Cyber Ethics:
Rules for Using the Web
We all have heard of ethics. According to Webster's II New College Dictionary (1995), ethics is the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession. As Winn Schwartau (2001) stated "ethics is also about understanding how your actions will affect other people". Cyber-ethics is the ethical decisions we make when using the Internet. We are tasked to use the Internet on a daily basis and we task students to use the Internet regularly, but to use it properly we must adhere to ethics. Ethics is not a law but your moral code. We must know how to avoid plagiarism, know the acceptable use of the Internet, and we must be familiar with Censorship in order to know what moral
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We must teach children how to use the Internet the right way. Much of what we know is learned, and the same goes for using the web. Accoring to Radnofsky and Vuko (2004) we can do these things to educate kids on cyber crimes:
Educate yourself about the dangers (identity theft, illegal purchases, hacking, cyberstalkers, scam artists, "phishers", viruses, worms...) because ignoring these computer crimes unfortunately won't make them go away. Learn the "cyber" vocabulary. There are new words out there, meaningful to your children. Make sure you understand the lingo. Talk with your kids about cyberprivacy & safety --- personal, family, emotional, physical. Talk about ethics & morality with the family. Establish an agreement as to what all of you believe, (make sure it's legal!), and stick to it. Question your children's schools and teachers as to what --- if anything --- they are doing in cyberethics. This has national standards that are required to be taught, just like standards in reading and math.
The Socrates Institute has designed "The CyberEthics Project," a comprehensive K-12 curriculum in cyberethics, for schools to use across the country. It helps to increase the students' awareness of the consequences, safety, legal and ethical use regarding the Internet and other forms of electronic
Schools are starting to connect with students of the digital age and cyberbullying seems to be one of the main issues schools are presently dealing with. The Internet presents students many answers, but also many problems. For example “expelling students who cross whatever digital lines the school district draws in the sand”(Ohler). Schools are starting to accept digital education and are try to incorporate it into the educational system for students. The Internet uses agreements, which specify standard rules for students using it. Even though these standards are in place for students it does seem to working.
ICT curriculum in schools helps children gain computing skills it also helps children to understand potential risks of using various devices and being on-line. Cyber-bullying is very common threat affecting children in recent years. Arranging Displays, posters, discussions and sharing information about how to use devices safely and protect themselves can reduce possible digital risks.
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 study done by BMC Public Health showed that children start to show interest toward the Internet during their late years in elementary and middle school. This, therefore, helps spur the idea of teaching children and young adult on how to use the Internet safely and to start teaching at a younger age now. BMC and the British Journal both agree that medical professionals and teachers are not informed enough about the dangers that the Internet holds to be able to help and “treat” the children who struggle with cyberbullying. They believe that every individual should be aware of the issues that are often caused by social media and the Internet so that others can protect themselves and help others before they are blackmailed. Teaching Internet safety is essential with the constantly growing social networks and advancing technology in today’s society where almost everything is computer based and anyone can see
Although the Internet can be a location of bountiful resources, the scene mentioned above can be common if no supervision is involved. A controversial method of guarding over children online is Spyware, a program downloaded to track all ways an electronic device is being used. Harlan Coben, an author for Nytimes.com , wrote an article in favor of Spyware and how it is necessary in order to keep children safe while using the Internet. Coben’s stance is incredibly correct and Spyware should be used to protect kids from online dangers.
Do you have children? Do they use the internet? Do you know what they're doing on the internet? They could be doing homework, or they could be talking to a pedophile. How can you protect your child? Harlan Coben wrote an article with his solution to this problem: spyware. However, I don't agree with this, there are other, better ways to protect your child. Still don't believe me? Well listen to this.
Everyday technology is changing the way we live and everyday we must keep up with the changes so we’re never left behind. Law isn’t much different, it requires being up to date in order to stay current and unfortunately technology is one of the trickiest laws to maintain. With the growth of technology came the Internet, which subsequently became a common tool for anonymous users to say what they please to anyone with no cost, cyber bullying. There are laws in place but children and teenagers are still being exposed to what’s out in the World Wide Web. Subjecting children to freedom on the Internet without a safeguard from a young age is presenting them with countless dangers to their psychological health. The Internet is such a huge and forbidding place and unfortunately not much is put into place in order to protect us against online predators.
Have you ever seen the television show on NBC Dateline To Catch a Predator? Well if you haven’t, Chris Hansen, the host of the show, has a set up to catch predators online who are trying to meet younger children and arrest predators for trying to seduce young children. This is just one case of why parents are becoming more worried for their children to be using the Internet. Parents strive to find ways to keep their children safe while using the Internet and there are several ways you can do that right at home by protecting your children, having the computer in a high traffic place, and blocking websites.
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
Coben says,”surrendering parental responsibility to a machine that allows the entire world access to your home borders on negligence” (Coben 1).Even though the internet is a dangerous place parents should trust that their children know right from wrong.
The Internet plays a key role in the development of education. According to past research findings, 72% of adolescents surveyed reported using the Internet for school objectives and nearly all of them go online daily (Norris, 2007). Additionally, many interviewed teenagers and parents reported that Internet use is vital to complete school projects. Adolescents need to be educated on how to maximize the legitimacy and safety of online information. Adolescents awareness of the potential impact from internet use and exposure is a
When it comes to the topic of technology, most people will readily agree that it has been growing non-stop at a significant pace. About 16 years ago, technologies, such as computers were not a necessity in mainstream life. Since then, technology has progressed and people have become extremely reliable on. In the essay “What’s the Matter with Kids Today?” by Amy Goldwasser, she talks about the positive aspects of the Internet. According to Goldwasser, “Twenty-plus years ago, high school students didn’t have the Internet to store their trivia”(Goldwasser 238). By stating this, Goldwasser explains that over the years the Internet has become a necessity in the lives of the majority of students today. Although the Internet provides sufficient
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.
Some people lose their moral intuition when using computer technology because they assume that their actions do not have real consequences to others. The lack of physicality on the internet can alter one’s ability to empathize with other, which makes them feel that cybercrime morally acceptable. The moral imperatives in the ACM code of ethics can help people make moral choices with computer technology.
There are many pitfalls and perils on the Internet. Some of them are easy to avoid while other are not so obvious. Some of the Pitfalls and perils are annoying, while others are deadly to your computer. Still others are humorous and entertaining. There are many dangers on the Internet. This paper will try to cover some of them.