Chapter 7B
Computing Ethics
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Learning Objectives
7.5
Explain the terms copyright and fair use, and
list common ways that copyrights are violated
for software, music, and images
7.6 List at least three preferred behaviors
prescribed by netiquette, and contrast the
ethical versus unethical use of online student
resources
7.7 Describe ethical and unethical ways that
computers are used at work
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Piracy vs. Forgery
• Piracy: In the context of computing, acquiring copies
of protected digital creations without the permission
of the creator
– Among the most widespread forms of unethical
computer use
• Forgery: making copies that appear to be real and
selling those copies to unsuspecting buyers as
legitimate products
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Intellectual Property
• Intellectual property: Ideas, writing, music, art and
other kinds of mind-based products intended to be
used in a commercial way
– Piracy is stealing
intellectual property
– Evidence of theft may
not be obvious
– Intellectual-property laws
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Copyright and Fair Use
• Copyright: A legal concept that grants rights and
control to the owner of any published work
• Fair use: A limited set of circumstances in which
copyrighted material can be used without first
obtaining permission
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Copyright Lifetimes
• Copyright lasts for the life of the creator and 70
years after the person’s death
• Anything published before 1923 in the United States
is considered not to be copyrighted
• When a copyright expires, the work enters the public
domain
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Software Licensing
• Personal software license: Legal permission granted
to one person to use the program
• Multi-user license: Legal permission to install and
use a program on a certain number of computers
– Site license: Allows the software to be installed and used
on any computer in a building or corporate campus
– Enterprise license: Permits installation and use on any
computer within a company
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Software Piracy
• End-user piracy: A legitimate purchaser makes
unauthorized copies
• Internet piracy: Use of the Web and Internet
resources to host and distribute software copies
• Manufacturer piracy: Installation of unauthorized
copies of a program onto the manufacturer’s
computers
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Protections Against Piracy
• Focus on mitigating damage from piracy
• Dongle: Hardware device that is included with
software and plugs into a computer port
• Software-based copy protection
• Internet-based copy protection
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Downloading and Sharing Music
• Most media sharing systems are based on peer-topeer networks
– The bitTorrent protocol links users to cooperatively
contribute small pieces of the complete file to the copier
• Some people see file sharing as a clear violation of
others’ ownership rights
• Other people see no harm in file sharing
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Other Legal and Social Risks
• Nothing posted on the Internet is truly private
• Spiders or Web crawlers: Automated software
programs run by search engine and other companies
to constantly sift through, catalog, and sometimes
store information they find on websites
• Minimize personally identifying information
• Incendiary opinions and hateful speech can come
back to haunt the writer years later
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Personal Computing Ethics
• Computer misuse and abuse
– Hacking
• Netiquette: The set of online behaviors considered
polite and proper
– Discourages abusive speech, rudeness
• Acceptable use policy (AUP): Document that
attempts to encode and formalize the practice of
ethical computer use for an institution or company
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Personal Computing Ethics
• Online student notes and essay databanks
– Many school-related websites
are legitimate and beneficial
– Other sites support cheating and
the illusion of accomplishment
– Efforts to stop cheatingSome schools require
students to submit work
to services like Turnitin
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Professional Computing Ethics
• While employees are being paid, they should be
focused on work
• Personal use of company computers also can create
risks for companies
• Employer protections:
– Creating AUPs that identify forbidden and permitted
behaviors
– Tracking employees’ keystrokes and Web activity
– Monitoring e-mail and other communications
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Workplace Electronic Communication
• General principles apply:
– Thinking before speaking
– Treat others with respect
• Workplace communication generally has to meet a
higher standard of politeness
• Inappropriate types of workplace communication
– Carelessly sharing nonprofessional material
– E-mail with complaints that should be kept private
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Whistleblowing
• Whistleblowing: Pointing out a major internal
problem
– Although it tends to reflect high ethical concerns, it can
make life difficult for the whistleblower.
– State and federal laws protect whistleblowers in some
situations
– Any complaints should be fully documented and pursued
through proper channels
© 2013 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.