Ethics Reader- cyberethics ch44

As may be guessed, the motivations for doing so are rarely benign, and the experiences of the survivor are not usually pleasant. The very rare restored survivors of such treatment have compared it to such ancient human practices as lobotomy, emasculation, or blinding, sometimes followed by various forms of torture.

Usually a subsumptionist simply causes a series of unexplained disappearances and then moves on before eir activities are noticed. However, a particularly skilled subsumptionist, who has can retained all of the victim’s traits and memories intact, may conceal the crime from outsiders for an indefinite period of time. The public “outward” aspect of the victim’s personality is retained as a kind of mask, and the subsumptionist acts from within this shell.

Ethics Reader- cyberethics ch43

The more specific term “computer ethics” has been used to refer to applications by professional philosophers of traditional Western theories like utilitarianism, Kantianism, or virtue ethics, to ethical cases that significantly involve computers and computer networks. “Computer ethics” also has been used to refer to a kind of professional ethics in which computer professionals apply codes of ethics and standards of good practice within their profession. In addition, other more specific names, like “cyber ethics” and “Internet ethics”, have been used to refer to aspects of computer ethics associated with the Internet.

Ethics Reader- cyberethics ch42

Privacy and data protection are among the prime problems of the information society. Many of us are concerned about the fact that electronic data concerning us can be used for purposes beyond our control.

Privacy therefore has a close relationship with security. If data on us is not secure then this can threaten privacy. This line of argument suggests that privacy requires security. A somewhat contradictory argument would be that, in order for security to be guaranteed, we need to limit privacy. If all information about everyone were known, then security threats would be much easier to address and sanction. In this scenario, privacy and security seem to be mutually exclusive. This confusing and contradictory starting point or a discussion of the relationship between privacy and security is exacerbated by a number of aspects. It is not really clear what constitutes privacy, nor do we have a generally agreed-upon definition of security. There is also no agreement on how these to concepts are to be protected (by ethics, the law, markets, or other mechanisms) or who should assume responsibility for them (the state, the individual, organisations, etc.) (cf. Stahl, 2004a).

Ethics Reader- cyberethics ch41

In 1993, the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS) and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) formed a joint committee to help organize software developers and engineers into a profession. As part of this project, a sub-committee of professionals, academics, and members of ACM and IEEE-CS began work drafting a code of ethics for software engineers through electronic mail. After four years of online discussion and revision, version 5.2 of the Software Engineer’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice was adopted by IEEE-CS and ACM in 1998, and since then, the code has been adopted by software engineering and computer societies worldwide.

The IEEE-CS/ACM Software Engineering Code of Ethics Archive documents the drafting, debate, and final adoption of the joint IEEE Computer Society /ACMSoftware Engineering Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. Indirectly, the archive illustrates how software engineering developed from an occupation to a profession. The drafting and approval of the Software Engineering Code, carried out in substantial part by email, has produced a detailed record of the development of a professional code of ethics. This correspondence, as well as related documents, interviews, and publications, make up the contents of the IEEE-CS/ACM Software Engineer’s Code of Ethics Archive.

Ethics Reader- cyberethics ch40

Ethical issues are the concerns that address subjects like, content reliability, data collection techniques and presentation tactics, marketing strategy and the relevance of research and development. They play a vital role in relieving the writers of regulatory pressures involved in the process. Properly includes technical exposition on any subject related to medical science, such as biochemistry, pharmacologic studies, sanitation and psychoanalysis”. It is the responsibility of the writer to include necessary technical details under regulatory limitations to establish a level of understanding among the readers. Such ethical responsibilities have to be shared by the writer as well as the client. Some ethical considerations to be observed by a client are:-

· The client or the researcher should generate complete information on the academic background of the writer before allotting the assignment. This helps a client to understand the performance level that could be extracted from a writer.

· Regular communication with the writer is an essential condition for the correct formulation of the content.

· It is pivotal for a client to allow proper validation of the content written for him before mass circulation.

Ethics Reader- cyberethics ch39

Biometrics is a technology that verifies a person’s identity by measuring a unique-to-the-individual biological trait. Biometric technologies include dynamic signature verification, retinal/iris scanning, DNA identification, face-shape recognition, voice recognition and fingerprint identification.

Biometrics is the measuring of an attribute or behavior that is unique to an individual person. Biometrics includes measuring attributes of the human body – such as DNA, iris/retina patterns, face shape, and fingerprints – or measuring unique behavioral actions, such as voice patterns and dynamic signature verification.

Before biometrics only physical objects or behaviors based-on-memory were used to identify a computer user. Physical objects include smartcards or magnetic-stripe cards – behaviors based-on-memory includes the act of entering a PIN number or a secret password.

The primary use of a physical objects or behaviors based-on-memory has a clear set of problems and limitations. Objects are often lost or stolen and a behavior-based-on-memory is easily forgotten. Both types are often shared. The use of a valid password on a computer network does not mean that an identity is genuine. Identity cannot be guaranteed, privacy is not assumed and inappropriate use cannot be proven or denied. These limitations decrease trust and increase the possibility of fraud. These limitations are at the root of widespread distrust of the Internet, and these limitations are the biggest weakness in true network security.

Ethics Reader- cyberethics ch38

To be sure that the data are really sent by the sender of the electronic message, the double encryption of PGP is a suitable and widely used protocol. The sender encrypts his message with his secret key firstly and with the public key of the receiver secondly and afterwards he sends the message. The receiver must decrypt that message first with his own secret key and second with the public key of the sender according to the header. When the message is readable after this double decryption, one can be sure that the message was meant to be received by the decrypting receiver and the message was really sent by the sender named in the header of the message. Thus: double encryption needs the sender identification in order to decrypt the message with the senders public key.

Ethics Reader- cyberethics ch37

An understanding of the natural meaning of anonymity, as may be reflected in ordinary usage or a dictionary definition, is of remaining nameless, that is to say, conducting oneself without revealing one’s name. A poem or pamphlet is anonymous when unattributable to a named person; a donation is anonymous when the name of the donor is withheld; people strolling through a foreign city are anonymous because no-one knows who they are. Extending this understanding into the electronic sphere, one might suggest that conducting one’s affairs, communicating, or engaging in transactions anonymously in the electronic sphere, is to do so without one’s name being known. Specific cases that are regularly discussed includes ending electronic mail to an individual, or bulletin board, without one’s given name appearing in any part of the header participating in a “chat” group, electronic forum, or game without one’s given name being known by other participants buying something with the digital equivalent of cash being able to visit any web site without having to divulge one’s identity.

The concern I wish to raise here is that in a computerized world concealing or withholding names is no longer adequate, because although it preserves a traditional understanding of anonymity, it fails to preserve what is at stake in protecting anonymity.

Ethics Reader- cyberethics ch36

We value privacy as well as security because they represent moral values which can be defended using ethical arguments. This paper suggests that the moral bases of privacy and security render them open to misuse for the promotion of particular interests and ideologies. In order to support this argument, the paper discusses the ethical underpinnings of privacy and security. It will then introduce the critical approach to information systems research and explain the role of ideology in critical research. Based on this understanding of the centrality of ideology, the paper will discuss the methodology of critical discourse analysis which allows the identification of instances of ideology. This will then lead to the discussion of an ideology critique based on Jürgen Habermas’s theory of communicative action, which will be applied to the websites of Microsoft Vista and Trustworthy Computing. The results of this discourse analysis support the contention that privacy and security can be used for ideological purposes.

Ethics Reader- cyberethics ch35

It is true, of course, that most civil disobedience has effects on third-parties, but digital civil disobedience can potentially do much more damage to the interests of far more people than ordinary non-digital civil disobedience.  The effect of the protest in Washington was that many persons might have been late to work – losses that are easily made up.  If the website’s activity is vital to the economy, this can translate into morally significant losses of revenue, which will usually be shifted to employees and consumers.