Ethics and Computing

As computers permeate all aspects of society, the need for computing professionals to act in a socially responsible manner is becoming more important. Professor Kevin Bowyer, who has created an ethics and computing course, combines his insights with those of experts in many areas - from safety-critical systems to intellectual-property concerns - to present material that is timely and thought-provoking. Case studies and exercises make you think about the issues and the ethical implications of actual incidents, such as the Internet Worm, the Therac-25 accidents, and the Intel-AMD copyright infringement suit. Bowyer stresses the need to live responsibly by protecting the environment and health of coworkers and ensuring that work practices are impartial to race, religion, gender, and nationality. The final chapter contains advice on how to manage your career so as to maximize your success and personal satisfaction. The book is excellent as a text or for self-study. The material is designed to support any course that meets the accreditation requirements of the Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology or the Computing Science Accreditation Board. The technical details are presented in a lucid and informal way that invites self-study, and the many pointers to additional readings, both in paper publications and sources on the world wide web, will be helpful to anyone who wants to investigate a particular topic in more depth. Bowyer has brought together a rich collection of up-to-date articles on topics of great interest to computing professionals.