Ambo University Woliso Campus

School of Technology and Informatics

Department of Information Technology

Social, Professional and Ethical issues

in Information Technology(ITec4142 )

By Ayantu G
Chapter 2: Creativity: Employer and Employee
Rights in IT matters

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 Chapter’s point of focus
• Introduction to intellectual property(IP)
• Development of software
– who owns the IP?
• Development of hardware
– who owns the IP?
• Reasonable limitations on IP ownership
• The nature of digital reliability and failure
• Representing and communicating risk from
software and hardware
– who is responsible?

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 Chapter’s point of focus(cont’d…)
• From “medical software” to “star wars” and the
complexity of computer systems;
• Origins of the computer professionals for social
responsibility;
– Reasonable reliability in complex systems
• Goofing off:
– who owns the "Easter eggs"?
– Why are they tolerated?

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 Introduction to Intellectual property
• Property such as bicycles or computers is called tangible
property, that is, property that can be touched.
– It is protected by laws relating to theft and damage.
• Property that is intangible is known as intellectual
property.
– It is the creations of the mind, such as inventions;
literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols,
names and images used in commerce.
– It is protected by the legal commands of trademark,
copyright, patent and trade secret to encourage the
creator to develop new technology and to make the
processes more efficient.

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 Introduction to Intellectual property(cont’d…)
• Trademark is a word, name, symbol, or device used to
identify the product of a particular manufacturer or
supplier.
• Trademark rights used to prevent others from using a
confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from
making the same goods or selling the same goods or
services under a clearly different mark.
• The rights exist either via:
– common law( ) or
– by registration ( )
• Registered Trademarks are continually renewable in
periods of 10 years.

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 Introduction to Intellectual property(cont’d…)
• Copyright is concerned with the right to copy
something.
– It may be a written document, a picture or
photograph, a piece of music, a recording, or many
other things, including a computer program.
• Copyright prevents others from copying original
works without permission.
– It is granted for a limited time (70 years after death of
author).
– It only protects the expression of an idea, and not the
idea itself.

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 Introduction to Intellectual property(cont’d…)
• Copyright: In South Africa, copyright comes into
being automatically and no registration is required.
• Works that may be copyrighted include:
– literary,
– Musical and artistic,
– photographic,
– cinematographic works,
– maps,
– architectural works, and
– computer software.

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 Introduction to Intellectual property(cont’d…)
• Copyright: There are five exclusive rights that
copyright owners enjoy and three major restrictions
on the bundle. These are:
– The right to reproduce the work,
– The right to adapt it or derive other works from it,
– The right to distribute copies of the work,
– The right to display the work publicly, and
– The right to perform it publicly.

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 Introduction to Intellectual property(cont’d…)
• Patent is a temporary right, granted by the state, enabling
an inventor to prevent other people from exploiting his
invention without his permission for a certain period (i.e.,
for 20 years).
– It excludes others from making, using, offering for sale, or
selling the invention.
– It does not come into existence automatically
• the inventor must apply for the patent to be granted.
• However, the protection it gives is much stronger than
copyright, because:
– the grant of a patent allows the person owning it (the
patentee) to prevent anyone else from exploiting the
invention, even if they have discovered it for themselves.

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 Introduction to Intellectual property(cont’d…)
• Patents: there are three types of patents:
– Utility patents: may be granted to anyone who
invents or discovers any new and useful process,
machine, article of manufacture, or composition of
matter, or any new and useful improvement;
– Design patents: may be granted to anyone who
invents a new, original, and ornamental design for
an article of manufacture; and
– Plant patents: may be granted to anyone who
invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any
distinct and new variety of plant.
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 Introduction to Intellectual property(cont’d…)
• Patent: an invention can only be patented if:
– it is new,
– it involves an inventive step,
– it is capable of industrial application and
– it is not in an area specifically excluded.

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 Introduction to Intellectual property(cont’d…)
• Trade secret may consist of any formula, pattern, device, or
compilation of information that is used in one’s business.
• The two major restrictions on the domain of trade secrets
are:
– the requirements of secrecy and
– competitive advantage.
• Owners of trade secrets have exclusive rights to make use
of the secret but only as long as the secret is maintained.
• If the secret is made public by the owner, then trade secret
protection breaks and anyone can make use of it.
• Trade secret rights do not exclude independent invention
or discovery.

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 Introduction to Intellectual property(cont’d…)
• Trade secret: trade secrecy laws depend entirely on
private measures, rather than state action, to
maintain exclusivity.
• The subject matter of trade secret is almost unlimited
in terms of the content of the information that is
potentially subject to protection.

• In the next sections we shall discuss the conditions

under which each of these rights come into existence
and what their effects are.

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Development of software: who owns the IP?
• Software is collection of instructions according to
which a computer will carry out certain acts or
functions.
• These instructions are commonly broken down into
two parts:
– Object code which is the language capable of
being understood by a computer and usually what
is supplied to those who are licensed to use the
software; and
– Source code which is the original code written
using selected programming language.
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Development of software: who owns the IP?
• Copyright is the most significant intellectual property
right in relation to software.
• Protection automatically applies to all works
recorded in any form provided that they original.
– originality means that the author must have
created the work through his own skill, judgment
and individual effort and that it is not copied from
other works.
Development of software: who owns the IP?
• When a software developer writes any code they retain
the ownership or copyright of the software.
• The owner of the copyright can then:
– License the copyright to others for use under certain
terms and conditions.
– Transfer ownership to another person or company, as
agreed under contract.
• When thinking about copyright and IP rights, it shouldn't
just include code.
– It should cover designs, wireframes, documentation,
diagrams or any other asset created by your developer
or software company for you.
Development of hardware: who owns the IP?
• IP protection is obviously important because it gives
designers and manufacturers a sense of security that
their investment and time can result in a reward.
– it theoretically prevents someone else from
stealing an idea and then prevents earning
without prior investment.
• Designers, manufacturers and companies require
protection of their ideas.
 Reasonable limitations on IP ownership by an
employee?
• Companies often hire and invest in employees to
develop new products, improve processes, create
new technologies and develop new markets.
– employers generally own the intellectual property
created by its employees in the course of their
employment.
• Intellectual property that is created by an employee,
other than in the course of employment, is owned by
the employee not the employer.
 Reasonable limitations on IP ownership by an
employee?
• Example: a software writer is employed to write a
software program to manage databases of inventory
being transported by road. The software writer spends
mornings working on the employer's software program
and the afternoons on writing a new computer game,
on the employer's computer, and using the employer's
software development language and other programs
and utilities. The software writer licenses the computer
game for a license fee of $100,000. Does the employer
own the computer game?
 The Nature of Digital Reliability and Failure
• Computers usually handle data more quickly, efficiently
and with fewer errors.
• However, there are lots of things that can go wrong with a
computer system:
– Hardware failure; example: a hard drive stops working
– Software failure; example: program may contain bugs
and errors
– Human error; example: someone shuts something
down by accident.
– Malicious, deliberate damage to a system
– Natural disasters and accidents such as fires, power
cuts, flooding or earthquakes
 The Nature of Digital Reliability and Failure
• Reliability is an attribute of any computer-related
component (i.e., software or hardware or a network)
that consistently performs according to its specifications.
– In theory, a reliable product is totally free of technical
errors;
– In practice, vendors frequently express a product's
reliability amount as a percentage.
• Reliability is a major concern for companies, because
Unreliable product or services can causes serious
disadvantages, including: loss of revenue, dissatisfied
customers, damage to reputation and fines for breaking
the law.
 The Nature of Digital Reliability and Failure
• The failure of critical systems like Utilities( electricity,
gas and water supplies), banking, emergency
services (police, fire, and ambulance), food supply
(logistics and deliveries), telephone network, air
traffic control, nuclear safety and the likes can have
a major impact on our lives.
– For example: if an air-traffic control system fails,
it could put passengers' lives at risk and cause
hundreds of flights to be died.
 The Nature of Digital Reliability and Failure
• Critical systems can be targeted by cyber terrorism.
– Computer systems are coming up against new
threats all the time.
– Companies and governments take the threat of
cyber-attacks very seriously,
• but it can be difficult to catch and take legal action
to a cyber-criminal operating from another country.
– Therefore, we have to find ways through which we
can improve reliability of the system.
 The Nature of Digital Reliability and Failure
• Ways of making systems reliable are:
– Backing up data.
– Designing systems so that they can continue
to function even if parts of the system fail.
– Duplicating resources available to substitute
the main system in case of failure.
Hardware and Software Risks: who is responsible?
• Risk is the possibility of loss.
– It results financial loss, time delay and loss of
performance.
• Risk cannot be eliminated from a software project,
but it can be managed.
– Risk management is critical to the success of any
software development effort and is a strategic
aspect of all software projects.
• To manage it, we need to know risk itself and
it’s nature.
Hardware and Software Risks: who is responsible?
• Hardware are more prone to physical damage or
crashes.
• Hardware risk comes from a specific, non-
operational or outdated piece of hardware.
– An old hard drive is a greater risk because of its
age and the integrity of its parts.
– Some pieces of hardware are incompatible with
security software, forcing the user to disable that
protection to use it and making the computer
vulnerable.
Hardware and Software Risks: who is responsible?
• One common piece of hardware that poses a risk to
information security is the Key Logger.
– Key logger is a small device that plugs into the
keyboard cable between keyboard and the computer;
• It records every keystroke made for later review.
• There are hardware virus protection and firewall
devices that route all Internet use through a filtering
unit;
– this allows the unit to see and trap viruses before
they ever touch the main computer or network.
Hardware and Software Risks: who is responsible?
• Software risks come from a specific, non-operational
or outdated piece of software.
– It is more prone to viruses and system errors.
– Older software often has holes in their security that
can be misused by new viruses.
• Not all viruses are written to crash computers;
– Many modern programs, called malware and
spyware, are written specifically to run in the
background and send information about computer
use and browsing habits back to the creator.
• These pose a great risk to internal computer security.
Hardware and Software Risks: who is responsible?
• Some software is built to include malware in its
installation;
– these programs are intended to be used for their
actual purpose, allowing the malware to be
installed without any outside assistance.
• Therefore, providing appropriate software and
hardware utilization contribute advantages to both
employee and employer.
Hardware and Software Risks: who is responsible?
• Inappropriate utilization of software and hardware
could compromise productivity of an employee and
employer or the company as a whole.
• The responsibility lies on both, the employee and the
employer.
– Proper and appropriate communication and usage
of technologies suited to the workplace and field
of expertise in the productivity in the assigned task
to its employees is essential.
 From “medical software” to “Star Wars” and the
complexity of computer systems
• Engineering of complex computer system is defined as
all activities relevant to specifying, designing,
prototyping, building, testing, operating, maintaining
and developing complex computer systems.
• As demands on functional and non-functional
objectives of computer systems have continued, so the
size of the resultant systems.
– They have become extremely large, consisting of a lot of
components, including distributed and parallel software,
hardware and communications, which increasingly
interface with a large number of external devices, such
as sensors and actuators.
 From “medical software” to "Star Wars" and the
complexity of computer systems
• Other factors that may also affect complexity are
geographic distribution of processing and databases,
interaction with humans and unpredictability of system
reactions to unexpected sequences of external events.
• Complex computer systems are found in almost every
industry.
– These include industrial process control, aerospace and
defense, transportation and communications, energy
and utilities, medical and health, commercial data
processing and others.
 Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility(CPSR):
what is reasonable reliability in complex systems?

• CPSR: was a global organization promoting the

responsible use of computer technology.
– It educated policy makers and the public on a wide
range of issues.
– It is concerned solely about the use of computers in
warfare.
• Having social benefits as part of an organization's
mission, does not guarantee positive achievements.
– Any organization with a shared vision of Social
responsibility needs to deliver what it promises.
 "Goofing off": who owns the "Easter eggs"?
Why are they tolerated?
• Easter egg: is an intentional hidden message in an interactive
work such as a computer program, video game or DVD menu
screen.
– The name is used to remind the idea of a traditional Easter egg
search.
• In computer software, Easter eggs are secret responses that
occur as a result of undocumented set of commands.
– The results can vary from a simple printed message or image,
to a page of programmer credits or a small videogame hidden
inside an otherwise serious piece of software.
– Videogame cheat codes are a specific type of Easter egg, in
which entering a secret command will unlock special powers
or new levels for the player.
 "Goofing off": who owns the "Easter eggs"?
Why are they tolerated?
• Some Easter eggs may be intentional tools used to
detect illegal copying, others
– are clearly examples of unauthorized functionality
that has slipped through the quality-control tests
at the vendor.
• While hidden Easter eggs themselves are harmless,
it may be possible for malware to be hidden in
similar ways in voting machines or other computers.
Thank You!