Evoldahc On Intellectual Property

Module 12

Question: 

What is there for to rejoice if you have the intellectual property on something? Would it be a great instrument to the economic growth of the country? Or you are just the sole beneficiary of the fruits you have reaped from what you have sowed? Explain.

Answer:

The benefits one can enjoy if he/she has the intellectual property on something include, but is not limited to:
1. Royalty Income - If a person owns the intellectual property on something that in turn is bought and used by commercial companies, he/she will earn a percentage share from the profit.\
2. Protection - If a person owns the intellectual property on something then he/she can be sure that any replication of the property by other parties can be considered illegal and he/she can pursue them and demand payment for damages.
3. Recognition - If a person owns the intellectual property on something then he/she will enjoy the honor and dignity from owning the said property. He/she will be known to the world and will have, most likely, no trouble finding a job and recognition.

Would it be a great instrument to the economic growth of the country? Or you are just the sole beneficiary of the fruits you have reaped from what you have sowed?

If someone, say a Filipino,  owns the intellectual property on something then the benefits will not only be enjoyed by the individual but also by the county. This will help the economic growth of the country since the individual is a citizen of the country and therefore pays taxes from the royalty income he earned. Additionaly, the intellectual property is owned by a citizen of the country, thus the companies/individuals interested in buying a license of the said property will also pay taxes due to the country. Lastly, hte recognition enjoyed by the owner of the intellectual property will also be enjoyed by the country since the owner is a citizen.

Evoldahc On Free Speech Issues

Module  11

Question 1:

Facebook’s marketing director, who happens to be Mark Zuckerberg’s sister, proposed last year that banning online anonymity would help curtail cyber-bullying and Internet harassment. Then-Google CEO Eric Schmidt made a similar observation in year 2010, noting that “privacy is incredibly important” but “not the same thing as anonymity.” If banning is already imposed or will be imposed would this stop annoying comments against someone freely posted by an anonymous FB user? Is this ethical? Is this against the freedom of speech? Support your answer.

 Answer:

If banning is already imposed or will be imposed would this stop annoying comments against someone freely posted by an anonymous FB user? I think not, it would not eradicate hate or harassing comments posted by anonymous users but I believe it will somehow lessen the number of people harassing people on social networking sites. Is this ethical? I believe that banning online anonymity can be ethical or unethical, depending on the manner  and scope of its application. Why do I say so? Because their is a scope as to when banning nline anonymity can be considered ethical or unethical. Banning online anonymity, in my opnion, can be considered ethical if the ban will only be imposed to anonymous online accounts who have commited or have records of committing flames, hate comments, cyber-bullying, and other related actions that can be considered degrading to the person the action is done to. On the other hand, banning online anonymity can be considered unethical when the banning is applied to all anonymous accounts regardless of the credibility of the account. Is this against the freedom of speech? Banning online anonymity also can either be pro-freedom-of-speech or anti-freedom-of-speech, depending again on the scope of its application. Banning online anonymity can be considered pro-freedom-of-speech if the banning applies only to select accounts who have records of commiting cyber-bullying, hate/flame comments, and other related actions which can be considered baseless and degrading to the person the action is done to. We must not forget one of the problems presented by our classmate Claudio Galia III in his report on Moral Problems, specifically the Problem of Freedom which states that: "Your freedom ends at the tip of my nose." The aforementioned quote simply means, that relating it to banning online anonymity, our freedom of speech is not abosutely free because we are only free to say as much as we want as long as it does not damage the name, the dignity, and the rights of the person we address it to. On the other hand, banning online anonymity can be considered anti-freedom-of-speech if the banning is applied to all anonymous accounts regardless of the basis of the ban and the credibility of the banned account.

Question 2:

Is it ethical to blog both awful and pleasant experiences with your ex-girlfriend / ex-boyfriend? Discuss.

Answer:

There are certain factors as to when  the blogging of the abovementioned experiences can be considered unethical or ethical. Sharing awful or pleasant experiences with your ex can either be unethical or ethical, depending on the manner of sharing and the implications the action brings to the parties concerned. It can be unethical if you shared pleasant experiences on your blog and you included the name of your ex, not to mention his/her social networking accounts, or if what you shared is too private like for example your intimate moments with your ex. This is also the same with sharing awful experiences, I believe everyone will agree that mentioning the name of ones ex in a blog about shameful experiences is unethical. However, blogging about pleasant as well as awful experiences with one ex can be ethical if the blog protects the identity of the parties concerned and the experiences mentioned on the blog doesn't harass or enshame the persons dignity and name. For all we know, by responsibly sharing our pleasant experiences we might help others to strengthen their relationships. And by responsibly sharing our awful experiences we might be able to save some from pain. In this sense, the measure of how ethical or unethical we are in sharing our experiences depends on how responsibly we do the sharing.