Assignment: Computers, Ethics and Society

This exam has four questions. Select three of the four for reply, and provide approximately one page of argument, single space, for each answer. Each answer is worth up to one hundred points, thus making the exam worth up to three hundred points. In your answers you may wish to appeal to any of the various ethical frameworks, be they Contractualism, Utilitarianism, Kantianism, Virtue Ethics, or Nietzsche critique of values to support or buttress you position..

1. The concept of Intellectual property, or the ownership of information, is of foremost importance to those creative individuals which work in the computer industry, especially those creative individuals which design software, games and encryption systems. How is one to assess the value of an individual efforts, and rights to claim ownership one copyright privileges by a specific individual? In a word, how may one justify a claim to a specific piece of intellectual labor?

2. There are competing views concerning crime. Supreme Court Chief Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes argued that Criminal Law ought to be altered such that, most criminal cases could receive a better resolution that the Criminal Code. Indeed, for most apparent crimes civil courts were more than capable of achieving a resolution. Would such a view make sense when addressing the issue of computer crime, be it local, national, or of global impact, such as cyber attacks on Transnational Corporate Interests, or sovereign regimes?

3. The reality of work, and the responsibilities of work, is of first importance when considering the reality of computer information systems. Two concepts associated with computer information systems and work is: The Digital Divide, and The Technological Imperative. Please offer an analysis of these two concepts, and how they relate to the realities of work in the computer industry. In your answer you may wish to consider Nietzsche's notion of the Priestly class, and how it may relate as critique of what he refers to as the scientific view.

4. What do you take the ethical role of being a computer professional to be? What unique responsibilities are entailed with the professional use of computing technology In your answer you may wish to make reference to any of the ethical frameworks available, or address Nietzsche's critique of values towards same standard ethical frameworks. Or, you may wish to address the issues of risk, and what could go wrong, and how that may relate to the responsibilities of being a computer professional.

Thank you so much for an engaging and thoughtful semester. It is always the students who make a course worthwhile, and you have been sublime and thoughtful. Best thoughts in all of your future endeavors.