Burisc 2:00
R05
Tom Bertrand ( tpb@pitt.edu
)
The evolution of computer technology has been integral to society; the evolution of the computer has revolutionized its original function as a personal device and recreational fun to a program with the potential to be used as security. One of these instruments includes the time-of-flight gesture recognition sensor, an up and coming form of technology that revolutionizes the way humans interact with computers. Time of flight is a range-imaging camera that resolves distances based on the speed of light, measuring the distance of a light signal between the object and subject. There are, however, controversial issues that come along with this technology regarding safety and misuse. This brings up potential ethical scenarios, involving misuse and privacy invasion.
Ethical issues will always be prevalent in the field of computer engineering. They are just as prevalent in computer engineering as all other engineering fields. People are constantly trying to cut corners to maximize profits by creating sub-par products. Safety and protection of privacy are often ethical issues that are brought up with computers as they become more invasive and powerful. As with any technology there is always a great potential for misuse.
However, any advance in the computer engineering field must follow the guidelines and cannons of the NSPE Code of
Ethics for Engineers was well as IEEE Software Engineering
Code of Ethics. When the time-of-flight sensor compared alongside these codes of ethics, it is a very useful technology with its benefits far outweighing the potential repercussions.
With the current method of password protection in place it is very easy for someone to hack into your personal devices and steal confidential information. Time-of-flight sensors would virtually eliminate this possibility by only allowing the device to be unlocked by the beholder of the device. For businesses, time-of-flight could be placed at all entrances and scan in all employees. With the level of detail of time-of-flight images it would be virtually impossible for unauthorized persons to gain access.
The NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers governs over all fields of engineering, expecting “honesty, impartiality, fairness, and equity, and must be dedicated to the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare” [1]. Engineers must always place public safety and health as a main priority when developing and improving systems that benefit society. The code of Ethics also expects engineers to be honest, truthful, and maintain integrity in every aspect of their profession.
Another very important part of this code of ethics is that engineers should only preform in their area of competence.
Therefore, a computer engineer with minimal knowledge in the field of chemistry should not perform a task requiring extensive knowledge in chemical engineering. The safety and well-being of the public has become predominant in recent years; many companies have been cutting corners and releasing products that weren’t of the upmost standard, endangering public safety. Furthermore, the IEEE Software
Engineering Code of Ethics states, “Software engineers shall commit themselves to making the analysis, specification, design, development, testing and maintenance of software a beneficial and respected profession” [2]. The code reiterates that computer engineers should never take shortcuts and ensure that their products are of the highest quality possible.
Engineers should always act with the interest of the public and their employer in mind as long as these interests are ethically sound. One predominant real world example occurred when
“toxin-tainted milk sickened about 300,000 babies in China in 2008 and 2009” [3]. The tainted milk exemplifies how rushing a product that has not been inspected for quality assurance, but rather to maximize profit puts public health in danger; the lack of conscientiousness can be detrimental to the consumer as well as the public image of the company and its employees. Similar ethical misconducts pertain to the use of time-of-flight; if the time-of-flight is not developed to the upmost standards and tested for security, hackers could break through the security encoding time-of-flight provides and steal personal information of companies and individuals.
One pressing issue computer engineers face relates to digital security; Engineers are constantly looking for new ways to improve security systems within computers. Despite the tireless efforts, hackers still remain at the forefront in respect to security. “The convergence of computers and networks in homes, schools, and organizations, along with connectivity provided by the Internet, poor-quality security mechanisms in major operating systems and application software, and Web servers based on the TCP/IP protocols was fertile ground for [hackers] to explore and exploit” [4]. These vulnerabilities in security software and hardware are what computer engineers are constantly hard at work on improving; eliminating the ability to hack and send mass viruses are just a few other the issues engineers attempt to resolve in the cyber world. However, rectifying these issues poses many ethical discrepancies; they create “a gray area between personal responsibility and public policy” [5].
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering
Submission Date 2013-10-01
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Tom Bertrand
When it comes to security, password protection is no longer sufficient for guarding personal information. Hackers easily crack passwords, requiring new types of security systems to be developed such as time-of-flight gesture recognition technology. “Time-of-flight sensors measure the time it takes an infrared beam to bounce off objects and return to a special CMOS sensor, yielding a highly accurate 3-D depth map of any scene at any distance and in any lighting”
[6]. These sensors offer a level of detail in the detection of a person far beyond what is currently available in most home devices creating a system of security more difficult to hack than basic password protection.
Time-of-flight technology poses plenty of ethical issues regarding its development. The public may argue technology like this is not in their best interest because of the research expenses that the product demands. An engineer could also simply overlook errors or documentation of the product in order to release it sooner. Furthermore, engineers could also be bribed by potential hackers for ways to hack the system or the technology itself to be used in criminal activities.
Various ethical scenarios can arise involving time-offlight sensors. While working for the software development company GestureTek, a leading developer in gesture recognition technology currently manufactured in a vast majority of devices, including entertainment offerings, health care systems, retail stores, and public and private venues [7].
It was suggested to develop a way to incorporate time-offlight sensors into the security of personal devices as well as corporate security systems for offices and businesses. What originally appeared to me a dismal task is now tangible with high processing power of devices and the right technological engineering [8]. GestureTek is currently the only company that holds the rights to time-of-flight technology.
The successful transition of time-of-flight into security would generate millions of dollars in revenue for the company as well as make it the leading name in all gesture recognition technology. Numerous companies have offered the company lump sums money to disclose information regarding the timeof-flight sensor for potential development of an offshoot model of this technology. This would however, go against the code of ethics, for the interest of the employer was not in mind. It was in the best interest of the company to turn down these offers in order to maintain my integrity with
GestureTek. Even though profitable margins decrease by keeping the technology exclusive to GestureTek’s model, maintaining integrity with the company place me in line for potential promotions and possibly make more money than selling the technology to another company.
A major discrepancy that arose during the development of time-of-flight regarded the consumer’s privacy. The time of flight sensor measures coordinates of objects and creates a detailed 3D image using these coordinates, causing some to fear that these images are far too detailed and will be stored by the companies [6]. People feel that if companies were to store these images and other information, including fingerprints from the images, that it would be a severe invasion of their privacy.
Additionally the public fears that this technology could land into wrong hands and be abused; Hackers using this technology could gather and store valuable undisclosed information about security within buildings. Hackers could then sell this information to those attempting to breach security within these facilities. Some people also believe time-of-flight in personal devices could provide government invasive information.
There are copious methods that can be utilized when approaching a logical ethical decision. In this situation I chose to use Norbert Weiner’s methodology of analyzing and solving ethical situations. Weiner was a mathematics and engineering professor at MIT in the 1940s [9]. Weiner thought the knowledge of ethical norms is combined knowledge of human nature as well as clarifying ambiguous language with critical thinking. The first step is to identify the ethical issue regarding the technology’s integration into society. With the situation at hand, the public must be convinced that time-of-flight is in their best interest; it provides a better level of security to the beholder. The second step is to clarify any vague or ambiguous terms, however, privacy and misuse are straightforward and clear. The next step is to apply already existing ethical laws and principles to make a decision on the situation. Two codes of ethics mentioned earlier are taken into account and applied to the situation. A decision must be made concerning whether or not to purse development of the time-of-flight sensor. According to the codes of ethics, dedication to the safety and well-being of the public is essential. If this technology were developed and ended up in wrong hands, privacy of individuals could be at stake. Hackers could use the technology to get personal information of people that use it in their homes. If the information on time-of-flight would be released to hackers to hack security, private information could be leaked to the public.
After thoroughly examining all these potential downfalls of the time-of-flight system, I must find a way to show the public that this technology is in their best interest. This would be particularly easy because based on the potential technological benefits, negative consequences the technology could present cannot compare. Minimizing any potential dangers in the technology during development would eliminate any residual ethical question remaining when the final product is released to the public. I would eradicate the potential of hacking time-of-flight systems by following the cannon in the IEEE Software Engineering Code of Ethics and spending ample time on the development of the sensor. This would eliminate most glitches in the technology that would
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Tom Bertrand allow hackers to break through password protection and retrieve personal information. I would then develop a list of the many applications for time-of-flight technology. These devices are unmatched in their ability for authentication of subjects by picking up their particular motions. They are able to differentiate not only the motions, but the people performing the motions as well [10]. Technology like this would take digital security to brand new heights by learning the particular motions and facial make-up of individuals who are authorized access to the secured devices, making entry by others virtually impossible. Utilization of this technology in this manner has been developed for the Security Elevator; the elevator does not contain buttons, rather it is operated by hand gestures indicating what floor is desired. The elevator then scans the face of the subject and determines whether or not to grant access to a particular floor [11].
Security is one of the simplest applications of this technology. The high level of detail in the images that the sensor registers makes it perfect for the manufacturing and use in the medical field. The time-of-flight sensor can take very detailed and high-resolution photos of items manufactured to check for flaws. This would provide a level of quality assurance that is far beyond the capabilities of the human eye. In the medical field, the time-of-flight sensor can be used to create very detailed images of a person’s body and organs. These pictures can then be used to spot potential abnormalities and disease as well as aiding in surgeries and help them to be far more accurate and less invasive.
By providing all of this information to the public, it will be blatantly clear how developing time-of-flight will bring ease to the consumer. Once I have successfully convinced them that it is in their best interest to invest in the development of time-of-flight, I will be able to carry out the development while maintaining my integrity and following both the NSPE
Code of Ethics for Engineers and the IEEE Software
Engineering Code of Ethics.
Ethics are a very important part of engineering. By following the ethical code I will have developed a very advanced piece of gesture recognition technology. Ethics is what keeps the public safe and allows for the proper growth of not only the engineering field but all professional fields. If everyone follows the ethical codes that have been laid out, the field of engineering will continue to advance and provide positive benefits and products to the world.
[1] “NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers.” (2007). National
Society of Professional Engineers. (Online Article). http://www.nspe.org/resources/pdfs/Ethics/CodeofEthics/Co de-2007-July.pdf
[2] “Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional
Practice.” (1999). Institute for Electrical and Electronics
Engineers. (Online Article). http://www.computer.org/portal/web/getcertified/resources/c ode_of_ethics
[3] B. Gardiner. “Emphasis on Ethics.” (2010). Wall Street
Journal. (Online Article). http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304
168004575178410786321340
[4] Z. Xu, Q. Hu, C. Zhang. “Why Computer Talents Become
Computer Hackers.” (2013). Communications of the ACM.
(Online Article). http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2013/4/162513-whycomputer-talents-become-computer-hackers/fulltext
[5] A. Pine. “Grave New World.” (2012). Prism Magazine.
(Online Article). http://www.prism-magazine.org/nov12/feature_02.cfm
[6] R. Colin Johnson. (2011). “3-D gesture control breaks out of the game box.” Electronic Engineering Times.
(Online article). http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA246731666
&v=2.1&u=upitt_main&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w
[7] "Qualcomm Buying Gesture Recognition Assets from
GestureTek 722014." (2011). eWeek. (Online article). http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA262460604
&v=2.1&u=upitt_main&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w
[8] G. Agarwal, D. Ko (2011). "Gesture recognition-- first step toward 3D UIs?" Embedded Systems Design.
(Online article). http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA274107043
&v=2.1&u=upitt_main&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=17a2
6e8e375ca3916310a7e2f495d61a
[9] C. Dianne Martin. (2010). “Taking The High Road: From
Cybernetics to Cyberethics.” ACM Inroads. (Online article). http://inroads.acm.org/article.cfm?aid=1835430
[10] F. Gomez-Caballero, T. Shinozaki, S. Furui, et al. (2011).
“Person authentication using 3D human motion.” '11
Proceedings of the 2011 joint ACM workshop on Human gesture and behavior understanding . (Online article) DOI:
10.1145/2072572.2072586. pp. 35-40
[11] P. Halarnkar, S. Shah, H. Shah, et al. (2012). “Gesture
Recognition Technology: A Review.” International journal of engineering science and technology . (Online article). http://www.ijest.info/docs/IJEST12-04-11-078.pdf
I would like to thank the tutors at the Writing Assistance
Center for helping me to fix any issues with my paper and help guide me in the proper direction for my paper. I would also like to thank Ashley Bertocci for critiquing my writing and giving me advice on how to improve it.
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