Internet, Government, and Politics

1. Internet, Government, and Politics By: Anna Zeveney, Ben Wells, and Keegan Williams

2. Wikileaks - What is it? • A non-profit organization which publishes classified documents about government practices from its website. • These leaked files include documentation, videos, datasheets, and reports of illegal practices by governments. • The founder, Julian Assange, has faced many threats, and has currently been granted political asylum in an ecuadorian embassy in London. • Their goal is to “bring important news and information to the public”

3. Wikileaks - Ethic problems? • Is whistleblowing unloyal to your nation, or is it your moral obligation to report it? • If you could keep the documents only available to your nation, would that change anything? • As seen in the spiegel article, some names can be accidentally released. Is it still ok to release these documents, knowing that at some point informants names might be released, putting them in danger? • Should the government be able to prohibit websites like this or content that is posted on them? • What types of information should people be allowed to put on wikileaks?

4. Wikileaks - Act Utilitarianism • If the harm of doing it overweighs the benefit, don’t do it • Pros • reveal and discourage corruption within the government • promotes the people’s right to be informed • Cons • creates national security issues, information is now available to anyone in the world • can prevent government action • Conclusion • Undecided

5. Wikileaks - Rule Utilitarianism • If all behave according to act utilitarianism, what would be the benefit (or harm)? If harm overweighs benefit, don’t do it • Pros • transparent government, kept accountable • Cons • all of the government’s secrets would be available to the world • government action would be hindered • Conclusion • Unethical, having the governments secrets open to everyone in the world would be very dangerous

6. Wikileaks - Social Contract • Act based on equal rights of everyone, what would rational people do? • Pros • provides for the freedom of information and speech • everyone has the same right to know what the government is doing, not just those who are privileged • Cons • we agree to give up these freedoms in favor of the safety of the general population • Conclusion • Undecided

7. Wikileaks - Kantianism • Act from moral rules, no matter what the consequences are • treat yourself and others as an end, not a means to an end • Pros • The general population has a right to the information • It is your moral obligation to report corruption • Cons • National security is more important, give up some freedoms for safety of everyone • You should never put another person in danger by releasing their name • Conclusion • undecided, there conflicting moral rules in this situation

8. Cyberwarfare - What is it? • “Cyberwarfare is Internet-based conflict involving politically motivated attacks on information and information systems.” • Usually used to steal secrets/sensitive data, or stop a crucial tool from working (ie satellites, power grid) • Often compared to conventional warfare • Is anonymous, so the nation being attacked doesn't always know where the attack is coming from

9. Cases of Cyberwarfare • The Stuxnet worm, revealed by Snowden to be the product of USA and Israel collaboration, took advantage of four zero-day vulnerabilities to infect systems and attack Iran’s nuclear program. • China uses cyber attacks to access US weapon and defense data. • DDoS attack (suspected to be affiliated with Ukraine) prevented access to NATO’s website.

10. Cyberwarfare - Ethical problems? • Should governments engage in offensive cyberwarfare? • While war has general rules to it (Geneva convention/protocol), cyberwarfare does not. Should it? If so, what rules do you think there should be? (for example, should you be allowed to target civilian computers?) • With the rise of cyberwarfare, should hackers be considered as combatants in war, or still be regarded as protected civilians?

11. Cyberwarfare - Act Utilitarianism • Pros • Advance your countries personal interests • Might be able to protect your nation’s people from attack by gaining sensitive data • Cons • Anger the nation you are attacking • Some say it is essentially waging war on that country, even though you might not be at war with them already • Conclusion • Unethical, while you might be able to advance your country, it would be a danger to your country to essentially wage war on another country

12. Cyberwarfare - Rule Utilitarianism • Pros • Countries with superior technology could benefit themselves from the prominence of cyberwarfare. • Cons • Damage is dealt to all nations infrastructure due to cyber attacks. • Political tension rises between all nations due to the constant cyberwarfare. • Citizens could be harmed directly by some attacks (ex: Siberian pipeline sabotage). • Conclusion • Unethical, since unrestrained cyberwarfare only has a chance to benefit few, while definitively harming many.

13. Cyberwarfare - Social Contract • Act based on equal rights of everyone, what would rational people do? • Pros • the right of the people to protect themselves from cyber attacks • Cons • right to privacy of opponent nation/ its people • harming others for your benefit • Conclusion • Undecided

14. Cyberwarfare - Kantianism • Act from moral rules, no matter what the consequences are, or treat yourself and others as an end, not a means to an end • Pros • ?? • Cons • You would not want someone to steal your personal information, or shut down your countries infrastructure • Conclusion • Unethical

15. References - Wikileaks • Stöcker, Christian. "Leak at WikiLeaks: A Dispatch Disaster in Six Acts." Spiegel Online. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/leak-at-wikileaks-a-dispatch-disaster-in-six-acts-a-783778.html (accessed March 26, 2014). • Matthewson, Kirsty. "What's Ethical About Whistleblowing?." CSR Wire. http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/280-what-s-ethical-about-whistleblowing (accessed March 26, 2014). • WikiLeaks, "WikiLeaks." Accessed March 26, 2014. https://wikileaks.org/. • Fildes, Jonathan. "What is Wikileaks?." BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10757263 (accessed March 26, 2014). • Leigh, David, and Nick Davies. "Afghanistan war logs: Massive leak of secret files exposes truth of occupation." The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/25/afghanistan-war-logs-military-leaks (accessed March 26, 2014).

16. References - Cyberwarfare • "What is cyberwarfare?." Search Security. http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/cyberwarfare (accessed March 26, 2014). • Baldor, Lolita. "China Hacked The Pentagon To Get Weapons Programs Data." TPM. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/china-hacked-the-pentagon-to-get-weapons-programs-data (accessed March 26, 2014). • Hawes, John. "DDoS attack takes out NATO websites, Ukraine connection claimed." Naked Security. http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2014/03/17/ddos-attack-takes-out-nato-websites-ukraine-connection-claimed/ (accessed March 26, 2014). • Gollom, Mark. "Are there international rules for cyberwarfare?." CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/are-there-international-rules-for-cyberwarfare-1.1323638 (accessed March 26, 2014). • Gross, Michael. "A Declaration of Cyber-War." Vanity Fair. . http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/04/stuxnet-201104 (accessed March 26, 2014).