1. PowerPoint® Slides to Accompany
A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computers and the Internet
(2nd Edition)
by Sara Baase
San Diego State University
PowerPoint slides created by Sherry Clark
Copyright 2003 Prentice Hall

2. Professional Ethics and Responsibilities
A Gift of Fire
Professional Ethics and Responsibilities
Ethics
Ethical Guidelines for Computer Professionals
Cases

3. Ethics Professional Ethics
Categories:
Medical,
Legal,
Engineering,
Accounting,
Computer,
…and more.
Q: What are the special responsibilities of these professionals?

4. Ethics Computer Ethics
Special Responsibilities Facing Computer Professionals and Users
Maintaining relationships with and responsibilities toward customers, clients, coworkers, employees, and employers.
Making critical decisions that have significant consequences for many people.
Determining how to manage, select, or use computers in a professional setting.
Q: Describe an ethical scenario for one of the categories, above.

5. Ethics “Do the Right Thing”
Behaving Ethically Includes:
Being honest.
Keeping promises.
Doing your job well.
Not stealing.
Q: What other behaviors are usually considered “doing the right thing?”

6. Ethics
Ethical Views
Deontological
Emphasizes duty and absolute rules.
Rules should apply to everyone.
Use logic or reason to determine what is good.
Treat people as an ends (not a means).
Q: Describe “rules” that follow deontological decision-making that apply to school or work.

7. Ethics Ethical Views (cont’d)
Consequentialist
Includes Utilitarianism
Strive to increase “utility” (that which satisfies a person’s needs and values) for the most people (the greater good).
Consider the consequences for all affected people.
Q: Describe “rules” that follow consequentialist decision-making that apply to school or work.

8. Ethics Ethical Views (cont’d)
Consequentialist (cont’d)
Rule-Utilitarianism: Choose rules, or guidelines for behavior, that generally increase utility.
Act-Utilitarianism: Analyze each action to determine if it increases utility.
Q: What are some problems with act-utilitarianism?

9. Ethics Ethical Views (cont’d)
Natural Rights
Derived from the nature of humanity
Focus is on the process by which people interact.
Respect the fundamental rights of others, including life, liberty, and property.
Q: Describe an ethical scenario about use of a computer system and tell what rights the people involved have.

10. Ethics Ethical Views (cont’d)
Reaching the Right Decision
There is no formula to solve ethical problems.
The computer professional must consider trade-offs.
Ethical theories help to identify important principles or guidelines.
Q: What trade-offs might a computer professional need to consider?

11. Ethics Ethical Views (cont’d)
Some Important Distinctions
Right, Wrong, and Okay: acts may be ethically obligatory, ethically prohibited, or ethically acceptable.
Negative rights (liberties): the right to act without coercive interference.
Positive rights (claim-rights): imposing an obligation on some people to provide certain things.
Causing harm: some acts may cause harm to others but are not necessarily unethical.
Q: Describe an ethical scenario involving a computer professional that illustrates one of the items above.

12. Ethics Ethical Views (cont’d)
Some Important Distinctions (cont’d)
Goals vs. actions: the actions we take to achieve our goals should be consistent with our ethical constraints.
Personal preference vs. ethics: some issues we disapprove of because of our dislikes, rather than on ethical grounds.
Law vs. ethics: some acts are ethical, but illegal; other acts are legal, but unethical.
Q: Describe an ethical scenario involving a computer professional that illustrates one of the items above.

13. Ethical Guidelines for Computer Professionals
Special Aspects of Professional Ethics
Computer Professionals:
Are experts in their field,
Know customers rely on their knowledge, expertise, and honesty,
Understand their products (and related risks) affect many people,
Follow good professional standards and practices,
Maintain an expected level of competence and are up-to-date on current knowledge and technology, and
Educate the non-computer professional.
Q: Recall a computer professional who demonstrated some of these characteristics.

14. Ethical Guidelines for Computer Professionals
Professional Codes
ACM and IEEE CS
Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice
ACM
ACM Code of Ethics
CIPS – Canadian Information Processing Society
Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
Ethical Behaviors Expected of the Computer Professional:
Honest and fair; respects confidentiality; maintains professional competence; understands relevant laws; respects and protection of personal privacy; avoids harming others; and respects property rights.
Q: How does a software engineer “learn” to be ethical?

15. ACM/IEEE Code of Ethics
Eight Principles related to the behaviour of and decisions made by professional software engineers, including practitioners, educators, managers, supervisors and policy makers, as well as trainees and students of the profession.
Preamble
Software engineers shall commit themselves to making the analysis, specification, design, development, testing and maintenance of software a beneficial and respected profession. In accordance with their commitment to the health, safety and welfare of the public, software engineers shall adhere to the following Eight Principles:

16. ACM/IEEE Code of ethics - principles
PUBLIC - Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest.
CLIENT AND EMPLOYER - Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer consistent with the public interest.
PRODUCT - Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.
JUDGMENT- Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment.
MANAGEMENT - Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance.
PROFESSION - Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest.
COLLEAGUES - Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues.
SELF - Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession.

17. CIPS Code of Ethics and Profession Conduct
Designed to help members provide high levels of service and respect for colleagues, other professionals, employers/clients, and public
IT Professionals often granted privileges to solve problems; provides unique means and opportunity to impact society
With privilege comes responsibility
At times must resolve conflicting ethical principles
Sometimes there is no one right answer – but there is always a preferred set of answers

18. CIPS Code of Ethics and Profession Conduct
CISP members are expected to:
Protect public interest
Avoid conflicts of interest
Take responsibility
Contribute to positively to the IT profession
Obligation of integrity & self-discipline > law
A broad set of principles not a fixed rigid set of rules
Lack of knowledge of ethics is not an excuse
Duty to report unethical behaviour

19. CIPS Code of Ethics and Profession Conduct
Public Interest
Contribute to growth of society
Report and do the right thing (not just legal thing)
Use privilege access to protect society
Competency
Leadership / professional attractiveness
Participation in industry, academia, associations
Getting along with and accepting other credentials
Deal with conflicting loyalties
Serve the greater good, use “intelligence disobedience” when necessary
Constrain self-interest, ambition appropriately
Consider alternatives, pros/cons of solutons
Overcome favourtism and the small ethical missteps
Honesty and Integrity
Respect privacy and intellectual property
Identify true competence and qualifications
Desire to continually expand knowledge
Fair practices, being impartial
Being accountable of results, contractual obligations

20. CIPS Code of Ethics and Profession Conduct
Process of Ethical Decision Making:
Identify the problem - key ethical issues
Identify the relevant ethical “ends” that are most important to the situation
Identify the relevant ethical principles
Generate alternative actions; analyse the risks and benefits of each alternative; consult with knowledgeable colleagues
Reflect on best alternatives, make decision
Determine action plan
Take action
Requests for guidance, clarification can be made in confidence to CIPS

21. Ethical Guidelines for Computer Professionals
Additional Guidelines for the Computer Professional
Understand Success
Understand what success means—developers (especially) and users of computer systems must see beyond simply writing code to complete a task.
Design for Real Users
To provide useful systems, real users must be included in the design stage.
Q: Give an example of a system for which consultation with real users in the design stage would be important.

22. Ethical Guidelines for Computer Professionals
Additional Guidelines for the Computer Professional (cont’d)
Thorough Planning and Scheduling
Pay attention to details—do a thorough and careful job when planning and scheduling a project and when writing bids.
Test With Real Users
To provide safe systems, real users must be included in the testing stage.
Q: Give an example of a system that has a straightforward user interface. A confusing interface. Would testing with real users improve the confusing one?

23. Ethical Guidelines for Computer Professionals
Additional Guidelines for the Computer Professional (cont’d)
Evaluate Re-use of Software
Don’t assume existing software is safe and re-usable.
Candidness
Be open and honest about capabilities, safety, and limitations of software.
Protect
Require a convincing case for safety.
Q: Describe a software program or computer system for which you think these guidelines were not followed.

24. Cases Analyzing a Professional Ethical Scenario
Brainstorming phase
List risks, issues, problems, consequences.
List all the stakeholders.
List possible actions.
Q: What is the purpose of this stage?

25. Cases Analyzing Professional Responsibilities (cont’d)
Analysis phase
Identify the responsibilities of the decision-maker.
Identify the rights of stakeholders.
Consider the impact of the action options on the stakeholders.
Find sections in codes of ethics that apply. Categorize each potential action or response as ethically obligatory, ethically prohibited, or ethically acceptable.
Consider the ethical merits of each option and select one.
Q: What is the value of this stage?

26. Case Studies Protecting Personal Data
Designing an System with Targeted Ads
Webcams in School Laptops
Publishing Security Vulnerabilities
Specifications
Schedule Pressures (safety-critical, market deadline)
Software License Violation
Going Public
Release of Personal Information

27. Other Ethical dilemmas you may encounter
Disagreement in principle with the policies of senior management
Your employer acts in an unethical way and releases a safety-critical system without finishing the testing of the system
Participation in the development of components for military weapons or biogenetic systems

28. Play with fire and you may get burned ..
An air traffic controller, relying on information from his computer console, directs two Boeing 747's onto intersecting paths. The jets collide and burst into flame, and all aboard perish. -- Washington Post 
"Software Gone Awry", Scientific American, October Investigators appointed by the European Space Agency reported in July that a software bug brought down the new $8-billion Ariane 5 rocket. 
A hospital minicomputer, monitoring a patient recovering from surgery, fails to alert hospital staff that the patient is having a stroke. The patient dies. -- Washington Post 
"Computer bug bites Alberta exchange", Calgary Herald, October 24, The Alberta Stock Exchange crashed at 7:38 a.m. Wednesday, brought down by a glitch in its new, fully computerized trading system.
A company dicovers that its computer has mangled valuable and sensitive information beyond recovery. The loss gravely weakens the company's market position. -- Washington Post 
Also see …