Teaching an ethics component to computer science majors (abstract)

One can not discuss ethics without an understanding of the underlying legal environment. Students entering the litigious world of computing need to have a basic knowledge of the law so they can behave ethically and protect themselves from the less ethical. Students need to learn when a lawyer is needed and when one isn’t. Several scenarios that illustrate legal and ethical problems relating to the computing world, will be discussed and standard legal analyses offered. These scenarios will illustrate real world problems that confront computing professionals in their everyday work.