Society and Ethics in Information Technology

Copyright violations (piracy) are most common in developing countries because economic, legal, social and technological conditions all push in that direction.

• Affordability: Legal software, books, music and films are priced for rich markets. A licence that costs a few hundred dollars is many months of income for a student or small business in a poor country, so people turn to cheap or free copies.
• Weak enforcement: Courts are slow, police and regulators have limited resources, and penalties are small, so the risk of being caught is low.
• Weak or recent legislation: Copyright laws may be outdated, poorly drafted, or adopted only under international pressure (e.g. WTO/TRIPS), so they do not match local attitudes.
• Low awareness: Many users do not know that copying software or downloading media is illegal or that it harms creators. Sharing is seen as normal social behaviour.
• Lack of legal local alternatives: Legal digital stores, payment methods (credit cards) and local-language content are often unavailable, so piracy is the only convenient way to get material.
• Digital technology: Cheap copying, USB drives, torrents and file-sharing sites make duplication nearly free and hard to trace.
• Dependence on imported content: The country consumes far more intellectual property than it produces, so it gains little from protecting foreign owners' rights, while its own creators are few.
• Corruption and informal economy: Shops selling pirated CDs and cracked software operate openly in the informal sector.

Reducing piracy therefore needs more than punishment: affordable pricing, student and regional licences, open-source alternatives, awareness campaigns and stronger yet fair enforcement.

Digital divide: the gap between people, households, communities or countries that have access to information and communication technology (ICT: computers, the internet, mobile phones) and the skills to use it effectively, and those that do not. The divide appears between rich and poor, urban and rural, educated and uneducated, men and women, young and old, and between developed and developing countries. It leads to unequal opportunity in education, employment, health information, e-government services and business, and so tends to widen existing inequalities.

Enablers (factors that help close the divide)

1. Infrastructure and connectivity: telephone lines, optical fibre, mobile towers, satellite and broadband networks, reliable electricity, and internet exchange points. Without these, access is impossible, especially in remote hilly areas like those of Nepal.
2. Affordability: low-cost devices (smartphones, community computers), cheap data packages and subsidies, and reduced taxes on ICT equipment so that the poor can pay.
3. Education and digital literacy: computer education in schools, training programmes, and adult learning so that people can use the technology productively.
4. Local content and language: content, software and interfaces in local languages (Nepali Unicode, Devanagari input) and relevant to local needs (agriculture, health, markets).
5. Government policy and regulation: national ICT policy, universal-service funds, competition among telecom operators, e-governance projects and incentives to rural service providers.
6. Public access points: community information centres, telecentres, school and library labs, and e-libraries where individuals cannot own equipment.
7. Accessibility and inclusion: assistive technology for people with disabilities, and programmes aimed at women, rural and marginalised groups.
8. Partnerships and funding: co-operation between government, private companies, NGOs, donors and international agencies (for example, ITU, UNDP) to share the cost and skills.
9. Awareness and trust: promotion of benefits, and security and privacy protection so that people trust online services.
10. Technological innovation: low-power devices, wireless, mobile banking, open-source software and cloud services that lower costs and technical barriers.

Together these enablers move a society from mere access toward effective use of ICT for development.

Digital divide: the gap between those who have access to information and communication technologies (computers, the internet, mobile phones) together with the ability to use them, and those who do not. The gap may be between countries (developed and developing), between urban and rural areas, between rich and poor, between genders, and between age groups or people with and without disabilities. It has three levels: the access divide (physical access), the skills divide (ability to use) and the outcome divide (benefits obtained). It results in unequal chances in education, jobs, health, business and civic participation.

Enablers of bridging the digital divide

1. ICT infrastructure: telecom networks, optical fibre, mobile coverage, broadband, satellite links and a reliable power supply, especially in rural and hilly regions.
2. Affordability: low-cost devices and internet packages, subsidies, tax relief on ICT goods, and shared access.
3. Education and digital literacy: ICT education in schools and training for adults, teachers and women.
4. Local-language content and relevant services: Nepali Unicode support, and content on agriculture, health, markets and government services that is useful to local people.
5. Policy and regulation: national ICT policy, competition among service providers, universal service funds for remote areas, and e-governance programmes (for example, Digital Nepal Framework).
6. Community access points: community information centres, telecentres, library and school computer labs.
7. Inclusion measures: assistive technology for disabled people, and special programmes for women, the elderly and marginalised groups.
8. Public-private partnership and international cooperation: funding, expertise and technology from the private sector, NGOs, donors and agencies such as ITU and the World Bank.
9. Trust, security and awareness: privacy and cyber-security measures, and promotion of the benefits of ICT so that people are willing to use it.
10. Appropriate technology and innovation: mobile and wireless solutions, mobile money, open-source software and cloud computing which reduce cost and complexity.

The combination of access, skills, relevant content and supportive policy is needed to turn technology into real development.

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the human mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, names and images used in commerce, for which the law gives the creator exclusive rights for a period. IP lets creators profit from their work and so encourages innovation, while society later benefits from the public availability of the work. The main legal tools are copyright, patents, trademarks and trade secrets.

1. Copyright

• What it protects: the original expression of ideas fixed in a tangible form: books, articles, music, films, paintings, photographs, software source and object code, databases. It does not protect ideas, facts, methods or procedures themselves.
• Rights given: the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, adapt, publicly perform or display the work, and to license or sell these rights. Moral rights (attribution, integrity) also exist.
• Acquisition and duration: protection arises automatically on creation (registration is optional but helpful as evidence). It usually lasts for the author's life plus 50 to 70 years (50 years in Nepal under the Copyright Act, 2059).
• Limits: "fair use/fair dealing" for criticism, research, teaching and news reporting.
• Software: copying a program without a licence, pirating, and distributing it are infringements.

2. Patent

• What it protects: a new, useful and non-obvious invention (a product, process or machine), such as a new drug, device or technical method, and in some countries software-implemented inventions.
• Rights given: the exclusive right to make, use, sell or import the invention for about 20 years from filing, in return for public disclosure of how it works.
• Acquisition: it must be applied for and examined by the patent office (in Nepal, the Department of Industry); novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability are checked.
• Remedies: the owner can sue infringers for damages and an injunction. Disadvantages are the high cost, the time needed, and the fact that after expiry anyone may use the invention.

3. Trade secret

• What it protects: confidential business information that has commercial value because it is secret, such as a formula (the Coca-Cola recipe), customer lists, algorithms, source code, manufacturing processes and marketing plans.
• How it is protected: no registration; protection lasts as long as secrecy is maintained. The owner must take reasonable steps: non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), employment contracts with non-compete clauses, access control, encryption, marking documents confidential and limiting the number of people who know.
• Limits: it gives no protection against independent discovery or reverse engineering, and once the secret is public it is lost. Law punishes theft, breach of confidence and industrial espionage.

Comparison

A software company often combines all three: copyright on the code, patents on novel techniques, and trade secrecy on the source code and algorithms.

Ethics is the branch of philosophy that studies right and wrong, good and bad conduct, and the principles that should guide human behaviour. It asks how people ought to act, as distinct from laws, which are rules enforced by the state, and from morals, which are personal or cultural beliefs.

Ethical theory is a systematic framework that explains why an action is right or wrong, and offers a basis for deciding between alternative actions in a dilemma. In computing, ethical theories help in judging issues such as privacy, piracy, surveillance and AI.

Main ethical theories

1. Consequentialism / Utilitarianism: an action is right if it produces the greatest good (happiness, benefit) for the greatest number of people. Founders: Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.

• Act utilitarianism judges each individual act by its consequences, rule utilitarianism judges rules by the consequences of everyone following them.
• Strength: practical, impartial. Weakness: may justify harming a minority, and consequences are hard to predict or measure.
• Example: a company may monitor employees' network usage if the overall benefit (security) outweighs the harm.

2. Deontology (duty-based ethics): actions are right or wrong in themselves, according to duties and rules, whatever the consequences. Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative says: act only on a rule you could will to be universal law, and treat people always as ends and never only as means.

• Strength: respects rights and justice. Weakness: rigid, and duties may conflict.
• Example: lying about a product defect is wrong even if it would increase sales.

3. Virtue ethics: Aristotle emphasised the character of the actor rather than the act: a right action is what a virtuous person (honest, courageous, fair, compassionate) would do.

• Strength: focuses on moral development. Weakness: gives little guidance in specific dilemmas, and virtues vary by culture.

4. Social contract theory: (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Rawls) moral rules are those that rational people would agree to in order to live together in society for mutual benefit. Rawls' "veil of ignorance" assumes the rules are chosen without knowing one's own position.

5. Ethical egoism: an action is right if it maximises the person's own self-interest. It is criticised for neglecting others.

6. Ethical relativism: morality depends on the culture or the individual; there are no universal standards. It is criticised because it cannot condemn practices such as discrimination.

7. Rights theory / Justice and care ethics: actions are judged by whether they respect the basic rights of people (life, liberty, privacy), and by fair distribution and relationships of care.

In practice professionals apply several theories together to test a decision from different viewpoints.

Sociology is the scientific study of society, social behaviour, groups, institutions and social change. Its knowledge is applied in many fields (applied sociology).

Applications of sociology

1. Education: understanding how class, gender, family and culture affect learning; designing curricula, school policy, and inclusive education.
2. Social policy and planning: research on poverty, unemployment, crime, population and housing is used by governments and NGOs to design welfare, health and development programmes, and to evaluate them.
3. Health and medicine: study of health behaviour, patient-doctor relationships, and social causes of disease for public-health campaigns (sanitation, immunisation, HIV awareness).
4. Criminology and law: understanding the causes of crime, deviance and delinquency, and designing rehabilitation, policing and justice reform.
5. Business and industry: analysis of consumer behaviour, organisational culture, human relations, and market research to improve productivity and marketing.
6. Community development and rural development: planning participatory projects, with an understanding of local customs, power structures and needs.
7. Politics and public administration: study of voting behaviour, public opinion, conflict and social movements.
8. Technology and media: understanding the impact of the internet and social media on communication, relationships, privacy and the digital divide, which is directly relevant to computing professionals.
9. Family and gender studies: addressing domestic violence, child rights, marriage and gender equality.
10. Social work and counselling: helping individuals and groups through understanding of their social environment.

Computer ethics is the set of moral principles governing the use of computers and information technology. Teaching it in education has several merits.

1. Responsible use of technology: students learn what is acceptable and what is not, such as avoiding plagiarism, hacking, spreading malware, cyberbullying and misuse of school networks.
2. Respect for intellectual property: they understand copyright, software licences and piracy, and learn to credit sources and use legal or open-source software.
3. Privacy and security awareness: they learn to protect their own and others' personal data, use strong passwords, and handle confidential information with care.
4. Academic honesty: it reduces cheating and copying from the internet and encourages original work.
5. Safe and healthy online behaviour: it promotes netiquette, respect for others, and caution about online strangers, fake news and harmful content.
6. Development of professional responsibility: future IT professionals learn codes of ethics (ACM, IEEE), honesty with clients, accountability for software failures, and public safety.
7. Better decision-making: exposure to ethical theories and case studies develops critical thinking and the ability to resolve dilemmas.
8. Social awareness: understanding the effects of technology on employment, equality, the digital divide and the environment.
9. Reduction of cyber crime and institutional risk: well-informed users reduce abuse, legal trouble and damage to the institution's reputation.
10. Creation of a positive culture: trust, fairness and respect in the learning community.

The internet has made software protection both easier and more difficult, but on balance the threats have grown more serious.

Why it is more difficult

1. Easy copying and distribution: a program can be copied perfectly at almost no cost and shared worldwide in seconds through websites, torrents, file-sharing and messaging services. Piracy is therefore massive.
2. Anonymity and jurisdiction: infringers can hide their identity and operate from countries with weak laws, so detection, prosecution and enforcement across borders are hard and slow.
3. Cracks, key generators and reverse engineering: tools to bypass licence checks and activation are widely available online.
4. Software theft by hacking: source code and secrets can be stolen remotely from servers, repositories and cloud storage; leaked builds spread quickly.
5. Weak awareness: many users do not see downloading as theft, and open-source and free-software culture blurs the lines.

Why it is easier

1. Online activation and licence servers: a product can be tied to a licence key, account or device and verified over the internet, with updates revoking stolen keys.
2. Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud: the code stays on the vendor's server and users only receive the output, so there is nothing to copy.
3. Automatic updates and digital rights management (DRM): patches and checks are pushed without user action.
4. Monitoring and enforcement tools: vendors scan the web for illegal copies, issue takedown notices (e.g., DMCA), and track the use of watermarks and code fingerprints.
5. Legal and commercial alternatives: app stores and subscriptions make legal purchase convenient and cheap.

Conclusion: the internet gives vendors new technical tools (activation, SaaS), but it also makes unauthorised copying and distribution simple and hard to police. Effective protection therefore needs a combination of technology, law, fair pricing and user education.

Electronic employee monitoring is the use of computers and electronic devices by an employer to observe and record employees' work and behaviour. It includes monitoring of email, internet and social-media use, keystrokes and screen activity, telephone calls, CCTV and video surveillance, GPS tracking of vehicles and phones, biometric attendance and access logs, and software that measures productivity.

Purposes: to improve productivity, protect company assets and trade secrets, prevent data leaks and cyber attacks, ensure legal compliance, and prevent harassment or misuse of resources.

Consequences

Negative

1. Loss of privacy: employees feel that their personal communication and activities are exposed, sometimes even outside working hours.
2. Stress and low morale: constant surveillance causes anxiety, fatigue and a feeling of distrust, which reduces job satisfaction and creativity.
3. Reduced loyalty and higher turnover: employees may leave or work only to the measured metrics.
4. Health problems: pressure and monotony can cause physical and mental health problems.
5. Legal and ethical issues: misuse or leakage of the collected data, discrimination, and lawsuits if monitoring is secret or excessive.
6. Misleading measurement: it counts keystrokes or time and ignores the quality of the work.

Positive

1. Improved productivity and accountability.
2. Better security and fewer thefts or data breaches.
3. Evidence to resolve disputes and protect honest employees.

Remedy: a clear written policy, informing employees, monitoring only for legitimate business reasons, limiting the data collected and protecting it, and balancing the employer's interests with the employees' right to privacy.

Software failure occurs when software does not perform its required function or behaves differently from what users expect. Examples include the Ariane 5 rocket loss, the Therac-25 radiation overdoses and the Y2K problem. The main causes are as follows.

1. Poor or changing requirements: incomplete, ambiguous, or wrongly understood requirements, and frequent changes ("scope creep") that are not controlled.
2. Design flaws: a bad architecture, ignoring of the limits of the hardware or the environment, and a lack of consideration for abnormal conditions.
3. Programming errors (bugs): logic mistakes, wrong data types or overflow (as in Ariane 5), unhandled exceptions, memory leaks, race conditions, and buffer overflows.
4. Inadequate testing: insufficient test coverage, no testing of edge and stress cases, no integration and regression testing, and releasing under time pressure.
5. Poor project management: unrealistic schedules and budgets, inexperienced staff, poor communication, and poor risk management.
6. Reuse of software in a different setting: components used without checking assumptions in the new environment.
7. Hardware, network and environmental problems: device failure, power cuts, incompatible platforms and third-party component faults.
8. Human factors: misuse by untrained users, poor user interfaces leading to operator errors, and lack of documentation.
9. Security attacks: viruses, malware and intrusions that corrupt or disable software.
10. Poor maintenance and change control: patches that introduce new faults, outdated systems, and missing version control.
11. Lack of ethical responsibility and quality standards: ignoring known defects or cutting corners to meet deadlines.

Software risk is a potential problem or uncertain event that, if it occurs, will negatively affect the schedule, cost, quality or success of a software project or product. It is characterised by the probability of occurrence and the impact (loss) if it occurs. Examples include staff leaving, changing requirements, new technology failing, unrealistic deadlines, budget overruns and security breaches.

Risk assessment

1. Risk identification: list the possible risks using checklists, brainstorming, past project experience, expert interviews and analysis of the requirements. Categories: project, technical, business, and product risks.
2. Risk analysis/estimation: for each risk estimate the probability $P$ (low, medium, high or a percentage) and the impact (cost, time, quality). The risk exposure is

$RE = P \times L$

where $L$ is the loss if the risk occurs. For example, a 30% chance of a Rs 2,00,000 loss gives $RE = 0.3 \times 200000 =$ Rs 60,000. 3. Risk prioritisation/evaluation: rank the risks by exposure (a risk table or probability-impact matrix) and concentrate on the top ones, since not all can be handled.

Risk management (control)

1. Risk planning: decide a strategy for each important risk:
   • Avoidance: change the plan to eliminate the risk (for instance, drop the risky feature).
   • Mitigation/reduction: act early to reduce probability or impact (training, prototyping, extra testing, documentation to reduce dependence on key staff).
   • Transfer: pass it to others (insurance, outsourcing, contracts).
   • Acceptance: accept it and have a contingency plan ready.
2. Risk monitoring and control: track the risks throughout the project, review them at milestones, watch for risk indicators and trigger the contingency plans, and record new risks.
3. Documentation and learning: record risks and outcomes in a risk register for future projects.

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems learn from data and make or support decisions, so their use raises important ethical questions.

1. Bias and discrimination: AI learns from historical data that may contain prejudice, so it may discriminate by gender, race, caste or class in hiring, lending, policing and admissions. Fairness must be tested.
2. Privacy and surveillance: AI needs large amounts of personal data; facial recognition, tracking and profiling can cause mass surveillance and misuse of data without consent.
3. Transparency and explainability: many models (deep learning) are "black boxes", so people affected by a decision cannot understand or challenge it.
4. Accountability and responsibility: it is unclear who is responsible when an AI makes a harmful decision, for example a self-driving car accident: the developer, the owner, the user or the company.
5. Unemployment and economic inequality: automation may replace jobs and concentrate wealth in those who own the technology; reskilling is needed.
6. Safety and security: errors, adversarial attacks, and the use of AI in autonomous weapons, cyber attacks, deepfakes and misinformation.
7. Human autonomy and dependence: over-reliance on AI may reduce human judgement, and manipulation by recommender systems affects behaviour and opinion.
8. Intellectual property: the use of copyrighted works for training and the ownership of AI-generated content.
9. Moral status and long-term risk: concerns about super-intelligent systems that act against human values.

Way forward: ethical guidelines (fairness, transparency, accountability, privacy, human oversight), regulation, diverse and audited data, and involvement of humans in important decisions.

Virtualization creates a virtual (logical) version of a resource, which is separated from the physical resource, so that it can be shared, managed and used more flexibly.

Storage virtualization

Storage virtualization pools the physical storage from multiple devices (disks, arrays, SAN or NAS) into what appears to be a single logical storage unit, managed from a central console. Users and applications see logical volumes and are unaware of where the data is physically held.

• How it works: a virtualization layer (in the host, in the network/SAN switch, or in the storage array) maps logical blocks or files to physical locations.
• Benefits: better utilisation of capacity, easy expansion without downtime, simpler backup and migration of data between devices, thin provisioning, replication and high availability.
• Examples: RAID volumes and LVM (Logical Volume Manager) on Linux, a SAN pooling storage from different vendors, and cloud storage such as Google Drive or Amazon S3 appearing as one disk.

Application virtualization

Application virtualization runs an application in an isolated virtual environment without installing it fully on the user's local operating system. The application is packaged with its dependencies and delivered (streamed) from a server, or is run on the server with only the screen output displayed on the client.

• Benefits: no conflict between applications or versions, easy deployment and updating from one place, no change to the host OS, better security and licence control, and the ability to run Windows applications on other systems.
• Examples: Microsoft App-V, Citrix Virtual Apps (XenApp), VMware ThinApp, Java Virtual Machine, and a Windows program running on Linux through Wine, or a browser-based Office 365.

Storage virtualization abstracts the storage hardware, while application virtualization abstracts the application from the operating system.

1. Indicators of development

Indicators of development are measures used to judge the level of economic and social progress of a country and to compare countries or periods.

• Economic indicators: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Income, per capita income, growth rate, the share of agriculture, industry and services, poverty rate, unemployment, inflation, and trade and investment.
• Social indicators: life expectancy, infant and maternal mortality, literacy and school enrolment, access to health care, safe drinking water and sanitation, nutrition, and gender equality.
• Composite indices: the Human Development Index (HDI), which combines life expectancy, education (mean and expected years of schooling) and income per capita; also the Multidimensional Poverty Index, the Gini coefficient (inequality), and Gender Development Index.
• Technology and infrastructure indicators: electricity, roads, internet and mobile penetration, ICT Development Index, and e-government readiness.
• Environmental and governance indicators: carbon emissions, forest cover, and corruption and freedom indexes.

Modern thinking stresses that development is more than income, and includes health, education and sustainability.

2. Cyberspace

Cyberspace is the virtual environment created by interconnected computers, networks, and the internet, in which communication and information exchange occur without regard for physical location. The term was coined by William Gibson in the novel Neuromancer (1984).

• Components: the physical infrastructure (computers, servers, cables, satellites), the software and protocols, and the people and data using them.
• Uses: e-mail, the web, social media, e-commerce, online banking, e-learning, e-governance, gaming and cloud services.
• Characteristics: global reach, anonymity, speed, and no central owner.
• Issues: cyber crime (hacking, fraud, identity theft), privacy, intellectual property, cyber bullying, misinformation, and cyber warfare, so laws such as Nepal's Electronic Transactions Act 2063 and cyber-security policies are needed.

Ethical decision-making is the process of evaluating the alternatives available in a situation and choosing the one that is consistent with ethical principles such as honesty, fairness, respect for others and responsibility, after considering the effect on all stakeholders. It is needed when a person faces a dilemma in which there is a conflict between values, duties or interests, as often happens in IT (privacy against security, profit against safety).

Elements of a good framework for ethical decision-making

A good framework gives a structured, repeatable and defensible way to reach a decision. It should include:

1. Identify and define the problem clearly: collect the relevant facts, and determine who the stakeholders are, and what the ethical issue is.
2. Identify the affected parties and their interests: users, employees, customers, the employer, society and the environment.
3. Identify the alternatives: list the possible courses of action, including creative options.
4. Apply ethical principles and theories: test each alternative against utilitarian (greatest good), rights and duty (deontological), justice/fairness, virtue (what a person of good character would do), and the common-good approaches. Also check the law, company policy and professional codes.
5. Evaluate consequences and risks: the short- and long-term harms and benefits for each stakeholder.
6. Decide and act: choose the best alternative, with transparency and the courage to implement it. Apply simple tests: the publicity test (would I be comfortable if it were reported in the news?), the reversibility test (would I accept it if I were the affected party?), and the universality test.
7. Review and learn: monitor the outcome, accept responsibility, and refine the process for next time.

Code of ethics

A code of ethics is a written set of principles and rules that guides the conduct of the members of an organisation or profession. It states the values, defines acceptable behaviour, and gives a standard for judging conduct.

Purposes:

• Guide decision-making and give professionals a common standard.
• Promote public trust and the image of the profession.
• Protect the public, clients and employees.
• Provide a basis for disciplinary action and for legal defence.
• Educate and raise awareness among members, and encourage consistent behaviour.

Typical contents: honesty and integrity; competence and quality work; respect for privacy and confidentiality; respect for intellectual property; avoidance of harm; fairness and non-discrimination; avoiding conflicts of interest; accountability and the reporting of violations ("whistle-blowing").

Examples:

• ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct: general moral imperatives (contribute to society and human well-being, avoid harm, be honest and trustworthy, be fair, respect property rights including copyright and patents, respect privacy, honour confidentiality), professional responsibilities, and leadership principles.
• IEEE Code of Ethics: holding the safety, health and welfare of the public paramount; disclosing conflicts of interest; being honest in claims and estimates; rejecting bribery; improving technical competence; and treating all persons fairly.
• Software Engineering Code (ACM/IEEE): with eight principles: public, client and employer, product, judgment, management, profession, colleagues and self.

Limitations: a code is general, cannot cover every case, and may be ignored if it is not enforced. It therefore supports, but does not replace, personal ethical judgement.

Intellectual property (IP) ownership is the legal right of the creator (or the person to whom the right has been assigned, such as an employer) to control, use, license, transfer and benefit from the products of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, software, designs, brand names and trade secrets. The owner may exclude others from using the work without permission for a limited period (or, in the case of trade secrets, as long as secrecy continues).

Ownership issues in practice: work created by an employee in the course of employment is usually owned by the employer (the "work made for hire" doctrine); a commissioned work is owned according to the contract; and rights can be sold (assigned) or licensed (permission to use while ownership is retained).

Protecting ownership rights

1. Copyright: protects the original expression in literary, artistic, musical works and software. It arises automatically upon creation. The owner may register the work, put a copyright notice (© year, owner), and sue for infringement. Term: life of the author plus 50 years (Nepal) or more elsewhere.
2. Patent: protects new, useful and non-obvious inventions for about 20 years in return for public disclosure. It must be filed and granted by the patent office.
3. Trademark and service mark: protect names, logos, slogans and symbols which identify the source of goods or services. Registration is renewable (every 7 to 10 years), and protects against confusing imitation.
4. Trade secrets: protect confidential business information (algorithms, formulas, customer lists) through non-disclosure agreements, employment contracts, access control and encryption.
5. Industrial designs and geographical indications: protect the appearance of products and place-based goods.
6. Contracts and licensing: software licence agreements (EULA, open-source licences such as GPL and MIT), assignments, and confidentiality and non-compete clauses define who may use the work and how.
7. Technological measures: digital rights management (DRM), encryption, product keys and activation, watermarking, code obfuscation and access control.
8. Legal enforcement: notices, takedown requests, injunctions, damages, and criminal penalties against infringers. International treaties (Berne Convention, TRIPS, WIPO treaties) extend protection across borders.
9. Education and organisational policy: raising awareness against piracy, and keeping records of the development (dates, drafts) as evidence of ownership.

Effective protection combines these measures, and the creator must also act promptly on infringements.

Social change is the alteration over time in the structure, institutions, culture, values and relationships of a society. Its main factors are as follows.

1. Technological factors: inventions and innovations such as the printing press, the steam engine, electricity, the computer, mobile phones and the internet change the way people work, communicate, learn and live.
2. Economic factors: industrialisation, urbanisation, trade, changes in the means of production, migration for work and remittances alter class structure, occupations and family life (Marx stressed this factor).
3. Cultural factors: new ideas, values, beliefs, religion, art and language; diffusion of culture through contact with other societies, and cultural innovation.
4. Demographic factors: population growth or decline, age structure, birth and death rates, migration and urbanisation change the needs and structure of society.
5. Political and legal factors: government policy, laws (for example abolition of untouchability, rights of women), revolutions, wars, democracy and political movements.
6. Educational factors: literacy and higher education produce new knowledge, attitudes and awareness, and change social roles.
7. Physical/environmental factors: natural disasters (such as the 2015 earthquake), climate change, resource depletion and geography force adaptation and migration.
8. Social movements and ideology: collective efforts for reform, such as women's rights, human rights and environmental movements.
9. Mass media and communication: television, social media and the internet spread information and influence opinions and lifestyles quickly.
10. Leadership and individuals: the influence of reformers and visionary leaders.

These factors usually act together, and social change is rarely caused by one factor alone.

Computer ethics is the study of moral principles governing the use of computers and information technology. We should study it for the following reasons.

1. Computers affect every part of life: banking, education, health, government and communication depend on them, so wrong use can cause serious harm to people and to society.
2. New ethical issues arise: privacy, hacking, piracy, cybercrime, spam, deepfakes, surveillance, AI bias and online harassment are problems that are not covered by traditional rules.
3. Law is not enough: technology develops faster than legislation, so professionals need an ethical sense to decide what is right where the law is silent or unclear.
4. Professional responsibility: IT professionals build systems that people trust with their money, data and safety. Knowing codes of ethics (ACM, IEEE) enables them to act honestly and competently and to take accountability for failures.
5. Protecting privacy and security: it teaches how to treat personal data and confidential information properly.
6. Respecting intellectual property: it helps people understand copyright, licences and plagiarism, and discourages piracy.
7. Responsible digital citizenship: it promotes proper online behaviour, respect for others and the avoidance of cyberbullying and misinformation.
8. Better decision-making: ethical theories and case studies develop critical thinking for dilemmas, for example in whistle-blowing or confidentiality against public safety.
9. Reducing risk to organisations: ethical behaviour avoids legal action, financial loss and damage to reputation.
10. Building trust and a better society: it supports the fair use of technology for the benefit of all and helps narrow the digital divide.

Ergonomics is the study of designing equipment, tools, workstations and tasks to fit the capabilities and limits of the people who use them. By fitting the job to the worker instead of the worker to the job, it creates a safe, comfortable, healthy and habitable work environment.

How it does so:

• Workstation design: Adjustable chairs with lumbar support, desks at proper height, monitors at eye level about an arm's length away, and keyboards and mice positioned so wrists stay neutral. This prevents back, neck and wrist strain (repetitive strain injury, carpal tunnel syndrome).
• Posture and movement: Encouraging correct sitting posture, regular short breaks, stretching and varied tasks reduces fatigue and musculoskeletal disorders.
• Environmental factors: Proper lighting without glare, controlled temperature, ventilation and noise levels reduce eye strain, headaches and stress.
• Equipment layout: Frequently used items are placed within easy reach; cables and furniture are arranged to avoid trips and falls.
• Task and job design: Reasonable workloads, rotation of duties and suitable working hours reduce mental stress and burnout.
• Training and monitoring: Employees are taught safe practices, and ergonomic assessments are done regularly to find and correct hazards.

Benefits: fewer injuries and absences, lower medical costs, better morale, higher productivity and fewer errors.

Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a formal contract between a service provider (e.g. an ISP, cloud or IT outsourcing vendor) and a customer that states exactly what service will be delivered, to what measurable standard, and what happens if the standard is not met.

Typical contents:

• Description of the services covered
• Measurable metrics such as uptime (e.g. 99.9%), response and resolution time, throughput, support hours
• Responsibilities of the provider and the customer
• Monitoring and reporting methods
• Penalties or service credits for breach, and termination terms
• Security, backup and data-protection obligations

Why it is important:

1. Clear expectations: Both parties know what is promised, avoiding misunderstandings.
2. Measurable quality: Performance can be checked against numbers instead of opinions.
3. Accountability: The provider is legally obliged to deliver, and the customer has remedies (refunds, credits) if it fails.
4. Risk management: Business-critical systems get guaranteed availability and recovery times.
5. Dispute resolution: The agreement gives an objective basis for settling conflicts.
6. Planning and trust: The customer can plan operations, and the provider can allocate resources properly.

Risk is the possibility that an event will cause harm or loss, such as a software failure, data breach or project delay. It is judged by its likelihood and its impact.

Risk assessment is the process of identifying and evaluating risks:

1. Identify assets, threats and vulnerabilities (e.g. hackers, hardware failure, human error).
2. Analyse the likelihood and impact of each risk, either qualitatively (high/medium/low) or quantitatively (expected loss = probability $\times$ loss).
3. Evaluate and prioritise risks so the most serious are handled first.

Risk management covers the whole cycle of dealing with risk:

• Risk avoidance: Remove the activity that causes the risk.
• Risk reduction (mitigation): Add controls such as backups, firewalls, testing and training.
• Risk transfer: Shift the loss to another party, e.g. insurance or outsourcing.
• Risk acceptance: Accept low risks whose control costs more than the loss.
• Monitoring and review: Track risks continuously, update the plan as the environment changes, and prepare contingency and disaster recovery plans.

Good risk assessment and management lets an organisation spend its limited resources where they reduce the most harm, and improves safety, reliability and decision-making.

Computing virtualization creates a virtual (software) version of computing resources such as servers, operating systems, storage or networks, so that several isolated virtual environments can run on one physical machine.

Benefits:

• Better hardware utilisation: Many virtual machines share one server, avoiding idle hardware.
• Cost saving: Fewer servers means lower purchase, power, cooling and space costs.
• Isolation and security: A failure or attack in one VM does not affect the others.
• Flexibility and scalability: VMs can be created, cloned, resized or moved within minutes.
• Easy backup and disaster recovery: VMs can be snapshotted and restored on other hardware.
• Testing and development: Different operating systems and configurations can be tried safely on one computer.
• Simplified management: Centralised control of many systems, and legacy applications can keep running.

Platform virtualization is the virtualization of a whole computer platform (hardware plus operating system). Software called a hypervisor or virtual machine monitor sits between the hardware and the guest operating systems and gives each guest virtual CPU, memory, storage and network devices, so each VM behaves like a complete separate computer. Types are:

• Type 1 (bare-metal): the hypervisor runs directly on hardware (e.g. VMware ESXi, Xen, Hyper-V).
• Type 2 (hosted): the hypervisor runs as an application on a host OS (e.g. VirtualBox, VMware Workstation).

Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-generated, three-dimensional simulated environment that a user can explore and interact with in real time, usually through a head-mounted display, headphones and motion-tracking controllers or gloves, giving the feeling of being physically present in that world.

Types of virtual reality:

1. Non-immersive VR: The user views a 3D world on an ordinary computer screen and interacts with keyboard, mouse or joystick. Examples: desktop 3D games, flight simulators on a monitor, virtual tours.
2. Semi-immersive VR: Large screens, projection systems or simulators give a partial sense of presence while the user still sees the real world. Examples: flight and driving simulators, training rooms.
3. Fully immersive VR: A head-mounted display with head and body tracking, sound and often haptic feedback completely surrounds the user with the virtual world. Examples: Oculus/Meta Quest, HTC Vive for games, surgical training.
4. Augmented reality (AR) / mixed reality (related forms): Virtual objects are overlaid on the real world (Pokemon Go, HoloLens).
5. Collaborative VR: Several users in different places share the same virtual space, as in online virtual worlds and meetings.

Applications include education, medical training, gaming, architecture, military training and tourism.

1. Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is the use of digital technology (social media, messaging apps, email, online games) to harass, threaten, embarrass or humiliate a person repeatedly. Forms include abusive messages, spreading rumours, posting embarrassing photos, impersonation, exclusion from groups, and doxxing. It is more harmful than traditional bullying because it can occur 24 hours a day, reach a very large audience, persist online, and be done anonymously. Victims may suffer anxiety, depression, poor academic performance and, in severe cases, self-harm. Prevention includes awareness and digital literacy, privacy settings, reporting and blocking tools, school and parental support, platform moderation, and laws such as Nepal's Electronic Transactions Act which penalise online harassment.

2. Globalization and migration

Globalization is the increasing integration of the world's economies, cultures and societies through trade, investment, communication technology and travel. It encourages migration, the movement of people between regions or countries for work, study or safety. ICT makes this easier through job portals, remote work and instant communication with families. Benefits: remittances (a major share of Nepal's GDP), skills and knowledge transfer, cultural exchange, and labour for host countries. Problems: brain drain, family separation, exploitation of workers, loss of local culture and social tensions in host countries. Ethical issues include fair treatment of migrant workers and protection of their data and rights.

Code of ethics

A code of ethics is a formal statement of the values, principles and standards of conduct that members of a profession or organisation agree to follow (e.g. the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, IEEE Code). It reflects:

• the core values of the profession: honesty, integrity, fairness, responsibility
• the professional obligations to society, clients, employers, colleagues and the public (public safety and welfare come first)
• the standards of competence and quality expected of members
• a guide for decision-making in difficult situations, and a basis for accountability and discipline
• the public image and trustworthiness of the profession

Causes of software failure

1. Poor requirements: incomplete, unclear or changing requirements, and poor communication with users.
2. Design and coding errors: bugs, wrong logic, poor architecture, lack of reuse.
3. Inadequate testing: it is impossible to test all inputs; deadlines shorten testing.
4. Unrealistic schedule and budget: pressure leads to shortcuts.
5. Poor project management: bad estimation, no risk management, weak team coordination.
6. Human error and lack of skill/training: misuse by operators or wrong data entry.
7. Reuse of old software in new settings: the Ariane 5 rocket reused Ariane 4 code, and an integer overflow destroyed it.
8. Complexity and integration problems: interaction with other systems and hardware, and failures in the environment.
9. Poor maintenance: changes introduce new faults; no documentation.
10. Security weaknesses and ignoring ethics: hiding known defects, lack of professional responsibility.

Examples: Therac-25 radiation overdoses, the Boeing 737 MAX MCAS software, the Mars Climate Orbiter unit mismatch.

Factors that justify the risks in software issues

Some risk cannot be eliminated, but taking it can be justified when:

• Benefits outweigh harms: the software gives large benefits to many people (medical, banking, communication systems).
• Risk is made known: users are informed of limitations and give informed consent (warnings, disclaimers, documentation).
• Reasonable care was taken: best industry practices, standards, thorough testing, reviews and safety analysis were followed.
• The probability and severity of harm are low, and safeguards (backups, fail-safes, redundancy, human oversight) are in place.
• Cost of further risk reduction is disproportionate to the added safety (a risk "as low as reasonably practicable").
• The risk is taken voluntarily or fairly shared, and alternatives are no safer.
• Legal and professional compliance: codes of ethics and regulations are followed, and responsibility is clearly assigned.

The professional must still never compromise public safety, and must report and correct known serious defects.

Role of media and communication in social and cultural change

Media (newspapers, radio, television, the internet, social networks) and communication technologies are among the most powerful drivers of change in society.

• Information and awareness: They spread news, science, health and rights information, raising awareness on issues such as education, gender equality, sanitation and elections.
• Shaping opinion and values: Media frame debates, influence attitudes and can change norms (e.g. views about caste discrimination, women's participation, disability).
• Cultural exchange and globalisation: Films, music, fashion and language travel across borders, producing blended cultures; they also help preserve and promote local culture and languages.
• Social mobilisation: Social media enabled movements and campaigns (e.g. the Arab Spring, Nepal's civic and relief campaigns after the 2015 earthquake).
• Education and development: E-learning, online services, mobile banking and e-governance change how people learn, work and transact.
• Accountability: Investigative journalism exposes corruption and holds leaders to account.
• Connectivity: Migrants keep contact with families; communities share ideas and form new groups.
• Negative effects: Misinformation, consumerism, cultural erosion, loss of privacy and addiction.

Reasons for resisting social change

1. Fear of the unknown and uncertainty about the consequences.
2. Attachment to tradition, culture and religion; change is seen as a threat to identity.
3. Vested interests: those with power, wealth or status who benefit from the existing order oppose change.
4. Economic fear: loss of jobs, income or skills (e.g. automation).
5. Lack of education and awareness; misunderstanding of the benefits.
6. Habit and comfort with familiar ways.
7. Cost and effort of adapting, including new skills and resources.
8. Distrust of those promoting change, or change imposed from outside without participation.
9. Poor communication by the agents of change, and social conservatism or inertia.

Cyberspace

Cyberspace is the virtual, interconnected environment created by computers, networks and the internet in which people communicate, store and exchange information, do business and interact without physical presence. It includes the web, email, social media, cloud services, online games, e-commerce and the Internet of Things. Because it has no borders and little central control, it is exposed to crime, privacy violations, malware, fraud, cyberbullying and attacks on critical infrastructure.

Techniques to secure cyberspace users

1. Authentication and access control: strong, unique passwords, multi-factor authentication, biometrics, least-privilege access.
2. Encryption: SSL/TLS (HTTPS), VPN, end-to-end encrypted messaging and disk encryption protect data in transit and at rest.
3. Firewalls and intrusion detection/prevention systems: filter traffic and detect attacks.
4. Antivirus/anti-malware and regular patching: protect against viruses, ransomware and exploits.
5. Secure software and updates: use trusted software, apply security updates, secure coding and testing.
6. Backups and disaster recovery: protect against data loss and ransomware.
7. Digital signatures and certificates: verify identity and integrity.
8. User education and awareness: recognise phishing, social engineering and scams; safe browsing and privacy settings.
9. Privacy tools: cookie control, data minimisation, anonymisation.
10. Laws, policies and law enforcement: cyber laws (Electronic Transactions Act, 2063 in Nepal), cybercrime units, CERTs, international cooperation.
11. Monitoring, logging and security audits, plus content filtering and parental controls for children.

Education and licensing are essential because professionals hold the trust of society, and their mistakes can hurt many people.

Education

• Gives the knowledge and skills needed to do the work competently (technical, mathematical and analytical).
• Teaches ethics, professional responsibility, laws and standards, so a professional can recognise ethical problems and respond to them properly.
• Develops judgement and critical thinking, and lifelong learning keeps skills current in fast-changing fields like computing.
• Builds the habit of quality and safety awareness.

Licensing (and certification)

• Sets a minimum standard of competence that the public can rely on, through exams and experience requirements.
• Provides public protection; unqualified persons cannot practise in safety-critical areas.
• Establishes accountability: a licence can be suspended or revoked for misconduct or negligence, and codes of ethics become enforceable.
• Builds trust and professional status, helping clients and employers to choose qualified people.
• Encourages continuing professional development through renewal requirements.

In software and IT, where licensing is less common, professional certification and membership of bodies like ACM, IEEE or the Nepal Engineering Council serve a similar role. Education supplies ability and awareness; licensing guarantees and enforces it. Together they make a person a responsible, ethical professional.

Development planning is the systematic, organised process by which a government or organisation sets development goals (economic growth, poverty reduction, education, health, infrastructure) and decides how to use limited resources (money, people, technology, time) to achieve them over a period, e.g. Nepal's periodic five-year plans.

Why we need development planning

1. Limited resources: Resources are scarce, so planning allocates them to the highest-priority needs and avoids waste.
2. Clear goals and direction: Sets measurable targets, strategies and timelines.
3. Balanced and sustainable development: Reduces regional and social inequalities and protects the environment for future generations.
4. Coordination: Aligns the work of ministries, local governments, the private sector and donors, avoiding duplication.
5. Handling uncertainty: Anticipates problems and risks (disasters, economic shocks).
6. Monitoring and accountability: Progress can be measured against plan targets and leaders can be held responsible.
7. Attracting investment and aid: Credible plans give confidence to investors and donors.
8. Use of ICT and technology: Planning decides how digital infrastructure and e-governance can speed development.
9. Employment and poverty reduction: Priorities are directed to productive sectors and the poor.

E-governance is the use of information and communication technology (internet, mobile, databases, websites, online portals) by government to deliver services, share information, communicate with citizens, businesses and other agencies, and run its internal operations more efficiently and transparently. Its types are G2C (government to citizen), G2B, G2G and G2E. Examples: online tax filing, e-passport and licence services, online land and company registration, e-procurement, and digital payment.

Achieving good governance through e-governance

Good governance means transparent, accountable, participatory, efficient, responsive and rule-based administration. E-governance supports each element:

• Transparency: Laws, budgets, tenders and decisions are published online, and right-to-information requests are easier.
• Accountability and less corruption: Online, automated, recorded procedures reduce face-to-face bribery and discretion; actions are traceable.
• Efficiency and effectiveness: Digitised workflows and shared databases cut paperwork, delays and cost.
• Citizen participation: Portals, e-consultations, social media and grievance systems let citizens give feedback and take part in decisions.
• Responsiveness and better services: Services are available 24/7, from anywhere, quickly and at low cost, including to remote areas.
• Equity and inclusion: Wider access reduces discrimination, provided there is digital literacy and infrastructure.
• Coordination: Integration between agencies avoids duplication.

For success, it needs infrastructure, laws, security and privacy protection, skilled staff and citizen awareness.

Ethical decision-making is the process of identifying the ethical issues in a situation, considering the available alternatives and their effects on all stakeholders, and choosing and carrying out the option that is morally best, consistent with ethical principles, laws, codes of conduct and values.

Framework for ethical decision-making (typical steps)

1. Define the problem: Gather the facts and identify who is affected (stakeholders) and what the ethical issue is.
2. Identify the alternatives: List the possible courses of action, including doing nothing.
3. Identify the stakeholders and their interests, rights and responsibilities.
4. Evaluate the alternatives using ethical approaches:
   • Consequentialist/utilitarian: which action gives the greatest good for the most people?
   • Deontological/duty: which action follows rules, duties and rights?
   • Virtue: what would an honest, fair, caring person do?
   • Fairness/justice and common good. Also check the law, company policy and professional code of ethics.
5. Choose the best alternative, testing it (e.g. would I be comfortable if it were made public? Is it fair to all?). Consult colleagues or seniors if unsure.
6. Implement the decision carefully and take responsibility.
7. Review the outcome, learn from it, and adjust future decisions.

Prolonged and improper use of computers can harm physical and mental health.

1. Repetitive strain injuries (RSI) and carpal tunnel syndrome: Pain and numbness in the wrists, hands and fingers from repeated typing and mouse use.
2. Computer vision syndrome / eye strain: Dry, tired eyes, blurred vision and headaches from long screen time, glare and poor lighting.
3. Back, neck and shoulder pain: From poor posture and badly designed chairs or desks.
4. Sedentary lifestyle: Lack of movement leads to obesity, heart disease, diabetes and poor circulation.
5. Stress, anxiety and sleep problems: From overwork, constant connectivity, and blue-light exposure at night.
6. Technology addiction: Excessive gaming, social media and internet use affecting study, work and relationships; isolation and depression.
7. Hearing loss: From prolonged high-volume headphone use.
8. Radiation/electromagnetic and noise concerns, and e-waste exposure to toxic materials for workers handling discarded equipment.
9. Cyberbullying and psychological effects.

Prevention: ergonomic workstations, the 20-20-20 rule for eyes, regular breaks and exercise, proper lighting, limiting screen time, and healthy sleep habits.

Security vs safety

They overlap: a security breach can cause a safety failure (e.g. an attack on a power plant).

Why software safety is hard to attain

• Software is very complex, with huge numbers of states, so it is impossible to test every input and path.
• Requirements are often incomplete or wrong, and many failures come from specification errors.
• Software interacts with hardware, people and other systems in unexpected ways; users make mistakes.
• Software does not wear out but contains hidden design faults that appear only in rare conditions.
• Changes and maintenance introduce new bugs; reuse in a new context can be unsafe (Ariane 5, Therac-25).
• Pressure of cost and schedule, overconfidence in software, and the difficulty of predicting rare, catastrophic events.

Can it be guaranteed? No. Absolute safety cannot be guaranteed. Formal methods, rigorous testing, redundancy, fail-safes, hazard analysis, standards and human oversight can reduce risk to an acceptable level, but not eliminate it.

Future of AI

AI is expected to become more capable and widespread: generative AI and large language models for writing, coding and design; AI in healthcare (diagnosis, drug discovery), education (personalised tutoring), agriculture, finance, transport (self-driving vehicles), manufacturing and e-governance; robots and intelligent assistants at home and work; and, in the long term, research toward artificial general intelligence. It will automate many tasks, raise productivity and create new kinds of jobs, while changing others.

Ethical implications

• Job displacement and inequality: Automation may eliminate jobs and widen the gap between those who have AI skills and resources and those who do not.
• Bias and discrimination: Models trained on biased data may treat people unfairly in hiring, lending or policing.
• Privacy and surveillance: Massive data collection, facial recognition and profiling threaten privacy.
• Transparency and accountability: Many models are "black boxes"; it is unclear who is responsible when AI causes harm (developer, user, owner).
• Safety and security: Errors in critical systems, cyberattacks and autonomous weapons.
• Misinformation: Deepfakes and automated fake content undermine trust.
• Intellectual property: Use of copyrighted works for training and ownership of AI-created content.
• Human autonomy and control: Over-reliance on machines, and the need to keep a human in the loop.
• Environmental cost of training and running large models.

Responsible AI therefore needs ethical guidelines, regulation, fairness testing, explainability, data protection and human oversight.

1. Functional definition of ethics

The functional definition describes ethics by what it does and what purpose it serves in society, rather than by its content. In this view, ethics is a set of principles and rules of conduct, accepted by a group or society, that guide people in deciding between right and wrong, good and bad, and in resolving conflicts of interest. Its functions are to guide behaviour, protect the rights and welfare of others, build trust and cooperation, settle disputes between competing values, and provide the basis for laws, professional codes and social norms. Ethics is therefore a practical tool for deciding how we ought to act toward others.

2. Employee monitoring

Employee monitoring is the observation of employees' activities at work using technology such as CCTV, email and internet-usage monitoring, keystroke logging, phone call recording, GPS tracking and screen capture software. Employers do it to protect company assets and confidential data, improve productivity, ensure security and compliance, prevent harassment and misuse of resources, and avoid legal liability. However, it raises ethical concerns: invasion of privacy, loss of trust, stress, and misuse of collected data. An ethical approach requires a clear written policy, informing employees in advance, monitoring only for legitimate business purposes, proportionality, secure handling of the data and compliance with law.