Preface and Acknowledgements<br >The aim of this book is two-fold: (1) to describe some of the problems<br >;reated for society by computers and (2) to show how these problems<br >present ethical dilemmas for computer professionals and computer users.<br > The problems created by computers arise， in turn， from two main<br >~ources: from hardware and software mal]uncfiom and from misuse by<br >auman beings. We argue that computer systems by their very nature<br >Ire insecure， unreliable and unpredictable - and that society has yet to<br >:ome to terms with the consequences. We also seek to show how society<br >ias become l)ewly vulnerable to human misuse of computers in the form of<br >omputer crime， software theft， hacking， the creation of viruses， invasions<br >ff privacy， and so on.<br > Computer Ethics has evolved from our previous writings and in particular<br >ur experiences teaching two courses on the human and social context of<br >omputmg to computer science students at Griffith University. One lesson<br >ve quickly learned was that computer science students cannot be assumed<br >o possess a social conscience or indeed have much awareness of social<br >rends and global issues. Accordingly， these courses have been reshaped<br >a order to relate more closely to students career goals， by focusing on<br >he ethical dilemmas they will face in their everyday lives as computer<br >rofessionals.<br > Many college and university computer science courses are now including<br >or would like to include - an ethics component， but this noble objective<br >as been hampered by a lack of suitable teaching materials. Computer<br >thics has therefore been designed with teaching purposes in mind in an<br >Ffort to help rectify the shortage of texts. That is why we have included<br >umerous up-to-date references， as well as scenarios， role-playing exercises<br >