(Lecture Slides Week # 2)

“Goodness without Knowledge is

weak. Knowledge without Goodness
is Dangerous”
Paul Tillich

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 2

 What are Ethics?
 Ethics is concerned with human conduct, i.e., behavior of individuals in
society
 Ethics can be defined broadly as a set of moral principles or values
 The systematic study of rightness and wrongness of human conduct
 Derived from the Greek word eché which means character
 Ethics is a collection of heuristics that, when followed, improves our way of
life. E.g. always tell the truth
 Why Ethics Important?
 Happy Life  Conditions that create happiness
 Each society establishes rules and limits on acceptable behaviour, these
rules form a moral code
 Sometimes the rules conflict. In general they are beliefs or conventions on
good and evil, good or bad conduct, justice and injustice
 The rules sometimes do not cover new situations

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 3

 Ethical Principles:
 Beneficence – active goodness, kindness
 Non-maleficence – preventing harm
 Autonomy – right of self-governance
 Veracity – habitual truthfulness
 Fidelity – loyalty
 Justice – fairness, impartiality, equity
 Privacy
 Remember!!
 Knowing what is right, does not mean much unless you
DO what is right!!

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 4

 Why People Act Unethically?
 The person’s ethical standards are different from those of society as a
whole
 The person chooses to act selfishly
▪ Person A finds a briefcase containing important papers and $1,000. He
tosses the briefcase and keeps the money. He brags to his friends about his
good fortune
▪ This action probably differs from most of society
 In many instances, both reasons exist
 Most people who commit such acts feel no remorse when
they are apprehended because their ethical standards differ
from those of society as a whole

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 5

 Different Views about Ethics:
 Ethics vs. Feelings
▪ Feelings frequently deviate from what is ethical
 Ethics vs. Religion
▪ Ethics cannot be confined to religion nor is it the same as religion
 Ethics vs. Law
▪ Laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical
▪ Objection to Fighting
▪ Capital Punishment
 Ethics vs. “Whatever Society Accepts”
▪ Standards of behavior in society can deviate from what is ethical
▪ An entire society can become ethically corrupt
▪ E.g. Pirated CDs
 Ethics vs. Morality:
▪ Ethics is study of morality
▪ Morality is a system of rules for guiding human conduct, and principles for
evaluating those rules

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 6

 Comparison: Morals, Ethics, Law
 Morals:
▪ Applied by individuals, controlled by conscience, enabled by
religious or cultural standards, punished by shame or guilt
 Ethics:
▪ Group application, control within group, enabled by a code,
punished by expulsion
 Law:
▪ Political subdivision controlled outside the group, by way of
legislation, punished by fines, prison

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 7

 Professional Ethics:
 Publicly displayed ethical conduct of a profession,
embedded in a code of ethics.
 The principles and standards that guide members of the
profession in their interactions with internal and external
stakeholders.
 Why Professional Ethics?
 Awareness of professional ethics is gaining importance
with time as the decision-making process in the work
place keeps on increasing in complexity
 The professional ethics provide a way of simplifying that
decision making process

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 8

 What do Professional Ethics Provide?
 Adds a level of professionalism
 Defines and promotes a standard when dealing with clients and
employers
 Protects the profession as a group
 Classifies the rights of members, clients, and employers
 Provides a guideline in questionable areas
 Problems with Professional Ethics:
 Can not cover all aspects
 Who determines violations?
 How are the rules interpreted?
 What penalties exist for violations?

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 9

 Professional Ethics must take into accounts:
 Relations between professionals and clients
 Relation between profession and society
 Relations among professionals
 Relations between employee and employer
 Specialized technical details of the profession
 A computing professional must understand:
 Cultural, social, legal, and ethical issues in computing
 Responsibility and possible consequences of failure

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 10

 Computer Ethics:
 Analysis of the natural and social impact of computer technology and
the corresponding formulation and justification of policies for the
ethical use of such technology. [James H. Moore]
 Ethical Problems arise because of Conflicting Interests
▪ Music Downloader vs. Music Rights Owner
▪ Spammers vs. Email Users
 As our Reliance and Dependence on Computers and ICT increases, We
are becoming more and more vulnerable and exposed to Computer
Crimes and cyberspace evils and insecurity.
 Computer Ethics vs. Other Fields:
▪ Theft is theft no matter whether it is done at the point of a gun or with a
computer.

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 11

 Why Computer Ethics?
 To determine what should be done in ethical situations while being
part of computing profession
 Walter Maner Justifications:
▪ To make us behave like responsible professionals
▪ To teach us how to avoid computer abuse and catastrophes
▪ Technological advancements creating temporary policy vacuums
▪ Use of computing technology creates, and will continue to create, novel
ethical issues that require special study

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 12

 Categories of Computer Ethics Issues:
 Privacy
▪ Computers create a false sense of security
▪ People do not realize how vulnerable information stored on computers is
 Property
▪ Physical property
▪ Intellectual property (in both copyright and patent)
▪ Data as property
 Access
▪ Access to computing technology
▪ Access to data
 Accuracy
▪ Accuracy of information stored

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 13

 Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics:
1. You shall not use a computer to harm other people
2. You shall not interfere with other people's computer work
3. You shall not snoop around in other people's computer files
4. You shall not use a computer to steal
5. You shall not use a computer to bear false witness
6. You shall not copy or use proprietary software for which you have not paid
7. You shall not use other people's computer resources without authorization or
proper compensation
8. You shall not appropriate other people's intellectual output
9. You shall think about the social consequences of the program you are writing or
the system you are designing
10. You shall always use a computer in ways that show consideration and respect for
your fellow humans

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 14

 Codes of Ethics for Computer Professionals:
 Central concern: the public good, including human rights and diversity
of culture
 Honesty and fairness in communication about software and related
topics
 Use client or employer property only as authorized
 High quality, reasonable cost and schedule
 Respect for privacy, intellectual property
 Disclose conflicts of interest
 Address software errors
 Lifelong learning
 Honor agreements and assigned responsibilities

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 15

 Scenario 1 – Illegal Use
 A person is using a piece of SW without the
author’s permission and says: “I’m not really using
it, I’m just evaluating it before I make a firm
decision on buying”
 That person is “evaluating” that piece of SW for 12
months now!
 Is the conduct of that person ethical?

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 16

 Scenario 2 – Vaporware
 A small company announces a new SW product
 A larger, more established competitor hears about that product, and
starts a whispering campaign that she is also working on a similar
product that will be released soon.
 Potential customers decide to wait for the product instead of making
the more riskier purchase from the smaller company.
 The new company’s sales become sluggish, and it fails to earn back
the investment that it has put into developing that new product. That
results in her closure.
 The larger company never releases the promised product.
 Is the conduct of that large company unethical or a
reasonable business tactic?

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 17

 Scenario 3 – Whistle Blower
 SW bugs, at times, have catastrophic consequences
 While A was working for a contractor at NASA, he found
such a bug and reported it to his boss, B, who ordered him
to never mention it to any one, or he will get fired
 A got scared, and did as he was told
 Did A behave in an ethical manner? Would you hire him
in your company?
▪ Truth (Disclosure) vs. Loyalty (Confidentiality)

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 18

 Scenario 4 – Trade Secrets
 A was working at XYZSoft
 He leaves it to work for a competitor, SuperSoft
 Even before starting at SuperSoft, he already has revealed
many of the trade secrets of XYZSoft during his interviews
at SuperSoft, giving them an advantage over XYZSoft
 Do you agree with A’s ethics? Would you hire him in
your company?

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 19

 Scenario 5
 You are asked to develop software that stores and
manages customers financial data.
 You find a security flaw days before its delivery to the
client.
 Your boss tells you to sit on it and will be fixed with a patch
after the delivery.
 If you bring the flaw to the foreground it will delay the
release and cost your company millions.
 What do you do?

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 20

 Scenario 6
 You work for a small software firm that is
contracted to write a program that can predict the
spread of radiation of a dirty bomb with 75%
accuracy.
 The best you have been able to achieve is 74.6%
accuracy.
 You boss says close enough and rounds up the
test data.
 What will you do?

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 21

 Scenario 7
 You worked for a software firm developing countless
programs for many years.
 Over those years you have made several software libraries
that help you do your job.
 You decided to move on to a new company.
 After a few weeks you realize that you can use the libraries
from your old job to help with your new job.
 What do you do?

NU-FAST, CFD Professional Issues in IT 22