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Computer Ethics

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What does the word ‘ethics’ mean? The dictionary defines ethics because of the moral principles that govern the behavior of a gaggle or individual. But, not every people in society need to live an absolutely moral life. Ethics are actually the unwritten code of conduct that every individual should follow. These codes are considered correct only by the members of that particular profession. Similarly, for computer users, computer ethics is a set of principles that regulates the use of computers. Computer ethics address issues related to the misuse of computers and how they can be prevented. It primarily imposes the ethical use of computing resources. It includes methods to avoid violating the unauthorized distribution of digital content. The core issues surrounding computer ethics are based on the use of the internet, internet privacy, copyrighted content, software, and related services, and user interaction with websites. The Internet has changed our lifestyle. It has become a part of our life. It allows us to communicate with a person from another part of the world. collecting information on any topic, social meets, and many other activities. But at the same time, some peoples are always trying to cheat or harm others.

Advantages of using the internet:

  • The Internet offers the facility to communicate with a person in any part of the world.
  • We can easily collect information related to any topic from the world wide web on the internet.
  • Various types of business are carried out through Internet, which is referred to as e-commerce. From booking railway tickets and flight tickets or tickets for movies to purchasing any type of merchandise or commodities, are possible via the Internet.
  • The Internet allows social networking, that is, it provides the ability to share our information, emotions, and feelings with our friends and relatives.

Disadvantages of using the internet:

  • A group of people is trying to get personal information (like bank detail, address, contact details, etc,) over the Internet and uses that for unethical benefits.
  • Malware or viruses are becoming quick access to different networks and ultimately are causing harm to personal computers(PC) or computers connected to the network.
  • Some people run deceitful businesses over the Internet, and the common people very often become victims of them.
  • People use the internet for cyberbullying, trolling, etc.

Ten commandments of computer ethics:

The commandments of computer ethics are as follows:

Commandment 1: Do not use the computer to harm other people’s data.

Commandment 2: Do not use a computer to cause interference in other people’s work.

Commandment 3: Do not spy on another person’s personal data.

Commandment 4: Do not use technology to steal personal information.

Commandment 5: Do not spread misinformation using computer technology.

Commandment 6: Do not use the software unless you pay for this software.

Commandment 7: Do not use someone else’s computer resources unless he authorized to use them.

Commandment 8: It is wrong to claim ownership of a work that is the output of someone else’s intellect.

Commandment 9: Before developing software, think about the social impact it can of that software.

Commandment 10: While computers for communication, always respectful with fellow members.

Internet Security

The internet is an insecure channel for exchanging information because it features a high risk of fraud or phishing. Internet security is a branch of computer security specifically associated with the utilization of the internet, involving browser security and network security.  Its objective is to determine measures against attacks over the web. Insufficient internet security can be dangerous. It can cause many dangerous situations, like starting from the computer system getting infected with viruses and worms to the collapse of an e-commerce business. Different methods have been devised to protect the transfer of data over the internet such as information privacy and staying alert against cyber attacks.

Information Privacy: Information privacy is the privacy or protection of personal information and refers to the personal data stored on a computer. It is an important aspect of information sharing. Information privacy is also known as data privacy or online privacy. Some Internet privacy involves the right of personal privacy and deals with the storing and displaying of personal information on the internet. In any exchange of personal information over the internet, there is always a risk involved with the safety of personal information. Internet privacy may be a cause for concern especially when online purchases, visiting social networking sites, participating in online games or attending forums. Privacy issues can arise in response to information from a good range of sources, such as:

  • Healthcare records
  • Financial institution
  • transactions
  • Biological traits
  • Residence records
  • Location-based service

The risk involved in internet privacy is sometimes dangerous. In the process of data transfer over the internet, if a password is revealed, a victim’s identity may be deceitfully used. 

Some important terms:

  1. Spyware: An application that obtains data without the user’s consent.
  2. Malware: An application used to illegally harm online and offline computer users
  3. Virus: It is a small program or software which is embedded with a legitimate program and designed to harm your system.
  4. Worms: It is a self-replicating program that spread across networks due to the poor security of the infected computers.
  5. Trojan horse: Trojan horse is a program that allows the hackers to gain remote access to a target system.

General steps to protect our system from risks:

To minimize internet privacy violation risks, the following measures need to be taken:

  1. Always use preventive software applications, like anti-virus, anti-malware, etc,
  2. Avoid exposing personal data on websites with low-security levels.
  3. Avoid shopping from unreliable websites
  4. Always use strong passwords consisting of letters, numerals, and special characters.
  5. Always keep your operating system updated.
  6. Always on the firewall.

Unethical computing practices:

Now we discuss some unethical computing practices:

1. Cyberbullying: When people bully other people by the use of electronic communication ( like the web, telephone, etc). it’s referred to as cyberbullying. Cyberbullying has been done by friends, classmates, relatives, any other unknown persons. Sending harmful emails to a person creates fake websites to make fun of or to make harm a person by distributing the same fake information about a person posting and distributing fake images of a person. These are some common ways of cyberbullying. 

In most cyberbullying cases, they do not reveal their identities. Due to cyberbullying, some bullied persons are affected emotionally or mentally. Even if those are fake information, the bullied person may become depressed or it may affect their day-to-day life. In the case of the students or kids, it may affect their study or they may lose self-esteem.

How to protect yourself from cyberbullying:

  • Not to respond to cyberbullying.
  • Never open e-mails received from unknown senders.
  • Keep your password secret.
  • Be careful, when you are posting something on a social site.

2. Phishing: An internet hacking activity used to steal user data. In this activity, an email is sent to the user which misleads him/her to believe that it is from a trusted organization. After sending the email, the attacker asks the user to visit their website, and on their website, they will ask for the personal information of the user like password, credit card information, etc. So, this is how the attacker steals the personal information of the user.

How to protect yourself from phishing:

  • Never open a link, attachment, etc in an email that is sent by some unknown person.
  • Never share your personal information in an email that is asked by an unknown person.
  • Always on the firewall of the computer system.
  • Always check your bank statements regularly to ensure that no unauthorized transactions are made. If unauthorized transactions are made in your account, then immediately report this issue to your bank.

3. Hacking: It is an unethical activity in which a highly skilled technical person(or commonly known as a hacker) enters another person’s computer without the permission of the user and steals important data/project/applications from the computer or sometimes destroys the information from the system.

How to protect yourself from hacking:

  • Never connect your system to free wifi or a free network.
  • Always use strong passwords consisting of letters, numerals, and special characters.
  • Before installing any application in your system, always check permission and authenticity.
  • Always keep your operating system updated.
  • Always use preventive software applications, like anti-virus, anti-malware, etc,

4. Spamming: It is an unethical activity in which bulk unwanted e-mail is set to you from a strange or unknown source. Sometimes, due to bulk emails, your mail server gets full and mail bombing activity happens. Spam mail is generally used to deliver viruses, worms, trojan horses, malware, spyware, etc. to attack the user.

How to protect yourself from spam:

  • To prevent spam mail, install filtering or blocking software.
  • In your mailbox, if you find suspicious mail, then immediately delete that mail(without opening).
  • Always keep your software updated.
  • Never open the link that is sent by an unknown person.

5. Plagiarism: Plagiarism is stealing or copying someone else’s intellectual work (can be an idea, literary work or academic work, etc.) and representing it as your own work without giving credit to the creator or without citing the source of information.

How to protect yourself from plagiarism:

  • While writing, always writes in your own words.
  • Always use a plagiarism checker before the update.
  • If you are taking someone else’s work, then always give the credit to the original author in an in-text citation.

Sample Questions

Question 1. What are the disadvantages of the internet?

Solution:

  • A group of people is trying to get personal information (like bank detail, address, contact details, etc,) over the Internet and uses that for unethical benefits.
  • Malware or viruses are becoming quick access to different networks and ultimately are causing harm to personal computers(PC) or computers connected to the network.
  • Some people run deceitful businesses over the Internet, and the common people very often become victims of them. People use the internet for cyberbullying, trolling,

Question 2. What are the benefits of the internet?

Solution:

  • The Internet offers the facility to communicate with a person in any part of the world.
  • We can easily collect information related to any topic from the world wide web on the internet.
  • Various types of business are carried out through Internet, which is referred to as e-commerce. From booking railway tickets and flight tickets or tickets for movies to purchasing any type of merchandises or commodities, are possible via the Internet.
  • The Internet allows social networking, that is, it provides the facility to share our information, emotions and feelings with our friends and relatives.

Question 3. List some common computing ethics.

Solution:

  • Do not use the computer to harm other people data.
  • Do not spy on another person’s personal data.
  • Do not use a computer to cause interference in other people work.
  • Do not use technology to steal personal information.
  • Do not spread misinformation using computer technology.
  • It is wrong to claim ownership of a work that is the output of someone else’s intellect.
  • In using computers for communication, be respectful with fellow members.

Question 4. List some unethical computing practices.  

Solution:

  • Plagiarism
  • Cyberbullying
  • Unauthorized Hacking
  • Spamming
  • Phishing
  • Software piracy

Question 5. What is cybercrime?

Solution:

Cybercrime may be a criminal activity done with the help of computers and the Internet. It includes downloading illegal data, online fraud bank transaction, etc.

Question 6. The organization that has established the guideline for copyright Law.

Solution:

WIPO

Question 7. An application that obtained data without the user’s consent.

Solution:

Spyware



Last Updated : 06 Jun, 2021
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