Computer Ethics

Ethics

The rules and standards governing the conduct of an individual with others.

Problems concerning computer ethics

Domain names are being bought and sold to the highest bidder

Recently a man bought the name www.drugs.com and auctioned it off.  Many people are purposely buying up company names and selling them to those companies at outrageous prices. Is it fair to pass a law forbidding them to buy up already existing company names? Under capitalism people do have the right to make money this way but it’s almost blackmail.

Copyright Infringement

It is risky to use anybody else's work without permission from the owner of the work. Copyright infringement is the reproduction of a work without permission. however, the reproduced work doesn’t have to be identical to the original work. If the copied work is at all similar to the original, it is considered to have infringed upon the copyright of the original.

Censorship

There are things available on the internet that are universally considered inappropriate. A reaction is that they should be censored. It would be looked at more closely to determine whether or not it is obscene, and most often banned. Few things are actively censored in America, due to the First Amendment. Attempts have been made to censor the internet.  In 1995, Congress passed the Communications Decency Act imposing penalties on those that published obscene pages on the internet. The decentralized form of the internet makes it difficult to censor because it is hard to shift through it in an organized way. 

Information Privacy Issues

A commercial web site will collect demographics (sex, age, and other advertising information) to learn more about you, while an e-mail service may collect identifying or personal information (name, mailing address) to recognize you. Online stalking is a problem, with people harassing new 'friends' online and sometimes even threatening them, or confronting them in person. You also need to protect your data from strangers. They could steal your identity and your money.

The solution to the lack of privacy on the internet is encryption.  Encryption is running data through filters.  One filter scrambles the message, a second unscrambles it.  Anyone who picks up the information in transit would in theory see nothing but garbled characters. However, such encryption would also allow people to hide far more easily online.  Many hackers can run intercepted data through filters of their own and recover the information. 

The Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics

Created by Dr. Ramon C. Barquin in 1992

One

Thou Shalt Not Use A Computer To Harm Other People.

Two

Thou Shalt Not Interfere With Other People’s Computer Work.

Three

Thou Shalt Not Snoop Around In Other People’s Computer Files.

Four

Thou Shalt Not Use A Computer To Steal.

Five

Thou Shalt Not Use A Computer To Bear False Witness.

Six

Thou Shalt Not Copy Or Use Proprietary Software For Which You have Not Paid.

Seven

Thou Shalt Not Use Other People’s Computer Resources Without Authorization Or Proper Compensation.

Eight

Thou Shalt Not Appropriate Other People’s Intellectual Output.

Nine

Thou Shalt Think About The Social Consequences Of The Program You Are Writing Or The System You Are Designing.

Ten

Thou Shalt Always Use A Computer In Ways That Ensure Consideration

And Respect For Your Fellow Humans.