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Paper 2: Professional Practice and Ethics
This Paper 2 course is taken by Part IA Computer Science Tripos students only.
Lecturer: Dr R.C. Jennings
No. of lectures: 8
Aims
This course will develop the ethical foundations of good professional practice in computing and generally look at the people side of IT. It will provide a basic survey of ethical theories and discuss the role of professional organisations in maintaining good practice, both in general and then specifically in the computing industry. It will then consider legislation that applies in the computing industry, including three major areas of ethical concern in computing: computer misuse, data privacy and software ownership.
Lectures
- Ethical theory. Basic questions in ethics. Survey of
ethical theories: authoritarian, intuitionist, egoist, utilitarian,
deontologist. Advantages and disadvantages of the two main theories:
utilitarian and deontological. [1.5 lectures]
- Local ethics. Rules and Regulations made by the Information
Syndicate. [0.5 lectures]
- Professions and professional ethics. Origin and purpose of
professions. Internal regulation versus external
regulation. Professionalism and large IT projects. Varieties of
professional responsibility and professional relations. Professional
organisations: ethics and codes of conduct. British Computer
Society Code of Conduct. [2 lectures]
- Relevant legislation: Health and Safety. Potential
problems in the use of VDUs, keyboards and workplaces.
[0.2 lectures]
- Relevant legislation: Disability Discrimination Act.
Ensuring accessibility of Web pages. [0.2 lectures]
- Environmental legislation: Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment Directive. Energy use. [0.2 lectures]
- Relevant legislation: Computer misuse. Computer hacking,
computer cracking: when does the fun become crime? Computer Misuse
Act 1990 and Police and Justice Act 2006. Difficulties with
traditional legal concepts. The Human side of security - social
engineering. [1.4 lectures]
- Relevant legislation: Privacy and data protection. What
is Privacy? Computer data and human dignity. The problematic
status of information stored on computers. The Data Protection Act
1998. [1 lecture]
- Relevant legislation: Property ownership. Theories of
property and ownership: Patent, Copyright, and trade secrets.
Ownership of computer software: a new problem in intellectual
property rights. [1 lecture]
Objectives
At the end of the course students should
- be able to recognise and distinguish different kinds of ethical
arguments
- know why professions have codes of conduct, and what is included in
the British Computer Society code of conduct
- recognise potential health and safety issues in computing
- be aware of the environmental impact of the IT industry
- understand the need for making web pages accessible
- appreciate the dangers in computer cracking and know the
contents of the Computer Misuse Act of 1990, including changes
introduced by the Police and Justice Act 2006
- be able to explain the nature of privacy and how it is protected by the
Data Protection Act of 1998
- be able to justify the existence of property laws and explain the legal
mechanisms which protect software as property
- know the disadvantages of private ownership of software and the legal
mechanisms by which private ownership can be blocked
Recommended reading
* Kling, R. (1991). Computerization and controversy: value conflicts and social choices. London: Academic Press (2nd ed.).
Forester, T. & Morrison, P. (1990). Computer ethics: cautionary tales and ethical dilemmas in computing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Johnson, D.G. (1985). Computer ethics. Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Johnson, D.G. & Snapper, J.W. (1985). Ethical issues in the use of computers. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
WWW pages:
Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility (CCSR):
http://www.ccsr.cse.dmu.ac.uk/
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR):
http://www.cpsr.org/




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