IFIP TC9 general meetings - ACS reports

International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) - Technical Committee 9 (TC9) - general meetings - report on to Australian Computer Society (ACS) National Council and members of the ACS

This page was last updated on:
29 December 2000

Table of contents

Location of this report

This report is located at URL:
http://www.acs.org.au/boards/cab/tc9gm.html
If you are reading this report in hard copy, you are encouraged to also look at it on the Web, as many URLs embedded in it, are only visable on the Web.

Introduction

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) represents Australia in the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP).

IFIP Technical Committee 9 (TC9) deals with issues related to Computers and Society.

The key ACS committee inputting to the work of TC9 is the Economic, Legal and Social Implications Committee (ELSIC) of the ACS Community Affairs Board (CAB).

Andrew Freeman was the Australian representative on IFIP TC9 from early 1998 until the end of 2000. The alternate delegates are Philip Argy, Julie Cameron, and Associate Professor John Weckert.

This report covers issues which ACS members wish considered by future IFIP TC9 meetings, material which ACS members feel may be of interest to IFIP TC9 members on developments in Australia of relevance to IFIP TC9, and some background information on previous IFIP TC9 meetings.

It is planned to update this Web page regularly, with new information, rather than create new Web pages for Australia's report to each IFIP TC9 general meeting.

Issues/reports ACS members have raised with they wish considered/noted at future TC9 general meetings

comp.org.ifip newsgroup proposal

The Chair of TC9 is asked to continue to encourage IFIP to support the creation of a comp.org.ifip newsgoup. The creation of this newsgroup was supported by the 1997 TC9 general meeting.

Occassional electronic TC9 meetings recommended

IFIP TC9 meetings are expensive to attend. It is recommended that occassionally (perhaps once a year, mid-way between the TC9 general meetings), an electronic get-together of IFIP TC9 members, and guests from IFIP member societies, be held using Chat Web sites such as Yahoo Chat which are simple to use, and free for those who have access to the Web. This would complement, not replace face-to-face meetings.

Other matters raised for consideration/noting

On 15 April 2000 Associate Professor John Weckert, who is representing Australia at the IFIP TC9 2000 general meeting, asked that the following be included in this report:

AICE2000
SECOND AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF COMPUTER ETHICS CONFERENCE (AICE2000)
The very successful First Australian Institute of Computer Ethics
Conference (AICEC99), was held at Swinburne University of Technology in
Melbourne last year. Following are the details for this year's conference:

Date: 11 - 12 November 2000
Venue: Australian National University, Canberra

Conference Theme: Computer Ethics: Why bother?

Keynote Speaker: Professor Jeroen van den Hoven, Centre for the Philosophy of Information and Communication Technology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

AICE2000 is hosted by

* ARC Special Research Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Charles Sturt University

* Australian Catholic University

* University of Canberra

AICE2000 is endorsed by the Australian Computer Society (ACS)

For enquiries, contact:
John Weckert
Charles Sturt University
 jweckert@csu.edu.au

CAPPA
The ARC Special Research Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE)

The CAPPE was established in 2000 and is funded under the Australian Research Council's Special Research Centre Scheme. It has two nodes, one in Canberra at Charles Sturt University and the other in Melbourne, at the University of Melbourne. CAPPE constitutes easily the largest concentration of philosophers working on applied philosophy and public ethics in Australia, and one of the largest such concentrations in the international philosophical community. It has strong industry, professional and public sector links. A number of programmes are supported, including computer ethics, business ethics, police ethics, public sector ethics and environmental ethics. Computer ethics is one of the most active programmes, with about ten people, including philosophers and computer professionals research and publishing in the field. The programme is lead by John Weckert.

AICE
The Australian Institute of Computer Ethics (AICE) was established in February 1998 at Charles Sturt University (CSU, Wagga Wagga) and Swinburne University of Technology (SUT, Melbourne). AICE aims to provide research leadership, to inform and educate the public, and to provide a consultancy and advisory service in computer ethics in Australia, and helps to develop material to teach future IT professionals and retrain current ones, consult with industry, provide policy input, conduct research, workshops, seminars and conferences, and raise awareness and promote debate, and offer solutions. AICE brings together relevant groups from industry, professions, academe and users, as the very nature of computer ethics dissolves and re-aligns traditional discipline and work-related boundaries. AICE will continue to contribute to the study of social consequences of IT, both in Australia, and globally through its strong links with other similar centres in other countries.

Bibliographies

There are ACS CAB Economic, Legal and Social Implications Committee bibliography and Women in technology committee bibliography pages, which focus on material with an Australian element.

Report on previous IFIP TC9 general meetings and some action arising

In a context where Philip Argy, Chairman of the ACS Economic, Legal, and Social Implications Committee (ELSIC), in his then role as Australia's TC9 delegate was unable to attend, Andrew Freeman represented the ACS at the IFIP TC9 1997 general meeting, held in Corfu, Greece in May 1997, in Andrew's then role as one of Australia's TC9 alternative delegates.

Andrew Freeman also attended a TC9 Working Group 9.2 (WG 9.2) and WG 9.5 international conference, on 'Culture and Democracy revisited in the Global Information society' held in the same month/place, as an aid to getting to know TC9 and TC9 WG members better. Julie Cameron (a member of the ACS, and alternative delegate to IFIP TC9) and Karin Geiselhart (a student member of the ACS - who won a prize for the best student paper submitted to this conference from anywhere in the world) were speakers at this conference.

Internet regulation

The 1997 TC9 general meeting noted Andrew Freeman's report, which focussed on Internet regulation. The ACS ELSIC internet regulation overview page is at URL:
http://www.acs.org.au/boards/cab/regulation.html

Internet regulation continues to be a key focus of the work of ELSIC.

New comp.org.ifip newsgroup proposal supported

Andrew Freeman's 1997 report emphasised that there is a need for TC9 specifically, and IFIP more generally, to utilise new technology more extensively to enable wider participation in its activities. He emphasised that many Australian's who may have an interest, have neither the time, nor the resources, to attend IFIP Technical Committee, Working Group, or SIG meetings. The TC9 general meeting supported a proposal Andrew Freeman moved that IFIP be requested to initiate the steps required for the formation of a:
comp.org.ifip
newsgroup.

The 1997 IFIP general assembly (Brazil) was not persuaded of the need for a comp.org.ifip newsgroup. Andrew hopes that TC9 and/or the ACS will continue to attempt to persuade IFIP that a comp.org.ifip newsgoup would be a useful complement to other means that IFIP already utilises for communications.

Some reports tabled at 1997 TC9 general meeting of particular relevance for ACS members

WG 9.2 - Social Accountability
Professor Colin Beardon, Chair, WG 9.2 spoke on the scope of this WG's work, which is very broad.
WG 9.2 - SIG 9.2.1 - Disability
There was a call for nominations to the disability SIG.

Subsequently, the ACS nominated the Chair of the ELSIC Disability Task Force, David Cassam - nadow@peg.apc.org to be a member of SIG 9.2.1.

WG 9.2 - SIG 9.2.2 - Ethics
WG 9.2 - SIG 9.2.2 in 1997 reported on a number of aspects of its work which are of particular relevance to Australia. The first relates to case study material they are collecting. Some cases which have been mentioned which members of SIG 9.2.2 are hoping to consider the ethical implications of include:
'Killing computer in Australia.'

SIG 9.2.2 in 1997 also reported on doing some major work on:
'The control and regulation of the cyberspace from an ethical point of view.'
The SIG 9.2.2 report which was copied to the TC9 1997 general meeting included the following words: 'We could support the analysis by examining the question of pornography on the Internet as an example:
* Analyze the technical mechanisms (see SurfWatch, Cyber Patrol, etc.) and their reliability
* Develop a basis for comparative analysis of the policies of different ISPs (internationally - on the same basis as it has been done for the Belgian ISPs)
* Assess what the emerging ethical issues appear to be in various public using the grid of analysis attached to the 1996 Copenhagen meeting Minutes.
* Read and critique Joel Reidenburg's 

"Governing networks and cyberspace
rule-making".

WG 9.4 - Social implications of computers in developing countries
Dr Chrisanthi Avgerou, Chair, WG 9.4 presented a report which included details on an international conference on 'implementation and evaluation of information systems in developing countries' to be held at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand in February 1998.
WG 9.6 - Information Technology misuse and the law
Richard Sizer, Chair, WG 9.6 in 1997 outlined some of the issues which his WG had been grappling with. These included issues relating to legal aspects of the internet and pornography. Richard indicated that his WG would welcome new nominations from those who are interested in contributing to the global debate relating to legal issues and information technology.
WG 9.7 - History of computing - promotes the study of history of computers and prepares curricula in this area.
Professor J. A. N. Lee in 1997 spoke on the work of this WG. I indicated that in my view one of the most successful events during the 1996 World Computer Congress (Canberra, Australia) was the pioneers event which JAN and his WG organised. John Bennet from Australia is a member of this WG.

Feedback

Judy Hammond, Director, Community Affairs Board, can be contacted via her e-mail address of
judy@it.uts.edu.au