DirectoryBooksNewsletterAbout

A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computers and the Internet (2nd Edition)

The SocioWeb » Books » Sociology Books » A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computers and the Internet (2nd Edition)

A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computers and the Internet (2nd Edition)

By: Sara Baase  

Buy it now at Amazon.com!

Lowest New Price: $33.72
List Price: $70.00

Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5

Description:
This book explores social, legal, philosophical, ethical, political, constitutional and economic implications of computing from a computer scientist's point of view. It covers the issues individuals face as members of a technological society and offers guidance for professionals in computer-related fields. One of the book's goals is to develop computer professionals who understand the implications of what they create and how it fits into society at large. Chapter topics cover privacy and personal information, encryption and interception of communications, freedom of speech in cyberspace, intellectual property, computer crime, computers and work, broader issues on the impact and control of computers, and professional ethics and responsibilities. For programmers and software engineers.

Description:
This book is a comprehensive look at various issues which are at the forefront of the information revolution: computers and privacy, censorship on the net, protection of intellectual property, encryption policy, computer crime, and the risks associated with unexpected computer failures. Sara Baase does a good job of balancing these controversies with various points of view, and offering perspective and solutions. Although this book is meant for academic use, it's extremely accessible.

Publisher: Prentice Hall

Customer Review: 2 out of 5
This book leaves a lot to be desired. - This book is an incredible waste of time to read. If you must, I recommend briefly scanning the topic sentence of each paragraph. The book is tedious because Baase attempts to wring every idea possible from the subject material, whether it is significant or not. She does this because:

1. The book would only be 50 pages if all of the fluffy hand-holding were removed.

2. None of the ideas presented in the book are original or exciting, and must be trumped up with a lot of "high level" discussion. You know it well; it's the kind that only career academics would enjoy.

3. She has to dilute the terrible writing and editing that went into the book. I particularly enjoy this gem:

"A subsequent version of the product, known as Windows NT, a high-end system that incorporated networking technology and allowed users to link PCs together."

The only thing I like more than paying for common knowledge is paying for sentences that lack a predicate.

2 stars for an uninspired money-grab.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
satisfied - very satisfied with this purchase. didn't take long for item to ship and looked as good as new.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Excellent textbook, unexpectedly thought-provoking - This was used as my text book for a graduate level ethics course. I read it cover to cover and found to be well-organized, informative and enlightening. Highly recommended.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
very exciting and thought provoking - it's a great book to begin in-class discussions

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Interesting and Accessible - Because the author's ethics class at SDSU uses this text as a primary source, I may be a bit biased in my judgment of this book. For the class, it was an excellent reference, bringing up interesting points for discussion and showcasing these points with anecdotes -- some humorous, some downright frightening. Baase's writing style is accessible to a wide audience, and even the parts that, by virtue of being part of a textbook, are dry and only mildly interesting are digestible.

If you're looking for a book that will give you a general overview of problems associated with computing, this book will hit the spot. Without any noticable bias, it provides information from different perspectives, and even gives fair treatment to Luddites.

A good, solid choice.

--> Find out more about "A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computers and the Internet (2nd Edition)" at Amazon.com or Order Now