The following questions are intended as a guide to the ethical/social/legal issues associated with the field of computing. The goal is not merely to answer these questions. You should also consider why you answered as you did and whether your justifications are consistent from one question to the next.

1. Suppose a software analyst designs a data organization that allows for efficient manipulation of data in a particular application. How can the rights to that data structure be protected? Is a data structure the expression of an idea (like a poem) and therefore protected by copyright or do data structures fall through the same legal loopholes as algorithms? What about patent law?

2. To what extent is incorrect data worse than no data?

3. In many application programs, the size to which a stack can grow is determined by the amount of memory available. If the available space is consumed, then the software is designed to produce a message such as “stack overflow” and terminate. In most cases this error never occurs, and the user is never aware of it. Who is liable if such an error occurs and sensitive information is lost? How could the software developer minimize his or her liability?

4. In a data structure based on a pointer system, the deletion of an item usually consists of changing a pointer rather than erasing memory cells. Thus when an entry in a linked list is deleted, the deleted entry actually remains in memory until its memory space is required by other data. What ethical and security issues result from this persistence of deleted data?

5. It is easy to transfer data and programs from one computer to another. Thus it is easy to transfer the knowledge held by one machine to many machines. In contrast, it sometimes takes a long time for a human to transfer knowledge to another human. For example, it takes time for a human to teach another human a new language. What implications could this contrast in knowledge transfer rate have if the capabilities of machines begin to challenge the capabilities of humans?

6. The use of pointers allows related data to be linked in a computer’s memory in a manner reminiscent of the way many believe information is associated in the human mind. How are such links in a computer’s memory similar to links in a brain? How are they different? Is it ethical to attempt to build computers that more closely mimic the human mind?

7. Has the popularization of computer technology produced new ethical issues or simply provided a new context in which previous ethical theories are applicable?

8. Suppose the author of an introductory computer science textbook wants to include program examples to demonstrate concepts in the text. However, to obtain clarity many of the examples must be simplified versions of what would actually be used in professional quality software. The author knows that the examples could be used by unsuspecting readers and ultimately could find their way into significant software applications in which more robust techniques would be more appropriate. Should the author use the simplified examples, insist that all examples be robust even if doing so decreases their demonstrative value, or refuse to use such examples unless clarity and robustness can both be obtained?