Example Final Exam Questions

 

Below are examples of the type of short answer questions that could appear on the final exam.  These exact questions are not guaranteed to appear.  Also, these examples reflect only the material through the first half to two-thirds of the course.

 

 

What are four rights set out in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?

 

What does “normalization of deviance” mean in the context of the Challenger and Columbia disasters?

 

What is the major reason that David Parnas argues for why ballistic missile defense software cannot be confidently expected to work as needed?

 

What is a “consistent distributed database” and why might this concept be important in ballistic missile defense?

 

What are the two conflicting loyalties that the technician in the “Harvard Dean case” may feel a need to weigh against each other?

 

Give two examples of types of fraud not covered by the federal False Claims Act.

 

About what percent of major companies have a program to monitor employee email?

 

What does the “overbroad” concept mean with respect to protection of freedom of speech?

 

How does Don Black like to characterize the content on his web site, and why?

 

Distinguish between the “strong AI” and “weak AI” (the symbol manipulation hypothesis).

 

What is the constitutional purpose of intellectual property protection?

 

Distinguish between patent and copyright.