Computing and Ethical Analysis Assignment

Your final deliverable for this assignment may be policy (e.g., for a university, company, etc.), a legal framework (e.g., a state or federal law that people must abide by), a position statement (e.g., an advisory document advocating a non-government organization’s response to law or policy), or an ethical analysis (e.g., whether some use of technology should be acceptable). You may also consider proposing and designing a new app or technology.

While you have some flexibility in your deliverable, your choice must be approved and must integrate the tools of ethical analysis. For instance, you will need to identify and document stakeholders and their interests, what options should be considered, and what impacts this proposal will have if implemented. Throughout the semester, you will meet with me at various points to talk about your work. You will then present your work to the class during the designated final exam time.

As some examples, consider the following potential scenarios:

• a state law enforcement agency accessing a private network of home surveillance recordings
• a generative AI company building models of living musicians, allowing users to create new music "by" a favorite artist
• a social media company removing non-consensual sexual imagery from user-generated content
• a student copying the prompt of a homework assignment into a chatbot prompt and submitting the output as the student's intellectual work
• a doctor's office giving patients access to a custom chatbot tool for quick symptom checking and triage
• a hacktivist collective devoted to free access to publicly funded scientific research creating a public archive of paywalled articles
• an online anonymous discussion forum dedicated to marginalized and taboo topics, including self-harm, cutting, eating disorders
• a security research group creating tools that can be used to automate the detection of vulnerabilities and exploit generation

All submissions will be completed with a partner. If there are an odd number of students, a group of three is also acceptable. You should discuss all ideas and analyses verbally before writing anything, as the discussion may lead to different insights and views to consider.

Part One: Proposal and Positioning

Your first task is to select a topic, choose a perspective for crafting an analysis, and to perform an initial stakeholder analysis. That is, after selecting a topic (you may choose from the above or craft your own), you need to explain who the policy, statement, or technology is written by and for. For instance, in the case of the musical generative AI company, you may be creating a policy for (a) the company (aiming to create the tools ethically), (b) the artists (striving to limit the impact on their livelihoods), or (c) the users (allowing some imitative use but placing limitations).

After adopting a perspective, you will consider how this technology impacts the various stakeholders:

• What stakeholders are involved and who might be affected beyond those immediately evident?
• What ethical frameworks or principles from ethical codes are you considering? (Note that while the ACM Code is encouraged and likely helpful, you might research codes of ethics from other relevant professions, such as medicine or law.)
• Which of your personal values are impacted and how do they bias your view of the issue?
• What other perspectives will you need to address? How could someone else view the situation differently?

While you are not required to use it, the Proactive CARE for Computing Professionals approach offers additional questions that you may consider addressing.

Submission and Approval Meeting

You will submit a short (one-page maximum) PDF that contains your chosen topic, the context and perspective of your proposed policy or position, and the stakeholder analysis. This phase will be lightly graded as "Acceptable," "Needs Work," or "Not Acceptable." You will then need to set up a time to see me during office hours to get approval for your project. If your initial grade is anything other than "Acceptable," you will need to submit a revision after this meeting.

Part Two: Policy Analysis Draft

Your task is ultimately to craft a new policy, position statement, or technology. As an example of what a policy would look like, consider the JMU Policy on Public Expression on Campus. While some parts of this policy are specific to the context of a state university, it illustrates the key elements that your submission needs to have. Specifically, your final submission for a policy must include:

Purpose

What is the context of this policy and why is it necessary? What are the goals and other factors that should be considered when applying the policy?

Definitions

What are key terms that you are using in a particular way and should not be misinterpreted? (For example, consider that the term "negligence" has a legal interpretation that is not the same as the casual use of the word.)

Applicability

What is the scope of this policy? Who does it apply to and (if relevant) where?

Policy

This is the main piece. What actions should be allowed? Prohibited? Required?

Procedures

If someone suspects that this policy has been violated, who is responsible for investigating this claim and how is the claim reported? Should anonymous reporting be allowed? What other requirements should there be?

Sanctions

What should be the response if a violation is demonstrated to have happened?

You may have additional sections (e.g., Authority, Responsibilities, Exceptions) if necessary and appropriate.

A couple things to consider as you are thinking about this policy:

• What is moral and what is legal are not necessarily the same. This policy should strive to encode what is moral, while considering the limitations and restrictions that may be imposed by legal frameworks.
• You may be familiar with the concept of proof "beyond a reasonable doubt." This is a level of evidence that is used on criminal proceedings where we put people in jail. Policy violations are most often evaluated based on a "preponderance of the evidence" (the violation is more likely to have occurred than not). That is, you do not need absolute proof that someone is guilty to hold them responsible.

Alternative Deliverable Formats

As noted above, your final deliverable may be something other than a policy. You may choose to go with a position statement (i.e., a document advocating for a particular position in relation to a specific technology or law), an ethical analysis, or even a new form of technology. Because these options can take on many forms, there are fewer clear examples or required formats that you can use as a model. You may consider looking at the USACM Analysis of PIPAʼs impact on DNS and DNSSEC, Barlow's Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace, or Anthony Moser's I am an AI Hater.

While the format can take many forms, you must address all the same types of questions as a policy proposal. That is, you must clearly describe the purpose and key concepts for your document (including relevant technical, legal, and societal details), articulate the scope and position that you are advocating for, and describe the consequences with and without your position.

Draft Submission

You will need to submit a draft version of your deliverable before the week of Thanksgiving Break. This submission will be evaluated according to the rubric that will be posted on Canvas. For detailed feedback that you can use for your revision, you will need to see me during office hours.

Part Three: Deliverable and Presentation

In place of a final exam, we will be using the scheduled final exam time for presentations of your work. During this time, each pair will be given a time slot of 12 minutes. The first five minutes will involve describing the purpose and context of your work, along with your key ideas and position. The remaining time will be spent answering questions.

In order for the question session to be productive, you must submit the final draft of your work during the last week of class. These documents will then be provided to your peers to prepare for the presentations.

In addition to presenting your own work, you will be assigned to read and prepare for two other groups' work. You will be expected to ask questions during those groups' presentations.