PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
CDT409
Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic
Mälardalen University
School of Innovation, Design and
Engineering
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Ethics, Privacy and Civil Liberties
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Ethics of Computing
Ethics, Values and Practices – Why is it
Important?
Agency implies making choices, which is
related to preferences.
Questions of identity in a digital universe.
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Privacy
Privacy is a fundamental human right
recognized in all major international
agreements regarding human
rights such as Article 12 of the
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (United Nations, 1948).
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Privacy protection vs. Surveillance
The four basic features of computing technology
that makes it unprecedented tools for
monitoring and surveillance:




Searching,
Sorting,
Storage
Simulation
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Privacy protection vs. Surveillance
Disappearance of boundaries between private and
public/professional life:
-
ubiquitous computing
ambiental intelligence
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Legislation
Privacy and Human Rights Report
Personal Information must be:
–
–
–
–
–
obtained fairly and lawfully
used only for the original specified purpose
adequate, relevant and not excessive to purpose
accurate and up to date, and
destroyed after its purpose is completed
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Legislation

The Council of Europe's 1981 Convention for the Protection of
Individuals with regard to the Automatic Processing of Personal
Data

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's
Guidelines Governing the Protection of Privacy and Transborder
Data Flows of Personal Data
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Why Value Privacy?
Privacy and Democracy
In intruding on privacy, which is closely related to
freedom and autonomy, surveillance can be
considered to have, ultimately, a negative
effect on democracy.
A Privacy Culture
Whether or not privacy is protected by law or
contract, fostering a culture where privacy is
valued and respected contributes to healthy
human relations.
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Legitimacy by Design and
Trustworthy Computing
The first phase of the intentional design for democracy is the
explication of the embedded moral significance of ICT
while the next is the development of the corresponding
technology (Yu and Cysneiros, 2002).
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Legitimacy by Design and
Trustworthy Computing
– Trust must be established in the use of ICT, where
both users and the technology will be trustworthy.
– This in the first place presupposes the informed
consent of all the parties involved.
– This trust must be established globally because the
data contained in networked computers virtually knows
no boundaries.
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Some common uses of data about
people
Public Information
Birth Certificates
Driver Licenses
Car Registrations
Property Records
Marriage License
Census Records
Telephone Directories
Consumer Surveys
Passports
Visas
Business Transactions
Mail Orders
Telephone Orders
Subscriptions
Donations
Credit Cards
Warranty Cards
Tattslotto, ...
Accounts Payments
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Ethics, Privacy and Security

Privacy: The right of people not to reveal
information about themselves, the right to
keep personal information from being
misused, the right to live their personal lives
undisturbed.

Electronic invasion of personal data has
become a serious ethical issue
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Ethics, Privacy and Security
Invasion of Privacy. Would you agree to:
 Your shopping habits, your income, to be
available to any number of businesses ?
 Your medical records being used by your
employer as one of the means of making
decision regarding promotions, hiring,
redundancy ?
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Ethics, Privacy and Security

The rapid expansion of use of the Internet
and E-Commerce has raised many
problems with privacy aspects.

In America there exists the ‘Association of
Corporate Privacy Officers’ which would
indicate that there is much interest and
concern regarding privacy of data.
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Security
Database Security: is the protection of a database from
– unauthorised access
– unauthorised modification
– destruction
PRIVACY is the right of individuals to have some control over
information about themselves
INTEGRITY refers to the correctness, completeness and
consistency of data
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Security
AIM
- Confidentiality
- Integrity
- Availability
PREVENTS
- Unauthorised disclosure
- Unauthorised Amendment
- Unauthorised Withholding
Security Systems:
1. Computer Security
2. Communications Security
- transmission
- encryption
3. Procedural security
4. Physical security
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/courseware/cse1720/Week12.ppt
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Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
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What are civil rights and
what are civil liberties?
Civil Rights = The right of every person to
equal protection under the law and
equal access to society’s opportunities
and public facilities.
Civil Liberties = Individual rights that are
protected from infringement by
government.
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CIVIL LIBERTIES
1. The Bill of Rights
2. First Amendment: Freedom of
Religion
3. First Amendment: Freedom of
Speech and Press
4. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms
5. The Rights of Criminal Defendants
6. The Right to Privacy
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CIVIL LIBERTIES


Civil liberties are the personal rights
and freedoms that the federal
government cannot abridge, either by
law, constitution, or judicial
interpretation.
These are limitations on the power of
government to restrain or dictate how
individuals act.
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The Right to Privacy


Privacy is not specifically mentioned in the
Constitution, nevertheless some areas are to be
off-limits to government interference.
Examples:
– The right to Abortion
– The right to Homosexuality
– The Right to Die
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Civil Liberties after Sept 11
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Privacy before Sept. 11th
Tradeoff between security and privacy
has always been a major issue for most
Americans
 Most sided with privacy at the expense
of security
 84% of Americans were concerned
about the government, businesses, or
individuals collecting information on
them

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Privacy Before Sept 11th, cont.
54% were “very concerned”
 Only a minor portion of America (13%)
supported FBI internet surveillance to
catch criminals
 62% of Americans thought that new
laws should be created to guarantee
that privacy would be protected from
government agencies

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9.11.2001

On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked
the World Trade Center in New York City and
the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C.
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Shift in Public Opinion
NYTimes Poll
4/23/97
29% wanted stronger
laws at cost of civil
liberties
62% did not want new
laws
Majority wanted
protection from
government
NYTimes Poll
9/27/01
55% want stronger
laws at cost of civil
liberties
35% do not want new
laws
72% think
antiencryption laws
would prevent another
attack
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Government Reaction


The government is reacting to public opinion
polls and are passing new controversial laws
that expand government power
Have already passed many ‘anti-terrorism’
bills that cover matters such as wiretaps,
electronic surveillance, regulation of airports,
etc.
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Internet wiretapping scheme
 Installed at ISPs (Internet Service
Providers)
 Maintained and operated by FBI
 Monitors all email, both incoming and
outgoing

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Cryptography


Evidence produced from the Libyan
bombings that Osama bin Laden, the
suspected mastermind behind the 9/11
attacks, used phones scrambled by strong
cryptography to hide the planning of the
Libyan bombings
Evidence produced by the US government
suggests that similar methods were used by
the terrorist network for 9/11 attacks as well
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Cryptography

The US government has charged that such
cryptography aids terrorism more than it
protects privacy and therefore should be
banned
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Autonomy vs. Paternalism
autonomy
inform
persuade
threaten
force
paternalism
Ethics is both about drawing-up of borderlines
and going beyond borderlines.
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Three Most Fundamental Ethical
Principles
 Human
life
 Care
for children
 Trust
among people
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Conclusions



Public opinion will most likely remain
concerned with security for years to come
Government expanding law enforcement
powers
Privacy strongly related to public safety
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~cs7/papers/zachary-pr.ppt
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