School of Computing and Mathematics

Examination SESSION 2 (60), 2020

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

EXAM CONDITIONS:
Online Exam – Open book
15 minutes technology allowance

WRITING TIME: 2 hours plus 10 minutes reading time

Writing is permitted during reading time

NUMBER OF QUESTIONS: 8

VALUE: 50%

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:
1. There are two (2) parts to the examination. You are required to answer ALL parts:
Short Answer Questions (6 x 5 = 30 Marks)
Case Study (2 x 10 = 20 Marks)

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Short Answer Questions (6 x 5 = 30 Marks)

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

1. A court of law in a developing nation has awarded substantial compensatory

damages to Microsoft Corporation, Adobe Systems and Quest Software while
restraining a company based in the national capital from using or distributing their
pirated and unlicensed software… The court's order came on a suit filed by
Microsoft Corporation, Adobe Systems and Quest Software against a firm … after
they came to know that the company was using their unlicensed/pirated software
programs on its computers.

Source: Based on a news item published in

https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/

With reference to the above news clip, do you think that software manufacturers
should be more tolerant of the practice of software piracy in developing nations,
both at individual and organizational levels? Why or why not? Explain.

(5 marks)

Answer:
Students’ responses will vary. Some arguments can be as follows:

- Helping to increase access to software by people in less-developed countries is

the right thing to do.

- Given the trend toward globalization, it is in the best interest of all companies to
help less-developed countries speed up the development of their economies by
encouraging a more rapid implementation of technology in those countries
because doing so increases the overall market for software in the long term.

- Companies (and people) should never be tolerant of behavior that breaks the
law.

- For-profit companies have a right to be compensated for their intellectual

property and that companies have a duty to their investors (and to their
employees) to protect their intellectual property.

- Even in developing nations, software piracy at an individual level is different from

it happening in organisations. While companies may go easy on individuals, they
should not tolerate organisations to use their products without valid licenses.

Note: A good answer must incorporate suitable examples in the explanation of

the above points.

2. Successful DDoS attacks often require compromising several unprotected

computers by downloading malware into them that turns these computers into
zombies under the control of the malicious hacker. Do you think, it will be ethical
to track down the owners of these zombie computers and fine or otherwise punish
them, as a means of encouraging people to better safeguard their computers?
Why or why not? Explain.

(5 marks)

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 Answer:
Student’s answers will vary. Everyone should adhere to a basic level of security,
but at the same time, everyone cannot be expected to possess the knowledge of
IT professionals or hackers. Students should remain reasonable in their
opinions—recognizing that personal computers are used by a wide range of
people with different backgrounds and levels of technical expertise. Students
might focus their suggestions on things that could be done (by computer
companies, Internet service providers, and cybersecurity firms) to better educate
the general public on the ways in which their computers are at risk and what
reasonable steps they could take to better secure them.

3.

Source: Reynolds, G.W. (2019). Ethics in Information Technology (6th ed.),

Cengage

The above diagram depicts some of the key types of personal information that
both public and private organisations often collect about individuals. Currently,
technology assisted intelligence-gathering is becoming quite common. Do you
think, it is ethical for organisations to collect personal information about people?
Explain with suitable examples.

(5 marks)

Answer:

- Information about people is gathered , stored, analyzed and reported because

organizations can use it to make better decisions. Some of these decisions
including whether or not to hire a job candidate, approve a loan, or offer a
scholarship can profoundly impact people’s lives.

- Consumer profiling is important for businesses to optimize their marketing

efforts.

- Organizations also need information to serve their customers better.

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 - Some loss of privacy is a reasonable price to pay for more security, if
intelligence-gathering is done by government for that purpose.

- People in many countries do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in a

public setting, so intelligence-gathering activities that involve the use of
surveillance cameras and satellite-based tracking systems represent a legitimate
use of technology by the government.

- Individuals should have more rights in terms of controlling the use of their
personal information. There may be concern about the gradual erosion of
individual liberties in the quest for national security or to serve other national
interests.

- Computer assisted intelligence-gathering may not always have proven to be

secure—putting the personal information of private citizens at risk of falling into
the hands of cyberterrorists or other criminals.

4. What actions could an Internet Service Provider (ISP) take to censor the flow of
information from you to others? What might motivate an ISP to take such actions?

(5 marks)

Answer:
An ISP could censor information in a variety of ways, including by blocking access
to specific URLs, preventing Internet traffic to and from certain IP addresses,
prohibiting emails with certain keywords from traveling on its networks, and even
terminating a user’s ISP account.

An ISP might choose to censor the flow of information in an attempt to remain

compliant with regulations. Certain ISPs might also choose to censor information
on their networks in the hopes of contributing to efforts to reduce the amount of
hate speech and/or pornography found online.

Most ISPs reserve the right to remove content that, in their judgment, does not
meet their standards. ISPs might also choose to censor or limit the flow of
information over its network for financial purposes.

Note: A good answer must incorporate suitable examples in the explanation of

the above concepts.

5. Debate the ethical issue(s) surrounding reverse engineering in the context of

software.

(5 marks)

Answer:
Reverse engineering of software involves analysing it to create a new
representation of the system in a different form or at a higher level of abstraction.

Software licensing agreements increasingly forbid reverse engineering. The ethics

of using reverse engineering are debated. For example, No one challenges the
right to use reverse engineering to convert applications developed in-house, in
order to migrate to a new database management system. However, to use this
process on a purchased software application, developed and licensed by external

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 parties would be considered by most, unethical. Some argues that its usage is fair
if it enables a company to create software that interoperates with another
company’s software or hardware and provides a useful function. This is especially
true, if the software’s creator refuses to cooperate by providing documentation to
help create interoperable software. From consumers’ standpoint, such stifling of
competition increases costs and reduces business options. Reverse engineering
can also be a useful tool in detecting software bugs and security holes.

Others argue strongly against the use of reverse engineering, saying, it can
uncover software designs that someone else developed at great cost and taken
care to protect. Opponents of reverse engineering contend it unfairly robs the
creator of future earnings and significantly reduces the business incentives for
software development.

6. What is the difference between an electronic medical record (EMR) and an

electronic health record (EHR)? The value of EHRs is being questioned by many.
What is your opinion on this matter, from an ethical perspective?

(5 marks)

Answer:
An electronic medical record (EMR) is a collection of health-related information on
an individual that is created, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and
staff within a single healthcare organization. An EHR on the other hand, is a
comprehensive view of the patient’s complete medical history designed to be
shared with authorized providers and staff from more than one organization

Students’ answers will vary. An electronic health record (EHR) is a computer-

readable record of health-related information on an individual. It is extremely
convenient and can be easily referred to in case of an emergency. However, EHR
sceptics may point out that the systems may compromise security of sensitive
personal health information. Some students may believe that the use of EHR may
actually contribute to increased healthcare costs by making it easier to bill for
patient services. Others may point to the value in having easier access to medical
records across healthcare organizations, the convenience and safety of e-
prescriptions, more complete documentation for accurate billing, access to real-
time reporting, and enhanced decision support tools.

Case Study (2 x 10 = 20 Marks)

7. Identify the ICT related ethical issue(s) involved in the following scenario. Prepare an
essay presenting an analysis of the identified issue(s). Apply at least two ethical theories
to support your analysis.

Jean, a statistical database programmer, is trying to write a large statistical program

needed by her company. Programmers in this company are encouraged to write about
their work and to publish their algorithms in professional journals. After months of tedious
programming, Jean has found herself stuck on several parts of the program. Her

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manager, not recognising the complexity of the problem, wants the job completed within
the next few days. Not knowing how to solve the problems, Jean remembers that a co-
worker had given her source listings from his current work and from an early version of a
commercial software package developed at another company. On studying these
programs, she sees two areas of code which could be directly incorporated into her own
program. She uses segments of code from both her co-worker and the commercial
software, but does not tell anyone or mention it in the documentation. She completes the
project and turns it in a day ahead of time.

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

Instructions:
You must:

• present an introduction (or background) to your topic and your essay (1 mark);
• present a comprehensive analysis of the identified ICT related ethical issue(s)
applying at least two ethical theories (6 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. 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. Rather than just launching straight into the essay and say
why it is ethical / unethical the student needs to provide background. (1 mark)

2. Body (Analysis) - The body of the essay should present a comprehensive analyse of
the ethical issue(s) and make a recommendation. Two ethical theories – the student
must present at least two ethical theories discussed in this subject. The student needs to
be able convincingly demonstrate how each ethical theory can be applied to the ethical
dilemma. (6 marks)

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

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

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mark)

8. Write an essay on the following case study.

You are a new hire at a large software firm and have been working overtime for the last
two months trying to complete the final testing of a new software release for the firm’s
flagship product, which is used by thousands of organizations worldwide. Unfortunately,
the software has many bugs and testing has taken weeks longer than expected. This
afternoon your boss stopped by and asked you to “sign off” on the completion of your
portion of the testing. He explains that the project has gone over budget and is in danger
of missing the committed release date for customers. When you object because you feel
the software is still buggy, he says not to worry, whatever bugs remain will be fixed in the
next release of the software. What do you do?

Source: Reynolds, G.W. (2019). Ethics in Information Technology (6th ed.), Cengage

Instructions:
You must:

• present an introduction (or background) to your topic and your essay (1 mark);
• present a comprehensive analysis of the identified ICT related ethical issue(s)
using appropriate ACS Code of Professional Conduct to support your analysis (6
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. 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. Rather than just launching straight into the essay and say
why it is ethical / unethical the student needs to provide background. (1 mark)

2. Body (Analysis) - The body of the essay should present a comprehensive analyse of
the ethical issue(s) and make a recommendation. ACS Code of Ethics and Professional
Conduct – the student must present appropriate examples of Code of Ethics and Code of

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Professional Conduct. The student needs to be able convincingly demonstrate how the
Code can be applied to the ethical dilemma. (6 marks)

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

4. 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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