CC0002 Notes 3 PDF

Module 5: Principles of Data Ethics Ethics Ethics is the study of morality. Morality is a subject that pertains to right and wrong action - In all human societies on the ethnographic record, people make distinctions between right and wrong (Brown, 1991). - I take it that you have your own views abou...

Module 5: Principles of Data Ethics Ethics Ethics is the study of morality. Morality is a subject that pertains to right and wrong action - In all human societies on the ethnographic record, people make distinctions between right and wrong (Brown, 1991). - I take it that you have your own views about what is right and wrong. - In the branch of ethics called normative ethics, we try to arrive at well-founded views about morality. Normative ethics relates to using, applying, and developing digital and online tools Why do we need data and digital ethics? There is an international consensus that ethics is vital to the development, application, and use of digital and online technologies (Vallor, 2021). - Technology shapes the way people live. - While digital and online technologies offer remarkable benefits (e.g., knowledge, communication, efficiency, personalisation), they also pose risks of significant harms to privacy, security, autonomy, fairness, transparency, etc. - Lawmakers are often unable to keep up with the speed of technological advancement. Hence, not only expert technologists, but also ordinary users, must learn to develop and use technologies in ways that avoids harms while getting the most from the benefits. Moral Theories In normative ethics, moral theories are developed to achieve two aims (Timmons, 2019): Theoretical aim: To explain what features of actions make them morally right or wrong Practical aim: To offer practical guidance in making morally correct decisions These three moral theories are among the most influential in normative ethics (Timmons, 2019): Utilitarianism (Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Peter Singer, etc.): An action is morally right when it would likely produce at least as much wellbeing (welfare) as would any other action one might perform instead. Otherwise, the action is wrong. 1) - The classical utilitarians, such as Bentham and Mill, took well-being to consist of pleasure and the absence of pain. Peter Singer, a contemporary utilitarian, takes wellbeing to consist of the satisfaction of one’s preferences/desires. Virtue ethics (Confucius, Aristotle, etc.): An action is morally right when it is what a virtuous person would do in the circumstances. Otherwise, the action is wrong. 2) - Commonly recognised virtues include honesty, courage, justice, temperance, - beneficence, humility, loyalty, and gratitude. A truly virtuous person is one who has all the virtues. A virtuous person may only be a hypothetical ideal that we can strive to be. Immanuel Kant’s deontological ethics: An action is morally right when it treats persons (including oneself) as ends in themselves and not merely as a means. Otherwise, the action is wrong. 3) - Kant’s theory says that all persons are unconditionally valuable insofar as they are rational and autonomous. - It also says that we should respect the value of persons, and not use them in a way that disrespects their value. Principles of Data Ethics Moral theories are meant to provide very general explanations and guidance concerning what we morally ought to do. While moral theories have the advantage of comprehensiveness, it can be difficult to deduce what they would prescribe in a particular context. Several professional associations and private firms have formulated more specific principles to guide actions with respect to data and information technology. - Links to these sets of principles are provided in the Notes section below. The following principles are sampled from the Singapore Computer Society’s professional Code of Conduct: : Integrity SCS members will act at all times with integrity. They will: - not lay claim to a level of competence that they do not possess - act with complete discretion when entrusted with confidential information - be impartial when giving advice and will disclose any relevant personal interests - give credit for work done by others where credit is due Professionalism SCS members will act with professionalism to enhance the prestige of the profession and the Society. They will: - uphold and improve the professional standards of the Society through participation in their formulation, establishment, and enforcement not seek personal advantage to the detriment of the Society not speak on behalf of the Society without proper authority not slander the professional reputation of any other person use their special knowledge and skill for the advancement of human welfare Cyberbullying Cyberbullying is the use of the internet or digital devices to inflict psychological harm on a person or group (Quinn, 2019; Media Literacy Council 2018). Examples: - Repeatedly texting or emailing hurtful messages to another person. - Spreading derogatory lies about another person. - Tricking someone into revealing highly personal information. - “Outing” or revealing someone’s secrets online. - Posting embarrassing photographs or videos of other people without their consent. - Impersonating someone else online in order to damage that person’s reputation. - Threatening or creating significant fear in another person. Prevalence: - According to the 2020 Child Online Safety Index (Cosi) report, which includes data on 145,000 children across 30 countries, 45% of 8- to 12-year-olds experienced cyberbullying, either as the bullies or as the victims. - Within Singapore, 40% of 8- to 12-year-olds and 52% of 13- to 19-year-olds were exposed to cyberbullying. Effects: - Depression and anxiety - Low self-esteem - Difficulty sleeping - Headaches, stomach aches - Suicidal thoughts - Suicide attempts - Eating disorders What you can do if you are cyberbullied: - Don’t blame yourself. - Don’t retaliate. - Save the evidence: Take screenshots of texts. - Talk to someone you trust. - Block the bully. - Report the bully. - Keep social media passwords private. - Restrict others’ access to your social media pages. - Change your social media accounts: If you are harassed, delete the account and create a new one. How to know if someone you care about is being cyberbullied: - Changes in mood or personality. - Work or school performance declines. - Lack of desire to do things they normally enjoy. - Upset after using phone or going online. - Secretive about what they are doing online. - Unusual online behaviour: Not using phone/computer at all; using phone/computer all the time; receiving lots of notifications. - Deleting social media accounts. Informational Privacy Digital and online technologies have a major impact on one’s ability to secure privacy. In particular, these technologies affect what the philosopher Anita L. Allen describes as informational privacy: “confidentiality, anonymity, data protection, and secrecy of facts about persons” (Allen, 2005) Consider this incident where some researchers released the personal profile details of 70,000 users on OkCupid, a dating website: Brian Resnick, “Researchers just released profile data on 70,000 OkCupid users without permission,” Vox (12 May 2016). Critics maintained that the (informational) privacy of the OkCupid users was violated by the researchers, because the researchers stored and re-deployed the personal information of the users without their consent. A right to privacy is recognised in all international and regional human rights instruments, including Article 12 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Whistle-Blowing In large organisations, it can be difficult to hold people accountable for unethical or illegal acts. - Law enforcement and regulators are not able to constantly monitor the internal operations of organisations. Such constant surveillance isn’t even desirable. - Leadership within the organisation may cover up any corrupt activities. There are many examples of misconduct in organisations not being brought to light until much damage has already been done, or only after a private citizen reported it at great personal cost. - The 1986 Challenger Disaster is a memorable case where something catastrophic happened as a result of internal mismanagement. - A more recent case involving Wirecard, an electronic payment company, was reported in Singapore. - Data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica crossed many ethical lines. Sometimes it is up to ordinary, low-level people to “blow the whistle” on unacceptable conduct in their organisations. “A whistle-blower is someone who breaks ranks with an organization in order to B make an unauthorized disclosure of information about a harmful situation after attempts to report the concerns through authorized organizational channels have been ignored or rebuffed.” (Quinn, 2019, emphasis added) - The question of whether to “blow the whistle” can arise in any organisation— not just in government agencies and private businesses. - NTU has its own dedicated whistle-blower channel, which is taken very seriously But when should one whistle-blow? In his well-known textbook on business ethics, Richard T. De George proposed that whistle-blowing is morally permissible when three conditions are fulfilled (De George, 2006; Brenkert, 2009): 1. The firm…will do [or has done] serious and considerable harm to employees or to the public. 2. Once employees identify a serious threat to the user of a product or to the general public, they should report it to their immediate superior and make their moral concern known. 3. If one's immediate supervisor does nothing effective about the concern or complaint, the employee should exhaust the internal procedures and possibilities within the firm. De George went on to suggest that if two additional conditions are met, then it would be morally obligatory for someone to whistle-blow (De George, 2006; Brenkert, 2009): 4. The whistle‐blower must have, or have accessible, documented evidence that A would convince a reasonable, impartial observer that one's view of the situation is correct; and 5. The employee must have good reasons to believe that by going public the necessary changes will be brought about. The chance of being successful must be worth the risk one takes and the danger to which one is exposed. First objection to De George’s criteria (Quinn, 2019): The criteria are too stringent. It can be morally permissible to whistle-blow, even when not all of conditions 1 through 3 are met. - - For instance, it may be morally permissible to whistle-blow when you know that serious harm will be done to the public, but there is not enough time to lobby supervisors and exhaust all internal reporting procedures. By itself, the effort to prevent serious harm may be enough to make whistleblowing morally permissible. Second objection to De George’s criteria (Quinn, 2019): The criteria are not demanding enough. It can be morally obligatory to whistle-blow even when conditions 4 and 5 have not be fulfilled. - - For instance, a single employee may have satisfied conditions 1 through 3, but still be unable to acquire enough documented evidence to convince an impartial observer that any wrongdoing has been done. However, it may still be morally obligatory to whistle-blow, if one is confident that another organisation, such as law enforcement or the media, would be able to persuade an impartial observer of the organisation’s wrongdoing. Lams Questions Module 6: IP and Rights Licensing Intellectual Property (IP) Creations resulting from the exercise of the human brain - Examples include inventions, designs, ideas, plant hybrids, music, poems, paintings, photographs, logos, books, films, cartoon characters, trade secrets. Bundle of legal rights protecting such creations, i.e., intellectual property rights (IPRs) IP law recognises that creators have the right to protect their work. - IP law gives legal rights to IP creators, allowing them to control and exploit the use of their IP for a specific period of time. Different Types of IP Copyright - Original and related works - Written, drawn, composed (books, movies, songs) - Reduced to or expressed in material form Patents - Inventions that present technical solution to a problem (cars, TV, mobile phones) Trademarks - Signs used in businesses to distinguish business products/services from competitors (logos) Confidential information - Non-public and valuable information (concepts, trade secrets, personal information/data) Others - Registered designs - Plant varieties - Geographical indications - Layout design of an integrated circuit Why protect IP? Provides motivation for creators - As recognition, protection of intellectual output Encourages constant creation and innovation Allows creators to exploit their works for commercial gain Allows creators to defend their works from infringement (wrongful use of IP) What is Copyright? © written / graphic Copyright is the right to prevent the unauthorised copying of the tangible form in which a person has chosen to express his ideas, for example in a: - Short story, musical composition, theatre script, painting, computer programme, photograph, movie, or video game It can be described as a bundle of exclusive rights belonging to the copyright owner. - Allows owners to enforce their rights against infringement Singapore’s copyright law is governed by the Copyright Act Copyright protects the “form” of an idea and NOT the idea itself No need for novelty so long as there is independent creation. Artistic merit is not a requirement for copyright to attach to a work—too subjective Symbol act as a notice to let people know - who the owner is - when protection came into effect - ability to find out if the work is still in protection Criteria for protection Copyright protection arises automatically by operation of law, so long as certain basic criteria are satisfied: Falls within the categories of protection Fixed in tangible form (written/graphic form, capable of being perceived) Original - Work was created independently by the author Author/creator is a Singapore citizen or PR How does Copyright protect? Form of expression, and not the idea or information itself. Idea or information is protected by different means. Many different media or forms of expression can be protected. Expression must, as a general rule, be original. No need for registration formalities (official stamps). Copyright arises “as soon as the ink dries”. Unprotected Matter Ideas and concepts Discoveries (a research finding) Procedures (steps in applying for a grant) Methods (solution to a problem) Any subject matter that has not been reduced to a tangible form Works in the public domain - Conceptual space where intellectual property has exhausted its protection duration reside - Use without the need to ask for permission - NOT the internet * Duration of Protection Literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works Published editions Sound recordings and films Broadcasts and cable programmes Performances Life of author plus 70 years from the end of the year in which the author died 25 years from the end of the year in which the edition was first published 70 years from the end of the year of release 50 years from the end of the year of first broadcast 70 years from the end of the year of the performance Overlapping Copyright One product may contain a variety of copyright works Each protected by a copyright with differing rights Purchasing a physical product does not give rights to underlying copyright work(s) (e.g., purchasing an original music CD does not give right to make copies) Who owns the Copyright? Person who creates/authors the work automatically owns it from the moment of creation Except: - Employment: If the work is created by an employee pursuant to the terms of his employment, the employer owns the copyright in the work. - By agreement: The author can agree to transfer some or all of his rights. Joint authors: - Where work is created jointly by more than one author, the authors are all coowners of the copyright in the work - Concept: Where more than one author creates inseparable or interdependent parts of a whole work E.g., two trainers involved in creating the training materials for a course - Requirement: contributions must be original material expression, not just ideas or noncopyrightable materials. What is a Contract? Definition of a contract: “An agreement giving rise to obligations which are enforced or recognised by law” It is a voluntary agreement between two or more parties. The law exists to govern and regulate the parties’ relationship in such agreements. It can be verbal or written, simple or complicated. - Written contract - Done because humans tend to forget especially when it consists of many things to be done - To be clear of goals, obligations, deals, duration - Hard evidence of an agreement - What is expected from party in carrying out/performing obligation in terms of quality/standard of performance - By when these are to be performed - Can be time-consuming, troublesome, inefficient Every time we undertake a transaction, exchange something of real value for something in return – engage in formation of contract Functions of Contracts Set out extent of agreement Identify and clarify rights and obligations Allocate risk (between parties) - Ensure that all foreseeable risk of goals not being met are considered. For instance, breaching of contract (party omits to fulfil a contract obligation), contract would have stated what needs to be done to repair the breach Provide certain guarantees Set performance standards Provide how non-fulfilment of obligations should be dealt with What the Law of Contract Covers Formation of contracts - Elements required for a contract to exist Contents (terms) of a contract Performance of terms of the contract by its parties Remedies when there is non-fulfilment of either party’s obligations (breach) Elements of a Contract Offer - Indication by offeror of willingness to contract Acceptance - Absolute and unqualified—must be communicated to offeror by offeree Consideration - Usually indicated by price or the carrying out of an act in return for the benefit Intention to create legal relations - Reasonable to conclude from conduct of parties of their intention to be legally bound Capacity - Parties must have the capability to enter a contract - Issue of minors (below age of 18) and impaired mental capacity Once all these elements are in place, a contract is deemed to be FORMED. Absence of any one of these means that no contract is in existence. Contractual Terms and Performance Set out and determine the rights and obligations of respective parties Provide for how obligations are to be performed Provide for how risks are to be allocated Provide for how the contractual relationship is to be regulated - How it begins, carries on, ends, or is renewed Common Terms in Contracts Purpose of contract/description of collaboration - What is the aim of the contract? Payment/Fees - How much and how is payment to be made? Rights and obligations of each party Duration/Termination - How long is the contractual relationship going to last? How will the contract end? Warranties (fundamental promises) - Basic assurance that the contract can be carried out effectively Dispute resolution - How will disagreements be resolved? Breach and Remedies Contract is breached when there is non-performance of a term. Does not automatically terminate contract! Breach entitles the wronged party to demand cure of the breach from the other party, as well as financial compensation (damages) if there is loss. (remedies) - May also be entitled to terminate contract Using Contracts with IP You already have an understanding of the law of contract. You now have a general understanding of IP, and copyright. Contracts combined with IP enables you to transact/deal with IP usage. Words you need to be familiar with: Permission, release, licence, assignment, clearance Dealing with IP The law regards intellectual property as a type of personal or movable property IP is capable of being owned and dealt with as other types of personal property. In other words, you can buy, sell, lease/hire out, or give away IP. It has commercial value. Two KEY methods that are used in dealing with IP: Licence (noun) License (verb) A licence is a type of contract that gives permission to the holder/recipient to carry out a certain act, which would be infringing in nature otherwise. A licence gives the owner the ability to use or exploit intellectual property commercially, most commonly requiring a fee in return for the grant of the licence. Types and Uses: Non-exclusive licence - Granted to more than one person Exclusive licence - Granted to one person only Where do you see licences being used? - All social media platforms - All SaaS platforms - All media aggregation platforms where works can be accessed for use Assignment (noun) Assign (verb) An assignment is another type of contract - Legal meaning of “assign”: To regard as belonging to - Must be in writing and signed by or on behalf of the assignor Means by which a person becomes an owner of property/property rights Legal Effect Under the assignment, the assignor (person making the assignment) transfers all entitlement and ownership rights that are the subject of the assignment to the assignee (the person receiving these rights). The assignee is now the new owner of the property. Licensing Grants someone else (other than the IP owner) the right to use the IP Less costly IP owner remains in control Use an IP already created by someone else for a specific reason Assignment Transfers the entire title and interest in someone’s IP to another More costly IP owner gives up control Wish to have complete control over something new created for you by someone Note: The way a licence is worded can make it almost as strong or effective as an assignment. Thus, it is important to understand the language used in licences and assignment agreements LAMS questions licensee receiving : licensor : IP providing IP Module 7a: Artificial Intelligence AI Present Day Renaissance : Powerful computers: Become widely available, such as Cloud computing and GPU Big Data: Availability of large amount of data due to internet and smart mobile phones Software Algorithms: Machine Learning, Deep Learning Deep Learning (most popular) Implementation of ML based on Deep Neural Network that mimics the human brains Artificial Neural Network (ANN) - Classifying numbers-based data A Convolution Neural Network (CNN) - Classifying images Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) - Time series data (e.g., audio) Deep Reinforcement Learning Transfer Learning Basis: AlexNet Neurons and Neural Network Hidden layer - Consists of learnable parameters (with large amount of data) - The ‘algorithm’ that can learn and improve by itself Mimics the human brain to recognize pattern - Ability to learn Deep Neural Network for Deep learning Deep Neural Network - Multiple layers of hidden layers - Much more sophisticated algorithms can be learnt AlexNet At the 2012 ImageNet computer image recognition competition: Alex Krizhevsky used machine to implement machine learning based deep learning algorithm (CNN). First time that machine learning based algorithm beat, by a huge margin, handcrafted software written by computer vision domain experts. Does not recognise a particular person but detect that there is a person in front of the camera (e.g., during online quiz) AI Applications Robotics Autonomous Automotive and Navigation - Via sensors, images - Reduce human errors, running cost (predict when to do maintenance, prevent malfunction) - Improve convenience, safety - Navigation: optimal routes, avoid ERP Social Media - Recommender, advertisement Consumer Electronics - Smartphone with AI-driven apps such as Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa, Cortana - Smart household devices such as TV, refrigerators, ovens - Smart Floor vacuum cleaners - Smart security camera Business and E-Commerce - Inventory management (reduce cost) - Demand forecasting (improve efficiency) - Personalised merchandising (preference, interest, browsing history) - Chatbots - Improve customer experience Banking and Finance - Better business analytics (accuracy, high volume of data) - Algorithm trading (execute trades at optimal prices) - Credit risks assessment - Wealth management (automated portfolio manager) - Fraud Healthcare - Analyse medical images - Early detection (cancer) - Develop new drugs - Genomic profiling Farming and Precision Agriculture - Nutrient and water management - Detect pests and diseases in plants - Detect weeds - Analyse crop health (by drones) - Improve harvest quality and accuracy Education - Improve teaching and learning strategies - AL e-tutors - Automatic grading - AI based e-proctoring A AI concerns Job loss Misuse of AI (Deepfake: spread false information, create tension) AI explainability AI bias (depends on type of data) AI ethics in decision making (weapon) Summary AI is rapidly transforming the way we live: - Helps to makes things run more efficiently - Improves safety and work productivity - Frees up time for human to do more creative things - Enables better quality of life Current generation of AI technologies are still considered as Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) - Goal is to eventually achieve Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) But there are also many concerns about the potential risk that we need to be aware of - Responsible AI LAMS questions Module 7b: Blockchain and its Application in Finance Barter Economy: to trade something you have for something you don’t use commodities as a mode of payment (cocoa beans) disadvantage – depends on size, shelf-life Money/Currency: according to mainstream economics, money (currency)relieves the issues arising from commodity trading as it is a universal store of value that can be readily used by anyone allows faster transactions as sellers have an easier time finding a buyer with whom they want to do business with o a seller can simply sell his or her goods and in turn pay their trading partners with the money earned much easier to bring currency around as compared to bringing bags of cocoa beans coins and papers last longer than most commodities used for trading can be accumulated and stored Egyptians invented minted currency o Use metal rings as money o Then made coins from precious metals such as gold, silver, or copper o Metallic coins are heavy to carry for daily transactions Paper money was invented o Individuals would deposit their coins with a trustworthy party and receive a note denoting how much coins they had deposited o The note could then be redeemed for currency at a later date. Central Bank – key concept of modern money o paper money is a country's official paper currency that is circulated and accepted for the transactions of goods and services o the country’s central bank that authorises and regulates the printing of paper money, ensuring that the flow of funds aligns with the monetary policy o Paper money used to be backed by a certain amount of gold and later on government-issued currency is purely based on a country's government, so called fiat currency o The relationship between supply and demand of the fiat money, and the stability of the issuing government, defines the value of fiat money In 20th century, cheque becomes a very popular non-cash method for making payments. o A cheque is a document that orders a bank to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. o Can still issue even if the account has insufficient money! o The person writing the cheque, known as the drawer, has a transaction banking account where the money is held. Say for example, person 1 issues a cheque to person2. When person2 drop cheque at the deposit box, person 2's bank will send the relevant information to person 1's bank. After person1's bank check that the cheque is valid and person 1 has enough money in his account, person1's bank will transfer the money to person2's bank account. Advantages of cheque It is more convenient than carrying a large amount of cash around. Cheques are safer than cash when carrying them around since a thief can’t do much with your cheque book. They can be post-dated. Disadvantages of cheque Cheques are not legal tender; creditors can refuse to accept them. Cheques are valueless if drawer has not enough funds in their account. There is a lead time from posting to drawing a cheque. They can be posted. Credit Card o card issuer creates a bank account for the cardholder, from which the cardholder can borrow money (with a limit) for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance o contactless payment or mobile payment has become the main tool to transact in our everyday life o generally do not carry cash, cheques or credit cards around nowadays. We simply use our mobile phone to make a payment Bitcoin type of cryptocurrency an example of blockchain application Bitcoin price: (exchange rate between bitcoin and money) o Set by markets o has a floating exchange rate with fiat currency o value of bitcoin fluctuates according to supply and demand in the market Bitcoin wallet: Important part: - Bitcoin address (long string of letters and numbers) QR code (contains same info, scanned by camera) Sending bitcoin, screen is presented with: 1. A destination bitcoin address 2. 2. The amount to send, in bitcoin (BTC) or his local currency (USD). She can then use (spend) the change output in a subsequent transaction. This is called the UXTO unspent transaction output. The transactions will be recorded on the bitcoin blockchain. The transaction ledger can be checked by anybody through various bitcoin explorer. The screenshot on the right is one example. Alice’s wallet application contains all the logic for selecting appropriate inputs and outputs to build a transaction to Alice’s specification. At Bob’s café, Alice only needs to specify destination and amount, and the rest happens in the wallet application without her seeing the details. Alice’s funds are in the form of a 0.10 BTC output, which is too much money for the 0.015 BTC cup of coffee. Alice will need 0.845 BTC in change. The difference of 0.0005 will be treated as transaction fee to reward the miner, who is the ledger keep of the transactions. different values Nash LAMS Questions