Computer Law and Ethics, Spring Semester 2012

COSC-3325-01 (Computer Law and Ethics) Spring Semester, 2012, 12:20pm-1:10pm, room 111, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays

Instructor: Associate Professor Stefan Andrei, Computer Science, Room 0-69, 880-8748, Emails: Stefan.Andrei@lamar.edu, sandrei@my.lamar.edu, Webpage: http://galaxy.cs.lamar.edu/~sandrei/
Consultations are given by Dr. Andrei Stefan, 10:30am-12:00am on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and anytime by email appointment.

Course objectives: There are six main objectives of this course:

To give an introduction to the ethical style of good writing in computer science;
To present the social, legal, philosophical, and economic issues related to computers that members of a technological society might face in their professional and civic lives;
To discuss Copyright Laws/Issues and Model Ethical Acquisition and Use of Digital Information, Citing Sources Using Established Methods
To describe Proper Etiquette and Knowledge of Acceptable Use Policies When Using Networks, Especially Resources on the Internet and Intranet
To discuss Measures, Such As Passwords or Virus Detection/Prevention, To Protect Computer Systems and Databases from Unauthorized Use and Tampering
To describe the Impact of Computer Programming On the World Wide Web (WWW) Community

Student learning outcomes:

To think critically and ethically about computer science field;
To discover and investigate relevant lawful information in order to gain knowledge and solve problems;
To analyze information and ideas using appropriate methods;
To ethically generate his/her own ideas and express them effectively orally and in writing;
To deliver an ethical point of view and develop it with awareness of alternatives.

Course materials: The course is mainly taught from the adopted book, but there are other recommended books, too:

Sara Baase: A gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing and the Internet, ISBN: 978-0-13-601918-3.

Recommended textbooks:

Justin Zobel: Writing for Computer Science, Springer 1997, ISBN: 981-3083-22-0
George Reynolds: Ethics in Information Technology, ISBN: 978-1-4188-3631-3

Grading criteria: The grade for the course will be based on tutorials, several homework assignments, one mid-term written exam and one comprehensive final written exam, with percentages assessed as follows:

Assignments: 10%
Mid-Term Exam: 20% (open book)
Presentation and written report: 30%
Written final exam: 40% (open book)

Lectures:

Assessments:

Assignments: The grader of this class is Mr. Sunil Reddy. Please send the assignments by the due date to his email for grading: smreddy34@gmail.com

Experiments about the application of the Diffie-Hellman protocol:

The experiment will take place on 02/08/2012

The list of projects for presentation is below.