Over the last few weeks, we have discussed issues related to whistleblowing, security, and privacy. For this third project, you are to work in groups of 2-4 to produce artifacts that inform the public about one of the following topics:
Snowden Movie
Public policy regarding encryption.
Protecting privacy in the Cloud.
The first option is to watch the movie Snowden.
After watching the film, provide a group review of the movie in a podcast or video that answers the following questions:
Describe how the movie portrayed Snowden. Is he depicted as a hero, villain, anti-hero?
Discuss how the movie reveals the motivation or reasons for Snowden's actions.
What new information or insight (if any) did you gain about Snowden from the movie?
What was the final message or theme of the movie?
Finally, what was your overall impression of the movie? Thumbs up or thumbs down?
After you post your artifact to a group member's blog, each person should write a personal reflection that addresses the following questions:
After having discussed Snowden in class and having watched the movie, discuss what Snowden and his actions mean to you. Explain whether or not the information he revealed changed the way you view the world.
Discuss what you would have done if you were in Snowden's place. Would you have followed the same path, or would you have chosen a different course of action?
Finally, when is whistleblowing the ethical or right thing to do? Is "honesty always the best policy" or are there times to remain silent? Is doing something for what you believe is the greater good of society worth the personal hardships and sacrifaces?
Currently, issues regarding security and encryption are all over the news. For instance, here is John Oliver discussing the recent FBI vs Apple case we explored in class:
Despite the growing importance of encryption, however, most of the public is either oblivious or uninformed about the technology and related issues. For this option, you are to do one of the following:
Write a letter to editor to either the Observer or a newspaper such as South Bend Tribune advocating a position on the issue of encryption.
Write a letter to your government representatives advocating a position on the issue of encryption.
Create a campaign video or radio ad (1 min) that informs the public of an issue regarding encryption and advocates a position on the issue.
After you post your artifact to a group member's blog, each person should write a personal reflection that addresses the following questions:
Is encryption a fundamental right? Should citizens of the US be allowed to have a technology that completely locks out the government?
How important of an issue is encryption to you? Does it affect who you support politically? financially? socially? Should it?
In the struggle between national security and personal privacy, who will win? Are you resigned to a particular future or will you fight for it?
For the final option, your group is to replace a common cloud computing service with a self-hosted or self-managed replacement and then create a written tutorial on how to setup this system and a video demonstration of it in action. Here is a list of possible replacment services (feel free to come up with your own):
nextCloud: Alternative to Dropbox, Google {Drive, Calendar, Constants, etc.}.
emby: Alternative to Plex.
Kolab: Alternative to Google Apps.
Syncthing: Alternative to Dropbox.
GitLab: Alternative to Github.
KeePass: Alternative LastPass.
EtherPad: Alternative to Google Documents.
Tiny RSS: Alternative to Google Reader (RIP).
Subsonic: Alternative to Google Play.
iRedMail: Alternative to GMail.
wallabag: Alternative to Pocket or Instapaper.
After you post your artifact to a group member's blog, each person should write a personal reflection that addresses the following questions:
What trade-offs are you making when using the cloud? Have you consciously evaluated these trade-offs? What is your justification?
Is it ever worth it to manage your own private cloud services? Do you envision a future where you may use your own services rather than third party ones?
Do you have the moral standing to complain about encrouchment on your privacy when you consciously give away your information to third party services?
Your project is due at 11:59 PM Thursday, October 27, 2016.
To submit your project, one group member should post the artifact to their blog. Everyone in the group should then reference it their reflection of the project.