Cyber Ethics

iSchools Project Team

HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT GROUP
Source: Rommel Andong & Mel Tan

Commission on Information and Communications Technology

 Issues

• Privacy and Personal Information

• Trust
• Freedom of speech
• Intellectual Property
• Computer crime
• Computers and Work
• Professional Ethics and Responsibilities
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 Computer Ethics

• Category of professional ethics similar

to medical, accounting, legal ethics
• For computer professionals & those
who select, manage or use computers
in a professional setting
• many people do not understand
technology well...
– Concerns relationships & responsibilities
towards customers, clients, coworkers,
users, people affected by computers, ...
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 What is Ethics ?

• Study of what it means to "do the right

thing"
• View ethical rules as
– fundamental & universal
– made up to provide a framework to
interact with other people
• Behaving ethically is often practical
• Needs courage sometimes ...
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 Some important distinctions

• Right, wrong, OK, prohibited,

acceptable
• Distinguising Wrong and Harm
• Separating Goals from Constraints
• Personal Preference and Ethics
• Law and Ethics

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 Introduction

• To handle information in a responsible

way you must understand:
– The importance of ethics in the ownership and
use of information.
– The importance to people of personal privacy and
the ways in which it can be compromised.
– The value of information to an organization.
– Threats to information and how to protect against
them (security).

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 Ethics

• Ethics - the principles and

standards that guide our behavior
toward other people.

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 Ethics
Two Factors That Determine How You Decide Ethical Issues

1. Your basic ethical structure, which

you developed as you grew up.
2. The set of practical circumstances
involved in the decision that you’re
trying to make — that is, all the
shades of gray in what are rarely
black or white decisions.

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 Ethics: Practical Considerations
how much or how little what is your perception
benefit or harm will come of what society really
from a particular decision? thinks of your intended
action?

how much do
you identify
with the what is the
person or probability
persons who of the harm
will receive or benefit
the benefit or that will
suffer the occur if you
harm? take the
action?

how many
what length of people will be
time will it take affected by
for the benefit or your action?
harm to take
effect?
 Intellectual Property
• Intellectual property - intangible creative
work that is embodied in physical form.
• Copyright - the legal protection afforded
an expression of an idea, such as a song,
video game, and some types of proprietary
documents.
• Fair Use Doctrine - says that you may use
copyrighted material in certain situations —
for example, for teaching purposes.

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 Intellectual Property

• Pirated software - the unauthorized

use, duplication, distribution or sale of
copyrighted software.
• Counterfeit software - software that is
manufactured to look like the real thing
and sold as such.

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 Privacy

• Privacy - the right to be left alone when

you want to be, to have control over
your own personal possessions, and not
to be observed without your consent.

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 Privacy

• E-mail is completely insecure.

• Each e-mail you send results in at least 3 or 4 copies
being stored on different computers.
• You can take measures to protect your e-mail.

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 Privacy

• Cookie - a small record deposited on your

hard disk by a Web site containing
information about you and your Web
activities.
• Adware - software to generate ads that
installs itself on your computer when you
download some other (usually free) program
from the Web.
• Trojan-horse software - software you don’t
want hidden inside software you do want.
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 Privacy
• Spyware (also called sneakware or
stealthware) - software that comes hidden in
free downloadable software
– tracks your online movements
– mines the information stored on your computer
– uses your computer’s CPU and storage
• Key logger, or key trapper, software, -a
program, when installed on a computer,
records every keystroke and mouse click.

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 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
FOR COMPUTER ETHICS
from the Computer Ethics Institute

✔
Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.
✔
Thou shalt not interfere with other people's computer work.
✔
Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's files.
✔
Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.
✔
Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.
✔
Thou shalt not use or copy software for which you have not paid.
✔
Thou shalt not use other people's computer resources without
authorization.
✔
Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual output.
✔
Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program
you write.
✔
Thou shalt use a computer in ways that show consideration and
respect.
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 NETIQUETTE

From Computing for Life - Book A by Tan, 2nd edition. FNB Publications, 2005.

1. be responsible enough not to waste other

people’s time or bandwidth by posting
unnecessarily long messages or
unimportant messages and sending large
attachments
– Keep your messages to the point - you may
opt to use common abbreviations
– Limit the size of attachments to 100 kb.

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 NETIQUETTE

1. Promote civility. Be pleasant and polite.

Although the Internet advocates freedom
of speech, it does not give anyone the
right to write anything he wants without
minding how it will affect others.
– Avoid using CAPS LOCK.
– Minimize the use of exclamation points.
– Use smileys or emoticons when appropriate
– Do not use offensive language.

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 Sample Emoticons

:-) Happy face :-@ Screaming

;-) Kidding or teasing :-C Disappointed
:-D Laughing hard :'-( Crying
:-I Indifferent. Either way :-O Surprise or
is O.K. amazement
|-O Yawning :-X Your secret is safe
|-I Asleep with me
:-/ Not quite sure about }:-) A devil
something O:-) An angel
:-( Frowning ^5 High 5
>:-( Angry

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 Sample Acronyms

• AFAIK As Far As I Know • G Grin

• AFK Away From Keyboard • FTBOMH From The Bottom Of My
• ASAP As Soon As Possible Heart
• B4N Bye For Now • GL Good Luck
• BBL Be Back Later • FWIW For What It's Worth
• BRB Be Right Back • H&K Hug and Kiss
• BBS Be Back Soon • GFN Gone For Now
• CYA See You (Seeya) • HAGU Have A Good 'Un
• CU See You • GMTA Great Minds Think Alike
• DLTBBB Don't Let The Bed Bugs • HIG How's It Going
Bite • HAGN Have A Good Night
• CYAL8R See You Later • IC I See
(Seeyalata) • HAND Have A Nice Day
• FC Fingers Crossed • IMNSHO In My Not So Humble
• F2F Face To Face Opinion
• HT Hi There

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 Sample Acronyms

• IMCO In My Considered Opinion • KOTC Kiss On The Cheek

• ILY I Love You • LHO Laughing Head Off
• IMS I'm Sorry • L8R G8R Later 'Gator
• IMHO In My Humble Opinion • LOL Laugh Out Loud
• JK Just Kidding • LMSO Laughing My Socks Off
• IMO In My Opinion • LY4E Love You Forever
• IRL In Real Life • LSHMBH Laughing So Hard My
• IOW In Other Words Belly Hurts
• JTLYK Just To Let You Know • ROTFL Rolls On The Floor
• Laughing
J4G Just For Grins
• • LY Love Ya
KIT Keep In Touch
• STO Sticking Out Tongue
• JMO Just My Opinion KWIM
Know What I Mean • OIC Oh, I See
• KISS Keep It Simple, Stupid • OTOH On The Other Hand
• L8R Later

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 NETIQUETTE

1. Use descriptive subject lines for your

messages as a courtesy to your reader -
to help people organize and prioritize their
messages.
2. Let the recipient know who is sending the
message.
– From: or end your messages with your name
– Signature

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 NETIQUETTE

1. When forwarding messages:

– Check the reliability of the source of a forwarded
message and the accuracy of the message or story
before passing it on.
• Do not unnecessarily alarm people, waste their precious time,
and clog the network.
– Clean up your messages before you forward them.
• Take out unnecessary header information and forwarding
symbols (usually the > sign).
• Retain only those that are important to your recipient.
– Choose the recipients of your forwarded message.

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 NETIQUETTE

1. When replying to a mass email, avoid hitting

Reply to All.
2. When sending mass email, it would be better to
use BCCs (Blind Carbon Copies)
– respect your recipients’ privacy

• NOTE: Be careful when corresponding to

strangers on a network.
– Do not give out sensitive or personal information to
people you do not personally know.
– Be wary of people who give out or lie about their
own information to gain your trust.

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 CASES

discussion points

Commission on Information and Communications Technology

 Case 1

You are a unit supervisor. A member of

your unit is out sick and another
member requests a copy of all files from
the sick employee's computer to his so
that he can do some work.

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 Case 2

My brother and I saw this really cool

game being played in the network
gaming shop. We would really like to
get a copy but it costs a lot of money.
My classmate told me that that there is a
website where I can copy it for free.
That way, I can enjoy the game without
having to shell out any money!
adapted from www.cybercrime.gov/rules/kidinternet.htm
From Computing for Life - Book A by Tan, 2nd edition. FNB Publications, 2005. 27
 Case 3

When I went over to James’ workstation

to copy a file, I found that he left his
Instant Messenger open. A mutual
friend, who is on the other end, just sent
a message. Since nobody is looking, I
sat down, typed a response, and sent it
pretending to be James.

adapted from www.cybercrime.gov/rules/kidinternet.htm

From Computing for Life - Book A by Tan, 2nd edition. FNB Publications, 2005.
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 Case 4

I have an English book report due tomorrow,

and I have not even read halfway through the
book. I found a web page that gives a review on
the same book. All I have to do is to copy and
paste the contents of the page onto my word
processor. That would be a lot easier than
finishing the book and writing this entire book
report in one night. My teacher would not know.

adapted from www.cybercrime.gov/rules/kidinternet.htm

From Computing for Life - Book A by Tan, 2nd edition. FNB Publications, 2005.
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 Case 5

Despite several warnings, Bogs still leaves his

computer account open even if he knows that
another user will be using the same unit
afterwards. Annoyed with his non-compliance, I
decided to move all his documents to another
folder without his knowledge. That would teach
him to close his account.

adapted from www.cybercrime.gov/rules/kidinternet.htm

From Computing for Life - Book A by Tan, 2nd edition. FNB Publications, 2005.
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 Case 6

My friend sent me this really funny story

via email. I decided to change all the
characters’ names to those of people in
our neighborhood, just for laughs – and
CC:d all the people in my Address Book.

adapted from www.cybercrime.gov/rules/kidinternet.htm

From Computing for Life - Book A by Tan, 2nd edition. FNB Publications, 2005.
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 Case 7

Danny brags that he can break into any

computer system. He says that it’s really
fun. He is coaxing me to help him get
into the school’s main computer to get a
peek at next week’s exam questions.

adapted from www.cybercrime.gov/rules/kidinternet.htm

From Computing for Life - Book A by Tan, 2nd edition. FNB Publications, 2005.
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 Case 8

I saw this girl enter her password for

email access. Now, I can log in as her
and send hate mail to take revenge
against my enemies.

adapted from www.cybercrime.gov/rules/kidinternet.htm

From Computing for Life - Book A by Tan, 2nd edition. FNB Publications, 2005.
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 Case 9

I used my father’s credit card, without

his knowledge, to bid on this collector’s
item Star Wars figurine. I am so happy
because I won the online auction.

adapted from www.cybercrime.gov/rules/kidinternet.htm

From Computing for Life - Book A by Tan, 2nd edition. FNB Publications, 2005.
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 Thank you

Commission on Information and Communications Technology