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Computer Ethics Novice Level

Computer Ethics Novice Level. What are Ethics?. According to the Webster Dictionary, ethics is the system or code of morals of a particular person, religion, group or profession. Ethics are subject to personal interpretation. Two people may not view the same ethical issue the same way.

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Computer Ethics Novice Level

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  1. Computer EthicsNovice Level

  2. What are Ethics? • According to the Webster Dictionary, ethics is the system or code of morals of a particular person, religion, group or profession. • Ethics are subject to personal interpretation. Two people may not view the same ethical issue the same way.

  3. What are Ethics? (continued) • Ethical issues are not legal issues. • Individuals can choose if they wish to follow the ethical guideline or not. • Legal issues have documented definitions (laws) and specific consequences if the laws are broken. • Ethical issues are guidelines set by a specific group of people with no real documented definitions of what is right and what is wrong.

  4. Three Ethical Decision Theories 1. Utilitarianism Theory • Considers the ethical issue and its relationship to individuals • Makes decision a decision based on what benefits the most people • "The greater good of the most people". Utilitarianism Example: An 8:00 am class has 10 students in it. Nine of those students and the Teaching Assistant (TA) all live in Friley Hall, which is on one side of campus, while one student lives in Hawthorn Court, on the other side of campus. The TA decides to move the lecture to Pearson Hall instead of Lagomarcino Hall, as Pearson is much closer to the ten individuals' dorm than the one individuals' dorm. This benefits 10 people and inconveniences one person, thus more people are benefited than not.

  5. Three Ethical Decision Theories(cont.) • 2. Pluralism Theory • Believes there are two options in an ethical issue, right and wrong decisions • Pluralism stresses each person has a decision-making duty, must make ethical decisions based on that duty, and never break away from the decision-making duty. • All decisions are clear-cut, black and white Pluralism Example: • No one should ever lie. Your best friend recently was picked up for OWI. Ten minutes before the arrest you were in the vehicle and knew your friend was intoxicated. The police have asked about your whereabouts during this time and if you could attest to your friends' intoxicated state. You have to make a decision to lie or tell the truth. You decide to tell the truth because you have a duty to always tell the truth.

  6. Three Ethical Decision Theories(cont.) • 3. Rights-based Theory • All people have rights, and those rights must be respected • Decisions are based on respecting individual rights • All decisions are clear-cut, black and white Rights-based Example: • You are a network administrator with access to many email accounts. The temptation to read personal email is strong. However, you know you should never read a person’s email because it violates a person’s rights to privacy, and resist the temptation.

  7. Ethical Issues Related to Computers • Fraud • Privacy • Program Ownership

  8. Academic Controversy Questions • What is the ethical question in this scenario? • What can be done to eliminate the ethical question? • What is the individual’s questionable behavior? • What different views could there be concerning this ethical question? • Justify why the persons actions are right or wrong • What do you think the right thing is to do? What would you do in this situation?

  9. Novice Academic Controversy #1 Josh is an employee at HOW Programs, a programming company that specializes in writing customized software for large corporations. Josh's boss, Jo Ann, asked him to write a program enabling ABC Wood Company to analyze their sales and predict what supplies the company should stock up on to maintain a proper inventory. After sitting down with the ABC Wood Company representatives to get an idea of what they wanted for the program, Josh realized there were commercial software packages that would do bits and pieces of what he wanted to write in his program. Josh felt he could take a few shortcuts, thus getting the program to ABC sooner if he took the program already written and incorporated it into his program code. By completing such a large project a few days earlier, Josh received a bonus and promotions. Were Josh's actions ethical?

  10. Novice Academic Controversy #2 Three years later, Caroline began working at HOW Programs. She was given a project that required her to write a program that would evaluate inventory and determine the rate of production needed so that inventory would not get too high or too low. After doing some research on the project, Caroline found a program Josh wrote for the ABC Wood Company. Caroline realized Josh's project was similar. She decided that a combination of the same basic ideas behind Josh's program and some new program code would work well in her program. Caroline used pieces of Josh's program as she wrote the remainder of the program. Caroline received a bonus and a promotion because of the program. Were Caroline's actions ethical?

  11. Academic Controversy Questions • What is the ethical question in this scenario? • What can be done to eliminate the ethical question? • What is the individual’s questionable behavior? • What different views could there be concerning this ethical question? • Justify why the persons actions are right or wrong • What do you think the right thing is to do? What would you do in this situation?

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