Professional issues in IT Course overview, Schemes and Mind Maps of Computer Science

Download Professional issues in IT Course overview and more Schemes and Mind Maps Computer Science in PDF only on Docsity! Philosophy of ethics Chapter#1 Why Computer Ethics? • In the past, it was common to hear people say that technology is neutral— value neutral—and, therefore, ethics doesn’t have anything directly to do with technology. • Different scenarios illustrate the range and complexity of ethical issues surrounding IT, some might argue that it is not exactly the technology that poses the ethical challenges but rather the uses of the technology, that is, the humans and human behavior around the technology. Why Computer Ethics? • The man’s plans were ruined when everyone in the man’s network was notified of the purchase before the man had a chance to give the ring to his wife. Again users protested and Facebook dismantled Beacon. • Did Facebook violate the privacy of its members when it introduced changes to the architecture of Facebook? Why Computer Ethics? • Scholars in this field have spent a lot of time trying to understand whether and how ethical issues surrounding IT are distinctive. They have asked whether the issues are so different that new moral theories are needed, or whether traditional theories might be extended to apply. • “why computer ethics?” • Why does IT create ethical issues? Do we need a special field of study for IT ethics? • Part of the “why computer ethics?” question, thus, has to do with technology in general. Why do new technologies give rise to ethical issues? What exactly is the connection between ethics and technology? Why Computer Ethics? • IT seems to create many more ethical issues than other kinds of technology such as automobiles, electricity, and bridges. Perhaps there is something in particular about IT that disrupts and challenges prevailing moral norms and principles. Why Computer Ethics? • IT doesn’t just create new possibilities for individuals acting alone; new forms of collective and collaborative action are made possible as well. Interest groups on any topic imaginable can form online and take action collectively; companies can operate globally with a relatively high degree of control and speed of action because of the Internet. Families can stay in close communication (maintaining strong bonds) while members are living in geographically distant places Why Computer Ethics? • Computer ethicists have risen to the challenge of these new possibilities by taking up tough questions. Is data mining morally acceptable? Should software be proprietary? Are Internet domain names being distributed fairly? Should we build robots to take care of the elderly as the Japanese are doing? Should we delegate health decisions to artificially intelligent robot doctors? Should we insert intelligence chips in our brains? Who should be liable for inaccurate or slanderous information that appears in electronic forums? What should we do about child pornography on the Web? Some of these questions have been resolved (or, at least, concern has waned); some have been addressed by law; others continue to be controversial. Why Computer Ethics? • ethical questions arise from new possibilities? • The potential for good and ill often comes in a tangled package • Good consequences come along with negative consequences, trade- offs have to be made, and the technology has to be modified in response to political, social, and cultural conditions. • Ethical analysis considers the should-question and how a new possibility fits (or doesn’t fit) moral values, notions, and practices. Why Computer Ethics? • When computer software was first created, the challenge was to figure out how best to conceptualize it • The problem had to do with fitting computer software to prevailing intellectual property law; copyright and patent seemed the best possibilities • Could software be characterized as an expression of ideas? an application of abstract ideas? Could it be understood as something other than mental steps or mathematical algorithms? Or did a whole new set of laws have to be created specifically for computer software? If so, what should the new laws look like? Why Computer Ethics? • In summary, then, according to the standard account of computer ethics: • (1) ethical issues arise around IT because IT creates new possibilities for human action and there is a vacuum of policies with regard to the new possibilities • (2) the task of computer ethics is to evaluate the new possibilities and fill the policy vacuums, and • (3) a significant component of this task is addressing conceptual muddles. Why Computer Ethics? • The focus on newness suggests that computer ethics issues arise when the technology is first introduced • the issues get resolved when the policy vacuums are filled and the conceptual muddles sorted out. The reality is quite different. • policy vacuums sometimes go unfilled or they get filled • Sometimes policy vacuums are resolved with bad policies, policies with negative or undesirable consequences Reject Technological Determinism/Think Society and technology shape each other • Technology develops through a back-and-forth process that involves what is technologically possible and how society responds to the possibilities, pursuing some possibilities, rejecting others, and not even noticing others. So, technological determinism is not wrong insofar as it recognizes technology as a powerful force in shaping society; it is wrong to characterize this as “determining” society. Society and technology shape each other. Reject Technology as Material Objects/Think Sociotechnical Systems • The second major insight that STS theory provides involves the rejection of another presumption that people often make about technology. They think and speak as if “technology” refers to physical objects or artifacts. • artifacts (humanmade material objects) are components of technology, but artifacts have no meaning or significance or even usefulness unless they are embedded in social practices and social activities • First, technologies do not come into being; they are created by intentional human activity and, as already described, shaped by social forces • Producing a computer involves the organization of people and things into manufacturing plants, mining of materials, assembly lines, distribution systems, as well as the invention of computer languages, education and training of individuals with a variety of expertise, and more. In other words, technology is a social product. Example workplace monitoring system adopted by a corporation for use by those who supervise employees working on computers. The system is a social product in the sense that it took many people, organized in various ways and working intentionally, to develop the system. However, the system doesn’t work once the code is written. The company making the system will have had to figure out how to legally “own” the system (via patent or copyright or trade secrecy) before they make it available. Documentation will have to be written. The system will have to be advertised or marketed, and it will have to be distributed. If customers buy the system, users have to be trained; users have to learn how to adapt the system to their particular needs (kind of work being done, number of employees, kind of output desired); and users have to learn how to interpret and use the data produced by the system. The customer may have to write a new policy regarding the system; they may have to inform workers and obtain their consent. In short, in order for the workplace monitoring system to work, the software has to be embedded in a set of social practices. The thing we call a “workplace monitoring system” consists not just of software but the combination of software and human arrangements and social practices; these all work tooether to make a fiinctional «vetem. Micro- and Macro-Level Analysis • Micro level analysis focuses on individuals, their choices, and their behavior. • Macro issues are generally focused on groups or organizations or even countries, and they are generally concerned with policies, rules, or systems Micro- and Macro-Level Analysis • Sometimes micro-level questions are answered by referring to a rule established at the macro level. For example, if we focus on an individual who breaks into a computer system and gains unauthorized access and ask the micro-level question whether the individual did anything wrong, we may answer that question simply by referring to a macro-level rule or law. The following sentence is an example of the interaction of micro and macro ethical analysis: “The hacker was wrong to gain unauthorized access because it is illegal.” Why computer ethics? Technology is a part of human activity. It makes a difference in the way we live and act, it shapes the moral issues we confront and the courses of action (the options) that are available to us, and it affects the decisions we make, individually and collectively. The better we understand technology and how it shapes and is shaped by morality, the better our choices and decisions are likely to be. That is the answer to the first question. The second question arises because all technologies are not the same. Different technologies affect human activity and forms of life differently. The field of computer ethics focuses specifically on the role of IT in constituting the moral world. General studies of technology and ethics inform IT ethics, and IT ethics informs the broader study of technology and ethics. So the two work together. Yet another question at the beginning of the chapter can now be addressed. What, we asked, is the relationship between “ethics” and “IT ethics’? Why