Ethics of Computing Examples in CS Thinking
Start with the recap, study the fully worked examples, then use the practice problems to check your understanding of Ethics of Computing.
This page combines explanation, solved examples, and follow-up practice so you can move from recognition to confident problem-solving in CS Thinking.
Concept Recap
The study of moral issues and responsibilities that arise from the development and use of computing technology. Computing ethics examines questions of fairness, bias, privacy, intellectual property, environmental impact, and the societal consequences of automation and artificial intelligence.
Just because we can build something doesn't mean we should. Ethics asks: Is this fair? Who benefits? Who might be harmed?
Read the full concept explanation →How to Use These Examples
- Read the first worked example with the solution open so the structure is clear.
- Try the practice problems before revealing each solution.
- Use the related concepts and background knowledge badges if you feel stuck.
What to Focus On
Core idea: Computing ethics covers bias in algorithms, digital divide, environmental impact, automation and jobs, misinformation, and responsible AI development.
Common stuck point: Ethics isn't just about laws — something can be legal but still unethical. Ethics requires judgment, not just compliance.
Sense of Study hint: When evaluating the ethics of a technology, ask: Who benefits from this? Who might be harmed? Are there biases in the data or algorithm? Is consent being obtained? What are the unintended consequences? Consider multiple stakeholder perspectives, not just the developer or company.
Worked Examples
Example 1
easyGive three examples of ethical issues in computing and explain why each is a concern.
Answer
Ethical issues: digital divide (unequal access), algorithmic bias (AI discrimination), environmental impact (energy use, e-waste).
First step
1
Step 1: (1) Digital divide — not everyone has equal access to technology. Those without access miss out on education, jobs, and services, widening inequality.
Full solution
- 2 Step 2: (2) Algorithmic bias — AI systems trained on biased data can discriminate. Example: a hiring algorithm that favours men because it was trained on historical data where men were hired more often.
- 3 Step 3: (3) Environmental impact — data centres consume massive amounts of electricity. Manufacturing electronics requires rare minerals, often mined under poor conditions.
Computing is not ethically neutral. The choices developers make about who can access technology, how algorithms work, and what data is collected have real-world consequences for people's lives.
Example 2
mediumA company develops an AI that can generate realistic fake videos (deepfakes) of anyone. Discuss the ethical considerations the company should address before releasing it.
Example 3
mediumA hiring company trains an AI on years of its own resumes and hires. The company has historically hired mostly men. The AI now down-ranks resumes that mention 'women's chess club' or all-women colleges. Identify the ethics failure and propose two mitigations.
Example 4
mediumA chatbot confidently invents a fake legal citation that ends up in a lawyer's court filing. Who shares ethical responsibility, and what one safeguard could have prevented harm?
Example 5
mediumA US company processes data about EU residents and stores it in California. List two GDPR-related ethical/legal duties the company has.
Example 6
hardA risk-scoring algorithm used by a court to recommend bail decisions has a false-positive rate for Black defendants and a false-positive rate for white defendants, while overall accuracy is the same across groups. Discuss the fairness conflict.
Example 7
hardA company offers a free service that aggregates and resells user location data. Users 'agreed' via a 40-page terms-of-service document. Is the consent ethically meaningful? Argue both sides and conclude.
Example 8
hardYou discover your employer is secretly using a customer-facing app to track users' location even after they revoke permission. Internal complaints are ignored. Walk through an ethical decision process for whether (and how) to blow the whistle.
Example 9
hardA medical AI for diagnosing skin cancer is accurate overall but was trained almost entirely on light-skinned patients. It is being considered for nationwide rollout. What is the ethics-of-computing analysis, and what are the gating conditions for ethical deployment?
Example 10
challengeSuppose a global LLM provider faces a request from an authoritarian government to (a) censor specific political topics for users in that country, and (b) hand over conversation logs of named dissidents. The provider operates in countries and employs people. Construct an ethical decision framework that covers stakeholders, principles, plausible outcomes, and a defensible decision — then state and justify the decision.
Practice Problems
Try these problems on your own first, then open the solution to compare your method.
Example 1
mediumA school wants to install CCTV cameras in all classrooms and monitor students' computer screens in real-time. Discuss the ethical arguments for and against this.
Example 2
hardAn autonomous car must choose between two unavoidable crash scenarios: hitting one pedestrian or swerving into a wall and injuring the passenger. Who should the car prioritise, and who should make this decision — the programmer, the car owner, or the government?
Example 3
easyA developer finds a security bug that exposes user passwords. The ethical choice is to:
Example 4
easySomething legal can still be unethical. True or false?
Example 5
easyAn app could collect extra personal data it does not need, just in case it is useful later. The ethical choice is to:
Example 6
easyWho shares ethical responsibility for how a computing system affects people?
Example 7
easyAre automated decision systems automatically objective and fair?
Example 8
easyTraining huge AI models uses large amounts of electricity. Which ethics-of-computing concern is this?
Example 9
easyUnequal access to computers and the internet across groups is known as the:
Example 10
easyA platform's algorithm spreads false but engaging news fast. Which ethics concern does this raise?
Example 11
mediumA company can boost ad revenue by selling users' browsing data without clearly telling them. Identify the ethical problem and the responsible alternative.
Example 12
mediumA self-driving car's software must choose how to handle unavoidable-harm scenarios. Why is this primarily an ethics-of-computing issue, not just engineering?
Example 13
mediumAutomation will eliminate some jobs while creating others. Which ethics-of-computing concern is this, and one responsible response?
Example 14
mediumA facial-recognition system is more accurate for some demographics than others. Two parties debate fault: the coder vs the data team. What is the most accurate framing?
Example 15
mediumWhy is 'we did nothing illegal' an insufficient defense when a recommendation algorithm pushes harmful content to teens?
Example 16
mediumA team rushes a medical-diagnosis AI to market without testing it on diverse patients. Name the ethical risk and the responsible step skipped.
Example 17
mediumClassify each as a computing-ethics concern: (a) an algorithm denies loans unfairly by race, (b) e-waste from discarded devices.
Example 18
mediumA developer is told to add a hidden 'dark pattern' that tricks users into a costly subscription. The ethical choice is to:
Example 19
mediumA free coding tool is widely used in wealthy schools but rarely in under-resourced ones lacking devices and internet. Which ethics concern is this, and one responsible response?
Example 20
challengeA platform can maximize engagement by showing increasingly extreme content, which boosts profit but harms users and society. Frame the core ethical tension and explain why 'users chose to click' does not resolve it.
Example 21
challengeAn AI hiring tool is accurate and legal but perpetuates historical underrepresentation. A manager says 'it just reflects reality'. Explain why this reasoning is ethically flawed and one corrective action.
Example 22
challengeA company faces a choice: spend more to make its AI's decisions explainable, or ship a more accurate but opaque 'black box' for high-stakes denials. Argue which serves ethics better and why accuracy alone is insufficient.
Example 23
easyA website tracks every click a user makes and sells that data to advertisers without telling the user. Which ethical principle is most clearly violated?
Example 24
easyA facial-recognition system has accuracy on light-skinned men but only on dark-skinned women. This is an example of:
Example 25
easyAn app's 'Reject all cookies' button is hidden three menus deep while 'Accept all' is a giant green button on the first screen. This UX pattern is called a:
Example 26
easyTrue or false: deleting your account always removes all your data from a company's servers.
Example 27
easyWhich of the following is the BEST example of acting ethically as a developer? (A) Push a feature live before testing because deadlines are tight. (B) Write tests for accessibility before launch. (C) Ignore a user's bug report because only one person hit it.
Example 28
mediumA social-media platform's recommendation algorithm boosts content that maximises time on site. Engineers notice it is also boosting eating-disorder content to teenage girls. Name two ethical obligations of the team and one structural cause.
Example 29
mediumA small startup wants to scrape a public art forum to train an image generator. The artists never consented to AI training. Is scraping ethical merely because the images are public? Defend your answer.
Example 30
mediumA city installs a city-wide network of surveillance cameras with facial recognition. Sketch one benefit, one harm, and one design constraint that would make the system more ethical.
Example 31
mediumA game charges children real money for randomised in-game item drops ('loot boxes'). Why is this ethically contested, and what is the closest real-world analogue?
Example 32
mediumA ride-share app's algorithm sets prices and dispatches drivers but classifies them as 'independent contractors' rather than employees. What is the central ethical question, and who is harmed?
Example 33
hardYou are an engineer at a defence contractor asked to build a fully autonomous targeting system that selects and engages human targets without human approval. Outline the ethical case against accepting the task and the case for, then state your decision and reasoning.
Example 34
hardData centres consume on the order of – of global electricity, projected to grow with AI. A startup proposes training a billion parameter model that will use the equivalent annual electricity of homes. Argue whether the project is ethically justifiable and what conditions you would attach.
Example 35
hardE-waste is a major byproduct of fast smartphone upgrade cycles. Identify two design choices manufacturers make that worsen e-waste, and two design choices that would reduce it.
Related Concepts
Background Knowledge
These ideas may be useful before you work through the harder examples.
privacyintellectual propertyaccessibility