Download Codes of conduct D

Professional Ethics
Readings in CyberEthics
Edited by Richard A. Spinello and Herman T. Tavani,
Jones and Bartlett Computer Science, 2003
Professional Ethics and Codes of
Conduct
Two Major Areas of IT Ethics
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Ethics of Information
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Free speech, privacy, security, etc.
Ethics of Professional Conduct
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Building controversial technology
Building/using medical technology
Ethics of safety-critical systems
Outline
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Codes of Ethical Conduct
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Business Computing
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IEEE-CS/ACM
Criticism
Subsumption ethics
Langford
Teaching Ethical Issues
Codes of Ethics
IEEE-CS/ACM Codes of ethics
IEEE-CS/ACM Code of Ethics

Purpose?
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Document responsibilities and obligations
of software engineers
Educate and inspire software engineers
Inform the public
IEEE-CS/ACM Code of Ethics
1.
2.
3.
Eight Principles
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Public
Client and Employer
Product
Judgement
Management
Profession
Colleagues
Self
Codes of Ethics
A critical perspective
Codes of Ethics - Criticism

John Ladd, 1995
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Ethics is about deliberation
Codes are not real ethics
More like legal directives
Might be public relation concerns behind
adopting certain ethical codes
Codes of Ethics - Criticism

N. Ben Fairweather
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No ethical code can be complete
Incomplete ethical codes are worse than
none at all
Incomplete codes cause problems with
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Focus
Prioritization
Legitimizing immoral behaviour
Codes of Ethics - Criticism

Fairweather cont.
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Example: PAPA (Privacy, Accuracy,
Property, Accessibility)
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Weapons
Environment
Telecommunication
Protecting the weak against the strong
Codes of Ethics – Conclusion

Codes of Ethical conduct may be
useful, but
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They must not substitute common sense
and ethical reflection
They should clearly state their own
boundaries of competence
Business Computing
Subsumption ethics
David H. Gleason
The Subsumption Process
Subsumption Ethics
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Moral value decisions are incorporated
into IT components
IT components are subsumed into
larger systems
The decisions are incorporated in the
operation of the system and not
reflected upon
Axioms of Subsumption Ethics
A.
B.
C.
D.
Information systems subsume design,
policy, and implementation decisions in
programming code and content.
Subsumed objects have determinate moral
value
Subsumed objects have a high ”invisibility
factor”
Subsumptive complexity increases over
time
Ethical Frameworks

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The Golden Rule
The Golden Mean
Niskáma Karma
Complexity
Teaching Ethical Issues
Virtue-based ethics in
computer science
Frances S. Grodzinsky
Teaching Ethics

Character-Forming Theories
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Practical wisdom
Character Development
Action-Guiding Theories
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Isolated situations
What would you do?
Intellectual exercise?
Virtue-Based Ethics

Based on Aristotle & Kant
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Aristotle: Morality cannot be taught, but
needs to be practiced
Kant: Judgement cannot be instructed; it
can only be exercised
Internalization and reflection
Identity