Speaker: Dr. Miranda Mowbray, lecturer faculty of engineering, University of Bristol In the hyper-connected world, data can be a company's greatest asset. Computer scientists now sit in corporate boardrooms, and their decisions fundamentally affect the workings of our society. Scandals in recent years over the misuse of data have increased calls for the inclusion of ethics in the training of computer scientists. This talk will give suggestions for content and teaching style for an ethics course for computer scientists. In addition to the educational literature and the design of previous courses on this topic, and Miranda's experience of giving undergraduate lectures on it, she will draw on her own personal experiences as a data science practitioner in industry. Her approach is practical: what practices can computer science education teach, to assist students in handling the ethical dilemmas that they will encounter in their subsequent industrial careers? She will advocate using real examples from industry involving computer scientists; having a practical exercise in analysis of an example using different ethical frameworks; and discussing practical options open to computer scientists who find themselves involved in something that they are ethically uncomfortable with.

1. How to teach data ethics
in a digital world
Miranda Mowbray, University of Bristol

2. • Ethical issues relevant to the digital world
• Teaching computer science undergraduates & postgraduates
• Not research ethics / learning ethics (done elsewhere)
• Not Luciano Floridi’s data ethics
“Programmes seeking accreditation must cover and assess the legal,
social, ethical, and professional issues (LSEPIs) relating to computing.”
- BCS 2018 guidelines for accreditation
Scope / Context
2

3. Christopher Wylie
3
Photo Chatham House, from 2018 conference
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chathamhouse/42624320935

4. Christopher Wylie
Q: Do you feel responsible for what
happened?
A: I do feel responsible for it. And it's
something that I regret… it was a
grossly unethical experiment.
... you have a billionaire breathing
down your neck going, why don't I
have it yet, I've just given you tens of
millions of dollars, where's my
psychological warfare weapon?
4
Observer interview by Carole Cadwalladr, publ. 17 Mar 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXdYSQ6nu-M
Photo Chatham House, from 2018 conference
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chathamhouse/42624320935

5. Christopher Wylie
5
Q: You didn't ever stop and think…
actually I'm not sure about this?
A: Um, no. I - we were solely focused
on getting this data and doing this
experiment.
Observer interview by Carole Cadwalladr, publ. 17 Mar 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXdYSQ6nu-M
Photo Chatham House, from 2018 conference
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chathamhouse/42624320935

6. • Free speech, fake news, politics and government
• Law and order, war and peace
• Non-discrimination and inclusion
• Privacy
• Digital technology and the environment
• Intellectual property and open source
• Digital nudges for behaviour change
more…
The digital world
Some topics from UoB’s Computer Science in Society course
6

7. Ethics course I
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Based on BCS code of conduct
https://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/conduct.pdf
“What are the six Duties to the Profession
listed in the BCS code?”
HOW can you make this subject
BORING?
McNamara, Smith & Murphy-Hill, “Does
ACM’s Code of Ethics change ethical
decision making in software development?”
https://people.engr.ncsu.edu/ermurph3/papers/fse
18nier.pdf
Answer: no.
Photo eltpics on Flickr (cropped),
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eltpics/7550213772/

8. Ethics course II
8
Sci-Fi
Discussion of Sci-Fi books or films raising
ethical questions
• cool idea, unsurprisingly popular
• link to future professional life unclear
• some inferences may be drawn that
weren’t the ones intended
Myers & Abd-El-Khalik, “A ton of faith in science!”
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/tea.
21324
Alternative example source: Industry
Image tonechootero on Flickr (cropped),
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonechootero/4334225041/
Photo of page from flick-book version of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, 1927

9. Ethics course III
9
• compliance-based
• traditional lecture style
• not subject-specific
Very low student feedback ratings
• nothing to do with me
• or, told me nothing new
• patronizing
Photo Alex Polexhaev / sashapo on Flickr (cropped),
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sashapo/5499926931/

10. • compliance-based  values, outcomes, rules
• traditional lecture style  interaction, coursework
• not subject-specific  examples from relevant industry
Student feedback
• nothing to do with me  practical examples
• told me nothing new  dilemmas, debate
• patronizing  ask students to decide for themselves
How else to do it: suggestions
10

11. Recidivism prediction
Algorithm to predict whether a criminal
is likely to reoffend, so as to help
determine their sentence
What ethical issues might arise?
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Photo mr_tentacle on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_tentacle/625998581/

12. Recidivism prediction
What ethical issues might arise?
• Accuracy
• Bias / non-discrimination
• Transparency
• Accountability / human in the loop
more
12
Photo mr_tentacle on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_tentacle/625998581/

13. • Ethical analysis
• Examples
• Discussions
• What you can do
Coursework:
- Individual short essay on consultancy scenario
- Group video pitch for start-up or social enterprise
Content
13

14. Uber’s Greyballing
• Identified police / local regulation
officers
• Showed them fake interface so
they couldn’t catch Ubers
Greyballing was legal
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/technology/u
ber-greyball-program-evade-authorities.html
14
Photo Automobile Italia / automobileitalia on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/automobileitalia/33017730995/

15. Uber’s Greyballing
Ethical or not?
WHY – outcomes, values, rules
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Photo Automobile Italia / automobileitalia on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/automobileitalia/33017730995/

16. How did it go?
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Too early to say, but:
• Unit director said he’d never seen
such high-quality and engaged
discussion by computer scientists
• Requests for student projects
• “I don’t normally think about this sort
of thing, but that was really
interesting”
Photo Sara / sarae on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sarae/119583616/
Original: mayoral election sticker, Ukraine

17. Miranda Mowbray, University of Bristol (on right)
17

18. customerservices@jisc.ac.uk
jisc.ac.uk
Thank you
Dr Miranda Mowbray
Lecturer in Computer Science, University of Bristol