473-NAL COMPUTER ETHICS & SOCIETY

Main Reference: Ethics in Information

Technology 3rd Edition by George
Reynolds
Additional Reference: A Gift of Fire:
Social, Legal and Ethical issues for
computing and the Internet 3rd Edition by
Sara Baase, Pentice Hall 2011

Prepared By: Muhammad Shahid

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
An Overview of Ethics
Ethics for I.T Professional and I.T Users
Computer and Internet Crime
Privacy
Freedom of expression
Intellectual property
Software Development
The impact of I.T on quality of life
Social Networking
Ethics of I.T Organization

COURSE CONTENTS
Introduction
Computer Development & Ethics
Ethics
Law: Free speech and censorship
Intellectual property
Privacy
Secrecy and Security
Crime and Misbehavior
Information Technology Accountability
Computing and Information Technology as Professions and
Professional codes
Social Changes
Political Changes
Artificial Intelligence: Computer and human being

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Rapid Pace of Change
1940s: The first computer was built
1956: First hard-disk drive weighed a ton and
stored five mega bytes
1991: Space shuttle had a one mega hertz
computer
2006: Pocket devices hold a terabyte of data

NEW DEVELOPMENTS
Blogs (A construction of the words web log)
A blog is a discussion or informational site
published on the world wide web
Express ideas or creativity
Video Sharing
Rise of amateur videos on the web
Boom of websites like youtube and myspace
Cell Phone:
Use for travel, planning, taking pictures and
downloading music
Camera in cell phones and privacy issues

NEW DEVELOPMENT (CONT..)

Social Networking:
First online social networking site was
www.classmates.com in 1995

Myspace, founded in 2003 had roughly 100

million members profile by 2006
Facebook was started at Harvard as an online
version of student directories

NEW DEVELOPMENT (CONT..)

E-Commerce and Free Stuff:
Free stuff on the web: email, ebooks, newspapers,
games, etc
www.amazon.com started in 1994 for online
shopping
TV show episodes are available to view on the
web

NEW DEVELOPMENT (CONT..)

Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Motion:
Tools for disable people:
Screen readers and Scanners
Speech recognition
Prosthetics and motion sensors

ETHICS: AN OVERVIEW
What is Ethics:
Ethics is defined as a set of moral values or
principles that govern the conduct of an
individual or a group
Ethics comes from Greek word ethos, which
means character. Ethics studies the moral
behavior in human and how one should act.

COMPUTER ETHICS

Computer Ethicsis apartof practical philosophy

which deals with how computing professionals should
make decisions regarding professional and social
conduct

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OBJECTIVES OF ETHICS
To understand many kind of ethical issues in
Information technology
To understand the basic concepts of ethics in
Information technology development

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ETHICAL ISSUES
Privacy/Data Security: Privacy is the right of
people not to reveal information about
themselves. Example: E-Banking, E-Commerce
Prevention:
Change Password regularly
PIN (Personal Identification Number)
Property: Who owns the information
Accuracy: Who is responsible for the authenticity
and accuracy of information

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ETHICAL ISSUES (CONT..)

Accessibility: What information does a person
have a right to obtain
Plagiarism: Illegal copy paste activity
Not inserted the original author, if we use their
theory
Less Predictable/Less Reliable:
We dont know what virus attacks our system
eventhough we try to create our defensive system
(less predictable)
Less Reliable happened when internet traffic is full
(down)

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ETHICAL ISSUES (CONT..)

Un-Manageable-Out of Control Cost:
Good Example: Linex Operating System
Bad Example: Sometimes we dont know the
development of a program, some one could modify
the program until the initial creator dont know
what happen to the program

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ETHICAL ISSUES (CONT..)

Technology Manipulation:
Sound Manipulation: Example: Lisping
Photo Manipulation/Morphing: Changing of upper or
lower part of human being
Media Manipulation:

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MEDIA MANIPULATION:

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MEDIA MANIPULATION:

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CHAPTER 2: PRIVACY

Privacy and Computer Technology

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PRIVACY AND COMPUTER

TECHNOLOGY

Key Aspects of Privacy:

Freedom from interruption/disturbance

Control of information about oneself

Freedom from surveillance/Observation/Inspection

New Technology: New Risks:

Government and private databases

Sophisticated/Complicated tools for inspection and data
analysis
Vulnerability/weekness of data
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TERMINOLOGY:
Invisible information gathering Collection of
personal information about someone without
persons knowledge
Secondary Use Use of personal information for
a purpose other than the one it was provided for
Computer Profiling Analyzing in computer files
to determine characteristics of people most likely
to engage certain behavior
Data Mining Searching and analyzing masses
of data to fine patterns and develop new
information knowledge

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TERMINOLOGY (CONT..)

Computer Matching Combining and comparing

information from different databases
Principles for Data Collection and Use:
Informed consent or up to date approval
Fair information principles
Data maintenance

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DIVERSE/MISCELLANEOUS PRIVACY
TOPICS
Marketing, Personalization and consumer record
Credit record
Location Tracking: Global Position system (GPS)
Cell Phone and other devices are used for location
tracking

Stolen and Lost Data:

Hackers
Physical theft (Laptops, Thumb-drive, etc)
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DIVERSE PRIVACY TOPICS (CONT

Public Records: Access Vs. Privacy
Public Records: Record available to general
public
Privacy: What we do ourselves
Personal information in blogs and online profile
Pictures of ourselves and families
File sharing and storing

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PROTECTION PRIVACY
Privacy enhancing technologies for consumers
Business tools and policies for protecting data

Rights and Laws

Theories
Transactions
Ownership of personal data
Regulation
Consumer protection view
Free market view
Data protection directive/instruction

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COMMUNICATION
Designing communication system for interception
Wiretapping and E-Mail protection
Secret intelligence gathering
Secret Access to communications records
Encryption policy

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CHAPTER 3: FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Changing Communication Paradigms
First Amendment protection and government
regulation
Print media (Newspapers, Magazines, Books)
Broadcast (Television, Radio)
Common Carries (Telephones, Postal system)

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FREE-SPEECH PRINCIPLES:
Written for offensive/controversial speech and
ideas
Restriction on the power of government, not
individuals or private businesses
Supreme Court principles and guidelines
Advocating illegal act is legal
Allow some restrictions on advertising
Protect anonymous speech

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CONTROLLING OFFENSIVE SPEECH

Internet Censorship Laws and Alternatives:
Communication Decency Act (CDA)
Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA)

Filters:
Blocks sites with specific words, phrases or
images
Parental control for sex and violence
Updated frequently

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CONTROLLING OFFENSIVE SPEECH

Spam:
Bulk/Junk E-mails
Targets commercial spam

Political Campaign Regulation in Cyberspace:

Campaign Laws and Internet:
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA)

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ANONYMITY
Common Sense and the Internet:
Services available to send anonymous email
Anonym zing services used by individuals,
business, law enforcement agencies and
government intelligence services

Against Anonymity:
Fears:
It hides crime or protect criminals

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CHAPTER 4: INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY
Intellectual Property:
The intangible creative work, not its particular
physical form
Protected by copyright and patent law
Copyright holders have exclusive rights:
To make copies
To produce derivative works, such as translation
into other languages or movies based on books
To distribute copies
To perform the work in public
To display the work in public(e.g, Artwork, movies,
computer games, video on website)

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CHALLENGES OF NEW
TECHNOLOGY
Digital technology and the internet has made
copyright infringement easier and cheaper
New compression technologies have made copying
large files(e.g. graphics, video and audio files)
New tools allow us to modify graphics, video and
audio files
Scanner allow us to change the media of a copy
righted work, converting printed text, photos and
artwork to electronic form

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COPYRIGHT LAW AND SIGNIFICANT

CASES
A bit History:
1790 first copyright law passed
1909 Copyright act, defined an unauthorized copy as a
form that could be seen and read visually
1976 and 1980 copyright law revised to include
software and databases
1982 high volume copying became a crime
1992 making multiple copies for commercial
advantages and private gain became a felony
1998 Digital Millennium Copy right act (DMCA)
prohibits making, distributing or using tools
2005 congress made it a crime to record a movie in a
movie theater

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FAIR USE DOCTRINE/POLICY

Four factors considered
1. Purpose and nature of use Commercial or
non-profit purposes
2. Nature of the copyright work
3. Amount of significance or portion
4. Effect of use on potential market or value
No single factor alone determine
Not all factors given equal weight, varies by
circumstance

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SIGNIFICANT CASES:
Sharing music
File sharing

Copying and Sharing:

Ideas from the software industries
Expiration dates within the software
Copy protection hat prevent copying
Activation or registration codes
Banning, Suing and taxing
Ban or delay technology via lawsuits
CD-recoding devices
Digital Audio Tapes (DAT)
DVD Players
Portable MPS Players

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SEARCH ENGINES AND ONLINE

LIBRARIES
Search Engines:
Caching and displaying small excerpts is fair use
Creating and displaying thumbnail images is fair
use
Online Books

Free Speech Issues:

Domain Names:
Some companies buy numerous domain names
containing their name, so others cannot use them

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FREE SOFTWARE

Open source software distributed or made public

in source code (readable and modifiable)
Proprietary software (Commercial) sold in object
code (not modified) Example: Microsoft Office

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CHAPTER-5: CRIME
HACKING:
Defined as to gain illegal or unauthorized access
to a file, computer, or network
The term has changed over time
Phases of Hacking:
Phase 1: Early 1960s to 1970s
o It was a positive term
o A hacker was a creative programmer who wrote
elegant or clever code
o A hack was an especially clever piece of code

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HACKING
Phase 2: 1970s to Mid 1990s
Hacking took on negative connotations
Breaking into computers for which the hacker does
not have authorized access
Includes the spreading of computer worms and
viruses and phone breaking
Phase 3: Beginning with the Mid 1990s
o The growth of the web changed hacking, viruses
and worms could be spread rapidly
o Political hacking
o Large scale theft of personal and financial
information

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HACKING
The Law: Catching and Punishing Hackers:
1986: Congress passed the Computer Fraud and Abuse
Act (CFAA)
Political Hacking
A variety of methods for catching hackers
Penalties for young hackers
Responsibility for Security
Developers have a responsibility to use security tools
and monitor their systems to prevent attacks
Security: Internet started with open access as a means
of sharing information for research
Firewalls are used to monitor and filter out
communication

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IDENTITY THEFT AND CREDIT CARD

FRAUD
Stealing Identities:
Identity Theft: Various crimes in which a
criminal or large group use the identity of an
unknowing, innocent person
Use credit/debit card numbers, personal
information and social security numbers
E-commerce has made it easier to steal card
numbers and use without having the physical
card

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STEALING IDENTITIES
Techniques used to protect personal and financial
information
Activation for new credit cards
Retailers do not print the full card number and
expiration date on receipts
Services, like PayPal, act as third party allowing
a customer to make a purchase without revealing
their credit card information to stranger
Online Resume and job hunting sites may reveals
Social Security Numbers (SSNs), Work history,
birth date and other information

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IDENTITY THEFT AND CREDIT CARD

FRAUD
Biometrics: the science of measuring and
statistically analyzing biological data
Biological data is unique to an individuals

Digital Forgery:
o New technologies (Scanners and high quality
printers) are used to create fake cheque,
passports, visas, birth certificates, etc

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CHAPTER 6: ERRORS, FAILURES AND

RISKS
Failures and Errors in Computer Systems
Most computer applications are so complex, it is
virtually impossible to produce programs with no
errors
Individual Problems:
Billing Errors:
Inaccurate and misinterpreted data in databases
Large population where people may share names
Errors in data entry
Lack of accountability for errors
Overconfidence in the accuracy of data

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FAILURES AND ERRORS IN COMPUTER

SYSTEMS
System Failures:
AT&T, Amtrak, NASDAQ
Businesses have gone broke after spending huge
amounts of computer systems that failed

Software and Design Problems:

Re-used software from older system, unaware of
bugs in previous software
Weakness in design of operator interface
Bugs in software
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INCREASING RELIABILITY AND

SAFETY
What goes Wrong?
Design and development problems
Management and use problems
Misrepresentation, hiding problems and
inadequate response to reported problems
Insufficient market or legal incentives to do a
better job
Re-use of software without sufficiently
understanding the code and testing it
Failure to update or maintain a database
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INCREASING RELIABILITY AND

SAFETY
Professional techniques:
Importance of good software engineering and
professional responsibility
User interfaces and human factor
Feedback
Redundancy and self checking
Testing
Law, Regulation and Markets:
Criminal and civil penalties
Warranties for consumer software
Professional licensing
Taking responsibility

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DEPENDENCE, RISK AND PROGRESS

Are we too dependent on Computers?
Computers are tools
They are not the only dependence
Electricity
Risk and Progress:
Many new technologies were not very safe when
they were first developed
Develop and improve new technologies in response
to accidents and disasters
We should compare the risks of using computer
with the risks of other methods and the benefits to
be gained

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