HNRS 131-01: Cyber Ethics
In the middle of the 20th century, the biggest concern people expressed about computers was the worry that computers might take the place of human thinking, subjecting us all to the whims of automated decision making. Half a century later that fear has subsided, but with the introduction of computer technology into our daily lives, other more pressing ethical issues are challenging all of us.
Some of those challenges include protection of privacy, philosophical ethics (theory of justice), professional ethics (licensing of software engineers), online ethics (responsibility for what’s on the internet), property (laws about downloading), accountability (violence in games), intellectual property rights (plagiarism), cyber attacks (viruses).
Congress has made some laws governing the internet, but most members of Congress are not sufficiently computer literate to really understand what some of the issues are. How much technical education is necessary for our population as a whole to enable them to make moral judgments about computing behavior? Who should write laws to govern the internet?
The purpose of this course is to address these issues by reading a collection of current essays and articles written by experts in the field of cyber ethics and to react to this material through discussion, oral presentation, and writing papers on some of these topics.
Term: Fall 2009
Credits: 4
Fulfills: GE Requirement in Oral Communication (R)
Meeting times: 8:30-9:20 MWF
Instructor: Joan Krone