City workers in New York had just removed the manhole cover when a 15-year-old girl—focused on a phone—walked right in. Who’s responsible—the texter or the work crew?... Read full article

The story of a man using his Blackberry to record the potentially dangerous actions of a bus driver raised a question: can technology can ever compel someone to be responsible?... Read full article

Women and guns is a topic that usually draws a crowd. But a satirical suggestion that all women should be armed drew a shot across the bow of a blog and set off a fresh debate about gun control.... Read full article

With an estimated 50 million blogs thriving or wavering on the Web, some recent headlines signal changes in the blogosphere: Blog and Beware…Blogger Jailed… Blogger Signs Off With Apology. Do bloggers need to be regulated to be responsible?... Read full article

Knowledge is power, but is owning it responsible? That’s one of the questions at the core of a recent federal lawsuit challenging the right of a company to patent—in effect to own—human genes.... Read full article

The book is a classic. The movie was a blockbuster. But are we ready for scientists to clone a real-life Jurassic Park? Significant genomic accomplishments in the past year have increased the possibility, but is cloning the extinct responsible?... Read full article

Laptops in school are coming unplugged. When used responsibly, they provide valuable educational support. But when used irresponsibly—for watching YouTube, surfing the web, emailing, IM-ing, playing games, checking sports scores, and shopping instead of engaging in class — laptops become the scourge of professors, some of whom are now banning them.... Read full article

If you knew that all of your interactions with people were being publicly scrutinized—your (rude) driving…your (cheap) restaurant tipping…your (gasp!) dating behavior—would you act more responsibly? Big Brother isn’t watching. But small websites are.... Read full article

When a 40-year-old Chicago advertising executive named Paul Tilley died recently, the cause of death was officially ruled suicide. Tilley, who oversaw the “I’m Lovin’ It” ads for McDonald’s and the creation of the “Dell Dude”, jumped from a Chicago hotel.

But some believe that Tilley was metaphorically pushed by a steady stream of malicious comments anonymously posted about him online in the weeks before he took his life.... Read full article