ETHC303 Chapter 4- Ethics and the Internet-I Ethics Online

ETHC303Chapter 4- Ethics and the Internet-IEthics Online Instructor: Hassan Ismail Abdalla Room: E236

Introduction • Internet is a means of communication, and when compared with other forms of communication, such as face-to-face, telephone, television, and radio, Internet communication is revealed to have three special features: • it has an unusual scope in that it provides many to many communication on a global scale • it facilitates a certain kind of anonymity; and • it has reproducibility.

Global, Many-to-Many Scope – cont. • When compared to face-to-face communication, individuals communicating on the Internet have a much broader scope or reach. • In face-to-face communication, you speak to other individuals who are geographically close. • Your reach is limited by the structure of the speaking and hearing capacities of humans. • With the Internet, those capacities are considerably expanded.

Global, Many-to-Many Scope – cont. • A user can reach hundreds and thousands of individuals around the world. • This ability to reach many people easily and quickly is not exactly new or unique when compared to radio & television. • However, still, there is one very significant difference between the Internet and television and radio. • Television and radio are one way, going from the broadcast station to listeners and watchers.

Global, Many-to-Many Scope – cont. • The Internet, on the other hand, is multidirectional; it is interactive, the Internet is communication from many to many with speed and ease, on a global scale. • This feature of Internet communication can be thought of in terms of power which could be dramatically illustrated in the case of a hacker launching a computer virus. • The Internet has created a new environment in which individuals who want to wreak havoc can do so with relatively little effort.

Anonymity • A second important feature of the internet is that it provides a certain kind of anonymity • While it is true that we don't see each other when we communicate on the internet, its also true that most of our activities on the internet are easy to trace. • Anonymity is an enormously complicated notion. They can be achieved in different ways, different contexts for different purposes. • So, while it is misleading to say simply that communication on the Internet is anonymous, it seems accurate to say that the Internet facilitates a certain kind of anonymity.

Anonymity – cont. • All that is meant by this is that certain kinds of information about a person are not available when an individual communicates via the Internet. • The kind of anonymity that is available on the Internet has to do, then, with inaccessibility to the physical attributes of persons with whom one communicates. • This is a certain kind of anonymity and not, by any means, absolute anonymity. • The unavailability of information about physical appearance often means that information about a person cannot be linked to them while they are communicating on the Internet.

Anonymity – cont. • Ironically, individuals have less anonymity online than off, ISPs or Web sites owners can track activities on the net. • This capacity allows those who maintain the system and law enforcement officials to track down hackers and other lawbreakers. • Individual behavior on the Internet is parallel to the behavior offline. • However, one difference is that if your illegal behavior is traced on the Internet, the trace will end at a computer and telecommunications connection.

Anonymity – cont. • There is yet another step to reach a person. • This gap leaves open the possibility that someone else other than the owner of the PC used the computer to do whatever was done. • It might be argued, then, there is always a little of more anonymity on the Internet than in physical space. • Thus, making accountability for actions difficult to achieve and diminishing trust in the information being exchanged.

Reproducibility • A third important feature of the Internet is reproducibility, which is a general feature of computer and IT. • Electronic information exists in a form that makes it easy to copy and there is no loss of value in the process of reproduction. • Moreover, there may be no evidence that the data or software was copied. • This makes electronic information significantly different from other kinds of things.

Reproducibility – cont. • Comparing Internet with face-to-face communication suggests that reproducibility is the default position in Internet communication. • Reproducibility facilitates anonymity and raise serious issues with regard to the integrity of information. • It has moral implications of property and personal privacy.

Ethical Significance • Above-mentioned three features of communication on the Internet lead to a wide range of ethical issues: The global, many-to-many scope of the Internet: • It means that individuals have a good deal of power at their fingertips. • It means that individuals can-with very little effort, do things to one another that would be very difficult to do otherwise. • In spite of its great benefits, Internet has its drawbacks one of which is that giving power also to those who will use it for harmful purposes.

Ethical Significance – cont. Anonymity also has benefits and drawbacks: • The kind of anonymity available on the Internet means that individuals do not have to risk being seen as they act and interact. • This sense of invisibility seems to free many to engage in behavior that they might not otherwise engage in. • Anonymity may, also, facilitate participation in certain activities where individuals might otherwise be reluctant (Consider discussions among battered wives or ex-criminals). • Nevertheless, anonymity leads to serious problems for accountability and for the integrity of information.

Ethical Significance – cont. Reproducibility: • It facilitates global reach in the sense that it allows words and documents to be forwarded to others. • It adds to the problems of accountability and integrity of information arising from anonymity (e.g. students’ homework's). • It adds its own problems of privacy and property rights issues.

HACKING AND HACKER ETHICS • From an ethical perspective, hacking is not interesting • In most cases, it is illegal and the harmfulness of the activity is apparent • Most Internet users want a system that is reliable; works without interruption; has privacy and integrity; and doesn't require a lot of effort or resources to make secure

What is it That Hackers Do? • Get access to systems they are not authorized for • Plant viruses and worms bringing systems down and making them unreliable • Copy and distribute proprietary software • Cause expensive denial of service delays • Force everyone to invest more and more effort in security

Hackers - Questions • There are interesting sociological and psychological questions to be asked about hackers: • Why is it mostly male teenagers who hack? • Why do they believe they can get away without being detected even though the technology is now highly traceable? • Why is it that individuals who probably wouldn't break into a store on the street are willing to break into computer systems? • Hacking behavior generally doesn't pose difficult or complicated ethical challenges or dilemmas.

The Hackers’ Perspective • The arguments that hackers gave in their defense in the early days of computing can be sorted into four statements: • That all information should be free • That break-ins illustrate security problems to those who can do something about them • That breaking into a computer system does no harm as long as the hacker changes nothing. And, that it is a good way to learn how to design computer systems & learn about how they operate to make them more secure • That they would help keep Big Brother at bay. • The argument suggests that hackers are good vigilants

Refuting the Arguments • So much is now already proprietary • They claim that hacking into a system should be understood as an act of whistle-blowing…. • However, people "blow the whistle" on illegal or dangerous activities so as to draw attention to a situation, to prevent harm and get the situation fixed. • Also, you should always try first to fix the problem through internal channels because it is better to get a bad situation fixed with the least risk or danger.

Refuting the Arguments – cont. • Individuals can be harmed simply by unauthorized entry. If individuals have proprietary rights and rights to privacy, then they are harmed when these rights are violated. Moreover, hackers can do physical harm. • For example, hackers could gain access to computer systems used in hospitals where patients are at risk.

Refuting the Arguments – cont. • The fact that one learns from an activity does not justify it. Giving electric shocks to learners when they make mistakes may promote learning, but this does not make it a good teaching method. • Moreover, Hacking is not the only way to learn about computing or computer security. • To justify hacking as a means to learning, then the good of the learning would have to be weighed against the negative consequences of this method of learning

Refuting the Arguments – cont. • We have many options to monitor for such things as information abuse and government surveillance • We could create a national data protection commission that would have the authority to monitor information practices • However, several of the arguments point to potentials of the Internet that are being neglected.

Do hackers solve the problem or make it worse? • Implicit in the hacker arguments is a concern to take advantage of the potential of the Internet for spreading and sharing & reproducibility of information. • So, while hacking is disruptive, dangerous, and unjustified, discussion provoked by hackers and hacking should not be squelched too quickly. • Hacking represents a countercurrent in the development of the Internet, and to take advantage of the enormous potential of the Internet, we have to listen to countercurrents.

New Species of Old Crime • The second category of behavior is criminal behavior not aimed at attacking the Internet • Some actions are unethical only because they are illegal and other actions are unethical independent of their legal status • For example, the harm to the victim aimed at by the stalker makes it easy to see that the behavior is unethical and should be illegal

New Species of Old Crime – cont. • So, much of the unethical behavior on the Internet is not controversial and not all that complicated. • The same goes for much of the criminal behavior on the Internet. • It can be examined and questioned, but the justification for considering it unethical and making it illegal on the Internet is the same for considering it unethical and making it illegal offline • Criminal behavior of this kind illustrates the nature of computer ethics

New Species of Old Crime – cont. • The new instrumentation (computers, software, the Internet) makes it possible for human beings to do things in new ways • It is tempting to say that the new technology makes it possible for human beings to do things they couldn't do before, but what the new instrumentation does is more complex • The Internet allows these perpetrators to act on common criminal motives, aimed at familiar forms of harm, but to do this via new forms of physical and technological behavior • It calls on us to think about what the new capabilities mean for our moral ideas, our moral values, and principles

NETIQUETTE • A third category of behavior on the Internet has to do with informal conventions that promote effective or civil or pleasant interaction online • This type of behavior is often referred to as netiquette. • Netiquette can be defined as "the dos and don'ts of online communication" • Information on netiquette on the Internet include, Information about how to behave when it comes to: bandwidth; e-mail, chat rooms; international interaction; and, virus alerts, etc.

NETIQUETTE – cont. • Dark Mountain's Netiquette Guide lists three simple rules: be polite, be patient, and don't break any laws • Both flaming and spamming cases are violations of netiquette • A flame is an inflammatory or insulting message sent via e-mail or in other forms of online communication such as chat rooms • Spam, is unsolicited bulk email. It is the e-mail equivalent of junk mail

Conclusion • To summarize, in shaping behavior on the Internet, there are two general approaches, the technological and the social • Technology is likely to play a key role in shaping problematic behavior on the Internet • Human behavior is not just shaped by technology. It is shaped by a wide variety of human and social systems and practices • Behavior on the Internet can be and is shaped by legislation, education, attitudes, social conventions, and social practices

ETHC303 Chapter 4- Ethics and the Internet-I Ethics Online