Professional and Ethical Issues in ICT

General Info:
Instructor: Bwiino Keefa
Office hours: We can meet up from 2-3pm (or send email for other arrangements)

Phone: +256 – 775526587 / +256 - 704927866

Email: kbwiino@bibat.ac.ug
Meeting time and venue:
Computer Lab, Sunday 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Summary:

Ethics in Information Technology is designed to educate existing and future business

managers and IT professionals on the tremendous impact ethical issues play in the use of
information technology in the modern business world. The topics covered in this course
are extremely current and relevant to anyone preparing to enter the field of IT. The course
will give students the foundation they need to make appropriate decisions when faced
with difficult situations and make a positive impact in the field of information
technology.

Texts:
George Reynolds, Ethics in Information Technology, Fifth Edition, 2015. ISBN-13: 978-
1-285-19715-9
Grading:

 Attendance (taken every session): 10%

 Term paper: 50%
 Class presentation: 40%

Assignments:
Students will be expected to perform the following:

 Reading Assignments: The topics discussed in the lectures correspond to the

various chapters of the course textbook. You are responsible for reading the
appropriate chapter from the text and the appropriate set of transparencies from
the lecture notes before each class.

 Term paper: You will write an 8-page term paper on a topic related to professional
ethics in computing, drawing on one of the case studies in the syllabus or on
personal experience. See also the Topics Page for a source of possible topics. The
term-paper topic is due at the end of week 4; a draft is due at the end of week 9,
and the final draft is due at the end of the semester.

 Class Presentation: You will make a 10-minute class presentation (Powerpoint) on

the topic of your term paper. The presenting student will be evaluated on his
coverage of the topic and his ability to engage fellow students in discussion.
Students in the class will be asked to evaluate their fellow students' presentations
on content, clarity, and excitement level. For schedule see below.
S/N Topic
1 Course Overview
2 Ethics for IT workers and
IT users
3 Computer and Internet
Crime
4 Information Privacy
5 Freedom of Expression
6 Intellectual Property
7 The Impact of IT on
Productivity and Quality
of Life
8 Social Networking
Description
 What is Ethics
 Ethics in the Business World
 Ethical Considerations in Decision Making
 Ethics in Information Technology
 IT Professionals
 Professional Relationships
 Professional codes of ethics
 Common ethical issues for IT users
 Supporting the ethical practices of IT users
 IT security incidents
 Types of Vulnerabilities, crimes, attacks on the
internet
 Measures to computer crimes and attacks
 Implementing trustworthy computing
 Risk Assessment
 Information security policies
 Privacy protection and the law
 Information privacy, laws, applications and court
rulings
 Key privacy and anonymity issues
 Workplace monitoring
 Advanced Surveillance Technology
 Controlling Access of Information on the Internet
 Strategic lawsuit against Public Participation
 Anonymity on the internet
 Hate Speech
 Pornography at the workplace
 What is Intellectual Property
 Copyright Term
 Fair Use Doctrine
 Patents
 Trade Secrets
 Trade Marks
 Key Intellectual Property Issues ( Reverse
Engineering, Open Source Code, Competitive
Intelligence, Trademark Infringement, and
Cybersquatting
 IT Investment and Productivity
 The Digital Divide
 Electronic Health Records and TeleHealth
 Business Applications fo Online Social Networking
 Social Networking Ethical Issues
 Online Virtual Works
Term paper due date is Friday, May 22, 2020, via email to the instructor

Possible topics for term paper and class presentation:

Here is a list of possible topics and sources of topics for your term paper/class
presentation. You can choose a topic not on the list as well.

 A very good source of topics is the course textbook, Reynolds, Ethics in

Information Technology. In particular, each chapter of the book ends with a
section called Cases, which provides a brief introduction to several case studies
relevant to the chapter in question.

 Online Ethics Center. Clicking on several of the menu items just below the page
header (Engineering Practice, Diverse Workplace, Computers & Software) brings
up a list of items including cases.

 The Case Materials page of ComputingCases.org describes several case studies.

 Stony Brook Computer Science Professional Ethics

 Case Studies in Information and Computer Ethics

 Some general topics of interest are software piracy, intellectual property

protection, user privacy, software reliability, computerized medicine, and safety-
critical systems
Course policies:

NO INCOMPLETES will be given for this course. Collaboration on assignments and

exams is not permitted. Students found in violation of this rule of conduct will
automatically receive an F on the assignment or exam in question. The official university
position on academic dishonesty is the following:

Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally
accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as your own is
always wrong. Any suspected instance of academic dishonesty will be reported to the
Academic Board. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity, including
categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic Registrar’s website.