PISE

Def: The sutdy of the ethical, legal and social consequences of the design,
implication and use of computer systems.

Case Study: Amy Boyer

Terms: Society = group of people organised under a system of rules; Morality =

societies rules of conduct; Ethics = Evaluation of peoples behaviour

Ethical issues: Porn/Privacy/Censorship

Legal: Intellectual property/ Data protection/ Computer misuse

Social: Computers & work/ Digital divide/ Access

Examples of issues: Email vs. Spam/ Freedom of speech vs. slander/ Copying vs.
stealing

Relativism

Basis: No universal ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.

Types: Subjective/ Cultural

Subjective: Each person decides for themselves

Cons: Blurs distinction between right and wrong, no moral distinctions

Cultural: Right/wrong dependant on society’s moral guidelines. What is right in a

given time/place may not be right in another time/place. (hospital)

Pros: Different social contexts demand different moral guidelines, its not
right for one society to judge another

Cons: Just because 2 societies have 2 different sets of moral rules, doesn’t
mean they ought to

Divine Command Theory

Basis: Good actions = those according to Gods will; Bad actions = those contrary
to Gods will

Pros: Obedience to our creator/ God is all knowing

Cons: Different holy books disagree/ Society is multicultural/ Some moral issues
are not addressed

Kantianism (Duties)

Basis: Immanuel Kant – The only good thing without qualification is goodwill.
Reason & logic.

Types: 1st and 2nd categorical imperatives

 1st categorical imperative: Act only from moral rules, you can will into
universal moral laws

2nd categorical imperative: Act so that you treat both yourself and other as
end in themselves, and never as means to an end

Pros: Rational/ Produces universal moral guidelines/ Treats all equal

Cons: No way to resolve conflict between 2 rules/ No 1 rules can adequately

characterize an action

Utilitarianism

Basis: Bentham & Mill. Action is good if it benefits, bad if it harms.

Consequentialist theory, not concerned with intent.

Cons: Forces a single scale on every scenario

Type: Act/ Rule

Act Utilitarianism: Concerned with individual actions. Change in

happiness of affected parties. Sum > 0, action = good; Sum < 0, action =
bad

Pros: Focuses on happiness/ Practical

Cons: Unclear whom to include in calculations/ Ignores sense of duty

Rule Utilitarianism: Concerned with moral rules. Adopting moral rules

which if followed by everyone, will increase total happiness.

Pros: Easier to perform than AU/ Not every decision requires calculus

Social Contract (Rights)

Basis: Hobbes & Rousseau. An action is morally right if a group of rational people
would accept it. ‘state of nature’ (Hobbes), ‘no one is above the rules’ (Rousseau)

Rights: Negative = Rights other guarantee by leaving you alone; Positive = Rights
obliging others to act on your behalf; Absolute = Right guaranteed without
exception; Limited = Rights afforded to you depending on the circumstances

John Rawls Theories of Justice

1st theory: Any person can claim a fully adequate number of basic rights,
so long as these claims are consistent with everyone having the same
claim

2nd theory: Any social/ economic inequalities must be achievable by all,

and be of the greatest benefit to the least advantaged in society
Pros: Framed in language of rights/ Logical/ Rational

Cons: No one signed contract/ Can lead to conflicting rights (abortion)/ May
treat unjustly, those incapable of upholding contract (drug addicts)

Censorship

Basis: Attempt to suppress or regulate public access to information considered

offensive or harmful

Types: Direct/ Self

Direct Censorship types: Government monopolization/ Pre publication

review/ Licensing & registration

Government monopolization: Governments owning tv stations &

other media

Pre publication review: Governments not allowing publication of

material on the basis that it poses a threat to national security

Licensing & registration: Governments selecting who to give

publication licenses and stations

Self censorship: People choosing not to publish for fear of persecution or

to stay on the good side of the government

Mills Principle of Harm: The only grounds for censorship that is justified
to prevent harm of others, the individuals own good is not a sufficient
reason.

Ethical Decision Making

Framework: 1. Recognise moral issue/ 2. Get the facts/ 3. Evaluate alternative

actions/ 4. Make decision/ 5. Act, then reflect.

Fundamental questions: 1. Who is/are the agent(s)?/ 2. What action has been
taken?/ 3. What are the consequences?/ 4. Are they just?

Other questions: Which option produces the most good?/ Which respects
rights?/ Will everyone be treated fairly?

Types of duties: Non-discretionary/ Discretionary/ Special/ Duties of Justice/

Duties of Utility

Types of analysis: Teleological = Focus on consequences/ agents; Dentological =

Focus on act/ duties/ rights

Rules for ethical decision making: 1. The reasoning is important, not opinion/ 2.
Do not change the circumstances of the case study/ 3. Apply structured
techniques and critical thinking/ 4. Identify ethical & computer systems related
components/ 5. Distinguish between positive (good) & negative (bad)
arguments/ 6. Distinguish between personal (bad) & professional (good)
positions
Hactivism

Basis: Activism thorugh the internet & hacking

Terms: DOS/ DDOS

DOS = Denial of service, DDOS = Distributed denial of service

DOS is the act of bombarding the computers of the targeted website with
more traffic than it can handle, forcing it to crash. DDOS is DOS on a big
scale.

Computer Law

New restrictions: Digital millennium copyright act/ Digital rights movement/

Secure digital music incentive/ Encrypting DVDs/ Making CDs copyproof/
Criticisms of digital rights movement

Digital Millenium Copyright Act: First big revision of copyright act since
1976/ Brought US into compliance with Europe

Digital Rights Management: Actions owners of intellectual property take

to protect their rights

Approaches: Encryption/ Digital Marking

Harmonizing directives: 2001/29/EC- ‘Harmonisation of certain aspects

of copyright and related rights in the information society’ & 2001/84/EC
on the authors resale rights

IP protection for software

Legitimacy: 1. Programming is hard work, programmers should be

able to own their programs vs. 2. Why does labour imply ownershi,
we could have a society where all labour went towards common
good. Weak arguments.

Utilitarian anaylsis: Argument against copying- reduces software

purchases, which has a knock on effect. Weak argument

Case study: Sony = DRM, extended copy protection, limited number of backups to
3. Due to class suit, this was removed.

Creative Commons: eligible works are copyrighted the moment they are created,
no copyright does not make it ok to copy.

Irish Intellectual Property Law

Copyright

Criteria: Work must be original and recorded/ Computer programs must

include documentation
 Legislation: Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000/ European proposal
for a directive to harmonise copyright law/ License agreements (EULA)

Patents

Criteria: Must be novel/ Contain inventive step/ Have industrial

application. Cannot be scientific discovery, artistic, algorithms or
software.

Legislation: Patents Act 1992/ European patents convention

Designs

Criteria: Must be novel/ Shaped to be aesthetically appealing

Trademarks

Criteria: Can be registered/ Not restricted to names, can be packaging,

sound and moving images. Internet domain names are tricky but attempts
are being made to police them

Infringement: When someone carries out a restricted act without owners

permission

Law of Confidence: Information imparted in confidence cannot be made public.

Damage can be claimed if this breached.

Criteria: Confidential/ Communicated in circumstances that imply

obligation of confidence/ Been disclosed or used without authorization

Cases: Sony vs. Universal Studios = Judge rules time shifting is fair use; RIAA vs.
Diamond Multimedia Systems = Judge rules space shifting is fair use; Lotus vs.
Paperback = Judge ruled copyright was infringed; Apple vs. Windows = Judge
ruled against, some not protected by copyright

Computers and the Law

General Areas: Intellectual Property/ Computer Misuse/ Criminal Damage/ Data

Protection/ Privacy/ Internet Content

Intellectual Property: Any unique product of human intellect that has

commercial value/ No physical manifestation/ Books, films paintings

IP Rights and Duties: Rights may arise automatically or after goodwill/ rights
create duties, copies can be made by owner, but duty on others to not make
copies

Taxonomy: Is registration required?/ Science of classification

Computer Crime

Liability: Defamation/ Porn/ Criminal libel/ Blasphemy

E Commerce & Domain names

EC Directive 2000/31 & Regulations 2003 (SI No 68 of 2003) = create

legal framework in Ireland so as to ensure free movement of information
society services between Ireland and other countries

Electronic Commerce Act, 2000 = E Signatures are the main focus,

protects privacy of anyone who uses encryption

Domain names need management

Criminal Justice

(Theft and Fraud offences) Act 2001: Offence of unlawful use of computer

Criminal damages Act 1991- 4 offences

1. Damage to data
2. Threatening damage to data
3. Possession of anything with intent to damage data
4. Unauthorized access to computer

Data Privacy & Rights

Issues: Assure people degree of privacy/ IT increases range of recorded data/

Makes data more easy to move & access/ New laws needed/ Give individuals
new rights to see info held by public bodies

Freedom of Information Principles: Decisions by public bodies should be more

open to public scrutiny/ Those affected by decisions should have to right to
know the criteria

Every individual has the right to: Know what info is held/ have inaccurate
personal matters corrected/ Obtain reasons decisions were made
regarding them (Data Protection Act 1988, amended 2003 & Statutory
Rights)

Privacy Law: Everyone has the right to respect for his privacy, life, home and
correspondence/ There shall be no interference by public authority except in
accordance with the law

Digital Divide

Basis: Some people have access to modern information technology, others do

not. Compaine “perceived gap between those who have and those who have not”

Levels: Global/ Social

Global: Access is higher in developed countries/ Access is higher where IT

infrastructure is good/ Access is higher where literacy is good/ Access is
higher in English speaking countries/ in 2000, 6% of worlds pop was
online, 68% were American & European
 Social: Higher for young people/ Higher for well educated

DD in the US: National Information Infrastructure (NII) ensured all Americans

have access to tech/ Communications Act 1934, making telephone costs
affordable, should the same be done for information technology?

DD & Ethics: Is every kind of divide regarding unequal access necessarily

ethical?

Distributive Justice: Distribution fo primary goods and resources in populations

DD and Rights

Negative rights: Negative right to own a computer and use it, you are not
permitted to interfere with my purchase and use

Positive rights: Education = government is legally required to supply

students with tools to gain education, internet is becoming necessary tool.

Technological Diffusion

Basis: Rate at which new technology is assimilated

Normalization model: A, then B, then C

Stratification model, A, then B, C, but never as many people in group C

using as in Group A

W3C: Formed to ensure web standards

WAI: Formed by W3C, provides guidelines for developing software and apps for
disabled persons

Hierarchy of Information

Type A: Electional/Legal

Type B: Political views/ STM

Type C: Entertianment

Critiques of DD: Simply about access/ Puts everyone in 2 categories, really it’s a
continuim (normailsation), Internet not pinnacle of info tech

Situating DD: Denial (mercedes)/ Normalisation/ Flaws

Tackling DD: Target funding/ Arithmetic funding/ Rawls Theory of Justice