For each of the following scenarios, you should consider any questionable ethical issues that it

brings afore. At this point you may not be able to answer them, but you may be able to detect
them, and might have your own opinion. Write down any thoughts you may have and revisit them
after each relevant section to see if your opinion has been affected by the material you have
learned.   

Scenario 1: Should I copy software?

Rajesh invests small amounts on the stock market. Last year he bought and successfully
employed a software package to help him with his investments. Recently, he met Fundiswa who
was also interested in using the software. Fundiswa borrowed the package, copied it and then
returned it. Both vaguely knew that the software was proprietary but did not read up the details.
Did Rajesh and Fundiswa do anything wrong, if so what? More generally, try to answer the
following related questions: 

• Should the software package have been lent?

• When is it justifiable to break the law? Bad law, inappropriate law or if the law is easy to break?   

Scenario 2: Should a company mine data? 

Consider the case where Tisetso sells hardware and software to over 100 000 customers per
year. She has 10 years of experience. As part of the billing process she keeps information on
customers. She buys and uses a data mining tool to derive useful information about her client’s
information such as postal codes, credit card numbers, ID numbers, etc. Most of this information
identifies groups and not individuals. She can then use the information to market her wares more
efficiently. Is this ethical since customers did not give her the information for this purpose?  

• Should the customer be notified? 

• Is there a need for establishment of a policy? If so, what should this policy looks like?
• Professional responsibility (professional Ethics): Do professionals have a responsibility to
ensure computing serves humanity well?  

Data mining - Data mining is a process of exploration and analysis of large quantities of

data, by automatic or semi-automatic means. This is done in order to discover meaningful
patterns and rules. In many cases, the data was not collected primarily for the purpose that the
data is used for.
  
Scenario 3: Freedom of Expression 

A student, Gert, posts sex fantasies on a blog (alike blogger.com), called Ling’s Journey. The
stories are fictional, but Gert named the main character, Ling, after a real student. In the
story, he described the rape, torture and murder of Ling. He is also member of a social
media newsgroup (alike Facebook), discussing sex acts. An alumnus saw this and reported
it to the University as well as to the social media companies. Gert was then arrested and held
in custody and the social media companies suspended his account. He was charged with
transmitting communication of threat to injure another person, and violating community
policies of the respective social media platforms. The charges were eventually dropped and
his accounts reinstated. Did Gert really do anything wrong? 

• Should self-censorship be enforced. Who decides what is acceptable? 

• Is the social media software company responsible for the content on their site? 
• Should this data—the blog posts and the social media newsgroup chats—be kept online
accessible indefinitely? 
• Is there a need for a public policy on freedom of expression on social media, as compared to,
say, printed hardcopy books and magazines?

Scenario 4: Professional Responsibility 

Khadeejah works for a software development company that develops computer games for
children aged 8-14. The latest game that Khadeejah worked on, uses inferential reasoning
on social roles and allows players to choose different characters, primarily a macho man or a
sexy woman. The game is used mainly by boys. Recently, Khadeejah attended a conference
on gender and marginalised groups, where she described the above. The conference delegates
discussed the issue of lower participation of women in computing and how to make the
industry more attractive to women. At the conference, she also learned that recent research
has shown that more diverse teams produce better results, mainly because assumptions are
not taken for granted anymore and more ideas are brought to the table.
Back at work, Khadeejah realised that her production team is mostly male.

• Should she refuse to work on this team? Should she ask for the team to be reviewed?  
• Do you think that the game will sell as well if a different message was given?  
• What is Khadeejah’s responsibility, if any, in the team and regarding the games’ topics?  
• Should the message in games be taken into account?
• Should software development teams be diverse? It justifiable to refuse to work in a
team that is not diverse? 
• Is diversity, or a lack thereof, a responsibility of the profession?  
Reasoning -  Automated reasoning is a way to infer implicit knowledge from explicitly
represented information, using the rules of inference together with a logic in
which the information is represented and a set of algorithms that automate
and scale up this process on the computer.   

Scenario 5: Large Legacy Databases 

Another area that we should be considering is the use of computers in social context. This
includes the use of a large database by a governmental agency such as home affairs (to keep
records of individual’s birth, death, address etc), police or the judiciary (for criminal records,
fine etc). These agencies have always kept records in paper form long before computers came
along. 

Database -  A Database is a structured collection of data stored in a text file such that it
facilitates easy manipulation and retrieval of that data by a database management system (the
software processing the text file) such as PostgreSQL.

The notion of ethics is regularly drawn upon in the context of expected patterns of behaviors
written or unwritten, consistent with generally accepted standards for those to whom it may
concern. However, there are various perspectives on the concept of ethics. Griffin cited in
Agbonifoh (2002) defines the concept as an individual’s personal belief about what is right or
wrong, good or bad. Conversely, Miner (2002) defined as right or wrong actions that stems from
the value and expectation of society. Mintz and Morris (2007) notes that ethics are acceptable
standards of behavior that define how people ought to act (i.e. prescriptive) not how people really
act (i.e. descriptive). 

Nevertheless, the generic sociological meaning of the concept of ethics seems to provide a
common ground for most of them. Sociologically speaking, ethics are provided in order to render
behavior intelligible and to “prevent conflicts from arising by bridging the gap between action and
expectation” (Scott & Lyman, 1968).   

In the context of an operational definition with regards to professions, Ethics generally refers to
those principles and codes of behaviour that guide the conduct of any profession. The term
usually carries along moral values, normative judgments and moral obligations. At any rate, every
profession possesses its own ethics. However, there are some commonalities in professional
ethics. These ethics that are common derive from the general expectations of the public from
either a public officer or a professional practitioner. The issue of ethics usually goes along with
allocation of value judgment such as good or bad; right or wrong. 

Fisher (2004) defines the concept as an individual’s personal belief about what is right or wrong,
or bad. It is the arbiter of an individual’s evaluation of the “rightness” or otherwise of his or her
actions. Though often regarded as subjective, it is traceable to the foundation of an individual’s
belief system and judged within context. Conversely, Logsdon and Yuthas (1997) notes that the
ethical stance of a firm is constructed based on the expectation of society, that is, the legitimate
claims made by the constituencies to whom the firm interacts. According to Hanekom (1984), the
question of ethics is one that is linked with the history of mankind. Ethics deals
with the character and conduct and morals of human beings. It deals with good or bad, right or
wrong behavior. It evaluates conduct against some absolute criteria and puts negative or positive
values on it. It is the reflective study of what one ought to do, or how one ought to live.  

Erondu, Sharland and Okpara (2004) hold that the study of “ethics” focuses on issues of practical
decision making, including the nature of ultimate value, and standards by which a human action
can be judged right or wrong, good or bad. For Adenubi (1999), ethics applies to any system or
theory of moral values or principles. For Beauchamp and Bowie (2001), ethics is the general term
referring to both moral beliefs and ethical theory on human conduct.

Ethics is a reflection on morality. It refers to the principles of right and wrong in making choices
by individuals. It has been described as the art and science that seeks to bring sensitivity and
methods to the discernment of moral values (Carbo, 2006). Thus, ethics guide human and
societal behavior. Capuro (2006) had no difficulty in asserting that ethics is an unending quest on
explicit and implicit use of the moral code. 

It can also be describe as the rules of conduct or moral principles that are recognized in respect
to a particular class of human action or a particular group, culture, profession.  

Rue and Byars (2000) are of the views that ethics are principles of conduct used to govern the
decision-making and behavior of an individual or a group of individuals. They further indicate that
because management is concerned with making decisions within an organization, the ethics of
the individual or group making these decisions have significant implications for the
organization’s stakeholders: employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, the government, and
the public at large. 

According to Cyert and March (1992) Ethics and morals are synonymous. Ethics is derived from
Greek while morals are derived from Latin. They are identical terms referring to ideals of
character and conduct. These ideals, in the form of codes of conduct become the criteria for
distinguishing between right and wrong”. Ethics is therefore the same thing as morality and they
shape our conduct and behavior right from childhood through adolescence and adulthood. In
every aspect of life our conduct and behaviour is guided by what we were taught to be right or
wrong. 

Heynes (1986) is of the opinion that ethics has to do with the actions of man. Consequently, it
requires adjustments in the actions and attitudes of the individual in whatever context in relation
to his environment as well as in relation to himself. He notes that ethics are basic perceptions of
the relative importance of our elements of existence. These perceptions always have to do with
priorities, whereas norms are the function by which direct evaluation of human attitudes and
actions is made possible.

Ethical theories

Utilitarianism

Two British philosophers, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, developed utilitarianism as an
ethical model in the early 1800’s. Utilitarianism is a consequence based theory, stating that the
only real factor a person should consider when making a decision is the consequence of the
action and the number of people positively affected. The right (or good) choice is the one that
provides the best outcome for the majority of people. At the basic level, this theory has the
decision maker focusing on the consequences of his decision, looking for the best solution for all
affected parties. Human nature makes it difficult to determine what choice provides the most
positive benefit. There is no universal scale with which to measure the utility of a decision with
regard to its overall effects. It is easy for consequence-based decisions to become situational,
with the decision maker rationalizing actions for a self-serving purpose. Focusing on the
consequences of a decision first does not necessarily create situations that are conducive to
choosing the most ethical path when the less ethical path can be reasoned to be the better
choice in general.

Pluralism

Resnik (2010) notes that as a theory based in doing one’s duty, pluralism holds that decisions
should be made out of a sense of duty to do the right thing. According to this ethical theory, as
rational beings, humans are able to resist impulse and do the right thing absolutely, regardless of
the consequences. The concept of duty within this theory is that of doing the right thing with the
right attitude for the right reason. Proponents of this theory espouse that the duty to do the
“right” thing is absolute, without exception, regardless of circumstance. This is where the
opponents of this theory take issue. Nothing can be considered absolute in the arena of personal
human interaction because of the innumerable variables involved. The models above illustrate
the very basics of ethics and ethical theory.

Justice

Generally, justics is as fairness, which refers to the correlation between contribution and reward.
However, fairness alone cannot define the term justice (according to R.A. ANISEREHAMEED &
F.M AJIDE) Ethics in accounting, there are also forms of justice, which includes equality
(assumes that all people have equal worth), procedural justice (concerns with due process) and
compensatory justics (addresses the loss from a wrongful act).

Theory of justice, which is based on the principles of distributive justics, it focuses on how fairly
one’s decisions distribute benefits and burdens amongst members of the group. Unjust
distribution of benefits and burdens is an unjust act and an unjust act is a morally wrong act.
Hence, under this theory, an ethical decision is one that produces the fairest overall distribution
of benefits and burdens.

Before now, business success was built on the ability to move goods and services with speed
and accuracy. Today, information has become the fuel that propels business success.
Information technology has been defined as the processing and distribution of data using
computer hardware, software, telecommunications and digital electronics.

As noted by Carbo (2006) ethical considerations for ICT related issues first appeared under the
topic ‘’information ethics’’ in the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology in 1992.
This suggests that there is an ethical agenda associated with the use of ICT. Individuals and
organizations therefore need to be ethically sensitive as they deploy ICT on their operations. The
impact of ICT on human relationship has been tremendous. ICT has helped to enhance family
relationship (e.g. mobile phones, palmtops, laptops, virtual conferencing and so on), as well help
to separate family and friends from each other. ICT has enabled new friendship  and relationships
in virtual communities. How genuine are such relationship? What does it portend for individual
satisfaction? In the workplace for instance, new kinds of jobs are being created such as data
miners, web-counselors etc, but these opportunities are also endangered by problems of
unemployment from computer replacing humans. A wide range of new laws, regulations, rules
and practices are therefore needed if society is to manage these workplace and other changes
and development brought about by ICT. Thus the society need to consider the following ethical
and social challenges related to ICT use: ➢ Recognition for personal and corporate ethics
associated with ICT

➢ Striking a balance between ethical, economic and technological (Rogerson, 2008) as well as
political considerations.
1. Intellectual property rights issue (trademarks, patents, copyright and trade secrets).
2. Non violation of privacy and associated rights amidst electronic information data mining.
3. The opportunity to commit crime with ICT (computer crime).
4. Legal issues and limitations.
5. Consequence of using ICT.
6. Professional responsibilities (Kallman and Grillo, 1999)

In the rapidly changing technological environment in which we live; ethical issues are increasingly
been raised, demanding attention and efforts towards resolution. Of particular interest for us and
the information society are those related to information communication technologies (ICTs). The
explosive growth of ICT and the use of its enabling technologies have had major impacts on
society and thus raise serious ethical questions for individuals and organizations. These issues
have been raised to a new and often perplexing level which has greatly affected the society in
various ways. The pressing issues raised by ICT include the invasion of individual and corporate
privacy, intellectual property rights, individual and societal rights, values preservation and
accountability for the consequences arising from the use of ICT, etc. These issues have thrown
up important challenges in the area of employment; working conditions and individuality.
However, not much progress has been made in addressing these issues and
challenges associated with ICT.

According to Fielden, (2004), Information Technology (IT) has a central role in commerce,
industry, government, medicine, education, entertainment and society at large. Its economic and
social benefits hardly need explanation. But like any other technologies, IT also has problematic
implications, and some negative impacts on our society. It poses and creates some problems
related to ethics, and contains in general three main types of ethical issues: personal privacy,
access right, and harmful actions. In terms of personal privacy, IT enables data exchange of
information on a large scale from anybody, on any locations or parts of the world, at any times. In
this situation, there is increased potential for disclosing information and violating the privacy of
any individuals and groups of people due to its widespread disseminations worldwide. It is our
challenge and responsibility to maintain the privacy and integrity of data regarding individuals.
This also includes taking precautions to ensure the accuracy of data, as well as protecting it from
unauthorized access or accidental disclosure to inappropriate individuals.

The second aspect of ethical issues in computing systems is access right. Due to the current
popularity of international commerce on the Internet, the topic of computer
security and access right has moved quickly from being a low priority for corporations and
government agencies to a high priority. This interest has been heightened by computer break-ins
at places like Los Alamos National Laboratories and NASA in the US. Many attempts of such
illegal access to United States government and military computers by computer hackers have
been widely reported. Without implementation of proper
computer security policies and strategies, network connections on the Internet can’t be made
secure from illegal accesses (Grimesm Fleischman & Jaeger 2009).

Grimes, Fleischman & Jaeger (2009) notes that in computer ethics, harmful action means injury
or negative consequences, such as undesirable loss of information, loss of
property, property damage, or unwanted environmental impacts. This principle prohibits use of
computing technology in ways that result in harm to any of users, the general public, employees,
and employers. Harmful actions include intentional destruction or modification of files and
programs leading to serious loss of resources or unnecessary expenditure of human resources
such as the time and effort required to purge systems
from "computer viruses. We shall also examine other specific ethical issues arising from IT in the
next topics below:

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is where the work of others is copied, but the author presents it as his or her own
work. This is a highly unethical practice, but happens quite frequently, and with all the information
that is now available on the Internet it is much easier to do and is happening more often.

Information and copyright

Education

Commerce and industry are certainly arenas in which the Internet has had a profound effect, but
what of the foundational institutions of any society—namely, those related to education and the
production of knowledge? Here the Internet has had a variety of effects, some of which are quite
disturbing. There are more computers in the classroom than ever before, but there is scant
evidence that they enhance the learning of basic skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic. And
while access to vast amounts of digital information is convenient, it has also become apparent
that most students now see libraries as antiquated institutions better used for their computer
terminals than for their book collections. As teachers at all education levels can attest, students
typically prefer to research their papers by reading online rather than wandering through a
library's stacks.

In a related effect the Internet has brought plagiarism into the computer era in two distinct
senses. First, electronic texts have made it simple for students to “cut and paste” published
sources (e.g., encyclopedia articles) into their own papers.
Second, although students could always get someone to write their papers for them, it is now
much easier to find and purchase anonymous papers at Web sites and to even commission
original term papers for a fixed fee. Ironically, what the Internet gives, it also takes away.
Teachers now have access to databases of electronically submitted papers and can easily
compare their own students' papers against a vast archive of sources. Even a simple online
search can sometimes find where one particularly well-turned phrase originally appeared.

Piracy

Piracy, the illegal copying of software, is a very serious problem, and it is estimated that
approximately 50% of all programs on PCs are pirated copies. Programmers spend hours and
hours designing programs, using elaborate code, and surely need to be protected. Although some
might argue that some pirating at least should be permitted as it can help to lead to a more
computer literate population. But, for corporations, in particular, this is a very serious issue, and
can significantly
damage profit margins (White 2002).

File sharing

College students have been at the leading edge of the growing awareness of the centrality of
intellectual property in a digital age. When American college student Shawn Fanning invented
Napster in 1999, he set in motion an ongoing legal battle over digital rights. Napster was a file-
sharing system that allowed users to share electronic copies of music online. The problem was
obvious: recording companies were losing revenues as one legal copy of a song was shared
among many people. Although
the record companies succeeded in shutting down Napster, they found themselves having to
contend with a new form of file sharing, P2P (“person-to-person”). In P2P there is no central
administrator to shut down as there had been with Napster. Initially, the recording industry sued
the makers of P2P software and a few of the most prolific users—often students located on
university campuses with access to highspeed connections for serving music and, later, movie
files—in an attempt to discourage the millions of people who regularly used the software. Still,
even while some P2P software makers have been held liable for losses that the copyright owners
have incurred, more-devious schemes for circumventing apprehension have been invented. The
inability to prevent file sharing has led the recording and movie industries to devise sophisticated
copy protection on their CDs and DVDs. In a particularly controversial incident, Sony Corporation
introduced CDs into the market in 2005 with copy protection that involved a special viruslike code
that hid on a user's computer. This code, however, also was open to being exploited by virus
writers to gain control of users' machines.

Hacking

A hacker is an individual who is knowledgeable enough to gain access without authorization to

computer systems to identify security flaws. Hackers break into, or ‘hack’ into a system. Hacking
can be undertaken for a variety of reasons, such as the wish to damage a system or the wish to
understand how a system works, so that
money can be made out of it. Alternatively, there might be a desire to alert people to the fact that
a system is insecure and needs improving. Due to this some argue that there are ‘hacker ethics’.
Hacking can present a moral dilemma. This is because ‘reformed hackers’ sometimes offer their
expertise to help organisations protect themselves against other hackers. Hackers cannot just
wander into a system, as they could into an unlocked door. Instead, it requires a lot of skill. With
this skill
hackers can demonstrate that a system is insecure and needs improving. In this way, it could be
argued that hackers play a valuable role. Many argue that hacking might lead to some
improvements, but that it causes such a lot of disruption that it is not worth it in the long-run
(McCarthy, Halawi ., Aronson, 2005)

Computer crime

By some estimates the personal records of about 73 million people in the U.S. were accidentally
disclosed, lost, or stolen in 2006. In one high-profile case, a burglary at the home of an employee
of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs resulted in the theft of a computer that contained
personal data on more than 26 million current and former members of the U.S. military. The
computer was later recovered, its data apparently untouched by the thieves, who had not realized
what they had taken. There were fears that millions of other people might not be so lucky,
however. In many cases the lost information included credit-card and Social Security numbers,
which fueled concerns that stolen information could lead to widespread consumer fraud. In an
18-month period during 2005–06, well over 200 different security breaches at companies and
government agencies were reported. As a result, credit-card issuers tried to reduce their
vulnerability by pressuring companies that handled credit-card transactions to comply with strict
new credit-card security standards that were backed by Visa and MasterCard. As the year ended,
it appeared that identity theft had not risen to the level suggested by the amount of personal
information that had been compromised, but there was no way to know whether identity thieves
were simply biding their time before they used the information to steal money through bank or
credit-card accounts.

Perpetrators of identity theft who had been caught recounted the ease with which they cashed in
on stolen information. Thieves typically stole identity information when it was inadvertently
disclosed or through “phishing” schemes, in which they used e-mail to persuade people to submit
a creditcard number or other personal information to a fake Web page that pretended to
represent a real business. Using a stolen credit-card number, the thieves then transferred money
to themselves from a victim's account or purchased goods by using the victim's identity. The
scope of the theft efforts was huge; in a single month more than 17,000 phishing attacks
were reported to volunteer groups trying to prevent identity theft. Many different computer crimes
are committed, which clearly poses ethical questions for society. Various illegal acts are
performed on computers, such as fraud and embezzlement. This includes, for example, using
imaging and desktop publishing to create, copy or alter official documents and graphic images.
There are also various ethical dilemmas, such as whether copying such files is as bad as stealing
something.

MALICIOUS CODES

Malicious code attacks include a number of types of computer programs that were created with
the intention of causing data loss or damage. The three main types of malicious code attacks are
viruses, Trojan horses, and worms.

A virus is malicious software that is attached to another program to execute a particular

unwanted function on a workstation. An example is a program that is attached to command.com
(the primary interpreter for Windows systems) and deletes certain files and infects any other
versions of command.com that it can find.

A Trojan horse is different only in that the entire application was written to look like something
else, when in fact it is an attack tool. An example of a Trojan horse is a software application that
runs a simple game on a workstation. While the user is occupied with the game, the Trojan horse
mails a copy of itself to every address in the user's address book. The other users receive the
game and play it, thereby spreading the Trojan horse to the addresses in each address book.

Viruses normally require a delivery mechanism, a vector, such as a zip file or some other
executable file attached to an email, to carry the virus code from one system to another. The key
element that distinguishes a computer worm from a computer virus is that human interaction is
required to facilitate the spread of a virus.
Worms are self-contained programs that attack a system and try to exploit a specific vulnerability
in the target. Upon successful exploitation of the vulnerability, the worm copies its program from
the attacking host to the newly exploited system to begin the cycle again

A virus consists of a set of instructions that attaches itself to other computer programs, usually
in the computer's operating system, and becomes part of them. In most cases, the corrupted
programs continue to perform their intended functions but surreptitiously execute the virus's
instructions as well. A virus is usually designed to execute when it is loaded into a computer's
memory. Upon execution, the virus instructs its host program to copy the viral code into, or
“infect,” any
number of other programs and files stored in the computer. The infection can then transfer itself
to files and code on other computers through magnetic disks or other memory-storage devices,
computer networks, or online systems. The replicating viruses often multiply until they destroy
data or render other program codes meaningless. A virus may simply cause a harmless joke or
cryptic message to appear on a computer user's video monitor each time he turns on his
computer. A more damaging virus can wreak havoc on an extremely large computer system
within a matter of minutes or hours, causing it to crash and thereby destroy valuable data. Clearly
writing and spreading virus programs are unethical acts; they have very serious consequences,
and cause systems to crash and organizations to cease operating for certain periods. One of the
most concerning consequences of such actions is when viruses interrupt the smooth functioning
of an organization which could in extreme cases even cause
people to die. Logic bombs are also sometimes planted. There is obviously a lot of anti-virus
software on the market now though that helps to deal with this ever-growing problem.

Ergonomics/health issues

There are many ergonomic/health issues related to I.T. Responsible/ethically-minded employers

will, hopefully, give due consideration to this, as indeed should all employers. This includes
issues such as the importance of taking adequate breaks from using the computer and ensuring
that the screens comply with the regulations. Also, ensuring that the positioning of the chair and
the computer is appropriate for the user and providing foot rests, when required. Some
organizations will
give special advice to their employees on these matters. Without such ethical/moral awareness
and taking the necessary action, many workers will suffer health problems directly from I.T., such
as back problems, eyestrain and eye infections and repetitive strain injury (RSI).

Job displacement/work pressures imposed on computer professionals

Computers are changing the face of the work scene. For some people, their jobs are becoming
redundant or they have to play quite different roles, and others are suffering increasing levels of
stress from work pressures. Others are, obviously, reaping the benefits of having more rewarding
jobs, and there is certainly more emphasis on knowledge, information and I.T. skills than ever
before. However, this all clearly poses various ethical issues. Should those that lose their jobs be
compensated? How can the pressure be eased on those that are suffering stress? Is it acceptable
for computer programmers to be made redundant ‘on the spot’ etc? There are many ethical
issues that need to be addressed here.

Digital divide

The digital divide poses a serious problem today. A new breed of haves’ and ‘have nots’ are being
created, between those that have access and can use a computer and the Internet, and those that
do not have such access. There are clearly serious ethical implications here. Those that do not
have such access may well be discriminated against, feel ‘socially excluded’ and miss out on
many life opportunities.