The objective of this assignment is to perform an analysis and investigation about an ethical issue.
Choose one of the following topics/scenarios (a Or b OR c OR d):
Topic a: Piracy and Australia
Attorney-General George Brandis has heralded the end of a golden era for online piracy in Australia, declaring Australia the "worst offender" in the world. Governments everywhere are legislating limits to the distribution of illegally sourced songs and movies to help copyright holders promote, and protect, their legitimate content sales.
Australian Internet users, service providers, and file-sharing websites have been put on notice. But some argue insufficient attention is being paid to the needs of local TV and movie audiences keen to keep up with digital pop culture.
"Australia, I'm sorry to say, is the worst offender of any country in the world when it comes to [online] piracy, and I am very concerned that the legitimate rights and interests of rights holders and content creators are being compromised by that activity," Senator Brandis said recently in Senate estimates hearings in Canberra. "We want to do something about that."
- Why do people pirate in copious amounts in Australia?
- Is it justified to do so?
Topic b: Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich (DI with a DS)
DI with a DS: is a tax avoidance technique employed by certain large corporations, involving the use of a combination of Irish and Dutch subsidiary companies to shift profits to low or no tax jurisdictions. The double Irish with a Dutch sandwich technique involves sending profits first through
one Irish company, then to a Dutch company and finally to a second Irish company headquartered in a tax haven. This technique has allowed certain corporations to dramatically reduce their overall corporate tax rates. Google and several other larger organisations have been accused of this practice.
- Is it a justified practice?
- What penalty should be applied if the organisations are found guilty of such a practice?
Topic c: Professional ethics and moral responsibility
Google glass, 3D printers, certain features of social media websites, etc. are some of the questionable products/services of our times. Time and again certain aspects of the use of these have raised questions and a public outcry. The issues in questions are - unethical use of products, privacy loss, security issues, abuse of these products/services. Often the technological-minded people and in fact the organisations are heard saying-‘users should be responsible for their own welfare and behaviour while using these products.' However, researchers and people all around the world have started asking one very important question, which is-
- Should the companies/organisations that develop these products/services be held responsible for "moral- decision-making software code and features" that they build into them?
- If your answer is no, then what else needs to be done to solve the underlying issue?
Topic d: Graduate employment in Australia and NZ
According to a survey results released in early 2014, the most common quality nominated by employers was interpersonal/communication skills, with nearly 75 per cent of employers rating this as one of their most important selection criteria. Drive, commitment and industry knowledge was the next most frequently identified quality, nominated by nearly half of employers. The third most frequently nominated skill was- Analytical/problem solving ability.
A lot of IT graduates, sometimes even some IT professionals from industry often disagree with the above finding. According to them- all that matters is excellent code writing skills. After all IT graduates need not be social and should not be asked to write documents or do presentations.
- Are above skills necessary for an IT graduate?
- Argue the relevance of study of Professional Computing Practice in an undergraduate curriculum.
If you have chosen a topic, please proceed ahead to the next page for the tasks.
1.3 Tasks
Part 1: Your Analysis of Scenario
Research about the chosen scenario, read about it from various sources and find out more information. Find out the answers to the following information:
1) Is there an underlying ethical dilemma in the chosen scenario? Why or why not?
2) Answer the questions mentioned at the end of your chosen scenario.
Part 2: Your Investigation of Two Possible Solutions
Here you will need to identify the stakeholders - who are the key people affected in this scenario?
Present a brief explanation of how they are affected, or could be affected, either by actions taken by you, or other people identified.
Explain how some people could benefit if certain actions were taken, and others might lose.
Design a survey of 3-4 questions that you would like to ask each stakeholder if you were in a position to question them about their actions.
Try to consider the scenario objectively, from the viewpoints of all the stakeholders. Identify at least two different futures or solutions for this scenario. Explain the conditions that would be required to make these futures happen. Prioritise these solutions in terms of their values and outcomes, and state your preferred option giving your rationale. Then briefly report on the stakeholder who will stand to lose the most if the worst case future for this scenario becomes real.
Part 3: Findings in a PDF report
To achieve maximum marks your work must fulfil these criteria:
- Have good use of layout and space
- Professionally written report (in terms of communication and format) with a table of content and numbered pages
- All the important points from Parts 1 and 2 are covered in the report and,
- Be no more than 3-4 pages long.