School of Engineering and Applied Science
Department of Computer Science
CSci 1030 -- Technology and Society
http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~mfeldman/csci1030/summer11
Prof. Michael B. Feldman, course instructor
mfeldman@gwu.edu

The Social Impact Analysis Project on Identity Theft -- 32-point grade contribution, due in Stages

2011 Topic: ID Theft
Recent Occurrences
Some Serious ID Theft Humor
Serious Reference Sources on ID Theft
Project Stages
Important Note

Every year, the term project in this course considers the social impact of a technological issue that is "hot" that year. We've covered Internet for all, electronic health records, election technologies, the RealID Act, and so on. Each topic was chosen to study a technology-society interaction that's "close to home" and directly affects large numbers of Americans.

2011 Topic: Identity Theft

For 2011 we're going to look at Identity Theft. Merriam Webster online defines it thusly:

"the illegal use of someone else's personal information (as a Social Security number) in order to obtain money or credit"

and wikipedia says

Identity theft is a form of fraud or cheating of another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name. The victim of identity theft (here meaning the person whose identity has been assumed by the identity thief) can suffer adverse consequences if he or she is held accountable for the perpetrator's actions. Organizations and individuals who are duped or defrauded by the identity thief can also suffer adverse consequences and losses, and to that extent are also victims.

The term identity theft was coined in 1964 and is actually a misnomer, since it is not literally possible to steal an identity as such - more accurate terms would be identity fraud or impersonation or identity cloning but identity theft has become commonplace.

Recent Occurrences (two of many examples)

Now we quote briefly from an April 2011, article in Wired while similar stories were all over the media:

Sony thinks an “unauthorized person” now has access to all PlayStation Network account information and passwords, and may have obtained the credit card numbers of the service’s 70 million users.

The PlayStation maker said it believes hackers now have access to customers’ vital information, including names, birthdates, physical and e-mail addresses, and PlayStation Network/Qriocity passwords, logins, handles and online IDs.

Even closer to home: in February 2011, the following notice was circulated to GW e-mail users, and posted on http://helpdesk.gwu.edu:

***TECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Phishing Scam! WARNING!***

WARNING: An email phishing scam is currently circulating GW email addresses disguised as official correspondence from The George Washington University, including the GW logo, titled "Your Gwu Email Suspension Notification...."

Please note that the Division of Information Technology (IT) is actively taking steps to address the recent increase in phishing attempts. In the near future we will be enabling account lockouts for excessive failed login attempts in an effort to better defend the security of your account.

This is a reminder that you should NEVER reply to email messages asking for personal information, even if it is security related. No such e-mail will EVER come from GW or the Division of Information Technology help desk asking users to reply with information such as NetID, password, birth date, social security number, GWid number, etc.

ID theft is not just a remote or hypothetical problem! It is quite real and many, many people -- including an unknown number of GW e-mail users and 70 million (!) PlayStation fans -- are getting burned by it.

Some Serious ID Theft Humor

Have a look at these YouTube videos, most of which come from a series of TV commercials aired a few years ago by Citibank. Every time I watch these, I'm ROTFL and you probably will be too. There's a serious message behind the laughs, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy5jiYWuNKo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KERwnA8VfFM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irowZ7qoZt8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyjpxZ_yKEA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z26pnq9SXgQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP1nJ49Ru3I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n97pOUKQJvQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phZgOTt7hyE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGPBRXKuoMc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWfLgh98nbc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ChRwO22t_M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHV-oV50AbQ

Serious Reference Sources on ID Theft

The Federal government has been very active on the ID Theft issue and has produced the best materials on the subject.
You will definitely find these helpful in doing the background research in the second week.

In this course we're interested in the overall impact on society of ID Theft, including public perception. Your assignment is to research the topic as individuals, discuss it as a class, and design a survey to examine public attitudes about the subject. I'll assign each student will be assigned to one of several groups; each group will develop its own survey, and deploy it on Google docs website. You will collate and analyze the data, and each group will write a report of its findings. ONE final project paper per group is expected.

Project Stages

Because of the compressed course schedule, this project must progress at the rate of one stage per week! Sorry about the fast pace, but this is the only way to get it done in 6 weeks overall!

Week 2 -- Research report (8 points, due Sunday, 5/29): Each student will gain some background in the subject and write an individual report (approximately 1000-2000 of your own words) that will discuss the overall subject as you've learned about it. This is the only individual phase of the project -- it's an individual deliverable because I want to ensure that all students learn as much as they can about the subject before jumping into the group work.

The Blackboard Discussions area for this course has a forum you can use to discuss the subject, suggest references, and so on. You're encouraged to use the forum for discussion, but your actual research report must be your own work.

Week 3 -- Draft survey instruments (8 points, due Sunday, 6/5): Each group will develop the questions for its survey instrument based upon the group members' research. Questions should generally focus on the respondents' demographics, and on respondents' attitudes toward ID Theft. (Do they know about it? Have they taken preventive action? Have they been bitten by it? Etc.)

I'll send out info on how to set up a survey at Google docs, and put an example online there for you to adapt. I'll also set up an account for each group and let you know the ID and password for it.

There is a Blackboard discussion forum for each group to use; please use your forum to post and discuss ideas for your questions. When you are finished, one member of each group will submit the questions, in the form of a Word file, to the Blackboard assignment-submission site. Let me know which of you is submitting the file; all members of a given group will receive the same score (out of 8 points).

To reiterate: this project phase, and the remaining phases, result in group deliverables -- not individual ones.

Week 4 -- Survey Instruments due and deployed (due Sunday, 6/12): Each group will deploy its survey on Google docs. Be sure you recruit as many as you can of your own family, friends, etc. to take your survey! :)

Week 5 -- Preliminary Report on Survey Results (8 points, due Sunday, 6/19): Each group will collate, examine, and analyze its survey data and submit a report providing preliminary results. As in the draft, one member of each group will submit the report via Blackboard; all members of a given group will receive the same score (out of 8 points).

Week 6 -- Final Social Impact Analysis Report (8 points, due SATURDAY, 6/25. NOT Sunday -- Saturday is the last day of class!): Each group will write a report based upon the data that contains an abstract, introduction to the subject, discussion of the research protocol, presentation of the findings, conclusions and bibliography. Once afain, one member in each group will submit the group's report.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

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