Computer Ethics : The Computers And The Internet

Online technologies are beneficial to the modern world. It can improve a person’s education, business, and helps in everyday life hassles. It has become an essential part of the way that people live and it is very likely that people would be a loss without it. In “Ethics and the New Genetics,” the Dalai Lama claims that to ethically use new technological advancements we need to develop a “moral compass”. Peter Singer, in “Visible Man: Ethics in a World without Secrets,” discusses whether new technology and “openness” makes our lives better, or if the lack of privacy takes away the rights of individuals. Both authors discuss how technology is advancing very rapidly and can significantly have major pros and cons to society. The two authors, however, have different viewpoints in which how the society can determine when technology has become ethical. Dalai Lama is firm believer that technology is evolving so fast that ethics could hardly keep up with it. He addresses how people should have ethical standards when dealing with the internet. Thus, he is directly proving to us how he would want society to ethically determine when and how technology should be used. Yet, on another spectrum, Peter Singer argues that although ethically, internet is invading our privacy, this invasion of privacy is the only way that the public is safe and people should brutally discover the truth about everything but somehow it can cause harm. Peter Singer and Dalai Lama both agree how the new online

Computer crimes and crimes involving the use of computers have become a fact in our world today. Crimes no longer involve just hackers seeking to make a name for themselves. We now store critical information for our lives on our computers, cell phones and tablets. Just as the average home user uses their computers for more and more of their daily activities, the same can be said of criminals. On our computers are our finances, schedules, contacts, addresses, pictures and videos, phone numbers, medical information, research and internet history. According to a 2014 McAfee report, their extrapolated, estimated annual cost to the global economy as a result of cybercrime is over $400 billion. (CSIS & McAfee, 2014) Additionally, crime does not just

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.

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

In each of the discussions, we were confronted with the ethicality of people or processes. Prior to the advent of wide spread information technology, these situations would have been more easily addressed, categorized, and concealed. This technology has allowed us to share information around the world, but it has also released information beyond our ability to control it. Now our privacy, property, quality of life, work and personal lives are vulnerable because of inadequate laws and unethical entities.

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.

Technology is changing the way the world does a number of things from communicating with others to how people work and shop. With the rapid growth of technology the way people act has changed from the way some people accustomed too. People around the world have different views on how an individual should act and if that action is morally correct. Views depend on the person doing the action or even the one watching the action to decide if they think it is morally correct. Ethics is the “study of what constitutes right or wrong behavior” (Miller, R. Cross, F. Jentz, G. 2008). There are several ethical theories created by various individuals through the years. In this paper, I will select what I consider the closest ethical theory I relate to.

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.

Private information in the digital world seems to be more easily obtained as technology furthers. The idea that digital information is as safe as ever might be a very unrealistic concept. The web is filled with hackers and virus’s designed to steal a person’s personal information. The idea that streets could have facial recognition could follow someone throughout someone’s whole day. A person could learn all about them from watching them, where the victim’s kids go to school, where they work, and where the individual sleeps. That information could come with a price to many corrupt people. On another idea, hackers could hack into these systems and again, sell information or use it for one’s own personal

Some of the issues that I would like to explore in this paper, are the intersection of information laws, and how they intersect with the ethical standards, and the actual practice. Since computers and technologies grow extremely fast, the laws are unable to govern new developments in the field. Therefor those that develop these systems and programs have an ethical imperative to, analysis the impact that these systems could have on others. When new technologies and standards are created, one must look at the effect of the technology, and the possible ways that someone could maliciously obtain, or misuse data.

In today’s Internet fueled society, we hardly go a single day without logging into some sort of computer, accessing the internet, checking social media, or accessing a wireless network. With nearly over forty-five percent of the world population using the Internet, a staggering 3,424,971,237 individuals connecting with each other in some web platform, it is not hard to see immoral and un-ethical acts taking place (Internet Users, 2016). As these numbers continue to grow, and the access to the Internet becomes easier, the practice of proper Internet usage is constantly jeopardized. Until recently, cyber ethics has not gotten the attention it deserves, with the acts on-line no different than acts in society, the awareness and education of cyber-ethics should be addressed sooner rather than later.

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

known just to the sender and the recipient (Olumide & Victor, 2010). Various cryptographic strategies have been created and some of them are still not broke. Digital Ethics and Cyber enactment Laws is another approach to cybercrime problem. Cyber morals and digital laws are likewise being defined to stop digital wrongdoings (Anderson, et al. 2012). It is an obligation of each person to take after digital morals and digital laws so that the expanding digital violations will lessen (Olumide & Victor, 2010). Securities programming like hostile to infections and against spy products ought to be introduced on all PCs, keeping in mind the end goal to stay secure from digital violations. Web access Providers ought to likewise give abnormal state of security at their servers with a specific end goal to keep their customers secure from a wide range of infections and pernicious projects (Salu, 2004).

While there are many crimes committed on a daily basis in various forms, people who use computers seldom think about computer crimes, and what measures need to be taken in order to prevent those type of crimes. Also many people who use computers are not aware of the privacy and security measures that are taken advantage of. In order to handle these situations, it is important to be educated on topics such as how to protect your privacy (and who is able to view your personal information without you knowing), the crimes committed dealing with malware and other virus agents, and how to utilize tools and stay away from scams that you may encounter. These topics are important and should be addressed to all of the public, but particularly to children and the elderly who are the least of informed on the ever-changing technological world and how it can directly effect them if precautions are not taken.

As the world becomes more engrained with technology. The growing threats and security vulnerabilities propose a great concern to keep our digital information private and out of the hands of thieves, hackers, and abusers. According to David Donahoo quoted in the Liberty Journal, “The more information that is available in the cyber world, the larger the pie becomes as far as a cyber criminal is concerned.” (Menard, 2015) In other words, information security is becoming a vital intrinsic absolute when we consider the luxury our technology has brought us on a daily basis.