Internet Law Program 2011 - User contributions [en]

Talk:Minds for Sale

2011-09-09T20:09:27Z

Juglest: New page: Professor Jonathan Zittrain began the Minds for Sale session describing an experiment by an NYU researcher, which showed that strangers may be willing to help out with a task even if they...

Professor Jonathan Zittrain began the Minds for Sale session describing an experiment by an NYU researcher, which showed that strangers may be willing to help out with a task even if they’re not paid for it. (Specifically, strangers helped the experimenter’s robots reach point B, from point A, in New York City.) Zittrain described a pyramid of tasks, whereby, for very difficult tasks (at the top of they pyramid), one would need to put up a large amount of money to elicit a stranger to complete the task. For very simple tasks, a large number of people would be willing to perform the tasks for very little money. An example of an emerging platform toward the top end of the pyramid is X PRIZE Foundation, which offers prize money for teams who complete projects for the benefit of humanity. Further down the pyramid is Innocentive- where firms can solicit workers to perform complicated engineering tasks for prize money. Further still, is Liveops, where firms can solicit “contractors” to perform tasks from home, via the phone- like taking drive through orders for fast food restaurants, potentially thousands of mile away. Zittrain described Amazon’s Mechanical Turk as a forum toward the bottom of the pyramid. During the session, students posted an MTurk request for Turkers to post questions or answers on a question tool board. ILaw participants were able to watch Turkers complete the task, entering questions and answers to the question forum, in real time.

One underlying concern that Professor Zittrain expressed is that MTurk and similar sites could be used to solicit questionably ethical tasks. For example, companies can pay for Turkers to post positive reviews about a particular product, pretending that they actually own the product. A separate concern was exemplified by an organization that paid individuals to write letters to their senators, opposing certain legislation. Zittrain suggested that we might lose our ability to accurately gage public sentiment on political or social issues, when companies or organizations can pay individuals to attend town hall meetings or write letters in support or opposition of certain legislation, for example. Moreover, a concern might arise even if Turkers are paid to do kind acts for others. If such MTurk requests became widespread, we might be left wondering every time somebody was kind to us whether they were doing it because they were paid.

Another potentially worrisome issue that Zittrain noted is that children can be solicited to “work” when they think they are “playing” games on the computer. Even if the work they are doing is not morally questionable, many iLaw participants expressed concern that children can be exploited to perform work. There seemed to be a spectrum of viewpoints on this issue, but the class on a whole was even more greatly opposed to children doing work via games, when the work was morally questionable. The class began to discuss, but did not resolve, the factors that make it more or less acceptable or reprehensible for children to perform work via games. A final concern that Zittrain expressed was that with the proliferation of easy “tasks” that people can perform, for money (or points) from their homes, people will lose their leisure time.

Talk:Student Projects

2011-09-08T16:16:17Z

Juglest: /* Option D List */

==SIGN-UP Sheet for Student Projects==

===Options A, B, D===

For students who wish to sign up for Options A, B, or D, please include your first and last name, any group members, and your selected assignment.

==Option A List==

'''Note:''' Please only sign up for "open sessions." Due to the large amount of internet (and desire to match students with open sessions) we are limiting the spots going forward.'''

<big>'''Open Sessions:'''</big>

<big>'''Closed Sessions:'''</big>
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'''Online Liberty and FOE (closed):'''
* Clare Selden

'''Future of the Internet (closed):'''
* Daniel Robinson
* Patrick McKeown

'''Exploring the Arab Spring (closed):'''
* Ryan Rippel
* Oktawian Kuc

'''The Changing Internet: Cybersecurity (closed):'''
* Michael Adelman
* Justin Tresnowski
* Michael Redding
* Ona Balkus

'''Intellectual Property (closed):'''
* Esther Lim
* Gita Srivastava

'''User Innovation (closed):'''
* Pooja Patel
* Andrew Pearson
* Lowell Gresock-Battles

'''Privacy (closed):'''
* Andrew Crocker
* Jake Levine
* Nathan Lovejo
* Sunshine Yin
* Amrit Dhir

'''Digital Humanities (closed):'''
* Josh Frieman
* Jordan Roberts

'''Digital Libraries, Archives, and Rights Registries (closed):'''
* Jason Gross
* Elizabeth Bailey
* Brian Wood

'''The Global Internet (closed):'''
* Amanda Vaughn
* Karissa Fleming

'''Cooperation (closed):'''
* Joel Knopf
* Rachel Krol
* Andrew Rubenstein
* Taz Shahabuddin

'''Minds for Sale (closed):'''
* Yael Resnick
* Steve Jugle

'''Mutual Aid (closed):'''
* Jungmee Victoria Lee
* Adam Derry

'''Interoperability (closed):'''
* Sonia McNeil
* Fernando Serrati

==Option B List==

* John Bennett
*
*

==Option D List==

* Elettra Bietti, Option D
* Matt Scarola, Option D
* Matt Levitan, Option D
* Breanne Gilpatrick, Option D
* Matt Vitins, Option D
* Tom Spencer, Matt McDonell, Jake Laperruque, Jordan Baehr, Option D
* Gabriela Grinsteins, option D
* Yana Welinder, Option D
* Molly Jennings, Option D
* Frank Sabatini, Option D
* Tim Grayson, Cynthia Chi, Option D
* Matthias Glatthaar, Option D
* Matt Gelfand, Option D
* Igor Gorlach, Option D
* Charles Allen, Option D
* Matthew Becker, Option D
* Allison Trzop, Option D
* Robin Achen, Option D
* David Ashaolu, Option D
* Jonathan Cox, Option D
* Maia Cave, Alea Mitchell, Option D
===Option C===

Due to time constraints, Option C is available to a limited number (10) of groups on a first-come first-served basis. Students who select this option are encouraged to work in groups, each group will be given approximately 5-10 minutes of presentation time.

For students who select this option, please include your first and last name, as well as the names of any additional group members.

1. Ivar Hartmann

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Talk:Student Projects

2011-09-01T03:50:45Z

Juglest: /* Options A, B, D */

==SIGN-UP Sheet for Student Projects==

===Options A, B, D===

For students who wish to sign up for Options A, B, or D, please include your first and last name, any group members, and your selected assignment.

'''Note for students choosing Option A, please specify a session

* Ryan Rippel, Option A -- For Online Liberty and FOE, or Exploring the Arab Spring
* Jason Gross, Option A -- For Digital Libraries, Archives, and Rights Registries
* Andrew Crocker, Nathan Lovejoy, Sunshine Yin, and Amrit Dhir (All Option A) -- For Privacy
* Joel Knopf, Rachel Krol, Anayansi Rodriguez, Andrew Rubenstein, Taz Shahabuddin (All Option A) -- Cooperation
* Amanda Vaughn, Option A -- The Global Internet
* Michael Adelman, Justin Tresnowski, Michael Redding, Ona Balkus (All Option A) -- For Cybersecurity
* Clare Selden, Option A -- Online Liberty and Freedom of Expression
* Daniel Sinnreich, Option A -- Online Liberty and Freedom of Expression
* Matt Scarola, Option D
* Pooja Patel, Andrew Pearson, Lowell Battles- (All Option A) - User Innovation
* Steve Jugle, Yael Resnick, Matt Levitan, Option D

===Option C===

Due to time constraints, Option C is available to a limited number (10) of groups on a first-come first-served basis. Students who select this option are encouraged to work in groups, each group will be given approximately 5-10 minutes of presentation time.

For students who select this option, please include your first and last name, as well as the names of any additional group members.

1. Ivar Hartmann, Fernando Serrati Campos Cervera

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