notes/docs/lectures/ethics/01_ethics_intro.md

Why do we need Professional Ethics

Computers enable social harm:

Illegal content and activity

• Terrorism
  • Crypto-currencies can finance this
• Organised crime
  • Phishing and fraud
  • Information stealing malware
  • Ransomware and DDoS extortion
• Domestic Abuse
  • Abusers can look at devices connected to the internet to control their partner even after they have left the house to establish control
• Cyber-Bullying
  • Sending harmful messages/photos to people
  • Promoting hate
  • Impersonating another person
  • No legal definition of cyber-bullying but still prosecutable
• Child sexual exploitation and Abuse
  • Solicitation, Grooming, Distribution of images & videos
  • Trafficking

Impact on health and well-being

• Computers can affect physical, social and mental health
  • Lower physical activity
  • Increases loneliness
• Designed for addiction
  • Clickbait
  • Infinite scroll
  • Short-term dopamine-driven feedback loops - Chamath Palihapitya (ex Facebook VP)
• Self-harm
  • Enables people to research self-harm methods
  • Validates negative feelings
  • Legitimises suicide as an acceptable course of action

Threats to our way of life

• Manipulating public opinion
  • Can be state-sanctioned
  • Distribution of inaccurate information, disinformation and fake news
• The Oxford internet institute found 26 countries including China, Turkey and Russia were using computational propaganda to suppress human rights and discredit political opposition

Risk to critical national infrastructure

• Cyber attacks on nuclear power stations, electricity grids, banking communications
• WannaCry targeting the NHS

Environmental Impact

• Data centres consume huge amounts of energy
  • Consumed 416.2 TWH of electricity - more than the UK’s total power consumption
  • 3% of global electricity supply
  • 2% of greenhouse gas emissions

GDPR

• Data protection
  • Data is the oil of the digital economy
  • GDPR applies to the processing of personal data by automated means, regardless of whether the processing takes place in the EU or not relating to:
    • The offering of goods or services to EU citizens
    • The monitoring of their behaviour
  • There are stiff fines for those who break GDPR
    • £20,000,000 or 4% of total annual turnover - whichever is greater.

A world under attack

It’s not computer scientists who do harm, but the way the technology is designed, who designed it and the outcomes it is trying to achieve influence how it impacts its users and wider society.