Overview

Over the last few weeks, we have discussed issues related to Corporate Conscience, Freedom of Speech, and Artificial Intelligence. For this fourth project, you are to work in groups of 2-4 to produce artifacts that further explores the following topics:

1. Political action on FOSTA/SESTA.

2. Hollywood's portrayal of artificial intelligence.

Option 1: FOSTA / SESTA

For the first option, you are to watch the I Am Jane Doe documentary and read up on the latest news regarding FOSTA / SESTA:

• Trump signs ‘FOSTA’ bill targeting online sex trafficking, enables states and victims to pursue websites

• Justice Department Leads Effort to Seize Backpage.Com, the Internet’s Leading Forum for Prostitution Ads, and Obtains 93-Count Federal Indictment

• Sex ads website Backpage shut down by U.S. authorities

• Section 230: A Key Legal Shield For Facebook, Google Is About To Change

• How Congress Censored the Internet

• FOSTA Passes Senate, Making Prostitution Ads a Federal Crime Against Objections from DOJ and Trafficking Victims

• Stop Online Sex Trafficking – Call NOW to Support FOSTA-SESTA Act

• The Scanner: Sex workers returned to SF streets after Backpage.com shut down

• FOSTA sex trafficking law becomes center of debate about tech responsibility

Once you have watched the documentary and caught up on the news, you are to do one of the following options:

1. Write a letter to editor to either the Observer or a newspaper such as South Bend Tribune advocating a position on the FOSTA / SESTA legislation.

2. Write a letter to your government representatives advocating a position on the FOSTA / SESTA legislation.

In your letter, be sure to address the following questions:

1. Are technology companies responsible for the content on their platforms? Are they merely common carriers or are they guardians of a public trust?

2. How should the government balance the need for public safety versus corporate innovation and business interests? Should they legislate morality or seek neutrality?

3. Can a free society tolerate seemingly intolerable speech without compromising its core principles?

4. Finally, is FOSTA / SESTA good legislation?

You are to submit your artifact and proof of your submission to a newspaper or to your government representative.

Option 2: AI in the Movies

For the second option, you are to watch a movie that explores artificial intelligence:

1. Ex Machina

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey

3. I, Robot

4. The Terminator

5. Bicentennial Man

6. Moon

7. Ghost in the Shell

8. Her

9. Blade Runner or Blade Runner 2049

10. Matrix

11. Artificial Intelligence

12. Wall-E or Big Hero 6

You may choose a movie not on this list, as long as it has to do with artificial intelligence.

After watching the film, provide a group review of the movie in a podcast or video that answers the following questions:

1. Describe the role the artificial intelligence played in the movie. Was the AI the villain, hero, or simply a supporting character?

2. Discuss which aspects of the AI were believable and what parts seem unrealistic. Is this merely an imaginative work, or is it representative of future possibilities.

3. Discuss how humans reacted or related to the AI. Were humans scared of AI? Welcoming? Unconcerned?

4. Discuss how the AI reacted or related to the humans. Was the AI hostile or friendly?

5. What was the final message or theme of the movie? What insight into the nature of humanity did the AI expose?

6. Finally, what was your overall impression of the movie? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Note: Everyone should participate in answering each question (ie. round table, panel discussion style).

Submission

Your project is due at Noon Saturday, December 1, 2018. The group artifact should be put on a student's blog or a storage site such as Google Drive. (There is no individual reflection for this project).

To submit your project, one group member should fill out the following form: