Computer Ethics

Catalog description

Using a case study approach, this course explores the issues of professional and technological ethics especially as it pertains to networked computers in a global setting. The course will begin with the appropriate ethical codes of the professional societies, including the code of ethics for the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) but also codes in other areas such as finance and medicine. The mandates and expectations of the codes will be interpreted from varying perspectives and will be applied concretely to the specifics of the cases under consideration. Ethical issues will be approached in a manner similar to that of engineering problems and students will be expected to show a step-by-step process for the resolution of actual and potential ethical conflict. The technique of "line drawing" will be used to exhibit the alternatives and to help justify the ultimate decision made. In addition to video lectures Power Point charts, and notes the course teaching techniques will employ social media ("Google +") to create a class community, "NYU Classes" to present texts and case studies, built-in assessment tools to permit student dialogue and debate on assigned topics. These online tools do not demand excessive bandwidth and can be used in both synchronous and asynchronous settings.