Readings

The readings for this week focus on cloud computing, advertising, and the internet of things:

Cloud Computing

These articles provide an overview of what cloud computing is:

• What is cloud computing?

• A view of Cloud Computing

• The Era of Cloud Computing

• Nobody Knew How Big a Deal the Cloud Would Be-They Do Now

These articles discuss some of the issues with trusting cloud computing:

• In The Cloud We Trust

• Can we trust cloud providers to keep our data safe?

• Why you should't trust your data to the "cloud"

• Who does that server really serve?

These articles discuss the infamous iCloud data breach:

• Naked celebrity hack: security experts focus on iCloud backup theory

• What Jennifer Lawrence can teach you about cloud security

• Tim Cook Says Apple to Add Security Alerts for iCloud Users

• Will Breaches and Privacy Concerns Lead to the Rise of the Personal Cloud?

These articles discuss the recent Equifax data breach:

• Credit reporting firm Equifax says data breach could potentially affect 143 million US consumers

• Failure to patch two-month-old bug led to massive Equifax breach

• Why the Equifax breach is very possibly the worst leak of personal info ever

• Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

These articles discuss some other inadvertant leaks:

• Top Defense Contractor Left Sensitive Pentagon Files on Amazon Server With No Password

• The RNC Files: Inside the Largest US Voter Data Leak

• Millions of Time Warner Cable Customer Records Exposed in Third-Party Data Leak

• New Verizon leak exposed confidential data on internal systems

These articles highlight what happens when it rains in the cloud:

• Amazon cloud sputters for hours, and a boatload of websites go offline

• GitHub: We're sorry (again) about (another) outage

• Postmortem of database outage of January 31

• Gmail and other popular Google services experienced a partial service outage at a very bad time

Online Advertising

These articles discuss online advertising and the trade-off between privacy and convenience:

• The Convenience-Surveillance Tradeoff

• Data Doppelgangers and the Uncanny Valley of Personalization

• How Much Is Your Data Worth? Mmm, Somewhere Between Half a Cent and $1,200

• What Does It Really Matter If Companies Are Tracking Us Online?

These article discuss how all this data mining can be creepy:

• How Companies Learn Your Secrets

• 21 Scary Things Big Data Knows About You

• Leaked document reveals Facebook conducted research to target emotionally vulnerable and insecure youth

• Guardian of the GPL: Online advertising is becoming “a perfect despotism”

These articles discuss a case where Facebook's data mining had an unintended side effect:

• How Facebook 'Likes' Reveal Your Intimate Secrets

• Facebook users unwittingly revealing intimate secrets, study finds

• More privacy headaches for Facebook: gay users outed to advertisers

• Facebook Knew I Was Gay Before My Family Did

These articles discuss ad blocking:

• Welcome to hell: Apple vs. Google vs. Facebook and the slow death of the web

• Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love

• Why Using an Ad Blocker Is Stealing

• What would Kant do? Ad blocking is a problem, but it's ethical

Internet of Things

These articles discuss hacking a connected vehicle:

• Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway-With Me in It

• Fiat Chrysler recalls 1.4 million cars over remote hack vulnerability

• Why Car Hacking Is Nearly Impossible

These articles discuss the use of internet of things inside humans:

• “I Want to Know What Code Is Running Inside My Body”

• FDA recalls close to half-a-million pacemakers over hacking fears

• Medical Devices Are the Next Security Nightmare

These articles discuss the rise of internet of things botnets:

• How a Bunch of Hacked DVR Machines Took Down Twitter and Reddit

• Distributed Censorship or Extortion? The IoT vs Brian Krebs

• New, more-powerful IoT botnet infects 3,500 devices in 5 days

• Rash of in-the-wild attacks permanently destroys poorly secured IoT devices

These articles discuss the lack of security in internet of things devices:

• "Internet of Things" security is hilariously broken and getting worse

• 9 baby monitors wide open to hacks that expose users' most private moments

• Thermostats can now get infected with ransomware, because 2016

• Hacker Weev Admits to Hacking Printers to Spew Racist and Anti-Semitic Messages

These articles discuss some concern over the internet of things:

• IoT: The Internet of Terror

• This is Why People Fear the 'Internet of Things'

• The Internet of Things Needs a Code of Ethics

These articles discuss ways of improving internet of things security:

• Senators Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Cybersecurity of “Internet-of-Things” (IoT) Devices

• Which Path to IoT Security? Government Regulation, Third-Party Verification, or Market Forces

• IBM's Schneier: It's Time to Regulate IoT to Improve Cyber-Security

These articles touch on the use of internet of things for surveillance:

• The New Age of Surveillance

• The Internet of Things is a surveillance nightmare

• Internet of Things to be used as spy tool by governments: US intel chief

Food for Thought

• Here's How Google Makes Sure It (Almost) Never Goes Down

• Is Advertising Morally Justifiable? The Importance of Protecting Our Attention

  Not specific to online advertising, but perhaps something interesting to think about.

• 6 links that will show you what Google knows about you

  Check out what Google thinks about you.

Questions

Please write a response to one of the following questions:

1. From the readings and in your experience, what exactly is Cloud Computing and what are some ethical issues or concerns regarding it? Considering the Internet meme that "There is no cloud. It's just someone else's computer":

   • As developer, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the Cloud? Describe any experiences you've had in using the Cloud as a development platform, what led you to use it, and if you plan on using it in the future.

   • As a consumer, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the Cloud? Describe what sort of Cloud services you use on a regular basis.

   • Discuss the trade-offs are you making in utilizing these platforms as both a developer and a consumer. At the end of the day, do you trust the Cloud?

2. From the readings and in your experience, what are the ethical issues or concerns surrounding online advertising? Considering the Internet meme that If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold:

   • Is it ethical for companies to gather your information and data mine it in order to sell you products and services? What responsibilities do companies have to their end users in regards to this information?

     Does privacy become an unrealistic expectation in light of this pervasive information gathering?

   • Do you find online advertising too invasive or is it tolerable? Do you use things like NoScript or Adblock? Why or why not? Is it ethical to use these tools?

3. After reading some of the articles above, address the following questions:

   • What is the motivation for developing and building many Internet connected devices? What are the arguments for and against the Internet of Things (IoT)? Would they make our lives easier?

   • How should programmers address the security and privacy concerns regarding IoT? Who is liable for when breaches or hacks happen?

   • What do you believe will be the social, economic, and political impact of the Internet of Things? What role should the government play in regulating IoT devices?

   • Would you fear a pervasively connected world with billions of internet capable devices? Explain why or why not.

Feedback

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the course, please provide your feedback at the end of your response.