Paper Sessions:
• The Virtual Panopticon
• Professional (Ir)responsibility Unveiled
• The Wheel: Where the rubber hits the road for computer professionals
• Private Lives on the WWW
• Virtual Community Building

General Sessions:
• Kids Online
• Privacy: Lost in Cyberspace?
• Point and Counterpoint: Media Views of the Future of Computing

The Virtual Panopticon

Overview:

Participants in the panel discussed ethics in a surveillance society. The increasing reliance on computers for collecting, storing, and processing data from individuals and the progressive accumulation of personal and transactional data, prompted the panelists to examine social issues and potential fallout from the current trends.

In his paper "An ethics for the new surveillance," Gary Marx argues that surveillance must be judged according to three facets: means and context, conditions of data collection, and the uses and goals to which the data is put. He proposes a set of questions relating to the ethics of data collection and the principles of fair information practice. Answering the questions involves interpretation, judgement, trust and, above all, reflection.

In "Cryptography, data retention and the panopticon society: the social benefits of forgetfulness," Jean-François Blanchette and Deborah Johnson discuss the significance of data retention--how long data is kept--and the threat it poses to individual privacy.

Blanchette and Johnson draw on Westin's pioneering research in privacy and data retention. In a paper world, the capacity for data retrieval and manipulation is limited by the sheer difficulty and cost of storing and locating large numbers of paper files. This inconvenience functions as a mechanism whereby the system forgets past information, a mechanism similar to the way human beings forget. In the digital world, where digital information is easy and inexpensive to search and to keep over extended periods of time, the story is very different: because research on security often relates to access and control rather than to data retention, there is not a great deal of policy relating to data retention. As a result, data is kept longer and longer. The authors argue that we are, in fact, creating a new threat to privacy, and the apparatus is being put into place for a complete surveillance society.

Such systemic lack of forgetfulness is likely to hamper the ability of individuals to start over with a clean slate. Blanchette and Johnson enumerate instances where we value forgetfulness--bankruptcy law, juvenile crime records, and credit records--to establish the social good of forgetfulness.

"Who shapes the future: problem framings and the development of handheld computers," by Jonathan B. Allen, begins with the assumption that individuals and small groups can make a difference in society. Allen discusses the question "Who shapes the Future of Technology and When?"

Companies are subject to periodic, radical, competence-destroying innovation. Today's hand held computers were born out of pen-based computers built for those "left out" of the computer revolution. Allen defines problem framing as the basic set of assumptions about what problem a technology is trying to solve.

There are many different potential roles for computer professionals in the problem-framing process. These include the role of entrepreneur, technology expert, investment expert, potential supplier and product developer, end-user representative, media expert, journalist, and researcher.

Industry problem framing changes over time. For example, the handheld industry in the 1990's developed in three distinct periods and problem frames. First, the industry created a simple pen-based computer for "those left out" of the computer revolution. The industry then shifted towards creating devices that could communicate with one another, particularly over wireless networks. Finally, the industry turned to developing a device that would synchronize with other computers--the very ones that handheld devices had originally been intended to liberate users from.

Professionals can shape the process of problem framings for emerging technologies by developing a set of skills that includes the ability to identify different possible directions for emerging technologies, evaluate likely outcomes of technological vision, establish a technological agenda, and understand the technological agendas of important industry players.

Professional (Ir)responsibility Unveiled

Overview:

The session focused on the responsibility of both computing professionals and professional societies to address the social and professional impact of the computing industry. Coming from different perspectives, Richard Rosenberg and Don Gotterbarn both focused on the responsibility of computing professional societies in general, and ACM in particular, to concentrate on ethics. Librarian Jessica Clark gave her insight into one of the ways computing professionals could effect another area of society. The session threw in relief the fact that the effects of the computing profession on society are not limited to the computing arena. Organizations like ACM were challenged to be leaders in promoting ethical awareness and behavior among computing professionals.

Richard Rosenberg, Professor of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, presented his paper entitled "Beyond the Code of Ethics: the responsibility of professional societies." In his introduction, Rosenberg noted that students are often concerned about ethics in computer science, but they do not know who to approach with their ethical dilemmas. One of the major responsibilities of a professional society ethics committee is to deal with violations of the Code of Ethics, as well as act as a resource for members seeking advice on ethical issues. He presented both a dare and challenge to ACM to address the shortcomings in its approach to promoting member ethics. Specifically, he pointed out that the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers website offered an extensive support network for those seeking advice about the Code of Ethics--including guidelines, assistance in resolving ethical problems, and procedures for obtaining additional support. In contrast, Rosenberg noted, the ACM website provided one single link for those interested in using the Code of Ethics: a paper on the ACM's Code of Ethics from 1993. Ethics is the responsibility of all professional societies; Rosenberg proposed an ACM committee on ethics that would act as a resource for consultation and support on issues on ethics, report annually to the membership about its activities, and generally work to ensure that ACM members exhibit an understanding of, and conduct their professional practice according to the ethics propagated by the ACM.

In "Raising the bar: a software engineering code of ethics and professional practice," Don Gotterbarn of the Software Engineering Ethics Research Institute at East Tennessee State University, looked at the issue of ethics from another angle: how far we have come, rather than how far we need to go. In the past, it was assumed that the technology of software engineering was flawed; it was perfectly acceptable to say, "It works -- almost." Times have changed, and so has this assumption. Conceding that there is currently a failure on the part of the computing profession to accept responsibility to learn new technology or acknowledge its effect on society, Gotterbarn sees things moving in a positive direction. The ACM Code of Ethics provides extensive guidelines for ethical practice of the profession, as well as strategies for approaching solutions to problems. Currently the chairman of the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Task Force on Software Engineering Ethics and Professional Practices, he hopes that this body can address some of the issues brought up by Rosenberg. The international impact of software engineering, and the need for international standards, cooperation, and education regarding professional ethics, must be addressed.

Jessica Clark's paper "Who Profits? Online copyright concerns for writers," focused on one of the ways the computing profession impacts the writing profession. Clark, a writer/editor at the Library of Congress, noted that with the advances of online information technology, writers are losing control over the distribution of their work. A recent ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York established that publishers were not infringing on the rights of freelance writers by re-publishing their work online, in that the sale of electronic versions of publications could be interpreted as a "revision" of these publications. Clark advocated the use of micro-payment systems for online publications as a solution to this problem. Micro-payments--an avenue for increasing the reimbursement of writers for the value of their work--would be one way in which computer programmers and software engineers could have a positive effect the writing profession.

The Wheel: Where the rubber hits the road for computer professionals

Now that computers have such a tremendous impact on society, computer science professors are recognizing the importance of teaching ethics to their students to help guide them in their own lives and in making decisions that will impact others. Epstein noted that less than 20 percent of software professionals remained in the field for more than twenty years, compared to 52 percent in civil engineering. Epstein suggested that software professionals experienced burn-out because they had not been prepared for the ethical choices (family versus work, for example) that they confronted in the marketplace.

Though it is often overlooked, spirituality has an important place in engineering . Without a love of your work, you cannot produce new and innovative technologies that help improve the lives of others. The state of your heart influences your output. Young computing professionals, so eager to please, are unprepared for the demands of the workplace and succumb to its pressures, threatening their own well-being and ultimately that of others through the inferior work they produce. To resist falling into technology sweatshops or perpetuating their existence, computer science students should be trained early in ethics and social responsibility.

Private Lives on the WWW

Daniel Lin and Michael Loui spoke next about "Taking the byte out of cookies: Privacy, consent, and the Web." They discussed information privacy on the World Wide Web and its effects on the social relationships between individuals. By highlighting the role of informed consent as an important consideration for privacy, he identified conditions under which the collection and centralization of personal information can be ethically justified.

The Internet should be regarded as a public space in which expectations of privacy must be adjusted and a certain amount of information must be assumed to be available to other people. Lin argues that the fear of cookies stems from expectations that the Web is a private, rather than a public, space: since their presence is directed to a morally permissible activity, serving cookies to individuals does not require informed consent. For example, cookies served during an on-line shopping session may help direct customers to preferred areas. In contrast, Lin discusses the use of cookies by target marketers to monitor consumer habits where the information will be unethically centralized.

D. Primeaux discussed e-mail privacy, arguing that the traditional philosophical frameworks about ethics are not adequate for analyzing today's ethical issues. He described an alternative model based on Habermas' concept of the public sphere, namely, that communicated acts define the public sphere. Resources are shared but not given away in such an environment. Justification is required for any encroachment. He argues that e-mail is a process of communicating data. Privacy is an integral part of it.

Virtual Community Building

Overview:

Now that the web is maturing, its potential as a source of power and knowledge is becoming widely acknowledged. With power comes politics and political communities. In this session, speakers addressed the political possibilities of the web.

In "Liberty and community online," Barry Fagin, computer science professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, discussed what he sees as the dominant political philosophy of the web--libertarianism. According to Fagin, libertarianism is a natural as the philosophy for computing professionals because it conceptualizes justice as a process rather than as outcome, valuing the right to participate over guaranteed equal outcomes. Computing professionals, with their orientation toward theorem-proving skills, appreciate a process-oriented philosophy over an outcome-oriented one. Fagin also cited the complexity of the Internet and its entrepreneurial bent as other reasons why libertarianism fits the experiences of Internet users so well.

John Sullins, a professor at SUNY Binghamton, discussed his research into corporate uses of the Internet for disseminating information within the workplace in his paper "Navigating the knowledge infrastructure; strategies for increasing workplace democracy and knowledge management." Quoting economist Max Weber, Sullins observed that bureaucracy is domination through knowledge, and in corporate America that means restricted access to key information. While corporations obviously do not want competitors to access their corporate secrets, Sullins discovered that often one division of a corporation was reluctant to share its information with another division. Similarly, managers were reluctant to give online access to information employees could obtain on paper. Sullins proposed an interactive, hyper-linked online organizational chart as one way of breaking down the barriers between people in corporations and fostering faith in online information.

Jenny Shearer, a Ph.D. candidate from the University of Auckland, spoke on the need to develop global ethics for the Internet in her paper "The campaign for an ethical Internet." The Internet has the potential to transform existing global governance structures because it allows groups to form small communities with political influence. As a result, the power of nations is eroded by the globalization of cultures, communications, and markets. Large corporations spanning national borders and beholden only to their shareholders, are having a negative ethical effect on the Internet. To ensure the Internet becomes a power for freedom, democratic countries must take the lead in allowing strong encryption and rejecting proposals giving government access to encryption keys. Without these constraints the Internet can be used as a tool for surveillance to keep down political dissent.