Senior Seminar - Test 2 (chap 6 - 10)

What are 8 components that make up a mature profession?

1. Initial professional education: formal coursework that must be completed before starting practice

2. Accreditation: ensuring formal coursework meets industry standards

3. Skills development: gaining practical skills through field experience

4. Certification: evaluating a candidate’s readiness to enter the profession

5. Licensing: providing the legal right to practice a profession

6. Professional Development: ongoing education to maintain current knowledge

7. Code of ethics: ensuring members use their skills for the benefit of society

8. Professional society: an organization that promotes the welfare of the profession. Roles like system admin and programming are prevalent, they are not yet considered fully developed professions in the same way as medicine or law.

Software Engineering Code of Ethics

The code is endorsed by ACM and IEEE

1. Preamble: it emphasizes that there is no mechanical process for determining right from wrong and that professional judgment is required.

2. Key principles: professionals must act consistently with the public interest. For example, clause 1.03 states that software should only be approved if it is safe, meets specs, passes tests, and does not diminish privacy of quality of life.

3. Alternative principles: to simplify analysis, the sources provide a discipline-independent list including: be impartial, disclose info others must know, maintain integrity, and take responsibility for actions.

According to the source material, what was the percentage decrease in U.S. manufacturing employment between 1979 and 2023?

42%

In the context of artificial intelligence, what was the primary focus of the 1956 Dartmouth College summer research workshop?

Modeling high-level reasoning through computer programming

According to Mark Warschauer, why is the term 'digital divide' potentially misleading or unhelpful?

It implies that the gap is about having or not having physical access to technology. Warschauer argues that simply providing technology is not enough, as the gap involves deeper social and educational factors.

Ragunathan Rajkumar's critique of the 'trolley problem' in autonomous vehicle discussions centers on which of the following?

The fact that AI lacks human-like cognitive capabilities and consciousness. He argues that it’s unrealistic to expect a system without understanding to solve complex philosophical dilemmas like the trolley problem.

What is the primary driver of 'winner-take-all' effects in a globalized economy, as mentioned in the source?

Information technology and efficient transportation allow a leading product to dominate world markets. Global infrastructure makes it easier for a top-tier product to reach everyone, leaving little room for competitors.

According to Microsoft research cited in the material, what is the effectiveness of multi-factor authentication (MFA) against account-compromising attacks?

It blocks more than 99.9% of attacks. The book mentions that MFA is highly effective, blocking the vast majority of unauthorized access attempts.

Why was the built-in security of the iPhone 5C a significant obstacle for the FBI in the San Bernardino case?

The device would delete its encryption key after 10 incorrect passcode attempts. This feature made brute-force attacks impossible because the data would be rendered permanently inaccessible after too many wrong guesses.

Which of the following is an example of 'social engineering' as described in the context of computer security?

Tricking a person into revealing their login credentials or security codes.

What are the characteristics of cities that have transitioned well to the 'knowledge economy' according to the source?

High median wages and low unemployment.
The book identifies bastions like Austin and Seattle as prosperous due to their role in producing intellectual capital.

Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), what is the maximum penalty for serious offenses such as transmitting classified government information?

20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

attempts to limit the exchange of info among health care providers to that info necessary to care for the patient

In Carpenter v. United States, the US Supreme Court ruled that it is a violation of the Fourth Amendment when police or prosecutors access what kind of information without a search warrant?

Cell phone location information

What does the OneDOJ databse do?

Gives state and local police officers access to info provided by five federal law enforcement agencies

What is the Fair Credit Reporting Act designed for?

It is designed to promote the accuracy of credit reports

The USA Freedom Act, passed in 2015, is significant because?

It put new restrictions on the government’s surveillance activities.

Manipulating or tricking someone within an organization to gain access to confidential information is called

social engineering

Who is Anonymous?

It is a loosely organized group of hacktivists that claimed responsibility for a DDoS attack on Church of Scientology Web sites.

The Conficker worm is notable because

it continues to infect computers many years after it was first discovered.

The Internet worm was released by who?

Robert Morris Jr.

The Social Security numbers and other personal information from 22 million Americans were stolen by hackers from computers managed by the Office of Personnel Management, and the prime suspect was a group of hackers located in which country?

China

In the case of Katz v. United States, what was the ruling of the Supreme Court?

They declared that the Fourth Amendment “protects people, not places”.
They established that people have a “legitimate expectation of privacy” even in public areas like a phone booth, and police must obtain a warrant for electronic surveillance.

Brandon Mayfield was a suspect based on what evidence?

A partial fingerprint match

in terms of Brandon Mayfield case, what kind of witness FBI agents use to secretly search his home?

A “material witness”

Which of these events happened when Uber tested its self-driving car service in San Francisco?

A self-driving Uber ran a red light

By making the PDP 11 minicomputer an integral part of the Therac-25, AECL was able to do what?

Reduce costs by replacing hardware safety features with software safety features.

Mizuho Securities lost $225 million when

one of its employees mistyped a sell order, and a bug in the Tokyo Stock Exchange trading program made it impossible to cancel the order.

Identifying a danger when in fact there is none is called having a “hair trigger” predisposition.

A false positive

The Patriot missile system was designed to do what?

• To shoot down airplanes

• Failed because of a computer error

• Failed to shoot down a Scud missile that killed 28 U.S. soldiers in the Gulf War.

According to Michael McFarland, a team of engineers

has more moral accountability than any of its members.

The Principles and Clauses in the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice

None of the above

Which of the following is not one of the characteristics of a mature profession?

Mandatory drug testing

The Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice was developed by

the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

What are whistle-blowers?

They are people who make an unauthorized disclosure about a harmful situation or fraud.

What is a profession?

A profession is a vocation requiring a high level of education and practical experience in the field.

According to the source material, what is the primary difference between computer-related careers and 'mature' professions like medicine or law?

The presence of a universally mandated certification and licensing process.
The book highlights that mature professions use licensing to determine who is allowed to practice, whereas computing lacks this universal requirement.

In the case study involving Professor Singh and Robert Lone Wolf, which ethical clause did Professor Singh violate by not revealing her connection to the recommended software company?

Clause 1.06: Be fair and avoid deception in all statements.
Professor Singh was deceptive by providing a recommendation without disclosing a conflict of interest that influenced her judgment.

What is clause 1.08?

Volunteer professional skills to good causes.
This clause encourages professionals to use their expertise for charitable purposes and community service.

What is clause 8.01?

Stay current with developments in the field.

What is clause 7.02?

Assist colleagues in professional development.

Van Nguyen, a system administrator, discovered illegal content on Chuck Dennis’s computer while performing a software installation. What was the primary ethical dilemma regarding his discovery?

He was not authorized to read the personal files he opened to confirm his suspicions.

According to the Software Engineering Code of Ethics, what should be the 'paramount' or primary concern for all software engineers?

The “Public Interest” and the health, safety, and welfare of the public.

In the context of whistle-blowing, what did Michael McFarland argue regarding the responsibility of a team of engineers?

A team should be held to a higher level of moral responsibility than any of its individual members.

The case of the Challenger disaster involving Roger Boisjoly is cited as an example of which ethical situation?

Whistle-blowing where a professional attempted to reveal potential harm to the public.
Boisjoly is noted for his role in warning about technical failures, illustrating the moral questions of whistle-blowing.

Which principle from the Software Engineering Code of Ethics would be most relevant to a manager ensuring that employees are aware of policies for protecting confidential information?

Principle 5: Management
Principle 5 requires managers to ensure engineers know policies for protecting passwords and confidential information.

The Hughes Aircraft case study involving Goodearl and Aldred is primarily used to illuminate which moral questions?

The moral questions of loyalty, trust, and responsibility in whistle-blowing.
The book lists the Hughes Aircraft case as an account that illuminates the personal sacrifices made for the greater good.

Under Principle 1.03 of the Software Engineering Code, an engineer should only approve software if they have a 'well-founded belief' in which of the following?

The software is safe, meets specifications, and has passed appropriate tests.

In the case study regarding the discovery of child p*rnography, which principle suggests that Van Nguyen should maintain his integrity and act as an impartial professional?

The analysis suggests using principles like ‘Be impartial’ and ‘Maintain your integrity’. This aligns with Principle 1.04 of the Software Engineering Code, which emphasizes the importance of integrity and impartiality in professional conduct.

Systems fail not because of code, but because of how data is handled:

• Data-entry errors: wrong info is entered into a system. Example: in 2000 Florida election, thousands of voters were disqualified because they were incorrectly identified as felons in a database.

• Data-retrieval errors: people incorrectly interpret the data they get from a system. Example: false arrests can occur when police misinterpret records in the NCIC (National Crime Info Center) database.

Some notable software system failures

• Patriot missile: a truncation error in a floating-point variable caused the system’s clock to drift. After 100 hours of continuous operation, the error accumulated enough that the radar scanned the wrong area, failing to intercept a Scud missile.

• Ariana 5 Rocket: blew up because of a data conversion error where a 64-bit floating-point value was converted into a 16-bit integer, causing a processor overflow.

• AT&T long-distance network: a partial collapse occurred due to a single faulty line of code in a new software update for its switches. This caused a chain reaction where switches repeatedly rebooted.

• Mars Climate Orbiter: destroyed because one team used English units (pounds-force) while another used metric units (newtons), leading to a miscalculation of the spacecraft’s orbit.

The Therac-25 case study (section 8.5) (incomplete)

This is a landmark case study of a radiation therapy machine that caused six massive overdoses and three deaths between 1985 and 1987.
- Cause:

In the context of the November 2000 general election in Florida, what was the primary procedural cause that led to the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters?

The voters were incorrectly flagged as convicted felons due to records of misdemeanors being entered incorrectly.

The false arrest of Sheila Jackson Stossier highlights a specific type of systemic failure. According to the text, what was the root of this failure?

A data-retrieval error where police confused two individuals with similar names in the NCIC database.

What is the primary argument used by the Department of Justice to justify why the FBI should not be strictly responsible for the accuracy of every record in the NCIC database?

Verification would be impractical and would drastically curtail the amount of information available to law enforcement.

In the case of Terry Dean Rogan, why did he continue to be arrested multiple times despite his attempts to correct his records?

The NCIC records remain uncorrected even after he and Michigan police tried to rectify his false identity issues.

What specific software error occurred in Guilford County, North Carolina, during the November 2004 election?

The vote-counting software began counting backward after reaching a maximum value of 32,767.

Why did computer experts criticize the use of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines in elections like the one in Boone County in 2003?

The lack of paper audit trail meant there was no way to verify if recounted results were actually correct.

What is the 'Therac-25' case study primarily used to illustrate in the study of computer ethics?

The danger of relying solely on embedded software for the safety of a system without hardware backups.

In the Yakima, Washington, accident in December 1985, what was AECL's initial response to the hospital's report of a suspected radiation overdose?

They claimed it was technically impossible for the machine to produce an overdose and that no similar accidents had been reported.

What was the significance of 'Malfunction 54' in the Tyler, Texas, Therac-25 accidents?

It was a software race condition that occurred only when an experienced operator entered commands very rapidly.

In the fatal Tesla Autopilot accident involving Joshua Brown, the text identifies three ways the engineers and managers demonstrated negligence. Which of the following is one of those reasons?

They allowed the driver to set an Autopilot cruising speed well over the speed limit, overstressing the system.

According to the source material, what is the 'moral responsibility' shared by those involved in the Boeing 737 MAX design decisions?

They chose to rely on a single AOA sensor to activate the MCAS, which lacked necessary safeguards.

How did Boeing's updated software address the issue of 'repetitive MCAS commands' identified after the 737 MAX crashes?

The updated software allows only one MCAS activation per high-AOA event.

How do Friedman and Nissenbaum define a 'biased computer system'?

A system that systematically and unfairly denies a good or assigns an undesirable outcome on unreasonable grounds.

What is the primary characteristic of 'Preexisting Bias' in a computer system?

It reflects biases that exist in society or among designers before the system is even developed.

In the debate over the COMPAS tool used in criminal justice, why did ProPublica argue that the tool was unfair?

The average score assigned to defendants of one race who did not recidivate was not the same as that for another race.

Why is it mathematically impossible for a tool like COMPAS to satisfy all definitions of fairness simultaneously?

Unless recidivism rates are identical across groups or the tool is infallible, some fairness properties are mutually exclusive.

In the case of the Uber test-vehicle accident, what role did the human 'safety operator' play in the failure?

The operator failed to take over because humans perform poorly when required to suddenly ‘snap to attention’ after long periods of inactivity.

According to the FAA investigation of the Boeing 737 MAX, what was the primary corrective action required for the 'AOA disagree' indicator?

It was made part of the standard equipment on all 737 MAX aircraft.

What common theme links the 2000 Florida election, the Sheila Jackson Stossier arrest, and the NCIC accuracy debate?

They all represent system failures caused by errors in data entry or data retrieval.

Why did the Boeing 737 MAX pilots find it difficult to move the stabilizer trim wheels in the Ethiopian Airlines flight?

The crew had not reduced power after takeoff, making the forces on the horizontal stabilizer too great to move manually.

According to the analysis of 'mature' professions, what is considered the core mechanism that allows a profession like law or medicine to regulate who is permitted to practice?

Certification and licensing

In the case study regarding Jacobus Lentz, what was the primary ethical failure identified despite his high level of technical expertise?

Focusing on technical industriousness while lacking a moral compass. He was aiding a genocide.

To maintain certification as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), which two requirements must be fulfilled according to the provided material?

Continuing education and adherence to a code of ethics.