Solution Manual for Ethics for the Information Age, 7th Edition

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Guide toEthics for the Information AgeSeventh EditionMichael J. QuinnMarch 28, 2016

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ContentsPrefacevTeaching Computer Ethicsvii1Catalysts for Change12Introduction to Ethics53Networked Communications134Intellectual Property155Information Privacy196Privacy and the Government237Computer and Network Security318Computer Reliability339Professional Ethics3510 Work and Wealth37iii

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Teaching Computer EthicsIntroductionTeaching a computers, ethics, and society course for the first time can be intimidating.Unlike the typical computer science class, which focuses on technical content, a computersand society class focuses on people and the decisions they make.Doing ethics is not likefinding the maximum element on a list.The moral problems discussed in this book arecomplicated, and there are no algorithms that enable you to “solve” a moral problem asneatly as you can construct a binary search tree. If you have little or no formal training inethics, you may feel uncomfortable teaching an ethics class.Fortunately, your job isnotto preach to the students or tell them how they ought tobehave (outside of class, anyway!).Rather, your role as the teacher is to raise questions,give students the opportunity to formulate answers, and then gently, but firmly insist thatthe students justify their answers by explaining their reasoning.If you are successful, thestudents will complete the course with a greater understanding of the social and ethicalimplications of computer use and abuse, an improved ability to think critically and defendtheir decisions logically, and a greater appreciation for alternate points of view.As C. Dianne Martin and Hilary J. Holz put it:Our belief is that ethics cannot be taught; rather what can be taught is aframework for evaluating ethical dilemmas and making decisions.In accept-ing the premise that technology is value-laden, we stress the need to teach amethodology of explicit ethical analysis in all decision-making related to technol-ogy... The role of ethics education should be to provide students with at least aminimal theoretical background essential for their understanding of the role thatvalues and ethics play in all decision-making, whether it be technical, economic,political, social, or personal.11“Non-Apologetic Computer Ethics Education:A Strategy for Integrating Social Impact and Ethicsinto the Computer Science Curriculum,” C. Dianne Martin and Hillary J. Holz, The Research Center onComputing & Society (web site), www.southernct.edu/organizations/rccs.vii

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viiiTEACHING COMPUTER ETHICSWhat is the best way to achieve this goal? The consensus among experienced instructorsis that the best computer ethics classes are discussion-oriented. Students are more receptiveto hearing ideas from peers than from you. They will come to realize that every complicatedissue can be looked at from multiple points of view. They will also see that all opinions arenot equally valid, and that the best arguments are those that use logic to reach conclusionsfrom facts and commonly held values.DiscussionsFinding topics to discuss should not be a problem for you. The book raises far more issuesthan you will have time to discuss, and late-breaking news stories provide even more discus-sion material. You will have to pick and choose the topics you deem most important. Takeadvantage of the discussion questions and in-class exercises found at the end of each chapter.They can lead to interesting class debates and require no preparation beyond reading thechapter.The end-of-chapter interviews provide another source of discussion topics. Your studentsmay be highly critical of some of the opinions expressed by the interviewees—so much thebetter!One of your important responsibilities as the teacher is to prevent a few extroverts fromdominating the discussion. It is easier to keep the discussion moving from person to personif you can get a wide variety of people used to speaking up regularly. Ideally your class issmall enough that you can learn the name of each student. If you know everyone by name,you can call on people even if they do not have their hands up. The first few meetings ofyour class are crucial in establishing a culture of engagement. Try to create an expectationamong the students that nearly everyone will contribute something to every class session.Another one of your responsibilities is to ensure that the students justify their point ofview. If a student should say, “I think such-and-such is wrong” without further elaboration,you should ask the student to explainwhythe action is wrong.Sometimes you need todrill down several levels before you get to the moral value or principle upon which theconclusion rests. I encourage my students to couch their arguments in one or more of thesewords: benefit, harm, right, obligation, duty, or character. A utilitarian analysis relies uponan evaluation of benefits and harms.A social contract theory analysis focuses on rights.A Kantian analysis considers duties or obligations.An analysis from the perspective ofvirtue theory determines whether the action is consistent with someone having good moralcharacter. Asking for these words can have two benefits. It makes the analysis more rigorous,and it helps the class understand the ethical theory being invoked.Many of the issues discussed in this class are highly controversial. Students often havedifficulty coming up with a logical argument defending a point of view to which they are

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ixemotionally attached. One way to solve this problem is to poll the class and find out whichstudents support an issue and which are opposed to it. If the class is reasonably well dividedbetween the two points of view, ask the students to argue the point of view opposite totheir own personal beliefs. Without an emotional attachment to a particular point of view,students can be more analytical.You can add value to a discussion and keep it moving along through the use of meta-comments.For example: “Maria has just given a utilitarian argument why the proposedaction is wrong. Can someone analyze this issue from a Kantian point of view?”It is important that students understand there are multiple ways to look at nearly everyissue. Through the use of leading questions, you can help ensure that both sides of an issueare expressed. If you cannot find anyone to express a contrarian view, you may need to bringthat view out yourself. Be prepared to promote either side of every issue!Role-Playing ExercisesYou should occasionally set aside time for role-playing exercises.Role-playing activitiesguarantee that many students will participate, and students particularly enjoy them. Thetextbook contains many of these exercises.For a typical activity, the class is divided into small groups that give presentations rep-resenting a particular point of view.You will need to give the groups time to discuss theissue and devise the arguments they will make to the rest of the class. The amount of timedepends on the exercise, but it is often 10–20 minutes.Next, each group makes its case.Again, the amount of time depends on the exercise, but it is often 20–30 minutes. Finally,it is good to have a concluding discussion in which the students have the opportunity todiscuss the relative strengths of each group’s case.Writing AssignmentsI believe in the adage that “You don’t know what you know until you write it down.” Tothat end, writing assignments provide an important opportunity for students to practiceconstructing ethical evaluations.The media are filled with stories raising moral problemsrelated to information technology. It is easy for students to find a current news story relatedto the topic of a chapter.In a typical 600-word essay I ask students to describe a moralproblem, take a clear stand on whether a particular action or decision is right or wrong, andthen defend their position through the use of one or more of the practical ethical theoriesdescribed in the book (Kantianism, act utilitarianism, rule utilitarianism, social contracttheory, or virtue ethics).You can find rubrics for grading written essays on the Web (seethe next section).

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xTEACHING COMPUTER ETHICSWeb ResourcesA variety of Web sites contain information valuable to instructors of computer ethics courses.This section describes a few good sites.Robert Greene, a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Eu Claire, has createda Web site organized according to the chapters ofEthics for the Information Age. The sitehas links to hundreds of articles from Wikipedia,The New York Times, and other newssources. The home page for his site ispeople.uwec.edu/GREENER/phil308/index.htm.TheComputingCases.orgWeb site provides detailed case studies that you can use inclass. Some of them overlap with cases described inEthics for the Information Age, whileothers are different. The site introduces a methodology called “Social Impact Analysis” forexploring the social and ethical issues related to a computing system.It gives practicaladvice on how to lead an ethics case discussion, and it provides a worksheet that studentscan use when weighing the pros and cons of alternative actions. The home page for the siteisComputingCases.org.DOLCEis an acronym for Developing On/Off-Line Computer Ethics. The DOLCE Website contains several classroom activities, including quizzes and role-playing exercises, thatyou can use early in the term to help motivate the study of ethics. The site also containsseveral rubrics (evaluation sheets) that can help you grade written essays. The URL of theDOLCE home page isedocs.uis.edu/kmill2/www/dolce.Edward F. Gehringerat North Carolina State University has created an attractive vi-sual map that provides links to Web sites, news articles, and case studies related to computerethics. The URL for theEthics in Computingsite map isethics.csc.ncsu.edu.RCCS(Research Center on Computing & Society) is a particularly valuable site if youare integrating computer ethics in an existing computer science course.It provides casestudies relevant to a wide variety of courses in the typical undergraduate computer sciencecurriculum. You could also take advantage of these case studies if you are teaching a stand-alone computer ethics course. The home page for this site isrccs.southernct.edu.CERIASis an acronym for the Center for Education and Research in Information As-surance and Security. The CERIAS Web site is a good place to check if you are integratingcomputer ethics into another computer science course. Its materials suggest how discussionsof ethical issues can be introduced into various undergraduate courses in computer science.The URL for this site iswww.cerias.purdue.edu.SummaryOne of your roles as a teacher of computer ethics is to raise questions and ensure that a widevariety of points of view are expressed. You are also serving as a role model, demonstrating

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xito students the importance of thinking about the right thing to do—and then doing it.Thinking about ethics is not just for people with a Ph.D. in philosophy. Ethics is for all ofus, and all of us have more to learn. It’s perfectly acceptable to respond to a question with,“I don’t know. I’ll read up on that and get back to you.” I do that all the time. By lettingthe students know that you are a student of ethics, too, you can give them confidence thatthey can start—right now—to think about the moral qualities of their professional decisions.

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Chapter 1Catalysts for Change1. Even though information technology has existed for millennia, the invention of com-puters and high-speed communication have made information far easier to collect,store, manipulate, and distribute, legitimizing the use of the term Information Age todescribe the present era.2. Mathematical tables constructed manually invariably contained errors, stimulating theinvention of automated devices to do the computations and typeset the results.3. A similarity between the growth of the mechanical calculator market in the secondhalf of the nineteenth century and the growth of the personal computer market in thesecond half of the twentieth century is that in both cases inventors and entrepreneurswere able to capitalize on relatively recent developments in technology. Advances inmachine tools and mass-production methods made mechanical calculators possible.The invention of microprocessors made personal computers possible.A difference between the growth of the mechanical calculator market and the growth ofthe personal computer market is that the demand for mechanical calculators came fromlarge corporations with middle managers who needed access to information in order tomake decisions, whereas the demand for personal computers came in large part fromantiwar and anti-establishment activists who were interested in providing individualswith a powerful tool out of the control of large corporations and the government.4. Both the Burroughs Adding Machine Company in the 1890s and IBM in the 1960s hadstrong sales and marketing operations that helped them achieve dominant positions intheir respective markets.5. Three advances in computing stimulated by the development of radar are electrostatic1

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2CHAPTER 1.CATALYSTS FOR CHANGEmemory (exemplified by the Williams Tube), semiconductor memory (exemplified bythe transistor), and graphical user interfaces (exemplified by Doug Engelbart’s oNLineSystem).6. The Minuteman II ballistic missile program was the largest customer of integratedcircuits in the United States between 1962 and 1965.During this time companieslearned how to make much-more-powerful integrated circuits, paving the way for theinvention of the microprocessor, which is at the heart of every personal computer. Inthis way the Cold War helped bring about the personal computer.7. The semaphore telegraph was adopted more rapidly on the continent of Europe thanin the British Isles because the system only works when atmospheric conditions allowgood visibility between stations. Since fog and rain are more common in the BritishIsles, the semaphore telegraph was not as practical.8. Cellular networks are an important category of wireless network.Cellular networkshave provided telephone service to billions of people who never had access to tradi-tional wired telephone networks.The telephone created the first “on line” commu-nities. Today, on line communities thrive with many having access through WiFi orother wireless Internet technologies.Morse’s telegraph put the Pony Express out ofbusiness. Text messaging available through wireless networks made telegrams obsolete.The telephone blurred the traditional boundaries between private life and public life.Today’s smart phones continue to test our boundaries regarding when it is appropriateto consult a digital device.9. Tim Berners-Lee chose to construct his hypertext system, the World Wide Web, ontop of the TCP/IP protocol, rather than one vendor’s proprietary network protocol.This decision helped ensure the success of the Web, because it enabled the Web tospan computers made by different manufacturers running different operating systems.10. Examples of how a social condition influenced the development of a new informationtechnology:•The need for large amounts of timely information by corporate managers in thelate nineteenth century fueled the growth of the manual calculator market.•The need to store and manipulate large amounts of data prompted the inventionof punched-card tabulation and data-processing systems.•A demand for less expensive access to computers stimulated the development oftime sharing.

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3•BASIC became popular because there was a demand for an easy-to-learn pro-gramming language.•An interest in accessing and sharing information led to the rapid adoption of theWorld Wide Web created by Tim Berners-Lee.•(Other examples are possible.)11. Examples of a social change brought about by the adoption of a new informationtechnology:•The transcontinental telegraph system put the Pony Express out of business.•The adoption of the telephone erased traditional boundaries between work andhome.•The telephone also make possible the first on-line communities, through partylines.•Manual calculators led to the “de-skilling” and “feminization” of bookkeeping.•Time-sharing systems gave many more people access to computers, which theyused for both educational and entertainment purposes.•Television broadcasts may have influenced the outcome of the U.S. Presidentialelection of 2000.•(Other examples are possible.)

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Chapter 2Introduction to Ethics1. The “ethical point of view” means respecting not only your own goals and aspirations,but taking into consideration the goals and aspirations of other people as well.2. Morality refers to guidelines that you can use to determine what you ought to do ina particular situation.Morality also allows you to figure out whether a particulardecision or action is right or wrong.Ethics is the philosophical study of morality.Ethics is broader than morality in that it includes the higher-level activities evaluatingmoral systems and the creation of new ways of evaluating moral problems.3. Ethical relativism is the view that “the good” exists inside the human mind; i.e., it isa human invention. Since “the good” is invented, its definition is malleable. Ethicalobjectivism is the view that “the good” exists outside the human mind. Our role ashumans is to find or discover “the good.” Since “the good” exists independently of ourintellectual activity, its definition never changes.4. Person B has not made a strong ethical argument because she has not brought up anyfacts or values that would undermine or contradict the explanation of Person A.5. When we say an ethical theory is rational, we mean that it relies upon logical reasoningfrom facts or commonly held values.6. The many/any fallacy is to conclude that any option is acceptable after observing thatmany options are acceptable. For example, you may observe me take several differentroutes between home and work, and all of them are good in the sense that they allowme to reach my destination safely and in a reasonable amount of time. That does notimply that all possible routes between home and work are good ones.5

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6CHAPTER 2.INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS7. The equivalence fallacy is to confuse similarity with equality. It comes into play in thischapter in the discussion of the divine command theory. When we say “God is good,”it is fallacious to argue that God and the good are identical.Another example of the equivalence fallacy would be to conclude from the statement“Adolph Hitler was evil incarnate” that everything Hitler said or did was evil.8. Sometimes I leave home a little late, but I’d still like to get to work on time. I wantto be able to drive through red lights on those days when I am running late.Theproposed moral rule is: I may ignore traffic laws when I am pressed for time. It is alsomy will that the traffic lights keep everyone else driving in an orderly manner. If weuniversalized this rule and everyone else who was running late also ignored traffic laws,then the streets would be chaotic, contradicting my desire that everyone else drive inan orderly manner so that I can accomplish my illegal maneuvers. Hence my proposedmoral rule is logically self-defeating. It is wrong for me to drive through red lights onthose days when I am running late.9. Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s words or ideas without giving that personcredit.Appendix A actually gives five ways of committing plagiarism:copying an-other’s words without putting the words in quotation marks and citing the source;paraphrasing another’s words without citing the source; incorporating someone else’sfigures or drawings without citing the source; referencing facts that are not commonknowledge without citing the source; and using another person’s ideas without givingthat person credit.10. Plagiarism refers to deliberately concealing the fact that you have used someone else’swords or ideas. If the action is not intentional, it should be called misuse of sources.11. A consequentialist theory determines whether an action is right or wrong by evaluatingits consequences.Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory.A non-consequentialisttheory determines whether an action is right or wrong by considering the underlyingrule or principle motivating the action.Kantianism and social contract theory arenon-consequentialist theories.12. Three situations in which my action would be primarily motivated by a sense of dutyor obligation:(a) I promised someone if he could get two tickets to a rock concert, I would purchasea ticket and go with him. He got the tickets and expects me to pay for mine. Ikeep my promise, even though I just lost my job and I really can’t afford to go.

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7(b) I pay my income taxes, even though I think the government has some wastefulprograms.(c) Everybody in my fraternity is going to give blood.I donate blood, too, eventhough just thinking about it makes me queasy.Three situations in which my action is primarily motivated by its expected conse-quences:(a) I give money to a particular charity because it has the lowest administrativeoverhead of any international relief organization. I figure more of my money willactually reach those who need it.(b) I work extra hard in a particular class, even though I am not interested in thematerial, because I hope the professor will write me a good letter of recommen-dation.(c) I slightly exaggerate my experience in order to get a good job as a server in a nicerestaurant, figuring that the probability of someone discovering my exaggerationis very low.13. Vicki is driving her car through the city. Her cell phone rings, and she looks down tosee who is calling. As a result, she does not see that she is approaching a crosswalk. Shedrives through the crosswalk without slowing down. Her car strikes a child and killshim. Two minutes earlier, another driver, Helen, had been distracted by the ringingof her cell phone, had looked down to see who was calling, and had driven throughthe same crosswalk without slowing down. Nobody was in the crosswalk, and Helencaused no harm. Vicki and Helen did exactly the same thing, but Vicki’s action hadfar worse consequences than Helen’s action.14. Businesses and governments often use utilitarian thinking to determine the propercourse of action because it allows all of the relevant consequences of each alternativeto be weighed quantitatively.15. The US federal tax code allows individuals who own homes to deduct the amount ofmortgage interest paid on the home loans. The Tax Foundation and other groups arguethat this deduction is of the greatest benefit to the wealthy, which means it violatesthe difference principle.16. Social contract theory as first presented is a non-consequentialist theory. Social con-tract theory as articulated in Rawls’s two principles of justice is a non-consequentialisttheory.

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8CHAPTER 2.INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS17. Here are some moral virtues not mentioned in Section 2.10: altruism, ambition, charity,compassion, conscientiousness, continence, courteousness, courtesy, discretion, empa-thy, generosity, hospitality, humility, industry, integrity, kindness, patience, persever-ance, persistence, prudence, sincerity, temperance, tranquility, and trustworthiness.18. Subjective relativism and ethical egoism are similar in the sense that both theoriesallow an individual to put himself or herself first in determining the right action totake in a particular situation. However, there is a crucial difference between the twotheories.Subjective relativism, like all relativistic theories, holds that each persondecides what is right for himself or herself.Two people in the same circumstancescould choose completely different actions, and both could be right. Ethical egoism, onthe other hand, is an objective theory. It holds that the right action for a person to takein a particular situation is the action that will be to the greatest long-term benefit ofthat person. A rational, objective process is used to determine the greatest long-termbenefit, meaning anyone in the same situation should reach the same conclusion.19. Both divine command theory and Kantianism are objective, holding that right andwrong can be expressed in rules that are true for all people at all times in history.Divine command theory identifies the good with the will of God, and holds that thewill of God is communicated through holy books.Kantianism, on the other hand,holds that we can use our reason to determine what is good.20. Both subjective relativism and act utilitarianism would allow an individual to evaluatea situation to determine whether a particular action is right or wrong.However,subjective relativism allows a person to use any means to decide the right thing todo.According to act utilitarianism, the consequences of the possible actions mustevaluated.The correct action is the one that leads to the greatest increase in totalhappiness among the parties effected.21. Both Kantianism and rule utilitarianism are objective.According to both theories,right actions are those that are in line with universal moral rules. However, the twotheories derive the rules in different ways. Kantianism determines whether a proposedmoral rule is acceptable by evaluating it according to the Categorical Imperative.Utilitarianism determines whether a proposed moral rule is acceptable by consideringthe long-term, overall total change in happiness that would result if everyone alwaysfollowed the rule.22. Both act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism are consequentialist theories. However,act utilitarianism considers the consequences that would result from an action taken

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9in one particular situation. Rule utilitarianism considers the consequences that wouldresult if everyone always took a certain course of action in all similar situations.23. Both theories focus on the notion of society, but they are quite different.For onething, cultural relativism is an example of relativism, while social contract theory isan example of ethical objectivism.Cultural relativism says each society determineswhat people ought to do in various situations. Different societies may come up withdifferent moral codes. These rules may be based heavily on tradition and not on reason.Social contract theory says morality consists in those rules that rational people oughtto recognize are in everyone’s best benefit if they are universally obeyed.24. Both Kantianism and social contract theory are objective, rule-based theories.InKantianism, proposed rules are derived by seeing if they can meet the requirements ofthe Categorical Imperative.In social contract theory, proposed rules are derived byseeing if their universal adoption would be to everyone’s mutual benefit.25. According to virtue ethics, there is a set of character traits that human beings needto possess in order to be truly happy. Some of these character traits may depend onthe culture. In this respect virtue ethics is similar to cultural relativism. However, thedifferences between virtue ethics and cultural relativism are more significant than thesimilarities. Virtue ethics is an example of ethical objectivism, while cultural relativismis an an example of relativism. Although some of the character traits prized by virtueethics may be culture dependent, other would seem to be universal: honesty, justice,and loyalty, for example.26. Alexis did wrong when she made use of a student’s login and password to gain accessto the library’s computers and printers. Alexis treated that student as a means to herend of getting access to the private college’s computers.The anti-spam organization is treating the innocent computer users in the East Asiancountry as means to its end of reducing spam. That is wrong.The analysis depends upon the expectation of privacy people should have. The exis-tence of the cameras is public knowledge. If nobody is being “used,” the action appearsto be morally acceptable.Releasing the software without informing the potential users of the possible bugs wouldbe wrong.However, if the hospital staff were fully notified that the product was inbeta test, a decision to release the product could be justified.27. The benefits to Alexis were large.The harms to others were small.Her action wasmorally acceptable.

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