Ethics in Technology - D333

A bias mitigation technique that involves incorporating fairness constraints or considerations directly into the machine learning algorithm during the model training phase to reduce bias in AI system predictions.

Inprocessing

In the context of bias mitigation, it refers to the use of parallel computing in running algorithms to manage, analyze, and process large datasets while ensuring that multiple perspectives or models are considered to reduce bias in AI systems.

Multiprocessing

A failure to behave with the level of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the same circumstances. It often results in harm or damage due to carelessness, not intentional harm.

Negligence

The practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.

Nepotism

Unsolicited and often unwanted communication over the internet, typically in the form of emails, which may contain advertisements, malicious links, or scams.

Spam

A concept in AI that refers to the condition when decision-making processes yield equal probability of a positive outcome for all groups, regardless of protected attributes like race or gender. It's used as a measure to detect bias in algorithms.

Statistical Parity

A dangerous prank that involves making a deceptive emergency call to dispatch law enforcement, particularly SWAT teams, to another person's address, based on false claims of an ongoing critical incident or threat.

Swatting

U.S. legislation passed in 2001 to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, including expanded surveillance and the detention of suspected terrorists, purportedly aimed at countering terrorism and improving national security.

USA PATRIOT Act

A philosophical theory stating that the best action is the one that maximizes overall happiness or pleasure for the greatest number of people.

Utilitarianism

A trait or quality deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of good moral being. In ethical philosophy, it is a central concept that signifies human excellence and righteous action.

Virtue

An approach to ethics that emphasizes an individual's character as the key element of ethical thinking, rather than rules about the acts themselves or their consequences.

Virtue Ethics

The act of exposing any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organization that is either private or public. The information on alleged wrongdoing can be classified in many ways: violation of company policy/rules, law, regulation, or threat to public interest/national security, as well as fraud, and corruption.

Whistleblowing

U.S. legislation that prohibits the intentional interception, use, or disclosure of any wire, oral, or electronic communication without consent, except as otherwise provided by the law or court order.

Wiretap Act

A type of malware that replicates itself to spread to other computers, often using a network, without needing to attach to a host program or user intervention.

Worm

A set of rules applied by the owner, manager, or administrator of a network, website, or service, which restricts the ways in which the network, website, or system may be used and sets guidelines for its use.

Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

Ethical considerations regarding the ease with which all users, including those with disabilities, can use services and access information equitably.

Accessibility

Ethical concept to ensure information is correct, truthful, and reliable, avoiding harm caused by misinformation or misrepresentation of data.

Accuracy

A U.S. law enacted in 2006 that organizes sex offenders into three tiers and mandates that Tier 3 offenders (the most serious) update their whereabouts every three months with lifetime registration requirements. The Act also establishes a national sex offender registry and provides for more stringent monitoring of sex offenders.

Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act

A prolonged and targeted cyberattack in which an intruder gains access to a network and remains undetected for an extended period of time. The intent is often to steal data rather than cause damage to the network or organization.

Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)

An international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property regulation. It covers copyright, patents, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs, trade secrets, and the protection of undisclosed information.

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

The selfless concern for the well-being of others without expecting any reward, recognition, or return. It involves acting out of a desire to help others, often at a cost or sacrifice to oneself.

Altruism

A law passed by the U.S. Congress in 2009 to stimulate the economy during the recession by increasing federal spending and cutting taxes. It also included provisions for enhancing the infrastructure, including health information technology.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Anti-SLAPP Laws: Legislation designed to protect individuals or organizations from Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP).

Anti-SLAPP Laws

Software that scans for a specific sequence of bytes, known as a virus signature, that indicates the presence of a specific virus.

Antivirus Software

A sophisticated cyber attack that combines elements of multiple types of malware and attack vectors to maximize damage or impact. These threats may use a mix of viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other malicious tools and techniques.

Blended Threat

A comprehensive collection of concepts, terms, activities, and processes that are recognized and used by professionals in a particular field. It often serves as the basis for curriculum development and certification in professional industries.

Body of Knowledge

A network of private computers infected with malicious software and controlled as a group without the owners' knowledge, e.g., to send spam messages or to launch cyber attacks.

Botnet

The offer, giving, receiving, or soliciting of something of value for the purpose of influencing the action of an official in the discharge of his or her public or legal duties.

Bribery

A set of interrelated components—including hardware, software, databases, networks, people, and procedures—that collects and processes data and disseminates the output.

Business Information System

A U.S. federal law, enacted in 1998, designed to restrict access by minors to any material defined as harmful to such minors on the Internet. The law imposes criminal penalties for any commercial distribution of material deemed harmful.

Child Online Protection Act (COPA)

A U.S. federal law enacted in 2000, which requires schools and libraries that receive federal funding for Internet access or internal connections to install filtering software to block access to visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors.

Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)

A U.S. federal law passed in 1998 to protect the privacy of children under the age of 13. The Act imposes certain requirements on operators of websites or online services directed to children and on operators of other websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information online from a child. It requires parental consent for the collection or use of any personal information of the children.

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

A health information technology system that is designed to provide physicians and other health professionals with clinical decision-making support, such as knowledge and person-specific information, intelligently filtered or presented at appropriate times, to enhance patient care.

Clinical Decision Support (CDS)

A set of rules outlining the norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices for an individual, party or organization. It is a guide to the expected social and business behaviors.

Code of Conduct

A U.S. legislative act passed in 1994 that requires telecommunications carriers and manufacturers of telecommunications equipment to modify and design their equipment, facilities, and services to ensure they have built-in surveillance capabilities, allowing federal agencies to wiretap any telephone conversations carried out over its networks. It was enacted to aid law enforcement in conducting lawful interceptions of communications.

Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA)

A U.S. law passed in 1996 to regulate pornographic content on the internet. Section 230 of the CDA shields website platforms from liability for user-generated content.

Communications Decency Act (CDA)

A United States federal law passed in 1996 that makes the theft or misappropriation of a trade secret a federal crime. This law is primarily aimed at protecting industrial and commercial secrets from foreign entities that might engage in espionage.

Economic Espionage Act (EEA)

A theory that posits an individual's self-interest is the foundation of morality and the primary motivation of human actions.

Egoism

A U.S. federal law enacted in 1986 to extend government restrictions on wire taps from telephone calls to include transmissions of electronic data by computer, adding new provisions for access, use, disclosure, interception, and privacy protections of electronic communications.

Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)

A digital version of a patient's paper chart and broader health history, designed to be used internally by healthcare providers for diagnosis and treatment. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users.

Electronic Health Record (EHR)

A digital version of the traditional paper-based medical record for an individual. It represents a medical record within a single facility, such as a doctor's office or a clinic, and is used by healthcare practitioners to track data over time, identify patients for preventive visits and screenings, monitor patients, and improve health care quality.

Electronic Medical Record (EMR):

In AI, this term refers to the principle that an algorithm should have a uniform performance and predictive accuracy across different groups, particularly those defined by protected attributes. It seeks to prevent discriminatory outcomes in automated decision-making.

Equal Accuracy

_________ reflect a societal code of behavior.

Ethics

A regulation adopted by the EU to protect individuals' personal data privacy and to regulate the processing of personal data within the EU, ensuring free flow of data among member states.

European Union Data Protection Directive

A U.S. federal law that regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer information, including consumer credit information. It aims to ensure accuracy, fairness, and privacy of personal information contained in the files of reporting agencies.

Fair Credit Reporting Act

A U.S. federal law, passed in 2003, aimed at enhancing consumer protections, especially regarding identity theft, and improving the accuracy of consumer records. It amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act, allowing consumers to request and obtain a free credit report once every twelve months from each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. It also contains provisions to help reduce identity theft, such as the ability for individuals to place alerts on their credit histories if identity theft is suspected.

Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)

A network security device that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. It acts as a barrier between a trusted network and an untrusted network, such as the internet, and can be implemented as hardware, software, or a combination of both.

Firewall

A part of the U.S. Constitution that protects freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition. It forbids Congress from both promoting one religion over others and also restricting an individual's religious practices. It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely.

First Amendment

A U.S. law that prohibits companies and their individual officers from influencing foreign officials with personal payments or rewards, aiming to prevent corruption and encourage ethical business practices internationally.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

A U.S. law enacted in 1978 that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign powers" and "agents of foreign powers" suspected of espionage or terrorism.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

A U.S. law that amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, allowing the government to conduct surveillance without a warrant on foreign targets, even if the communication passes through or involves U.S. persons, under certain conditions.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act of 2008

Part of the U.S. Constitution, it protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.

Fourth Amendment

Deceptive action for personal gain or to damage another individual, which is illegal and involves trickery or deceit.

Fraud

A U.S. law that gives the public the right to request access to records from any federal agency, promoting transparency and accountability in government.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

A comprehensive data protection law in the EU that strengthens and unifies data protection for individuals within the European Union, providing control over personal data and simplifying the regulatory environment for international business.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

A U.S. law that requires financial institutions to explain their information-sharing practices to their customers and to safeguard sensitive data.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)

The process of sharing health-related information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards through electronic means, which aims to facilitate access to and retrieval of clinical data to provide safer, more timely, efficient, patient-centered care.

Health Information Exchange (HIE)

The act of secretly gathering company sensitive information about a company's competitors for a competitive advantage. This can involve the theft of intellectual property, such as trade secrets, patents, or proprietary details.

Industrial Espionage

The action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation. It involves transient forms of communication, typically speech.

Slander

A false statement of fact made by one party to another party, which has the effect of inducing that party into a contract. It can lead to legal action for damages or to void the agreement.

Misrepresentation

_________ reflect personal principles.

Morals

A situation in which a person is in a position to derive personal benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity.

Conflict of Interest

A moral theory that judges the rightness or wrongness of actions based solely on their outcomes or consequences.

Consequentialism

A U.S. law enacted in 2003 that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations. It's aimed at reducing the proliferation of spam emails.

Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act

A legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works, which includes the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or license their work, and the right to prevent others from doing these without consent.

Copyright

A business model that helps a company be socially accountable—to itself, its stakeholders, and the public. By practicing this, companies can be conscious of the kind of impact they are having on all aspects of society, including economic, social, and environmental.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

The act of sending threatening or harassing messages via the internet, including posting personal information, threats, or false accusations to cause distress or fear.

Cyberharassment

The use of the internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, a group, or an organization. It may include false accusations, defamation, slander, and libel.

Cyberstalking

A U.S. federal law that allows an owner of a trade secret to sue in federal court when its trade secrets have been misappropriated. The act provides a uniform standard for trade secret misappropriation with greater legal certainty and federal court jurisdiction for cases involving trade secret theft, enhancing the legal protection of trade secrets.

Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016

A moral philosophy where the morality of an action is based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules, rather than based on the consequences of the action.

Deontology

A 1998 United States copyright law that criminalizes the production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent copyright protections. It also criminalizes the act of circumventing access control to copyrighted material and provides legal protection for copyright holders by establishing a safe harbor for online service providers in certain circumstances, provided they eliminate infringing material upon notification.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

A malicious attempt to disrupt normal traffic to a web server, service, or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic.

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attack

The act of publicly revealing previously private personal information about an individual or organization, usually through the internet, often with malicious intent.

Doxing

The practice of monitoring the events occurring in a computer system or network and analyzing them for signs of possible incidents, which are violations or imminent threats of violation of computer security policies, acceptable use policies, or standard security practices.

Intrusion Detection

A legal action where the defendant's true name is unknown, allowing the plaintiff to obtain a court order to serve the lawsuit to the defendant by using information discovered through the lawsuit process.

John Doe Lawsuit

A ethical theory asserting that the morality of actions is determined by whether they fulfill our duty and respect the autonomy of individuals, guided by universal maxims.

Kantian Ethics

A U.S. federal statute that significantly changed patent law, switching the U.S. patent system from a "first to invent" to a "first inventor to file" system, and introducing new procedures for patent review and challenges.

Leahy-Smith America Invents Act

A written defamatory statement or representation that conveys an unjustly unfavorable impression. It's a form of defamation that causes harm to a person's reputation through false publication.

Libel

A legal permission granted by a competent authority to engage in a business or occupation or to carry out an activity that would otherwise be illegal, or a permission to use or reproduce owned material.

License

A warranty that is restricted to certain parts, certain defects, or other specific terms and conditions, often with specified time limits during which warranty claims can be made.

Limited Warranty

A form of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of years in exchange for publishing an enabling public disclosure of the invention.

Patent

A cyber attack that uses disguised email as a weapon. The goal is to trick the email recipient into believing that the message is something they want or need and to click a link or download an attachment.

Phishing

A bias mitigation approach that adjusts the output of a machine learning model after training to ensure fairness and reduce bias, often by changing decision thresholds for different groups.

Postprocessing

In bias mitigation, it refers to methods applied to data before it is used to train a machine learning model, with the aim of reducing bias in the dataset. This can include techniques like re-weighting, re-sampling, or transforming data to remove or reduce initial biases.

Preprocessing

Ethical concept regarding how personal information is collected, used, and protected by, a hypothetical entity or organization. It focuses on the rights of individuals to control access to their personal data.

Privacy

Ethical issues related to the rights and responsibilities concerning the ownership, use, and distribution of resources or information, including intellectual property and users' data.

Property

A characteristic of individuals, such as race, gender, or age, that is safeguarded by law or policy in decision-making processes to prevent discrimination in areas like employment, education, and housing. In AI, it refers to these attributes being considered or excluded in algorithmic decision-making to avoid biased outcomes.

Protected Attribute

Malicious software that encrypts a victim's files, with the attacker then demanding a ransom from the victim to restore access to the data upon payment.

Ransomware

The doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute.

Relativism

The act of embellishing or exaggerating qualifications, skills, or experience on a resume to appear more appealing or qualified for a job or position than is actually the case.

Resume Inflation

The process of dismantling and analyzing a product or system to understand its design, functionality, and operation, often to replicate or improve upon the technology without direct access to its original plans.

Reverse Engineering

A legal principle that protects personal information and freedom from unauthorized public disclosure or scrutiny, ensuring individuals can keep certain personal details away from public view.

Right of Privacy

A U.S. federal law that protects the confidentiality of personal financial records by limiting government access to such records without proper authorization, notification, or a search warrant.

Right to Financial Privacy Act

The potential of losing something of value, which can be physical, emotional, financial, or reputational. In various contexts, it involves uncertainty about the effects and implications of activities and decisions.

Risk

The process of identifying, evaluating, and estimating the levels of risk involved in a situation, followed by the coordination of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability or impact of unfortunate events.

Risk Assessment

Legal actions filed against individuals or organizations to intimidate or silence them from speaking out on an issue of public concern.

SLAPP Laws

A provision of the 1996 U.S. Communications Decency Act that provides immunity to online platforms from civil liabilities based on third-party content, and for the removal of content in certain circumstances, such as obscenity or harmful content. It's a key legal shield for internet and social media companies.

Section 230 of the CDA

A systematic evaluation of the security of a company's information system by measuring how well it conforms to a set of established criteria, assessing the effectiveness of security measures, identifying risks, and recommending improvements.

Security Audit

A set of defined rules and practices that govern how an organization manages, protects, and distributes sensitive information, ensuring the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of data.

Security Policy

A symbol, word, or words legally registered or established by use as representing a company or product, serving to distinguish goods or services of one entity from those of others.

Trademark