FORDHAM UNIVERSITY
Fordham College at Lincoln Center
Department of Computer & Information Science
SYLLABUS
Semester:
Spring, 2025
Course Number:
CISC 4650 L01
Course Title:
Cyberspace: Issues and Ethics
Instructor:
Dr. Robert K. Moniot
Office LL 821-A, Phone (212) 636-6334
Office hours: TF 10:00–11:00 AM
Other office hours by appointment.
(I am in my office M–F 9–5;
call my secretary at (212) 636-6300
or use Google Calendar to make an appointment.)
E-mail:
URL: http://www.dsm.fordham.edu/~moniot
Class Hours:
TF 8:30 AM – 9:45 AM, Room LL 904
Required Texts:
Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace,
7th ed.,
by Richard A. Spinello ISBN 978-1-284-18406-8
Course Overview
This course explores issues
of personal and social morality in the context of the
technological developments related to the use of information and
communication technology (ICT). ICT includes computer systems and
digital media, as well as modern means of communication such as the
Internet and wireless devices.
We will devote the first part of the course to examining
frameworks within which these issues can be analyzed: the basis of
ethical theories, and their application to practical decisions in life.
Then we will explore some specific issues such as
privacy, intellectual property, and
freedom of expression in a series of lectures.
The last few weeks of the course are organized around a series
of student presentations.
Most of the resources for this class are on the Blackboard web site.
For convenience, the syllabus, due dates, and schedule of
presentations are also available on the publicly accessible web page:
Readings from the text will be assigned accompanying the lectures.
Any outside readings will be provided either by links to available
web sources or by posting on Blackboard.
It is not necessary for you to have any specialized
training in computer or information science. Most of the issues can
be understood without any detailed knowledge of the workings of the
underlying technology. In any case, the analysis of these issues from
a moral perspective is not dependent on their technological basis.
This course fulfills the core requirement of an EP4 / Values Seminar.
It also applies to the following majors and minors:
American Studies (Power Politics & Institutions concentration and
Art, Music, Theater, or Media requirement),
Digital Technologies & Emerging Media (Digital Equity, Ethics, and
Power/Values requirement),
Humanitarian Studies (Communications, Women's Studies, and Literary
Studies requirement),
and
New Media & Digital Design (Ethics requirement).
It is not applicable as a major or minor elective in Computer Science.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
Analyze case studies involving ICT to identify stakeholders
and the positive and negative impacts on them.
Correctly apply the principles of an accepted ethical
framework to the analysis of case studies involving ICT.
Identify and discuss the ethical constraints on the actions of
professionals in fields involving ICT.
Research a topic in ICT and write a cogent paper analyzing the
topic and the ethical or social issues issues it raises.
Give an effective presentation on a topic in ICT and the
ethical and social issues it raises.
Attendance
Attendance is mandatory, and is graded. This is a seminar,
after all, and much of the value comes from class discussions. I
encourage your active participation. Attendance grades
are posted on the Blackboard grade book and updated within a day or
two of each class meeting. The attendance grade for a given day is
on a scale of 5 points. You get 3 points for mere presence.
Points are added, up to a maximum score of 5 points, depending on
the amount of contribution to class discussion: a score of 4 is for
participating a little, and 5 for participating a lot. Students who
give a presentation automatically receive a score of 5 for that day.
Points may be deducted for lateness or for anything else that
interferes with the conduct of the class, so grades below 3 are also
possible. You may request in advance to be excused from class for
a valid reason. The difference between excused absences and
unexcused absences is that excused absences appear blank in the
Blackboard gradebook and are not counted in the
total participation grade, whereas unexcused absences count as a
zero for participation. However, there is still a limit on the
total number of absences allowed: see the section on Assessment and
Grading below.
You are expected to arrive on time for class. If you do arrive
late, please enter the classroom quietly so as not to disrupt the
class in session. If you are expecting to receive papers back, wait
and ask me at the end of class.
You are expected to remain until the end of class, barring a true
emergency. If you know in advance that you will need to leave early,
inform me before the start of class, and sit near the door so that you can
leave without causing a disruption.
Please turn off all cell phones, beepers, etc. during class. Laptops
and tape recorders are not permitted unless as an accommodation
approved by the Office of Disability Services.
Assessment and Grading
Course grade is based on:
class attendance and participation (15%),
an in-class presentation (15%),
a midterm paper (6–8 pages, 20%),
four 2–3 page essays (10%)
a final exam (15%),
and
a final research paper (9–12 pages, 25%).
There is no midterm exam in this class.
The essays and midterm paper provide the mid-semester assessment.
To pass the course you must complete each of these
components adequately. In particular, since the in-class
discussions are essential to the aims of this class,
any student who misses more than five (5) class meetings
(whether the absences are excused or unexcused) will not pass the class.
Grading will be on a percentage scale as follows:
93–100:
A
90–92:
A-
87–89:
B+
83–86:
B
80-82:
B-
77–79:
C+
73–76:
C
70–72:
C-
60–69:
D
below 60:
F
Assignments
The essays will be based on material discussed in class
and on the assigned readings, and due one week after they
are assigned. The grade for the presentation will
include components for the preview and study guide (described
below). The grades for the term papers will factor in promptness of
submission of the proposals, drafts, and the papers themselves.
The midterm and final papers are to be based on library research and written
in proper scholarly style, with references for all sources consulted.
See the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers,The
Chicago Manual of Style, or similar work for guidelines on proper
citation style. I accept citations in any commonly accepted
scholarly style.
I request a proposal and first draft of each
paper, four weeks and two weeks, respectively,
before the due date of the paper itself.
The proposal can be in outline form or a brief
(approx. one page) summary of what you plan to cover. The proposal
should indicate some research you have already done.
The first draft is expected to be well along, close to final form.
At a minimum it must be at least 2/3 of final
length, and include some citations to sources consulted.
Based on the proposal and draft I
provide feedback to improve the final product. The proposal and
draft are not graded, but
failure to provide them on time will reduce the grade for the
paper. Term papers will be accepted late, but with a
penalty that increases with time. Papers may be handed in early, but
this does not excuse you from providing the proposal and
first draft.
In these papers,
you are expected to analyze ethical issues raised by
the use of ICT in specific areas.
You may select the topics of your papers
from areas such as the following:
intellectual property,
software piracy,
music and video piracy,
on-line privacy,
artificial intelligence,
defective software,
misuse of software,
computer crime,
viruses and hacking,
cryptography and national security,
and
computer communication and freedom of expression.
This list is not intended to be definitive, and you are
encouraged to consider other relevant topics of interest,
perhaps drawing on your own experiences.
The only restriction is that the topic needs to concern
ethical and social issues related to ICT.
Presentations
You will give a presentation on the topic of one of your two papers
(midterm or final).
Your presentation is to be about 20–25 minutes long,
followed by a few minutes of discussion led by the presenter. I
request a preview consisting of an outline and a copy of the slides
(if the presentation will use slides) one week before the
presentation, so that I can provide feedback and guidance for
improving the presentation. After each presentation, the other
students will fill out evaluations including written comments to
provide feedback about the effectiveness of the presentation. These peer
evaluations will be one factor in the presentation grade. After the
presentation, I will
provide each presenter with a summary of the peer evaluations, along
with my own constructive comments and an
explanation of the grade assigned for the presentation.
Final Exam
The final exam will consist of a set of questions to be answered with
short essays. The questions will be based on topics covered in the
student presentations, and will probe your understanding of the
ethical issues raised by those topics. You will be expected to
analyze those issues based on the ethical foundations covered in the
first part of the course. To aid students' studying for the exam, I
request each presenter to provide a study guide for their
presentation, to be submitted by the last class meeting date. These
study guides will be posted on Blackboard. The study guide should be
an outline or detailed abstract, at most about 2 pages long, that
identifies the main social and ethical issues raised by your topic.
I also request a copy of your slides to post along with your study
guide. Late submissions of the study guides will not be
accepted, since anything posted after the due date will
be of little use for the other students to study from.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is very important to the mission of the
university. Plagiarism or excessively close collaboration with
others on projects will
result in an F on the assignment and may result in an F for the course.
You are responsible for and expected to follow the Fordham College
at Lincoln Center
policy regarding matters of academic integrity.
For purposes of this course, generative AI tools will be considered
the same as human helpers, i.e., you may use them only in the same
way as you would a human helper. Any work you turn in must be your
own, or, if collaboration on the assignment is permitted, you must
acknowledge any such assistance you received, whether human or AI.
Four-Credit Course Note
The Undergraduate Faculty Handbook states: “For four-credit courses
that meet for 150 minutes [per week], the additional credit is
earned by requiring three additional hours of class preparation per
week in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.” My
expectation is that this additional required time outside class will
be used to do thorough and careful research work for the two term
papers, using the university library's databases to locate quality
scholarly articles, reading them carefully, and following up
citations in them to discover other sources.
Disability Accommodations
If you are a student with a documented disability and require academic accommodations, please register with the Office of Disability Services for Students (ODS) in order to request academic accommodations for your courses. Please contact the main ODS number at 718-817-0655 to arrange services. Accommodations are not retroactive, so you need to register with ODS prior to receiving your accommodations. Please see me after class or during office hours if you have questions or would like to submit your academic accommodation letter to me if you have previously registered for accommodations.
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