As of September 2003, there were approximately 70 million Americans or about 62 percent of the American population had at least one home computer. Another statistic is that about 55% of people also have internet on there home computers. In everyday life it is important for a person to have good ethics; this is also true about computer usage. Due to the fact that more then half of the American population owns computers, computer ethics are a growing concern in a rapidly changing society. Computer ethics can be broken down in to many topics including piracy, hacking, viruses, spam, phishing, and responsibility of use of software, cyber porn, and invasion of privacy and the use of the computer in the work place. Also there are many issues …show more content…
Many hackers who break into commercial Web sites are looking for customers' private financial data including bank account and credit card numbers. A hacker who causes a network to crash can cost a company hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost productivity. Also because we are a society that relies on computers so heavily there is also the potential for loss of life is say the police or air traffic control computers were to get hacked. A topic that goes hand in hand with hacking is viruses. A computer virus is a small program that impairs-or simply destroys-a computer's ability to function properly. Most viruses are designed to spread themselves over the Internet often via email programs before they inflict harm on their host computers. Frequently, hackers use viruses to create problems with in a person's computer to get in deeper and cause more problems.
Two more computer ethic topics that go hand in hand are spam and phishing. Spam which is an inappropriate attempt to use email, or another networked communications facility by sending the same message to numerous people who didn't ask for it, can lead to many problems in both a work and non-work environment. Another consequence of spam is phishing which is the act of tricking someone into giving them confidential information or tricking them into doing something that they normally wouldn't do or shouldn't do. An example of this is sending an
In the early days of computing, a hacker was primarily referred to as a computer guru, someone who is extremely technical with a high expertise in computer also known as “Expert Programmers”. Nevertheless, as technology is advancing at a face pace, hacking has adopted a completely different definition. The modern definition is someone who access a computer system primarily to steal or destroy information. Hacking has caused major harm in the realm of technology. Over the years, hackers have become much more lethal in their craft. They manage to break into complex information systems from entities such as banks, government agencies, and private businesses. Furthermore, they often manipulate their victims through social engineering in order to obtain financial benefits. Hackers hold different label such as: black hat hacker and white hat hacker in which all have their own motives.
Ethical computer use policy contains general principles to guide computer user behavior: True or False
Legal and ethical issues in computing are not as straight forward as one expects, these two comprehensive concepts can be divided into many sub-sections such as computer Ethics which is a moral standard used as a guideline for computer users, Code of ethics is a guideline in ICT, intellectual property is the own work that is created by individuals, privacy refers to the rights that individual and companies have and how their data is collected and restricted to outside sources, computer crime is an illegal act that involves computers and finally cyber law which is laws that are related to helping protect the internet and other online communication.
A computer hacker is someone who can break into your computer and steal whatever information you have in your system. All of your private information that you think is safe, is not safe anymore. These hackers can take the
The consideration of computer ethics fundamentally emerged with the birth of computers. There was concern right away that computers would be used inappropriately to the detriment of society, or that they would replace humans in many jobs, resulting in widespread job loss. To grasp fully the issues involved with computer ethics, it is important to consider the history. Cyber fraud which I
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.
The advances made in information technologies are causing an increasing number of ethical problems. The power used to processing computers doubles about every two years. Organizations are more dependent than ever before on their information systems. The Ethical problems arising from the appropriate use of customer information, personal privacy, and the protection of intellectual property have lead to increased laws to regulate the way data is collected. There are also privacy issues involved collecting, storing, and disseminating information about individuals.
Following the terrorist attacks on September of 2001, President George W. Bush signed into law The USA PATRIOT Act. Intended to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, The Patriot Act made changes to surveillance laws that enabled the U.S government to collect computer information about both American and foreign citizens in unprecedented ways. During the following years, through a series of legislative changes and court decisions, The United States National Security Agency was gradually granted the authority to collect information on a massive scale by implementing programs such as PRISM, which collects internet communications from at least nine major US internet companies such as Google, Facebook Yahoo and Apple ; XKEYSCORE, which gave the NSA the ability to secretly access databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals; MYSTIC, which allows them to collect the metadata as well as the content of phone calls from several entire countries, as well as many other programs with similar mass surveillance capabilities . To put it in simple terms, together this programs essentially enables almost unlimited warrantless surveillance of anyone and everyone anywhere in the world, regardless of that person nationality, affiliation or lack thereof to any criminal or terrorist group.
Chapter eight of Ethics and Technology: Controversies, Questions, and Strategies for Ethical Computing by Herman T. Tavani is about intellectual property disputes. Tavani defines intellectual property as an intangible form of property that is protected by a system of laws through which authors and inventors are given ownership rights over their creative works and inventions. There are four legal frameworks for protecting intellectual property. The first of these is copyright laws. Copyright laws protect authors. An author can also be an individual or an entity such as an organization or corporation. The first United States copyright law was created in 1790 and protected books, maps, and charts. As newer forms of media were developed, copy right protection has extended to them also. In 1980 copyright laws were amended to include computers, programs and databases that exhibit authorship. In order for something to be protected with copyright laws it must be original, nonfunctional, and also fixed in a tangible medium. The second legal framework is patents which protects individuals who create an invention or process. Patent laws require that inventions be useful, novel, and nonobvious. The third legal framework is trademarks. A trademark is a word, name, phrase or symbol that identifies a product or service. To qualify for a trademark the mark should be distinctive. The last legal framework for protection is a trade secret. A trade secret is highly valuable
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:
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.
The ethical issues surrounding hacking, stem from several sources mainly dealing with order and control, and information ownership. What is difficult to decipher from all the media hoopla surrounding the terms, "hacker" and "hacking" is both the simultaneous sensationalism and the condemnation of said activities. Of course just recently, even a movie was made and was appropriately called Hackers. The term and all that it implies has truly entered our popular consciousness when Hollywood has made a box office movie on it. As the advancement of computer technologies and systems of information become increasingly more and more complex in today's fast paced modern world and said technologies become an integral
In the early years of computers and computerized technology, computer engineers had to believe that their contribution to the development of computer technology would produce positive impacts on the people that would use it. During the infancy of computer technology, ethical issues concerning computer technology were almost nonexistent because computers back then were not as multifaceted as they are today. However, ethical issues relating to computer technology and cyber technology is undeniable in today’s society. Computer technology plays a crucial role in all aspects of our daily lives. Different forms of computer technology provide unique functionalities that allow people to perform daily activities effectively and efficiently. In
Due to the fact that the web is getting faster and faster and evolves every day and increasing its speed, it allows the hackers to do more effectively some kinds of crimes that require speed and skills. For example robbing money from an account before anyone can trace back the
It is important we distinguish what professional ethics and computer security is. Professionally accepted standards of personal and business behavior, values and guiding principles. Codes of professional ethics are often established by professional organizations to help guide members in performing their job functions according to sound and consistent ethical principles. In current times, most if not all organizations have some sort of code of ethics that its employees are supposed to follow. Violating the code of ethics usually results in severe consequences from the organization. Computer security has become one of the most important issues in organizations in fear of any kind of data lost. The ever-changing web, it has become a priority to secure information from loss as there it lingers a constant vision of malice to disrupt the web world security. The need for cyber security is at a crucial more than ever as the web is growing more and more. Having a resilient digital infrastructure is becoming more and more important. Cyber-security is very important for companies due to the ongoing digital changes and the increasing connections to the critical infrastructure. Cyber breach results in the disruption of critical infrastructures within a company.