1. CC2018
Legal, Social, ethical and Professional Issues in Systems Development – Part 2

2. Aims
To have a better understanding of the social, ethical (and to some extent legal) ‘surprises’ embedded in the development of computing systems
Associated professional responsibilities
Legislation

3. Last Week Privacy Data Protection Act, 1998 Information security
10 Commandments of computer ethics
Computer Misuse Act, 1990
Codes of Conducts (BCS, ACM)

4. Ownership and Intellectual Property Rights
“Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) concern the protection of all products created or designed by the human intellect – books, songs, poems, trademarks, blueprints … and software” (Davison, 2000, p.9)
Software developers concerned about protecting their intellectual investment (fair reward)
Legislation includes UK Copyright, Designs & Patents Act, 1988 (more on this later)

5. Consumer responsibilities and rights
“To protect [developers] right to the fruit of their endeavours, they claim that consumers have a duty both to pay the price [of product] and to respect the intellectual property contained within the product – by not stealing it. ….
…consumers may claim that they have the right to….expect that the product will be free of defects (bugs)”
(Davison, 2000, p.12)

6. Ethical issues: software ownership & sale
Kling, 1996, p.5:
“To what extent are software vendors obligated to accurately advertise their software capabilities and system requirements?
To what extent should software vendors be obligated to refund purchased software that a customer has found will not work as advertised on her computer systems” (Kling, 1996, p.5)

7. Ethical issues: software ownership & sale
For example:
Landmark case of St Albans City & District Council v. ICL (1995)
For the first time there is firm indication that software is goods hence:
must be ‘fit for purpose’ under Sale of Goods Act, 1979
Supply of Goods and Services Act, 1982 also applies

8. Ethical issues: software ownership & sale
Case of St Albans City & District Council v. ICL (1995) also illustrates:
Difficulty that software company may have in satisfying ‘reasonableness test’ in relation to contractual terms excluding or restricting liability (for defective software).
Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977
(Bainbridge, 2000)
In any case were ICL developers behaving in a ‘professional’ manner?

9. So… There are rights and responsibilities of ownership
This implies professional responsibility and accountability
Codes of conducts (BCS)

10. Competence and responsibility
‘Intelligent’ information systems:
deliberately attempt to emulate some aspect of human performance
Current problems:
Information systems have extended from clerical and manual areas into those of professionals
increased demand means that automated support may have to take over some of the human professional’s functions
lack of experience in managing intelligent systems that deal in information/knowledge, rather than just data

11. Assigning responsibility
Future intelligent systems may assume task of issuing instructions to pilots on how to avoid a collision.
Problems:
who is responsible?
current policies and procedures are built to support and monitor human capabilities
Illustrates difficulties in assigning responsibility but Davison argues those concerned with developing systems shouldn’t avoid sorting this out (Davison, 2000)

12. Responsibility
Responsibility - however many layers of automation, must still be ultimate human responsibility
System specification - Originating agency?
Creation of software (writing and testing) - Organisation contracted to supply software?
System in use - Users, if system pushed beyond agreed level of competence?

13. Professional Accountability
“In general accountability lies at the root of vendor-client relationships, and is therefore relevant to our professional behaviour in consulting or professional work…” (Davison, 2000, p.12-13)
“Accountability is important because it shows that high-quality work is valued, encourages professionals to be diligent and responsible in their practice….[and] because computer software is used throughout our society, and is an essential component of many life-critical systems..” (Davison, 2000, p.13)

14. Professional accountability
“Through encouraging a strong sense of professional accountability, we can attempt to ensure that those who are responsible for the safe functioning of these systems will do their utmost to ensure that systems are safe, and will minimise risks. Accountability runs a considerable risk of being eroded, however, when computers are made scapegoats for human failings or when developers of computer software deny any responsibility for the consequences of use of the software, even when this use is in accordance with the purpose for which the software was designed” (Davison, 2000, p.13)

15. Accountability and Liability
Important to establish lines of responsibility but separate ‘accountability’ and ‘liability to compensate’?
“An individual programmer or software designer may be responsible for a harm, but liability [may] more properly lie[s] with the employer, since it retains responsibility/ownership for the work of its employees” (Davison, 2000, p.17)
The self-employed developer has both accountability and liability

16. Legal Issues

17. Legislation What are major ethical issues in Computing?
Privacy, ownership, accessibility, surveillance, computer crime, reliability etc
Professional practitioner needs to be aware of relevant legislation (laws) in relation to these issues

18. Legal issues are important to:
Client or sponsor of an IT project
IT project managers
Anyone who produces assets (code etc.)
Anyone who contributes to an IT project
Anyone who uses software/ hardware/ computing technology whether for a project or not!

19. Legal Issues Areas: Intellectual Property Rights Contracts
Licences (one way to protect IPR)
Jurisdiction
Patents/Trade Marks (one way to protect IPR)
Data Protection legislation (recap)
Employment legislation
Anti-discrimination legislation
Production
Content
Design and construction
Testing, launch, and handover

20. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
These consist of a number of rights which give protection under the law to creators, performers and inventors
such as...
copyright
performance rights
moral rights
patents
design rights
trademarks

21. IPR - Copyright
The Copyright Designs and Patents Act gives the copyright owner the following rights:
the right not to have copies issues to the public the right not to have the work performed, played or shown in public
the right not to have the work broadcast or included in a cable programme
the right not to have the work adapted
Unless you are the originator or owner of the copyright in a piece of work you may not do any of these things without the permission of the copyright owner (in most cases the originator).

22. Contracts
A contract consists of the offer, consideration, and acceptance. These are legal terms to explain the essential parts of a contract
A contract is a legally binding agreement
between two or more parties which
begins with an offer from one party
but needs a sign from the other party to show their willingness to accept the terms of that offer (acceptance), and
consideration which is normally in the form of payment

23. Contracts Important contracts which may effect IT projects are:
Project contract which is often formed from the original project proposal
Employment contracts
Contracts for third parties (such as suppliers)

24. Licences (one way to protect IPR)
A licence is a special permission to do something on or with someone else’s property which could be legally prevented if you did not have the licence
If you are involved in an IT project you will come across various licences on a daily basis
The software, tools, libraries, operating system and some hardware that you use to create your project will probably be governed by licence agreements

25. Licences
The work the project team creates may have to be protected through the use of a licence (in the project contract) and the product which the project creates such as a web site, a DVD, or an IT system may contain a licence about its usage by the end-user
So you will have to abide by licences created by other people and you will also have to consider creating licences to protecting the work of your project team and your client’s business

26. Jurisdiction
Every country has laws which govern that country, and when you are in a country you should abide by those laws in business and in your personal life
Jurisdiction is about which laws prevail - which law applies to you?

27. Jurisdiction
This is not a problem with contracts where the buyer and seller are both in the UK
If a project involves the Internet or requires worldwide publication or distribution, jurisdiction is very important
Some countries and US states will apply their jurisdiction to an on-line sale even if neither the buyer, seller or user is resident in that country

28. Jurisdiction
Once you publish through the Internet you are open to legal action from any country
Most of these actions concern consumer protection legislation, but certainly libel and defamation actions are becoming more common
Another issue is taxation
You need to know which jurisdiction applies and which set of taxes you have to pay

29. Patents/Trade Marks (one way to protect IPR)
A patent is a legal protection which is given to the inventor of a product or process for a limited time
Once patented, another person cannot use or sell the invention without permission or licence from the inventor
The patent only relates to the UK, and lasts for up to 20 years
You may need to protect your invention using the Patent law of many different countries

30. Patents / Trade Marks
The Patent Office is the UK body responsible for Copyright, Designs, Patents and Trade Marks.For more information on these topics, view the web site of the Patent Office:

31. Data Protection legislation
Data protection is another issue which is important to an IT project manager, and others involved in the project
Under English law, anyone who controls data (information) about a person who is still living, may have to register under the Data Protection legislation as a data controller
The legislation is there to protect an individual’s privacy

32. Data Protection legislation
Information held about a person must be:
fairly and lawfully processed
processed for limited purposes
adequate, relevant and not excessive
accurate
not kept longer than necessary
processed in accordance with subject's rights
secure
not transferred to countries without adequate protection

33. Data Protection legislation
The Information Commissioner enforces and oversees the Data Protection legislation (Data Protection Acts)
more details can be found on the following web site:

34. Employment legislation
As an IT manager it is necessary to know the employment rights and duties as they apply to you and your workers
In a middle-sized to large company there will normally be a Human Resources (Personnel) department and Finance/Payroll to assist with this
This may not always be the case in a small company

35. Responsibility and competence
the idea that individuals, organisations, and societies are free moral agents who act wilfully with intentions, goals, and ideas;
consequently they can be held accountable for their actions…
Competence
Sufficiency of qualification, adequacy

36. Employment legislation
Other rights are also protected such as the right to belong to a Trade Union, minimum wage, and the right to maternity and paternity leave and pay
Know your own employment contract - Who owns the copyright of the code you produce?
Department of Trade and Industry’s website has a guide to Teleworking, and further information on employment and business issues:

37. Anti-discrimination legislation
Anti-discrimination legislation is there to protect each person’s rights not to be discriminated against on the grounds of Race, Sex and Disability.
The UK has also recently passed legislation concerning sexuality, and religion
and there is the possibility of gene discrimination in the future…
Service providers have to take reasonable steps to make their services (including public web sites) accessible to all. Check out the UK Government’s guide to Disability:

38. Web Accessibility People with various disabilities can use the Web.
They can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web and contribute to the Web.
Essential components:
content - the information in a Web page or Web application, including: text, images, and sounds; code or markup language that defines structure, presentation, etc.
Web browsers, media players, and other "user agents“
assistive technology such as screen readers and alternative keyboards.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines:

39. References and further reading
In addition to the websites mentioned above here are some other reference sources:
Bainbridge, D., (2000). Introduction to Computer Law. 4th Edition. Pearson Education Limited
Baase, S. A. (2000) Gift of Fire: Social, Legal and Ethical Issues in Computing. Prentice Hall
Davison, R.M., (2000), Professional Ethics in Information Systems: A Personal Perspective, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 3, (8), April.
Johnson, D.G. (2001) Computer Ethics – third edition, Prentice Hall
Kling, R., (1996) Beyond Outlaws, Hackers and Pirates: Ethical Issues in the Work of Information and Computer Science Professionals. Computers and Society, Jun, pp