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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
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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
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Outline Codes of Ethical Conduct IEEE-CS/ACM Criticism Business Computing Subsumption ethics Langford Teaching Ethical Issues
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Codes of Ethics IEEE-CS/ACM Codes of ethics
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IEEE-CS/ACM Code of Ethics Purpose? Document responsibilities and obligations of software engineers Educate and inspire software engineers Inform the public
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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
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Codes of Ethics A critical perspective
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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
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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
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Codes of Ethics - Criticism Fairweather cont. Example: PAPA (Privacy, Accuracy, Property, Accessibility) Weapons Environment Telecommunication Protecting the weak against the strong
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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
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Business Computing Subsumption ethics David H. Gleason
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The Subsumption Process
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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
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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
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Ethical Frameworks The Golden Rule The Golden Mean Niskáma Karma Complexity
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Teaching Ethical Issues Virtue-based ethics in computer science Frances S. Grodzinsky
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Teaching Ethics Character-Forming Theories Practical wisdom Character Development Action-Guiding Theories Isolated situations What would you do? Intellectual exercise?
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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
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