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Ethical Issues on the Internet Perverts || Hackers || Hoaxes || Scams || Freebies Computers, and the Internet by extension, are powerful tools of communication and information. Some have abused these tools, others seek to impose control in one way or another. It is an interesting irony that WWW has also come to mean the "Wild, Wild West." Like in the old times, anything goes and everybody just have to watch their backs. The law is not fast enough to keep up with technology. Many cases have no precedence. Complicating matters is the absence of geographical boundaries in cyberspace. Judges, politicians, and lawyers are in a quandary what rules to apply. A lawyer in Washington D.C., likened this scenario to frontier justice in his report that was published by the University of California.  The relatively unfettered frontier of cyberspace is showing the strains of a commercial gold rush. It often resembles Wild West boomtowns, populated with earnest PC pioneers and homestead users, internet preachers, copyright rustlers, perverts, scam artists, and plain old crooks.  "Frontier Justice" by Nicholas Allard, Latham & Watkins Unlike Western movies, the bad guys in the Internet don't always wear black hats. Cyberporn, crackers, worm, e-commerce, copyright, warez, and MP3 are just a few terms in our growing Net vocabulary. These are hotly debated how loose or tight the Internet must be regulated.  Perverts Cyberporn refers to materials found on the Internet, such as pornographic pictures and videos on pay sites to erotic discussions in newsgroup and chat rooms. Filters may give parents some peace of mind but it has been demonstrated that these also block access to non-porno sites such as universities or news sites. There is less concern over porn sites because most of these require credit cards. More threatening are pedophiles who befriend children in chat rooms and later arrange for personal meetings. Occasionally these cyber predators would send pornographic materials as e-mail attachments in the course of their correspondence with children. Federal agents, cops, and citizen volunteers have arrested many men by posing as minors in sting operations.  to the top Hackers Crackers is the term non-destructive hackers use when referring to those who break in systems with criminal intent. A lot of hackers are teenagers full of creativity, curiosity, and bravado. Hacking -- finding weaknesses and faults in the network systems they break in -- is a mental sport and challenge to them. Some leave digital graffiti to prove they have been there. They are at the very least, tresspassers. More worrisome to information technology security officers are those who are motivated by malice or greed to wreck havoc. This includes disgruntled employees or competitors.  to the top Virus Hoaxes & Urban Legends There are viruses and there are worms and there are Trojan Horses. Although not as threatening as real viruses, or even the Y2K bug, what is more annoying are virus hoaxes and myths. These are lumped together under urban legends, a special category of junk mail. If you have an e-mail account you will no doubt receive warning notices from well-meaning friends to watch out for "A Bug's Life" screensaver file along with the "Bill Gates Giveaway" hoax.  to the top Scams & Frauds There are also scam artists in the Internet who will entice you with work at home scams, easy loans, masters and doctoral degrees from diploma mills that are no more than a mailbox at a shopping mall, pyramid schemes, and miracle cures. Be wary of online auctions, too. A lot of consumers have been burned when they bid for computers and never heard from the person who auctioned it off. Minimize your risk by limiting the amount you spend, and by using only a credit card which protects the owner from paying more than $50 if there is a dispute on the sale. to the top Freebies Some people will say nothing's really free. You at least pay for your Internet connection through a monthly subscription with an ISP. The Internet was initially built by government funding and a lot of schools and institutions are still supported by federal and local funds. More and more business institutions and commercial groups are jumping into the bandwagon if you notice the rise of banner ads in "free Websites." Nonetheless, the concept of "free" remains strong, and many Netizens intend to keep it that way. A lot of time this concept collides with copyright restrictions. People who think twice about shoplifting in a store don't hesitate to steal somebody else's work in the Internet. Warez is the slang for pirated software that can be downloaded off the Internet. This has been called a "victimless crime" because the item in question is not lost. However, copyright makes it clear that this violates the copyright owner's right to make copies and distribute her work. It is one thing to help yourself to a freeware because the software developer wants to make his product available at no cost, and entirely another to get a shareware which means you are only permitted (and you agree when you click the "I Agree" button) to use it for a limited period of time. If you decide to keep it after the trial period is over, Scout's honor, you are supposed to pay for it or delete it.  Other creative and intellectual works that are offered free in many personal websites include MP3 music files, clip arts, and photos. We will discuss copyright and fair use policy in another page, but suffice to say, "not for profit" is no longer a valid defense in many of these cases. to the top Conclusion Advocates of free speech and intellectual freedom aver that the Internet must be protected from both -- abuse and controls -- if it is to remain useful to everybody. That is, free from hate and intolerance, political restraints, intrusion or violation of privacy, and so on. In many discussions on the social issues affecting the Internet, ethics may go hand in hand with equity, particularly on the issue of universal access and the digital divide. A good way to spouse these ideals would be to educate people to exercise responsibility and self-regulation when they step into the cyberspace. Recommended reading: "The Internet Underground," Special Report by MSNBC on the Dark Side of the Net
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