Ethics in Modern Computer Usage - Research Paper Example

Ethics in Modern Computer Usage 1. Introduction The current era can be termed as the technological era. The modern world cannot be imagined without the integration of computer technology. One of the aspects of computer usage that has made revolutionary changes in the society is the advent of internet. Internet has not only provided computer users an ocean of knowledge but also an efficient form of communication that has broken all geographical barriers. Internet made life convenient and fast-paced alongside some threats. Services and products started being offered on the internet and organizations became equipped with the technological advancement. Both of these aspects led to data integrity and privacy threats. The access to such enormous amount of data and services tempted the malicious users to make unethical use of the data. Over the years, it has been witnessed that protection software have been developed to protect data and systems but hackers also learn and adapt with the developing technologies thereby continuing to harm others. Certain ethics are expected to be followed by the computer users to protect the rights of others and cause no harm to anyone. 2. Computer Ethics With the incorporation of computer technology in the lives of millions of people around the world, the need for the declaration of ethical conduct seemed necessary since people started manhandling computers, data and its services. The increase in number of users initiated the development of rules and ethics to be abided by computer users. Buzzle (2010) pointed out some acts of ethics that are expected to be followed: Computers should not be used to cause harm to others. No interference should take place in other people’s work on the computer. No snooping should be done in other people’s data. A computer should not be used to steal anyone’s data and be used for financial gains. Any software that has not been paid for should not be used or copied. Other people’s resources should not be used without authorization. Programmers and developers should understand the consequences of their programs and consider it their social responsibility not to cause any harm with them. 3. Issues concerning Ethics Almost all computer users are aware of the ethical criteria of computer usage but some do not follow them and get involved in malicious activities. Some of the prevailing issues in the area of ethical behavior in the operation of computers are as follows: 3.1 Intrusion and Hacking Several techniques have been invented by hackers to gain access into the computers of other people. The invention of internet serves as a massive medium of communication where all the computers are connected to each other. It gets easy for the hackers to gain access to the personal information and data of people via internet. The latest technology to gain access to someone’s system is to make use of ‘Botnets’. Intruders hide the malicious links in the form of email attachments, links of social networking sites etc. When the user clicks on these links, automated installation of software takes place that makes the computer a ‘bot’. The bot controller might be residing in the network and will be able to perform any function on the bot. Personal information can be accessed via this method and system can also be harmed. At times, bots are used to send spam emails without the knowledge of the user; this also resides in the premise of unethical behavior since the intruder utilizes the resources of the individual without his authorization. These actions go against the ethical premise since it involves harming individuals and accessing their data without their permission. The installation of the malicious software can cause harm ranging from small magnitude to large ones; display of inappropriate messages on the screen of the computer user, ejection of CD drives at regular intervals all come under small issues. Damage of greater extent might even involve the deletion of important information or component installation on the system. Intrusion activities also come under the vicinity of snooping into someone else’s data and monitoring the actions that the user might be performed on someone’s system. The intruder might be silent in the system so he is not detected by the user and would be keeping track of all his computing activities. An example of such kind of an unethical behavior can be to monitor the activities on computers of an organization’s competitor to keep track of new launches and campaigns. Intrusion detection systems have been developed and these systems tend to improve with the passage of the years but intruders also get smarter and still pose a threat for the computer users. Viruses Another form of unethical conduct is the spread of viruses. Past history has witnessed the spread of numerous viruses that have been powerful enough to take the whole world in their toll. The rate of communication is so fast that viruses tend to spread like an epidemic. They might be received by the user in the form of an email attachment or may be residing in a CD. Viruses are also meant to damage the individual’s data and system therefore they are considered unethical. It is very difficult to detect an email equipped with virus since the hacker might be using an alias of a known and reliable authority. Spam Spam is defined as the sending of emails without the permission of the receiver. Spam has become so common that it is not even considered as an unethical act by the sender. It is considered to be unethical because the user gets irritated by the massive amounts of unwanted mails in his account that might even exhaust the space capacity of his email account. An ethical conduct would be to possess the permission of the user and then send promotional emails. Phishing Phishing is related to stealing personal information of individuals. This also includes all the online scams that are committed for financial gains. Phishing involves sending emails to internet users while posing to be authentic sources like banks or lottery announcement organizations. These emails are formatted according to the original official documents of the respective companies. Defaqto Media (2010) stated that the content in the emails may contain a fake requirement from the user’s respective bank to update his personal information. The user will send a reply to the email with his updated personal details. Mcafee (2010) explained that this leads to a successful attempt of phishing since the intruder gains the personal information that can be used to perform any e-commerce transaction etc. These are also called identity thefts; an intruder may commit different types of crimes with someone else’s identity like getting a loan, mortgaging a house etc. This is highly unethical behavior since it involves lying and stealing others information. It is a clear example of computers being used to harm others and to send them email without their permission. Denial of Service Another unethical conduct in the area of computer usage is the ‘Denial of Service’ (DOS). It involves the bombardment of requests to a service providing source on the internet. When the massive traffic of requests gets more than the capability of the server, the server crashes and stops its services temporarily. This is against the ethics of computer usage because the resource is attempted to be wasted and even legitimate requests are denied. The malicious user inhibits the service for all the possible users and makes them suffer to a great degree. Denial of service makes companies suffer great losses. According to statistics quoted by Mokhov (2004); around $65 million losses were faced by companies in US in the year 2002 due to the DOS attacks. Conclusion The increasing number of computer users initiated the need to develop some rules to guide them in terms of their conduct of computer usage. Such ethics are expected to be followed by computer users so that individuals cannot be harmed by other users. Ethical behavior involves protecting the intellectual rights of others and not using computers to harm anyone. Other people’s resources should not be used without their permission which is usually witnessed in the act of intrusion and hacking. The developers and programmers are socially responsible not to create any software for malicious intent but some intruders produce viruses that go against the ethical conduct. There are several other types of unethical actions that are prevailing in the modern world like phishing, spam emails, denial of service etc. References Buzzle.com, (2010), Ten commandments of Computer Ethics, Retrieved from: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ten-commandments-of-computer-ethics.html Defaqto Media (2010), Identity theft insurance guide, Retrieved from: Mcafee Inc., (2010), What you need to know to avoid identity theft, Retrieved from: Mokhov, A., S., (2004), Denial of Service, Retrieved from: http://alcor.concordia.ca/~smokhov/courses/soen321/lectures/dos.ppt Read More