Tim Koo, Byung Gon Song, Sang Min Lee, JungYoun Kwak

When and why mights using unlicensed software be unethical?

•  When: using unlicensed software for private profits without permission would be unethical
• Why: It is because using unlicensed software steals someone’s idea.

Is Julie justified in feeling harmed by the fact that some work the did for OUTOCAR was used as a dissertation without giving her credit?

• Julie is justified in feeling harmed because her work will not be credited, and people who read the dissertation won’t know she worked on the software. On the other hand, her software was unlicensed so she cannot lay claim to the software

9. Given that biometric information about the physical condition or characteristics of individuals, is there a problem with collecting biometric information about individual vehicle drivers and passengers?

There are definitely ethical issues when it comes to storing a person’s medical history. How long is the history and who controls it? Is it vulnerable to hacking? A proactive system that doesn’t let people drive based on a prior conditions could give people less freedom, and might risk letting other people know about that condition. The big issue is when a private condition becomes public. A reactive system that would drive a car to safety in the event of a stroke, heart attack, or seizure wouldn’t require a history and could save a lot of lives.

10. Does tracking vehicle location cause a violation of privacy?

If it’s done without permission then definitely. There are some applications such as law enforcement, kidnappings, and theft where the data could be useful, but people need to know what they’re getting into. It also depend on who has the data. If everyone could access vehicle information that would be a violation of privacy. We have to trust the companies/government in charge of the data, and that it is anonymous possible. Most of us are already tracked via WiFi or GPS on our phones, so extra tracking on vehicles doesn’t seem to be something completely crazy as long as people consent. Certain tracking doesn’t violate privacy, so it depends on the situation and use. There must be safeguards from abuse or stalking.

– Samuel Razzell, Luis Salado, and Ronak Vora.

3.  What are the responsibilities of engineers when developing new technologies whose risks are difficult to foresee?

Our group’s talk mostly centered around the requirement that someone is able to pick up your work after you, and do so in a way that allows both for development of the technology and the continued safe development of the technology.  AKA: An individual with no previous knowledge of the project can read the documentation and have a thorough understanding of the technology and implications.

-Need to fully document assumptions (of risk?) made during the design process ad make document easily accessible

-Communicate intent of design and known limitations (including thought process)

-Document full design process and technology details.

 

4.  Because the experience base for a new technology is limited, it is difficult to write technical specs.  If engineers believe that the specifications are inadequate for future needs, should they recommend a system with characteristics exceeding those specification.  Why or why not?

The answer to this will vary depending on the role of the engineer (management, consultant, designer, manufacturer), the institution(s) involved, and the current project timeline.  Engineers should be consulted in the initial spec creation to account for future needs, but once those specs have been passed onto the designer, it becomes a business decision to make changes to the design.  As long as the current design does NOT HAVE any foreseeable future HARM, then it should not be up to the engineer to recommend spec changes during the design process.

Addendum: Maybe the design engineer should also recognize and recommend to management changes in the spec that make the product cheaper, easier to build, etc, but changes that do not change the intent of the design.

Group members: Eric Tu, Siddarth Sen, Keng Jae Bang, Dea Ho Moon

Questions on Gender Issues:

 

How would you describe the power dynamics in this scenario? Who has power? Is power abused? How?

Only men have power in this movie. Such men are: Henry, the senator, the head engineer at the DOT, and Julie’s boss. To make important decisions, only men collaborate with each other, with little regard for the opinions of females.

These men are not only more powerful in terms of engineering and the work they produce (as evidenced by Julie’s work being plagiarized and taken by her boss as his thesis), but also socially. Women are banned from the male exclusive events such as fishing where the discussing of major decision occurs. While men have a social life outside of work, the women can’t face their problems and comfort themselves with food. Women are the ones with problems of being ignored, and yet the movie presents them as being unable to face the problems put upon them by men. This means that the male-dominated power dynamic will continue to be preserved.

 

What are some of the problems with the way gender issues were portrayed in the movie?

The movie perpetuated stereotypes with women talking and doing trivial things such as complaining while on a treadmill and eating cake, but they also demonstrated the stereotype that female engineers are incompetent. In the movie, the female engineers only talk about work outside, complain, and even with the work they do, they don’t perform it well or up to a standard acceptable by men.

Besides Laura and Julie, we see that Julie’s boss also treats his wife in a completely trivial way, as an object. When the boss’s wife is out of town, he doesn’t abide by the relationship that he is in, and only wants to go out with Julie. During this encounter, we witness that the sexual harassment is more about the sexuality of a female rather than the power and sex discrimination endemic to being a female engineer. Along with this theme, we see that Laura is not hit on because she is not seen as attractive.

The title of the film is also portrayed in a way that women only relate to men by relationship and have no definition outside of being related to men. In the film, we see that Laura and Julie only get their positions, and are only treated well in the positions, because they are related to their father.

Sean Thomson, Siyuan (Jack) He, Alan Christopher, Niranjan Kumar, binyi liu

1.)  While strictly speaking, a lobbyist hosting a senator on an expensive yacht does not yield ethical implications within itself, the problem arises when a fake competition is contrived in order to legitimize the monopolization of a particular business or technology. It is not the lobbyist’s responsibility for a politician to fall under influence of lobbying techniques, this is the politician’s responsibility.

2.)  The problem here is that cultural norms tend to become ethical standards, and subcultural norms of lobbying and politics are migrating away from societal norms at large. This leads to a societal acceptance of unethical professional practice such as bribery and corruption and results in unfair restrictions on the well-being of common people.