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"Ethics in a Computing Culture" is a textbook on the legal, ethical, social and professional aspects of computing, intended primarily for undergraduate majors in computer science, software engineering, and other areas of information technology.

Our teaching philosophy is that a computer ethics course serves two main functions; one is to introduce students to important theories from ethical philosophy and related fields, and the other is to help students see how these theories are relevant to computing and to everyday life. In order to do this, we ask students to read, reflect, decide, and explain (in that order). - Preface

Further, we have designed the book to explicitly address different aspects of critical thinking, so that homework assignments can be tuned to different levels of course, from introductory to advanced. Exercises include analysis of computer ethics cases, often with modifications in context to demonstrate the role of context in decision-making.

Interested? Instructors may request an evaluation copy by email to order.samples@cengage.com, or see the links in the right sidebar (or at the bottom of the page, on mobile) for purchasing options.

If you are teaching computer ethics, you have a great opportunity over the next two years to engage your students with the ACM's Code of Ethics and Professional Practice. The ACM's Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE) has been tasked with updating the Code, which was last revised in 1992. ...continue reading "Exciting times: ACM’s ethics committee is on the move!"

I'm making a list of opportunities for programmers to do pro-bono work. Please tweet @drbobrinkman, or comment on this post, if you have other suggestions.