EthicsEthics

CS351CS351

What are ethics?What are ethics?

• Dictionary:– 1. A system or set of moral principles.– 2. The rules of conduct recognized in respect to a

particular class of human actions or governing a particular group, culture. (e.g. medical ethics).

– 3. The branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of actions, and the goodness and badness of motives and ends.

• What saves us from the lawyers!

SituationsSituations

• The following situations come from “real life”.

• They were told by Dr. Starkey who was department head at the time.

• Dr. Starkey has given his permission for me to use these situations in CS351.

Situation 1Situation 1

• A few years ago, a first semester senior in Computer Science at MSU, top in his/her class with a 3.85 cumulative with OSCS.

• (S)he asked an OSCS manager for the superuser password on the Computer Science systems so that “(s)he could do some systems improvements.”

Situation 1 (cont.)Situation 1 (cont.)

• The manager gave him/her the password with no further questions and without checking with CS.

• (S)he used the password to break into Dr. Paxton's protected account and look at a CS 436 test in preparation.

• (S)he also copied Dr. Paxton's solution to a CS 436 programming assignment and submitted it, with minor modifications, as his/her own.

Situation 1 (cont.)Situation 1 (cont.)

• When challenged, (s)he admitted the actions described above, and signed a letter agreeing to all charges.

• All faculty agreed that there was no sign that problems like this had occurred with this student before, and that this time (s)he seems to have been tempted by a wide open door in OSCS security, combined with fear of getting a B.

Situation 1 (cont.)Situation 1 (cont.)

• There were a number of questions that came up immediately:

• 1. What action should Dr. Paxton take against the student. Major options include:– a. a warning– b. F's on the programming assignment and/or the test– c. F on the course– d. report to the Dean of Students for possible dismissal or

suspension– 2. What action should OSCS take against the student?– 3. What action should OSCS take against the manager?

Situation 1 (cont.)Situation 1 (cont.)

• 4. Five months later Dr. Starkey was having lunch with a recruiter who announced that she was intending to make an offer to the student.– If he is asked for any comments, should Dr.

Starkey report the incident?– If he is not asked for any comments, should

Dr.\ Starkey report the incident?

Situation 2Situation 2

• A former student phones up Dr. Starkey at 8:15 in the morning (i.e. before his first cup of coffee) and asks for advice.

• (S)he says that (s)he graduated three years before, but will not give his/her name or company.

• (S)he works for a small company, and is currently the systems manager there.

Situation 2 (cont.)Situation 2 (cont.)

• The President (and owner) of the company asks him/her whether his/her former manager has a particular file on a company computer, and if he has, then the President wants a copy of the file.

• (S)he knows that the former manager does have the file, and also expects that if (s)he gives a copy of the file to the President then his/her former manager will probably be fired.

Situation 2 (cont.)Situation 2 (cont.)

• Meanwhile, the former manager comes to him/her and asks that (s)he download the file on to his personal PC and then delete the file from the company computers.

• (S)he appears to be a friend of his/her former manager.

• If (s)he does give the file to the President all other employees would know that (s)he was the only one capable of doing this.

Situation 2 (cont.)Situation 2 (cont.)

• What should Dr. Starkey advise him/her to do?

Situation 3Situation 3

• An MSU CS graduate works for a large software company, which lets employees buy company PC software packages, at cost, for their personal use.

• (S)he shares an apartment with another company employee who has been using this to obtain software very cheap and then trading it for hardware.

Situation 3 (cont.)Situation 3 (cont.)

• The roomate has used this to acquire a personal system that is worth about $10,000.

• The former student contacts a friend at MSU who asks Dr. Starkey for advice to pass on to him/her.

• What should Dr. Starkey advise him/her to do?

Situation 4Situation 4

• The security officer (SO) in OSCS phoned up Dr. Starkey and told him that a graduate student account had connected twice to icsds@gemini, Starkey’s account.

• After some more research the SO found that two rlogins had been attempted, but password attempts had failed, so the student had not made it into the faculty account

Situation 4 (cont.)Situation 4 (cont.)

• The SO also reported the incident to the Dean of Students for further action.

• Subsequently the student was able to demonstrate that the login attempt was accidental.

• If it had not been accidental, what should the department and/or university have done.

DOLCEDOLCE

• Developing OnLine Computer Ethics

• A Quiz

• Decide if each issue involves an ethical decision:

QUIZQUIZ

• Deciding whether to buy a paper online?

QUIZQUIZ

• Ethical Decision Non-Ethical Decision

• Deciding whether to buy a paper online?

• Deciding whether to make your Website handicap accessible.

QUIZQUIZ

• Deciding whether to buy a paper online?

• Deciding whether to make your Website handicap accessible.

• Requiring that all freshmen buy laptops.

QUIZ (cont.)QUIZ (cont.)

• Deciding whether to meet your software engineering project group or to go to the movies?

QUIZ (cont.)QUIZ (cont.)

• Deciding whether to meet your software engineering project group or to go to the movies?

• Deciding whether to sell encryption s/w abroad.

QUIZ (cont.)QUIZ (cont.)

• Deciding whether to meet your software engineering project group or to go to the movies.

• Deciding whether to sell encryption s/w abroad.

• Deciding to sell personal information acquired at your Web site.

QUIZ (cont.)QUIZ (cont.)

• Writing a virus to explore the security holes of a network.

QUIZ (cont.)QUIZ (cont.)

• Writing a virus to explore the security holes of a network.

• Trying that virus out.

QUIZ (cont.)QUIZ (cont.)

• Writing a virus to explore the security holes of a network.

• Trying that virus out.

• Using shareware for your course projects.

QUIZ (cont.)QUIZ (cont.)

• Writing a virus to explore the security holes of a network.

• Trying that virus out.

• Using shareware for your course projects.

• Talking in a chat room.

QUIZ (cont.)QUIZ (cont.)

• Writing a virus to explore the security holes of a network.

• Trying that virus out.

• Using shareware for your course projects.

• Talking in a chat room.

• Deciding to release your product to meet a deadline even though testing has not been completed.

QUIZ (cont.)QUIZ (cont.)

• Forwarding a chain letter through email.

Issues with ethical implicationsIssues with ethical implications

• Privacy

• Security

• Identity Theft

• Common Business Practices

• Company Policy

• Intellectual Property

• Non-Disclosure Agreements

Issues (cont.)Issues (cont.)

• Property rights.

• Accountability.

• Legal Liability.

• Prejudice.– Race– Age– Sex

Issues (cont.)Issues (cont.)

• Hacking

• Crime

• Community Values

• Campus Ethics

• Education (ABET)

Issues (cont.)Issues (cont.)

• Copyright

• Censorship

• Freedom of Speech

• Patents

• Trademarks