Readings

The readings for this week center around engineering disasters and whistleblowing.

Engineering Disasters

These readings are about when mission critical systems failed disastrously.

  1. Therac-25

  2. Challenger

Whistleblowing

These readings explore two incidences of whistleblowing.

  1. Boeing Computer Security:

  2. Chelsea/Bradley Manning:

Literature

Maybe of interest. Maybe not:

Questions

Please write a response to one of the following questions:

  1. From the readings, what were the root causes of the Therac-25 accidents? What are the challenges for software developers working safety-critical systems, how should they approach these projects, and should they be held liable when accidents happen?

  2. From the readings, what were the root causes of the Challenger disaster? Was Roger Boisjoly ethical in sharing information with the public? Was his company justified in retaliating against him? What good is whistleblowing if "[i]t destroy[s] [your] career, [your] life, everything else"?

  3. From the readings, what is your opinion of Boeing's handling of its computer security employees? Were these workers ethical in their leaking of information to the public? Was their firing rightful and warranted? Should these workers have been protected under the Whistleblower protection laws?

  4. From the readings, what is your opinion of Chelsea/Bradley Manning's decision to leak sensitive information to WikiLeaks and her subsequent sentencing? Is what she did ethical or did she violate her duty? Should she have been protected under the Whistleblower protection laws? Is she a revolutionary hero or a traitor?

Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden is another figure that can be discussed in the context of whistleblowing, but we will save our discussion of his story for when we talk about security and privacy concerns.

Feedback

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the course, please provide your feedback at the end of your response.