1 Ethics in Computing 4 Use of computers has spread to all walks of life 4 The need for computer users to act in a sociably responsible way is becoming more important 4 We will examine ethical and moral issues in using computers

2 Ethics in Computing Adapted for academic use from “Ethics in Computing” by Kevin Bowyer, IEEE 1996

3 Ethics in Computing Adapted for academic use from “Ethics in Computing” by Kevin Bowyer, IEEE 1996

4 Right and Wrong 4 Human beings are able to differentiate between right and wrong (Throughout the world and among different regions and races) 4 We need to apply this capability in an effective way in computing (spreading viruses, promoting use of copied commercial software, intrusion into accounts of others etc. are morally wrong activities)

5 A Case to Consider 4 We cite some cases from the published literature to demonstrate the importance of ethical considerations in one aspect of computing, software development 4 Suppose that a hospital hires your services as a programmer. You are asked to develop software to control the positioning of an X- ray machine that can slide up and down vertically over the patient table

6 X-Ray Made Easy

7 A Case to Consider 4 The X-ray machine has minimum position of zero where it touches the table and maximum position of 5 where it is 5 ft above the table 4 The operator enters the desired position of machine. The software compares it to current position and issues commands to move the machine 4 Develop the algorithm for this software

8 Exercise 4 The software for human related and safety critical systems is very important 4 Consider the software to control an elevator 4 What algorithm would be most suitable for deciding the next floor? 4 Suppose passengers press floors numbers 18, 2, 19, 5 in this order when the elevator is on floor 1 4 Is it FIFO, SJF, or something else?

9 ACM Code of Ethics 4 ACM has issued its own code of ethics 4 This code contains –Eight moral imperatives –Eight professional responsibilities –Six leadership imperatives –Two compliance elements 4 Let us look at salient features of this code

10 ACM Code of Ethics 4 The general moral imperatives include principles of honesty, trustworthiness, respect for privacy as well as contribution to society 4 Professional responsibilities call for acquiring and maintaining professional competence and honoring all agreements and contracts

11 ACM Code of Ethics 4 Leadership imperatives require supporting authorized use of computing resources and managing personnel and resources to design and build useful information systems 4 Compliance elements include the upholding and promotion of the principles of the code and avoiding violations

12 Software for a price or free? 4 We look at three opinions on this topic: –Software should be free –Software prices should be reduced drastically –Software should be treated just like any other commercial product 4 Software is developed by teams and individuals who spent considerable time and effort on it

13 Software Types 4 Operating systems (e.g. Windows, Unix, Linux, MacOS, OS/2 etc.) 4 General application software (e.g. MS- Word, Adobe Photoshop, PDF Converter etc.) 4 Customized application software (e.g. NiMo corporate billing system, United Airline flight management system, ATC computer systems)

14 Recommendations 4 Following are my recommendations for the general application software and operating systems 4 Operating systems are usually shipped with new computers. Later, the users should be given free upgrades 4 General application software should sell for under $10 as the massive production of CD’s will bring in the revenue

15 Software Copyright Policies 4 If we have two computers at home, it is forbidden to install the software on both. Is it practical? (consider the laptop and desktop pair!!) 4 I think the copyright rules need revision

16 Free Software 4 Let us also encourage the free software camp 4 Free software does not mean pirated software. 4 Software designers make available the products as freeware. 4 These products are difficult to use but more powerful than the commercial products

17 Free Software 4 Freeware is different from Shareware. Shareware works on the principle of “try before you buy” 4 Free Software Foundation started in 1984 with the name GNU (GNU is NOT UNIX) 4 The Free Software Foundation (FSF), a tax-exempt charity for free software development, raises funds by selling GNU CD-ROMs, T-shirts, manuals, and deluxe distributions, (all of which users are free to copy and change), as well as from donations.Free Software Foundation (FSF)sellingCD-ROMsT-shirtsmanualsdeluxe distributionsdonations

18 Free Software 4 FSF has some radical views to which one may or may not agree 4 For example, they stress that software should not have owners. They also claim that the copyright laws hurt the freedom of the society and that the owners prevent the spread of information. 4 Review the material online at

19 Options to Avoid Software Piracy 4 What is your opinion and why?: A) Software should be free B) Software prices should be reduced drastically C) Software should be treated just like any other commercial product 4 Should the software copyright laws be amended to allow the customer to install it on multiple machines?

20 Options to Avoid Software Piracy 4 Would you prefer a freeware product or commercial product. Justify your answer 4 What are the consequences for the vendors and customers if the general application software prices are reduced to under $10 per package 4 Comment on the following FSF statement 4 “Software should not have owners”

21 Unauthorized Access 4 We look into several suspicious activities similar to each other 4 “Hacking” means accessing a computer system in a way different from normal. The motive can be to test the system for its security, to learn its various features or to damage the system 4 The term “Hacking” is now-a-days being used in a negative sense

22 Unauthorized Access 4 “Intrusion” or “unauthorized access” occurs when the hacker uses an account that was not assigned to him/her by the system administrator AND/OR the usage is inconsistent with the established policies 4 Unauthorized access can take a number of forms some of which are given in “Secrets of a Superhacker”

23 Secrets of a Superhacker 4 Creation of virus programs 4 Creation of worm programs 4 Creation of Trojan horse programs 4 Creation of logic bomb programs 4 Monitoring the network for password sniffing All above activities are unethical and most are declared crimes

24 Safety Critical Applications 4 We will discuss the responsibilities of software developers in safety critical applications 4 In general, the systems having a real-time component or components impacting human safety are considered safety critical systems

25 Safety Critical Systems 4 The examples of such systems are aircraft and air traffic control, nuclear reactor control and medical instrumentation 4 For example, air traffic control must issue a warning if two aircrafts come dangerously close to each other 4 A software keeps processing “time to collision” in the background

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27 Smart Bombs should not fall away from the military targets

28 Traffic Signals should not turn green for two roads that cross each other

29 The disasters 4 Hartford Civic center roof collapsed under a load of snow on Jan 18th, The roof design relied heavily on computer modeling 4 Therac-25, a radiation therapy system, killed and injured several patients between 1985 and 1987

30 The disasters 4 The overdoses were traced to errors in the software and the software/hardware interlock 4 The software for Therac-25 was developed by a single person, using PDP-11 assembly language 4 The software evolved over several years but no documentation was prepared

31 The disasters 4 More recently, an error in error checking led $125 million Mars probe to disaster 4 The spacecraft’s builder, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, submitted acceleration data in English units of pounds of force instead of the metric unit called newtons. At JPL, the numbers were entered into a computer that assumed metric measurements. 4 mate html

32 The Code 4 “Accept responsibility in making engineering decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the public” –IEEE Code of Ethics, item 1 4 “Strive to achieve the highest quality in both the process and products of professional work” –ACM Code of Ethics, professional responsibility 1

33 Suggestions 4 Most failures have multiple causes. Software should not be analyzed alone for finding errors. The impact of certain hardware failures on software performance can be devastating 4 Modern software engineering techniques should be used by designers of safety critical systems 4 Over-reliance on computer models can lead to disasters

34 Case Study Guidelines 4 We focus on a case study of software bugs disrupting human lives and safety 4 This study is related to the software bug that caused the phone system outage in The reading material is given with specific questions addressed to groups of students for finding the answers

35 Questions 4 Describe the incident in your own words. What went wrong and what was the impact on the human lives? 4 State the root cause of the problem 4 Why did this problem shut down the phone system? 4 What was the reason given by the DSC Communications Corporation for not performing normal testing

36 Questions 4 Was it DSC’s fault? Justify your answer 4 Do you think the society will suffer more problems due to computerization? 4 How can such problems be avoided? 4 Write a closing commentary on this incident and lessons to learn from it