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Info 1200 Review Section

The following is a set of practice questions collectively produced by Section 203 from Info 1200, covering the topics of Ethics and social Shaping Technology, Labor, Sustainability, DEI, and Intellectual Property.

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Section 203 Practice Questions

Introduction: Ethics and the Social Shaping of Technology

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According to the lecture, which of the following is an example of what is referred to as The New Jim Code?

1. When given directions on Google Maps, Google pronounces Malcolm X Boulevard as “Malcolm 10 (Ten) Boulevard” instead of “Malcolm X Boulevard”
2. Benches are sectioned in a way to prevent the homeless from sleeping/staying for long periods of time
3. As technology advances, the level of skill required for someone to carry out the task decreases
4. Universities share copies of textbooks and articles for the purposes of teaching/guiding a class
5. Cars have massively changed human interactions in society

The New Jim Code: Mystique and “objectivity” hides technology’s capacity to contain racist values. Both from values of the developers existing in tech and “predictive” algorithms supporting (technical systems have racist values and discriminatory designs built into them)

Which of the following is NOT related to the concept of “path dependency”?

1. The use of the QWERTY keyboard even after the creation of the more efficient Dvorak keyboard.
2. The continuing use of a technology or process that is inefficient because of starting point “stickiness”
3. The creation of bridges that do not allow vehicles of a certain height to pass under them, which causes discrimination against individuals who use public transportation.
4. An individual prefers physical books over space saving digital reading technologies like Kindles or Nooks, because they grew up reading physical books.
5. A barrier of improving an outdated technology because the outdated technology is very entrenched in culture, society, or labor processes.

C is related to algorithm bias. Path dependency: Continuing along the path that was initially created regardless if it the most efficient path (resistance to change)

Which of the following is NOT an example of tech determinism?

1. Cars massively changed human interaction and its relationships with the state
2. E-cigarettes lead more indoor smoking
3. People from far distance were able to communicate through wireless phone
4. People’s rising attention regarding nature inspired electric car development
5. Televisions widened society’s types of entertainment, news, education, culture, weather, and sports.

Technological determinism: Technology shapes itself outside of society. Technology shapes our society (driving force of society – downstream)

Which of the following is NOT an ethical framework/approach?

1. Common good
2. Utilitarianism
3. Humanitarianism
4. Virtue
5. Fairness

Common good: greater good of society. Utilitarianism: Process in which the ends justify means (subjectively). Virtue: builds moral virtue. Fairness: impartial, equal to all

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Theme 1: Computing Ethics – Labor, Sustainability, DEI

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Paste your mock exam questions here.

Many large scale businesses use the practice of planned obsolescence to ensure a constant non-stagnating stream of income. Out of the following, what is the best example of the practice of planned obsolescence?

1. Apple gluing their phones shut to prevent people from performing self repair
2. Sony providing a limited supply of PS5’s to keep the price at an all time high
3. Microsoft releasing a new update to a game, making the previous update obsolete
4. Blizzard removing support for their free to play game Overwatch and releasing a new free to play game Overwatch 2.
5. Apple making a new iPhone 14 while discontinuing support and updates for the iPhone 11

Planned obsolescence: make an old technology obsolete to force consumers to buy their newest product

Which of the following is the wrong definition to the following terms?

1. Value embedded design: Technology which is designed with a social value in mind, or with a specific moral purpose
2. Path dependency: Continuing along the path that was initially created regardless if it the most efficient path
3. Deskilling: When new technology, control, and fragmented work result in employees’ reduced skills and value in a management-led process.
4. Tech determinism: tech unfolds autonomously from social influence; tech has a substantial shaping role on society and culture (‘the unmoved mover’)
5. Blue/White Collar: Jobs that require you to wear a blue or white shirt, such as policemen

Blue/White Collar: jobs that require/don’t require levels of education (working classes/job type)

Kimberlé W. Crenshaw coined the term, intersectionality, which…

1. requires a mathematics-like permutation of disenfranchised identities, the sum of which is greater than its individual parts.
2. describes the experience of being subjected to multiple forms of interacting disenfranchisement.
3. coexists with and supplements legal doctrines that treat single-issue discrimination such as the Ann Hopkins precedent.
4. seeks to categorize people only by the residual categories into which they fall, better identifying them.
5. fails to adequately address the shortcomings of legal doctrine surrounding compounding forms of discrimination.

Intersectionality: The experience of being subjected to multiple forms of disenfranchisement which interact with one another.

**Underwater tin mining in Indonesia can be most clearly seen as an example of: **

1. Hostile architecture
2. Gig economy
3. Outsourcing
4. Technological determinism
5. Social construction

Hostile architecture: urban design strategy that restricts human behavior and targets certain groups of people. Gig economy: transition from stable employment under one employer to less stable freelance/contract work for independent clients. Outsourcing: Hiring external labor due to cheaper value (RED HERRING). Social construction: society shapes technology

Which is not a goal of the circular economy?

1. Diminish/eliminate waste
2. Produce new products faster
3. Extend life cycle of materials
4. Promote environmental growth
5. Conserve nonrenewable resources

Circular economy: a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible

Which of the following is not an example of a circular economy?

1. Option to trade in your phone
2. Right to repair
3. Second-hand stores
4. Gas made of fossil fuels
5. Reusable packaging

See previous question definition.The answer chosen is clearly wrong as it is utilizing a diminishable recourse compared to the other options.

Which of the following terms is not describing inequality created by technology development?

1. The resource curse
2. Environmental racism and colonialism
3. Green-washing
4. E-waste export
5. Dependency and world system theory (e.g. “How Europe underdeveloped Africa)

Green-washing: misleading information that conceals abuse of the environment in order to present a positive public image

Which of the following answers would be THE LEAST PRODUCTIVE example of helping create a circular economy.

1. New York state implementing the Digital Fair Repair Act, an example of right to repair legislation
2. Placing social pressure on recycling, ie. instituting recycling programs within your dorm or the government passing recycling mandates
3. New York City’s #WearNext campaign, which worked with the fashion industry and consumers to support recycling and keeping clothes in use.
4. Improving financial data and analytics for large firms by using technology like Circulytics, which helps measure circularity in every operation and field
5. Transforming food waste into cosmetics and bioplastics

Not all materials that are placed in recycling bins that lead to centers are actually recyclable, therefore not contributing to the circular economy.

As technology develops, computers become a challenge to the established equity of society. Which of the following is NOT considered a way that computers challenge equity?

1. When a new technology is introduced, the vulnerable group of people, such as the poor and immigrants, will be influenced negatively first than those who are privileged and protected.
2. The marginalized community is more likely to be harmed by surveillance and the algorithmic scoring system in social welfare programs.
3. The wealthy and those with higher social status can be considered the earliest adopters of technology in society because they have a greater right to access those new and expensive technologies.
4. Technology disproportionally benefits successful individuals by amplifying their talents and education and offering them rewards.
5. Technology harms equity by making everyone doing routine jobs unemployed.

Technology will not lead to full-on unemployment, but will lead to some jobs becoming obsolete and unnecessary. It will instead most likely lead to a restructuring of the economy and occupations.

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Theme 2: Intellectual Property – Copyright, Patents, etc.

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Paste your mock exam questions here.

Which of the following situations would not be permitted under the copyright law?

1. Your teacher makes photocopies of a book and distributes it to each student in your class
2. Your friend performs the song “Brooklyn Baby” by Lana Del Rey during a school concert that you must pay $2 to see
3. Your friend makes photocopies of a textbook and sells it online for $5
4. You make a copy of a scientific journal article to help you understand your biology homework
5. You use and image from Wikipedia in your economics presentation

Profit-seeking goal of friend to reproduce with intention of selling textbook with no changes. (B) can be considered but is in a private area with own creative interpretation and use of the song

Which of the following situations would NOT be protected under the fair use defense?

1. A teacher distributes copies of a New York Times article to her students so they can read and discuss it in class.
2. A group of students records a parody of the song “Eye of the Tiger” by replacing the lyrics with math concepts for a class project.
3. A mother sends a screenshot of a magazine article to her family group chat.
4. A famous travel blogger posts landscape pictures that were taken from the internet and claims they are photos that he took on his trip.
5. A new fantasy novel quotes the latest Game of Thrones episode.

Fair use: Educational, parody, private use. Blogger has obvious intent of ripping off original photographer’s photos to pass as his own

Which of the following is an example of DRM (Digital Rights Management)?

1. A database that stores information about patents, including their purpose, who filed them, and their status.
2. A web crawling bot that scans for the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials, such as images.
3. A rootkit that prevents you from attaching a debugger to video games such as Valorant specifically, for anti-cheat purposes.
4. A digital tool intended to assist with protecting the rights of its users, such as a 911 speed dial feature on a cellphone.
5. A theoretical framework, created by the World Economic Forum, for how human rights can be “protected” in the digital era.

DRM: A form of management where the producer of the digitized product can choose what their user has access to and what they can actually do with this