Ethical and Legal Aspects of Computing

This textbook presents an overview of the critically important ethical and legal issues that arise in the computing field and provides a professional perspective from software engineering. The author gained exposure to these aspects of computing while working as a software engineer at Motorola in Ireland, where he coordinated the patent programme and worked with several software suppliers.

Topics and features:

• Presents a broad overview of ethics and the law
• Includes key learning topics, summaries, and review questions in each chapter, together with a useful glossary
• Discusses the professional responsibility of computer professionals
• Explores ethics in various civilisations and religious traditions
• Discusses ethical software engineering and ethical outsourcing
• Considers what is fair and ethical in data science
• Describes ethical challenges that arise in social media and the AI field
• Reviews intellectual property including patents, copyright and trademarks

This practical and easy-to-follow textbook/reference is ideal for computer science students seeking to understand legal and ethical aspects of computing. The text also serves as a concise self-study primer for software engineers and software managers.

1. Introduction to Ethics and the Law in Computing. - 2. A Short History of Ethics. - 3. Professional Responsibility of Computer Professionals. - 4. Ethical Software Engineering. - 5. Ethical and Legal Aspects of Data Science. - 6. Ethical Social Media. - 7. Ethics and AI. - 8. Introduction to Law. - 9. Legal and Ethical Aspects of Outsourcing. - 10. Intellectual Property Law. - 11. E-commerce Law. - 12. Cybercrime and Cybersecurity. - 13. Epilogue.