Chapter 14Computer Ethics

Ethics vs. Laws

Laws = External rules established by society

Ethics = Internal or unspoken rules we use to determine the right and wrong things to do in our lives

Ethics: Normative and Applied

What is your moral compass?

Normative Ethics

Involves determining a standard or “norm” of ethical rule that affects ethical behavior.

Applied Ethics

Applied ethics involves determining how normative ethics should be applied to controversial real-life situations.

Computer Ethics

A branch of applied ethics, computer ethics, deals with the new ethical situations raised by computer technology.

Computer Ethics: Issues

Property protection issues—those involving the use and abuse of property

Privacy protection issues—those involving the use and abuse of personal information

Personal and social issues—those involving issues of personal morality or beliefs

Personal Privacy

Today a great deal of personal information is online. This is private information that is subject to stealing or misuse.

Commercial Threats to Privacy

• Cookies

• Global Unique Identifiers

• Tracking of Mobile Devices

Cookies

Cookies are small programs, no more than 255 characters in size, that are created and placed on a computer’s hard drive by Web sites. They keep track of a user’s information so she need not enter it each time she visits a site.

Persistent Cookies

Persistent cookies can remember:

• Passwords• User IDs• User preferences

A site is automatically customized to those preferences during repeat visits. Cookies record the user’s IP address, browser, computer operating system, and URLs visited.

GUIDs are identification numbers coded into both hardware and software. The use of GUIDs would eliminate any anonymity now enjoyed by Internet users.

GUIDs

In the United States, the right to remain anonymous is an important feature of democracy upheld by Supreme Court rulings.

If GUID use becomes widespread, it will always be possible to track down the originators of unpopular or controversial messages or ideas, a severe blow to Internet privacy.

Cell Phone/HandheldPrivacy Issues

• Tracking the location of wireless devices to target them with ads

• Chips in cell phones and PDAs may soon contain all of a person’s personal identity information

Protection fromComputer Threats

Industry Self-regulation

Government Regulation

Consumer Self-protection

Industry Self-Regulation

Seeking to allay consumer privacy concerns, many commercial Web sites have adopted privacy statements.

A privacy statement promises that an e-tailer will protect the confidentiality of any information revealed by a customer.

Industry Self-Regulation

To lend greater credibility to its privacy statement, a company can use one of a number of third-party organizations formed to foster industry self-regulation.

BBBOnLine

TRUSTe

WebTrust

Online Privacy Alliance

The Online Privacy Alliance (OPA) believes that a combination of regulatory and self-regulatory measures can protect users against online invasions of privacy.

OPA Recommendations:• Web sites should adopt privacy policy statements that address disclosure of information and data security.

• Web sites should use independent monitoring organizations, such as BBBOnLine and TRUSTe, to ensure that their stated policies are carried out properly.

Network Advertising Initiative

An Internet ad group of 90 percent of Internet advertisers reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission that stipulates: • Web users must be told when an advertiser attempts to take consumer profiles.

• A Web user will now, by law, have the right to opt out of participation in such profiling.

NetRecall

Authentica’s NetRecall server and client plug-in software lets users designate that files they send to others have one-time-only viewing rights, must be viewed only within a few hours’ time frame, or cannot be copied or forwarded to a third party.

Government Regulation

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is aimed at protecting children under the age of 13 from privacy violations.

It prohibits the gathering and sharing of personal data without the permission of parents or legal guardians.

COPPA covers any Web site directed at children or any operation that believes it may be dealing with children.

Legislation introduced in 2003 includes bills to address privacy in the collection, disclosure, and sale of personal information on the Internet.

Consumer Self Protection

Consumers can protect their privacy by ensuring that their financial transactions are done on secure sites protected by encryption technology, such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

SSL-protected sites display an “s” after the http in their URL.

Consumer Self Protection

Other safety measures:

• Avoid Internet sites without privacy statements

• Disable the cookie function

• Limit the amount of personal information voluntarily provided.

Government Threats to Privacy

E-mail monitoring and sniffing software

Encryption restrictions

E-mail Monitoring and Sniffing

The FBI developed an Internet wiretap program named Carnivore.

Carnivore can surgically intercept communications while ignoring messages it is not authorized to intercept.

During criminal investigations, the FBI installs Carnivore at the office of the suspect’s Internet service provider.

In 2002, the FBI renamed the e-mail sniffing software DCS1000, after a review group suggested a name change and a strict monitoring program to prevent abuse of the program’s power.

Organizations have drafted policies to protect employees, such as the American Civil Liberties Union’s Fair Electronic Monitoring Policy.

But until legal protection is enacted, every aspect of an employee’s computer use in the workplace may be under surveillance.

Workplace Threats to Privacy

Monitoring Software: Employers currently have broad rights to monitor their employees by listening to workplace phone conversations and tracking computer and Internet use.

Property Protection Issues

Computer technology enables users to copy and distribute intellectual property that is protected by copyrights or patents.

The wealth of material on the Internet has led some to copy written work and present it as their own, making plagiarism increasingly common.

Intellectual Property Protection

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998

Intellectual Property Protection

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 covers the changes to Fair Use brought about by computers and the Internet.

Software industry organizations such as the Software Publishers Association (SPA) and the Business Software Alliance (BSA) work to prosecute those using illegal software.

Personal and Social Issues

• Proliferation of pornographic and hate speech Web sites

Efforts to control or shut down these sites have generally met with failure because they are protected by the right to free speech.

The Child Pornographic Protection Act of 1996 does prohibit child pornography and is vigorously enforced.

Parents, guardians, and teachers can install filtering software to prevent access of unwanted sites. Acceptable use policies guide schools about Internet use.

Personal and Social Issues

• The Digital Divide: Gap between those who can access digital technologies and those who cannot.

The United States government and the private sector continue to make efforts to bring digital technology to all those who want it.

Bridging the gap in developing nations is more difficult, given that many communities in those nations lack even the most basic infrastructures, such as adequate electricity or telephone lines.

Personal and Social Issues

• Poorly Designed Software: Every day computer users around the world experience problems attributed to poor software design.

The Uniform Commercial Code protects the consumer’s right to return goods.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Association for Computing Machinery have created a code of ethics regarding software creation.

Personal and Social Issues

• Accessibility: People with certain disabilities may be unable to use computers and the Internet.

The United States government issued new rules in late 2000 ordering almost all government Web sites to be fully Web accessible within six months.

Apple Computer has pioneered efforts to make its products friendly to people with disabilities: “sticky keys” feature and “close view” feature.

Need for Personal Ethics Codes

Computers are powerful tools, capable of great good or great harm.

It is a good idea to examinesome of the codes of ethicswritten by others and todevelop a personal ethical code.

On the Horizon

NEW LAWS ADDRESSING COMPUTER ETHICS ISSUES

. In the future, we will see increased legislation ensuring the right to privacy and addressing other ethical concerns involving computer use and abuse.

On the Horizon

ISSUES REGARDING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND AVATARS

• Should computer users necessarily be warned that they are dealing with an avatar and not a human being?

• Are there certain behaviors that avatars should be prevented from emulating?

• In what ways might avatars be used by some for criminal activities, and how can such behavior be prevented?

On the Horizon

ISSUES REGARDING SELF-REPLICATION OF ROBOTSAND THE HUMAN REPERCUSSIONS

Have we created a technology that might someday displace, dominate, or even eliminate human beings?

How can we know?

What can we do about it—or is it already too late?

On the Horizon

CONTINUING EFFORTS TO NARROW THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

Should poorer nations be encouraged to concentrate on gaining basic needs?

Or should they be encouraged to focus on developing digital technologies in order to “catch up” with developed nations?

On the Horizon

GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL OF INTERNET CONTENT

Should the government be allowed to censor objectionable content?

Is all content covered under the right to free speech?