Inquiry into a wide range of information technology issues, from moral responsibilities affecting professionals to wider ethical concerns associated with information technology in day-to-day living. Topics include general aspects of ethics; common ethical theories; professional codes of ethics in IT; privacy, security and reliability in using computer systems and the internet; issues and responsibilities in internet usage; legal issues in IT; global perspectives of computing issues; and general problems related to ethical and responsible computing.
Prerequisites:
ENG 109 or 111. Not open to first-year students (as defined by earned credit hours)
Required Topics: (approximate weeks allocated):
Introduction(2)
Intro to Course
History of computing
Introduction to Ethics
Ethical Theories (including)
Kantianism
Act Utilitarianism
Rule Utilitarianism
Social Contract Theory
Networking (2)
Email
Spam
The World Wide Web
Ethical Perspectives on Pornography
Censorship
Freedom of Expression
Internet Predators
Intellectual Property (2)
Intellectual Property Rights
Protecting Intellectual Property
Fair Use
Peer-to-Peer Networks
Protections for Software
Open-Source Software
Legitimacy of Intellectual Property Protection for Software
Privacy Issues (2)
Perspectives on Privacy
Disclosing Information
Public Information
U.S. Legislation
Public Records
Covert Government Surveillance
Data Mining
Identity Theft
Encryption
International Perspectives and Legislation
Computer and Network Security (2)
Viruses
Worms and Trojan Horses
Phreaks and Hackers
Denial-of-Service Attacks
Online Voting
Network Sniffers
Computer Reliability (2)
Data-Entry or Data-Retrieval Errors
Software and 兔子先生ing Errors
Notable Software System Failures
Therac-25
Computer Simulations
Software Engineering,
Software Warranties
Professional Ethics(2)
Codes of Ethics,
Whistle Blowing
Ownership of Company Data
Competitive Issues
Employee Behavior and Company Liability
Corporate Citizenship
Final Presentations (1)
Exams/Review (1)
Learning Outcomes:
Formulate and defend a position on an ethical question related to technology.
Identify ethical dilemmas in Information Technology and apply ethical theories, such as Kantianism, Utilitarianism, or Social Contract Theory, to determine an appropriate set of actions.
Given a specific ethical issue in IT, search for relevant sources to support one or both sides of an argument; identify each source and connect it to the appropriate ethical theory.
Describe the main ethical challenges currently posed by technology. Examples include digital rights management, community standards, databases of personal information (including voter information and criminal information), fair use, freedom of expression, monitoring, technological determinism, unsafe software, and globalization.
Describe the results of group discussion on ethical issues as a consensus position or mutually acceptable differences of opinion.
Analyze, evaluate and critique the writing of other students. Respond to critiques of ones own work by either synthesizing critical viewpoints with your own, or defending your position against critique.
Given an ethical dilemma in IT, design a course of action supported by ethical theory an professional practice. Work with a group, coming to consensus even when opinions conflict.
Analyze a proposed course of action for dependence on cultural or community issues. In particular, evaluate a course of action designed for use in the U.S. for its fitness and applicability in another culture.
Demonstrate effective oral and written communication methods to explain a position on the social responsibilities of software developers and IT workers.
Describe the key facets of a profession, and take a position on whether or not, for the good of society, IT-related jobs should be organized as professions.
Evaluate, from both the IT Professional viewpoint and the user viewpoint, the usefulness and morality of examples of IT policies, privacy policies, professional codes of ethics, and other formal ethical statements made by IT organizations.
Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering
