Ethics Assignment 1

Real-life examples of unethical software systems

Embedded Malware

A reasonable expectation of any program is that it doesn’t contain malware or any other type of software which hijacks a user’s computer. However, it may be difficult or impossible for  a user to tell if a product contains malicious code without installing it. In the case of video games, which are often played by young children or people with little knowledge of malware, it can be easy to break a user’s security without their knowledge. In 2018 a game called Abstractism went up on the Steam store, which is the most popular third-party marketplace for PC games. Unknown to users, it contained malware which would use system resources to mine cryptocurrency. When users discovered very high network activity and traced it to the software, the game was removed from Steam. This type of malware is called a Trojan, and clever programmers can use this technique to benefit from it in the short term before the malicious activity is detected. Even something as simple as a fake email can cause immense damage, like the ILOVEYOU trojan which caused $8.7 billion in damages in 2001. What makes this unethical isn’t just the violation of users’ ownership over their computers, but the fact that the malware can spread rapidly before authorities have time to stop it.

Privacy Policy

Privacy policies are a crucial part of online businesses that collect personal information. Social media giants like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat all require that users read their privacy policies before using the application. However, there are very few laws regulating the security of private data in the US. The ethics of private policies are questionable because of the fact that companies are required to follow their privacy policy, but very few people read the policy and the contents of the policy do not always guarantee privacy for the user. For example, Snapchat’s privacy policy states that data will be deleted when a user is inactive, but also that they cannot guarantee the deletion of personal data within a specific timeframe. Often private policies are very long and vary in degrees of readability. For example, some may not be very readable, require a high school education, a college education, or sometimes a law degree to read. Many will be surprised and maybe scared when taking the time to read these policies thoroughly. 

Addictive Design

In recent years, one of the most popular trends on social media apps has been an addictive design. This design can be found on platforms such as Youtube, TikTok, and Instagram just to name a few. The way the addictive design has been implemented is through an endless scrolling system. These applications, such as TikTok, Youtube Shorts, and Instagram Reels have been designed to keep showing you content every time a user scrolls up to the point where you can never run out of items to watch. One can easily spend hours at a time on these applications with this style of design. It can be seen as borderline unethical because of the way in which the algorithm is implemented. The algorithm learns the interests of the user by how much they interact with specific kinds of content. For example, if one were to go through their TikTok feed and like a decent amount of videos pertaining to the gym, they will likely continue to see videos about the gym in the future. The addictiveness of these apps can lead to negative, unethical consequences. The user can develop poor time management abilities and can easily be distracted from their work without realizing how much time has passed. I think the problems mostly arrive from the functionality of the software and its intentions. It’s intending for its users to spend a large amount of time on their application so it gets more exposure and views. The more people use the app, the better it is for them as a company.