Debate Topics and Schedule

Luddites vs. Technophiles
Is technology helping or hurting us?

• Luddites: Karen Smith and Jin Yi Chen
• Technophiles: Richard Akobi and Ana Villegas and Sharon Naftaliahu

Copyright on the Net general copyright of software
Issues related to MP3s, Napster, Gnutella, etc. What is being done to protect intellectual property (music, movies, etc.) and encourage sales on the Net? Can you copy your neighbor’s software? What's happening with "free" software GNU project? What is the impact of Linux and Apache, for example? What are the implications for consumers? What are the implications for big companies like Microsoft?

• Against copyrights (for Napster): Aimee Bensimhon and Magdalena Stuczyk
• For copyrights: Christopher Minguel and Patrick Li

The Internet as a direct marketing tool
Benefits of cookies; tracking

• For: Mariya Dashevskaya and Hoa Ngo
• Against: Ghada Ahmed and Jennifer Mizrachi

Censorship of the Internet
Filtering Internet terminals in libraries, control of the Net in other countries.

• For censorship: Ochanya Idoko and Mee Fung Kwan
• Against: Hamid Akram and Mikhail Sapozhnikov

Use of computers in education (K-12 and university)
How are they used? Are they really helping to teach or used to baby-sit?
Will students who cannot afford computers be disadvantaged?
Distance learning: What are the likely uses? What will be the impact on universities? Is cheating a problem? Quality of education.

• For using computers in education: Rubab Bokhari
• Against using computers in education: William Lee