Computer Ethics - Maintaining order online

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Computer Ethics - Maintaining Order Online

By Chas Andres

Since the globalization of the Internet around 1990, the computer has emerged as one of the most revolutionary communication devices that have ever been invented. The Internet shapes our world in many ways, and our daily lives are made much easier by the abilities to send information half way around the world almost instantly at the click of a button. However, along with this increased freedom comes increased responsibility. Computer Ethics are important for insuring that the Internet is a safe environment for all people to use. Without a code of ethics, the Internet would disintegrate into chaos and anarchy, and its usefulness would be nullified. This paper covers three main topics of Computer Ethics that are extremely important for everyone to understand.

One of the biggest issues plaguing the Internet today is the theft of other people's intellectual property and copywritten material. In 1967, the World Intellectual Property Organization was founded in order to establish intellectual property boundaries and rules, so that people's hard-fought work would remain the property of the people who created it. The Organization decided that intellectual property refers to: "Literary and artistic works, which includes every production in the literary, scientific, and artistic domain, whatever the mode of expression, dramatic and dramatic-musical works, choreographic works, photographic works, and works of applied art." As a member of the WIPO, The United States has laws stating that only the author of this work has the right to display, copy, perform, or distribute intellectual property. However, with the Internet as a new method of distributing information, many of these intellectual property laws were challenged. Very few people would photocopy and sell pages from books, for example, but what about copying and selling computer programs? It's very much the same thing. Computer programs are protected exactly the same way as books, so if people distribute programs without the author's permission, it is illegal. This isn't the biggest problem, however. Most people on their home computers don't copy programs, so this is only an issue with very knowledgeable people, or large bootleggers; not an issue for everyday people. What is an important issue, though, is the illegal copying of information on the Internet, such as text and images on web pages. It is even argued that caching web sites (the way that browsers automatically store web sites on one's desktop for a faster load next time that page is accessed) is illegal by the WIPO laws, because the information is copied onto one's hard drive. Also controversial is the trading of copywritten songs via MP3's online. While recently the Recording Industry Association of America has succeeded in shutting down Napster, the most widely used song trading program, there are still places and programs that allow users to illegally download and trade music online. This is a much more wide problem than copying programs. Millions of songs are traded online each day, all without the permission of the creator. While this may seem very harmless, it is in fact a violation of one of the key issues of Computer Ethics. If everyone disregards copyright altogether, before long your work as well could be spread all over the world without your permission. That is why it is important and ethical to obey the laws set up by the WIPO, and respect intellectual property regulations.

Intellectual Property - Is your own work safe from piracy?

Another ethical argument that is far from being resolved is over censorship online. No one would argue that there aren't sites on the Internet that would be considered obscene, but people do argue about what to do about it. Many people favor the censorship route. They feel that sites with pornographic or otherwise obscene content should be blocked or taken off the internet, primarily so that their children can surf the internet safely, and they don't have to worry about their six year old stumbling upon a sex site while looking up information about animals. However, this censorship goes against the First Amendment of the Constitution, which clearly states that the Government will allow free speech, and this amendment clearly covers censorship of the Internet. Also, even if the Government could or wanted to censor the Internet, they would have a very hard time, seeing as the Internet is not limited to the US. They would have to censor sites all around the world, and it wouldn't be in their jurisdiction to do so. The debate rages on about what to do. In 1995 Congress passed the Communications Decency Act, which added some censorship to the Internet, but it was met with a lot of opposition, and it couldn't control sites outside of the US. It basically made it illegal for sites to allow minors to access 'indecent' or 'obscene' material. Sites that the government found which 'catered to minors' were prosecuted, with the webmasters given up to 2 years in jail or a 100,000 fine. However, soon after this law was passed, the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional, and the ethics question was back to square one. In order to provide the Internet with some semblance of order, AOL tried the next bit of censorship. Adding filters to its message boards and groups, AOL systematically killed hundreds of groups that had obscene keywords in their headers. Unfortunately, due to AOL's censorship of the word 'Breast', a breast cancer survivor alias was also shut down along with all of the pornography. Even though there is still plenty of debate over AOL's policies, they still censor many things today, and because all their censoring is internal and not of the Internet at large, they are perfectly allowed to do so. Another development in the world of software came out at this time that helped tone down many of the arguments, a program called a filter. A parent can install a filter on their home Internet connection, and it blocks all inappropriate sites, as well as monitor the list of sites their child goes to. This program was embraced by both people for and against censorship, as it provided monitoring and filtering for those how wanted it, but made it so that first amendment rights were not violated. While this important issue in computer ethics is far from solved, it seems that for now both sides are content.

Should there be Government Regulation of the Internet?

Another important topic in Computer Ethics is the issue of online privacy. Email is not a secure tool, and your boss, your friend, or even the government can intercept any message that you send years later. Every time you press the 'send' button, you are effectively telling everyone online that they can read your message. Without computer ethics, who would feel comfortable sending private information online? That is why it is important that we respect everyone's online privacy. As of now, the only way to ensure that anything you send be kept confidential is the use of an encryption program such as PGP, or something of that nature. With an encryption program, you run your message through a filter that translates it into garble. You send it to a friend whom you give a code to, and with that code they can read what you sent. Anyone else will only see gibberish. Many times the FBI and Government have tried to pass laws to counter this, laws saying that the FBI should have the right to read anything sent online, or laws saying that the government should have a key that would open all encrypted messages, but so far privacy online is safe from being overly regulated by the government. The best way to solve this problem is not regulation, however, but for individuals to stop prying into other peoples' business. If people respect the online privacy of others, there would be no need for encryption or fear. This is where the question of ethics comes up. It is important that private emails sent online stay private, or else the Internet will be a much more fearful and less useful tool.

These three important issues in Computer Ethics show how important it is for people to follow good computer ethics at all times. If people don't obey these basic rules, the Internet will become either an anarchic wasteland, or a super regulated government tool without the freedom that the Internet needs to grow and improve. The Internet is a useful tool, and amazing communication device, but it will only stay this way with good computer ethics. It is important that all of us, and regular users of the Internet, obey computer ethics and make sure that it will continue to stay such a wonderful place for years to come.

Chas Andres

Sources:

'Computer Ethics' - http://library.thinkquest.org/26658/ - Visited 11/18/01, Last Modified 7/23/99 - Copyright 'Thinkquest'1999

'The Computer Ethics Institute' - http://www.brook.edu/its/cei/cei_hp.htm - Visited 11/18/01, Last Modified '00 - Copyright 'The Brookings Institution' 1993

'Ethics on the World Wide Web' - http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/ethics/computer.html - Visited 11/18/01, Last Modified '01 - Copyright 'Paul Martin Lester' 2000

'Delphi Academy' - http://www.delphi-academy.com/ - Visited 11/18/01, Last Modified '01 - Copyright 'Delphi Academy' 1997