Module 11: New Frontiers for Computer Ethics: Virtualization and Virtual Reality

1. Module 11: New Frontiers for Computer Ethics: Virtualization and Virtual Reality • Virtualization • History of Virtualization • Different Aspects of Virtualization • Virtual Reality • Social and Ethical Implications of Virtualization* • Virtualization Security as an Ethical Imperative Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

2. Introduction • Virtualization is a process through which one can create something that is there in effect and performance but in reality not there – that is virtual. • It is a physical abstraction of the company computing resources like storage, network servers, memory and others. • For computing systems, it is a process in which software creates virtual machines (VMs) including a virtual machine monitor called 'hypervisor,' that allocates hardware resources dynamically and transparently so that multiple operating systems, called “guest operating systems” can run concurrently on a single physical computer without even knowing. • The potential power of virtualization in substantially increasing the performance of computing systems such as hardware and software through division of the underlying physical computing resources into many equally powerful virtual machines, has increased the popularity of the technology in the last twenty years and this love continues today Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

3. History of Virtualization • Computers of the 1960s could do only one task at a time and depended on human operators, increasing system performance was bottlenecked at two points: at the submission stage and at the computation stage. • Batching improved system performance some but did not go far enough. • In response to this growing need for speed up, IBM responded with the CP-40 main frame which later evolved into the CP-67 system, thought to be the first commercial Main Frame to support Virtualization. • The CP-67 had a unique operating system combination consisting of CMS (Console Monitor System) piggybacked on a control program called rightly CP. • The CP/CMS was a small single-user interactive operating system and CP, upon which CMS run, actually run on the Mainframe to create the Virtual Machines which individually run their own copies of CMS. • To each virtual machine running CMS, CP allocated parts of the underlying physical machine which formed the virtual machine. Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

4. Different Aspects of Virtualization • There are many types of virtualization including platform, network, storage and application. • Platform Virtualization - is the use of server hardware by the virtualization software to host multiple VMs as guest VMs. Each VM is a virtual environment with its operating system (the guest operating system), which may or may not be the same as the physical server’s operating system (the host operating system), emulates the whole physical infrastructure of a computing system including memory and each VM is independent of other VMs sharing the physical server. • Platform virtualization itself is subdivided into two types: workstation and server: • Workstation Virtualization • Server Virtualization Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

5. Network Virtualization - Like storage virtualization, network virtualization pools the resources, like files, folders, storage and I/O devices, of separate and different networks into one network • Storage Virtualization - is the process of pooling together of resources of many different network storage devices such as hard drives to create what looks like one big storage managed from a single console • Application Virtualization – the process of allowing the bytecode of an application package to be portably run on many different computer architectures and operating systems through the use of running an interpreter or just-in-time compilation of the application before it runs on the computer architecture of choice. An example of this is the Java Machine Virtualization. Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

6. Virtual Reality • VR – is a stimulation of a real or imaginary phenomena in three-dimensional environments • Is revolutionalizing the study of science • Ethics in Virtual Reality: • Lack of being in control • Safety and security of users • Human-agent interactions • Intentions of the actor • Accountability of the actor • Responsibility of the actor • Psychological effects on the actor and commnity Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

7. Social and Ethical Implications of Virtualization • One of the anticipated good of virtualization to society is to extend known and relatively managed humanity’s social spheres and social networks in an unprecedented way through opening up of virtual domains of social interactions, many with a degree of managed control. • Another good social aspect of virtualization is to avail tools for society to create new virtual social networks out of the old and dismantle old social ones. • In addition, virtualization is bringing about easy creation of new human identities in the new virtual environments • This makes authentication more difficult but at the same time creating unprecedented potential in self-creation and self-presentation. This may bring new opportunities to humanity. • virtualization, in principle, has the potentiality of either erasing or heightening or situated presence in the world. Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

8. Virtualization on the flip side, may create mayhem to the social infrastructure as we know it today, just because individual can literally decide to be who they wish to be with ease. • True virtualization requires an absence of reality. This may lead to: • Lack of consciousness in individuals and groups, • Lack of accountability as individuals and groups are shielded from real consequences of their actions. • Without a situated and embodied sense of individual or group responsibility, there are likely to be no commitment and no risk • In such an environment, therefore, moral engagement is limited and human relations become trivialized • This may lead to society not benefiting from virtualization. Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

9. Virtualization Security as an Ethical Imperative • Perhaps the greatest threat presented by virtualization to computer networks is the fact that using one physical computer, one can access many virtual infrastructure, a feat that not so feasible in the physical networks. Virtualization security should include: • Hypervisor security • Securing Communications Between Desktop and Virtual Infrastructure • Security of Communication Between Virtual Machines • Threats and Vulnerabilities Originating from a VM Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

10. The ethical approach entails us to making sure we devote our best and most thorough thinking to every weak spot in our interaction with the world. • Virtualization, in all its forms, is a process and a technology that is bound to complicate and transform the social fabric of society. • It is not only ethical but imperative that we deal with all its ethical and security loopholes through which both intentional and unintentional exploitations of the technologies can take place, and these exploitations are bound to have far-reaching consequences for humanity. Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza