[go: up one dir, main page]
Scribd
Upload
164 views2 pages

Case Scenario 1: ITP110 - Ethical Decisions in Software Development Activity

Mike's daughter Sarah worked hard to get into an Ivy League college but may lose her spot due to a software glitch that emptied Mike's bank account. This could cause financial harm to Mike and emotional harm to Sarah from losing her opportunity. The glitch could potentially be caused by a software engineer's actions or failures. Engineers have ethical responsibilities to prevent harm from software bugs. Karen downloaded an app to efficiently plan errands that aggregates her personal data. This could potentially harm her if data is mishandled or used for unwanted ad targeting. Developers have ethical duties to protect users' privacy and prevent data misuse that could cause financial or reputational harm. They should take actions like secure data storage and transparency

Uploaded by

Paolo Sibal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
164 views2 pages

Case Scenario 1: ITP110 - Ethical Decisions in Software Development Activity

Mike's daughter Sarah worked hard to get into an Ivy League college but may lose her spot due to a software glitch that emptied Mike's bank account. This could cause financial harm to Mike and emotional harm to Sarah from losing her opportunity. The glitch could potentially be caused by a software engineer's actions or failures. Engineers have ethical responsibilities to prevent harm from software bugs. Karen downloaded an app to efficiently plan errands that aggregates her personal data. This could potentially harm her if data is mishandled or used for unwanted ad targeting. Developers have ethical duties to protect users' privacy and prevent data misuse that could cause financial or reputational harm. They should take actions like secure data storage and transparency

Uploaded by

Paolo Sibal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

ITP110 --Ethical Decisions in Software Development Activity

Case Scenario 1
Mike is a father of 3, and in order to save for their college educations, he has been
working two jobs since his kids were born. His daughter Sarah has worked as hard
as she can in high school to get high grades and SAT scores; as a result of her hard
work she has been accepted to a prestigious IvyLeague college, and the deposit
for her first year is due today. If the deposit goes unpaid, Sarah loses her spot in the
freshman class. Mike paid the bill last week, but today he gets an email from the
college admissions office saying that his payment was rejected for insufficient
funds by his bank, and if he does not make the payment by the end of the day,
Sarah will lose her place and be unable to attend in the Fall. Panicked, Mike calls
the bank – he had more than enough money in his savings to cover the bill, so he
cannot understand what has happened. The bank confirms that his account had
plenty of funds the day before, but cannot tell him why the funds are gone now
or why the payment was rejected. They tell him there must be some ‘software
glitch’ involved and that they will open an investigation, but that it will take weeks
to resolve. They will only restore the funds in his account once the investigation is
completed and the cause found. Mike has no other way to get the money for the
deposit on such short notice, and has to tell Sarah that he couldn’t cover the bill
despite his earlier promise, and that she won’t be attending college in the Fall.

Answer the following questions based on scenario 1.

1. What kinds of harm has Mike probably suffered as a result of this


incident? What kinds of harm has Sarah probably suffered? (Make your
answers as full as possible; identify as many kinds of harm done as you
can think of).
2. Could the problem with Mike’s account have been the result of an
action (or a failure to perform an action) by a software engineer? How
many possible scenarios/explanations for this event can you think of that
involve the conduct of one or more software engineers? Briefly explain
the scenarios.
3. Could any of the scenarios you imagined involve an ethical failure of
the engineer(s) responsible? How? Explain.
Case Scenario 2
Karen is a young lawyer at a prestigious firm with an incredibly hectic and
stressful schedule, who needs to organize what little free time she has more
efficiently. She has just downloaded a new app called Errand Whiz onto her
iPhone; this app merges information from Karen’s to-do list, information on
her purchasing habits from retail stores she shops at, and GPS software to
produce the most efficient map and directions for running errands on her
days off. Based on what it knows about what she needs to purchase and
her general shopping habits, it tells Karen what locations of her favorite
stores to visit on a given day, in what order and by what routes – this way
she can get her errands done in the least amount of time, traveling the least
number of miles. To accomplish this, the app aggregates information not
only about where she lives and shops, but also tracks what she typically
buys in each store, how much she buys, what she typically pays for each
item. This collected data is not stored on Karen’s phone, but on a separate
server that the app links to when it needs to create a shopping map. The
app encourages users to log in via Facebook, as the developers have
made a deal with Facebook to sell this data to third-party advertisers, for
the purpose of targeting Facebook ads to Karen and her friends.

Answer the following questions based on Scenario 2.

1. In what ways could Karen potentially be harmed by this app, depending on


how it is designed and how her shopping data is handled and used? Identify
a few harmful scenarios you can think of, and the types of harm she could
suffer in each.
2. Which if any of these harms could result from ethical failings on the part of the
people who developed Errand Whiz? How, specifically?
3. What actions could the people behind Errand Whiz take to prevent these
harms? Are they ethically obligated to prevent them? Why or why not? Explain
your answer.

You might also like