On the Importance of Teaching Professional Ethics to Computer Science Students

In the article, Dodig-Crnkovic (2004) argues that professional ethics is integral to computer science students. The need for computer ethics is to promote professional practice among the computing professionals. The incorporation of ethics in the computer field helps in the promotion and protection of human values. The author asserts that professional ethics is essential to computer students since it makes the professionals prudent when dealing with ethical issues concerning computer usage. Professional ethics enables a computer engineer to not only deliver quality work as an expert but also as a moral agent. Dodig-Crnkovic (2004) explicates some of the areas that make professional ethics essential to computer science students, which include identity, a vast amount of information storage, copying, privacy, among others. Computer gurus can easily retrieve the identity of a person and send anonymous messages. It is also easy for one to copy texts, sound, and images through a computer, which results in intellectual property problems. Moreover, the author posits that it is easy to invade a person’s privacy through computer surveillance, for instance, one can easily collect data about a particular individual without the notice of the owner. Therefore, Dodig-Crnkovic contends that computer science students must learn professional ethics to prevent the malicious acts and malpractices such as identity theft and invasion of privacy.

Analysis

The argumentative strategy of Dodig-Crnkovic involves three aspects that include the presentation of the argument, followed by the claims, then the evidence.

The primary argument is that universities and other relevant tertiary colleges should create a Professional Ethics course to teach computer science students the benefits of professional ethics. To support the argument, he has provided various claims that are independently plausible and persuasive. The first claim is that professional ethics helps professionals make right decisions in ethical dilemma situations. Further, the author claims professional ethics make computer science a beneficial profession to the society. Finally, he asserts that professional ethics helps in the promotion of safety and security through preventing problems related to identity, copying, data storage, and privacy. Importantly, the author has provided relevant evidence to back up the claims. He highlights that the ACM and the IEEE Computer society has placed more emphasis on professional issues by including professional ethics as a computing curriculum. Another evidence that supports the claim of teaching professional ethics to computer science students is the existence of the field or program in Swedish colleges and universities. The author describes that computer students in Sweden learn professional ethics to act morally. The last evidence that the author provides to support the teaching of professional ethics is the implementation of the program in Malardalen University that has helped students in combating computer malpractices. Consequently, Dodig-Crnkovic’s argumentative strategy works through compelling the readers to accept the thesis and conclusion of the argument through the claims and appropriate evidence. Besides, the argument is logical, and he uses a standard language that scholars can understand easily.

Comment

I support the author’s argument that computer science students should learn professional ethics. In my view, professional ethics is a fundamental course that is vital for every discipline or career. Similar to professions like medicine and accounting that vests on ethics, computing profession must also uphold ethical codes and professional conduct during practice. It is true that professional ethics promotes safety and security of one’s data. When a computer student learns professional ethics, the likelihood of engaging in any malicious and unethical act will be minimal. For instance, professional ethics would make the computer students respect the confidentiality of other users and avoid hacking or identity theft. Professional ethics makes one focused on the job and only do the right thing that is necessary.

References

Dodig-Crnkovic, G. (2004). On The Importance Of Teaching Professional Ethics To Computer Science Students. In Computing and Philosophy Conference, E-CAP.