Virus Sparks Ethics Concerns

Damage done by the "Cornell virus," a havoc-wreaking computer program written by 1988 Harvard graduate Robert T. Morris Jr., has prompted new interest in the possibility of a program in ethics in technology, computer science professors said last week.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an article on the front page of the university's publication "Tech Talk" last Wednesday reiterated MIT's official policy towards computer crimes and the possible legal penalties involved.

Harvard professors said that the University would not reprint its policy, which is stated in the "Handbook for Students." However, faculty in the computer science department said they are discussing the possibility of requiring graduate students to take a course in ethics and technology.

"Until the Morris incident. I was sure that a course teaching ethics to our students was not needed. Now I'm not so sure," said Mckay Professor of Computer Science Mark Friedell. "We have always just expected students who matriculated at Harvard to be able to tell the difference between right and wrong."

The proper perspective, according to MIT network manager Jeffrey I. Schiller, is "to view computers and computer information as property. Breaking into computers is just as wrong as breaking into a house."

Schiller believes people's notions of what constitutes a crime need revision. People do not acknowledge the seriousness of computer crimes because they do not involve physical force, he said. In fact, the programmer can even commit the crimes from within his own home, giving him a greater feeling of anonymity and security, which Schiller says are only false illusions.

A romantic notion of "hacking" was introduced to the public in the popular film "Wargames," in which the teenager committing the computer crimes was portrayed as the good guy. Senior computer experts have predicted that Morris will become the same kind of "folk hero" for his virus. This evidence that the "Wargames" mentality persists is what worries Friedell the most.

"I am made most sad by the fact that there are people in the computing community who have have glorified Morris' actions--this sets up an inappropriate award structure for this kind of action," Friedell commented. "This makes me wonder even more what I can expect out of students."