Comment on each of the following scenarios in light of chapter materials. Use the references at the end of this chapter to help you.

a. A legitimate student calls the computer help desk from her cell phone because she has forgotten her password to the university system. The ‘‘tech’’ on duty refuses to give it to her as a matter of university policy. The student is unable to complete her assignment and proceeds to file a formal complaint against the university.

b. An employee at a building supply company is caught downloading pornographic materials to his office computer. He is reprimanded by his boss, asked to remove the offending materials, and told never do it again. The employee refuses on the grounds that

(1) There is no company policy forbidding these activities,

(2) He performed all his downloads during his lunch breaks,

(3) His work reviews indicate that he is performing ‘‘above average,’’ and

(4) The discoveries themselves were performed without a search warrant and therefore violate his right to privacy.

c. The local community college installed a new, campus-wide local area network that requires all staff members to enter a login name and password. Users can choose their own passwords. Some pick the names of their pets or spouses as passwords, while others tape their passwords to their computer monitors to help remember them.

d. An employee in a hospital was hardly ever at his desk, but almost always reachable through his cell phone. When the department replaced his old computer with a new one, his boss scanned the old hard drive and made the startling discovery that this employee had a full-time second job as a beer distributor.

e. A routine audit of the computer payroll records of the local manufacturing plant reveals that the address of over 20 employees in different departments is the same empty lot in the city.

f. An analysis of online bidding on eBay reveals that one seller has bid on several of his own merchandise in an effort to increase the final sales price of his items.

g. A retailer sues a web hosting company when it discovers that the employees of the web company have been visiting sites on which the retailer advertises. The retailer pays a fee of $1 every time someone clicks on these advertising links.