1. Donna Lindskog
Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS)
The Ethics of Privacy and Censorship
1: http://www.business.com/guides/business-ethics-basics-21726/

3.  a branch of philosophy that involves
systematizing, defending, and recommending
concepts of right and wrong behavior.¹
Involves:
› Articulating the good habits that we should acquire,
› The duties that we should follow
› Or the consequences of our behavior on others
 We are constantly faced with ethical decisions
moment to moment, day to day. ²
 [We need to] support our ability to reinforce our
own inner wisdom as well as help others around
us reflect. ²
1: http://www.iep.utm.edu/ethics/
2: http://coopcatalyst.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/fostering-ethics-requires-
practice-mindfulness-for-all-ages-guest-post-jennifer-sertl/

4. All CIPS members (including students) agree to abide by the
Code of Ethics and its ethical principles/imperatives:
1. Protecting the Public Interest and
Maintaining Integrity;
2. Demonstrating Competence and Quality
of Service;
3. Maintaining Confidential Information and
Privacy;
4. Avoiding Conflict of Interest; and
5. Upholding Responsibility to the IT Profession.

5.  Identify what ethical imperatives /
principles are relevant to the situation
 Begin to generate alternative actions
and examine probable outcomes
 Reflection (feelings and intuitions)
 Determine action plan
 Take action
 At any time: request interpretation or
clarification from CIPS¹
1: Understanding the code of ethics, http://www.cips.ca/ethics

6.  Review actions day to day
 Consider how this impacts others
 Look at Risks and Rewards for all parties
 Talk to other professionals
 Speak on behalf of what is best for all
 Speak on topics where you are expert:
e.g. the Internet

7.  Facebook gives notice as it
defaults your security to “everyone”
 Google gives notice as Google search
gets default SSL security¹ but not secure
to advertisers.
transparent does not always mean ethical ²
1: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/google-search-gets-default-ssl-security/3407
2: http://www.informationdiet.com/

8.  How good is this estimate? How much risk is there that the
project will overrun? What are the open questions that will
make this estimate change the most?
 How good is this design? Is it “futureproof” or will new
technologies soon require an upgrade or rewrite or leave
holes for hackers? Will it work well with other software in
your architecture, now or in the future?
 How well was this tested? We know there will be
bugs. How can they check for them? How major can a
failure be? What plans do they need if this does not work?
 Where did this data come from? How was it
calculated? How accurate is it?
 Who can see this data? Are there any back doors or
defaults that may cause security problems? How much
does security / privacy depend on the people running the
processes?

9.  The right to keep who you are private?
 How do we tell who posted Child porn?
 Value of an opinion nobody admits to?
 Risk: no way to verify rights to content, or
ensure behavior is ethical
 Reward: important (in countries) where
speaking out has dire
consequences, encourages free speech

10.  American bills that allow censorship.
 The Stop Online Piracy Act (any site)and
the PROTECT IP Act (site with sole
purpose the distribution of infringing
content) are two very similar bills.
 REWARD: Piracy costs studios $25B / year¹
 RISK: Free Speech, user-generated
content , digital media investors, US
Gov’t control of the internet

11.  Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
 an international treaty of 39 countries –
Canada joined 2011 (thus Bill C-30)
 Internet Service Providers legally
responsible for their subscribers
 Reward: Less impact from Piracy
 Risk: no public input from 2006 until 2008
when discussion papers were leaked by
Wikileaks, Policy laundering, ISP
monitoring (privacy and cost concerns)

12.  legislation already in place.
 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998).
 Illegal anti-circumvention technology &
Safe Harbor for content hosts
 REWARD: piracy made harder, cleanup
without legal fees
 RISK: can’t discuss flaws in security
technology? Copyright holders must
monitor everywhere, Creators can’t defend
their works,

14.  require that a minimum of social
responsibility be met¹
 treating people with respect and
dignity, and being honest in your
business dealings. ¹
 However, the priorities of individuals differ from the
priorities of a business, therefore the ethics upheld
vary from company to company.²
1: http://www.business.com/guides/business-ethics-basics-21726/
2. http://www.business.com/guides/business-ethics-key-terms-33375/

15.  We are experts in Information Technology
which is not understood by most business
 We work on the World Wide Web
 We have computing values:
› Openness
› Reuse
› Generative:
 Build on previous ideas
› Permissionless
› ???

16.  Discussion on LinkedIn under CIPS group
 From Sean Heuchert (Ontario):
"Case Studies in Information Technology Ethics" by
Richard A. Spinello. 1996
 “helped me find my ethical centre”
 Let’s use them to continue this discussion
“to reinforce our own inner wisdom” .

17.  Questions?
 Discussion?
 Cases?