Ethical Issues in Open Source Software

In this essay we argue that the current social and ethical structure in the Open Source Software (OSS) Community stem from its roots in academia. The individual developers experience a level of autonomy similar to that of a faculty member. Furthermore, we assert that the Open Source Software Community\u27s social structure demands benevolent leadership. We argue that it is difficult to pass off low quality open source software as high quality software and that the Open Source development model offers strong accountability. Finally, we argue that Open Source Software introduces ethical challenges for universities and the software development community

Free-libre open source software as a public policy choice

Free Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) is characterised by a specific programming and development paradigm. The availability and freedom of use of source code are at the core of this paradigm, and are the prerequisites for FLOSS features. Unfortunately, the fundamental role of code is often ignored among those who decide the software purchases for Canadian public agencies. Source code availability and the connected freedoms are often seen as unrelated and accidental aspects, and the only real advantage acknowledged, which is the absence of royalty fees, becomes paramount. In this paper we discuss some relevant legal issues and explain why public administrations should choose FLOSS for their technological infrastructure. We also present the results of a survey regarding the penetration and awareness of FLOSS usage into the Government of Canada. The data demonstrates that the Government of Canada shows no enforced policy regarding the implementation of a specific technological framework (which has legal, economic, business, and ethical repercussions) in their departments and agencies

Getting to the Source of Ethical Issues

Research with open source software (OSS) raises the same ethical issues as other disciplines in which publicly released materials are the objects of study, and the creators of those materials are still living. These disciplines are literary and artistic criticism and public policy research. As El-Emam (this issue) mentioned there are also similarities to research employing internet newsgroup posts as data.Les recherches effectu\ue9es dans le domaine des logiciels \ue0 code source libre soul\ue8vent les m\ueames probl\ue8mes d'\ue9thique que dans les autres disciplines, o\uf9 des documents diffus\ue9s dans le public font l'objet d'\ue9tudes, alors que leurs auteurs sont toujours vivants. La critique litt\ue9raire, la critique artistique et les recherches sur les politiques gouvernementales constituent de telles disciplines. Comme le mentionne \ue9galement M. El Emam (dans ce num\ue9ro), il existe \ue9galement des similitudes avec les recherches qui font appel \ue0 des documents diffus\ue9s par des groupes de nouvelles sur l'Internet.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Open Archaeology: Definitions, Challenges and Context

© 2015 Andrew T. Wilson and Ben Edwards. Open Source Archaeology: Ethics and Practice' brings together authors and researchers in the field of open-source archaeology, defined as encompassing the ethical imperative for open public access to the results of publicly-funded research; practical solutions to open-data projects; open-source software applications in archaeology; public information sharing projects in archaeology; open-GIS; and the open-context system of data management and sharing. This edited volume is designed to discuss important issues around open access to data and software in academic and commercial archaeology, as well as to summarise both the current state of theoretical engagement, and technological development in the field of open-archaeology

Open source and free software in film and media production

The Open Source and Free philosophy encourages an environment of freely sharing ideas, tools and content. Because of this, a user can freely share, customize and build upon existing solutions. Using this philosophy of sharing tools, ideas and content in a film and media production environment, has been an interest of mine for a while now. I am interested in exploring an alternative to the industry standards in the field today and can smaller budget films and freelancers benefit from this? Software can be put into two different categories, proprietary software and Open Source or Free (as in free speech not free stuff) software. Proprietary software refers to software that is closed source. This means that the software is exclusive property of its developers or publishers and cannot be copied or distributed without complying with their licensing agreements. Almost all commercial software is proprietary. Free and Open Source software are open to modification and redistribution. Because of the open development model of Open Source and Free software, I ask the question: “Can Open Source and Free software be used for professional film production, media production and education?” The research for this thesis is a combination of practical and qualitative research. First, I study and analyse the philosophy of Open Source and Free Software, with a focus on the implementation of it to film and media production. Secondly, I include real world examples of implementing this software to professional film and media production. Thirdly, I contemplate the ethical questions and possible issues of using non-copyrighted tools to create copyrighted material. Finally, I have included two of my own projects that use Open Source and Free software. These are the Open Creative Suite and the Portable virtual studio system. The Open Creative Suite is my attempt to compile and unify a group of programs that can be used in a pre-production environment. To make the installation and use of them easier to my peers and colleagues. With the Portable virtual studio I attempt to build a portable system to film live footage with a virtual environment. This project is made to test the Open Source and Free software style of development. The research brought up some interesting points. First, Open Source and Free software has finally reached the quality it needs to be used in professional production. Secondly, it explores the ethical dialogue of the responsibility we as creators have of making our techniques and tools accessible to others. Finland is a small country and to efficiently use the resources we have, Open Source and Free software provides a partial solution. By the help of this research I hope to shed some light on this subject and demonstrate to others an alternative way of doing creative work.Avoimien ja Vapaiden ohjelmistojen filosofia kannustaa ideoiden, työkalujen ja sisällön vapaaseen jakamiseen. Tämän takia ohjelmistojen käyttäjät voivat vapaasti jakaa, muuttaa ja rakentaa olemassa olevien ratkaisujen pälle. Tämän jakamisen filosofian käyttäminen elokuva ja media tuotannon yhteydessä, on ollut kiinnostuksen kohde minulle jo jonkin aikaa. Olen myös kinnostunut tutkimaan vaihtoehtoa elokuva ja mediateollisuuden käyttämiin nykyisiin ratkaisuihin. Voivatko esimerkiksi pienen budjetin elokuvat ja freelancerit hyötyä tästä? Ohjelmistot voidaan jakaa kahteen eri kategoriaan, suljettuihin ja avoimiin tai vapaisiin. Suljetut ohjemistot viittaavat ohjelmistoihin jotka eivät jaa lähdekoodia. Tämä tarkoittaa että ohjelmisto on yksinomaan sen kehittäjien omaisuutta ja sitä ei saa kopioida, jakaa tai käyttää suostumatta heidän lisenssiin. Melkein kaikki kaupallinen ohjelmisto on suljettua. Avoimien ja Vapaiden ohjelmien vapaamman kehitysmallin takia, esitän kysymyksen: "Soveltuvatko Avoimet ja Vapaat ohjelmat Elokuvan ja median ammatilliseen tuotantoon?" Tutkimus rakentuu käytännön ja laadullisen tutkimuksen yhdistelmästä. Ensiksi, tutkin ja analysoin Avoimien ja Vapaiden ohjelmistojen filosofiaa, pääteemana miten se soveltuu elokuvan ja median tuotantoympäristöön. Toiseksi, käyn läpi esimerkkejä ammattimaailman ratkaisuista käyttää tämän kaltaisia ohjelmistoja. Kolmanneksi, pohdin eettisiä kysymyksiä ja mahdollisia ongelmia tekijänoikeusvapaan työkalun käytöstä luomaan tekijänoikeutettua materiaalia. Lopuksi, esittelen kaksi omaa projektiani jotka käyttävät Avoimia ja Vapaita ohjelmia. Nämä ovat Avoin Luova Ohjelmistokokoelma (Open Creative Suite) ja Kannettava virtuaalistudio (Portable virtual studio system). Avoin Luova Ohjelmistokokoelma on yritykseni koota ja yhdistää ryhmä ohjelmia jota voidaan käyttää tuotannon ennakkosuunnitteluun. Ajatus tässä on tehdä näiden ohjelmien asennus ja käyttöönotto helpommaksi kolleegoilleni. Kannettava virtuaalistudio on yritykseni rakentaa kannettava järjestelmä jolla voidaan kuvata reaaliaikaista kuvaa virtuaalisessa ympäristössä. Projektin toteutin kokeena, kokeillakseni avoimien ja vapaiden ohjelmistojen kehitysmallia. Tutkimus tuo esille pari kiinnostavaa huomiota. Ensiksi, Vapaat ja Avoimet ohjelmistot ovat viimeinkin saavuttaneet laadut ne vaativat, jotta niitä voi käyttää elokuvien ja median ammattituotannossa. Toiseksi, se tuo esille eettisen dialogin meidän vastuusta tekijöinä, tehdä tekniikoistamme ja työkaluistamme saatavia muille. Suomi on pieni maa ja pienet resurssit pitää käyttää tehokkaasti, avoimet ja vapaat ohjelmistot tarjoavat osaratkaisun tälle. Tällä tutkimuksella haluan valaista tätä aihetta ja esitellä kolleegoilleni vaihtoehtoisen tavan tehdä luovaa työtä

The Ethical Challenges of Community-Based CS Training at Portland State

This literature review investigates Service Learning, the Capstone program at Portland State University, and the CS version of that Capstone program in particular in order to evaluate the ethical issues surrounding them. To achieve this, this paper is split into a few sections. There is an explanation of Service Learning, and a brief overview of its history. Following that is a summary of the history of the Capstone Program at Portland State including a description of the CS Capstone program at Portland State. After that the paper investigates some of the legal challenges surrounding the use of free labor. Next, the paper will take a look at the open source movement, the status of Open Source software as a public good, and the degree to which it mitigates the ethical challenges involving free labor. The paper comes to the conclusion that there’s a need for advocates and practitioners of Service Learning and similar types of experimental learning to reflect on the ethics of these types of pedagogies, specifically on the obligations of the university and the other organizations involved towards the students. The paper also makes some suggestions as to how the CS Capstone at Portland State can be improved

An evaluation of the ‘open source internet research tool’: a user-centred and participatory design approach with UK law enforcement

As part of their routine investigations, law enforcement conducts open source research; that is, investigating and researching using publicly available information online. Historically, the notion of collecting open sources of information is as ingrained as the concept of intelligence itself. However, utilising open source research in UK law enforcement is a relatively new concept not generally, or practically, considered until after the civil unrest seen in the UK’s major cities in the summer of 2011. While open source research focuses on the understanding of bein‘publicly available’, there are legal, ethical and procedural issues that law enforcement must consider. This asks the following mainresearch question: What constraints do law enforcement face when conducting open source research? From a legal perspective, law enforcement officials must ensure their actions are necessary and proportionate, more so where an individual’s privacy is concerned under human rights legislation and data protection laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation. Privacy issues appear, though, when considering the boom and usage of social media, where lines can be easily blurred as to what is public and private. Guidance from Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and, now, the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) tends to be non-committal in tone, but nods towards obtaining legal authorisation under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000 when conducting what may be ‘directed surveillance’. RIPA, however, pre-dates the modern era of social media by several years, so its applicability as the de-facto piece of legislation for conducting higher levels of open source research is called into question. 22 semi-structured interviews with law enforcement officials were conducted and discovered a grey area surrounding legal authorities when conducting open source research. From a technical and procedural aspect of conducting open source research, officers used a variety of software tools that would vary both in price and quality, with no standard toolset. This was evidenced from 20 questionnaire responses from 12 police forces within the UK. In an attempt to bring about standardisation, the College of Policing’s Research, Identifying and Tracing the Electronic Suspect (RITES) course recommended several capturing and productivity tools. Trainers on the RITES course, however, soon discovered the cognitive overload this had on the cohort, who would often spend more time learning to use the tools than learn about open source research techniques. The problem highlighted above prompted the creation of Open Source Internet Research Tool (OSIRT); an all-in-one browser for conducting open source research. OSIRT’s creation followed the user-centred design (UCD) method, with two phases of development using the software engineering methodologies ‘throwaway prototyping’, for the prototype version, and ‘incremental and iterative development’ for the release version. OSIRT has since been integrated into the RITES course, which trains over 100 officers a year, and provides a feedback outlet for OSIRT. System Usability Scale questionnaires administered on RITES courses have shown OSIRT to be usable, with feedback being positive. Beyond the RITES course, surveys, interviews and observations also show OSIRT makes an impact on everyday policing and has reduced the burden officers faced when conducting opens source research. OSIRT’s impact now reaches beyond the UK and sees usage across the globe. OSIRT contributes to law enforcement output in countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia and even Israel, demonstrating OSIRT’s usefulness and necessity are not only applicable to UK law enforcement. This thesis makes several contributions both academically and from a practical perspective to law enforcement. The main contributions are: • Discussion and analysis of the constraints law enforcement within the UK face when conducting open source research from a legal, ethical and procedural perspective. • Discussion, analysis and reflective discourse surrounding the development of a software tool for law enforcement and the challenges faced in what is a unique development. • An approach to collaborating with those who are in ‘closed’ environments, such as law enforcement, to create bespoke software. Additionally, this approach offers a method of measuring the value and usefulness of OSIRT with UK law enforcement. • The creation and integration of OSIRT in to law enforcement and law enforcement training packages

ViPAR: a software platform for the Virtual Pooling and Analysis of Research Data

Background: Research studies exploring the determinants of disease require sufficient statistical power to detect meaningful effects. Sample size is often increased through centralized pooling of disparately located datasets, though ethical, privacy and data ownership issues can often hamper this process. Methods that facilitate the sharing of research data that are sympathetic with these issues and which allow flexible and detailed statistical analyses are therefore in critical need. We have created a software platform for the Virtual Pooling and Analysis of Research data (ViPAR), which employs free and open source methods to provide researchers with a web-based platform to analyse datasets housed in disparate locations. Methods: Database federation permits controlled access to remotely located datasets from a central location. The Secure Shell protocol allows data to be securely exchanged between devices over an insecure network. ViPAR combines these free technologies into a solution that facilitates 'virtual pooling' where data can be temporarily pooled into computer memory and made available for analysis without the need for permanent central storage. Results: Within the ViPAR infrastructure, remote sites manage their own harmonized research dataset in a database hosted at their site, while a central server hosts the data federation component and a secure analysis portal. When an analysis is initiated, requested data are retrieved from each remote site and virtually pooled at the central site. The data are then analysed by statistical software and, on completion, results of the analysis are returned to the user and the virtually pooled data are removed from memory. Conclusions: ViPAR is a secure, flexible and powerful analysis platform built on open source technology that is currently in use by large international consortia, and is made publicly available at [http://bioinformatics.childhealthresearch.org.au/software/vipar/]