Ethical Conflicts in Information & Computer Science
Ethical responsibilities
Due to its constantly evolving nature, the field of information and computer science is one that is hard to allocate a certain set of moral codes, even though it is necessary that ethics be put into consideration when making decisions in this area. Computing has created a whole new set of ethical issues, exclusive unto itself. It is for this reason that a professional such as a software developer is tasked with various ethical responsibilities. One such duty is to respect client privacy. As such, he/she only utilizes personal information for genuine ends and without breaching the rights of groups and individuals. Another duty is to exercise fairness in the course of discharging his/her responsibilities. Therefore, a developer is required to foster fair participation of all people despite their age, race, socioeconomic status, sex, and religion (Dale & Lewis, 2013). Another duty is to avoid harm. Software has the capability of doing all kinds of harms like breaching people’s privacy, stealing from them, confusing and misinforming them. As such, it is paramount for a developer to ensure that the designed software prevents the aforementioned harms.
Ethical Conflicts
Ethical conflict 1: how much protection is adequate?
Some developers that all things should be double-encrypted with 2 dissimilar algorithms and locked in a hard disk that is later put in a safe. Unfortunately, the overhead makes the system slow and makes development ten times more time-consuming. To exacerbate matters, if one algorithm part is erroneous or one bit is flipped, the data gets lost since the encryption cannot be reversed. Others do not want to do anything to safeguard the data. The developers may say that the next steam can add unique encryption later if it is necessary (Hazzan, Lapidot, & Ragonis, 2015). Or they may state that there is nothing sensitive about it. Teams that overlook these duties are typically able to produce plenty of other code and make piles of great characteristics that people desire. Who cares if they are safe? No easy answer exists as to the amount of protection to apply. Only guesses exist. More is always the better option-until the data gets lost.
Ethical conflict 2: How far to defend clients against requests of data
If data is gathered, a time will come when an organization will be caught between serving its clients and the government. Requests to present/deliver data to legal entities are becoming more and more common, causing more software and services companies to ponder to what degree they will betray the privacy of their clients before the law. The organizations can examine these requests and even appoint their own lawyers to challenge whether they are indeed legal, but the truth of the matter is that the courts will be debating the lawfulness long after the company’s funding is exhausted (Hazzan, Lapidot, & Ragonis, 2015). There are no simple solutions. Some organizations are even opting to leave business instead of lying to their clients. Others are attempting to be more transparent in regards to requests, which the state normally attempts to prevent.
Ethical conflict 3: how to address the global nature of the internet
The internet is everywhere, avoiding most of the conventional barriers at the borders. This can be a recipe for headaches associated with law when client A and B are in different nations. That is only the start as servers C and D are regularly in totally dissimilar nations as well. This causes noticeable ethical issues. For instance, Europe has stringent rules regarding retaining individual information and perceives violations of privacy as failures in ethics (Hazzan, Lapidot, & Ragonis, 2015). Other nations insist on organizations maintaining many records on dealings. Whose laws should an organization adhere to when clients are in different nations? When data is in different nations? Keeping up with each eventuality can be hard, leaving most organizations tempted to ignore them.
References
Dale, N. B., & Lewis, J. (2013). Computer Science Illuminated. Burlington, MA: Jones &
Bartlett Publishers.
Hazzan, O., Lapidot, T., & Ragonis, N. (2015). Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An
Activity-Based Approach. Basingstoke, England: Springer.
