7.

1 Ethics and Ownership Notes

Objective:
 Show understanding of need for and purpose of ethics as computing professional,
Understand the importance of joining a professional ethical body including BCS (British
Computer Society), IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers)
 Show understanding of need to act ethically and the impact of acting ethically or unethically
for a given situation.
 Show understanding of need for copyright legislation
 Show understanding of different types of software licencing and justify use of a licence for
given situation. Licences to include free Software Foundation, Open Source Initiative,
shareware and commercial software.
 Show understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Understand impact of AI including social,
economic and environmental issues. Understand the applications of AI.

Importance of Ethics
Societies are collection of individuals, each having their own ideas and beliefs about type of
behaviour that is acceptable, or not acceptable. These ideas and beliefs can vary widely, and
what one person believes is good and right, another may see as bad and wrong. To make sure
that societies function successfully, they develop principles that define what is morally good
and right behaviour for individuals and society itself. These principles are known as ethics.
Important Points when considering Ethical Behaviour:
➢ Legal covers the law, whether or not an action is punishable by law. Anything which
breaks law is termed illegal. Examples include copying software and then selling it
without permission of the copyright holders.
➢ Morality concerns questions of right and wrong. Morality is human desire to
distinguish between right and wrong. This varies from person to person, and between
cultures (something that is considered immoral in one culture, may be acceptable
practice in another)
➢ Ethics also concerns questions of right and wrong, but is more often used in a
professional context.
➢ Culture refers to attitudes, values and practices shared by a society or group of
people.
Immoral does not mean something is illegal. Creating a fake news website is not illegal,
but it may be considered immoral if it causes distress to others. If the creator tried to
obtain personal and financial data, then it would be become an illegal act.

Hacking is generally regarded as immoral, but not illegal. However, it becomes illegal if it
compromises national security, or results in financial gain, or reveals personal information.

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Unethical Behaviour is breaking of code of conduct. If somebody works for software company
and passes on some ideas to rival company, this would be regarded as unethical behaviour. If
software is related to national security or is formally copyrighted, then it is also illegal.

Computer Ethics
Computer ethics is a set of principles set out to regulate the use of computers. Three factors
are considered:
 Intellectual property rights.Example, copying of software without the permission of owner.
 Privacy issues, Example, hacking or any illegal access to another person’s personal data.
 Effect of computers on society, Example, job losses, social impacts, and so on.
Professional Ethical Bodies
There are a number of professional bodies representing individuals working in fields of
computing and information technology that have developed their own codes of conduct, to
which members are expected to adhere.
British Computer Society (BCS): British Computer Society is an international body which
works in close partnership with other groups to monitor and to represent rights and ethical
practices of all professionals working in IT and computing industries.
BCS Code of Conduct covers four main areas:
➢ The Public Interest - Safeguarding public health; respecting rights of 3rd parties, applying
knowledge of relevant regulations.
➢ Duty to employers and clients - Carrying out work according to requirements, and not
abusing employers' or clients' trust in any way.
➢ Professional Duty - Uphold the reputation of the profession through good practice,
support fellow members in professional development.
➢ Professional Integrity and Competence - maintain standards of professional skill and
practice, accepting responsibility for work done, avoiding conflicts of interest with clients.
IEEE-CS/ACM
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) are both based in USA have published the code of ethics.
Software Engineering Code of Ethics:
1) PUBLIC - Software engineers shall act consistently with public interest.
2) CLIENT AND EMPLOYER - Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in best interests
of their client and employer consistent with public interest.
3) PRODUCT - Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications
meet highest professional standards possible.

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 7.1 Ethics and Ownership Notes

4) JUDGMENT - Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their

professional judgment.

5) MANAGEMENT - Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and

promote an ethical approach to management of software development and maintenance.

6) PROFESSION - Software engineers shall advance integrity and reputation of the profession
consistent with the public interest.

7) COLLEAGUES - Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues.

8) SELF - Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding practice of their
profession and shall promote ethical approach to practice of profession.
Applying ACM/IEEE Code of Ethics Principles

Self-Driving Car
‘Google car’ is concept for a self-driving car that autonomously takes
passenger where they wish to go. When designing, building and testing software for car,
developers had one principle placed above all others: Safety of passenger and public.
In doing so, developers had to consider ethical questions about safety and breaking law.
Scenario: A passenger in Google car may fall ill and need urgent hospital attention. Google
car is programmed to stay within speed limits, even if road is clear. However, keeping to
speed limit may mean that passenger does not receive medical treatment in time. Google’s
developers have to consider ethical considerations of both passenger and public. In this
situation, speeding may endanger public, but driving legally might endanger passenger.
Smart Watch
Introduction of smart watches has raised privacy concerns that developers
have to address. Many smart watches have health-monitoring facilities such as detection of
heart rate. Data from this monitoring is often sent over internet to third-party applications,
to help users monitor their fitness. Developers have an ethical duty to make sure that this
data remains private: and make sure that data is transmitted securely, and developers of
third-party applications have to make sure that data remains private.
Network Monitoring
In workplace, computer users might find themselves placed in
situation with conflicting ethics.
Example: Management of company might suspect that employee is wasting work time
accessing social networking sites on company’s computers. This highlights importance of
having computer code of conduct in place. If code of conduct forbids access to social
networking sites via company’s computers, then management have ethical right to check
that code is being upheld. Without a code, checking on employee could be considered an

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invasion of privacy. However, even with a code of conduct, to behave ethically company
could only check on those employees for whom they have evidence of unethical behaviour,
as employees’ privacy must still be considered.
Exam Style Question
For each workplace scenarios, unethical behaviour is demonstrated. Explain Principle(s)
which are not being met.
(i) Workplace Scenario 1:
A large project is devolved to project teams, each led by a project leader.
One project leader fails to inform his manager that he has major concerns that:
➢ Their team’s software contribution is taking much longer to write and test than
anticipated.
➢ They are consequently at risk of spending over their allocated budget.
Answer:
Management at fault need to keep whole project staff fully informed – i.e. a MANAGEMENT
issue. This could impact on whole project – i.e. a PRODUCT issue.
JUDGEMENT of the project leader is poor.

(ii) Workplace Scenario 2

Software house is about to train a number of programmers in a new
programming language. Two employees are refusing to attend the training.
Answer:
A SELF issue – staff should be expected to keep their skills up to date. It could be the
EMPLOYER is not able to move quickly into new areas of work.

(iii) Workplace Scenario 3:

Company is developing some monitoring software which requires
sensors placed in a nature reserve. One employee considers the sensors will be a danger to
some of the wildlife, but is told by his manager that the matter is none of his concern.
Answer:
This is a PUBLIC interest issue. Employee has used good JUDGEMENT in bringing
issue into open discussion.
Impact on Public
BCS code has statement that professional should:
‘have due regard for public health, privacy, security and wellbeing of others and the
environment’.

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 7.1 Ethics and Ownership Notes

Issues which can affect general public and businesses include;

❖ Companies selling software systems which do not meet required standard for security
(inadequate protection against hacking, spyware and other security issues)
❖ Covering up of security issues (such as XEN security threat which forced several cloud
servers to become compromised – an attempt was made to cover up issue but the
affected cloud operators had to come clean)
❖ Release of private data (such as photo leaks, when a cloud server was hacked)
❖ Social media not policing subversive activity, such as hate mail and cyber bullying.
❖ Search engines giving results at top of search due to donations to search engine
operators.
Software Copyright and Privacy
Copyright is a formal recognition of ownership of a created and published work.
An exception is if individual is working for an organization. An organization can claim
copyright for a published work if it is created by one or more individuals that work for
organization.
Copyright cannot apply to an idea and it cannot apply to a component of a published work.
Copyright can apply to any of:
• Literary work • Musical composition • Film a music recording • Radio or TV broadcast
• Work of art • Computer program
Justification for Existence of Copyright:
• Creation takes time and effort and requires original thinking. There should be opportunity
for copyright holder to be rewarded financially for this effort.
• It is unfair for some other individual or organization to reproduce work and to make
money from it without any compensation to original creator.

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Copyright Laws:
Copyright laws are needed to protect copyright. Different countries have
different laws but there is an international agreement that copyright laws cannot be avoided,
by someone publishing work in another country without original copyright holder’s
permission.
Typical copyright legislation include:
➢ Requirement for registration recording the date of creation of the work
➢ Defined period when copyright will apply
➢ Policy to be applied if an individual holding copyright dies
➢ Agreed method for indicating copyright, for example the use of the © symbol.
Software Licensing
Software license is legally binding agreement that specifies terms of use for an application
and defines rights of software producer and of the end-user.
Commercial Software It is a copyrighted software that must be paid for. The copying,
distribution and selling of such software is restricted to those individuals or organisations
that hold a licence to that software. Special rates might be available for educational use.
Freeware Software that is copyrighted but made available free of charge. Keeping hold
of copyright allows author to retain control and ownership of software in case they wish to
charge for it or develop it in future. The licence does not allow software to be modified.
Shareware
Shareware is copyrighted commercial software that is initially given away on
a free basis. Software usually remains free to use for a limited period of time, after which a
licence must be obtained. Software is often made available as shareware to allow users to try
it out and to encourage its distribution. Shareware licences do not allow software to be
modified. Beta test version of new software might be considered to come in shareware
category.
Free software and the Open Source Initiative

Free Software Foundation and Open Source Initiative are non-profit organisations that
promote benefits of giving users freedom to run, copy, change and adapt software. Software
is not protected by copyright restrictions.
Examples of software: F-spot (photographic manager), Scribus (word processor) and
LibreOffice (Office Suite).

Users are allowed to follow four freedoms:

❖ Run the software for any legal purpose they wish.
❖ Study the program source code and modify it where necessary to meet their needs.

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 7.1 Ethics and Ownership Notes

❖ Redistribute copies of the software to friends and family.

❖ Distribute code modified by the user to friends and family.

User Need to follow following rules: Users cannot

❖ Add source code from another piece of software unless this is also described as free
software or open source software.
❖ Use source code to produce software which copies existing software which is subject
to copyright laws.
❖ Adapt source code in such a way that it infringes copyright laws protecting other
software.
❖ Use source code to produce software which is deemed offensive by third parties.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a machine or application which carries out a task that requires
some degree of intelligence when carried out by a human being.
These tasks could include
➢ The use of a language
➢ Carrying out a mathematical calculation or function
➢ Recognising a person’s face
➢ The ability to operate machinery, such as a car, an aeroplane or a train
➢ Analysing data to predict outcome of a future event, such as weather forecasting.
Impacts of AI on society, the economy and Environment:
 Problem Solving:
Example is traditional form of expert system that has been developed to aid
medical diagnosis. This is supplied with data and rules from living medical experts. Expert
system contains more knowledge than is possible for an individual doctor to have. However,
if expert system is given a new situation that is not covered by data and rules it has been
given, it cannot attempt a new or creative approach – unlike a human.
 Linguistics:
Voice recognition and voice synthesis techniques are already developed and in use.
Example: if you call a help line where you might be answered by a computer. Provided that
you answer questions clearly, computer might be able to identify your needs and pass you on
to an appropriate human who can help.

 Perception:
Robots have been used in manufacturing processes. Robot is programmed to
perform repetitive tasks. Action of robot each time is triggered by some mechanism.
However, if anything unexpected happens, robot continues to operate as normal, regardless

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of any damage being caused.

Example of Perception in AI:
Autonomous robots have to be fitted with sensors to enable
robot to take appropriate action depending on information received from sensors. A
development of this concept is driverless car. An example is capability for a car to park itself
in a vacant parking space.

 Reasoning
There are examples of application of AI where a program has been able to draw
inferences and reach conclusions based on evidence which is a requirement for reasoning.
Best examples concern proving of mathematical theorems.
 Learning:
Machine learning is said to take place if a system that has a task to perform is seen
to improve its performance as it gains experience. AI system has access to ‘experience’ in
the form of a massive set of data. By use of algorithms, system learns from this data.
One example is when actions of users visiting websites to buy products are stored. AI system
then attempts to identify appropriate products to be advertised when a user returns to
website. If sales progressively increase there is evidence that learning is taking place.
Another example is program that investigates incoming emails and makes decisions as to
whether these can be classified as spam and therefore should be refused entry to user
inbox.
The impact of AI

Global organisations that are collecting and storing massive amounts of data concerning how
Internet is being used. If this data is only being used to enable organisation to increase its
profits, this could be seen as normal business practice. However, if data is not being securely
stored it could get into wrong hands and be used for criminal or subversive activity.

There are different concerns with respect to introduction of autonomous mechanical

products such as robots, robotic devices and driverless vehicles into our daily lives.

Technological developments lead to employment of more people to manufacture, service

and install the new products.

More technology leads to less manual labour and therefore to increased leisure time. One
counter argument is that more technology leads to fewer jobs because machines are doing
work. Such developments simply make rich richer and poor poorer.

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 7.1 Ethics and Ownership Notes

Some people are excited by introduction of driverless vehicles, but other people believe that
potential for accidents will be increased and that there are not enough measures to prevent
accidents.

Robots can be used in environments that would be dangerous for humans to enter. Giving
robot the capability to act autonomously would make it more useful in such environments.

Environmental impact of robot manufacture and disposal is most significant issue. Robots
are manufactured and require materials for their construction. There is only a limited supply
of raw materials needed. Also, all mechanical and electronic devices eventually end up on the
scrap heap contributing to already serious problem of waste products harming the
environment and creatures living in this environment.

Use of improved expert systems to aid practicing doctors and nurses is clearly a benefit.
However, if these systems came to replace doctors and nurses social consequences are
difficult to predict.

*****************

ESQ: CCTV system uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify presence of a person in the
house and to track their movements. Describe how Al is used in this system. 9618/M/J/23
Ans:

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