School of Computing and Mathematics

Examination SESSION X (XX), 201XXX

ITC506 Topics in IT Ethics
This paper is for Distance Education (Distance), Port Macquarie, Study Centre Sydney,
Study Centre Brisbane and Study Centre Melbourne students.

EXAM CONDITIONS:
NO REFERENCE MATERIALS PERMITTED
No calculator is permitted
No dictionary permitted
The student may NOT retain the question paper

WRITING TIME: 2 hours plus 10 minutes reading time

Writing is permitted during reading time

MATERIALS SUPPLIED BY UNIVERSITY: 1 x 12 page answer booklet

1 x General purpose answer sheet (GPAS)

MATERIALS PERMITTED IN EXAMINATION: Ruler - any type

(No electronic aids are permitted e.g. laptops, phones)

NUMBER OF QUESTIONS: 17

VALUE: 50%

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:
1. The examination is worth 50% of the overall subject.
2. You must obtain a minimum of 50% in this examination, plus 50% overall, in order to pass the
subject.
3. There are three (3) parts to the examination. You are required to answer ALL parts:
Part A: 10 Multiple Choice Questions (10 x 1 = 10 Marks)
Part B: Short Answer Questions (6 x 5 = 30 Marks)
Part C: Case Study (1 x 10 = 10 Marks)

STUDENT NAME: …………………………………………. STUDENT ID: ……………………….

SIGNATURE …………………………………………………………………………………………….

CALCULATOR USED (IF ANY) …………………...…………………………………………………

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Part A: 10 Multiple Choice Questions (10 x 1 = 10 Marks)

(An example of ONLY 5 questions is shown below)

1. A well-implemented ethics and compliance program and a strong ethical

culture can lead to:

a. more fear of retaliation by management.

b. less comfort for employees reporting misconduct.

c. more negative views on the organization.

d. less pressure on employees to misbehave.

2. Standards or codes of behavior expected of an individual by a group (nation,

organization, profession) to which an individual belongs is known as which of
the following?

a. Ethics

b. Virtues

c. Laws

d. Morals

3. Which of the following is an effort by an employee to attract attention to a

negligent, illegal, unethical, abusive, or dangerous act by a company that
threatens the public interest?

a. Professional malpractice

b. Conflict of interest

c. Whistle-blowing

d. Business intelligence

4. A network attack in which an intruder gains access to a network and stays

there, undetected, with the intention of stealing data over a long period of time
is known as which of the following?

a. DDoS

b. APT

c. rootkit

d. trojan horse

5. Although people have the right to express opinions, they must exercise care in
their Internet communications to avoid possible charges of which of the
following?

a. Internet censorship

b. doxing

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 c. declamation

d. defamation

Part B: Short Answer Questions (6 x 5 = 30 Marks)

(Answer the following SIX (6) questions. Each question is worth 5 marks.)

1. How do you distinguish between breach of contract and material breach of

contract? Provide an example of a breach of contract that would not be a material
breach of contract. (5 marks)

A breach of contract occurs when one party fails to meet the terms of a contract.
A material breach of contract occurs when a party fails to perform certain express
or implied obligations, which impairs or destroys the essence of the contract.
Students’ examples of a nonmaterial breach of contract will vary but might include
a software development firm failing to meet a noncritical deadline (such as one
relating to the completion of a weekly status report) set out in the contract or a IT
consulting company that is doing infrastructure work for a company installing a
brand of monitors that is different (but equivalent in function and performance) to
the type detailed in the contract. Students examples should focus on situations in
which the breach does not destroy the essence of the contract.

2. Briefly describe the difference between reasonable assurance and risk

assessment. (5 marks)

The concept of reasonable assurance in connection with IT security recognizes

that managers must use their judgment to ensure that the cost of control does not
exceed the system’s benefits or the risks involved. Risk assessment, on the other
hand, is the process of assessing security-related risks to an organization’s
computers and networks from both internal and external threats that could prevent
an organization from meeting its key business objectives. The goal of risk
assessment is to identify which investments of time and resources will best
protect the organization from its most likely and serious threats.

3. What is the difference between system reliability and system safety? Give an
example of a system that operates reliably but not safely. (5 marks)

Reliability and safety are two different system characteristics. Reliability has to do
with the capability of the system to continue to perform; safety has to do with the
ability of the system to perform in a safe manner. Thus, a system could be reliable
but not safe. For example, an antiaircraft missile control system may continue to
operate under a wide range of operating conditions so that it is considerably
reliable. If, however, the control system directs the missile to change direction and
to fly back into its launching device, it is certainly unsafe.

4. Are there particular areas you think are ripe targets for the application of machine
learning? What are they, and why do you think they could benefit from the
application of machine learning? (5 marks)

Students’ answers will vary. Answers should focus on the characteristics of

machine learning programs, which are able to learn a task and then improve their
performance with experience. Machine learning is already employed in a wide
spectrum of computing functions in which designing and programming explicit

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 algorithms is not feasible. Machine learning has contributed to the development of
a much more in-depth understanding of the human genome as well as practical
speech recognition, improved web search results, and self-driving cars. Machine
learning is also currently used on websites to recommend other products a
shopper might like based on what he or she has already purchased. In the
financial services industry, machine learning is used to compare in-process credit
card transactions to an existing database of transactions to detect fraud.

5. What is a cross-licensing agreement? How do large software companies use such

agreements? Do you think their use is fair to small software development firms?
Why or why not? (5 marks)

A cross-licensing agreement is one in which each company agrees not to sue the
other over patent infringements. Large companies, such as Apple, HTC,
Microsoft, and IBM, sign agreements with each other to obtain the rights to
technologies that they might use in their products. Such an agreement provides a
tremendous amount of development freedom without the risk of expensive
litigation.

Some students will argue that it is not fair that small businesses must pay an
additional cost, from which larger companies are exempt, to license the patents
they use. Others may believe that in a free market, companies are entitled to
enter into agreements that are the most financially beneficial to them.

6. Develop an idea for a social media marketing campaign for one of your favorite
consumer products. Document how you would turn your message viral. (5 marks)

Students’ responses will vary. Viral marketing is an approach to social media

marketing that encourages individuals to pass along a marketing message to
others, thus creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s
exposure and influence as one person tells two people, each of those two people
tell two or three more people, and so on. The goal of a viral marketing campaign
is to create a buzz about a product or idea that spreads wide and fast.

Students may include the use of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and
YouTube in their plan to turn their message viral. Students may also identify other
social media sites that would serve as an effective base from which to launch their
campaign.

Part C: Case Study (1 x 10 = 10 Marks)

Write an essay on the following case study

Joe is working on a project for his computer science course. The instructor has allotted a
fixed amount of computer time for this project. Joe has run out of time, but has not yet
finished the project. The instructor cannot be reached. Last year Joe worked as a student
programmer for the campus computer centre and is quite familiar with procedures to
increase time allocations to accounts. Using what he learned last year, he is able to
access the master account. Then he gives himself additional time and finishes his
project.

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Reference: Australian Computer Society (2014). ACS Code of Ethics Case Studies &
Related Clauses to the Code of Conduct

You must:

• present an introduction (or background) to your topic and your essay (1 mark);
• include at least two ethical theories to support your answer (4 marks);
• Include examples of professional Codes of Ethics to support your answer (2
marks);
• present a conclusion that briefly outlines your point of view (2 marks); and
• ensure that your essay is well written and structured (1 marks).

You are not required to include any references in your essay, but where applicable you
should cite relevant researchers to support your arguments. State any assumptions
before you start writing your essay.

Answer Guideline

The marking for the essay is subjective and you will need to consider each essay in turn.
However, the marking guide above gives you clear guidelines as to what you should be
looking for. You should break your marking down as follows (you should include these
headings for each student as a summary of the marks that you award to this question):

1. Why (Introduction) – the student should basically state how s/he is going to approach
the remainder of the essay (2 marks). Rather than just launching straight into the essay
and say why it is ethical / unethical the student needs to provide background information
about a use of online tools threaten the privacy of ordinary people (this makes for a much
more rounded essay). This would include the student providing examples of what people
might do to respect the privacy of ordinary people and why their action, expressed quite
generally) could or could not be ethical (1 mark).

2. Body - The body of the essay should address whether use of online tools and access
information of ordinary people is ethical or unethical and as a result it should then
concluded whether an ordinary people have no privacy over such actions. Two ethical
theories – the student must present two ethical theories (4 marks for each) presented in
this subject although if another one is presented this should be considered accordingly
and how this can be applied to support the essay question. The student needs to be able
convincingly demonstrate how each ethical theory can be applied to the ethical dilemma.

3. Professional Code of Conduct – the student should state a relevant Professional Code
of Conduct and what its purpose would be to support an ethical dilemma (2 marks).

4. Conclusion – a summation of what was presented in the body of the essay. (2 marks)

5. Shows a polished and imaginative approach to complete the assignment, very well
fluent writing style appropriate to assignment with accurate grammar and spelling. (1
mark)

END OF EXAMINATION

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