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CSI2911 / SEG2911 / ELG2911 Professional Practice Pratique professionnelle

CSI2911 / SEG2911 / ELG2911 Professional Practice Pratique professionnelle. TOPIC 2 Ethical Decision Making

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CSI2911 / SEG2911 / ELG2911 Professional Practice Pratique professionnelle

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  1. CSI2911 / SEG2911 / ELG2911Professional Practice Pratiqueprofessionnelle TOPIC 2 Ethical Decision Making Some of the material in these slides is derived from slides produced by Sara Basse, the Author of the “Gift of Fire” textbook , and also other professors who have taught this course including Stan Matwin and Liam Peyton

  2. Ethics / Éthique • What is Ethics / Qu'est-ce que l'éthique: • Study of what it means to “do the right thing”, “faire la bonne chose”, • Assumes people are rational and make free choices • Rules to follow in our interactions and our actions that affect others EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  3. Ethics (cont.) • Ethical Views: • Deontological / déontologique • Judging right or wrong based on whether one adheres to the rules • Utilitarianism, consequentialism / L'utilitarisme , conséquentialisme • The greatest good for the greatest number of people • Natural rights / droits naturels • Some things are right regardless of what rules and laws are written down • No simple answers to many ethical questions • Do organizations (businesses) have ethics? EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  4. Ethics (cont.) • Important Distinctions: • Right, wrong and okay • Negative rights (liberties) • The right to act without interference • The right some people assert to do what you want with your property • Freedom of expression • Positive rights (claim-rights) • An obligation of some people to provide certain things for others • A doctor has an obligation to care for a sick patient • A computer scientist or engineer must take action if they know something is unsafe, will impact the environment, etc. EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  5. Ethics (cont.) • Important Distinctions (cont.): • Difference between wrong and harm • Wrong: May cause harm, but may not • Harm: Bad consequence actually occurs • Personal preference and ethics • Collective rights vs. individual rights • Law and Ethics EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  6. Discussion Question • Can you think of examples of • liberties (negative rights) • and claim-rights (positive rights) • that are at opposition to each other? EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  7. What should guide ethical decision making? • Seven levels • Constitutions and International treaties • Laws (statutes) • Regulations • Standards of good practice • Professional codes of ethics • Corporate policies • Community and personal values EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  8. Guidance for ethical decision making in the area of privacy • Fair Information Practice Principles • Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act: PIPEDA • Ontario Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act • Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act • CIPS Guidelines • CIPS Code of Ethics • University of Ottawa Policies • Common sense EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  9. Ethical Judgment • Is a kind of pattern recognition • It gets better with experience EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  10. Method for Ethical Analysis • Take a set of ethical points of view • Equality, justice, respect, self-respect (integrity) • Gather all ethically relevant facts regarding the situation and people involved • Actions, roles, relationships (e.g. conflicts of interest) • Identify key issues • Look for an existing policy or law that matches • Pay attention to precedents and people who might be sensitive to any given solution • If a solution found, apply it • But watch out for conflicting policies, laws, principles and points of view • Otherwise apply higher-level general principles and consult with others EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  11. Example ethical situation 1 • You are developing software for the government that determines whether someone is eligible for a driver’s license • You think there is a problem in the law that will deny certain people licenses that is unfair in your opinion • E.g. old people when somebody has complained about their driving • You consider adjusting the software so that the public complaints are ‘ignored’ by the software • What are the ethical implications? EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  12. Example ethical situation 2 • You discover that an instrument your company installed is consistently under-reporting the amount of electricity being billed to a customer. • You know that your best friend, who designed the instrument might lose his job if you report the situation. • What do you do? • Vous découvrez qu'un instrument installé par votre société constamment sous-indique la quantité d'électricité facturée à un client. • Vous savez que votre meilleur ami, qui a conçu l'instrument pourrait perdre son emploi si vous signaler la situation. • Que faites-vous? • Top Hat Monocle Question CSI2911 - Lethbridge

  13. Example ethical situation 3 • You discover a vulnerability in your company’s software that could lead hackers to break in and obtain or alter critical information causing great harm • You could just work with the company to fix it quietly and say nothing to others • But perhaps you should notify the users and customers so they can take steps to protect themselves in case hackers break in before the fix is made • But this might cause great harm to the company’s reputation EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  14. Example ethical situation 4 • Your company wins a contract to develop a secret military technology that could have tremendous destructive capability • You personally believe that it would be better for the world if this technology did not exist • What do you do? EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  15. Example ethical situation 5 • You are tasked with developing a wind farm near a city suburb. • There is a lot of opposition due to potential noise, and you are supposed to try to convince the citizens that they will come to no harm. • Yet you know that you would not want to live near one of the wind turbines yourself. • What do you do? EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  16. Example ethical situation 6 • You discover a ‘back door’ that allows you unlimited access to all the private information in your company • You have suspicions that the CEO is embezzling funds • Do you use the back-door to investigate? • What other alternative courses of action could you consider? • What if instead, you suspect that a fired employee was fired unjustly, and you could use the back-door to find exonerating evidence? EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  17. Example ethical situation 7 • You know your brother regularly makes videos of movies in the cinema and shares them using bit torrent software • As a computer professional what should you do? • Would it make any difference if your brother was selling the videos? EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  18. Example ethical situation 8 • You are aware that if your company started sourcing certain electronic devices from China instead of the local factory where you live, it would save considerable money. However that would put a lot of local people out of work, and might result in boycotts of your own companies products. • What do you do? EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  19. Example ethical situation 9 • Your company has developed safety critical software that you believe may not have been adequately tested • You mention this to your manager, and he tells you “you are too inexperienced to make that judgment, the expert testers are confident the software is OK” • What do you do? EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  20. Example ethical situation 10 • You are developing slot machine software for casinos • A psychologist has determined how to ‘improve’ the user interface to encourage people to spend more money (i.e. to gamble more) • You believe this will increase the occurrence of gambling addiction • What could you consider doing? • Would there be any difference if the same technique was to be used to encourage people to spend more money on an e-commerce site selling consumer products? EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  21. Example ethical situation 11 • You are working on a project that is over budget and behind schedule • You feel fairly certain that the system will never work as expected due to poor design and that it would be better to start again • You feel fairly certain it would harm your career in the company if you made a ‘big deal’ about your opinions? • What are the ethical issues? What would you do? EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

  22. Example ethical situation 12 • You know how to crack the encryption on cell phone calls and have the hardware and software available to do this. • Is there any ethical situation when you might consider it ‘right’ to use this knowledge • If you were asked by the police? A judge? A CSIS agent? James Bond? • If you knew it would save someone’s life? If you thought it would prevent some other crime? EECS 2911 - Lethbridge

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