Ethical Dilemma/Issues in the Cyberworld

To do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive,
and in the right way, that is not for everyone nor is it easy; wherefore goodness is both
rare and laudable and noble!"#ristotle, Ethics II$% Ethical dilemma is a complex
situation that will often involve an apparent mental conflict between moral imperatives,
in which to obey one would result in transgressing another This is also called an ethical
paradox since in moral philosophy, paradox plays a central role in ethics debates Ethical
dilemmas #n ethical dilemma emerges in a context of conflict between at least two
goods"values% which re&uire different responses
Ethical Dilemmas'
( I n v a s i o n o f ) r i v a c y
The wrongful intrusion into a person*s private activities by other individuals or by the
government Tort law protects one*s private affairs with which the public has no concern
against unwarranted exploitation or publicity that causes mental suffering or humiliation
to the average person The right to be left alone is not always superior to the rights of the
public and it may or may not exist or may exist to a lesser degree with regard to the life
of a public figure, such as a politician or other person in whom the public has a rightful
interest The right to personal privacy is encompassed as an aspect of liberty protected
against government interference by the Constitution*s due process clause
+ T h e f t
In common usage, theft is the ta,ing of another person*s property without that person*s
permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it The word is also
used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such asburglary,
embe--lement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting, library theft and fraud In some
.urisdictions, theft is considered to be synonymous with larceny; in others, theft has
replaced larceny /omeone who carries out an act of or ma,es a career of theft is ,nown
as a thief The act of theft is ,nown by terms such as stealing, thieving,wic,sing, and
filching 0 1ac,ing The word !hac,ing! has two definitions The first definition refers to
the hobby/profession of wor,ing with computers The second definition refers to
brea,ing into computer systems 2hile the first definition is older and is still used by
many computer enthusiasts "who refer to cyber3criminals as !crac,ers!%, the second
definition is much more commonly used In particular, the web pages here refer to
!hac,ers! simply because our web3server logs show that every one who reaches these
pages are using the second definition as part of their search criteria 4 / e c u r i t y
Computer security "#lso ,nown as cybersecurity or IT /ecurity% is information security
as applied to computers and networ,s The field covers all the processes and mechanisms
by which computer3based e&uipment, information and services are protected from
unintended or unauthori-ed access, change or destruction Computer security also
includes protection from unplanned events and natural disasters 5 C o p y r i g h t i n f r i
n g e m e n t Copyright infringement "or copyright violation% is the unauthori-ed or
prohibited use of wor,s covered by copyright law, in a way that violates one of the
copyright owner*s exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the
copyrighted wor,, or to ma,e derivative wor,s 6or electronic and audio3visual media,
unauthori-ed reproduction and distribution is also commonly referred to as pirac y 7 8 n
f a i r c o m p e t i t i o n # branch of intellectual property law, unfair competition is a
term applied to all dishonest or fraudulent rivalry in trade and commerce This term is
particularly applied to the practice of endeavoring to substitute one9s own goods or
products in the mar,et for those of another for the purpose of deceiving the public
: ; i r u s # computer virus is a type of malware that, when executed, replicates by
inserting copies of itself "possibly modified% into other computer programs, data files, or
the boot sector of the hard drive; when this replication succeeds, the affected areas are
then said to be !infected! ;iruses often perform some type of harmful activity on
infected hosts, such as stealing hard dis, space or C)8 time, accessing private
information, corrupting data, displaying political or humorous messages on the user*s
screen, spamming their contacts, or logging their ,eystro,es 1owever, not all viruses
carry a destructive payload or attempt to hide themselves<the defining characteristic of
viruses is that they are self3replicating computer programs which install themselves
without the user*s consent = ; i d e o c o n f e r e n c i n g ;ideoconferencing is the
conduct of a videoconference "also ,nown as a video conference or videoteleconference%
by a set of telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to
communicate by simultaneous two3way video and audio transmissions It has also been
called *visual collaboration* and is a type of groupware $ ) i r a c y Cyber piracy
involves various deceptive practices that companies or individuals engage in to profit
from online users 2ithin the legal aid community, these deceptive practices result in
confusion for the public "particularly clients and potential clients% as well as ta,e
advantage of the good3will and reputation of legal aid organi-ations 2ithout a system to
address cyber piracy, legal aid programs ris, the chance that the public, especially
unsophisticated online users, will not reach legitimate legal aid website and will be
confused and possibly extorted on websites posing as legal aid (> ? n l i n e Defamation
@enerally, defamation is a false and unprivileged statement of fact that is harmful to
someone*s reputation, and published !with fault,! meaning as a result of negligence or
malice /tate laws often define defamation in specific ways Aibel is a written
defamation; slander is a spo,en defamation (( 6 r a u d The definition of what
constitutes computer fraud becomes ever more complex with the ingenuity of people who
intend to deceive, misrepresent, destroy, steal information, or cause harm to others by
accessing information through deceptive and illegal means Bust as individuals have to be
careful when they are wal,ing down the street or in their homes when they loc, the doors
at night, they need to be careful of the many examples of fraud that will ma,e their way
onto their computers