1. Applying the Method of
Philosophical Ethics
ICT Ethics, First bigger task
Petr Viktorin
2. The Situation
● Greg designs security software for internal use
in a multinational company
● Later, he finds out that the laws of his country
(USA) forbid distributing of the algorithms he
used to foreign countries
● Greg explains the problem to his boss, who
doesn't see it as a problem
● Afterwards Greg even finds out that his
software is distributed outside the company
4. The problems, in detail
● Should an individual always abide by laws,
even if it means losing one's job, paying fines,
going to jail? Even if he doesn't agree with
them?
and...
● Is it right to control export of algorithms?
5. The Stakeholders
● Greg the programmer
● Greg's boss
● The Government of USA
● The foreign users of the software
6. Problem #1
Should one always abide by rules?
Yes!
● Rules are here to protect us, they exist for the
common good.
● There are consequences to not following laws
7. Problem #1
Should one always abide by rules?
No!
● People break rules every day – crossing at the
red light, being late to class
● Consequences to not following laws only apply
if you're caught
● Maybe common sense is better than blindly
following rules?
8. Problem #1
Should one always abide by rules?
● This is a general ethical question, not limited to
ICT.
9. Problem #2
Is it right to control export of algorithms?
Yes!
● In the hands of an enemy, code-breaking
algorithms are very dangerous. Wars have been
fought on the „cryptography front“.
● Algorithms/data are property – intellectual
property – and they should be treated like any
other property.
10. Problem #2
Is it right to control export of algorithms?
No!
● Algorithms – like any data – can be converted
to, say, numbers. Making it illegal to export
numbers is obviously wrong...
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
● Data should be free.
11. Illegal numbers
● This is a Blu-Ray disc encryption key:
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
● In 2006, this number appeared on the Internet.
The AACS LA (a content licensing company)
threatened everyone who would spread it with
lawsuits
● Here is another form of the number:
● You could also play it as a song, etc.
● Interpretation!
13. Illegal numbers
● So, sharing data (especially small amounts of it
like encryption keys and algorithms) cannot be
practically controlled and punished, but the
question remains...
Is it ethical to do this?
Does a government have the right to control
where data is copied?
The answer will come in a few slides...
14. Ethical Theory Application
● We go back to our first problem: Should Greg
follow the law and notify the authorities?
● The Social Contract Theory is based on the
works of Socrates, Plato, etc.
● You accept the laws of the society you are
living in, just by living in it. Therefore Greg
should notify the authorities and accept his
punishment, whatever it might be.
15. Consequentialism
● Another theory, Consequentialism, says that the
best action is the one with the best
consequences. There are different versions of
this theory – the final decision will be affected
by what version you choose.
● Plain Consequentialism: Of all the things a
person might do at any given moment, the
morally right action is the one with the best
overall consequences.
● Traditionally: happiness ≡ good consequence
16. Evaluation
● Greg will be happy when if he doesn't go to
prison
● The boss will be happy if the company isn't
sued
● The foreign users will be happy if they can
continue using the program
● The decision won't really affect the government
– terrorists can easily get the algorithm anyway
● Answer: keep quiet!
17. Second problem
● Should algorithm export be controlled?
● Consequentialist view: No. More people will be
happy if they can use algorithms. And the bad
guys, who could do bad things with algorithms,
could get them anyway.
● Social Contract theory doesn't really apply
here, since, we are talking about laws
themselves...
18. Kantian ethics
● Formulated by Immanuel Kant, this ethical
theory has three fairly clear maxims that can be
summarized as: Follow those rules that you'd
like to see followed by everybody.
19. Kantian ethics
● So, we can say that data should be always
freely exportable, and laws preventing the
export are bad.
● Data should not be allowed to be exported
freely – this would undermine the concept of
Internet. If I assume that Internet is good, this
option must be bad.
● There should be restrictions on specific types of
data – but classifying data is not possible.
