and excellent research. This assignments and exercises for the class the book is used for can be downloaded here. Baase also has a web site with other supplementary information and resources.
Chapter 2 details various issues around data and personal privacy. An interesting fact detailed is that Maricopa Country in Arizona was one of the first municipalities to put complete public records on the web. Little did county official know that such an action would eventually lead the county to have the highest rate of identity theft in the USA.
The chapter also compares US privacy regulations with that of the European Union (EU). Baase notes that the perception is that US privacy policy is far behind that of the EU. But what many people don't realize is that the US and EU have very different cultures and traditions, which manifest itself in how each regulates privacy.
Baase writes that the EU tends to put more emphasis on regulation and centralization; whereas the US puts more emphasis on contracts, consumer pressure, flexibility and freedom of the market. The US also has higher penalties for abuse of personal information via deceptive and unfair business practices.
Chapter 7 deals with how to evaluate and control technology and is the most insightful chapter in the book. Baase writes of the inherent conflict between a democracy and open Internet, while dealing with the plethora of incorrect, foolish and biased information. She makes note of some totalitarian regimes that prohibit anti-government use of social media. She illustrates cases where these countries (China and Syria are just two of them) that create bogus dissident sites, find out which people are sympathetic to the cause, and then arrests these people.
Baase details and defends against many neo-Luddite views of computers, technology and quality of life. Baase provides numerous anecdotes of environmental and other anti-technology groups that rail against technology, but use computers and the web. She writes of the editor who considers himself a neo-Luddite, a person who sees technology as inherently evil; yet disseminates his views via email, computers and laser printers. Compare this with members of various anti-vaccination movements, who are obvious to the millions of lives saved by vaccinations.
The chapter also details some of the duplicitous views of Kirkpatrick Sale, another neo-Luddite who rages against the computer machine, while simultaneously benefiting significantly from it, and using it.
Baase defends technology in writing that those who are critical of modern technology point out their weaknesses, but often ignore the weakness of the alternatives. An example she gives is the millions of acres once needs to grow feed for horses and the hundreds of tons of horse manure dropped on the streets of cities, as recent as a century ago. Candles, gas lamps and kerosene filled homes with fumes and soot; doesn't that make electricity a valuable commodity?
Baase gives many other examples of the problems and controversial issues surrounding technology. But more importantly, notes, and celebrates the enormous benefits that computer technology and the Internet has brought us.
The only significant negative of the book is its price tag. While it is officially a textbook, it is manifest in its suggested retail price of $102.00. Note though the book is available on Amazon for much cheaper, in addition to used copies which are even less.
Social media, computers and other aspect of technology have brought massive changes to society. Many of these changes are highly beneficial, others not. There are myriad questions that need to be asked, and ideas that need to be understood, and the books covers and answers those in details.
For those looking for an across-the-board superb reference on social and other issues in computing, A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology is a terrific resource and an invaluable reference guide.
Ben Rothke is the author of Computer Security: 20 Things Every Employee Should Know.
You can purchase A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology (4th Edition) from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Well now I know who I want to burn with my gift of fire...
that is soooooo mean!
There's some interesting homonyms in the review, like "obvious" for "oblivious" and I don't even know what the "manifest" line WRT the price means.
It does strike me as a problem when intro level textbooks cost more than just hiring an unemployed grad student for a couple tutoring sessions. Soon, textbook prices will average over $250 each and at that point I believe I could personally individually tutor someone of average intelligence better than any textbook could teach them. Or at $50/hr I could search for, edit, print, and collate wikipedia articles for five hours, which would probably result in a better text than your average ghostwriter.
By the time textbooks exceed $500 each, probably another 5 years or so, instead of hiring a goofball like me you'll be able to hire actual authors, cutting out the middlemen completely. I believe bespoke textbooks are the wave of the future, and someone should start a dotcom to facilitate them.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
That's actually a pretty good point, in that the review didn't even list what each chapter was about, but one of the chapters should be dealing with peculiar collision of cultures like never seen before, as per the above brilliant post/troll/whatever it is. Given "social" is in the title of the book you'd think moderation or lack thereof would be an interesting part of the book.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Isn't 'nihao' Chinese?
"Murphy was an optimist" - O'Toole's commentary on Murphy's Law
That is the wrong direction. Technology is making deep changes into society, and moral, ethics and laws should adapt to the new reality. Trying to deny that all changed and try to force them will cause problems.
"A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology ... takes a broad look at the social, legal and ethical issues around technology"
Wow. How far into the book did you have to get to come up with that summary?
"I wish that all of mankind would give up it's warlike ways and the Earth would become a society of pacifists. That way, I could take it over with a butter knife."
-Dogbert
Have gnu, will travel.
To buy this book is $81.47, to rent it is $34.50.
Seems a bit steep, no?
I'm impressed that the author (probably) thought of such a great title for the topic.
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
A discussion of internet ethics with no mention of copyrights and patents?
It doesn't seem a very complete treatment of the subject.
Prometheus gave fire to man because he didn't want them to die out in nakedness, ignorance, and poverty
Zeus, the Big God, was angry so he pulled the whole Pandora's Box thing (also rendered as Pandora's Jar)... basically a trick to "stick it to"
Prometheus and/or Mankind. (aside from tying prometheus to a rock and having an eagle eat out his liver repeatedly for ever)
Now what did Zeus use to bind prometheus? He sent Violence itself. Not some guy who did violence --- violence itself.
Apparently Zeus had his own technology....
This book is used in our introduction to Computer Science class. It's a decent enough book but it really annoys me how intellectual property and copyright laws are just assumed to be ethical. They're not. It's the law but is not by any means a settled issue. Intellectual property needs to die.
Despite the fact you're post is grotesquely off topic, vaguely racist and altogether ignorant regarding the changes of the day, its actually pretty easy to bring this back to topic. Accelerating technological change yields unpredictable changes in society at an ever accelerating pace. Your observation about Asia is a linear extrapolation of what's happened over the last fifteen years leading us here. Problem is the process is nonlinear and chaotic. Robotics will moot the cost advantages of low priced Asian Labor and bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Of course it won't mean any significant jobs except for those few building and maintaining robots. In a short while, all labor will be done by robots including the driving of your car. It will have to happen on ethical grounds. Robotic cars won't crash, will work no matter the state of the person in the front seat, and will be 100% reliable. There will be no choice in the matter. As ever improving AI makes robots more versatile, productive and economic, vast human work forces will be eliminated.
Technology amplifies social forces. We are currently a planet being victimized by a Plutocratic parasitic organization which has effectively manipulated and now controlled virtually all first world banking institutions and governments. Their goal is to rule the planet and reduce humanity to its service. Technology amplifies this effect. There is also a growing body of common people rising to take back what is rightfully theirs. That process is being amplified by technology. The destruction of natural resources and the invention of completely new resources all pour from ever accelerating technology.
There is a corollary to Murphey's Law that states "Whenever you open a can of worms, you need a larger can to collect all together again." Welcome to entropy."
I have owned this book for about 3 years now since I had to use it for a Computer Science Ethics class in college. It, like other ethics books stays general and rarely takes a stance on a topic. The sections at the end of each chapter are useful to seed in-class discussions. Overall it is decent for the subject matter, but I rate Ethics pretty low in college priorities considering how subjective the content is.
Yes, Mandarin phonetic spelling for Chinese. "Bitches" is an idiom, but there are plenty of Chinese invectives that would be close enough for government work :-)
Perhaps he should check out some Chinese Rap, its big in Taiwan right now./p
Well, the book review author clearly doesn't natively speak English already.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Native English would be American Indian...no?
heh, funny story. I was bottoming for some cute (and WELL-hung) russians I met on vacation a few months back. After the third or fourth one, my asshole was stretched out, as you might imagine. The next one up made a joke in russian (I don't speak russian but everyone was laughing) and then proceeded to piss in my gaping asshole! I was surprised at first but it actually felt pretty good.
Refer to December 2012 Despair calendar.
Adaptation
The bad news is robots can do your job now. The good news is we're now hiring robot repair technicians. The worse news is we're working on robot-fixing robots- and we do not anticipate any further good news.
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
Many of us are quite aware of the catastrophically potent consequences of that powerful free data processing and near-instant high-bandwidth communication for everyone brings. Indeed, many of us are racing to develop software that will underscore these consequences to people who have not pondered the computer revolution so deeply. As time goes on it will be difficult to find any stable middle ground between an outright ban on technology for individuals and complete information anarchy.
If this is Baase's site:
https://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/baase/
Do we want to take technology advice from someone who hasn't updated her site in over 5 years?
"Steal this book."
Somehow, "Download a soft copy of this book " doesn't have the same thrill.
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
I had Dr. Baase as a professor at SDSU for assembly language as well as a course with the same name as the book (albeit a much earlier edition). The book is a good read and Dr Baase definitely knows her stuff, but as previous comments have pointed out her book doesn't do more than touch on issues of copyright. What I remember from the ethics course had mostly to do with privacy and personal information, but being an undergrad course it didn't do much more than provide a broad overview.
Ah, a troll who doesn't know the difference between China, Japan and Korea. How provincial.
boorish reply from a boor, what a b..
::: grotesquely off topic, vaguely racist and altogether ignorant r
That Can Be Applied to Most Slashdot comments :)