375 Exam Preview

The exam covers three sections of material:

Basic Ethical Reasoning, Property and Intellectual Property, Computer Crime and Civil Disobedience

For Basic Ethical Reasoning, be prepared to:

  • Reproduce and explain basic argument forms from the different ethical perspectives (Consequentialism and Deontology)
  • Produce and evaluate sample arguments from the different ethical perspectives
  • Explain key features of the different ethical perspectives (e.g. impartiality, flexibility, consistency, etc.)
  • Know arguments against moral subjectivism and relativism.

For Property and IP:

  • Supply a moral justification for property and intellectual property.
  • Make a distinction between legal and moral justifications for IP
  • Be familiar with the different forms of legal IP protection (Patent, Copyright, Trademark, and Trade Secrecy)
  • Produce and evaluate arguments for the status of software under one or more of the categories of IP protection above.
  • Explain the concept of “fair use” of copyrighted material
  • Be aware of issues in current IP law (for example, the DMCA).
  • Discuss whether computing offers new ethical challenges for IP or simply old challenges to a different degree

For Computer Crime and Civil Disobediance

  • Know the accepted criteria for civil disobediance
  • Supply and evaluate moral arguments for civil disobediance
  • Construct moral arguments that favor or condemn sample acts of “hacktivism”