AUTHOR
Melius Weideman

ABSTRACT

The objective of this research project is to investigate and report on the ethical issues surrounding digital content distribution via search engine results. For the purposes of this project, the traditional definition of digital content distribution is widened to include search engine results.

The literature has shown that search engine users have certain expectations about results appearing on the screen after a search has been executed. First and foremost, results should be relevant to the need expressed in the search query. Secondly, users also expect that these results should appear quickly, and be free from bias. Some studies have shown that these expectations are often not met, and that search engine based resource hunting often leads to user frustration.

The large Internet user base has created an increasing potential for financial gain through marketing. Many authors stated that there is strong commercial motivation for ensuring that web pages appear high up in search engine results. However, the recent commercial failures of dotcoms turning into dotgones are still fresh in the memories of those who have suffered as a result of these failures.

At the same time, recent developments in the search engine world have driven marketers to find alternative funding sources. For example, Yahoo disabled redirection of email from their homepage during 2002. It is believed that this was done to force users to view (and possibly respond to) the advertisements on this homepage. Furthermore, many search engines have been part of mergers and takeovers – Google purchasing the Deja newsgroup archives is only one example. One development resulting from these hard times experienced by search engine companies, which requires ethical scrutiny, is that of paid placement. This refers to a customer paying a fee to the search engine company, to ensure that the website involved is guaranteed listings on customers’ screens. An interesting fact emerging at this point was that paid placements were not offered by Google, often considered to be the leading search engine in the Internet world. Paid inclusion is an alternative which only assures the paying client that his website will be included in the database, but not necessarily that it will appear in the listings.

The literature has also shown that a number of questionable methods exist to increase website ranking. These include spamming, cloaking, doorway pages and link farms. Human users and search engine crawlers have different expectations as to the content they would like to see on a website. They also see the same website in different ways. Confusion appears to reign amongst users regarding the difference between paid an unpaid content. In an empirical experiment, a prominent marketing company found that all the participants considered clearly marked paid content as being spam.

In this research project, the methods used were, firstly, to conduct an exhaustive literature survey on the topic. Some technical issues that surfaced during this process include link analysis, URL submission, paid inclusion and metatag usage. Ethical issues that appear to have a bearing include paid placement, the use of link farms, cloaking, keyword stuffing, and the creation of multitudes of doorway pages. A seminal paper has highlighted some of these issues (Introna & Nissenbaum, 2000).

Secondly, the findings of a preliminary set of experiments have left the impression that all is ethically not well in terms of content delivery to the consumer. It seems that unsolicited propaganda could overshadow true and valuable content in some search engine result pages. It is also possible that some website owners are employing technically superior techniques to achieve high rankings in search engine results. As a result, an exhaustive set of empirical experiments is to be executed to determine the current status quo. An attempt will be made to determine whether or not marketers are forcing biased results onto digital consumers.

Two ethical questions are raised at this point: does the digital consumer using a search engine want relevant answers to his/her questions, or does he/she want to see the websites of technically adept/financially strong website owners? Secondly: the average user is not paying for general search engine queries – does he/she have the right to complain about the quality of the answers? This paper sets out to make a detailed inspection of the situation, and report on it.

In conclusion, it is believed that this proposed research project will add value to the world of the digital information consumer, by exposing potential loopholes in the information society in which we are living. The level of commercial competition for web site ranking will probably increase. In final conclusion, it is believed that payment for casual information searching is a development which will decrease user frustration by increasing information quality of Internet web sites.

AUTHOR
Caroline E. Wardle, C. Dianne Martin and Valerie A. Clarke

ABSTRACT

The well-documented scarcity in the U.S. of women studying computer science (CS) and pursuing careers in information technology (IT) has traditionally been studied from a perspective that supports workforce needs. In 1986 the number of baccalaureates awarded to women in CS peaked at 15,000, representing 36% of the total awarded that year. In spite of much research and a few small programs implemented over the past 10 years, women earned only 10,500 of the CS baccalaureates or 28% of the total, in 2000. Even though there has been strong demand in the U.S. for highly skilled IT professionals over the past two decades, the IT labor market data mirror the data on degree trends in CS. The share of women in these jobs declined from 33% in 1990 to 26% in 2002. This means that society has lost women’s skills and perspectives in the design and development of IT systems prevalent in the world today.

On the basis of existing research, it is possible to identify the types of educational environments that are conducive to attracting girls to the study of CS and potentially into the IT workforce. While it is understandable that we as a society tend to view this scarcity as a societal workforce issue, it is also important to examine female under-representation from an ethical perspective. The question arises as to why we should devote resources to addressing this issue rather than retaining the status quo within the current educational and occupational systems. Whether the focus is on the allocation of resources within the educational system or the allocation of jobs within the employment system, the issue of the under- representation of women in CS and IT can be considered from the philosophical perspective of distributive justice using the four theories identified by Beauchamp and Childress (1994): libertarian, communitarian, utilitarian, and egalitarian.

The libertarian approach argues that human wants are best satisfied by market forces, that any imposed system, or attempt to interfere with the natural order, is a threat to the liberty of the individual. Thus, those who feel that they want CS training and can afford the training are the ones who are able to attain it. Libertarianism assumes that students are the best judge of their own abilities, their own potential, and their own job opportunities, and that they are able to make appropriate decisions. Libertarianism assumes that those who choose training in CS have parents who are able and willing to pay for that training. In terms of education, there are many concerns with the libertarian paradigm, as many educators would question the capacity of young students to make appropriate decisions, and the willingness of many parents to provide the necessary financial support.

The communitarian approach advocates using community-derived standards to determine the “good”, the “right” and the “virtuous” in a specific situation. In relation to CS, this might be seen as describing the approach adopted whereby the governing bodies of educational institutions determine the way students are selected and resources are allocated. Many would argue that the derivation of community standards is open to bias, abuse and exploitation, as those who are in control often argue for the status quo. They manage to impose their views on the community, arguing that their views are most representative of those of the community. Disadvantaged and minority groups are often ignored, while the interests of those in power are promoted.

The utilitarian approach is best described as the greatest good for the greatest number. This may provide the best description of the current position within CS education in schools where the male-dominated curriculum continues to attract males and deter females. Under this paradigm, marginal groups appear to have little to offer to the field, while having a high propensity to consume resources. Girls are seen as having fewer relevant abilities, such as mathematics ability, and less interest in CS than do their male counterparts. Those who benefit from the system are supportive of it, asserting that it provides the greatest good for the greatest number, and therefore provides the most benefit to society as a whole.

Egalitarianism implies that all members of society should have access to the resources of society and should share equally in the burdens of society. Rawls’ work on the principles of social justice (1971) offers a persuasive description of egalitarianism as it articulates the notions of equality, fairness, and opportunity. The egalitarian paradigm provides the basis for arguing that resources should be allocated to enable the maximum development of the potential of all individuals and to ensure that the burdens of providing those opportunities should be equally shared. It can be argued that this paradigm is most compatible with the US philosophy of equality for all, and that it provides a rationale for using existing research findings about the relatively low levels of participation by women in CS and IT to broaden access to these activities.

Using the egalitarian/social justice paradigm as a rationale, we will show that the decreasing numbers of women in IT is a major ethical concern for the individual, as well as for business, education, government and society as a whole. Compelled by a moral imperative, rather than by economics, it becomes clear that fostering IT educational and workplace environments that attract and retain women should be a high national priority. By examining the inhibiting factors identified by research on the IT workforce, as well as strategies that mitigate these factors, we will provide a set of recommendations for addressing this social and ethical problem. One of the greatest challenges facing IT fields in the coming decade is the need to develop and foster an environment that will attract and retain women in IT careers, thus enabling society to benefit from their talents and skills in the design and development of the IT systems of the future.

Note
The views presented in this paper do not necessarily represent the position of the National Science Foundation.

AUTHOR
Ciaran Ward

ABSTRACT

The digital age has created something of a “Big Brother” society in which the proliferation of modern technology has advanced the need for effective legislation to reconcile the right to privacy with the desire for a safer society where illegal or suspect activities can be adequately monitored. CCTV cameras are now omnipresent in the western world – in offices, in shopping malls, on public transport, sports grounds and airports. The monitoring and interception of e-mail/internet usage in the workplace has made it easy for employers to keep close tabs on their employees. In fact modern technology has undeniably rendered access to personal data much easier and cheaper. Facial recognition software used in some security cameras as well as sophisticated biometrics such as DNA databases, eye-scanning and digital fingerprinting have the potential for a “1984” style society.

The advent of the internet has given rise to a plethora of illegal activities both of a civil and criminal nature, notably hacking, online credit card fraud, the spread of viruses and distribution of obscene images. The global nature of the world wide web has internationalised the problem. Following on from the criticism of the US intelligence services after their failure to prevent the events of September 11 2001, the pressure on governments to monitor suspicious activities has increased alarmingly. The problem for governments particularly those in the west is thus striking a balance between effective policing and respect for human rights. In his influential 1994 publication Electronic Eye, Lyon outlines this paradox, pointing out that “surveillance simultaneously represents both a means of social control and a means of ensuring that citizens’ rights are represented”.

The question the law must pose therefore is to what extent is such surveillance intrusive? The flood of emergency legislation introduced by western governments in the wake of September 2001 has come in for much criticism by civil libertarians who in their campaign for a transparent society claim that these events were merely used to justify greater surveillance of the public.

Most western democracies as well as the European Union have implemented privacy and data protection legislation of some description. The latest European directive on privacy (the Directive on privacy and electronic communications, 2002/58/EC) repeals the Directive on Personal Data Protection and Telecom Privacy (97/66/EC) issued a mere five years earlier. The new directive takes into account the explosion of mobile phones and e-mail usage and in theory guarantees confidentiality of communications, but cites certain exceptions – i.e. in the interests of ‘national security… defence, public security and the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences or of unauthorised use of the electronic communication system’. Such exceptions could however be abused by public authorities to encompass a much broader range of circumstances than their intended meaning.

The need to curb “high tec” crime requires a degree of covert surveillance, but when an individual is merely under suspicion there are obvious problems with this approach, as many influential civil liberties groups around the world have pointed out.

Article 8(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights which states “Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence” should theoretically act as a safeguard against any unjustified violations of privacy.

It could be argued that civil liberties groups will never be fully content regardless of the compromises privacy law attempts to implement. It seems that in any case privacy will always come at a price. Governments and other public authorities may never come clean about their darkest secrets and will always invent exceptions to the rule to suit their own ends. Civil libertarians claim that public interest exemptions from data protection laws have merely resulted in major violations of privacy. Just how much the public knows is debatable, but one would suspect that this is very little. The degree of surveillance of members of the public is probably much greater than we imagine. Despite the legislation on the subject it seems that the powers that be will always find a way around this.

The question is do the innocent really have nothing to fear? Certain well documented cases would appear to suggest otherwise.

This paper examines the conflict between existing laws on privacy and surveillance and the need for the enforcement of human rights with reference to the vast range of existing literature on the subject, current legislation, case law and initiatives within the UK, the EU and selected jurisdictions – with an emphasis on electronic data and covert surveillance.

AUTHOR
Richard Volkman

ABSTRACT

As illustrated by analogy to the recent scandals in the telecom industry, deontological and utilitarian approaches to computer ethics are unable to serve as good guides to action under circumstances of economic change or uncertainty about values. These circumstances practically define the cultural environment of computing. Indeed, it is a truism in computing that change is the only constant, and this truism challenges the ability of traditional “ethical controls” to regulate behavior in any meaningful way. Principles of good character, on the other hand, do not derive from statements of eternal, universal values; a virtue is a trait of character that is good for the person who has it, where the value of good character derives from the agent’s own commitments. It follows that virtue ethics is not susceptible to rationalizations based on extrinsic rewards made uncertain by a prevailing relativism about values or by a volatile economic environment.

The recent “meltdown” in the telecommunications industry reveals a problem in utilitarian and deontological ethics that finds expression in computing as well as business. While recent business scandals certainly involved a large measure of fraud and other immoral conduct, there is a growing consensus that this will not account for the full scope of the problem. Despite the obvious fact that something went terribly wrong, debate continues among scholars regarding the morality and legality of many of the practices that led to the problems at Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, and others.

That such debate continues is unsurprising, given the way utilitarian and deontological approaches to ethics both depend on evaluating outcomes to assess ethical conduct. (This is obvious for utilitarianism but requires some unpacking for deontology.) When the value or likelihood of a given outcome is uncertain (as in the case of a perceived “new economy”), these accounts cannot guide action. In contrast, evaluations of character do not depend on outcomes, and descriptions of character in terms of virtue have an intelligible meaning that does not depend on the categorical goodness of any particular end. This helps virtue ethics to avoid many of the difficulties associated with applying utilitarian and deontological ethics.

Instead of evaluating outcomes, virtue ethics focuses on character. Character refers to an agent’s overall being, including especially those values, beliefs, projects, commitments, and ways of reacting to the world that explain and justify the agent’s behavior. One’s character stands behind one’s actions, as the core of identity and self; character defines who one is. We rely on traits of character to predict behavior and to thereby justify reliance. Because one’s character forms this relatively stable base for one’s projects and pursuits, any agent will have to take seriously the evaluation of her own character, whatever her particular projects and pursuits might be. The reasons to have a good character are already built-in to those projects and pursuits.

Evaluations of character typically involve claims about the virtues. Virtue terms involve both a descriptive and a normative aspect, such that one cannot understand what the term describes without also understanding its normative implications. Virtue terms need not get their ethical force by asserting that any particular state of affairs is “really” good. Instead, virtues relate to things that are more or less obviously good-for-me (and good-for-you), and they specify a reliable means of achieving these ends. If it is granted that one pursues the end in question, this gives one a reason to manifest the virtue in question. So, the virtues will have a reason-giving force as long as one can confirm that the associated value is of personal value, and there is no reason that relativism or uncertainty about evaluating outcomes should undermine ethical reasoning about character. Utilitarianism and deontology both require that one’s actions be justified in terms of realizing some categorical good. However, to confirm that a given virtue term applies to one, it is enough to acknowledge it as a means to some end that one is actually committed to. What follows are the Socratic dictum, “Know Thyself!” and the Nietzschean imperative, “Become Who You Are!”

Applying this to computing requires a preliminary discussion of the nature of computing. What ends define the commitments of the computer professional? In light of this discussion, we will be in a position to say what a computer professional is, and we can confirm that the traditional virtues of courage, integrity, honesty, and good judgment all apply to the good computer professional. While a complete analysis of the notion of “being a good computer professional” is well beyond the scope of a single paper, even a preliminary sketch is sufficient to show that the practice of computing differs from the practices of the cracker or the info-terrorist or the con-artist, each of whom represent a different sort of failure in being a good computer professional. Having described what it means to be a good computer professional, discovering reasons for ethical (i.e., virtuous) behavior is a simple matter of determining whether one aims to be a good computer professional or a good con-artist, cracker, or info-terrorist. If the answer is not already obvious enough, it turns out that the life of a “good” con-artist, cracker, or info-terrorist is very unlikely to issue in the good life for a human being.

If the actors in the telecom scandals regard themselves as businesspersons and not con-artists, then virtues give them good reason to have behaved differently. If they regard themselves as con-artists, then virtues give reasons to become businesspersons instead. Similarly, those who aspire to be computer professionals have good reason to behave ethically, even in circumstances of radical uncertainty about categorical values and outcomes. Ethical conduct is not an added responsibility of the computer professional that is merely tacked on to what her job is “really” about. Rather, ethics defines the very fabric of the job description and, therefore, what it means to be a good computer professional.

AUTHOR
Pekka Turunen, Aapo Immonen and Jarmo Tähkäpää

ABSTRACT

In cases where businesses have been using customer based data systems for quite some time, health care customer type information and communication, ICT, services have only been emerging e.g. (Ragupathi 1997). In health care as a specific area, there are special social and ethical aspects that have to be taken under consideration and which do not apply in the customer data cases of business (Stanberry 2001; Kazanjian and Green 2002).

Healthcare has traditionally been organisation-orientated and hierarchical. Health care professionals have possessed the information and have been the decision maker c.f. (Kim and Michelman 1990) The Internet or mobile based systems used by the customers have partially been dissolved by this circumstance. Based on this; the willingness or ability of customers to use information pertaining to their personal matters health care professionals have rejected the utilisation of these kind of information technology.

Based on these facts, a study directed at the users of health care services has been conducted by the city of Kuopio, which produced results that are quite surprising: The majority of the participants in the study claim they want health care available in the Internet.

The objective of the study

Kuopio is a city of approximately 90000 inhabitants located in the North east region of Finland. The social- and health care centre of Kuopio is finalising a comprehensive refurbishment process of the social- and health care informatics systems which started in 1999. The Shiftec -research unit from the University of Kuopio evaluated the effects of the ongoing process. One part of the study was a customer questioner targeted at the citizens of Kuopio comprising 1) how day-to-day health care related routines had preformed in health care centres using the technology. 2) And what kind of services the citizens would like to see available in the Internet or trough mobile terminals.

This article restricts itself to the latter part of the research study and its results. E.g. experiences in National Health Service in UK, research of internet services has been centered very much around quality of information itself rather than attitudes and needs of people accessing the information. On the other hand in health care this is quite natural given the importance of authoritative and accurate information, but since progress is towards patient centered approach the patient viewpoint can not be bypassed anymore. [Nicholas, 2002 #9628]

The respondents

The customer questioner was exulted in the internet with a web application form. The questionnaire was publicised in the local newspaper and at health care centre check up points. The total amount of the questionnaire was 623, the median age was high, and 41 years the gender split was 77% female. The educational level was 55% secondary school, primary school 33%, and 10% lower than primary school level. In terms of professional education higher or college level 67%, professional institute level 23% professional education was lacking in 10% of the cases, the majority of which could be identified as students.

Up to 67% o the applicants had had visited a health care unit more than once or more during the past year. Twenty three percent of the answers submitted indicated a health related problem resulting in regular medical check up procedures. In sixty four percent of cases, the reason for a medical check up visit was personal and 28% answered hat they had escorted a child. In addition to this, 3% escorted an elderly patient. The reason of visiting health care centres in 83% of the case was a physicians check up, 6% visiting a nurse and 3% had an appointment to the laboratory. Out of the answered, 60% had reserved an appointment booked a time pre-emptively by phone.

Approximately 20% had not phoned beforehand and 17% has arrived on sight to reserve an appointment.

Out of the responses eighty seven percent considered themselves to be skillfull users of ICT. The internet is visited mainly from home (65%) and from work (28%). Daily use of the internet is established at 89% and on weekly access 9% of the respondents. Electronic mail was used daily by 81%; whereas weekly access was 13% and 5% of the respondents not access the Internet at all. Out of the respondents 95% had a cellular phone.

The results

The results differ to what the health care staff and researchers generally would expect.

Opposite to belief, the Internet and mobile terminals utilising new forms of health services were widely appreciated. The reservation of a check up appointment, changing or cancelling the appointment via the internet was considered highly relevant by 73% and quite relevant 20% almost as popular was a proposal of printing hardcopies of necessary forms and personal medical instructions receivable over the internet or via email. Also feedback related to personal medical check up calls vie Internet was supported by a surprisingly high figure (highly appreciated 67%, relatively appreciated 18%). All proposals of different health care service forms were well accepted by the majority. Most dispersion of opinions was caused by matters concerning health in open or closed conversation forums, 28% indicated high importance, relatively importance 36%, not very important 18% and not recommendable at all close to 6% of the respondents.

The use of the Internet in open health care procedures was laid under suspicion because of privacy and confidentiality issues (64%) and the cost 8% approximately 31% did not indicate any reason submitted in the survey. An open auxiliary comment or alternative reason was submitted in 20% of the cases. The open comment was primarily concerning reasoning for a qualitative answer. The qualitative question was by nature steering. Mobile services were not as popular as services available through the internet, or rather; the mobile services caused a higher level of suspicion. Delivering check up times as SMS-messages were received the most positive out of three proposals in the field of mobile services. It was considered as meaningful by 70% result of laboratory and other research results as SMS-messages was considered interesting by 54% and not relevant by 40% . Dosage of personal drug and other forms of therapy planning and correction 54% considered as useful and not useful around 39%

The use of mobile informatics in open heath care procedures was diffused mainly by prices and confidentiality 49%, also costs (18%) and accessibility (13%) were issues brought up by this survey.

In the case of mobile informatics 32% did not answer to any of the alternative questions because of instability of use. A reason or comment was submitted in 20% of the answers.

Discussion

The customer survey was executed exclusivity in the Internet. This, obviously, could be considered as casting a bias in the questioner gathering, as all citizens do not have access to the Internet. However, our judgement is that the research method used in this case supplies us with comprehensive feedback, as there are new types of health care services available over the Internet (Nicholas, Huntington et al. 2002)

The data security issue pertaining to customer data is considered to be crucial but the risks involved are evaluated moderately and are not considered as thresholds for the implementation of new technologies. The respondents consider themselves to be apt computer users and this persisting they understood the data security issues related to computer use.

The client has also perceived the risk of paper archiving or hard copy systems. This was punctuated when asking attitudes towards systems used by staff. Only one fourth (24%) considered the clients data security to decrease when switching to computer based documentation.

In the discussion parts of the article, the next important topics shall be covered: health care services rendered over the Internet – is this a means to shorten queue and improve the availability of health care services or, rather, a privilege dedicated to a small computer educated groups? On the other hand, speculation will be imminent about potential emancipating influence of different systems reaching diverse groups of special groups. How will health care staff react to the possible outcome of patients having more access to their own medical or other personal files? How realistic are the data security assumptions of the end users and how should the health care staff being educated in the data security issues?

REFERENCES

Kazanjian, A. and C. J. Green (2002). “Beyond effectiveness: the evaluation of information systems using a comprehensive health technology assessment framework.” Computers in Biology and Medicine 32: 165-177.

Kim, K. K. and J. E. Michelman (1990). “An Examination of Factors for the Strategic use of Information Systems in the Healthcare Industry.” Strategic Use of Hospital Information Systems(June 1990): 201-215.

Nicholas, D., P. Huntington, et al. (2002). “NHS Direct Online: its users and their concerns.” Journal of Information Science 28(4): 305-319.

Ragupathi, W. (1997). “Health Care Information Systems.” Communications of the ACM 40(8): 81-82.

Stanberry, B. (2001). “Legal ethical and risk issues in telemedicine.” Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine 64: 225-233.

AUTHOR
Barrie Thompson and Helen Edwards

ABSTRACT

It is widely recognised that Information Society Technologies (IST) are changing the world. For example, in the documentation relating to the priority thematic areas for research within the European Union Framework 6 initiative, it is stated that:

“Information society technologies (IST) are transforming the economy and society. Not only are they creating new ways of working and new types of business, but provide solutions to major societal challenges such as healthcare, environment, safety, mobility and have far reaching implications on our everyday life. The IST sector is now of one of the most important of the economy, with an annual turnover of EUR 2000 billion, providing employment for more than 12 million people in Europe.” (FP6, 2002)

However, as is highlighted in the call for papers for Ethicomp 2004 such technologies raise significant social and ethical risks for individuals, organisations, and society at large. In particular, there are major challenges and responsibilities for the Information System and Software Engineering professionals who must design, develop and support IST based systems. It is therefore imperative that in the academic programs that educate such future professionals there is an appropriate treatment of the relevant ethical, professional, and legal issues that they are likely to encounter in their careers.

At the University of Sunderland we offer a wide range of taught programmes at Masters level in computing. In the majority of these programmes, the students undertake a module entitled Research, Ethical, Professional and Legal Issues (REPLI). The purpose of the module is to provide the students with not only an ability to undertake postgraduate research but also an appreciation of relevant ethical, professional, and legal issues they are likely to meet in the future. In this current academic year the module will be undertaken by more than 300 full and part time graduates on campus who are undertaking six different Masters programmes ranging from a general MSc. in Computer Based Information Systems to a very specialised MSc. in Software Engineering. It will also be taken by a further 300 students at some ten Distance Learning Centres that are based across the world form Hong Kong to Nairobi. Details on the initial development of the REPLI module for two particular Masters programmes, including the influence of early Ethicomp conferences on its content, was included within a paper presented at the 1999 Australian Institute of Computer Ethics Conference (Thompson and Edwards, 1999). However, within the proposed paper for Ethicomp 2004 the following will be covered:

1. How the module has further developed to cater for students from many different national and educational backgrounds.
2. How the teaching and learning strategies has been adapted to meet the needs of a widening range of programmes.
3. How ethical, professional, and issues are addressed within the module including the use of case studies and role-play to emphasise particular aspects.
4. Conclusions regarding the effectiveness of the approaches adopted and what could be done to further improve matters.

Special attention in the paper will be paid to:

The attempts that have been made to involve the students in more practical activities. A major instance of such has been the use of a professional Code of Ethics (such as the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice produced under the auspices of the IEEE-CS and the ACM) and a fictitious case study “The Case of the Killer Robot”. Full details of the case study can be found in the text by Epstein (1997), however, we have used an abridged version which is freely available on the Web (e.g. at http:/ricis.cl.uh.edu/FASE/Killer-Robot.html). In the Killer Robot study it first appears that a fatality caused by an assembly line robot was due to errors, caused by a programmer, in the software used to control the robot. However, as the case study progresses it becomes more and more obvious that there are many other people who could be held fully or partly responsible. In the practical activities undertaken by the students they are divided into teams, one member of each team must present the case for their character being held responsible and another team member must present the opposing view. After each presentation there is a short time for questions from the class. Finally, the class votes on the relative guilt or innocence of the character. In the paper the various profiles of votes produced by students from different programmes and years will be presented and discussed in detail.

REFERENCES

FP6 (2002), Sixth Framework Programme of the European Community, for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities, The priority areas are detailed at: ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/fp6/eoi-instruments/docs/eoi_annex1.pdf

Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice. Details of this are available at: http://computer.org/tab/seprof/code.htm

Epstein R.A.G. (1997), “The Case of the Killer Robot, New York”, John Wiley and Sons, New York.

Thompson J. B. and Edwards H. M. (1999), “Ensuring that Ethical and Related Issues are Addressed in Two Masters Level Computing Courses: a Report on Developments and Experiences Over a five Year Period” Proceedings of the Australian Institute of Computer Ethics Conference AICEC99, 14-16 July, Lilydale, Melbourne, pp 365-375.