SUGGESTED TOPICS

The following is a list of suggested term paper topics. You should be certain of your interest in the topic you select, as well as the availability of materials, before you commit yourself to a particular topic.

1. Should the development (and control) of the National Information Infrastructure (NII) be regulated by the Federal government, or should it be exclusively controlled by private industry?
2. Does the recent feeding-frenzy of takeovers and mergers in the communications industry presage an unacceptable concentration of electronic power?
3. Should hardware and software manufacturers be held financially liable for losses caused by bugs that were known about prior to the public release of their products?
4. Is the popular media helping to ease society into a new high tech way of life, or is it helping to build a general "technophobia"?
5. Are the parallels between the Patriot Act (I & II) and George Orwell's "1984" inescapable?
6. Is the computer age increasing the gap between knowledge "haves" and knowledge "have nots"?
7. Should internet communication content be subject to federal regulation?
8. Should individuals who download copyrighted music be prosecuted for copyright violations?
9. Given that computers can be used to alter photographs, should the use of photographs in criminal cases be prohibited or otherwise strictly limited?
10. Will the proliferation of literature on the internet make copyright laws unenforceable or meaningless?
11. Are software patents and copyrights truly necessary for protection from piracy and theft, or are they hindering progress and development in the software industry?
12. Does the use of computers in implementing electronic open government improve our democracy, or does it actually result in discrimination against non-computer users?
13. Has blogging changed American politics?
14. Are computer-mediated forms of communication allowing faster, better communication between humans, or are they the cause of social and psychological problems that isolate humans from each other and damage traditional communication?
15. Is a "high degree of reliability" standard acceptable for software used in applications which pose a risk to human life, or are the error levels and probabilities of these systems unacceptable for use in society? Are these systems accurate enough to be relied upon?
16. Should colleges be allowed to require student ID cards - magnetically encoded with personal information - for entrance to dorms and buildings around campus, or does this pose potential problems in the way of misuse of the information collected?
17. Computer games such as "MUD"s, in which participants create a character for themselves and act out roles in a real-time, virtual environment, attract worldwide participation. Recently, a character "sexually assaulted" (in a virtual sense) the characters of other participants. Should there be limits set for such digital deviance, or should the users be free to express themselves in any way they feel necessary?
18. Will computers ever be able to produce poetry with emotional impact? If so, what approach do you foresee being used to create programs to do this? If not, why not?
19. Is the sale of computer mailing lists an invasion of privacy or is it the legitimate exercise of the capitalist system? Does the information being sold actually belong to the individual subject, or is it public knowledge, which is the property of the information collecting agency by virtue of the work performed in collecting it?
20. Should the use of internet be granted without cost to provide access to the public libraries and research materials available, or should there be user fees imposed to pay for connection costs and the services available?
21. Does management have the unrestricted right to monitor an employee's use of office computers, - including the employee's "private" communications on his/her account - in an effort to optimize productivity?
22. Do "dive computers" promote enhanced safety, or do they invite unjustified, and dangerous, over-reliance on the machine?
23. Should the federal Drug Enforcement Agency have the right to decode all encrypted messages sent by American citizens?
24. Should an employer have the unconditional right to monitor any employee's e-mail sent on a personal company-issued account?
25. Should your doctor have unrestricted access to your computerized medical records (including records accrued outside of his/her practice), so long as his/her motivation is to provide you with better medical services?
26. Will reliance on computers eventually stifle the creativity of graphic artists?
27. Is the search for computer-based artificial intelligence an appropriate pursuit for science; that is, is it in the best interest of mankind to build a human machine?
28. The computer has given us the ability to diagnose fetal defects. Is this an appropriate use of technology?
29. DNA testing presents a statistical probability that a person on trial has in fact committed the crime. Should such evidence be admissible in court?
30. In criminal cases, rich defendants can afford to use computers to gather dossiers on all prospective jurors. Should such information gathering be prohibited on the grounds that it creates a playing field more level for some defendants than for others? Or should a defendant have the right to all the justice he can afford?
31. Cable television networks and telephone networks are based on completely different philosophies, as well as governed by completely different rules and regulations. With merging technology, will their philosophies, rules, and regulations also be forced to merge?
32. The introduction of complex, expensive new technology in medicine will present incredibly tough choices as to who gets access to these technologies and how we pay for them. Are computers lending a helping hand in making advanced medical treatments available, or are they causing problems of their own in creating gaps between socio-economic groups?
33. Hyperintelligence - a dramatic expansion of the power of the brain - is made possible by global computer networks. Will Hyperintelligence help to create a new and better global society, or will it result in a new, priesthood?
34. With a sufficiently human-like appearance, the "super-robot" might become a sexual surrogate? Does this pose unacceptable possibilities for abuse, such as enslavement, and the necessity for "robot-abuse" clinics (just as we have drug/sexual abuse clinics)?
35. Should there be limits to the connection between computers and the human body? Are bio-implants a violation of privacy?
36. Is the "information revolution" a new phenomenon or do past revolutions provide clues as to what a total "information society" might look like?
37. Is technology broadening or narrowing the generation gap?
38. Does high technology make religion irrelevant?
39. Is there a world-wide conspiracy which is using technology to concentrate power in the hands of a few people?
40. Could Europe use technology to become a superpower, supplanting the United States?
41. Does technology free us to explore our cultural diversity, or does it rob us of our heritage by forcing us to adopt a new, generic culture?
42. Have computers reduced our total workload and thereby made life more enjoyable, or have they instead created work and made life more stressful?
43. Since multimedia will make it possible for people to conference from home, do you predict that humans will eventually not go to offices at all but work at home instead? If so, what sorts of problems might this create?
44. The Human Genome Project is a multibillion dollar effort to analyze the entire human genetic system. The project has already helped scientists identify genetic cause of some diseases. Will this project ultimately benefit humanity or is it instead an unconscionable threat to privacy?
45. Should the use of computers be prohibited as used by large stock traders to trigger sell or buy orders?
46. Do the system operators of electronic bulletin boards have the right to censor obscene messages or would such censorship be a violation of freedom of speech?
47. What should be the "community" used to determine a "community standard" in a test for bulletin board pornography?
48. Should government or industry use technology to track the behavior of every American citizen?
49. Assuming a need for heightened security from terrorist attacks, how much intrusion into personal affairs should the Government be allowed in order to protect us?
50. Is the Bush "Total Information Acquisition" program justified?