CIS 4250-001 ETHICAL ISSUES (Spring 2005)

Tuesday/Thursday 2:00pm to 3:15pm  (SOC 285)
Prof. Sudeep Sarkar

Office hours: Tuesday/Thursday: 12:45pm to 1:45 pm, ENB 315,
Phone: 974-2113, E-mail: sarkar@csee.usf.edu

Goals:

• to study ethical issues arising in computer related professions.
• to develop habits of professional responsibility and conduct.
• to develop critical thinking and communication skills.

Final Grades

Rules:

• The penalty for dishonest activity such as cheating, plagiarism, misuse of computer accounts, lying to instructors, etc. is an automatic F or FF. Please read and sign Academic Policy Statement and return it to Dr. Sarkar by the end of first week of class. If a signature is not on file by that date, you will receive an I grade.
• Attendance is mandatory. Home-worksheets will be accepted only if present for the corresponding class discussion.
• You have to be on time and prepared for class. For each class there are  reading assignments.
• Each person has to lead at least one class discussion based on the worksheets.
• All written assignments should be of professional quality. The papers should be typed, proofread with appropriate footnotes, references, quotations, and citations of all sources. Each paper should be of about 5 double spaced, 11 point type, and with 1-inch margin pages.
• The first presentations will be 10 minutes long. The second presentations will be 20 minutes long.
• You will need to present electronically. There will be a Window's laptop with Powerpoint on it.
• The class will be expected to ask questions and write a critique for each presentation.
• There will be no change in presentation dates except under extreme, well documented circumstances.
• You should have the ability to use the library resources, a text processor, and a spell checker. You should be able to search the world wide web and prepare overhead transparencies for in-class presentations.

Extra credit: The following activities will help you earn upto 20 extra points! (10 points per activity)

• You may perform 20 hours of some volunteer community service activity. It cannot be something that you are or would be doing other than this class. It cannot be related to your family, business, church, club, fraternity/sorority or any such organization. Ideally, it should be new and involve contact with less-fortunate people. Possible examples are work at Florida blood services, nursing home, metropolitan ministries, and habitat for humanity. It does not have to utilize your computer skills. This activity will count as additional 10 points on your grade. You must get this activity approved by me by January 20. There will be no late approvals.
   
• If you have a letter to the editor published in an archival newspaper such as New York Times, USA Today, Tampa Tribune, St. Pete Times, etc. The letter has to concern with an ethical issue related to computing/computer and should have been submitted during Spring-05. This activity will count an additional 10 points on your grades. You must provide evidence of acceptance or publication before last day of classes.

WEEKLY COURSE OUTLINE (tentative)

Paper and Presentation Assignments

• READ Appendix A, before you start writing your paper.
• Link to a resource to make MLA format citations easier (http://www.landmark-project.com/citation_machine/index.php)

Paper 1 and Presentation 1 topics: (individual presentations, 10 mins long)

     Group 1

1. [Javier Pulecio] The Theodre R. Johnson Case (start at page 12 of your book)
2. [Roman Bilokrylyj] Inaki Lopez Case (start at page 12 of your book)
3. [Chris Camilleri] Lawrence Alder (start at page 12)
4. [Paul Chapman] US Navy/Solar Turbines case (start at page 12)
5. [Anhtuan Dang] FBI Sting at NASA (start at page 12)
6. [Tien Duong] Arresy for threatening stories on the Internet (start at page 12)

     Group 2

7. [Patrick Hyatt] The "Maxus" credit card extortion incident (start at page 97)
8. [Dustin Melvin] Programmer Timothy Loyd seeding a "logic bomb" (start at page 97)
9. [Jeremy Naylor] Techniques of information warfare (start at page 97)
10. [Joseph Newton] Norwegian Supreme Courst ruling on cracking (start at page 97)
11. [Long Ngo] The Night Trap Video Game (start at page 340)
12. [Jon Agar]: Phil Zimmerman's PGP  incidence (start at page 149)

     Group 3

13. [Darshit Patel] Evolution of the ACM code (start at page 65)
14. [Kanesh Patel] Scholarships restricted by race (start at page 340)
15. [Olivia Rockett] Race and ethic categories used by the government (start at page 340)
16. [Bronson Scott] Possible bia in National Merit scholarships (start at page 340)
17. [Diana Arteaga] Rating of top companies for working mothers (start at page 340)
18. [Austin Zobec] Street harrassment (start at page 340)

      Group 4

19. [Kerry Toole] Controversy over the SATAN anticracker toolkit (start at page 97)
20. [Derek Van Coyk] The case of cracker Kevin Mitnik (start at page 97)
21. [Adolph Weidanz] Internet explorer security holes (start at page 97)
22. [Sang Yu] Copyright infringement on chip designs (start at page 285)
23. [Chris Clark] Reconsidering a point in the ACM code of Ethics (start at page 285)
24. [Huy Tran] Disputes over ownership of domain names (start at page 285)
25. [Rod Guteirrez]  Eye strain related to computer use (start at page 307)

Paper 2, Paper 3 and Presentation 2 topics: (individual presentations, 20 mins)

    Group1

1. [Rod Gutierrz] Development of Internet wiretap capability (start at page 156)
2. [Huy Tran] Development of Public Key infrastructure (start at page 156)
3. [Sang Yu] The "Cyberspace Electronic Security Act" proposed in 1999 (start at page 156)

    Group 2

4. [Adolph Weidanz] Illegal wiretapping in modern times (start at page 156)
5. [Derek van Coyk] The "Echelon" eavesdropping controversy (start at page 156)
6. [Chris Clark] The Electronic Communication Privacy Act  (start at page 156)

    Group 3

7. [Kerry Toole] The Ariane 5 failure (start at page 173)
8. [Bronson Scott] The Patriot antimissle system failure (start at page 173)
9. [Kanesh Patel] The "lost satellite" incident (start at page 173)

     Group 4

10. [Olivia Rockett] The Aegis/Vincennes defensive weapons system incident (start at page 173)
11. [Javier Pulecio] Software error that caused telephone system outage (start at page 173)
12. [Darshit Patel] The North Staffordshire Hospital radiation-therapy incident (start at page 173)

    Group 5

13. [Long Ngo] The software engineering side of the Star Wars project (start at page 243)
14. [Joe Newton] The Virgina Edgerton Case (start at page 243)
15. [Jeremy Baylor] The Pinto Case (start at page 243)

     Group 6

16. [Dustin Melvin] The Clinch River breeder reactor incident (start at page 243)
17. [Patrick Hyatt] The Three Mile Island reactor cleanup (start at page 243)
18. [Tien Dang] The Baltimore/Imanishi-Kari research publication case (start at page 243)

     Group 7

19. [Dang Anhtuan] Credit for inventing the microprocessor (start at page 285)
20. [Paul Chapman] The Vermont Mircosystems vs. Autodesk trade dispute (start at page 285)
21. [Chris Camilleri] The E-data patent dispure (start at page 285)

    Group 8

22. [Roman Bilokrylyj] Water problem realted to chip fabrication (start at page 307)
23. [Diana Arteaga] The controversy over electromagnetic fields (start at page 307)
24. [Jon Agar] Carpal-Tunnel syndrome (start at page 307)
25. [Austin Zobec] Digital medical information systems with online access of patient data that is presently considered.