professional ethics in computingafkjm/csce470/handouts/ethics.pdfacm code of ethics and professional...

1

Professional Ethics in

Computing

Who are these guys and what are

their purported ethical lapses?

2

2

Other Motivation

• Tanaina Database

• http://www.unemployedprofessors.com/

Ethical Drivers

• Legal

– Government regulations, intellectual property,

health and safety, data protection

• Professional

– ACM/IEEE/BCS code of conduct

• Broader personal values

– Individual moral issues

http://www.unemployedprofessors.com/

3

Legal Examples

• Legislation still a moving target

– Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

• Postponed Jan. 2012 after widespread concerns,

especially from search engines

• Existing legislation

– Digital Millennium Copyright Act

• Criminalizes production and dissemination of

technology, devices, or services intended to

circumvent measures that control access to

copyright works

Government and Privacy

• Patriot Act on collecting personal information

– Snowden leak

• HIPAA requires encryption of health data

• European Union Data Protection Directive

– Notice. Users should be given notice when their data are being collected.

– Purpose. Data should only be used for the purpose stated and not for any

other purposes.

– Consent. Data should not be disclosed without the data subject’s consent.

– Security. Collected data should be kept secure from any potential abuses.

– Disclosure. Users should be informed as to who is accessing their data.

– Access. Users should be allowed to access their data and make corrections

to any inaccurate data.

– Accountability. Users should have a method available to them to hold data

collectors accountable for following the above principles.

4

ACM Code of Ethics and

Professional Conduct

• General Moral Imperatives

– Contribute to society and general well being

– Avoid harm to others

– Be honest and trustworthy

– Be fair and do not discriminate

– Honor property rights

– Give credit where due

– Respect privacy of others

ACM Code of Ethics

• More Specific Professional Responsibilities– Strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness and dignity in

both the process and products of professional work

– Acquire and maintain professional competence

– Know and respect existing laws pertaining to professional work

– Accept and provide appropriate professional review

– Give comprehensive and thorough evaluations of computer systems and their impacts, including analysis of possible risks

– Honor contracts, agreements, and assigned responsibilities

– Improve public understanding of computing and its consequences

– Access computing and communication resources only when authorized to do so

5

ACM Code of Ethics

• Organizational Leadership Imperatives– Articulate social responsibilities of members of an organizational

unit and encourage full acceptance of those responsibilities

– Manage personnel and resources to design and build information systems that enhance the quality of working life

– Acknowledge and support proper and authorized uses of an organization's computing and communication resources

– Ensure that users and those who will be affected by a system have their needs clearly articulated during the assessment and design of requirements; later the system must be validated to meet requirements

– Articulate and support policies that protect the dignity of users and others affected by a computing system

– Create opportunities for members of the organization to learn the principles and limitations of computer systems

IEEE Code of Ethics

1. To accept responsibility in making decisions

consistent with the safety, health and welfare of

the public, and to disclose promptly factors that

might endanger the public or the environment;

2. To avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest

whenever possible, and to disclose them to

affected parties when they do exist;

3. To be honest and realistic in stating claims or

estimates based on available data

6

IEEE Code of Ethics

4. To reject bribery in all its forms

5. To improve the understanding of technology, its

appropriate application, and potential

consequences

6. To maintain and improve our technical competence

and to undertake technological tasks for others only

if qualified by training or experience, or after full

disclosure of pertinent limitations

7. To seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of

technical work, to acknowledge and correct errors,

and to credit properly the contributions of others

IEEE Code of Ethics

8. To treat fairly all persons regardless of such

factors as race, religion, gender, disability, age,

or national origin

9. To avoid injuring others, their property,

reputation, or employment by false or malicious

actions

10.To assist colleagues and co-workers in their

professional development and to support them

in following this code of ethics

7

Ethics

• Code of ethics is good, but they are general

principles

• There are many personal and societal issues related

to computing and information

• Decisions regarding these issues should be well-

informed and well-reasoned. What is a more

general approach to make such decisions?

Ethical Reasoning Techniques

• Utilitarian Consequentialism

• Deontological Arguments

• Analogies

A runaway trolley is hurtling down the tracks

toward five people who will be killed if it

proceeds on its present course. You can save

these five people by diverting the trolley onto a

different set of tracks, one that has only one

person on it, but if you do this that person will

be killed. Is it morally permissible to turn the

trolley and thus prevent five deaths at the cost

of one?

8

Case Studies

• Case 1: The story of MP3 – compression

codes, musicians, and money

• Case 2: PGP: The U.S. Government vs. Phil

Zimmermann

• Case 3: Hackers: Public enemies or gadflies?

Case 1: The Story of MP3 –

Compression Codes, Musicians,

and Money

• MP3 protocol

– Compresses digital files that store audio

information

• Napster

– Enabled peer-to-peer file sharing

– Allowed users to share music files with other

users and obtain music files from other users

9

• Recording companies filled a suit against Napster on grounds of copyright infringement

• Napster lost the case and subsequent appeals• Ethical question

– Is it ethically right to swap copyrighted MP3 files?

• Ethics– The study of how to decide if something is

morally right or wrong


Compression Codes,

Musicians, and Money

• A consequentialist focuses on the

consequences of an act to determine if the

act is good or bad

• Utilitarians

– The most well-known consequentialists

– Focus on the consequences of an act on

everyone to determine if it is good or bad



and Money (continued)

10

Utilitarians

• Cosmic calculator that can measure

happiness of all humans

• Act in question is good if:

– Happiness_After > Happiness_Before

• Otherwise, the act is bad

• “The needs of the many outweigh the

needs of the few or the one”

• Utilitarian argument #1: MP3 copying is OK

• Utilitarian argument #2: MP3 copying is not

OK




11

• A dialectic– Move back and forth between different

viewpoints, criticizing each and trying to learn

from each

– Goal: both sides move closer to the truth from

two different perspectives

– Check the facts for MP3 case, sales up or

down?




Case 2: PGP: The U.S.

Government vs. Phil

Zimmermann

• Phillip Zimmermann

– Concerned about bills introduced in the U.S.

Congress to allow the government to restrict

the use of encryption

– Developed the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy)

encryption algorithm

– Made PGP freely available to anyone

12

• U.S. Government started a criminal

investigation against Zimmermann

– Claim: Zimmermann had released a

technology that would allow criminals and

terrorists to avoid detection by law

enforcement agencies


Government vs. Phil

Zimmermann (continued)

• Ethical question

– Was it right for Zimmerman to distribute his encryption program, or was the government right to try to prohibit its distribution?

• Analogies can be used to explore the similarities and differences of ethical questions– Have to make sure the analogy is appropriate


Government vs. Phil


13

25

• A dialectic argument that uses analogies

– One analogy supports a particular view of the

situation

– Another analogy supports an opposing view

of the situation

– The participants in the discussion explore the

strengths and weaknesses of each argument


Government vs. Phil


• Simplification for exploring the PGP controversy

using analogies– The discussion is limited to the use of the PGP

algorithm for email security

• Analogy #1: Email is like a private conversation

• Analogy #2: Email is like phone conversations

• Analogy #3: Email is like the postal system.


Government vs. Phil


14

• Analogies give a better understanding of the

ethical issues behind the PGP debate

– A decision about PGP affects security and

privacy

• Catching criminals and stopping terrorists are

two good things

• Having personal privacy is a good thing


Government vs. Phil


• The utilitarian perspective:

– What would be the consequences of enforcing a ban on PGP? In its most fundamental form, PGP is just an idea.

– What would be the consequences of allowing people to use PGP?


Government vs. Phil


15

• Using analogies and a utilitarian analysis:

– The increased security of a PGP ban would

be bought at a very high price


Government vs. Phil


Case 3: Hackers: Public

Enemies or Gadflies?

• Definition of “hacking” for this discussion

– Gaining unauthorized access to someone

else’s computer system

• Ethical question

– Is there an ethical case to be made in support

of computer hackers?

16

• Analogy

– Breaking into a computer is like breaking into

someone’s house

• The similarities and differences between

burglars and hackers should be analyzed

• Utilitarian analysis

– What is gained/lost when a computer is

hacked



(continued)

32

• Two challenges when using a utilitarian

argument

– It is sometimes hard to predict consequences

with any accuracy

– There seems to be a distinction between

“good hackers” and “bad hackers”



(continued)

17

• A deontological argument can be used to try to meet these challenges that may arise in a dialectic utilitarian argument

• Deontological arguments focus on

– Intent of an act

– How that act is/is not defensible

– Not the result of the act

• Kant: Never treat a fellow human merely as a means to an end. Actions are morally wrong if they are inconsistent with the status of a person as a free and rational being, and that, conversely, acts that further the status of people as free and rational beings are morally right



• Hacker Ethic– Information sharing is a powerful positive good, and it is

the ethical duty of hackers to facilitate access to

information and computing resources wherever possible

– System cracking for fun and exploration is ethically OK as

long as the cracker commits no theft, vandalism, or breach

of confidentiality

• Deontological perspective on hacking– Is the act of hacking into another person’s computer

system inherently unethical?

• At the end of the analysis, questions are raised

about the claims of the hacker ethic



(continued)

18

35

Thinking Straight about

Technology and Ethics

• A “paramedic method” for computer ethics

– Goal is not to become a research ethicist, but

to gain skills in:

• Recognizing ethical questions regarding

computing

• Reasoning carefully about answers to those

questions



(continued)• Questions to ask in dealing with an ethical

problem

1. Who are the stakeholders in this situation?

2. What does each stakeholder have to gain or

lose?

3. What duties and responsibilities in this

situation are important to the stakeholders?

19

• Questions to ask in dealing with an ethical

problem (continued)

4. Can you think of an analogous situation that

does not involve computing? If so, does that

analogous situation clarify the situation that

does involve computing?

5. Either make a decision or revisit the steps



(continued)

38

What We Covered

• Existing codes of ethics for software

professionals

• Introduced a few of the issues involving

technology and society

• Discussed how to apply the following to

computer ethics– Utilitarian ideas

– Deontological ideas

– Analogies

20

Example – Stopping Music

Piracy• You work for a music company and people are

pirating your music

– Supposed to only copy music files a limited number of

times

• Proposed technical solution

– Include a player on music CD’s that when installed,

also installs a superuser program

– Superuser program enforces copy limitations and

hides itself to prevent the user from removing it

• Is this an ethical approach?

Example – Collecting System

Info• Your application can experience problems

depending on the state of the user’s

system

– To better refine your app you could write a

second program that is installed with your app

that collects usage info, system info, and

anonymously sends this data to your server

– Programmers can analyze the received data

and make improvements

• Is this an ethical approach?

21

Case Study

• Peter and Allan, who both share the same office, are systems

designers at QBase, a company that specialisez in the development

of computer databases. Peter is a newly converted Muslim and is

committed to perform his prayers regularly. Unfortunately he is

having difficulty saying his prayer around 1:00 pm in the afternoon.

His prayer takes only 2-3 minutes and does not require any special

rituals or arrangements. He could offer his prayer in the office by

standing and facing in one direction and mutely reciting a few

verses, but he is afraid Allan might not feel comfortable about that.

He could offer his prayer at his house which is close by his office

but the return-trip takes usually 20-25 minutes and that time is taken

from work.

• What are relevant principles from the ACM or IEEE code of ethics?

Ethical Simulator

• http://seeri.etsu.edu/Ethics/EthicalSimulato

r/1024/index.html

http://seeri.etsu.edu/Ethics/EthicalSimulator/1024/index.html

22

Fictitional Case Study

• Derek Evans used to work for a small computer

firm that specializes in developing software for

management tasks. Derek was a primary

contributor in designing an innovative software

system for customer services. This software

system is essentially the "lifeblood" of the firm.

The small computer firm never asked Derek to

sign an agreement that software designed

during his employment there becomes the

property of the company. However, his new

employer did.

Software…

• Derek is now working for a much larger

computer firm. Derek's job is in the customer

service area, and he spends most of his time on

the telephone talking with customers having

systems problems. This requires him to cross

reference large amounts of information. It now

occurs to him that by making a few minor

alterations in the innovative software system he

helped design at the small computer firm the

task of cross referencing can be greatly

simplified.

23

Software…

• On Friday Derek decides he will come in early Monday

morning to make the adaptation. However, on Saturday

evening he attends a party with two of his old friends,

you and Horace Jones. Since it has been some time

since you have seen each other, you spend some time

discussing what you have been doing recently. Derek

mentions his plan to adapt the software system on

Monday. Horace asks, "Isn't that unethical? That system

is really the property of your previous employer." "But,"

Derek replies, "I'm just trying to make my work more

efficient. I'm not selling the system to anyone, or

anything like that. It's just for my use -- and, after all, I did

help design it. Besides, it's not exactly the same system -

- I've made a few changes."

Software

• What follows is a discussion among the

three of you. What is your contribution?

24

Software

• Derek installs the software Monday morning.

Soon everyone is impressed with his efficiency.

Others are asking about the "secret" of his

success. Derek begins to realize that the

software system might well have company-wide

adaptability. This does not go unnoticed by his

superiors. So, he is offered an opportunity to

introduce the system in other parts of the

company.

Software…

• Now Derek recalls the conversation at the party, and he

begins to wonder if Horace was right after all. He

suggests that his previous employer be contacted and

that the more extended use of the software system be

negotiated with the small computer firm. This move is

firmly resisted by his superiors, who insist that the

software system is now the property of the larger firm.

Derek balks at the idea of going ahead without talking

with the smaller firm. If Derek doesn't want the new job,

they reply, someone else can be invited to do it; in any

case, the adaptation will be made.

• What should Derek do now?

25

GM

• Charged with installing computer chips that resulted in

emitting excessive amounts of carbon dioxide from their

Cadillacs, General Motors agreed in December 1995 to

recall nearly 500,000 late-model Cadillacs and pay

nearly $45 million in fines and recall costs. Lawyers for

the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice

Department contended that G.M. knew that the design

change would result in pollution problems. Rejecting this

claim, G.M. released a statement saying that the case

was "a matter of interpretation" of complex regulations,

but that it had "worked extremely hard to resolve the

matter and avoid litigation."

GM…

• According to EPA and Justice Department officials, the

$11 million civil penalty was the third largest penalty in a

pollution case, the second largest under such penalty

under the Clean Air Act, and the largest involving motor

vehicle pollution. This was also the first case of a court

ordering an automobile recall to reduce pollution rather

than to improve safety or dependability.

26

GM…

• Government officials said that in 1990 a new computer

chip was designed for the engine controls of Cadillac

Seville and Deville models. This was in response to car

owners complaints that these cars tended to stall when

the climate control system was running. The chips

injected additional fuel into the engine whenever this

system was running. But this resulted in tailpipe

emissions of carbon dioxide well in excess of the

regulations.

GM…

• Although the cars are usually driven with the climate control system

running, tests used for certifying the meeting of emission standards

were conducted when the system was not running. This was

standard practice for emission tests throughout the automotive

industry.

• However, EPA officials argued that, under the Clean Air Act, G.M.

should have informed them that the Cadillac’s design was changed

in a way that would result in violating pollution standards under

normal driving conditions. In 1970, the officials said, automobile

manufacturers were directed not to slip around testing rules by

designing cars that technically pass the tests but that, nevertheless,

cause avoidable pollution. G.M.’s competitors, the officials

contended, complied with that directive.

27

GM…

• A G.M. spokesperson said that testing emissions with

the climate control running was not required because, "It

was not in the rules, not in the regulations; it’s not in the

Clean Air Act." However, claiming that G.M. discovered

the problem in 1991, Justice Department environmental

lawyer Thomas P. Carroll objected to G.M.’s continued

inclusion of the chip in the 1992-5 models: "They should

have gone back and re-engineered it to improve the

emissions."

GM…

• In agreeing to recall the vehicles, G.M. said it now had a

way of controlling the stalling problem without increasing

pollution. This involves "new fueling calibrations," G.M.

said, and it "should have no adverse effect on the

driveability of the vehicles involved.“

• If you were a computer engineer working on this project

what ethical responsibilities would you have?

28

Reddit user, Violentacrez

• Slate.com– Gawker’s Adrian Chen revealed the real-life identity of one of

social news site Reddit’s most notorious users. Online, the man

known as Violentacrez has been active in such Reddit forums as

“Chokeabitch,” “Misogyny,” “Incest,” “PicsofDeadKids,” and

“Creepshots,” a subreddit that encouraged men to snap

sexualized stalker photos of women in public, then share them

online with creeps everywhere. IRL, Violentacrez is a 49-year-

old computer programmer at a Texas financial services company

named Michael Brutsch. His outing on Gawker has reopened a

longstanding debate surrounding anonymity, freedom of

expression, and harassment online.

Violentacrez

• Reddit… where the only community value more

important than saying whatever you want is not saying

who anyone else is…

• “Under Reddit logic, outing Violentacrez is worse than

anonymously posting creepshots of innocent women,

because doing so would undermine Reddit's role as a

safe place for people to anonymously post creepshots of

innocent women,” Chen wrote. After Chen outed the troll,

many subreddits banned all Gawker links.

• Does inappropriate behavior trump the right to privacy?

professional ethics in computingafkjm/csce470/handouts/ethics.pdfacm code of ethics and professional...

Documents