BKCPTETH.RVW 940406 The MIT Press 55 Hayward Street Cambridge, MA 02142 USA Robert V. Prior, Editor - Computer Science prior@mitvma.mit.edu Maureen Curtin, Int'l Promo. - curtin@mit.edu "Computer Ethics", Forester/Morrison, 1994, 0-262-56073-9, U$14.95 As a collection of stories on computer crime and problems, this is fascinating and wide ranging. As a text on the social, ethical and professional issues facing the information technology community, it is interesting and possibly provoking. As a textbook for a course on computer ethics it lacks analysis, ethical background and structure. The sub-title, "Cautionary Tales and Ethical Dilemmas in Computering," is much more descriptive of the book. It is full of "tales"; a cross between "Spectacular Computer Crimes" and "Digital Woes". The ethical dilemmas are an add-on, but generally well written. As a adjunct in a course on computer ethics, or the social implications of technology, it would certainly hold students' attention. The authors seem to be slightly too aware of this. The preface states that the authors found computing students to lack "awareness of social trends, global problems, or organizational issues," and that the book had been correspondingly directed to the closer details of what students would face on a daily basis. One can sympathize with the frustrations the authors must have felt, but this very example would seem to indicate that students must be given a broader view of society rather than a narrower one. Chapter one gives a good introduction and overview, as well as a brief explanation of the major current ethical philosophies. It is, unfortunately, the last statement on ethics that is made. Until chapter nine, a set of scenarios for classroom discussion, the remainder of the book is the various tales, padded with a thin structure of observations from other writings. Chapter two covers computer crime. It has a slight tendency to edge towards the border of the hacking/cracking/phone phreak topic, but the discriminating reader will note what law enforcement agencies generally find: most computer crime is an inside job. Chapter three deals with software theft and notes, perhaps a bit smugly, the litigious mess of the American software industry. (The authors hail from Australia and Singapore, respectively.) Chapter four explores "Hacking and Viruses" and, given the confusion of hacking with computer abuse, is more than slightly confused. Chapter five looks at issues of computer reliability or the lack thereof. Chapter six purports to deal with invasion of privacy, but spends much of its time with computer errors and, then, a significant space talking about workplace surveillance (which anticipates chapter eight). The examination of artificial intelligence, in chapter seven, seems mostly to have been a recap of the reliability issues from chapter five. Instructors, even when simply using the book as a discussion starter, should be on top of the subject. The MacMag/Brandow virus appears, not in chapter four, but in chapter three as an illustration of software piracy. This indicates that the authors have no understanding of viral spread. Indeed, the authors define a virus as a self-replicating program that causes damage--even though three out of the five specific examples do no "damage". A "trojan horse" is also defined as a program that allows access to an already penetrated system-- with no mention of pretense, deceit or damage at all. (The authors also report the "Twelve Nasty (sic) Tricks" trojan as a virus, the "AIDS" extortion attempt as a virus and the "Desert Storm" virus as fact.) This book is definitely a good adjunct text for a social, ethical or professional computing course. It will definitely provide interesting material. It does not, however, provide the necessary background for such a course without other materials. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKCPTETH.RVW 940406 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 DECUS Symposium '95, Toronto, ON, February 13-17, 1995, contact: rulag@decus.ca