Review Paper on Computer Ethics and Related Research Models

Transcription

1 Review Paper on Computer Ethics and Related Research Models Meysam Namayandeh and Hamed Taherdoost Abstract As the general public becomes increasingly computer literate, the gap between technology and peoples mental power notably shrinks. The available computer resources, software, and assorted output devices have enlightened many unethical activities, privacy invasion and illegal purposes. Computer ethics is viewed as one of the foremost areas of concern and interest by academic researchers and industry practitioners. They are defined as an all-encompassing term that refers to all activities needed to secure information and systems that supports, in order to facilitate ethical use. The previous research in computer ethics and related models indicates the need of complete reference on this topic. The purpose of this paper is to study the different computer ethical conceptions and models from different perspective. This study demonstrates that research in computer ethics in general and computer ethics from scenario perspective in particular, clearly contributes to continuous ethics enhancement with regards to technology developments issues. Keywords: ethic, information technology, model, scenario O I. INTRODUCTION VER the past century, it is undeniable that social constructivist and information technology has achieved a bright technological development for us. It has facilitated the globally interdependent technology in which we use, has altered our sense of our place in the universe [6]. To ensure successful effect of information technology, various controls and measures is implemented, current security policies [2], smart card application [39] and information security ethics [28] are the most useful examples of information technology and computer (IT) growth. An interesting point of analysis on these topics would be on ethical issues which remain the heart of [38] in order to develop and suggest a model to realise problems and complicated concern on smart card adoption[37] and related ethical behavior [23][24]. Post graduate student, Centre for Advanced Software Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, International Campus, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, (meysam.namayandeh@gmail.com). Post graduate student, Centre for Advanced Software Engineering,Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, International Campus, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, (hamed.taherdoost@gmail.com). In fact, computer ethics is defined as the analysis of the nature and social impact of computer technology and the corresponding formulation and justification of policies for the ethical use for technology [42]. The number and kinds of application of computing increase dramatically each year and the impact of computing has felt around the planet [22]. As [36] says, computer ethics is the sense that can be understood as branch of applied technology, which studies and analyzes such social and ethical impacts of technology development. Also from Malaysian perspective, review of related research [20] indicates the existence of conflicting views concerning the ethical perceptions of students. The ubiquitous use of electronic mail, electronics transfer, reservation systems, the World Wide Web, places millions of inhabitants on the planet in a global electronic village [32]. Communication and action at a distance have never been easier and this is definitely evolution of computer generation. The area of improper computer used and computer ethics has not remained unattended situations [42]. In the current growth of information technology; the last decades have brought smart card as an ideal device for any transaction such as healthcare, telecommunication, banking, and many other applications. Smart card provides better possibilities for security, customization and improved services for users. Understanding the factors that influence user acceptance of this aspect of current development is vital for sophisticated consumer with respect to ethical action and reaction, where knowing the customers ethical and intentional behavior to use smart cards should be the key element in any decisionmaking process [37] [38] [39]. In this paper, authors reviewed the past researches on computer ethics and related topics. Also, a comparison study was used to introduce various applications of computer ethics from relevant perspectives. II. HISTORICAL MILESTONE As the computer ethics was one of the major topics which had been studied in the past decades, in order to prevent the people from the social impact, in this part, authors provided a short review milestone on computer ethics and its historical enhancement.

2 1970s. During the late 1960s, Joseph Weizenbaum [14], a computer scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, created a computer program that called ELIZA. In his first experiment with ELIZA, he provided a crude imitation of a psychotherapist engaged in an initial interview with a patient. Right after real time experiment he shocked with the action and reaction of studied people. In the mid 1970s, Walter Maner [43] began to use the term computer ethics to refer to the field of inquiry dealing with ethical problems. He offered an experimental course on the subject at many universities. During the late 1970s, Maner [43] generated computer ethics courses with varieties of workshops and lectures at computer science conferences and philosophy conferences across United States of America. 1980s. By this era, frequent numbers of social and ethical consequences of information technology were becoming public issues in the world, from computer-enabled crime, disasters caused by computer failures, invasions of privacy via computer databases to major law suits on software ownership. Because of the work of Parker [30] and others, the foundation had been laid for computer ethics as an academic discipline. 1990s. During the 1990s [30], new university courses, research scholars, conferences, journals, articles and textbooks appeared, and a wide diversity of additional researchers and topics became involved. This era, generated new chapter of computer ethics with security in mind. 2000s. As [13] says the computer revolution is divided into three stages, two of which have already occurred, the introduction stage and the permeation stage. The world entered the third and most important stage the power stage in which many of the most serious social, political, legal, and ethical questions involving information technology will present themselves on a large scale. The important mission in this era is to believe that future developments in information technology will make computer ethics more vibrant and more important than ever. Computer ethics is made to research about security and it`s beneficial aspects. In this brief review it can be seen that many views of computer ethics exits. This richness of attitude is probably due to a difference in observation of computing characteristics, the adopted focus - broadly split between the outcome of computing or the undertaking of computing, and the disciplinary background. These perspectives can analyze computer ethics researched areas into several sub categories: Social - considering the computing-impact on society Professional - considering the manner of professional activity Universal activist - inclusive of communities around the globe Parochial - restricted consideration of current and future issues Ethics only - drawing only from ethics theory Multi-disciplinary - blending theory from several disciplines Using starting points and perspective categories the different stances can be classified as shown in the Table 1. For example, Moor adopts a universal conceptual multidisciplinary stance and Maner focused on ethical properties. Bynum's [5] stance of computing being all pervasive is used to argue that computer ethics is about the human values and technology equation whilst pervasiveness is used by Anderson to promote the idea that computer ethics is important for all people in a technologically-dependent world. From the recent research of computer ethics and information security Nemati developed many tools and methodology on this important topic of computer ethics. III. REVIEWED MODELS From morality perspective [23], researcher develop a model to create educational opportunities that allow students to examine their existing beliefs regarding ethical and technical issues and in relation to existing technical, professional, legal, and cultural solutions. In fact, main object was to encourage students to explore who am I now in relation to technical, professional, cultural, and legal solutions to these ethical and security issues. TABLE 1 CLASSIFIED RECENT ETHICAL RESEARCH Topic Maner Moor Johson Gorniak OZ Anderso Spinello Bynum Parker (1970) (1985) (1985) (1991) (1995) n (1997) (2003) (2004) (2006) Properties concepts Application Environment Value Social Professional Prosocial Ethics Code Information security Nemati (2008)

3 According to [19] decision makers place such a high value on information that they will often invade someone's privacy to get it. As earlier Manson mentioned, these for elements are general human weaknesses that cannot be a part of their ethical behavior which are Privacy, Accuracy, Accessibility and Intellectual Property. Also he stated that, the ethical issues involved personal behavior and professional practice. Fig 1. Moral Model [23] As [36] and [18] presents four basic principles of information ethics, including intellectual property rights, privacy, planning, and the prohibition of mischief. On the other hand, they suggested the methods for protecting an individual s computer system where it defines the major objective on computer ethics rather any other segments. Privacy Intellectual Property Computer Ethics Proper Plan Privacy It may define as the claim of individuals to determine for themselves when, to whom, and to what extent individually identified data about them is communicated or used. Most invasions of privacy are not this dramatic or this visible. Rather, they creep up on us slowly as, for example, when a group of diverse files relating to a student and his or her activities are integrated into a single large database. Collections of information reveal intimate details about a student and can thereby deprive the person of the opportunity to form certain professional and personal relationships. This is the ultimate cost of an invasion of privacy. So why integrate databases in the first place. It is because the bringing together of disparate data makes the development of new information relationships possible [19] [38] [39]. Mischief Abandon Fig 2. Basic Ethical Principles [36] Reviews from [40] [25] [35] indicates the effect of internet and cybercrime involved, causing serious damage. In the past, hacking primarily displayed the hacker s ability; however, modern hacking has evolved into antisocial actions, using the hacker s knowledge for a criminal intent. Looking into the subject of hacking according to various situations, hackers have no regard for selling, distributing, falsifying, or destroying confidential information of a country, company, or individual. Intellectual Property One of the more controversial areas of computer ethics concerns the intellectual property rights connected with software ownership. Some people, like Richard Stallman who started the Free Software Foundation, believe that software ownership should not allow at all. He claims that all information should be free, and all programs should be available for copying, studying and modifying by anyone who wishes to do so. Others argue that software companies or programmers would not invest weeks and months of work and significant funds in the development of software if they could not get the investment back in the form of license fees or sales [38][39][19]. Accuracy Represents the legitimacy, precision and authenticity with which information is rendered. Because of the pervasiveness of information about individuals and organizations contained in information systems, special care must be taken to guard against errors and to correct known mistakes. Difficult questions remain when inaccurate information is shared between computer systems [19]. Fig 3. Ethical Characteristics [18] Accessibility What information does a person or an organization have a right or a privilege to obtain, under what conditions and with what safeguards? At the same time computer usage flourishes among some, there exists a large group of information-poor people who have no direct access to computational technology and who have little training in its

4 use. The educational and economic ante can be quite high when playing the modern information game [39] [19]. Further, theory of Planned Behaviour has been successfully applied to the understanding of individual acceptance and usage of many different technologies [21] [41] and also other situations in predicting the performance of behaviour and intentions, such as predicting user intentions to use new software [21]. Drawn from social psychology, Theory of Reasoned Action is one of the most fundamental and influential theories of human behaviour, derived from previous research that started out as the Theory of Attitude [16], which lead to the study of attitude and behaviour. It has been used to predict a wide range of behaviours [8]. TRA defines relationships between beliefs, attitudes, norms, intentions, and behaviour. According to this theory, an individual's behaviour (e.g., use or rejection of technology) is specified by one s intention to perform the behaviour, and individual s attitude toward performing the behaviour and subjective norm influence the intention, specified as "the person s perception that many persons who are important to her think she should or should not perform the behaviour in question [8]. Also, the requirements for legal and ethical measures to provide comprehensive security of information systems were introduced by [15] which are: Ethics negotiation phase is where organizations or individuals representing themselves negotiate the content of ethical communication agreement over specific communication channels. Ethics enforcement phase is where each organization enforces changes in the ethical code of conduct by specifying administrative and managerial routines, operational guidelines, monitoring procedures, and sanctions for unacceptable behavior. IV. SCENARIO METHODS Using scenario [4] [37] [38], allows contributors to learn about the relevance and challenges of ethical decision making by resolving of dilemmas that arise in 'real life' situations. Participants can feel into personal understanding and have the opportunity to consider others' perspectives through discussion and role play. In doing so, they can develop an understanding of the need and the ability to stand in another s shoes a critical component of developing sensitivity to ethical issues on computer ethics development. It presents dilemmas to be resolved and raise the kinds of issues to internal and external pressures which many participants could identify. The point of exercise is not to arrive at any one 'right' resolution to dilemmas, but instead to appoint in challenging their own understanding and recognise that reality is usually a better way to resolve a dilemma ethically [37]. From scenarios perspective, rapidly changing environment requires a continuous, adaptable, and enhances able personal approach to ethics. fortunately for it professionals, this approach is not a foreign concept, continuous improvement has been a cornerstone of professional development, quality improvement, and software process improvement through the capability maturity models of the software engineering institute. Also, [34] introduced ethical standards that evolved over the history of western civilization deal with interpersonal relationships from scenario perspectives. Sackson [34] reviewed the scenarios method from three instructional approaches in order to familiar students with real time situations. On the other hand, he presented different teaching pedagogues are beneficial to any faculty who wants to include these topics in the curriculum of a computer courses. In addition, [7] specify that undergraduate programs in computing should starts students to the subject of computer ethics. He discusses a novel way of introducing computer ethics into the curriculum and the use of detailed computer ethics scenarios that introduce important technical issues as well as issues in computer ethics. V. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION In this paper, review of many computer ethical models and scenarios indicates the need of this important topic for the current technology development. Also, a classified research area was introduced for future plan of any researcher who intends to focus on computer ethics and related topics. In addition, discussion from previous studies particularly from real time scenarios indicates the need of computer ethics courses in many educational systems. Hence, the nature of technology development indicates that, ethic of future will have a global character. Also, the discussion reveals the significant differences between computer ethics researchers and their appropriate topics whereas it shows the need of more deep research with respect to educational context and industrial developments. However, as the future of education becomes more technology driven and technology dependent, further studies are necessary for analyzing and anticipating the impact and implementation of such trend. Scholarly research and empirical evidence on computer ethics behavior and the effectiveness of various computer ethics policies and instructions are needed to enrich and add to the existing body of research. REFERENCES [1] Ajzen, I From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. Action control: From cognition to behavior2: [2] Ajzen, I The Theory of Planned Behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 50(2): [3] Anderson, R. Using the New ACM Code of Ethics in Decision Making, Communications of the ACM, Feb 1997, v36, n2, pp [4] Benbunan, R. (1998). Guidelines for using case scenarios to teach computer ethics. ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society. Vol 28 (3). pp [5] Bynum, T. (2004). Computer Ethics. Basic Concepts and Historical Overview. Stanford. Encyclopedia of philosophy.

5 [6] Cruz, J. A., Frey, W. J An Effective Strategy for Integration Ethics Across the Curriculum in Engineering: An ABET 2000 Challenge, Science and Engineering Ethics, p [7] Epstein, R. (2006). The use of computer ethics scenarios in software engineering education: The case of the killer robot. Software Engineering Education Book chapter. Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. Vol 750. pp [8] Fishbein, M., and Ajzen, I. (1975). Intention and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Boston, MA: Addition-Wesley. [9] Foster, Andrea L., Insecure and Unaware, The Chronicle of higher Education, (May 7, 2004), 33. [10] Górniak, K. (1991), The Computer Revolution and the Problem of Global Ethics in Terrell Ward Bynum and Simon Rogerson, eds., Global Information Ethics, Opragen Publications, 1991, pp , (the April 1991 issue of Science and Engineering Ethics). [11] Huff, C., and Frey, W Moral Pedagogy and Practical Science and Engineering Ethics (Forthcoming). [12] James H. Moor. Are there decisions Computers Should Never Make? Nature and System, 1: , James H. Moor. What Is Computer Ethics? In Terrell Ward Bynum, editor, Computers and Ethics. Blackwell, Oxford, UK. [The October 1985 issue of the journal Metaphilosophy, 16(4). [13] Johnson,D. (1985). Computer Ethics, Prentice-Hall. [14] Joseph Weizenbaum. Computer Power and Human Reason:From Judgment to Calculation. Freeman, San Francisco, [15] Jussipekka, L., Seppo, H. (1998). An Analysis of Ethics as Foundation of Information Security in Distributed Systems. HICSS. Volume 6 (6): [16] Kim, Soyoung and Leslie Stoel, Apparel retailers: website quality dimensions and satisfaction. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, [17] Langford, D. (2000). Internet Ethics, London: Macmillan. [18] Lee, K. (2006). Efforts for the Fixation of Systemic Information and Communication Ethics Education, Information Communication Ethics Committee. IJCSNS International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security. Volume 6 (6): 3-5. [19] Mason, R.O Four Ethical Issues of the Information Age, Management Information Systems Quarterly, 10, 1, [20] Masrom, M. & Ismail, Z Computer Security and Computer Ethics Awareness: A Component of Management Information System, Proceedings of International Symposium on Information Technology 2008, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Malaysia (26-29 August 2008), pp [21] Mathieson, K Predicting user intentions: comparing the technology acceptance model with the theory of planned behavior. Information Systems Research 2(3): [22] McGee, R. W The Ethics of Tax Evasion: A Survey of International Business Academics. Presented at the 60th International Atlantic Economic Conference, New York, October 6 9, [23] Mellisa, D A Framework for Information Security in Ethics Education system. University of Maryland [24] Namayandeh, M., and Masrom, M., and Ismail Z., Development of Computer Ethics Framework for Information Security within Educational Context. SEATUC. Shibuara University, Japan., pp [25] National Computerization Agency(2005), Korean Internet White Paper. [26] NBS Technologies Inc., Smart Card Frequently Asked Questions. [27] Nemati, H. (2007). Information Security and Computer Ethics. Tools,Theories and Modeling. North Carolina University, Igbi Science Publication [28] North. S.M., George, R., Shujaee, K., and Mumford, A. Collaborative Information Assurance Capacity Building at a Consortium of Colleges and Universities. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Association for Computing Machinery Southeast Conference. March 2005, [29] Oliver, R.L A Cognitive Model of the Antecedents and Consequences of Satisfaction Decisions, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp [30] Parker, D. Computer Crime: Criminal Justice Resource Manual, 2nd ed., National Institute of Justice, August l989. [31] Parker, Donn. Swope, Susan, Baker, Bruce. Ethical Conflicts in Information and Computer Science, Technology and Business. Wellesley, MA: QED Information Sciences, 1990, Reviewed in [32] Philip, B. (2007). Research in Philosophy and Technology. Journal of Technology. Volume 11(2): 3-8. [33] Raub, A. C Correlates of computer anxiety in college students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania. [34] Sackson, M Computer Ethics: Are Students Concerned? Retrieved 3 September, 2008, from [35] Song, Su-Kum(2002), Study on the contents of Information Ethics Education and the Methodology of Education for Secondary Schools, SungKyunKwan University Press [36] Spinello, A. (2003). Cyber Ethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace (2nd Ed.). Sudbury, Jones and Bartlett. [37] Taherdoost. H, Masrom. M, Ismail. Z Evaluation of Smart Card Acceptance: Security, Technology and Usage. Conference Proceedings of 3th International Conference on e-commerce, e- Administration, e- Society, and e-education (e-case). The Grand Copthorne Waterfront, Singapore, January 8-10, 2009, pp [38] Taherdoost. H, Namayandeh. M Social Modeling of Smart Card Technology Acceptance Based On Ethical Scenarios Analysis. [39] Taherdoost. H, Namayandeh. M, Masrom. M Development a Smart Card Acceptance Model from Ethical Perspective, The 2009 World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Applied Computing (WORLDCOMP 09), Monte Carlo Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, July 13-16, [40] Tayani. H., Computer Ethics Bibliography, (Rivier College). [41] Taylor, S., and Todd, P. (1995). Assessing IT usage: the role of prior experience. MIS Quarterly. 19(4), [42] Walters, G.J Privacy and Security: An Ethical Analysis, Computers and Society, 31, 2, [43] Walter Maner. Starter Kit in Computer Ethics. Helvetia Press and the National Information and Resource Center for Teaching Philosophy, Hyde Park, New York, [Originally self-published by Maner in AUTHOR S BIGRAPHY Meysam Namayandeh is a Postgraduate student at Centre for Advanced Software Engineering, University Technology Malaysia International Campus Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His research areas include IT management, information security and ethics. meysam.namayandeh@gmail.com Hamed Taherdoost is a Postgraduate student at Centre for Advanced Software Engineering, University Technology Malaysia International Campus Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His research areas include information security, IT/IS adoption and smart card technology acceptance. Corresponding author hamed.taherdoost@gmail.com