CSC 208Lab on Computer Reliability
Submit your work on D2L
30 points
Note:
-First watch the video on the Act Utilitarian Framework & Rawls.
-Second, read the info on the case study.
-You must include facts and cite the source of those facts in your proof.
-You must cite all resources properly; you may not use Wikipedia;
-The course textbooks/readings are always your first source.
However, you are encouraged to do your own research.
See the example of the act utilitarian framework on the CTA issue under:
Content | Week 5 | CTA
Group Number:
Group members’ full names:
Download this Word document and type your responses directly onto it,
leaving the questions.
Delete the instructions.
You MUST submit a WORD document.
Readings for the lab can be found in the references.
I. Facial Recognition
a.
Apply the act utilitarian framework to the ethical issue listed below and
make certain you discuss problems you had applying the framework (See
Quinn, 2014, Ch. 2 PowerPoint, or the handout).
The ethical issue is:
Was it ethical for Woodbridge Police to arrest Nijeer Parks, February 2019, for
suspicion of aggravated assault, unlawful possession of weapons, using a fake ID,
possession of marijuana, shoplifting, leaving the scene of a crime, and resisting
arrest based on facial recognition software that had identified him as a suspect
from a fake ID left at the scene (fake driver’s license photo)?
Do not change the ethical issue.
II. (20 points) Steps for the framework:
1) Determine what units you will use. In business, it is often currency. If not
currency, then units of happiness. Devise a scale for the units. Currency has a
built in scale, but happiness does not.
If you chose to use currency, please state so.
If you chose units of happiness, you must use the same scale we use in class:
The units will be units of happiness on a scale from -10 to +10 where -10
indicates the most harm and +10 the most benefit.
Hint: Use units of happiness.
2) List all stakeholders and determine why they are included.
Hint:
The stakeholders are:
1. Woodbridge Police Department
2. Nijeer Parks
3. The general public
Can you think of anyone else? If so, make an argument as to why to include
them.
3) For this step, do NOT place answers directly below.
Use the formatting we used in the CTA example.
Identify separate costs and separate benefits for each stakeholder
a) Select a stakeholder and identify a single cost or benefit to that stakeholder
b) Use Bentham’s attributes (at least the ones mentioned in the Birsch text) to
determine the weight of that cost/benefit.
You need to make strong arguments and cite resources.
Bentham’s Attributes (Bentham, J. 1789; Birsch, 2014; Quinn, 2017)
• intensity: magnitude of the experience
• duration: how long the experience lasts
• certainty: probability it will actually happen
• propinquity: how close the experience is in space and time
• fecundity: its ability to produce more experiences of the same kind
• purity: extent to which pleasure is not diluted by pain, and vice versa
• extent: number of people involved
c) repeat for all costs/benefits for all stakeholders
Remember, each cost and benefit must be separate.
4) Calculate the net costs vs. the net benefits; do the math.
5) Draw a conclusion based on the outcome of step 4.
If net costs > net benefits → the act is unethical.
If net costs < net benefits → the act is ethical.
**Use the format we used in the CTA example:
The Woodbridge Police Department
Costs
Benefits
Nijeer Parks
Costs
Benefits
The general public
Costs
Benefits
III. (5 points) Address all the problems you encountered applying
the act utilitarian procedure and the utilitarian procedure in
general to the ethical issue:
1. Unclear whom to include in calculations
2. Too much work
3. Ignores our innate sense of duty
4. Susceptible to the problem of moral luck
5. Sometimes it can be difficult to obtain the necessary information.
•
Determine and discuss if additional information is required, or
desired, to make an analysis.
6. All consequences must be measured on a single scale.
a. All units must be the same in order to do the sum
b. In certain circumstances, utilitarians must quantify the value of a
human life
7. Utilitarianism ignores the problem of an unjust distribution of good
consequences.
c. Utilitarianism does not mean “the greatest good of the greatest
number”
d. That requires a principle of justice
e. What happens when a conflict arises between the Principle of
Utility and a principle of justice?
(Quinn, Chapter 2, PP)
8. Can you trust your proof?
IV. Rawls’s
(5 points) Apply The Theory of Justice by Rawls to the same issue:
The ethical issue is:
Was it ethical for Woodbridge Police to arrest Nijeer Parks, February 2019, for
suspicion of aggravated assault, unlawful possession of weapons, using a fake ID,
possession of marijuana, shoplifting, leaving the scene of a crime, and resisting
arrest based on facial recognition software that had identified him as a suspect
from a fake ID left at the scene (driver’s license photo)?
a. Apply The Theory of Justice by Rawls to the same issue here.
Remember the principles:
JOHN RAWLS'S PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE
person may claim a "fully adequate" number of basic rights
and liberties, such as freedom of thought and speech, freedom of
association, the right to be safe from harm, and the right to own
property, so long as these claims are consistent with everyone else
having a claim to the same rights and liberties.
1. Each
Was this principle met?
2. Any
social and economic inequalities must satisfy two conditions:
first, they are associated with positions in society that everyone has
a fair and equal opportunity to assume; and second, they are "to be
to the greatest benefit of the least-advantaged members of society
(the difference principle)" [25, pp. 42-43].
If the ethical issue fails the first, you need to examine the 2nd.
b. (5 points) Compare and discuss the results from applying the act utilitarian
and The Theory of Justice by Rawls to the ethical issue.
Were different results obtained and why or why not?
References
Crumpler, W. (2020) The Problem of Bias in Facial Recognition. Center for
strategic & International Studies (CSIS). https://www.csis.org/blogs/technologypolicy-blog/problem-bias-facial-recognition
General, J., Sarlin, J. (2020) A false facial recognition match sent this innocent
Black man to jail. Story & Video CNN Business.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/29/tech/nijeer-parks-facial-recognition-policearrest/index.html
Hercheui, M. and Guerard, S. (2022). The impact of artificial intelligence biases:
Algorithmic discrimination. Global Conference on Business and Finance
Proceedings ♦ Volume 17 ♦ Number 1 2022. https://www.theibfr.com/wpcontent/uploads/2022/01/ISSN-1941-8589-V17-N1-2022.pdf#page=33
Nachmani, O., Suan, T., and Huynk, M. (2022) “Facekit”—Toward an
Automated Facial Analysis App Using a Machine Learning–Derived Facial
Recognition Algorithm.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/22925503211073843