Transcript ENGR 111 Teaching plan

ENGR 111
Engineering Ethics
Intellectual Property
Reading: Chapter 3,
Class notes
Engineering Ethics
Profession: The act of taking the vows of
a particular community
Profess: To act or admit freely
Engineering Ethics
What is moral?
What is ethical?
What is legal
Engineering Ethics
Personal conduct
Courtesy
Appearance (clothing, grooming, etc.)
Behavior (respect, etc.)
Engineering Ethics
 Ownership
Of ideas
 IP
 Publications and citations
 Talks and lectures
Of objects
 Software
 Products
 Work results
 Data
 Methods
 Art
Engineering Ethics
Trustworthiness
Safekeeping of privileged information and
knowledge (trade secrets, classified
information, etc.)
Respect for contracts and agreements (NDA,
etc.)
Giving credit where it is due (crediting others
contributions even if not obvious or known, etc.)
Engineering Ethics
Contribute to society and human wellbeing (create value !)
Avoid harm to others
Fairness and non discrimination
Respect privacy
Engineering Ethics
ACM’s Code of Conduct, Moral:
Contribute to society and human well-being
Avoid harm to others
Be honest and trustworthy
Be fair and take action not to discriminate
Honor property rights (copyrights, patents)
Give proper credit for Intellectual property
Respect privacy
Honor confidentiality
Engineering Ethics
More Specific, Professional:
Strive to achieve highest quality, effectiveness
Acquire and maintain professional competence
Know and respect existing laws of profession
Accept and provide professional review
Honor contracts, agreements
Access computing resources only when
authorized
Similar Code of conduct for IEEE
Engineering Ethics: Case Study 1
Logisticon shuts down Revlon
Logisticon providing software for tracking sales
and shipments for Revlon
Revlon didn’t pay contract, felt software buggy
Logisticon felt bugs were not serious
Logisticon accessed Revlon’s computers,
disabled the software
Revlon had to shut down 3 days of distribution
Repossession of unpaid software vs.
commercial terrorism?
Engineering Design: Case Study 2
Ford designing Pinto
Crash tests revealed 8 out of 11 designs not
satisfactory
The 3 good designs required altering production
plans and possible delays
Carried out cost versus benefit analysis of
design modifications
Right thing to do?
Engineering Design: Case Study 3
Intel Pentium - floating point division gave
errors in specific cases
First argued that problem rare, general fix not
necessary
Asked customers how they use the computers
Got a lot of bad press
Agreed to replace all the faulty chips
Now informs manufacturers of all known
errata – also released to public
Ethics for Students:
 No cheating on exams, homeworks, labs
Classes may allow working together
 Always attribute the source of material
Important for class papers
Easy to copy from web, easy to check against the web –
easy to get caught
Severe punishment for copying (plagiarism)
 Getting a lower grade better than an F or getting
expelled
 http://aggiehonor.tamu.edu
Intellectual Property (IP)
Patents
Protect intellectual property by applying for
and receiving patents
Typically allows owner exclusive rights for a
certain amount of time, allows knowledge to
spread and innovations to continue
Allows rights for 20 years
Patents country specific – but reciprocal
agreements
Learn more
 http://law.freeadvice.com/intellectual_property/patent_law
Intellectual Property - Patents
Can patent almost anything now!!
Hardware/software/business practices
Amazon has a patent on “one-click” ordering
Drugs based on the discovery of genes
Medicinal use of plants
Some of these issues being debated
Good chance patents will be restricted
Different restrictions in different countries
Intellectual Property - Copyrights
 Copyright: protection for original works of
authorship
Allows music, songs, programs, chip layouts, ship hull
designs, architecture, etc. protection against copying
Typically much longer periods than patents
 Author lifetime + 70 years, other rules
Country specific – but reciprocal agreements
Music industry – online music swapping
 Copyrighted works have “reasonable use” clause
• “Reasonable use” determined by case law
 Allows us to make copies of purchased CDs, etc.
 Online music swapping – illegal?
IP – License Agreements
IP protected by license agreements
You don’t buy software
You buy a license to use the software
A legal contract
License places additional restrictions on
use beyond law
Example: allowed to make one backup copy
Governed by contract law
Copyleft - Freeware
 Requires original or modified versions of
software to be free (or in public domain)
 Meant to encourage wider participation in
development of software
 Many examples: GNU UNIX, Linux
 Considerable presence in marketplace
 Have to be careful if you want to protect your
rights
 Read more: www.gnu.org/copyleft/copyleft.html
Intellectual Property – Trade Secrets
 Trade Secrets
Protect idea with secrecy
Only let few people know secret
Use contracts to prevent them from publishing secret
No limit on lifetime
But trade secret production lost if published
 Coke formula a trade secret
Locked in vault
Only few know it, never in same place at same time
 Read more:
http://law.freeadvice.com/intellectual_property/trade_secrets
Engineers - IP
Will deal with patents, trade secrets and
copyrights at some time or the other
Most companies apply for patents
Software applying for patents and copyrights
SCO – Unix copyright
A few cases of trade secrets
Need to know others’ IP
Avoid accidental infringement
Need to respect others’ IP
Protect your own IP
IP Examples
Happy Birthday To You
Why don’t restaurants sing this song when it is
your birthday?
Because this song is copyrighted
Restaurants would have to pay license fee
every time they sang the song!
Fair use allows you to sing it at home without
license
Radio web simulcasting
Died due to new license fee requirements
Patents - Ethics
Drug companies have patents on new
drugs
May forbid others to make cheaper versions
Not everyone can afford patented drugs
Human lives (AIDS in Africa) vs. drug
companies and patent rights
Ethics (human well being) vs. profits?
UN has developed a compromise
Allowing cheaper generics in poor countries
Ethics - Students
Don’t copy homeworks/exams/labs
Work together if permitted
Attribute sources when writing reports
No plagiarism!!
Easy to find material on the web
Easy to get caught
Cooperation, learning from each other ok
Penalties for academic dishonesty severe
KNOW THE CODE
Ethics - Summary
As an engineer, ethics are important
Human lives and well-being most important
Need to be honest, responsible
Need to respect rights of others
Individual situations often complicated
Gray, not black and white
Perfect safety, quality, reliability, etc. is
unaffordable
Must balance competing needs