Databases and Computer Ethics (3/CS/6S)
See also:
Management and the Social Impact of Information Technology (3/CS/6Y)

Computer Ethics

Lecturer: Jonathan Bowen

See lecture topics covered by the course and recommended books.

See also assessment

In addition to the lecture material, you may like to search the Internet yourself for information relevant to computer ethics. The links below provide further material on the subject which may be of interest.

General information

• Ethics Center for Engineering and Science, USA. Includes Codes of Ethics and Conduct links.
• Ethical Web sites and other relevant subjects from the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, School of Computing Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester.
• Computer Ethics Information Systems Ethics Cyberethics Education.
• Computer Ethics from the US-based Electronic Frontier Foundation.
• Ethics on the World Wide Web.
• Ethics links from the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR).
• Internet Ethics and Etiquette from the WWW Virtual Library.
• Search newsgroups for "computer ethics" from Dejanews.
• Ethics Center of Engineering and Science, Case Western Reserve University, USA. See codes of ethics and conduct.

Risks

The Green Card Flap caused by the US lawers Canter and Siegel has created a backlash in the Internet community - e.g., see Canter & Siegel: Stop Them Before They Spam Again! See email spamming information, IEMMC for purported "ethical" use of junk email, Consumer Connect Privacy Service / Antispam.org for email address removal, Fight Spam on the Internet! and essays on junk email (Spam). See Junkbusters home page on dealing with junk messages.

See also Chris' Page of Programming Disasters.

Safety

The IEE have produced the following on-line document: Safety Critical Systems: Review of recent Institution activity. See also a workshop report on Formal methods and their role in developing safe systems.

The ARIANE 5 Flight 501 Failure Report, 19 July 1996, from the European Space Agency (ESA) makes fascinating reading. A local copy (which may load more quickly), an annotated version, and a version in slide form (with large fonts) are available.

See also Safety-Critical Systems information from Virginia Tech CS3604 course.

Security

• UK Data Protection Act (1984). See summary and guidance including the Internet.

• The Office of The Data Protection and the searchable Data Protection Register, UK Government. See data protection principles.

• Big Brother Inside home page: protecting a PC's privacy.

Other courses

• Social, Legal and Ethical Issues of IT, A Final Year Computer Science Course at Reading by Mike Houghton (see also here, only accessible at Reading University)
• CS 3604: Professionalism in Computing, Virginia Tech (includes further links to other courses) see also site map
• CIS590: Computers, Ethics, and Society, University of Pennsylvania
• CSCC 355: Computers, Ethics, and Society, University of Delaware.
• APP380: An interactive course about the Internet & Computer Ethics, University of Notre Dame
• Sociology 4071-3: Technology and Modernization: Computer Technology and Human Values, University of Colorado, including a list of readings
• 6.805/STS085: Ethics and Law on the Electronic Frontier, MIT, including related courses
• A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues in Computing by Sara Baase, San Diego State University, California

Legal issues and crime

• Computer crime: US legal case of Randal L. Schwartz versus State of Oregon (for Intel Corporation).
• EFF "Legal Issues and Policy: Cyberspace and the Law" Archive from Electonic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit civil liberties organization. See also online library archives.
• United Kingdom police & forensic Web.
• The Law Society of England and Wales.
• Email privacy issues from DigiCrime, Inc. - Don't follow this link if you don't want your email address revealed to third parties.
• FTC halts Internet highjacking scam, Federal Trade Commission, USA, 22 September 1999.

Searches

• Computer ethics search from Yahoo
• Computer ethics search from AltaVista
• Computer ethics and crime search from Infoseek

Codes of practice

• Professional code of conduct for members of the British Computer Society
• Code of practice for engineers and managers working on safety-related systems from the UK Institution of Electrical Engineers
• JANET Acceptable Use Policy from UKERNA

Other information

• Information Systems Ethics: Computer Ethics - Cyberethics, including the Tavani Bibliography of Computing, Ethics, and Social Responsibility.
• INTERNETHICS, a group of individuals and organizations devoted to the establishment, promotion and use of ethical behaviour in all dealings, commercial or otherwise, on the World Wide Web and other parts of the Internet. See IE-Links.
• Legalethics.com, the Internet ethics site. (USA oriented.) See EthicSites Index.
• Child Safety on the Information Highway.
• Microsoft and capitalism (a favourable view).
• Human rights from the United Nations.
• Internet Watch Foundation, UK self regulation body concerned with illegal material on the Internet.
• The ethics of decompilation.