Introduction to Cyber-ethics
Issues for ICT Professionals
School of Architecture, Computing, and Engineering
University of East London
5 March 2014
Dr Josephine Anne Stein
Principal Research Fellow in Innovation Studies emerita
Law and Social Sciences/LSS
E-mail: jastein9@gmail.com
Overview
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Ethical issues for ICT professionals

Definitions and basic concepts

Western moral tradition and evolution
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What is the relevance of ethics to ICTs?
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Cyber-ethics issues and dilemmas
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Practical approaches to applying ethics
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Ethical issues for ICT professionals

Data protection and other legal matters
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Hacktivism
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Business computer ethics
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Surveillance at work
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Ethics in the Cloud

Online privacy
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British Computer Society Code of Conduct

Public interest
– Awareness of legal environment
– Avoid discrimination

Duty to relevant authority
– Compliance and expert judgement
– Confidentiality and disclosure
– Manage task within time and budget

Duty to the profession

Professional competence and integrity
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Definitions: Ethics

The study and philosophy of human conduct,
with emphasis on the determination of right
and wrong. The basic principles of right action
especially with reference to a particular profession
(New International Webster’s Dictionary 1996)

a code of behaviour, especially of a particular
group, profession or individual. The moral fitness
of a decision, course of action, etc.
(Collins Dictionary 2002)
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Why ‘Cyber-ethics’?

Computer ethics
– Customised or bespoke software (machines)

Internet ethics
– Netiquette (www, email) (content)

Cyber-ethics
– LAN  Internet  Cloud (environment)
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Definitions: Morality

the quality of being moral; that which renders an
action right or wrong; the practice of moral
duties apart from religion; virtue......ethics
(Chambers Dictionary 1998)

a set of shared rules, principles and duties
applicable to all members of a group or society
which we follow in our day-to-day living.....They
help us to distinguish between right and wrong
(E Turner)
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Moral philosophy and applied ethics

Moral Philosophy or “metaethics”: philosophical
reflection on the nature of moral judgement
– critical analysis, identifying moral principles

Applied ethics: practical approaches to understanding real-world moral issues, making explicit
beliefs and values based on philosophical principles:
–
–
–
–
–
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individual rights and autonomy
ownership
authority and relativism
objectivity, trust, privacy
social distribution of responsibility, damage and risk
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The nature of authority

Expertise and subjectivity
– validated knowledge and credentialed expertise
– scientific method, experience, opinion
who is qualified concerning moral judgement?

An authority or someone in authority?
– is doing the right thing about avoiding punishment?
– is authority conferred or earned?
– when and why does one reject authority?

From power-based to rule-based to
value-based morality
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Ethics in the Old Testament

Ten Commandments, abridged and paraphrased
(Exodus 20)
 Honour your father and mother
 Don’t commit murder or adultery
 Don’t steal or covet what isn’t yours
 Don’t lie

Other Old Testament examples

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Don’t accept bribes (Exodus 23)
Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him (Exodus 22)
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Christian ethics

Incarnation: God as taking human form
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Teachings of Jesus Christ
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loving all, including the outsider, the rejected, the enemy;
faith, hope and charity, settings norms of humane behaviour
defying local authoritarian power, leading to JC’s execution
Resurrection


taking personal responsibility for one’s actions
....but external divine authority still available to judge, offer
absolution from sin or punishment of the guilty
vindication of JC’s embodied human/divine authority
Rise of the Church and the Bible as authoritative

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closing the biblical canon in 405 AD, ‘Christendom’
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The rise of secular humanism

Reformation and Protestantism (16th century)
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Enlightenment (18th century)

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rise of rationality and human-centred philosophy
Modernism (early 20th century)

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Martin Luther and the rebellion against corruption
Henry VIII and the Church of England
triumph of “progress” in delivering prosperity now
instead of promises in “eternity” or afterlife, based
on universal scientific principles
Postmodernism (mid-late 20th century)
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rejection of the “grand narrative” in favour of
“constructed identity”, anti-realism and pluralism
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Systems of ethics:
From ancient Greece to the 21st Century

Deontology: rules, rights and duties
– Divine command ethics
– Kantian ethics

Contractualism
– Hobbes
– Social contract

Consequentialism
– Utilitarianism

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Virtue ethics
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Deontology

Rules, rights and duties

Divine command ethics:
Claims made about obedience to God
– “Son of Sam” murders
– George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq
– Acceptability in academia
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Categorical moral obligations:
Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804)
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Duties as fundamental
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Hypothetical (non-moral) imperatives:
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Morality a matter of objective, dispassionate rationality
Intent as the basis of moral judgement:
autonomy assumed
If you want to be healthier, stop overeating
If you want to be happier, make more & better friends
If you don’t want to be killed, hand over your money
Categorical (moral) imperatives:
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“common sense” rules that apply to all (universality)
does not distinguish means from ends
absolute: exceptions as never justifiable
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Contractualism

Mutual advantage based on rational agreement
– explicit, codified (formal contract)
– implicit, understood (paying for a restaurant meal)
– intuitive expectation of social behaviour
(psychological contract)

Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679)
– limits of altruism and sympathy
– inequalities in power amongst people 
need for absolute ruler
– “social contract”, authority and governance
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Consequentialism and utilitarianism

Consequentialism: the consequences of an action
alone determine its morality
the ends justify the means

Utilitarianism: not the same as usefulness....a goal
– classical: “the ultimate good is something that most people
actually desire”
– modern: “satisfaction, rather than happiness”
– ethical hedonism: pleasure the only ultimate good
the greatest happiness of the greatest number

In philosophy, pleasure, happiness and hedonism
are more sophisticated concepts than as everyday
terms, but....
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Virtue ethics

Aristotle and purpose in life
– Excellence, flourishing as source of
happiness

Augustine, Aquinas
– Specification of virtue in terms of health,
aesthetics, knowledge, authenticity,
integrity, justice, friendship, holiness
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Computer ethics
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Postwar period:
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Microcomputers, networking and personal computers
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software and IPRs
hacking
Internet and bandwidth

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the rise of ‘artificial intelligence’ and fears of social
domination by computers
large-scale computation enabling greater lethality of military
weaponry
large-scale data manipulation enabling the centralisation of
social control (especially government): privacy and dignity
privacy and protection from malicious individuals
dependency in the age of informational capitalism
Cloud computing
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Conceptualising computers and ethics

Software

Hacking

the Internet

the Cloud
“Computer and information technology creates
new possibilities; it instruments human action in
new ways. The ethical issues that are thereby
created are not out of the realm of human understanding, but they have unique features with which
we must come to grips.” (Johnson)
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Computers and society: the case of software

Software (Johnson)
– A series of mental processes that cannot be owned, an
internal structuring of a computer that forms a part of the
machine, or a standalone product with commercial value?
– Traditionalist view: adapt existing tools such as patents and
copyright? But can this approach capture the novel features
and their (sometimes unintended) applications?

Social context: moral, cultural, political ideas
“the study of computer ethics turns out [to] be the study of
human beings and society -- our goals and values, our
norms of behavior, the way we organize ourselves and
assign rights and responsibilities”
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Are computer ethical issues unique?

New entities: programmes, software, microchips,
Websites, video games (MMORPGs), the Cloud

Scale of organised activity: data collection, calculation,
statistical analysis

Scale of calculations: new types of knowledge in fields
such as meteorology, economics, military technology

Inherent unreliability of computer systems: new ways
of thinking about risk, accountability and liability

Power and pervasiveness: dependency on computers
for all aspects of modern living, sometimes life itself
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Practical applications of ICT ethics

Personal choices: careers, ownership of consumer goods

Protection of children and vulnerable people in our care
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Policy, regulation and law
–
–
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–
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both public and corporate policies
gender, race, disability, equality and dignity issues
regulation of service provision and content
intellectual property rights
rights to privacy

Conduct of democracy

Codes of professional conduct
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Data Protection Act (1984)

DPA requirements include
– Registration of personal data
– Description of purpose of use
– Person responsible for subject access requests

Eight principles
Fairness, specification of purpose,
appropriateness, adequacy, accuracy,
timeliness, accessibility and security
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Data Protection Act (1998)

Implementing European standards as per the
Legal protection of databases Directive (1996)

Registration

Enlargement of jurisdiction to cover more
types of data systems
– Manual data
– Videotapes, CDs, etc.

Information Commissioner empowered to
issue fines from 6 April 2010
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Implications of the Data Protection Act
for ICT professionals
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Awareness of requirements for
registration; exemptions
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Treatment of personal data

Use and disclosure of data

Adequate but not excessive

Accuracy and timeliness
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Data protection and the Internet (I)

Exemptions for personal use of data

DPA Section 55 at work
– Pornographic websites
– Sexually explicit e-mails

Disclosure of data to third parties
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Data protection and the Internet (II)

Web site cookies, application forms and
transparency

Confidentiality and public services

Use of personal data for secondary purposes
– Authorisation
– Public interest disclosure
– Informed consent
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Computer Misuse Act (1990)

Unauthorised access to a computer

Unauthorised modification of data
held on a computer
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Hacking

Infecting computers with viruses

Attempt to control international
computer crime
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File-sharing, IPRs… and Democracy
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Napster mp3 file sharing started in 1999 and was shut
down in 2001 by judicial order
More than 60% of Internet traffic p2p sharing music,
movies, books and games (June 2010)
Encryption and IP address migration
Piratbyrån - The Pirate Bay: 25 million visitors/month
(2008) – only hosts bit-torrents and not files so cannot be
shut down – but  conspiracy case
Market economy vs. capitalism (concentrated power)
Democracy and Human Rights: Piratpartiet and privacy
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Digital Economy Act (2010)

Copyright/anti-piracy
– Compels ISPs to report persistent offenders
– Powers to restrict or cut off Internet access granted
to the Secretary of State to instruct ISPs
– Ofcom enforces ISPs obligations
– Control of content:
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Video game classification
Copyright material on websites
The controversy continues
– Implementation wrt piracy delayed until 2015
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Professional responsibility v.
Legal responsibility

Compliance with the law

Contribution to the formulation of law
and professional practice
– Technological expertise
– Ethical/professional judgement

Disclosure (whistleblowing)

What if the law itself is ethically wrong?
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Business computer ethics

Ethical behaviour as essential to maintaining trust that
is the basis for doing business:
– clients, customers and suppliers
– competitors, especially when collaborating
– employees, shareholders and stakeholders
empirical observation: “ethical behaviour works” (Langford)

Computers pervasive in all aspects of business, and
businesses of all sizes are highly dependent upon them

Computers allow very complex processes to take place
which are not transparent to consumers or regulators
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Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000)

allows monitoring of email
by employers

legalises interception of email
by the security services
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Cloud computing and cyber-ethics

Control and responsibility
– Users relinquish control over both
computation and data
– Dispersed responsibility for data
and computational integrity
– Disappearance of geographical and
functional boundaries
– Multi-purpose, multi-use
– Accountability?
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Online Privacy : Why is it important?

Personal autonomy, security and dignity

Freedom of association
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Political freedom and democracy
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Intellectual property
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Commerce and employment
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Protection from cyber-crime
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What does secrecy mean in a
virtual social environment?
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Privacy
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Anonymity
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Identity
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Security
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Confidentiality
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Privacy
Theories of privacy:
– Non-intrusion privacy: being free from
interruption and interference
– Seclusion privacy: personal privacy and
being alone
– Control/access privacy: having control
over information about oneself
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– Limitation privacy: context-dependent
limits to access to one’s personal
information
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Internet privacy

Datagathering and cyberstalking

Dataveillance

Merging electronic records
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Personal data mining
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Search engines
Social networking online
What is properly personal and private, and
what is in the public domain?
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Anonymity online
Liberation (Cyborg Manifesto)
– or deception?
‘On the Internet, nobody
knows you're a dog’
Trust and accountability
(e.g. misrepresentation and hacking)
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Identity in the virtual world

Personal, social and legal identity

Aliases
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Constructed identities
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Digital effigies
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Security: a highly emotive topic
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Technological security (PETs)
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Identity theft, impersonation and fraud
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Surveillance and “counter-terrorism”
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Psychological and sociological origins
(“existential insecurity”; “risk society”)
Security through cooperation
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Confidentiality and trust
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Friendship, kinship
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Caring professions
–
–
–
–
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Medical
Social
Educational
Religious
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Employment

Social contracts, social capital
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Evolution of virtual society

Communities
– Personal / family / diaspora
– Occupational / professional
– Interest group

Organisations and institutions
– e-government
– e-commerce
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The social regulation of the virtual world

Regulating human behaviour
– Individual
– Institutional
– Social

Social values of the Internet
– Development of expectations of identity in
a postmodern medium
– Confidence in secure transactions (financial, personal)
– Anarchy, communism (Linux, open source software, freeware)
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Secrecy and governance in the virtual world

Technological approaches are insufficient

Formal and informal approaches to the
governance of the www

Social norms differ according to national,
religious, ethnic and other distinctive
features of various societies – including
online societies
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Promoting an ethical approach and
the problem of moral philosophy

Internet ethics is derived from Western moral
philosophy, thus based on Judeao-Christian and
European cultural heritage

The foundations of different ethical frameworks
cannot be fully rationalised – and therefore,
conceptualisations of ethical standards and
approaches to governance (e.g. deontology,
utilitarianism, notions of human rights etc.) don’t lend
themselves to multicultural rationalisation
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Universal ethics

Values? (worth, esteem, etc.)
– Is privacy an intrinsic social value or is it
instrumental ?

Truly universal ethics are based on virtues:
–
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Honesty and trustworthiness
Benevolence and generosity
Excellence
Courage
Honour and respect
Justice
JA Stein 48
Virtual and virtuous ?
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Honesty and trustworthiness: Wikipedia
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Benevolence and generosity:
on-line petitions and appeals
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Excellence: peer-reviewed journals
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Courage: resistance to political oppression
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Honour and respect: netiquette

Justice: ?
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Virtual secrecy?

No technological solutions to social problems,
but no legal solutions either

Tailoring secrecy to purpose
– Protection of legitimate confidentiality in
professional and business/financial world
– Protection of personal privacy and dignity
– Social scepticism wrt identity – education
Informal and informed cooperative social
promotion of on-line virtue
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Psychology of moral autonomy
(Lawrence Kohlberg)

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Preconventional level: self-benefit and the
avoidance of punishment
Conventional level: family, group or social norms
uncritically accepted as standards of morality
Postconventional level: individual recognition
that right and wrong is not reducible to selfinterest or social convention
– autonomous individuals who think for themselves
and do not assumes that customs are always right
– seek to live by general, universal principles such as
moral integrity, respect, and the “Golden Rule”
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Limits to rationalism

Feminist critique: “ethics of care” (Carol Gilligan)
– context-dependent on maintaining personal relationships:
masculine ethics based on abstract rights and rules contrasted
with feminine context-oriented reasoning

Persistence of religious morality in contemporary society
– empirical observation that religious experience (including
conversion) is attributed to God
– impossible to acquire religious belief through reasoning
– fundamentalism mainly in text-based religions: no moral
ambiguity -- also balanced ‘scripture, tradition and reason’

Computer Power and Human Reason (Joseph Weizenbaum)
– Decision vs. choice
– Judgement, compassion and wisdom
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Moral Heuristics

Is it honourable? Is there anyone from whom we would like
to hide the action?

Is it honest? Does it violate any agreement, actual or implied,
or otherwise betray a trust?
Does it avoid the possibility of conflict of interest? Are there
other considerations that might bias your judgement?

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Is it within your area of competence? Is it possible that your
best effort will not be adequate?
Is it fair? Is it detrimental to the legitimate interests of others?
Is it considerate? Will it violate confidentiality or privacy,
or otherwise harm anyone or anything?
Is it conservative? Does it unnecessarily squander time
or otherwise valuable resources?
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Example: Ethical analysis of plagiarism

Identify and list as many different forms of plagiarism
as possible

Select four of the most egregious forms of plagiarism

What are the main ethical issues?

Identify the stakeholders

What ethical principles apply?

What formal guidelines apply?

What are the long-term implications, including
prevention strategies?
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Plagiarism…..don’t…..


When to reference
“Lifting” material
– Padding
– Over-reliance on sources

Other hazards:
– Self plagiarism
– Collusion
– Commercial (dis-)services

UEL guidelines, policies
and strategies
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