Review the case study: ‘Moralization’ of Technologies – Military Drones: A Case Study Christopher Newman
Course Objectives:
This assessment task relates to the following course objectives:
Understand the principles of the Australian Computer Society Code of Ethics to IT professional practice.
Value and understand the legal, social and ethical issues involved in IT professional practice within a cultural context.
Background:
Drones and other UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are revolutionary technology and have been in existence for many years now. UAVs are controlled by a remote pilot who could be thousands of miles away from the location where the UAVs are operating. UAVs are creating an enormous number of cost effective solutions in many applications. UAVs have already resulted in a huge benefit in saving of human lives and are being increasingly applied in many cutting edge applications such as safety, search and quick rescue missions, surveillance and monitoring, asset inspection, dangerous species protection, mineral exploration and targeted military operations.
However, there exist many serious legal and ethical issues related to the use of this developing technology across the community. These include, but are not limited to, the lack of regulations for controlling their operation, invasion of privacy, and lack of moral aspects and human feelings for military applications. Opponents of the utilisation of this technology in military operations argue that it will lead to an increase in war crimes.
Requirements:
Read the following article titled ‘Moralization’ of Technologies - Military Drones: A Case Study
(https://www.eir.info/2012/05/02/moralization-of-technologies-military-drones-a-case-study/).
You are required to identify the ethical dilemma and undertake an ethical analysis/discussion of the benefits and issues associated the use of military drones with respect to your identified ethical dilemma. You will prepare an essay which analyses the use of military drones through the lens of each of the FOUR (4) ethical philosophies presented in lectures, and ONE (1) value selected from the Australian Computer Society’s (ACS) code of ethics.
For assistance in essay writing techniques, see:
https://federation.edu.au/current-students/learning-and-study/online-help-with/essay-writing.
Essays should contain the following components in the structure indicated.
- title page
- abstract
- table of contents
- ethical dilemma
- introduction
- ethical analysis of the use of military drones
o utilitarianism
o deontology
o social contract
o character based
o ACS code of ethics
- recommendations
- references
- appendices