Australian National University

Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology

COMP1200 Perspectives on Computing

Assignment 2, 2008

This is the larger of the two assignments in COMP1200. You will build on the research and reporting skills that you gained from the first assignment, as well as get to grapple with professional ethics and social issues in the context of IT.

Task

Write an essay that addresses one of the following two topics. In each case we define the topic by quoting some source with an opinion. You don't need to agree with the opinion, and you can choose which aspects of the issue to focus your essay on.

1. Facebook and privacy
   A study done at MIT concluded that: "Privacy on Facebook is undermined by three principal factors: users disclose too much, Facebook does not take adequate steps to protect user privacy, and third parties are actively seeking out end-user information using Facebook."


2. Music piracy
   It is claimed that "Around 2.8 million Australians or 18% of the population download music illegally via file sharing networks every year."

Your essay must: introduce the issue, give a background to the issue introducing key terms and stating the different major views, build an argument for your own point of view, and conclude with a discussion.

Each topic has a technical aspect and an ethical/social/legal aspect. The technical aspects and the ethical/social/legal aspects should each represent roughly 40-60% of your essay.

Format

Your essay must be no longer than 4 pages including the references. Apart from the greater length, the format of the essay should follow the same guidelines as the first assignment.

Submission Guidelines

To submit your assignment, you need to first convert it to PDF format. You can do this in OpenOffice by means of the "Export to PDF" option in the "File" menu.

Then you should send it to MyDropBox using the instructions here.

All work submitted must be entirely your own. Make certain you use quality information and that you carefully reference all the material that you use. It is unacceptable to cut and paste another author's work and pass it off as your own, whether the author is another student, a past student, or a published author. Anyone found doing this, from whatever source, will receive zero marks for the assignment; and further action may be taken, if deemed appropriate (this may be plagiarism). Any material that you wish to quote should be put in quotation marks and the source should be clearly referenced. Read the department's policy on plagiarism, in the Department of Computer Science Student Handbook.

Marking Scheme

This assignment, as indicated at the top of this sheet, is worth 50% of the class mark. Each assignment will be marked out of 50.
Aspects that will be considered when the essay is marked will include relevance, content, presentation, fairness and referencing.
The breakdown of the marks will be as follows:

Aspect	Mark
Relevance	5
Content	25
Presentation	15
Referencing	5
Total	50

Late Assignments

If you do not submit by the deadline, then a late penalty of 10% per day applies. Assignments will not be accepted later than one week after the deadline.

Extensions

Extensions will only be given under special circumstances. Students should write a letter to Prof. McKay (bdm(at)cs.anu.edu.au) stating the reason for the request and attach supporting documentation. If your reason is medical, you need to submit a request on the right form - ask the department office to help.

Requests for extensions after the deadline has passed are almost never accepted.