CMSC 100 Computing in the World: Ethical Implications of Computing Professor Marie desJardins Tuesday, November 27, 2012 Thu 11/29/12 1 Future of Computing.

CMSC 100CMSC 100

Computing in the World:Computing in the World:

Ethical Implications of ComputingEthical Implications of Computing

Professor Marie desJardins

Tuesday, November 27, 2012Thu 11/29/121Future of Computing

Some material adapted from instructor slides for Schneider & Gerstung

Ethical Reasoning

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Ethical PriniplesEthical Priniples Ethics: The study of decisions regarding right and wrong

Consequentialism: Focus on the consequences (good and bad outcomes)

Utilitarianism: Focus on overall good for all parties

Dialectic: Explore an issue from both sides to lead to greater understanding

Analogy: Compare a new situation to a previous one to gain insight about similarities and differences

Deontology: The study of duty and obligation

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Kant’s Categorical Kant’s Categorical ImperativeImperative

First formulation: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law without contradiction.” Universal moral proposition

Second formulation: “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.”

Third formulation: “Therefore, every rational being must so act as if he were through his maxim always a legislating member in the universal kingdom of ends.”


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Paramedic EthicsParamedic Ethics Triage the situation...

Ask these questions when facing an ethical problem: Who are the stakeholders in this situation? What does each stakeholder have to gain or lose? What duties and responsibilities are important? Can you think of an analogous situation? Does it clarify the

situation? Make a decision or repeat in dialectic form

Invitation to Computer Science, 6th Edition

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Ethical Case Study:

Napster

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NapsterNapster Users began transmitting and sharing MP3 music in 1998

Napster file-sharing system was developed in 1999

Peer-to-peer file sharing: Software introduces users to each other Sharing happens directly between users

(...so it’s not Napster’s fault, ... right?)


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Legality of NapsterLegality of Napster Recording companies filed suit against Napster in 1999

Lawsuit claimed Napster was a conspiracy to encourage mass infringement of copyright

Facts: Most shared music was copyrighted Many artists opposed sharing: no revenue for them Some artists supported sharing


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Napster’s Version of Napster’s Version of EventsEvents

Napster claims: Napster was just a “common carrier” Napster reported song locations, but was not involved in

actual sharing They were not responsible for users’ behaviors Swapping files in this way should be “fair use” under

copyright law

Napster lost the case and appeals, and closed in 2001


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Life After NapsterLife After Napster Other sharing systems (Kazaa) arose

Paying to download music grew (iTunes)

Sharing movies, legally or not, is a growing issue

Downloading images from the web for personal use is a related ethical and legal question

The ethical (not legal) question: Is it ethical to swap copyrighted MP3 music files?


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Utilitarianism ForUtilitarianism ForUtilitarian argument that MP3 copying is OK:

There are many more music users than publishers

Music users are happy to get free access

Publishers get publicity for their products

File sharing is akin to hearing a song on the radio

Many users buy a song after listening to it

Drop in sales may relate more to purchasing song-by-song rather than by album


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Utilitarianism AgainstUtilitarianism AgainstUtilitarian argument that MP3 copying is not OK:

Early on, MP3 sharing encouraged CD sales, but long-term trend is reduction in sales

iTunes and Amazon sell one song at a time to compete with illegal file sharing

If publishers cannot profit, then less music will be made

Copyright protection is the law, and MP3 sharing is clearly illegal; encouraging illegal behavior is wrong


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Dialectic AnalysisDialectic Analysis In fact, music sales have dropped continuously

In the long term, the argument that less music would be published is a strong one ... but not yet resolved; maybe it’s just music distributors that

are making fewer profits, but music artists have more direct access to their audience

Lesser-known artists may use file sharing to get better known, depend on income from performances

Rethink the music industry from a new viewpoint


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Next Topic

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What Should We Talk What Should We Talk About Now?About Now?

Split into groups of 3-5 That means you!!!

Spend 5 minutes talking about the topics below, and reach a consensus about which of them you’d like to nominate for our class discussion: Personal privacy online The use of information filters at public libraries Censoring information on the Web about making bombs Loss of jobs due to automation Online education and cheating Remixing images/videos from the Web to create art Legal rights for robots


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Let’s Vote...Let’s Vote... We’ll pick one topic...

...and identify a specific decision or action to be made


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Now DiscussNow Discuss Discuss in your groups for 10 minutes; then I’ll ask the

groups to share their thoughts. Think of an analogous situation that does not involve

computing Identify the significant stakeholders, and what they most

value Identify potential costs and benefits for each of the

stakeholders Identify duties and responsibilities of each stakeholder to

each of the other stakeholder groups Given the evidence above, what do you think is the right

decision?


Giving Effective Presentations

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OutlineOutline Rules for presentations

General guidelines for preparing talks

Paper presentation guidelines for this class

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RuleRule Know what on earth you’re doing up there!

Rule #2: Know what you want to say

Rule #3: Know your audience

Rule #4: Know how long you have

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Rule #2: Rule #2: Know What You Want to SayKnow What You Want to Say

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Just giving a summary/recap of the research paper you wrote is not interesting to most people

You should give enough detail to get your interesting ideas and observations across, but not enough to lose your audience

They want to hear what you learned that was cool and why they should care

Whatever you do, don’t just read your slides!

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Rule #3: Rule #3: Know Your AudienceKnow Your Audience

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You’re talking to the other students (not me)

You need to be sure you’re explaining each new concept clearly

The most important thing is to emphasize what you’ve discovered and why they should care!

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Rule #4: Rule #4: Know How Long You HaveKnow How Long You Have

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How long is the talk? Are questions included?

A good heuristic is 1-2 minutes per slide ...but it depends a lot on the content of those

slides!

If you have too many slides, you’ll skip some or—worse—rush desperately to finish. Avoid this temptation!!

Almost by definition, you never have time to say everything about your topic, so don’t worry about skipping some things!

Unless you’re very experienced giving talks, you should practice your timing

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Slideology 101Slideology 101 Don’t just read your slides!

Use the minimum amount of text necessary

Use examples

Use a readable, simple, yet elegant format

Use color to emphasize important points, but avoid the excessive use of color

“Hiding” bullets like this is annoying (but sometimes effective), but…

Don’t fidget, and…

Don’t just read your slides!

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Abuse of animation is a cardinal sin!

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How to Give a Bad TalkHow to Give a Bad Talk

Advice from Dave Patterson, summarized by Mark HillAdvice from Dave Patterson, summarized by Mark Hill

1. Thou shalt not be neat

2. Thou shalt not waste space

3. Thou shalt not covet brevity

4. Thou shalt cover thy naked slides

5. Thou shalt not write large

6. Thou shalt not use color

7. Thou shalt not illustrate

8. Thou shalt not make eye contact

9. Thou shalt not skip slides in a long talk

10. Thou shalt not practice

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Paper PresentationsPaper Presentations Content: You should provide a well organized

presentation of the topic you studied: What is your application domain? What are the three main applications of computing you’ve

identified? What are some of the social/ethical issues in this area?

Timing: You should aim for a 3-minute presentation. This works out to (roughly) two to three slides

(but you could have more if you have mostly pictures that you’re going to talk about)

I will cut you off if you go too long! There will be about 30 seconds after each talk for questions

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Paper PresentationsPaper Presentations Audience: Your audience consists of your

fellow students. (I don’t count.) Some are in your field, some are not Most will not know much about your particular domain You can’t assume a lot of existing knowledge On the other hand, you only have three minutes! Be

selective!

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Giving the Giving the PresentationPresentation

You must prepare your presentation in PowerPoint or as a PDF and email it to me and the TAs no later than midnight the night before your presentation Email to [email protected], [email protected] (that’s an “L”,

not the number “1”), [email protected], and [email protected]

Draft slides can optionally be sent to me for review, if you want feedback beforehand I will only promise to review and comment on draft slides if they are

sent at least 24 hours before they are due! (i.e., by midnight two nights before your talk)

Practice your presentation, even if it’s just to yourself, to make sure your timing is correct

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Grading and FeedbackGrading and Feedback Students are required to fill out a short feedback form for

each presentation

You will receive these forms

I will also give you written feedback

Your grade will be based on: Your level of preparation The clarity of your presentation The timing of your presentation Other students’ evaluation of your presentation

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CMSC 100 Computing in the World: Ethical Implications of Computing Professor Marie desJardins Tuesday, November 27, 2012 Thu 11/29/12 1 Future of Computing.

Documents

computer science

napsterfuture of computing

future of computingfuture

ethical priniplesethics

ethical problem

napster file

peer file sharing

new situation