Transcript Machado Case - OpenStax CNX

Machado Case
Foreseeable but Unforeseen
Consequences
Source of Machado Case
www.computingcases.org
Three cases
Therac-25 Case
Hughes Aircraft Case
Machado Case
Cases Compiled by Students
 National Science Foundation Project
 DUE-9972280
 DUE-9980768
 Eventually there will be ten cases reflecting areas of
concern of ABET
 Cases are being compiled into textbook, Good
Computing: A Virtue Approach to Computer Ethics
 Charles Huff, Bill Frey, & Jose Cruz
Richard Machado
 Student at the University of California at Irvine
 Convicted of federal email hate crime February 13, 1998
 Sent email to 59 UCI Oriental students on Sept 20, 1996
 Threatened to kill them if they didn’t leave the university
 Used the finger command of UCI’s UNIX system to
identify his victims (i.e., email recipients)
 OAC (Office of Academic Computing) traced email to
Machado using SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
Machado Case (Continued)
 OAC caught Machado in the act of sending a second
message
 Sent him home
 Had not read the message but responded to student complaints
 Referred case to police who referred it to FBI
 FBI prosecuted Machado to develop a legal argument
against electronic hate mail
A Matter of Definition?
 Flaming protected by freedom of
expression?
 Machado claimed his email was merely flaming, a fairly
widespread practice among students
 He also claimed he was exercising his right of freedom of
expression
 Death threat by mail prohibited by law?
 FBI claimed that email was hate mail which has been
prohibited by law
 Legislation emerged in 1960’s to protect black students who
were attending racially segregated universities and received
death threats designed to get them to withdraw from
university
Machado’s Email (Censored)




From: “@#!! (Hates Asians)
To: List Omitted
Subject: @#!! You Asian @#!!
Hey @#!!
 As you can see in the name, I hate Asians, including you. If it
weren’t for asias at UCI, it would be a much more popular
campus. You are responsible for ALL the crimes that occur on
campus. YOU are why I want you and your stupid @#!!
comrades to get the @#!! out ofUCI. If you don’t I will hunt
you down and kill your stupid @#!!. Do you hear me? I
personally will make it my life career to find and kill everyone
one of you personally. Ok?????? That’s how determined I
am.
 Get the @#!! out,
 @#!! (Asian Hater)
Your Task: Set up the case analysis
 Review the timeline
 Divide tasks:
 Assign a specialist to each stage of the Software Development Cycle.
(Suggestion: assign two, one leader and a devil’s advocate)
 Divide the readings among stage specialists
 Readings:




case narrative,
case history,
teaching introduction
ethical analysis (click on safety, privacy, power, equity & access, quality
of life)
 Socio-Technical Analysis: hardware, software, physical surroundings,
people/groups/roles, procedures, laws, and data/data structures.
 supporting documents (RFCs on finger command, UCI student profile,
interview with Allen Schiano from UCI OAC
Decision Points
 Scenario #1:
 You are a systems administrator at the Office of
Academic Computing at the University of California at
Irvine and have been asked to modify the Unix system to
prevent the reoccurrence of the Machado incident
 Scenario #2:
 You are a systems administrator at the Office of
Academic Computing at the University of California at
Irvine and have been asked to develop an orientation
program for students who will use university computing
laboratories and facilities. Special emphasis is put on
preventing a reoccurrence of the Machado incident.
Analogy between design
and ethics
There is an analogy between
design problems and ethical
problems
Design Problem
Ethical Problem
Construct a prototype that
optimizes (or satisfices)
designated specifications
Construct a solution that
realizes ethical values (justice,
responsibility, reasonableness,
respect, and safety)
Conflicts between
specifications are resolved
through integration of
specifications
Resolve conflicts between
values (moral vs. moral or
moral vs. non-moral) by
integration
Prototype must be
Ethical solution must be
implemented over background implemented over resource
constraints
and interest constraints
(cost/time/technical as well as
organizational/political/legal)
Problem-solving in computing can
be modeled on software design
 The software development cycle can be
presented in terms of four stages:
1.
Problem Specification
2.
Solution Generation
3.
Solution Testing
4.
Solution Implementation
Step One:
Problem Specification
1. Identify key components of the STS
Part/Level
of Analysis
Hardware
Software
Physical
Surroundings
People/
Groups/
Roles
Procedures
Laws
Data &
Data
Structures
2. Specify the problem:
2a. Is the problem a disagreement on facts? What are the facts? What are
cost and time constraints on uncovering and communicating these facts?
2b. Is the problem a disagreement on a critical concept? What is the
concept? Can agreement be reached by consulting legal or regulatory
information on the concept? (For example, if the concept in question is
safety, can disputants consult engineering codes, legal precedents, or
ethical literature that helps provide consensus? Can disputants agree on
positive and negative paradigm cases so the concept disagreement can
be resolved through line-drawing methods?
2c. Use the table to identify and locate value conflicts within the STS. Can
the problem be specified as a mismatch between a technology and the
existing STS, a mismatch within the STS exacerbated by the introduction
of the technology, or by overlooked results?
2. Specify the Problem
STS/Value
Hardware/
Software
Physical
Surroundings
People, Groups,
and Roles
Procedures
Laws
Data and Data
Structures
Safety (freedom
from harm)
Justice (Equity &
Access)
Privacy
Property
Free Speech
Solution Generation
Brainstorm Ten Solutions
Avoid Dilemma Framing
Reduce and Refine List
3. Develop a general solution strategy
and then brainstorm specific solutions
3a. Is problem one of integrating values,
resolving disagreements, or responding to
situational constraints?
3b. If the conflict comes from a value
mismatch, then can it be solved by
modifying one or more of the components
of the STS? Which one?
3. Develop a general solution strategy
and then brainstorm specific solutions
Problem /
Solution
Strategy
Disagreement
Factual
Value Conflict
Conceptual
Integrate?
Situational
Constraints
Tradeoff?
Resource?
Technical?
Interest?
Solution Testing
Test for Ethics and Global
Feasibility
4. Test Solutions
 Develop a solution evaluation matrix
 Test the ethical implications of each solution
 See if the solution violates the code
 Carry out a global feasibility assessment of the
solution.
What are the situational constraints?
Will these constraints block implementation?
Solution Evaluation Matrix
Alternative /
Test
Alternative 1
Alternative 2
Alternative 3
Reversibility
Harm
Beneficence
Public
Identification
Code
Value: Justice
Responsibility
Honesty, etc.
Feasibility
Solution Implementation
Implement your solution over
feasibility constraints
5. Implement solution over feasibility
constraints
Restate your global feasibility analysis
Are there resource constraints?
Are there technical or manufacturing
constraints?
Are there interest constraints?
5. Feasibility Matrix
Alternative/
Constraint
Resource
Time
Alternative 1
Alternative 2
Alternative 3
Interest
Cost
Individual
Technical
Organizational
Legal
Available
Technology
Manufacturability