The Killer Virus

Summary of the Facts
Two patients at Doctors Hospital died when a computer virus infected the patient record system, corrupting data regarding the administration of life-critical drugs to the two patients. Police tracked down the origin of the virus to a computer at Midstate University. As a result, the county district attorney is bringing charges against several persons who appear to be linked in the trail of the virus.

The persons to be included in the indictment are;

• Kevin Violet, a student at the university, who is alleged to have posted the virus on a class bulletin board system;
• Kathy Vine, also a student at the university, who is alleged to have activated the virus program onto the Internet;
• Kirk Voltz, the president of the university;
• Kyle Vetch, the president of the company, Access Plus, Inc., that provides Internet access for the university; and
• Karen Veal, the Chief Information Officer for Doctors Hospital.

• · Apply the law of the state of Georgia (see here for the particular laws at issue).
• · Apply the Information Technology Computer Usage Policies and Kennesaw State Telecommunications Policies found at http://www.kennesaw.edu/resources/policy.shtmlas the policies for "Midstate University."
• · Apply the "Appropriate Use Policy" from Mindspring (found at http://www.mindspring.net/aboutms/policy.html) as the policy for "Access Plus, Inc."

A. On the prosecution side, write your arguments as to whether each of the defendants should be charged with a crime, describing which crime, and the supporting evidence and argument.

• · I. Introduction - recite facts. "Defendant is guilty of the following crimes: . . . "
• · II. Defendant is guilty of the crime of ______. The crime of _____ requires finding that the defendant _______. The facts of this case that support finding that the defendant committed the crime of _____ are [then list the reasons and your arguments].
• · III. Defendant is guilty of the crime of ______. [write a separate section for each separate charge; repeat as necessary].

Your Presentation Assignment
You will be assigned to a team to either prosecute or defend one of the defendants.

• · If you are on the prosecution side, you must advise each member of the defending side which charges you are bringing against the defendant, by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, November 23, 1999, by e-mail.
• · Both sides must be prepared to make a presentation in class on Friday, December 3, 1999, to argue their side. You are encouraged to use visual aides. If you intend on using a PowerPoint presentation, make arrangemets to bring your own laptop. I will provide the projector. Each person on your team must speak.

Up until December 1, you may write in questions to the Moderator (a/k/a the instructor) about the facts of the case (up to 3 questions per person).  All questions and responses will be posted on the Questions & Answers page related to this Assignment 11.

Computer Ethics is a course taught for the CS/IS Department at Kennesaw State University by Ann K. Moceyunas

Last updated: August 25, 2002. Opinions expressed on this website are those of the author, Ann K. Moceyunas. Certain Portions Copyright © 1996 -2002 Moceyunas P.C. All rights reserved. Have Questions? Contact Ann Moceyunas at ann@moceyunas.com.