AENG 223 Professional Ethics and Conduct Lecture 1

AENG 223 Professional Ethics and Conduct Lecture 1 Computer Ethics 2/22/2021 A. Parperi AENG 223: Professional Ethics and Conduct Slide 1 1

Course Objectives • • Ethical behaviour. Ethical decisions. Ethical professional practices. Code of conduct. Public speaking. Interactive speaking. Assessment. 2/22/2021 A. Parperi AENG 223: Professional Ethics and Conduct Slide 1 2

Scenarios • Should I copy proprietary software? • Should my company make use of data mining technology? • Freedom of expression. • What is my professional responsibility? 2/22/2021 A. Parperi AENG 223: Professional Ethics and Conduct Slide 1 3

Ethical Issues • Diverse character of ethical issues in information technology: – Property rights. – Privacy. – Free speech. – Professional ethics. • New ethics for the “computer era” or old ethical issues in a new guise? 2/22/2021 A. Parperi AENG 223: Professional Ethics and Conduct Slide 1 4

Ethical Issues • Why computer and information technology gives rise to ethical issues? • It is not the first technology to raise concerns. • New technologies bring benefits as well as problems (nuclear power, nuclear waste). 2/22/2021 A. Parperi AENG 223: Professional Ethics and Conduct Slide 1 5

Computer Ethics • Central task: Determine what we should do and what our policies should be, both personal and social (Moor James, H. ). • Vacuum of policies surrounding computers and information technology. • Cookies from a website? • Data mining morally acceptable? • Internet domain distribution. • Slanderous newsgroups and bulletin boards. • Reproduce images and data. 2/22/2021 A. Parperi AENG 223: Professional Ethics and Conduct Slide 1 6

Clarifying Conceptual Muddles • Policies lead to complex issues. • Moral landscape is fluid and sometimes politically controversial. • Consider free speech on the Internet. • Freedom of expression yields into a complex legal and political environment. 2/22/2021 A. Parperi AENG 223: Professional Ethics and Conduct Slide 1 7

Traditionalist Account • All that is necessary is to take traditional moral norms and the principles on which they are based, and apply them on new situations created by the computer and information technology. • For example apply the existing legal system. • However it oversimplifies the task of computer ethics. • Also in our effort to apply “old legislation” to new technology there is the danger of missing the new opportunities that accompany the new technology 2/22/2021 A. Parperi AENG 223: Professional Ethics and Conduct Slide 1 8

A Step Beyond • The traditionalist account runs the risk of not taking into advantage the new features offered by information technology. • The study of computer ethics can be seen as a window of studying through which we view society (activities, ideals, social, political and economic forces at work). • Computer and information technology can be used as much to keep things the same as to cause change. • Therefore policy vacuums cannot be filled without taking social context into account. 2/22/2021 A. Parperi AENG 223: Professional Ethics and Conduct Slide 1 9

Moral and Legal Issues • Law is neither the beginning or the ending place when it comes to addressing ethical issues. • Ethical analysis proceeds the law. • What is needed is computer ethics to fill the vacuum of policies and in some cases laws and social conventions. 2/22/2021 A. Parperi AENG 223: Professional Ethics and Conduct Slide 1 10