THE PRACTITIONER FROM WITHIN: REVISITING THE VIRTUES

Cyber Ethics
THE PRACTITIONER FROM WITHIN: REVISITING THE VIRTUES
Quote:
“Information revolution” has altered many aspects of life significantly: commerce, employment, medicine, security, transportation, entertainment, and so on.”
Learning Expectation:
Consequently, information and communication technology (ICT) has affected — in both good ways and bad ways — community life, family life, human relationships, education, careers, freedom, and democracy (to name just a few examples). “Computer and information ethics”, in the broadest sense of this phrase, can be understood as that branch of applied ethics which studies and analyzes such social and ethical impacts of ICT. The present essay concerns this broad new field of applied ethics.
Review:
The more specific term “computer ethics” has been used to refer to applications by professional philosophers of traditional Western theories like utilitarianism, Kantianism, or virtue ethics, to ethical cases that significantly involve computers and computer networks. “Computer ethics” also has been used to refer to a kind of professional ethics in which computer professionals apply codes of ethics and standards of good practice within their profession. In addition, other more specific names, like “cyberethics” and “Internet ethics”, have been used to refer to aspects of computer ethics associated with the Internet.

Lessons Learned:
In laying down a foundation for information ethics, Wiener developed a cybernetic view of human nature and society, which led him to an ethically suggestive account of the purpose of a human life. Based upon this, he adopted “great principles of justice” that he believed all societies ought to follow. These powerful ethical concepts enabled Wiener to analyze information ethics issues of all kinds.
Integrative Questions:
1. What is the revisiting virtue of ethics?
2. What are the human nature and society?
3. What are the ethical concepts of revisiting virtues?
4. What is the moral?
5. Define ethical virtues?

ETHICAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS COMPUTING

Cyber Ethics
ETHICAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS COMPUTING
Quote:
“Businesses operate and enlarging the opportunities available to them to reach and service customers.”
Learning Expectation:
To provide a comprehensive overview of the most important ethical issues associated with the expanding world of e-business. Grounded solidly in the most recent scholarship in business ethics, the book will apply the most relevant theoretical frameworks to ethical issues in all significant areas of e-business.
Review:
Grounded solidly in the most recent scholarship in business ethics, the book will apply the most relevant theoretical frameworks to ethical issues in all significant areas of e-business. The book will be written for scholars, professionals, and students interested in gaining a better comprehension and appreciation of the moral issues encountered in the multifaceted world of e-business. It will provide readers with a clear knowledge of the complex ethical issues involved in e-business and improve their understanding of widely discussed current issues in e-business such as those of privacy, information management, data mining, intellectual property, and consumer tracking.
 
Lessons Learned:
It is important to understand and respond to the unique ethical issues associated with e-business. As e-business models become more common in the world of business, there must be an effort to integrate e-business more fully into the field of business ethics so that scholars and professionals working in the field can better appreciate and respond to these ethical issues. There thus exists a clear need for an edited collection of articles that provides a comprehensive and thorough treatment of ethical issues in e-business. The target audience of this book will be composed of researches and professionals working in the field of e-business and business ethics in various disciplines, e.g. business and management, information technology, philosophy, communication sciences, computer science, and consumer studies. In providing a broad overview of the various ethical issues involved in all aspects of e-business, the book will also provide a useful resource for all persons involved in e-business. The book will also provide a useful tool for educators and students studying e-business, business ethics, and related topics.
Integrative Questions:
1. What are the ethical issues?
2. What is business computing?
3. What is e-business?
4. What is the system to computing?
5. What is the issue in business computing?

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING CODE OF ETHICS: APPROVED!

Cyber Ethics
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING CODE OF ETHICS: APPROVED!
Quote:
For Aristotle, on the other hand, the purpose of moral rules was to promote individual moral virtues and the development of a good will or moral character. Put in more general terms, the rights/obligations ethicist starts with rules stating obligations about how one should behave and rights about how I am to be treated, while the virtue ethicist starts with the human character and its ethical dispositions. Virtue ethics does not lie in following a set of well defined rules but it lies in one’s character; you have to see what is the right action and then choose to do it.
Lesson Expectation:
How were these two approaches to ethics reflected in the initial development and responses to the Code? There are several purposes of a code of ethics. Several principles that were suggested for the code used imperative language.
Review:
In 1993, the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS) and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) formed a joint committee to help organize software developers and engineers into a profession. As part of this project, a sub-committee of professionals, academics, and members of ACM and IEEE-CS began work drafting a code of ethics for software engineers through electronic mail. After four years of online discussion and revision, version 5.2 of the Software Engineer’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice was adopted by IEEE-CS and ACM in 1998, and since then, the code has been adopted by software engineering and computer societies worldwide.
The IEEE-CS/ACM Software Engineering Code of Ethics Archive documents the drafting, debate, and final adoption of the joint IEEE Computer Society /ACMSoftware Engineering Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. Indirectly, the archive illustrates how software engineering developed from an occupation to a profession. The drafting and approval of the Software Engineering Code, carried out in substantial part by email, has produced a detailed record of the development of a professional code of ethics. This correspondence, as well as related documents, interviews, and publications, make up the contents of the IEEE-CS/ACM Software Engineer’s Code of Ethics Archive.
Lesson Learned:
Addressing computer ethics issues for the professional and in the classroom needs to include both of these approaches. The software engineer as a practicing professional acts from a higher level of care for the customer (virtue ethics) and conforms to the development standards of the profession (right/obligations ethics). Both types of ethics are needed for the Professional engineer.
Integrative Questions:
1. What does IEEE-CS stands for?
2. What does ACM stands for?
3. Why did they develop a joint force ethical approach for software engineering?
4. Enumerate and explain the short version of the software engineering ethics.
5. What is Virtue Ethics?

SUBSUMPTION ETHICS

Cyber Ethics
SUBSUMPTION ETHICS
Quote:
“Subsumption Ethics” published in Computers and Society,
Learning Expectation:
Subsumption ethics is the process by which decisions become incorporated into the operation of information technology (IT) systems, and subsequently forgotten. IT systems, by nature, repeat operations over and over. If those operations have unethical impacts, the system will continue to execute them anyway.
Review:
Unlike a human operator, there is no point in the cycle where the machine pauses to ask, “Should I do this?” Subsumption in general is the process of building larger components from smaller ones. In this sense, a cell subsumes DNA function, American common law subsumes judicial decisions, and a hairdryer subsumes an electric motor. Subsumption in computers is different because there is so much more of it going on than in simple machines.
In computer systems, small components are developed and tested, and once they are working reliably they are subsumed into larger systems. This is the enabling technique of object oriented programming. The larger systems, in turn, are subsumed into still larger systems. Once components, subsystems and applications are operating, the subsumed process becomes invisible and unavailable to the user, what James Moor calls the “invisibility factor.”
 
Lessons Learned:
Information systems subsume design, policy and implementation decisions in programming code and content. Code segments and content become “subsumed objects.” While it is demonstrable that systems are built from subsumed components, it is less easy to show exactly how decisions are subsumed. This axiom posits that the decisions themselves, including many subtle factors, are incorporated into systems operation.
Integrative Questions:
1. What is sumbsumption ethics?
2. What is ethics?
3. What is Moral in the sumbsumption?
4. What is psychological ethics ?
5. What is subsumed objects?

WRITTEN ON THE BODY: BIOMETRICS IDENTITY

Cyber Ethics
WRITTEN ON THE BODY: BIOMETRICS IDENTITY
Quote:
“Biometrics will soon hold the key to your future, allowing you and only you to access your house, car, finances, medical records and workplace (Biever, Celeste 2005).”
Learning Expectation:
Signature verification is natural and intuitive. The technology is easy to explain and trust. The primary advantage that signature verification systems have over other types of biometric technologies is that signatures are already accepted as the common method of identity verification. This history of trust means that people are very willing to accept a signature based verification system.
Review:
Biometrics is a technology that verifies a person’s identity by measuring a unique-to-the-individual biological trait. Biometric technologies include dynamic signature verification, retinal/iris scanning, DNA identification, face-shape recognition, voice recognition and fingerprint identification. Biometric identification is superior to lower technology identification methods in common use today – namely passwords, PIN numbers, key-cards and smartcards.
Biometrics is the measuring of an attribute or behavior that is unique to an individual person. Biometrics includes measuring attributes of the human body – such as DNA, iris/retina patterns, face shape, and fingerprints – or measuring unique behavioral actions, such as voice patterns and dynamic signature verification.
Before biometrics only physical objects or behaviors based-on-memory were used to identify a computer user. Physical objects include smartcards or magnetic-stripe cards – behaviors based-on-memory includes the act of entering a PIN number or a secret password.
Lesson Learned:
Some strengths of using biometrics come from the “distinguishable (rather than unique) physiological and behavioral traits (Chandra, Akhilesh 2005)” that make up one’s body and the ease at which they can be used for identification and authentication. Unlike your passwords, you will not forget your fingerprints, irises, or DNA when you go to work.They are a part of you. They are also extremely distinguishable from another person’s biometrics. This means that they can be used with great confidence. Since they are a part of you they are difficult for another person to obtain or fake. They are also easy to use. All you may have to do is put your finger into a device and it gives you access if you are authorized or denies you if you aren’t.For these reasons and others, biometric systems are becoming more mainstream and commonplace. There are, however, some major weaknesses which need to be considered as biometric systems become more heavily relied upon.
Integrative Questions:
1. What is the entry-point paradox as defined by Roger Clarke?
2. In what ways are name, code, knowledge, and token-based identification schemes deficient?
3. What factors have led to the emergence of a consortium-based specification for a global standard for biometric technologies?
4. In the context of identity determination and verification, what are the distinctions between a ‘one to many’ and ‘one to one’ match?
5. In what ways are verification and identification procedures inter-dependent?