CPSC 385: Ethical and Social Issues in Computing
Instructor:
Credit: 3 credits
Course Information
Blackboard:.
We will be using Blackboard for communication in this class. You will be
subscribed automatically to the class using your onenet
account information. You should check the Blackboard course area daily
for postings which will include homework
assignments, essay assignments, readings, etc. The syllabus will also be
online in case you misplace yours. Failure to check Blackboard is not an excuse
for missing work. Using Blackboard, you
will also be able to conduct online discussions with your classmates as needed,
ask me and your classmates questions, and overall,
just keep connected to the class
Course Description:
This course examines the ethical issues arising
from advances in computer technology and the responsibility that computer
professionals and users have in regards to computer use by focusing on the intrinsic link between ethics and the law,
how both try to define the validity of human actions, and on the moral and
ethical dilemmas created by computer
technology that challenge the
traditional ethical and moral concepts.
Prerequisites: CPSC 160 and Engl
277 or 278 with grades of C or better.
Objectives:
(1)
To familiarize you with the
existence of computer abuse, laws
pertaining to such abuse and legal gray areas.
(2)
To introduce to
you the Association
of Computing Machinery (ACM) and
(3)
To provide you
with the context to appreciate the value of technology and to understand that technology is not neutral, that it creates ethical and moral muddles that must
be dealt with.
(4)
To create and
nurture an ideal atmosphere for academic dialogue, debate, and question-answer
sessions among you intended to deepen your understanding of
technology and its effects on society.
(5)
To improve your
oral and written communication skills.
(6)
To affect your behavior by
challenging you to examine ethical and moral situations, think through them and
identify relevant support systems.
Course Requirements:
1. Regular class attendance.
2. Active class participation in all in-class
agora discussions; this means you must spend
some quality
time reading and preparing for
class meetings and discussions.
For each agora discussion,
a paper will be
assigned, read and discussed. For each assigned paper, each student must
write a
reaction statement that must
include:
-
both a personal and research responses (minimum:
one double spaced typed page).
-
questions from the reading you would like us to discuss as a
class, (minimum: 2 questions).
The responses
together with the questions must be handed in one class period before the
scheduled discussion of
the assigned paper!
3. One
(mid-term) and a final
examination will be given. There will be NO exam make up.
4. Besides class discussions, there
will also be concurrent online discussions of current issues relevant to the
class.
Nature of Online discussions ( e-discussion):
·
Each student will
be responsible for posting one informative journal or newspaper article dealing with or
relevant to the issues being discussed
in class. Each posted article
should include a one-page commentary by the student to ignite an
online discussion by the class. Commentaries must:
-
include your reactions to the posting - why
it attracted your attention; background info the class audience may need to
understand the posting, related issues the class audience may want to look
into; what we are supposed to learn from it; and at least two questions/discussion topics your classmates
can respond to.
( Remember
to check my
web-page for online sources of information and of
course we have a library - you can cut and paste the whole
item, - just one item the whole semester, but since we cannot discuss all the
items at the end of the semester, we will need to start the discussions in week 2.
-
be original
(i.e., must not be duplications of
comments made earlier by other students).
-
be supported by
referenced evidence from other articles,
books, journals and knowledgeable
persons.
-
be well written (points will be deducted for comments that
have serious spelling or grammatical errors.)
·
Each student is required to contribute to the e-discussion in response
to posted articles at least five times. ( 2% each response/contribution for a total of 10% a semester)
Responses should not be less than half a page - it can be an opinion, added
info, suggestion, observation or constructive criticism- overall we must profit
from it!!!
(PS- 5 times are in
response to 5 different postings) but you can make as many contributions are
possible!
·
Try to check your e-mall before each class
meeting. I will use the list to post
whatever you need to know (let's save the trees)
4. On a number of occasions, video clips will be
shown in class at the end of which a discussion will follow. Before each discussion, however, each student will
answer five reaction questions about the video clip. Answers to these questions will be graded.
5. Individual extra credit assignments for the purpose of
propping up a bad grade will not be given.
6. Notes taking is encouraged.
Grading:
20% agora and video discussions:
-
10 % agora discussions
-
10% individual attendance and discussions
15% Online discussions
- 5% posted commentaries
and questions
- 10% online contributions
( 5 minimum - 2% each contribution)
15% Mid-term examination covering text
material and content of class discussions.
30% Two essays:
-
one well
researched and documented position essay on one chosen topic 15%
-
one essay resulting from agora discussions on a students
chosen topic 15%.
20% Final comprehensive examination
covering text material and content of class discussions.
Grading Scale:
90+ = A; 80-89 = B; 70-79
= C; 60-69 = D;
below 60 = F
Required Text:
Joseph M. Kizza, Ethical
and Social Issues in the Information Age.
Second Edition. Springer 2003.
Recommended and Reference Texts:
(1)
Joseph M. Kizza. Computer Network Security
and Cyber Ethics. McFarland Publishers, 2001.
(2)
Joseph M. Kizza, Civilizing the Internet:
Concerns and Efforts Towards Regulations.
McFarland Publishers, 1998.
(3)
Joseph M. Kizza, Social and Ethical effects
of the Computer Revolution. McFarland Publishers 1997.
(4)
Joseph M. Kizza, Computer Ethics,
Proceedings, ACM Press, 1996.
(5)
Sara Baase. A
Gift of Fire, Second Edition. Prentice-Hall, 2003.
(6)
Paul A. Alcorn. Practical Ethics for a
Technological World. Prentice-Hall, 2001.
(7)
Kevin Bowyer, Ethics and Computing: Living
Responsibly in a Computerized
World., IEEE Computer Society Press, 1996.
(8)
Jacques Berluer and
Diane Whitehouse (eds), An Ethical Global
Information Society:Culture
and Democracy revisited, Chapman & Hill, 1998.
(9)
Jacques Berleur and Klaus Brunnstein. Ethics in Computing: Codes spaces for Discussion and the Law. Chapman & Hill, 1997.
(10) Richard G. Espstein. The Case of the Killer Robot. John Wiley,
1997.
(11) Chuck Huff and
Thomas Finholt. Social Issues in Computing:
Putting Computing in its Place,
McGraw-Hill, 1994.
(12) Nancy G. Leveson. Safeware:System
Safety and Computers, Addison-Wesley, 1995.
(13) Peter Neumann.
Computer related Risks, ACM Press, 1995.
(14) Robert C.
Solomon, Morality and the Good Life: An Introduction to Ethics through
Classical Cases,
Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1992.
(15) Karen A. Forcht, Computer Security Management, Boyd &
Fraser Publishing, 1994.
(16) Abraham Edel, Elizabeth Flower and Finbarr
W. O'connor, Morality, Philosophy and
Practice: Historical and
Contemporary
Major Discussion Topics:
-
History of
Computing
-
Moral and Ethical
theories (lecture text, readings, discussions)
-
Professionalism
and professional codes of conduct (lecture text, audio, readings, discussions)
-
Ethics,
Technology and Value (audio, readings, discussions)
-
Anonymity,
Security, Privacy and
Civil Liberties (lecture text, audio, readings, discussions)
-
Intellectual
Property Rights (Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks, trade secrets, and Rights of
Publicity) (lecture text, audio,
readings, discussions)
-
Social Computing
-
Software Issues:
Risks and Liabilities (virus, worms,
piracy, hacking) (lecture text, audio,
readings, discussions)
-
Workplace Issues
( whistleblowing, home office, privacy, electronic monitoring, outsourcing,
downsizing) (lecture text, audio,
readings, discussions)
-
Reliability and
Risk
-
Prevention,
Detection, and Digital Forensics
-
Artificial
Intelligence, Virtual reality and Expert
Systems (lecture text, audio, readings, discussions)
-
Cyberspace Issues
The Internet, CDA, Free speech, electronic commerce, pornography, gambling,
language and cultural imperialism and
the politics of regulation (lecture
text, audio, readings, discussions)
Course Outline
Week 1: Introduction to Social and Ethical Computing
Chapter 1: Class 1:
Introduction and History of computing
-Class 2: The beginning of irresponsible computing
Week 2: Morality and Ethical Theories
Chapter 1: Ethical and Social..
-
Class 1: Why you
need to study Computer Ethics
-
Class 2: Morality and Ethical Theories
Lecture and discussion of
cases
Reading
Paper 1: Scientists given cloning
go-ahead
"Researchers clone first mammals from
adult cells using new technique"
Human
cloning:
Should
there be limits on the technology of human cloning?
Week 3: Ethics, Technology and Value
Chapter 2 of Ethical and Social
-
Class 1: Ethics, Technology, and Value.
Agora discussion
of Reading Paper 1. Should scientists be allowed to grow human
replacement parts? What are legal, moral
and ethical implications?
-
Class 2: Guest
Speaker: On Writing Styles
Week 4: Ethics and the Professions
Chapter 3 of Ethical and Social
-
Class 1: -Lecture: professionalism, codes of ethics, responsibility and
enforcement
-
Class 2: Video : Whistleblowers:
Risks and Responsibilities, : The Case of the Challenger
Weeks 5: Anonymity, Security, Privacy and Civil
Liberties
Chapter 4 of Ethical and Social
-
Class 1: Lecture
and discussion: E-mail privacy and
ownership, anonymous re-mailers, and
spamming
-
Class 2: Video: (1) The Net (2) Identity Theft and
Privacy Lost
-
Reading Paper 2: "The Interne't Challenge
to Privacy"
-
Paper one due
Weeks 6: Intellectual Property Rights and Computer
Technology
Chapter 5 of Ethical and Social
-
Class 1: Lecture:
copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and right of publicity
-
Class 2:
Conference presentations,
Week 7:
Social Context of Computing
Chapter 7 of Ethical and
Social
.
-
Class 1: The three
main issues of social computing
-
Class 2: : Examination #1
-
Paper 2
Assigned.
Week 8:
Conferences
-
Class 1:
Conference presentations
-
Class 2 :
Conference presentations
Week 9: Software Issues: Risks and Liabilities
Chapter 8 of Ethical and Social
-
Class 1:
Lecture and class discussion
-
Class 2: Video: Reliability and Risk and The Hackers
Week 10: Computer Crimes
Chapter 9 of Ethical and
Social
-
Class 1: Lecture and Agora discussion
of types and history of computer crimes.
-
Class 2 : Video
(NBC report) and discussion
Week
11: New Frontiers: Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Cyberspace
Chapter 10 of Ethical and
Social
-
Class 1: Lecture
and leadership discussion: Freedom of speech, the CDA and you. Internet filters and
blockers.
-
Class 2: Video: "Life on the Internet", Hate
Groups, and Anti-Hate Programs
Week 12: Cyber Ethics and Cyber Crimes: Costs and
Social Consequences
Chapter 11 of Social and
Ethical
.
-
Class 1: Lecture
and discussion.
-
Class 2: Video: " HATE GROUPS" and " HI-TECH HATE",
Reading Paper 3: (to be assigned)
Week 13: Cyberspace, Cyber Crimes and Internet Issues
Chapter 11 of Ethical and
Social
-
Class 1: Lecture
and discussion: Regulating the Internet, CDA, Free speech, electronic commerce,
pornography, gambling, language and cultural imperialism and the
politics of regulation.
-
Class 2: Discussion of (e-discussion) Cyberspace-related issues.,
-
Paper two due
Week 14: Summary of course
Class1: Discussion of issues arising
Class 2: Video Inside the Law
Week 15:
Presentations Looking at the future
-
Class 1: Presentations
-
Class 2: Presentations
-
Review and Discussions of issues in the news
Final Examination:
Techniques:
(1)
Lectures to
provide new information and heighten your curiosity.
(2)
Guest lectures
to get new and sometimes contrary views.
(3)
Agora group discussions - to improve your oratory, discussion and presentation skills
(4)
Videotapes for
video impact and
thought provoking situations.
(5)
Role-playing and mock trials - for real situation impact.
Americans with Disabilities Act
If you are a student with a disability ( e.g.
physical, learning, psychiatric, etc)
and think that you might need assistance or an academic accommodation in this class or any
other class, contact the Office for Student with Disabilities.