ICT Ethics: First bigger task
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Greg designs security software for a multinational company. He later discovers the software's algorithms are banned for export from the US. Greg tells his boss but faces pressure to distribute the software overseas anyway. There are two ethical issues: 1) Should Greg obey export laws even if it costs his job? 2) Is controlling algorithm exports right? Different ethical frameworks provide different answers. Consequentialism argues Greg's and others' happiness is maximized if he remains quiet, while social contract theory says he should accept punishment for breaking the law. Similarly, controlling exports reduces some countries' access but could increase security, depending on the ethical lens used.
ICT Ethics: First bigger task
- 1. Applying the Method of Philosophical Ethics ICT Ethics, First bigger task Petr Viktorin
- 2. The Situation ● Greg designs security software for internal use in a multinational company ● Later, he finds out that the laws of his country (USA) forbid distributing of the algorithms he used to foreign countries ● Greg explains the problem to his boss, who doesn't see it as a problem ● Afterwards Greg even finds out that his software is distributed outside the company
- 3. The question What should Greg do?
- 4. The problems, in detail ● Should an individual always abide by laws, even if it means losing one's job, paying fines, going to jail? Even if he doesn't agree with them? and... ● Is it right to control export of algorithms?
- 5. The Stakeholders ● Greg the programmer ● Greg's boss ● The Government of USA ● The foreign users of the software
- 6. Problem #1 Should one always abide by rules? Yes! ● Rules are here to protect us, they exist for the common good. ● There are consequences to not following laws
- 7. Problem #1 Should one always abide by rules? No! ● People break rules every day – crossing at the red light, being late to class ● Consequences to not following laws only apply if you're caught ● Maybe common sense is better than blindly following rules?
- 8. Problem #1 Should one always abide by rules? ● This is a general ethical question, not limited to ICT.
- 9. Problem #2 Is it right to control export of algorithms? Yes! ● In the hands of an enemy, code-breaking algorithms are very dangerous. Wars have been fought on the „cryptography front“. ● Algorithms/data are property – intellectual property – and they should be treated like any other property.
- 10. Problem #2 Is it right to control export of algorithms? No! ● Algorithms – like any data – can be converted to, say, numbers. Making it illegal to export numbers is obviously wrong... 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 ● Data should be free.
- 11. Illegal numbers ● This is a Blu-Ray disc encryption key: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 ● In 2006, this number appeared on the Internet. The AACS LA (a content licensing company) threatened everyone who would spread it with lawsuits ● Here is another form of the number: ● You could also play it as a song, etc. ● Interpretation!
- 12. A notable prime number 49310 83597 02850 19002 75777 67239 07649 57284 90777 21502 08632 08075 01840 97926 27885 09765 88645 57802 01366 00732 86795 44734 11283 17353 67831 20155 75359 81978 54505 48115 71939 34587 73300 38009 93261 95058 76452 50238 20408 11018 98850 42615 17657 99417 04250 88903 70291 19015 87003 04794 32826 07382 14695 41570 33022 79875 57681 89560 16240 30064 11151 69008 72879 83819 42582 71674 56477 48166 84347 92846 45809 29131 53186 00700 10043 35318 93631 93439 12948 60445 03709 91980 04770 94629 21558 18071 11691 53031 87628 84778 78354 15759 32891 09329 54473 50881 88246 54950 60005 01900 62747 05305 38116 42782 94267 47485 34965 25745 36815 11706 55028 19055 52656 22135 31463 10421 00866 28679 71144 46706 36692 19825 86158 11125 15556 50481 34207 68673 23407 65505 48591 08269 56266 69306 62367 99702 10481 23965 62518 00681 83236 53959 34839 56753 57557 53246 19023 48106 47009 87753 02795 61868 92925 38069 33052 04238 14996 99454 56945 77413 83356 89906 00587 08321 81270 48611 33682 02651 59051 66351 87402 90181 97693 93767 78529 28722 10955 04129 25792 57381 86605 84501 50552 50274 99477 18831 29310 45769 80909 15304 61335 94190 30258 81320 59322 77444 38525 50466 77902 45186 97062 62778 88919 79580 42306 57506 15669 83469 56177 97879 65920 16440 51939 96071 69811 12615 19561 02762 83233 98257 91423 32172 69614 43744 38105 64855 29348 87634 92103 09887 02878 74532 33132 53212 26786 33283 70279 25099 74996 94887 75936 91591 76445 88032 71838 47402 35933 02037 48885 06755 70658 79194 61134 19323 07814 85443 64543 75113 20709 86063 90746 41756 41216 35042 38800 29678 08558 67037 03875 09410 76982 11837 65499 20520 43682 55854 64228 85024 29963 32268 53691 24648 55000 75591 66402 47292 40716 45072 53196 74499 95294 48434 74190 21077 29606 82055 81309 23626 83798 79519 66199 79828 55258 87161 09613 65617 80745 66159 24886 60889 81645 68541 72136 29208 46656 27913 14784 66791 55096 51543 10113 53858 62081 96875 83688 35955 77893 91454 53935 68199 60988 08540 47659 07358 97289 89834 25047 12891 84162 65878 96821 85380 87956 27903 99786 29449 39760 54675 34821 25675 01215 17082 73710 76462 70712 46753 21024 83678 15940 00875 05452 54353 7
- 13. Illegal numbers ● So, sharing data (especially small amounts of it like encryption keys and algorithms) cannot be practically controlled and punished, but the question remains... Is it ethical to do this? Does a government have the right to control where data is copied? The answer will come in a few slides...
- 14. Ethical Theory Application ● We go back to our first problem: Should Greg follow the law and notify the authorities? ● The Social Contract Theory is based on the works of Socrates, Plato, etc. ● You accept the laws of the society you are living in, just by living in it. Therefore Greg should notify the authorities and accept his punishment, whatever it might be.
- 15. Consequentialism ● Another theory, Consequentialism, says that the best action is the one with the best consequences. There are different versions of this theory – the final decision will be affected by what version you choose. ● Plain Consequentialism: Of all the things a person might do at any given moment, the morally right action is the one with the best overall consequences. ● Traditionally: happiness ≡ good consequence
- 16. Evaluation ● Greg will be happy when if he doesn't go to prison ● The boss will be happy if the company isn't sued ● The foreign users will be happy if they can continue using the program ● The decision won't really affect the government – terrorists can easily get the algorithm anyway ● Answer: keep quiet!
- 17. Second problem ● Should algorithm export be controlled? ● Consequentialist view: No. More people will be happy if they can use algorithms. And the bad guys, who could do bad things with algorithms, could get them anyway. ● Social Contract theory doesn't really apply here, since, we are talking about laws themselves...
- 18. Kantian ethics ● Formulated by Immanuel Kant, this ethical theory has three fairly clear maxims that can be summarized as: Follow those rules that you'd like to see followed by everybody.
- 19. Kantian ethics ● So, we can say that data should be always freely exportable, and laws preventing the export are bad. ● Data should not be allowed to be exported freely – this would undermine the concept of Internet. If I assume that Internet is good, this option must be bad. ● There should be restrictions on specific types of data – but classifying data is not possible.
- 20. Thanks for your attention!