Link-O-Mat

The 201 Link-O-Mat is a source for "readings" that supplement (and complement) the other readings assigned in 201. The links contained on this page can provide a class with opportunities to practice the sorts of analytic skills required in research writing. Additionally, they provide students an opportunity to consider some ways one might use web-based resources in a research project.

This section of the website is always being revised and updated based on both student and instructor feedback and recommendations. If you have a link you'd like to see here, please send it to the 201 Coordinator along with a brief description of the link and explanation of why it is useful.

All links will open in a new browser.

Privacy, Security, Freedom, Intellectual Property, and the Web. As the World Wide Web transforms our society, it continues to confront us with pressing issues involving security, privacy, freedom, and intellectual property. These concerns surface in a variety of ways, from virus outbreaks to the controversy over Napster and file sharing to identity theft on the internet. Consider some of these issues by examining these websites:

• Freedom. The motto for the Internet has always been "information just wants to be free." But the net also opens the space for serious abuses of free speech. Laws such as COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) and CDA (Communications Decency Act) have attempted to regulate or even limit free speech on the Internet, yet both have faced challenges on constitutional grounds. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an important site in any exploration of the internet and free speech.

• Napster. The court battles between Napster and the music industry highlighted issues of copyright and intellectual property on the web. Click here to visit Napster's homepage. You can review Napster's press releases and legal documents in the "Press Room" and learn about the Napster Action Network in the "Discover" section. For the other side of this issue, check out the Recording Industry Association of America's homepage by clicking here.

• Privacy. At first, the web seemed like a place of perfect anonymity, where no one would know who you were, but increasingly now, privacy is at stake on the web. Visit the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse for information on Internet privacy issues, placed in a larger context of privacy in society. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a vanguard of free speech on the Internet, has a Privacy Now! campagin with news, links, and resources.

• Security. The growth of the web has been matched by a growth in crime. The Department of Justice's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section focuses on cybercrimes ranging from cyberstalking to hacking. Hacking itself has a long history on the Internet. John Stevenson's hacker/culture provides an exploration of hacker culture.

Unabomber and Luddites. Generally, technology is seen as positive and progressive, but this is not universally true, as the Unabomber's anti-technology focus made violently clear. Visit a site dedicated to the Unabomber trial, and perhaps look at the Unabomber's manifesto. But Theodore Kaczynski is not the first person to rebel against technology, and, in fact, there is an entire Neo-Luddite movement that raises very important questions about the tensions between technology and our humanity. This site offers a variety of links and resources to give you an introduction to both the original and Neo-Luddite movements.

Human Cloning. Ever since scientists announced the birth of Dolly, cloned from an adult sheep, the prospect of human cloning has loomed large and ominous. While the Human Cloning Foundation advocates cloning, Glenn McGee argues against it. Closely connected to cloning is the issue of stem cell research. Do No Harm argues that stem cell research using human embryos is unethical, while a letter to President Bush from 80 Nobel Laureates argues for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.