Professional Ethics Readings in CyberEthics Edited by Richard A. Spinello and Herman T. Tavani, Jones and Bartlett Computer Science, 2003 Professional Ethics and Codes of Conduct

Two Major Areas of IT Ethics Ethics of Information  Free speech, privacy, security, etc. Ethics of Professional Conduct  Building controversial technology  Building/using medical technology  Ethics of safety-critical systems

Outline Codes of Ethical Conduct  IEEE-CS/ACM  Criticism Business Computing  Subsumption ethics  Langford Teaching Ethical Issues

Codes of Ethics IEEE-CS/ACM Codes of ethics

IEEE-CS/ACM Code of Ethics Purpose?  Document responsibilities and obligations of software engineers  Educate and inspire software engineers  Inform the public

IEEE-CS/ACM Code of Ethics 1. Public 2. Client and Employer 3. Product 4. Judgement 5. Management 6. Profession 7. Colleagues 8. Self Eight Principles

Codes of Ethics A critical perspective

Codes of Ethics - Criticism John Ladd, 1995  Ethics is about deliberation  Codes are not real ethics  More like legal directives  Might be public relation concerns behind adopting certain ethical codes

Codes of Ethics - Criticism N. Ben Fairweather  No ethical code can be complete  Incomplete ethical codes are worse than none at all  Incomplete codes cause problems with Focus Prioritization Legitimizing immoral behaviour

Codes of Ethics - Criticism Fairweather cont.  Example: PAPA (Privacy, Accuracy, Property, Accessibility) Weapons Environment Telecommunication Protecting the weak against the strong

Codes of Ethics – Conclusion Codes of Ethical conduct may be useful, but  They must not substitute common sense and ethical reflection  They should clearly state their own boundaries of competence

Business Computing Subsumption ethics David H. Gleason

The Subsumption Process

Subsumption Ethics Moral value decisions are incorporated into IT components IT components are subsumed into larger systems The decisions are incorporated in the operation of the system and not reflected upon

Axioms of Subsumption Ethics A. Information systems subsume design, policy, and implementation decisions in programming code and content. B. Subsumed objects have determinate moral value C. Subsumed objects have a high ”invisibility factor” D. Subsumptive complexity increases over time

Ethical Frameworks The Golden Rule The Golden Mean Niskáma Karma Complexity

Teaching Ethical Issues Virtue-based ethics in computer science Frances S. Grodzinsky

Teaching Ethics Character-Forming Theories  Practical wisdom  Character Development Action-Guiding Theories  Isolated situations  What would you do?  Intellectual exercise?

Virtue-Based Ethics Based on Aristotle & Kant  Aristotle: Morality cannot be taught, but needs to be practiced  Kant: Judgement cannot be instructed; it can only be exercised Internalization and reflection Identity