Security in Computing 5th Edition by Shari Lawrence Pfleeger, Charles P Pfleeger, Jonathan Margulies

Exercise 7

Prepare an argument for or against the proposition that the following is ethical behavior. You apply for admission to graduate school. The school says it will inform applicants of their status on 15 March by posting a coded list of acceptances and rejections. On 9 March you discover that the list is already posted; you have to address it by a specific URL instead of just clicking a button. You post a notice to a widely read bulletin board advising others of the exposure. Does the argument change if the date on which you discover the web site is 9 February, not 9 March? Does the argument change if the people on the list are individually identifiable? Does the argument change if the list is a set of grades for a class (and the people are individually identifiable)? Does the argument change if the list is an ordered list of liver transplant candidates (and the people are individually identifiable)? (Note: after you have prepared your argument, read [SMI05].)

Step 1 of 5

Ethics of Sharing Unpublicized Information

The problem speculates on the ethics of Sharing Unpublicized Information. Since the information, in this case the admission results, is the proprietary of the school. It is borderline unethical to publicize the same a week in advance. Since a link to the specific URL has not yet been provided, accessing that URL directly or sharing that URL is similar to hacking.