Ethical aspects of IT and IT security [DCYBM201]

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student should be able to : • understand and analyse philosophical texts selected by the teacher; • understand the specific issues related to security and surveillance; • understand what is at stake philosophically in the context of the 'digitisation of the world'; • to establish links between a philosophical text from the tradition and the contemporary issues of the digitisation of the world; • to reason autonomously about these specific issues

Objectives

This course provides a theoretical and practical introduction to the various ethical aspects and approaches emerging in the field of computer science and, in particular, to the issues of surveillance, security and computer safety, in the contemporary period. This EU aims to: • To provide students with a theoretical overview of the foundations of digital ethics and computer security, by introducing reasoned notions of philosophy of science, epistemology, sociology of science (including the STS approach), theoretical and applied ethics; • To provide students with a historical, socio-political and ethical mapping of surveillance and security issues; • Introduce students to ethical reasoning, with particular emphasis on applied ethics and issues of social acceptability; • To impart to students the critical, analytical and ethical sensitivities necessary to take into account socio-ethical issues in the design and use of technological artefacts.

Content

Introduction, presentation of the EU, course objectives From the philosophy of science and technology to digital ethics: history, concepts, paths From the specificity of digital artefacts: diversity, neutrality, agentivity, sociality, uses Links between science, technology and society: sociology of controversies, actor-network theory, governance, responsible innovation, social acceptability, technology assessment Digital ethics: transhumanism, privacy, Big Data, algorithmic governmentality, Towards digital ethics: Value Sensitive Design, Ethics in Design; hacker ethics History of surveillance and social control, emergence of the 'risk society' (Beck) and security policies Theories of surveillance and theories of security: Foucault, Bauman, Lyon, Marx, Bigo, Balibar; Ethical issues of surveillance and security: privacy, big date, profiling Presentation of ethically sensitive digital technologies, such as biometrics, facial recognition of emotions, smart cameras, RFID chips; analysis, discussion and debate on the ethical issues Practical workshops on ethics in intervention