Computer Ethics Awareness Among University Students Essay

As technology changes every day, you can always expect many more new offenders, offenses, and victims simply based on the caliber of knowledge someone possesses, and by the role of the technology they are able to access. Computers can be used in the different ways to perpetrate these offenses. For instance, hackers use computers to infect the functions of a computer or a computer system by putting viruses into te network.. The cyber-criminal’s activities play an intricate role in economics, largely in the physical aspect, software costs are involved because of needed improvement constantly needed to combat new threats.

As the utilization of PCs and the web turns out to be more predominant, moral issues identified with PC use will keep on making a bigger effect on individuals' lives and the way that society capacities. PC morals include the ethical standards and behavioral rules related to the path in which people, associations, and society all in all utilization PCs and data innovation. A few cases of moral issues identified with PC utilize incorporate individual data protection, PC security, wholesale fraud, licensed innovation, level with access to data and so on.

“Computer ethics is a branch of applied ethics that considers ethical issues raised or significantly amplified by computer technology.” Moor (2006). Its been stated in several works that computers give people power, which means people have the choice to use this wisely and ethically. While society has benefited from this “power”, there are still ethical concerns that need attention such as privacy of data, security, reliability of data, intellectual property, and accessibility. Mark D. Bowles, Deborah G. Johnson, and H. Lodewyckx all have given their points of view on this wide spread topic, that all seem to have a common ground when it comes to the basic concerns of ethics in computing.

According to the Ethics Awareness Inventory [EAI] (Williams Institute for Ethics and Management [WIEM], 2003), "[My] ethical perspective is most likely to be based on obligation, and…least likely to be based on equity." In this paper, I will apply the results of this inventory to my personal and professional development, explaining how my educational experience has shaped my ethical thinking, addressing my use of ethics in thinking and decision-making, and discussing my potential for conflict in situations with people of different ethical perspectives.

Technologies have affected people in all walks of life. Technological innovations have helped improve our lives and changed our standard of living. Due to advanced technologies, we are able to have fast computers, smartphones, more advanced medical instruments, etc. Although technologies tend to benefit us for the most part, it also has its negatives attached to it. In our society today, there are up rise in identity theft, frauds, and other unlawful criminal activity being committed. The growth of cybercrimes is possible due to our information being easily obtained in the online world. Moreover, technological innovations have helped schools, governments, commercials, private and other parts of modern life to improve the productivity and efficiency. However, on the other hand, technologies as a criminal tool has enhanced the criminal’s ability to perform, hide, or otherwise aid unlawful or unethical activities (Reith et. al, 2002). Furthermore, although the vast majority of people uses computers and other digital devices for a positive reason, there are criminals that use these technologies to perform unlawful and unethical things to individuals and companies to obtain personal information.

I personally believe that one of the greatest challenges facing computing today is security. Nowadays, we have seen a tremendous growth in the usage of computer, whether it is for education, work, communication, science, or for any other reason. However, as our society becomes more computer oriented, the issue of security raises with it. Some people have made their first priority to use the Internet to hurt both individuals and/or organizations. These people have developed techniques to

With the advent of computer technology and how much we use it as part of our daily lives, there is great opportunity for people to do good while there is also a great opportunity for people use it to benefit themselves at the expense of others. Ethical computing is a set of moral standards, right or wrong, pertaining to the use of a computer. Being morally ethical is being respectful of other computer users and their rights and properties and not using a computer to harm others or commits criminal activity. Although not ethical, technology can allow someone to steal, harm others, invade privacy and other illegal activities on a computer. These activities may benefit the user but harm and damage is being done to the recipient.

Cyberethics consists of the moral, legal and social issues that involve technology used over the internet. It assesses the social policies and laws that we formulate with response to issues created by the development and use of cyber technology. The code of ethics for the cyber technology world is mainly related to issues such as:

Computer crimes are criminal activities, which involve the use of information technology to gain an illegal or an unauthorized access to a computer system with intent of damaging, deleting or altering computer data. Computer crimes also include the activities such as electronic frauds, misuse of devices, identity theft and data as well as system interference. Computer crimes involve activities of software theft, whereas the privacy of the users is hampered. These criminal activities involve the breach of human and information privacy, as also the theft and illegal alteration of system critical information. The different types of computer crimes have caused the introduction and use of newer and more effective security measures.

Technology in the classroom is important to assist in the learning process; however this is creating new challenges for teachers. Teachers are now required to educate students on the importance of technology ethics. Computer ethics is the moral guidelines that govern the use of computers and networks (Shelly, G, Gunter, G, and Gunter, R 2012). Ethics in the classroom also requires teachers to explain what plagiarism is and the proper way for students to give credit for information attained from another source. Teachers must also have a plan in place to address internet security, as well as devise a student use agreement and discuss ethical practices while using technology in the classroom.

Professionals are people who use a specialized set of skills in order to serve society. Because of these skills, professionals are often held to higher standards than ordinary workers. A code of ethics helps professionals determine how they should act both personally and in their workplaces in relation to their professions. With the current surge in technological advances, it is extremely important for those who work with computers to adhere to a specific code of ethics. The Association for Computer Machinery’s (ACM) current code of ethics was adopted in 1992. Computer professionals can look to the code of ethics when in doubt about making a decision related to the computing profession.

Computer-crime or commonly referred to as Cyber-Crime or ICT Crime (van der Merwe, 2008, p.61) is a new type of criminal activity which started showing its ugly head in the early 90 's as the internet became a common place for online users worldwide. This is due to the fact that computer criminals now have the opportunity to gain access to sensitive information if they possess the necessary know-how. This generally causes huge problems in the economic sphere and results in companies and individuals having to take costly steps to ensure their safety and reduction in commission of cyber-crime (Gordon, 2000, p.423). Cybercrime or also known as computer crime can be defined as any criminal activity that involves a computer and can be divided into two

Prevalent to the current trend now is the dependency of the society on Information technology and communication systems. Every aspect of human life is one way or the other linked and controlled by information technology tools. The importance of information technology cannot be over emphasized as its unavailability could lead to a form of disaster or the other. Pivotal infrastructures like finance, healthcare, education and security are driven by information technology. However, information technology and its benefits are accompanied by vulnerabilities and risks that can be exploited by people with the necessary technical skills. Individuals like ‘Hackers’ and ‘Cyber Terrorist’ can cause disruption to information systems, commit financial fraud and also attack computers and networks. These attacks and disruptions could result to violence against people and properties. In some cases, death, serious injuries and severe economic loss could occur as a result of these attacks.

Computer crime is a growing threat to society by the criminal or irresponsible actions of computer individuals who are taking advantage of the widespread use and vulnerability of computers and the Internet and other networks. It thus presents a major challenge to the ethical use of information technologies. E-computer crime poses serious threats to the integrity, safety, and survival of most e-business systems, and thus makes the development of effective security methods a top priority. The Association of Information Technology professionals (ATIP) defines computer crime as including:

In today's society computers are used to commit crimes. These crimes are separated into four categories. These categories are as follows, the computer as a target, the computer as an instrument of crime, the computer as incidental to a crime, and crimes associated with the prevalence of computers.