ENGINEERING AND SOFTWARE LAW

Chapter 1:
BY
Dr. Gibson Kimutai
 Course Overview
▪Introduce S/W Engineering aspect, its importance and challenges.
▪Introduce meaning and importance of Law in Software Industry.
▪Explore the laws relevant to software and its use – taking a global
perspective, since the trade in software is international and information
made available on the web can be viewed globally.
▪Major part of this course: devoted to intellectual-property law (IPR) –
the issue of who owns software and digital content and how that
ownership can be protected by the law.
▪Learn about copyright and patents, and international agreements aimed
at harmonising laws in this area.
▪Look at how the laws aimed at protecting public goods can also be
exploited to protect the public good.
 OUTLINE
▪Basic definition of terms in Engineering and software Law.

▪Introduction and overview of S/w Engineering.

▪Importance of Software Engineering.

▪Software Engineering profession.

▪Engineering Ethics.

▪Introduction to Law and Ethics

▪Importance of Software Law.

Basic terms in Engineering and software Law.
1. Software:

a. Program.

b. Software (Programs + data + Documentation {System doc, User doc})

(Professional and Personal s/w development)

c. Dual role of software:

✔Product (Deliver computing potential)
✔Vehicle for delivering the product (Information).
 2. Engineering

▪Developing products, using well-defined, scientific principles and methods.

▪The process of developing an efficient mechanism which quickens and eases the
work using limited resources, with the help of technology.

▪Branch of science and technology concerned with the design, building, and use of
engines, machines, and structures.

▪The application of science and mathematics to solve problems.

▪Systematic application of knowledge and experience to solve problems and

improve lives.
3. Software Engineering:
✔Branch associated with development of software product using well-defined
scientific principles, methods and procedures.

✔The application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the

development, operation and maintenance of software (IEEE).

✔Discipline that is concerned with all aspects of software production from initial
conception to operation and maintenance of software

✔Discipline concerned with the theories, methods, and tools that are required to
develop s/w products in a cost effective way (Ian Sommerville).
 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING ETHICS
▪Ethics:
✔Set of moral principles that govern the behavior of a group or individuals.
✔Principles accepted by the society, which also equate to the moral standards of
human beings.
✔Set of rules or principles that are generally considered as standards or good and
bad or right and wrong, which are usually imposed by an external group or a
society or a profession or so.
✔Ethics can be understood as the rules of conduct proposed by a society or
recognized with respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular
group or culture.
▪Computer/ S/W Ethics
▪Set of moral standards that govern the use of computers and s/w’s. It is society’s
views about the use of computers, both hardware and software. Privacy concerns,
intellectual property rights and effects on society are some of the common issues of
computer ethics.
▪Privacy Concerns
✔Hacking – Unlawful intrusion into a computer or a network. A hacker can intrude
through the security levels of a computer system or network and can acquire
unauthorized access to other computers.
✔Malware – Means malicious software which is created to impair a computer system.
Common malware are viruses, spyware, worms and trojan horses. A virus can delete
files from a hard drive while a spyware can collect data from a computer.
✔Data Protection – Also known as information privacy or data privacy is the process
of safeguarding data which intends to influence a balance between individual privacy
rights while still authorizing data to be used for business purposes.
✔Anonymity – is a way of keeping a user’s identity masked through various
▪Morals:
✔Principles or habits with respect to right or wrong of one’s own conduct. (what
you think is good and bad personally).
▪Ideas that help frame our personality so that we can distinguish between what is
right and what is wrong.
▪Code of conduct that you develop over time and set for yourself to follow e.g.,
✔Being good to everyone.
✔Speaking only the truth.
✔Going against what you know is wrong.
✔Having chastity.
✔Avoid cheating.
✔Being a nice human being etc.
▪Software Engineering Ethics:
✔Studies the interactions of human values and technical decisions involving
computing.
✔The study of related questions about moral ideals, character, policies and
relationships of people and organizations involved in technological activity.
• The study of decisions, policies and values that are morally desirable in
engineering practice and research.
• The ethical decisions and moral values of an engineer need to be considered
because the decisions of an engineer have an impact the products and services -
how safe they are to use, the company and its shareholders who believe in the
goodwill of the company, the public and the society who trusts the company
regarding the benefits of the people, the law which cares about how legislation
affects the profession and industry, the job and his moral responsibilities and
about how the environment gets affected, etc.
▪Engineering Ethics includes:
✔Respecting others and ourselves.
✔Respecting the rights of others.
✔Keeping promises.
✔Avoiding unnecessary problems to others.
✔Avoiding cheating and dishonesty.
✔Showing gratitude towards others and encourage them to work.
▪S/W Engineering Ethics Code:
✔Establishes principles of conduct that members of the profession are expected
to observe in the practice of software engineering.
✔Code provides an ethical foundation to which individuals within teams and the
team as a whole can appeal.
✔The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of
a software engineer or teams of software engineers.

Three key functions of s/w Ethics Code:

i. To stimulate ethical conduct.
ii. To aspire (hopes) public confidence in the profession.
iii. To offer formal basis for evaluating actions and disciplining professionals.
 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING ETHICS, Cont’d
1. Confidentiality
✔Respecting the secrecy of your employers or clients regardless of whether or
not a formal confidentiality agreement has been signed.
2. Competence
✔You should not misrepresent your level of competence. He/she should not
knowingly accept work that is outside your competence.
3. Intellectual property rights
✔You should be aware of local laws governing the use of intellectual property
such as patents and copyright.
✔You should be careful to ensure that the intellectual property of employers and
clients is protected.
 Cont’d
4. Computer misuse
✔You should not use your technical skills to misuse other people’s computers.
Computer misuse ranges from relatively trivial (game playing on an employer’s
machine) to extremely serious (dissemination of viruses or other malware).

Nb:
• Professional societies and institutions have an important role to play in setting
ethical standards. E.g, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), the IEEE
(Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), and the British Computer
Society publish a code of professional conduct or code of ethics. Members of
these organizations undertake to follow that code when they sign up for
membership.
 Importance of Software Engineering
Nb: The need of software engineering arises because of higher rate of change in
user requirements and environment on which the software operates / is working.
1. Aids in Development of Large software -
✔As the size of software become large, Complexity increases, hence engineering
has to step in to give it a scientific process.
2. Aids in better programming practices
✔Higher productivity and better quality programs.
3. Ability to solve complex programming problems.
✔Helps to break large problems into smaller and manageable components.
4. Scalability-
✔Enabling the enhancement of existing s/w.
 Software Engineering Profession
▪What does s/w Engineer / software developers do?
✔Software engineers design and create computer systems and applications to
solve real-world problems.
▪Tasks of s/w Engineers:
✔Designing and maintaining software systems
✔Evaluating and testing new software programs
✔Optimizing software for speed and scalability
✔Writing and testing code
✔Consulting with clients, engineers, security specialists, and other stakeholders
✔Presenting new features to stakeholders and internal customers
 Software engineering skills

▪Coding languages like Python, Java, C, C++, or Scala

▪Object-oriented programming
▪Database architecture
▪Agile and Scrum project management
▪Operating systems
▪Cloud computing
▪Version control
▪Design testing and debugging
 Software engineering certifications
▪Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP)

▪Certified Software Engineer

▪C Certified Professional Programmer (CLP)

▪C++ Certified Professional Programmer (CPP)

▪Amazon Web Service Certified Developer (AWS)

▪Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals

▪Springboard Software Engineering Career Track(SSECT)

▪Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP)

 Software Engineering Challenges
1. Heterogeneity Challenge.
✔Requirement of systems to operate as distributed systems distributed across n/ws.
✔Necessity to integrate new s/w with old legacy s/w written in different PL.
Challenge: Developing techniques for building dependable s/w that is flexible
enough to cope with this heterogeneity.
2. Delivery Challenge.
✔Traditional SE techniques are time consuming.
✔The nature of business environment currently are dynamic and rapidly change.
✔Supporting s/w must emulate this scenario.
Challenge: Shortening delivery time for large and complex systems without
compromising on s/w quality.
3. Trust Challenge. Develop techniques that demonstrate s/w can be trusted by
users. (eg remote systems).
 Cont’d
4. Cost-
✔S/E lowers down the development, maintenance cost. Saves development
time.
5. Dynamic Nature-
✔Environment where software operates is dynamic. Therefore s/w too has to
evolve to match the dynamics of the environment. This calls for upgrade
and enhancement of s/w regularly. This is where software engineering plays
a good role.
6. Quality Management-
✔Better process of software development provides better and quality
software product.
 Law
▪The system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as
regulating the actions of its members and which it may be enforced by the
imposition of penalties.
▪A rule defining correct procedure or behavior in a sport.
▪The discipline and profession concerned with the customs, practices, and rules of
conduct of a community that are recognized as binding by the community.
▪A rule of conduct or action that a nation or a group of people agrees to follow.
▪A system of rules laid down by a body or person with the power and authority to
make law;
▪A system of rules grounded on fundamental principles of morality.
▪Set of rules which we are bound to obey (i.e. those rules which are enforced by the
State). Failure to obey laws would result in us having to face certain
repercussions.
 Sources of law
▪Law made by Parliament - This is UK domestic legislation, referred to as ‘Act’ or
‘Statutes’. Written law that expresses the will of the legislature.
▪Law decided in courts - Referred to as ‘Case Law’ or ‘Common Law’. Decisions
of judges in particular cases applied by other judges in later cases through the
process of precedent..
▪European Union Law - Referred to as ‘EU law’ comprising law emanating from
the European Commission, Council of Ministers and Court of Justice of the
European Union.
▪European Convention on Human Rights - Referred to as Human Rights Law or
ECHR, emanating from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and now
incorporated into UK law through the Human Rights Act 1998.
▪Academic Texts - Legal opinions of Academics on the law available in texts and
articles.
 Classification of law

1. Criminal law.

2. Civil law (law of tort).

3. Administrative (Regulatory) law.

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 Criminal law.
▪Crime:
✔Behavior which is prohibited by the criminal code. (By Michael J, and
Mortimer J.)
✔“An act, default or conduct prejudicial to the community, the commission of
which the law renders the person responsible liable to punishment by a fine or
imprisonment in special proceedings”. (Osborn, P.G. in his concise law
Dictionary 5th Ed.)
▪Three major characteristics of crime.
✔That it is harm brought about by human conduct, which the sovereign power in
the state desires to prevent.
✔That among the measures of prevention selected is the threat of punishment.
✔That the legal proceedings of a special kind are employed to determine the guilty
of the accused before being punished.
▪Criminal Law:

✔A system of law concerned with the punishment of offenders.

✔The body of law that defines criminal offenses, regulates the apprehension,
charging, and trial of suspected persons, and fixes penalties and modes of
treatment applicable to convicted offenders.
 Functions of criminal Law
▪ Maintaining order:
✔Criminal law provides predictability, letting people know what to expect from
others. Without criminal law, there would be chaos and uncertainty.
▪Resolving disputes:
✔The law makes it possible to resolve conflicts and disputes between
quarrelling citizens. It provides a peaceful, orderly way to handle grievances.
▪Protecting individuals and property:
✔Criminal law protects citizens from criminals who would inflict physical
harm on others or take their possessions.
▪Providing for smooth functioning of society:
✔Criminal law enables the government to collect taxes, control pollution, and
accomplish other socially beneficial tasks.
▪Safeguarding civil liberties:
✔Criminal law protects individual rights.
 Principles of criminal Law
1. The legality principle:
▪Legal ideal that requires all law to be clear.
▪It requires decision makers to resolve disputes by applying legal rules that have
been declared beforehand, and not to alter the legal situation retrospectively by
discretionary departures from established law
▪In criminal law it means the court should not punish people for acts or
omissions that were not criminal at the time those acts or omissions took
place. The principle is also thought to be violated when the punishment for a
particular crime is increased with retrospective effect.
▪It requires the law be capable of being obeyed. If laws were kept secret that
would clearly infringe the legality principle.
▪It requires the law be readily available to the public. If a law was made
prohibiting your heart to beat in public that would clearly infringe the legality
principle.
2. Responsibility principle:
▪The principle that one should only be found guilty of crimes they are
responsible for. For example, if you were to have a seizure and committed a
crime as a result of that seizure, the principle may be infringed if you were
punished for it.
3. The minimal Criminalization principle:
▪The principle which articulates that only serious offences which are adverse to
society should be criminalized, but not trivial ones.
▪If every tiny offence was criminalised we would left with heavily over-crowded
prisons.
4. The proportionality principle:
• Means punishment for a given crime should be roughly proportional to that
crime’s seriousness. It would be an outrage if, for instance, the punishment for
rape was the same as the punishment for overspeeding.
5. The fair labelling principle:
▪Principle which requires that the description of the offence should match the
wrong done (Chalmers and Leverick). For example, if the defendant kills
someone through negligence, ‘murder’ would not be a fair label to attach to what
the defendant did.
 Civil law / Private Law (law of tort).
▪The system of law concerned with private relations between members of a
community rather than criminal, military, or religious affairs.
▪Part of a country's set of laws which is concerned with the private affairs of
citizens, e.g., marriage, property ownership.
▪ The body of law that an individual nation or state has established for itself.
▪ The body of law having to do with the private rights of individuals.
▪Civil law defines the rights and responsibilities of individuals, government
entities and private or non-government organizations in their interactions with
each other.
Nb:
▪The purpose of civil law is to settle legal disputes between parties of people,
or between parties of people and corporations. Anytime you feel you have
been wronged by another person, you are entitled to pursue legal action against
them in civil court.
▪Common Examples of Civil Cases.
✔Contract Law: Just like it sounds, contract law is employed in cases where one
party believes another is in breach of a legal contract.
✔Tort Law: “Tort law” simply refers to any case related to personal injury or
wrongdoing. Things like property damage or negligence are usually covered under
tort law.
✔Property Law: The difference between property law and tort law is that property
covers both personal and “real” property. That means that property law is not only
used in cases where personal property is damaged, but where land and other assets
have been mishandled.
✔Family Law: Family law covers any and all things family, from marriage to
divorce, and adoption to child support.
 Administrative (Regulatory) law.
• Deals with the decision making of administrative units of government (for
example, tribunals, boards or commissions) that are part of a national regulatory
scheme in such areas as police law, planning, environment, transport.
• H. W. R. Wade in his book “Administrative Law,” eighth edition, argued that
administrative law is concerned with the operation and control of the power of
administrative authorities with emphasis on functions rather than structure. He
went further, stating that: “Administrative law is the law relating to the control of
governmental powers.”
• Administrative law is concerned with how to confine administrative bodies to
their legal role and limit.
• it is a branch of law that aims at keeping the powers of government within the
citizen against their abuse, and where abused, to provide remedy to the
aggrieved citizen.
 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
▪Separation of powers
✔Division of the powers and functions of government among the three separate
arms of government, that is, the legislature, executive, and the judiciary.
▪Division of powers:
a. Legislative powers.
Powers by the legislature, which is the body responsible for law making.
b. Executive powers.
Powers exercisable by the executive organ of government in performing
particular act or giving particular order or making decisions generally in
relation to particular statutory duties within their competence.
c. Judicial powers.
Exercised when there is an existing disputes between parties
(conflict among people) between two or more parties.
 p.t.o…

Nb:

▪The legislature has legislative powers to make laws for the country.

▪The executive has powers to formulate policies, implements and enforce the law.

▪The judiciary interprets the laws and adjudicates over matters brought before it.
 Purpose of law

▪Maintenance of public order and safety.

▪Protection of individual rights and liberties.

▪The organization and control of the political sphere .

▪The regulation of economic activity.

▪The regulation of human relationships.

▪The preservation of a moral order.

▪The regulation of international relations.

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 Software Law
▪Software law refers to the legal remedies available to protect software-based
assets.
▪Software may, under various circumstances and in various countries, be restricted
by patent or copyright or both.
▪Most commercial software is sold under some kind of software license agreement.
▪Software may be subject to protection as Intellectual property under applicable
copyright, patent and trade secret laws.
 Why software Law?
▪In order to limit the inappropriate use of computer software we need laws that
regulate and protect users. (Software has become an integral part of our daily lives.
It is used in everything from business to consumer products).
▪Computer software of some kind lies behind almost all the advanced technology
that increasingly dominates our lives.” As a result software use must be governed
by law.
▪“In the same way that the law serves to protect our rights and to ensure that we
perform our obligations generally, so too this principle applies to software.”
▪However not many laws have been written specifically for software, instead laws
have been developed to deal with the consequences of the technology that software
enables.
Areas where software law helps to protect user rights.
▪Copyright law
✔“If you write software you would have your ownership of the software code protected under
copyright.”
✔This is an important part of software law as it provides security for software writers and
developers.
✔“Breach of copyright is always an issue – software is less of a concern now that more and more
software is offered on a software as a service basis, but there is still an issue with the illicit
copying of source code.”
✔Copyright and other intellectual property laws have had to be developed to take account of rights
in software code
▪Personal Damage
✔“If you rely upon software and that software fails and causes damage you may wish to recover
damages against the owner of that software.”
✔As with any product or service, the client has the right to receive what was promised by the
supplier.
✔When that promise is not fulfilled software law enables clients to claim back on their expenditure.
▪Privacy law
✔“Privacy law has become an issue due in large part to the great quantities of
personal information that can be processed and stored as a result of software.”
✔Accessing or using personal information illegally is considered to be a
cybercrime.
✔According to Marshall criminal law has been amended in many jurisdictions to
deal with cybercrime and other crimes made possible by modern software.
 Challenges in implementing software law
▪Fines for Software-Related Crimes
✔Most fines related to software are due to copyright infringement. In New Zealand,
you could get fined up to $150,000. In the U.S., you can be fined up to $250,000 per
offense. In Canada, a fine could be as much as $1 million.
✔These worst-case scenario fines are usually for commercial-level offenses. That means
if you stand to make money from breaking the copyright, these industrial-strength fines
apply.
▪Getting Sued for Software Infractions
✔You could end up being sued for how you use your software. If you think big software
companies won't be bothered enough to hunt you down... you're probably right.
▪Hard-Time for Infringements
✔If getting fined for thousands or sued for tens of thousands isn't bad enough, your
misuse of software can actually land you in jail or prison. We're talking about doing as
much time as some violent criminals. And yet again, copyright violation is at the root of
most of these stories.
 Assignment
1. What is the future of software law? Discuss