ENGR 111 Teaching plan
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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