PAPER 3

Please read the paper guidelines before you begin to write.

Write a paper 5-8 pages in length on one of the topics below. You will need to track sources from the Internet. The Course Links Page offers a place to start. (See especially, EPIC and Privacy-Forum.) For any of the three of the paper-topics, draw on insights from assigned theoretical readings (Gavison, Rachels, Posner, Loudon, Rule et. al., Berman and Goldman, etc.).

1. Discuss the case of Ram Avrahami vs. U.S. News and World Report. In addition to Internet sources, draw on relevant readings about the private (i.e. non-government) sector and privacy. (Important note: discuss this case from a moral point of view, not legal.) Here are some questions you may want to think about along the way:
   
   • Do you think Avrahami has good grounds for his case?
   • How similar are the principles in this case to the case of Lotus Marketplace Households
   As usual, consider rebuttals to the position you choose to defend.

2. Summarize the main points in the ongoing debate about privacy and medical records. Define a position and defend it. Draw on theoretical material to help articulate your defense and to provide a framework for your position.

3. Imagine the following scenario: the FBI has proposed a national database of DNA prints for all U.S. citizens arguing that it will help enormously in the fight against crime and terrorism.
   Evaluate this proposal from the perspective of privacy. Be sure to give serious consideration to opposing viewpoints. (Related issues that may be useful to track down: FBI proposal in 1927 for universal fingerprinting (see Loudon); discussion of SSN as universal identifier (EPIC); discussion of counter-terrorism measure (EPIC).

DUE DATE: April 22, 5 pm in Julian's mailbox in 2-N-2 Green Hall

Papers will be accepted in concrete, dead-tree form only!