Background: You are the Chief Technology Advisor for a candidate running for elected office.

Your
candidate is relying on you to help inform her about important technological dilemmas and come up with
good policy ideas to address them. For this project you’ll investigate a social dilemma related to the
Internet and prepare a report summarizing your findings and making a policy recommendation for your
candidate.

Details: While the Internet is used to share many useful services and information, there are growing
concerns about the way that the Internet can be used to spread damaging information ranging from
national secrets to calls for violence. Censoring this information may provide some people with increased
security, but potentially risks free speech and the safety of social and political activists. Your candidate
would like to have a policy that balances these two concerns in a way that makes sense for our digital
age.

Core Question: When and how should the government be allowed to censor or block internet traffic, if
at all?

This concept bank includes the key terms and concepts covered in this unit. Quickly review them before
reading your articles so that you’ll be ready to identify them in your articles. You can also refer to these as
you complete your one-pager.

Protocols / Layers Networks Packets and World Wide Web Internet Principles
Routing

Physical internet, IP, Fiber optic cable, Web pages, Redundancy, fault
TCP, UDP, HTTP, copper wire, wifi, Packet metadata, IP browsers, servers, tolerance, scalability,
DNS router, path, direct addresses, dynamic domain, world wide open protocols
connection, routing, web
bandwidth

Source Notes on Technical Details

Notes on Impacted Groups

Impacted groups are anyone the Defining threat online is harder

• Free Speech Or Hate Speech: threat believes they have done then it seems as it may be an
When Does Online Hate Speech someting wrong. such as a politcal empty threat or an actual threat
Become A Real Threat?" (audio figure, CEO, or even a bully.
article): HYPERLINK
"https://www.npr.org/2018/11/19/66
9361577/free-speech-or-hate-
speech-when-does-online-hate-
speech-become-a-real-threat"link

Anyone with access to the internet There is always a user, publisher ,

"Internet Censorship Explained" or a computer. and information in online
(video): HYPERLINK censorship. Computers uses DNS
"https://www.youtube.com/watch? servers to give the user a IP adress
 the requested. When there is
v=6ohH-RkSLo4"link something dangerous something
called DNS redirection helps
protect the user from anything
harmful.

Anyone with access to the internet. Internet censorship is the control

• "Wikipedia - Internet Censorship: or suppression of what can be
HYPERLINK accessed, published, or viewed.
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern
et_censorship"link

Core Question: When and how should the government be allowed to censor or block
internet traffic, if at all?

Impacted Groups: Explain the interests of this group, as well as ways that they could benefit or be
harmed because of the dilemma.
Impacted Group and Description
Interests, Benefits, and Harms

They can be the ones threating or the victim. Benefits

● Everyday internet user
● Intelligence Agencies
• Political activists
are that they can know if they are in harms way.
Harms is that it can pscologically effect them in a bad
way which could scare them.
Interests are they can help protect the people and
nations. They can use the internet as a form of
evidence against the publisher if they post a series of
threats. Harms are it can be seen as unconstitutional
if the block peoples post as it is their right to freedom
of speech.
Interests are getting their message out to the world
and nation to help them in their campagin. Benefits
are increasing the publicity of their campagin. Harms
are people will see their campagin and think against it
and could possibly threaten them.

Technical Background: Explain the technical background necessary to understand the

problem.
Include: Background on layers / protocols / principles of the Internet necessary to understand the
dilemma

● Use the concept bank on the first page to help brainstorm ideas to include. A strong
description will reference several of these concepts

● Make sure your descriptions are approachable for your candidate, who does not have as
strong of a background in the way the Internet works
 ● This can be completed in bullets
Recommended Policy Solution: Give a recommendation for what policy or solution your
candidate should advocate for. Your solution could be a law that should be passed or repealed, a
government policy, or a technological solution your candidate should promote.

Recommended Policy: In at most two sentences summarize the solution / action your candidate should support

Pros / Who Benefits Cons / Who is Harmed?

● Government, Civilians, politicians ● Government, civilians, politicians

Extensive Convincing Limited Evidence No Evidence

Category
Evidence Evidence
Completed research Research guide All three provided Only one or two No evidence that
guide demonstrates use indicates sources are sources were sources were used
referencing three or referenced referenced
of multiple sources
more sources.
provided are
referenced
Interests, benefits, and Interests, benefits, Interests, benefits, Interests, benefits, No description of
harms of all impacted and harms for all and harms of most and harms are impacts on different
groups, including groups are provided either limited, groups
groups are clearly
possibly additional and accurate. inaccurate, or
explained
groups beyond the incomplete.
required three, are
provided.
Technical details reflect Extensive technical Many technical Few technical No technical details
an accurate and detailed details are provided details are provided details provided. provided
demonstrating that accurately Some may be
understanding of the
broad reflect how the inaccurate.
internet
understanding of internet works
how the internet
works
Technical details are All technical details Most of the Many of the No technical details
clear and described for a are clear and easily technical details technical details provided
read by a non- provided can be provided are
non-technical audience
technical audience understood by a confusing to a non-
non-technical technical audience
audience
A clear policy Policy Policy Policy No policy
recommendation is recommendation is recommendation is recommendation recommendation
justifiable and clear clear but some provided but is provided
provided that is justifiable
based on aspects may not disconnected from
based on other
information in both build upon other information in
information in the one- other sections of information one-pager
pager one-pager elsewhere in the
one-pager
Reasonable benefits and Benefits and harms Benefits and harms Benefits and harms No benefits and
harms of the policy to all impacted to most impacted are limited or not harms are provided
groups are clearly groups are clearly tied to specific
choice on different
explained explained groups
impacted groups are
provided