Computer Reliability - Ethics for the Information Age - page 399

Denver International Airport baggage system
Tokyo Stock Exchange
Direct recording electronic voting machines
Therac-25
9. What are the advantages of allowing software users to identify and report bugs? What
are the disadvantages?
10. Why are computer simulations playing an increasingly important role in science and
engineering?
11. List five uses of computer simulation.
12. What is the difference between a model and a computer simulation?
13. What is the difference between verification and validation?
14. Name two different ways to validate a computer simulation.
15. Why do some people argue that shrink-wrap software should be exempt from the Uni-
form Commercial Code?
16. What is the significance of the court's ruling in Step-Saver Data Systems v. Wyse Technol-
ogy and The Software Link ?
17. What is the significance of the court's ruling in ProCD Inc. v. Zeidenberg ?
18. What is the significance of the court's ruling in Mortenson v. Timberline Software ?
19. Why have courts been reluctant to view software as a product subject to the theory of
strict liability?
Discussion Questions
20. Have you ever been the victim of a software error? Whom did you blame? Now that you
know more about the reliability of computer systems, do you still feel the same way?
21. Should an ecommerce site be required to honor the prices at which it offers and sells
goods and services?
22. Should the FBI be responsible for the accuracy of information about criminals and crime
victims it enters into the National Crime Information Center database?
23. Over a period of seven years, about 500 residents of Freeport, Texas, were overbilled
for their water usage. Each resident paid on average about $170 too much, making the
total amount of the overbillings about $100,000. The city council decided not to issue
refunds, saying that about 300,000 bills would have had to be examined, some residents
had left town, and the individual refunds were not that large [61]. Did the city council
make the right decision?
24. If a company sends a consumer an incorrect bill, should the company compensate the
consumer for the time and effort the consumer takes to straighten out the mistake?
25. The chapter quotes NASA's project manager for the Mars Pathfinder as saying software
hasn't improved in quality in the past 25 years. How could you determine whether
software quality has improved in the past 25 years?