CSC385 Professional and Ethical Issues in Computer Science

1. Devon M. Simmonds University of North Carolina, Wilmington Course Introduction CSC385Professional and Ethical Issues in Computer Science

2. Quick Info • Dr. Devon Simmonds • CIS 2046 • simmondsd@uncw.edu • http://people.uncw.edu/simmondsd/ • 962-3819

3. COURSE INTRODUCTIONOutline • Course overview • Motivation for course on professional ethics • Getting to know you • Overview of Critical Thinking & Arguments

4. What is CSC 385? • Professional and Ethical Issues in Computer Science • What is the impact of computers on • Society • The Individual • Government • Business and Commerce • As computer professionals, what responsibilities do we personally have? • Writing & Presenting in the discipline

5. Student Learning Outcomes 1.      Identify ethical issues as they impact computer science and related disciplines; [WI2] 2.      Differentiate between the main ethical theories and be able to use the ethical theories in evaluating the ethical issues impacting computer science and related disciplines. [WI5] [WI2] 3.      Discuss ethical issues in writing, using appropriate reference to the established Code of Ethics of the professional society relevant to that student's field (ACM, IEEE, etc), and apply professional codes of ethics to analyze and resolve ethical questions. [WI5] [WI2]

6. Student Learning Outcomes 4.      Demonstrate the ability to write within the computer science discipline including writing one or more research papers that demonstrate the students grasp of ethical issues, display a clear understanding of how the ideas of other persons may be properly cited and used in written documents, and illustrate use of popular formats for presenting published papers in computer science. [WI3] [WI4] 5.      Prepare and present information on a technical topic, in a professional manner. 6.      Identify and locate appropriate sources of information to support decisions and written ideas. [WI1] 7.      Analyze and evaluate arguments using rules of logic and be able to formulate effective arguments based on sound premises. [WI2] [WI4] [WI5]

7. Class Format • Lectures • Student-led presentations/discussions • Each student will lead 1/2 sessions • PowerPoint presentation (~25 slides) • Discussion questions. • Several small writing assignments • A major project • Project presentation • Resume Writing & Online Interview • Exams (midterm + final)

8. How Do I Get an ‘A’? • Come to every class and participate. • Read the textbook and participate in class discussions. • Prepare you slides in advance and talk with me about them prior to your presentation. • Do all the assignments • Do a good paper • Do well on the exams

10. des will be determined on the basis of students’ performance on the items shown in the table below. Grading Criteria

11. The Required Text • Ethics and Technology: Controversies, Questions, and Strategies for Ethical Computing. • Herman T. Tavani, Wiley, 2010 • ISBN-10: 0470509503 • ISBN-13: 978-0470509500 • Paperback: 406 pages

12. The Required Text • Writing for Computer Science 2nd Ed. • Justin Zobel, Springer, 2004 • ISBN-10: 9781852338022 • ISBN-13: 978-1852338022 • Paperback: 280 pages

13. Course Motivation

14. Terrorism! • What is going on? • The President has authorized the NSA to perform wiretaps on people inside of the United States. • “Congress gave me the authority to use necessary force to protect the American people, but it didn’t prescribe the tactics,”

15. Important questions • Should the federal government be allowed to use the NSA to perform wire taps on American citizens? • Should any branch of government be allowed to “tap now” ask permission later? • Which is more important Freedom or Security? • How do we know who is a terrorist and who is not? • Are NSA wiretaps a violation of the fourth amendment? “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized “

16. Events that were possibly linked to Internet Terrorism: • 9/11 • The London Bombings

17. JUST GOOGLE IT!

18. My Story

19. My Story

20. My Story Research interests:software engineering/model-driven development/software architecture/aspect-oriented & component-based development United States Ph.D. Colorado State University University of Technology, Jamaica

21. The Man without a Face, oil on panel, 11x14, 2005 – Dae-Woong Nam Getting to Know You • Name • Background • Where from • Work experience

22. Welcome, Motivation & Academic Expectations • Ethics in a a global village

23. What Is Cyberethics? • Cyberethics is the study of moral, legal, and social issues involving cybertechnology. • It examines the impact that cybertechnology has for our social, legal, and moral systems. • It also evaluates the social policies and laws that we frame in response to issues generated by the development and use of cybertechnology.

24. What Is Cybertechnology? • Cybertechnology refers to a wide range of computing and communications devices – from standalone computers, to "connected" or networked computing and communications technologies, to the Internet itself. • Cybertechnologies include: • hand-held devices (such as personal digital assistants); • personal computers (desktops and laptops); • large mainframe computers.

25. Why the term cyberethics? • Cyberethics is a more accurate label than computer ethics, which can suggest the study of ethical issues limited either to: • computing machines, • computing professionals. • Cyberethics is also more accurate than Internet ethics, which is limited only to ethical issues affecting computer networks.

26. Critical Analysis of Issues: How?

27. A Three-step Strategy for Approaching Cyberethics Issues Step 1. Identify a practice involving cyber-technology, or a feature in that technology, that is controversial from a moral perspective. 1a. Disclose any hidden (or opaque) features or issues that have moral implications 1b. If the ethical issue is descriptive, assess the sociological implications for relevant social institutions and socio-demographic and populations. 1c. If the ethical issue is also normative, determine whether there are any specific guidelines, that is, professional codes that can help you resolve the issue (see Appendixes A-E). 1d. If the normative ethical issues remain, go to Step 2. Step 2. Analyze the ethical issue by clarifying concepts and situating it in a context. 2a. If a policy vacuums exists, go to Step 2b; otherwise go to Step 3. 2b. Clear up any conceptual muddles involving the policy vacuum and go to Step 3. Step 3. Deliberate on the ethical issue. The deliberation process requires two stages: 3a. Apply one or more ethical theories (see Chapter 2) to the analysis of the moral issue, and t hen go to step 3b. 3b. Justify the position you reached by evaluating it against the rules for logic/critical thinking (see Chapter 3).

28. Logical Arguments

29. Critical Thinking and Logical Arguments • Brook Moore and Richard Parker (2007) define critical thinking as: the careful deliberate determination of whether we should accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim. • Claims, or statements, can be used in a form of reasoning called a logicalargument or argument.

30. Logical Arguments An argument can be defined as a: form of reasoning that attempts to establish the truth of one claim (called a conclusion) based on the assumed truth of the evidence in other claims (called premises) provided to support the conclusion.

31. Arguments (Continued) • An argument has three important characteristics or features in that it: • (i) is a form of reasoning; • (ii) is comprised of claims (sometimes also called statements or assertions); • (iii) aims at establishing a conclusion (i.e., one claim) based on evidence (provided by other claims called premises).

32. Structure of an Argument • Premise 1 • . optional • . optional • Premise N optional • Conclusion

33. Argument structure continued • Premise 1. When I recently visited the Computer Science Department at the University of Hiroshima I noticed that graduate students and professors there were field testing a new computer chip, whose code name is Chip X. • Premise 2. I have a copy of the design specifications for Chip X, which shows that it will be several times faster than any chip currently available in the US. • Premise 3. Lee Smith, a mutual colleague of ours who was recently an exchange student in the computer science program at the University of Hiroshima and who participated in the field testing of Chip X, will corroborate my account. ________________________________________ • Conclusion. Chip X is currently being developed in Japan.

34. Argument Structure vs. Argument Strength • Not all arguments are strong • - i.e., not all arguments succeed in establishing their conclusions. • Any form of reasoning will qualify as an argument if it satisfies the three conditions we specified. • See the next example.

35. Argument Structure vs. Argument Strength (Continued) • Premise 1. An author's freedom to write a book on how to build a bomb is one that is protected by the First Amendment. • Premise 2. Authoring a book is similar to constructing a Web Site. ___________________________________________ • Conclusion. Constructing a Web site on how to build a bomb ought to be protected by the First Amendment.

36. Figure 3-1: Valid and Invalid Arguments Arguments Valid Invalid The assumedtruth of the premises is sufficient to guarantee the conclusion. Premises (even when true) do not guarantee the conclusion.

37. The Form of a Valid Argument • A valid argument is valid in virtue of its logical form, not its content. • An example of a valid logical form is: PREMISE 1. All A are B. PREMISE 2. C is A. _____________________________________ CONCLUSION. C is B.

38. Sound and Unsound Arguments • For an argument to be sound, it must be: • (a) valid (i.e., the assumed truth of the premises would guarantee the truth of the argument’s conclusion); • (b) the (valid) argument’s premises must also be true in theactual world.

39. Arguments That Are Valid but not Sound • An argument can be valid but still not succeed. • For example, the argument’s premises might not be true in the actual world. • In this case the argument would still be valid but it would not be sound.

40. Arguments that are Valid and Unsound • The following argument is valid, but unsound: PREMISE 1. People who own iMac computers are smarter than those who own PCs. PREMISE 2. My roommate owns an iMac computer. PREMISE 3. I own a PC. _____________________________________ CONCLUSION. My roommate is smarter than me.

41. Sound Arguments • Sound arguments are very rare. • The following argument is sound: PREMISE 1. CEOs of major computer corporations are high-school graduates. PREMISE 2. Bill Gates was the CEO of a major computer corporation. _______________________________ CONCLUSION. Bill Gates is a high-school graduate.

42. Valid Arguments Sound Unsound All the premises are true. At least one premise is false. Sound and Unsound Arguments

43. Invalid Arguments • An argument is invalid if you can give one counterexample to the argument. • A counterexample is: a possible case where the premises can be assumed to be true while, at the same time, the conclusion could be false. • Invalid arguments will be either: • inductive, or • fallacious.

44. Invalid Arguments (Continued) • The following argument is invalid because a counter example is possible: PREMISE 1. All CEOs of major United States computer corporations have been United States citizens. PREMISE 2. Bill Gates is a United States citizen. _____________________________________ CONCLUSION. Bill Gates has been a CEO of a major computer corporation in the United States.

45. Inductive Arguments • An argument is inductive when: the conclusion would likely be true when the premises of the argument are assumed to be true. • Even though a counterexample to an inductive argument is possible, in the majority of cases where the premises are assumed true, the conclusion would also likely be true.

46. Fallacious Arguments • An argument is fallacious when: the conclusion would NOT likely be true when the premises of the argument are assumed to be true. • Even though a counterexample to an inductive argument is possible, in the majority of cases where the premises are assumed true, the conclusion would also likely be true.

47. Class Activity I: define & give an example of each of these Fallacies • Ad Hominem Argument • Slippery Slope Argument • Fallacy of Appeal to Authority • False CauseFallacy • Begging the Question • Fallacy of Composition/Fallacy of Division • Fallacy of Ambiguity • Appeal to the People (Argumentum ad Populum) • The Many/Any Fallacy • The Virtuality Fallacy

48. Class Activity II: to be done in groups • Discussion question 1: • Construct an argument to support or refute the view that all undergraduate students should be required to take a course in cyberethics. • Next evaluate your argument to see if it is valid or invalid. • If valid, is it sound? • If invalid, is it inductive or fallacious?

49. Explore Our Web Site

50. This course is about ethical issues surrounding the use of cybertechnologies. Cybertechnologies are here to stay! Next class ????? SU MM AR Y