Ethics in the Information Age                      First Paper Assignment        Due: Friday, February 24 by 10 am

[Please save your paper as a Word document and submit it to the D2L assignment folder (drop-box).]

General Directions:  
            Write a total of 4-6 pages, typed, double-spaced.  Write as clearly and concisely as you can.  Explain any technical terms you use.  Pretend that, instead of being read by a teacher who has read all the class readings, your essay will be read by an intelligent and well-informed person who has read no such material, and who needs to have the issues explained in a way that does not assume any acquaintance with academic writing about ethics.  For example, do not assume that your reader already knows what ‘utilitarianism’ or ‘Kantianism' is. Assume that they need brief clear explanations of these views.  Answer mainly in your own words.  Put quotations in quotation marks (and use quotes sparingly, if at all).  When you borrow a phrase or argument or idea from another writer, be sure to give them credit. 

Specific assignment:   

           Choose one of the following scenarios from our textbook:

1. #22 in the "Discussion Questions" at the end of Chapter 7, on page 369 in the printed edition --about using a neighbor’s wireless internet access,

2. #28 in the "In-Class Exercises" at the end of Chapter 8, on page 430 in the printed edition, (about releasing a medical device with buggy software),

3. #13 in the "Discussion Questions" at the end of Chapter 9, on page 473 in the printed edition, (about using unlicensed software in a college computer lab).
 
Analyze your chosen scenario from the point of view of each of the following:

a.  act utilitarianism,
b.  Kantianism (use the first, universal law formulation of the Categorical Imperative),
c.  The Software Engineering Code of Ethics.

That is, explain how you could use each of these approaches to ethics to decide what to do in the hypothetical situation you have chosen, and explain what decision you think each would endorse.  (If you think that one or more of these approaches would not give a clear answer to what to do in your case, explain that.)  The important thing here is not to get “the right answer” but to show that you understand the process of reasoning that each approach recommends. The discussion projects that we did in class on each theory provide a set of instructions for how to do this. Use those as a guide.

Then, say a bit about which approach you find best and why.  (Perhaps you find them all unsatisfactory.  If so, explain why.)