| CODE | ICT3010 | ||||||
| TITLE | Ethics and Professional Issues for Computing | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Faculty of Information and Communication Technology | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Rapid innovation in technology inevitably creates "policy vacuums". Situations are created that have no legislation to decide whether some activity is legal or illegal. Changes in information technology, the rapid growth and versatility of the Internet, the emergence of e-business, e-education, e-entertainment, e-life, e-communication, and the proliferation of instantly accessible information about anything, are creating situations that legislation cannot keep up with. Information and Communication Technology has created and is still creating situations that have far-reaching consequences on a scale never before anticipated. This study-unit will draw on moral concepts and theories to work out the ethical implications arising from scenarios and case studies. In this study-unit we consider questions such as: What is Ethics? What is Computer Ethics? Why have Ethics? What is the difference between ethics, morals, and laws? There are different Ethical frameworks such as Ethical Relativism, Utilitarianism, Deontological Theory, in which consider ethics from various viewpoints. For instance, just because something appears to be "for the common good" and it can be done, does it make it right? (e.g. adaptive marketing promises to bring you adverts for products that "you want" - but how have your preferences / interests / needs been discovered?) Does the end justify the means? The study-unit contains topics on Professionalism and Accountability, Privacy and Information: Data Protection, Encryption, Copyright, Patent Law. Intellectual Property Rights. Codes of ethics for professions (Professional Ethics). Regulation of professions. Computer Crime: Hacking, Denial of Service, etc. Ethical Issues and the Internet, and IT practitioners as professionals. Textbooks: • Johnson, Deborah G., 2001. Computer Ethics, Third Edition. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-083699-0. • Reynolds, George, 2006. Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition. Course Technology. ISBN 1418836311. |
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| LECTURER/S | Christopher D. Staff |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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