Here are general topics that Don Hyatt and Randy Latimer have discussed this school year. Looking at online records it can be seen that Don was more thorough about recording exactly what we discussed prior to 9/11. Since that time, records are not as complete but maybe we can enhance this list as time goes on. Usually the discussion was based on a newspaper article for the day, or some other publication of interest. Perhaps we can resurect original resources.

First Marking Period

• 9/5/01
        The student government is proposing an "Honor Code" to encourage our students to be honoable and to not cheat. Many universities have strong honor codes but what is so bad about cheating?
  Answer: People who cheat on tests may receive a good grade, but everyone else should be concerned that such people have not learned essential material. Cheaters often make serious mistakes later in life because they have not really learned things they are supposed to know. Which people would worry you the most if you discovered that they cheated through school and did not have the proper education?
  Examples:
  1. A computer programmer who is working on critical parts of a computerized missile defense system.
  2. A surgeon who is operating on a friend or close relative who has had some life-threatening trauma.
  3. An engineer who is designing buildings and bridges that you depend on to be safe during storms, floods, and earthquakes.
  4. An airplane pilot who is making an emergency landing because of an equipment malfunction on your plane.
• 9/7/01
        Because of technology, records more easlily accessed and verifiable. Danny Almonte, a talented young baseball player from the Bronx, was widely honored for being the first boy in 44 years to throw a perfect game in the 2001 Little League World Series. However, officials later discovered that Danny's father lied about his son's age and forged his birth certificate. Danny was actually 14 years old and not 12, making him two years older than the legal age limit for Little League. What do you consider the most regrettable about this cheating incident?
  Examples:
  1. Danny's athletic talent in baseball will always be clouded by the fact that he cheated.
  2. Danny's team members had to forfeit all of their victories and trophies even though they were not at fault. The team and the coach are now banned from competition.
  3. Danny and his father will probably be deported to the Dominican Republic since their visas have expired. They also face criminal charges for falsifying documents.
  4. The teams that lost because of Danny's pitching didn't really have a fair chance. Some of them deserved to win but were denied that opportunity because of cheating.
• 9/10/01
        According to an article in the LA Times (8/23/01), lobbyists for Microsoft have been accused of writing letters to state officials, members of Congress and the President in order to sway opinion on the Microsoft anti-trust case. The letters appear to be written by concerned citizens, but apparently were carefully orchestrated by Microsoft's Lobby or other organizations they directly support, such as Citizens Against Government Waste.
        When the first round of letters arrived this spring, the wording of each one was exactly the same but the sigatures were different. However in a second wave this summer, some officials received as many as 300 to 400 personal letters written in different fonts and on different stationery. Although no two letters were identical in content, apparently key phrases, sentences, and even whole paragraphs in multiple letters were exactly the same, word for word, yet supposedly came from independent sources.
        Even more astonishing was that investigators discovered that the some of the people who "wrote" the letters were actually dead. Many of the return addresses were invalid, giving addresses or even cities that didn't exist.
        What do you think the most likely outcome of this incident will be? Here are a few possibilities:
  1. Public opinion will backfire and people will be angered resulting in very close scrutiny of Microsoft's actions in the future.
  2. Microsoft will claim that competitors have been using similar tactics to attack their company and that this was just a slightly more sophisticated lobbying technique.
  3. Microsoft will acknowledge that lobbyists may have over-stepped ethical boundaries, but point out that their company did not directly sanction such actions and should not be blamed.
  4. Politicians will be less likely to consider ANY grass-roots efforts from "concerned citizens", assuming that a large swell of letters from their constituents were probably mass produced by some phony support group.
• 9/11/01
        The nation's largest job-search web site, Monster.com, collects and uses information from people who are looking for employment. They have about 12 million resumes in their database right now. Even though this has been an excellent way to seek high tech jobs, people are now becoming concerned about privacy issues with respect to the information that this firm has online.
        Which of the following would concern you the most?
  1. Even after you tell the company that you want to remove your resume from their online search, your information might remain in their database for an extended period of time and could be used inappropriately.
  2. With your name, address, and phone number online, you become more susceptible to unwanted sales pitches, phone calls, and other forms of annoying spam.
  3. Your current employer might discover that you are looking for another job and will be less likely to give you raises or promotions. The lack of trust that could develop might make current working conditions uncomfortable.
  4. Although "identity theft" is a rare occurrence, posting ANY information about yourself online makes you more prone to such a situation. An unethical person could pretend to be you, and incur large debts in your name. Identity theft where someone pretends to be you and destroys your credit
• 9/13/01
        What kind of advantages might distributed computing via the Internet have in removing terrorist targets for centers of commerce such as the World Trade Center? What are some possible drawbacks?
• 9/17/01
        To what extent should the government be able to check into communications and information available on the Internet and telephone communications in order to protect our citizens. Do you object to their invasion of your privacy if if it means a safer country during times of war?
• 9/18/01
        If a company has hired you to do computer work for them, what rights do they have to monitor the actual work you do on company time. If you surf the web for entertainment or answer private email, should you be penalized? What if the company actually monitors every keystroke you type to see how fast you develop programs or prove that you are not doing your work?
• 9/20/01
        What do think the motivation is for writing computer virus programs? Are these people targeting one operating system to try to make it less desirable, or are they just deranged individuals who want to just cause others harm? What if an unscrupulous company whose maarket was virus protection software was actually creating new viruses to keep themselves in business?
• 9/24/01
        Describe your senior research project proposal. (Not an ethics question)
• 9/25/01
        How reliable is information that you find online? Recently it was discovered that a medical site that was supposed to list mal-practice information about doctors allowed the doctors to update this information about themselves. Doctors with the worst records had apparently deleted damaging information about their own histories. Would you trust a web search to find a reliable physician?
• 9/29/01
        Statistics made public recently show that minority students and individuals from from poor neighborhoods are less likely to get into Jefferson. The superintendent has proposed a quota system for entrance to our school, but many community groups are upset about this approach since a "blind" admission system was considered fairer to all. What is your opinion on setting quotas for regional and ethnic groups with respect to admission to our science magnet school?
• 10/01/01
        Describe what you have accomplished in the first iteration of the program you are working on for your senior research project.
• 10/02/01
        In the recent issue of the Communications of the ACM, there was an interesting article about the music industry and encryption. One of Jeffrerson's former CS lab students was involved in breaking the encryption scheme used on CD's. The challenge to break the code had been made publicly and so he and several others took the challenge. Instead of taking the cash award offered by the industry, he and his professors decided to publish their works in a journal but this angered the music industry, and they were threatened with being sued if they revealed the information. Congress had passed an act saying that it was illegeal to attempt to knowingly attempt to break encryption schemes (DMCA). The sudent and professors argued that such a law restricts academic freedom. What is your opinion?
• 10/03/01
        Our school has been working on an honor code, and some people feel that it is too complex as a formal document. What kind of punishments should be specified for cheating incidents? Are there different levels of abuse and should the punishments reflect the degree of the offense?
• 10/09/01
        How vulnerable do you think the Internet is to Cyber Terrorism? How much havoc could be done to essential services? What is essential and waht is just entertainment. If something really needs to be secure, can the communication be via the net or should it be a separate network?
• 10/11/01
        Our school system has imposed an Internet filter that was mandated by the School Board. What are some of the plusses and minuses of an Internet filter? What are the disadvantages of the most extreme filtering systems?
• 10/15/01
        What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting, or working for a company from home?
• 10/22/01
        Prior to the economic downturn in the high tech area, many of our former students were very successful and were able to retire quite early in their careers. If you were to be extremely successful financially and wanted to give something back to humanity, what might you do for society? What would have the most lasting effect on humanity?
• 10/23/01
        The recent release of the Microsoft XP operating system has been criticized for being too controlling and pervasive? What aspects, if any, are concern you?
• 10/25/01
        What are some of the worst web design mistakes?
• 10/29/01
        There has been much controversy at a local school where a student leader was caught in cheating incident and a serious breech of ethics. Some people felt that since the student was school leader, he should be held to higher standards and be required to give up his school leadership position because of his actions. Others disagreed since there were no rules staing that he must resign. Do you think those in a position where they are role models should be held to higher standards than others?
• 10/30/01
        Companies are trying to use various technologies to recognize individuals who might cause us harm. There was a case in Florida, however, where a person was identified incorrectly as a bad person and was pursued by authorities. How much relaince should we put on these artificial intelligence techniques for surveillance, and are you concerned about "false positive" abuses?
• 11/1/01
        This is the last day of the marking period, so describe the most significant accomplishements you have made in your research.

Second Marking Period

• 11/7/01
        In the Microsoft monopoly case, people complain that because they are bundling their products with the operating system it requires that people use all of their products and this restricts second party software solutions. Is this being a monopoly or is it just smart business practice?
• 11/12/01
        A recent article in the Washington Post said that because Jefferson is a Magnet school, students are actually being hurt when applying to college because it is harder for them to stand out with so much competition. Do you feel you have been hurt by attending Jefferson or do you think the special technology programs we are able to offer actuall will help you in the long run?
• 11/13/01
        How responsible should a company be for the actions of their employees. If a computer programmer steals code from a competitior and incorporates it into the company product, should the just the employee be penalized or is it the responsibility of the employer insead.
• 11/15/01
        One of our students found that someone had made some unkind comments about him on the Internet. It was not a school-based website but in an open forum that was not monitored. What can be done about slandering people online? Who should be held responsible, the person who makes the accusations or the site that allows it to be posted?
• 11/19/01
        Several major Internet sites have been criticized because they are removing critical comments about the government and the war in Afghanistan, but comments about the opposition are allowed to remain. These private companies say that they do not monitor what is posted but react to complaints by users instead. If a company is as big as Yahoo, should they be required to carry opposing views or should they be able to do as they wish?
• 11/20/01
        On November 27th, the Supreme Court will hear a case about a mother who was angered that the Oklahoma school system allowed students to grade one another's papers, and this was psychologically damaging to her children. There are concerns that the high court could rule that all school work must be held in strict confidentiality. How do you feel about peer review and assessment, and if this is banned, how might actions at our school have to change?
• 11/26/01
        A resume is not a ticket to get a job, but merely a way to get an interview with a potential employer? What kid of things should go on your resume? Should you "stretch the truth" to get an interview or do you think this could backfire? What are your personal abilities and experiences that would make you marketable in the high tech field right now?
• 11/27/01
        Society will always be faced with the dilemma that we may be able to do something with technology, but should we. Many people are concerned about "Big Brother" scenarios such as automated traffic enforcement cameras that issue tickets for speeding or running a traffic light without giving the accused person a chance to question the incident. What are some areas where we might ethically decide that research or technology applications may exceed moral or ethical boundaries?
• 11/29/01
        A number of large companies such as Enron and Excite AtHome have filed for bankruptcy protection recently. What are some of the side effects of bankruptcy for small investors, creditors, company officials, employees, and stockholders? Is bankruptcy fair or is there some alternative?
• 12/3/01
        Because so many factors in business are intertwined, sometimes a simple decision in one area may have unpredictable results in another. For instance, when a company downsizes to improve profits by laying off a number of inessential employees, what are some possible side effects that could result? Will other employees who did not lose their jobs start looking for work elsewhere? Which ones will be more likeley to leave, the most capable or least capable? Will customers lose confidence in the firm and decide to take their business elsewhere thus lowering profits even further?
• 12/4/01
        There has been some discussion about parasitic computing, or running a program on someone's computer without their knowledge. Sometimes this is accomplished by just accessing a website, and while logged in the the remote location uses a bit of the persons computing power to do some benign calculations. Are there any ethical concerns about using someone's processor without their knowledge even if it doesn't hurt their computer or their response?
• 12/6/01
        Teachers are often asked to write a number of recommendations for students who want to attend various colleges. How should a teacher respond to a request for a recommendation if the student has violated that teachers' trust in a previous incident? Here is a real life scenario that one of the teachers faced quite a few years ago.
        The student system administrators who help run the school's computer systems are put in a situation where they have additional responsibilities. However, the teachers who work with the students need to be able to trust those students to act in a mature and responsible manner. Over winter break, the teacher in charge of the computer lab noticed an unusal computer name related to school's domain, "beefcake.tjhsst.edu". Upon closer investigation, he discovered that one of his student system administrators had set up a new system on the network that was being used to download pornography and copyrighted software while school was not in session. The teacher came in the next available day, changed all the root passwords on the computers and told the student that he was no longer a system administrator. Two months later, the student approached the teacher and asked him to write a college recommendation. The teacher at first declined, but then was approached by a guidance counselor who said that the student would not get into college unless his teacher could write about the student's exceptional computer skills.
        How should the teacher respond to this second request to write the college recommendation?
  Examples:
  1. The teacher should still refuse to write the recommendation. If the student doesn't get into the college, the teacher might be blamed if the recommendation is not good.
  2. The teacher should tell the college about this breech of trust and not worry. The college will appreciate knowing what the student is really like.
  3. The teacher should write about the student's strengths only and not mention the incident to the college. However, what would this do to the teacher's credibility with the college for future recommendations should the college ever hear the truth?
  4. The teacher should tell the student and guidance counselor in advance what will be said and let them decide.
• 12/10/01
        In the Washington Post Business section today, there was an article by Mike Musgrove about video games titled For the Fun of It: Game Developer Sid Meier Has His Priorities Straight. Since we have been discussing ethics topics in relation to computer science, what are you opinions etical values related to video games? What are some of your favorite games What in these games contributes to fun? you've play for fun, and do they reinforce good or bad ethical values.
        Not surprisingly, most favorite video games were based on unethical values and no students could find any games that actually supported good ethical behavior:
  • Quake - murder
  • Grand Theft Auto - larceny
  • Civilization - world domination
• 12/11/01
        There have been a number of articles recently raegarding Microsoft's settlement offer to resolve the antitrust case against the company. On November 21, the Washington Post reported in an article titled Microsoft May Donate To End Suits and Microsoft Pushes for Settlement that they had planned to donate millions of dollars worth of refurbished computers as well as copies of their software to school systems that could not afford computer technology.
        Many companies including the Apple Corporation argued that this was not a fair settlement since all it did was extend Microsoft's reach into the education market. Rivals claim that the settlement does nothing more than punish the monopoly by extending its reach into the only area where they do not already have a monopoly. Apple currently holds 47% of the education market but only 5% of the rest of the market share.
        In today's Post, another article titled Microsoft Revises Private-Lawsuit Offer indicates that they plan to give the board who administers the equipment and software purchase program more choice in deciding on purchases for needy schools. What do you think is a fair settlement in this case? Should we consider the 7 million students in 14,000 low economic schools who will benefit from the Microsoft settlement who could use computers, or should we consider the companies who might be pushed out of future markets as a result of this offer?
• 12/13/01
        There is a great article in the Washington Post Business Section today titled "Cause of Death: Mistrust". It relates the downfall of the Enron corporation because investors lost trust in the company due to some shady deals. The company had been weakened due to losses it incurred from bad debts, but the real difficulty came when customers and investors felt they couldn't trust the company. Once trust is lost, it cannot be easily regained.
  There is a great quote by one of the investors from Dynegy, a company that pulled out of a financial deal that might have saved Enron from collapse. Chairman and CEO of Dynegy, Chuck Watson said, "When people lose confidence and they don't believe you and they question your integrity, they question your character." When that happens, "You're toast." which implies that you are finished in the business world (and most other places too.)
        Find some examples of what happens when people lose trust in a company or individual.
  1. Dr. Bernadine Healy was forced to resign from the Red Cross because she breached the trust of those who donated to the Liberty Fund for 9/11 survivors. She wanted to keep some of the money for other Red Cross activities but this was in violation of the original intentions of those donations. The related article in the Washington Post was titled It's Hard to Be Charitable About This Breach of Trust, (12/9/01).
  2. Representative Gary Condit was having trouble getting 3000 signatures to support his run for Congress again this next year.
  3. Both Clinton and Nixon when it was revealed they lied to the American public
  4. Firestone Tires being responsible for auto wrecks
  5. Airline travel after lapses in security and customers' safety concerns in wake of September 11th.
• 12/17/01
        George O'Leary only lasted a few days as head coach for Notre Dame because it was discovered that he falsified his resume. He had been a great coach at Georgia Tech for many years and just accepted the position at Notre Dame, but then resigned. However, many years before he claimed that he received a varsity letter in football for three years at a college he only attended for two years (and did't play football). He also claimed to have a Master's degree from New York University, but that was entirely false too. He had kept this information on his resume although it was clearly not true, and that breach of trust has caused him the loss of a great job for which he was othewise qualified.
        In Tony Kornheiser's December 15th article in the Washington Post, "You Get No Shot With a Bad Lie", he points out that people falsify records for two reasons: to look better to other people or to look better to themselves. However, lies made years before may eventually catch up with you. As William Gildea pointed out in his article that appeared the next day, "At Notre Dame, They're Pining for the Ara Era", he said... "the higher a person climbs in American life, or attempts to, the closer the scrutiny." With O'Leary, the lies on his resume that he had made 20 years before were still there, and when confronted with them he did resign as head coach for Notre Dame.
        At TJ in the early years, we had a similar situation that ended in a most dramatic fashion. One of the Tech Lab teachers, a man who was hired to run the TV Studio, had lied about his past experience on resume, but that was not his only ethical problem. He was caught stealing from the school. He apparently was taking equipment from the labs and turning it in for cash at various pawn shops. A pawn shop in Maryland checked out the serial number on one of the computers and found that it was listed as stolen from Fairfax County Public Schools. It was one he had taken from the Computer Systems lab. They had the man's signature and had even had taken his picture at the time of the transaction. When all of the evidence was in hand, the police arrived at TJ and hauled the teacher away in handcuffs. Later it was discovered that he had many different resume versions on his computer, all of which were fabricated.
        We recently had a situation at Jefferson where students were suspected of falsifying their activities list to Yale University. Yale had received an anonymous call from someone saying that this had happened, and asked the guidance department to verify activities for all the applicants to their university. One student out of the many who submitted applications to Yale had indeed falsified the application. It is very unlikely that Yale will accept the student at a later date either. However, this lack of ethical behavior by one reflects on all of our students as well as our school. Will Yale ever trust people from TJ? Our school's reputation has been tarnished.
        What are your opinions on resume inflation and how do you think colleges feel about them? How we might be able to combat such unethical behavior at Jefferson to make sure our school and students are not tarnished by similar situations in the future?

Third Marking Period

Fourth Marking Period