Computer Ethics Chapter 14 Computers Understanding Technology Ethics

Computer Ethics Chapter 14 – Computers: Understanding Technology

Ethics • Ethics are the internalized principles we use to determine whether some action is morally right or wrong • Normative ethics involves determining a standard or norm that underlies ethical behavior • Applied ethics involves the application of normative ethical beliefs to real-life situations

Computer Ethics • Privacy Protection • Property Protection • Personal and Social Issues

Privacy Protection • Public Information Availability – the Internet has expanded access to a wide variety of personal information – birth records, marriage licenses, divorce records, bankruptcy records, home sales and payment of taxes, traffic records, criminal records – that previously was available, but access was difficult

Privacy Protection (cont. ) • Creation of profiles of individual consumers through tracking online behavior through cookies • Tracking of location of cell phones, cars – could anyone track you down, or would there be pressure to provide this capability to spouses, significant others, etc.

Protection from Commercial Threats to Privacy • Industry self-regulation – privacy statements • Government regulation – Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 is aimed at protecting children under the age of 13 • Consumer self-protection

Government Threats to Computer Privacy • FBI’s Carnivore program – an internet wiretap program

Workplace Threats to Privacy • Companies can use electronic surveillance of employees in the workplace except where it has pledged not to do this

Property Protection Issues • Damage due to viruses and hackers • Plagiarism is use of other’s ideas and creations (their intellectual property) without permission and attribution • Patents awards ownership of invention for a number of years, whereas copyright awards ownership of artistic and literary products to their creators

Fair Use • It is permissible to use another’s material without permission in certain circumstances under a doctrine known as fair use. For example, – Authors may use limited excerpts of copyrighted material in their own work – Making a photocopy of a portion of a book or article is often permissible

Personal and Social Issues • Pornography – Laws against distributing or possessing child pornography – Companies have fired people for visiting pornographic sites on company computers – Self-protection – • Internet Explorer and 3 rd party filtering programs • Google allows you to filter search results

Personal and Social Issues (cont. ) • The digital divide is the term used to describe the gap between those who have access to computers and those who do not – urban/rural, race, income/wealth, disabled • The gaps are getting smaller