Tentative Course Schedule

Week

Wednesdays

1

,   “Introduction – Ethics and How It Applies to Information Systems”. Quick survey of ethical decision making.  

Reading: Ethical Issues in Business and Information Systems, Roy Dejoie, et. al. (pp. 1 – 2).

Suggested Reading: CyberEthics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace, by Richard A. Spinello (2000).

Assignment: Presentation discussing Privacy issues related to the Internet in general or on a specific topic (DUE 11/21)

2

,   “Can I Copy That Program? – The Ethics of Software Piracy (Part 1)”

Reading: A Comparative Study of Unauthorized Software Copying: Information Systems Faculty Members’ vs. Practicing Managers’ Perceptions, by J.P. Shim and Stephen Taylor (pp. 189 – 198).

Assignment: Software Piracy Survey, by John T. Taylor, http://www.cse.nd.edu/~kwb/nsf-ufe/survey-taylor.html

3

,   “Can I Copy That Program? – The Ethics of Software Piracy (Part 2)”

Reading: 10 Big Myths about copyright explained, by Brad Templeton, http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

Reading: Anti-Piracy FAQ, The Software & Information Industry Association, http://www.siia.net/piracy/faq/default.asp

Assignment: Questionnaire: Results of software piracy survey

4

,   “Is it Ethical for My Boss to Monitor What I See and Do on the Internet?”

Reading: Computer Monitoring: A Threat to the Right to Privacy?, by Karen Nussbaum (pp. 134 – 139).

Reading: Porn, the Harvard dean and tech support, by Richard Hemingway, http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/05/21/tech_support/

Suggested Reading: Sex, Laws, and Cyberspace: Freedom and Censorship on the Frontiers of the Online Revolution, by Jonathan Wallace, Mark Mangan (Eds.) (1997)

Assignment: Questionnaire: Ethics in the Workplace.

5

,   “The Digital Divide & its Ethical Implications”

Reading: Equal Access to Computing, Computing Expertise,  and Decision Making about Computers, by Deborah G. Johnson (pp. 210 -218).

Suggested Reading: Information Ethics: An Environmental Approach to the Digital Divide, Luciano Floridi, www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/~floridi/pdf/ieeadd.pdf

6

,   “Is Microsoft Doing the Right Thing? – The Ethics of Software Engineering”

Reading: Why I Never Met a Programmer I Could Trust, by John Shore, pp. (97 – 102).

Suggested Reading: Buggy software still takes a toll, by Alorie Gilbert, http://news.com.com/2100-1017-955432.html

Assignment: Questionnaire: Software Engineering Ethics

7

,   “Vote Early, Vote Often: Ethics in Computerized Voting”

Reading: Vulnerable on All Accounts: How Computerized Vote Tabulation Threatens the Integrity of Our Elections, An Election Watch Report in CPSR newsletter (pp. 155 – 163).

Suggested Reading: The Social Impact of Computer-Mediated Voting, by Arnold B. Urken, http://www.southernct.edu/organizations/rccs/resources/research/security/urken/introduction.html

8

,   “Napster, Kazaa, & Other Online Emporiums: The Ethical Dilemma of MP3s”

Reading: MP3: Legal and Ethical Issues, by Adam Powell, http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/99/06/index1a.html

Assignment: Questionnaire: Ethics in the Age of Napster and MP3, by Betsy Frederick and Celia Einhorn, http://www.iste.org/profdev/symposia/cs/2002/media/cs02-frederick-einhorn-handout.pdf

9

,   “The Hacker Ethic(?)”

Reading: Is there a Hacker Ethic for 90s Hackers?, by Steven Mizrach, http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/hackethic.html

10

,   “A.I. The Ethical Way”

Reading: Artificial Intelligence and Ethics: An Exercise in the Moral Imagination, by Michael R. LaChat (pp. 278 – 294)

11

,     “The Ethics of Email: Spamming”

Reading: The ethics of spam, by Mark Gibbs, http://www.itworld.com/App/352/NWW010402gibbs/

12

,   “What Comes Around Goes Around: The Ethics of Copying Other People’s Code”

Reading:  The NEIU conduct code for cheating

Suggested Reading: ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, ACM Council, http://www.acm.org/constitution/code.html

Assignment: Questionnaire: Stealing Code

13

, Student Presentations 

14

, Student Presentations (cont.)

15

,   “Wrap-up”

Reading:  Preparing IS Students To Deal With Ethical Issues, by J. Daniel Couger (pp. 70 -84)

16

,   No more classes. No final exam. Enjoy the semester break!