CSC 498: Senior Project, Fall 2005

Ethical Implications of Computing Projects

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is the professional association for computer scientists. The ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct can be found at the following web-site: http://acm.org/constitution/code.html

You are required to read this code prior to the next class meeting (during the week of October 24-28). Come to that class prepared to comment on two aspects of the code:

1. Something in the code you found surprising, but that you agree with.
2. Something in the code that you do not agree with.

In addition, prior to the next class, select one project from the projects in your small group (you can select your own project or someone else's project) and write a list of at least five "stakeholders" for that project. A "stakeholder" is a group or individual that shares in or has an interest in the project; there is often an implication that the project could have a negative impact on some of the stakeholders. Negative impact can happen in many domains including:

• Impact on safety, health, or even loss of life
• Violation of privacy
• Increased physical or emotional stress
• Financial losses
• Damage to reputation
• Loss of future business
• Negative impact on system performance
• Loss of job (perhaps because the program automates what was previously a human's job)
• Damage to the local, national, or global environment
• Property damage
• Loss of information
• Other...

One resource that you might find particularly helpful in preparing for this assignment is http://www.computingcases.org/. There you will find discussions of several historical cases, along with an introduction to some ethical analysis techniques.

DePauw University, Computer Science Department, Fall 2005
Maintained by Brian Howard (bhoward@depauw.edu). Last updated