Analyzing Social Networks and Computer Ethics

Social Networks and Computer Ethics

For the past 20 years, there have been many changes caused by the internet on many aspects of the contemporary life. The internet is growing rapidly. As of 2006, it was recorded that the number of internet users was about four million. For a long time, there have been promises made on how internet changes will positively impact people worldwide. These promises have reached many people throughout the world. Some of the promises have been fulfilled, while some have not been completely achieved. Among the main reasons for that is the decrease in people's faith in the system (Sund, 2007).

Sund (2007) stated that creating confidence and faith is a major factor for ensuring that the internet continues to grow, and for it to be used more. The increased growth of the internet has opened up doors for crime. Cyber criminals can now exploit the internet's weaknesses and also invade the important infrastructures of governments. Such attacks on the internet as zero-day exploits, viruses, zombie botnets, phishing, spyware, identity theft and denial of service attacks, are the hazards faced by cyberspace and internet growth. Those exploitations such as spam add up to 90% of the email circulation in the internet. This puts us in a critical position in the continuing growth of the internet and with the development of a worldwide information society. There needs to be a lot of effort in improving the safety and confidence in using ICTs to prevent a reduction in the growth and development level of the internet. It is very important that the faith people once had in the safety of the internet is regained, for it to continue growing and being used.

Online Social Networks

According to Herzberg, Elovici, Shulman and Fire (2013), social media, also known as OSNs (Online Social Networks), are now an important part of the public. They are broadly used by people, and have a lot of private and sensitive information. It is this huge source of relevant data which enables innovations in the social media, and most of them are made to suit both individuals and the public in identification of potential hazards they may face. For instance, researching on social media can help us find out the number of suicidal or terrorist cases, which can help prevent such occurrences. There are, however, various ways in which social media can be used in committing dangerous and illegal acts.

Johnson (1997) is of the opinion that communication through the internet has developed and improved at an unexpectedly high rate, and that there are high chances of its demand continuing to grow. Nonetheless, these developments have brought about many problems, especially those to do with people's behavior. These disrupting and worrying behaviors include defamation, unauthorized access, racial discrimination, harassment, theft of electronic property, launching of harmful viruses and worms, and to an instance, a certain kind of internet rape. The kind of reaction we have to such behavior is what will determine the development of communication over the internet, and the rate and methods in which the assurance of the technology of electronic networking will be fulfilled later on.

Computer Ethics

The term ethics has been defined by many thinkers, including Plato, Kant and Aristotle. It is a set of values, or a code that guides people's lives, and which is based on self-analysis. Ethics is neither a religion, nor is it based on any religious beliefs. This statement is due to the fact that ethics does not center on the illogical notions of people based on individual values or culture, and also ignores the approval, prejudice and unpredictability acquired from people's religions and the law (Kesar & Rogerson, 1998).

According to Kesar and Rogerson (1998), the matters of ethics that are faced by technology have led to a lot of research by people studying various disciplines. Computer ethics has handled most of those issues involving misuse of computers. "Computer ethics" was the term used to describe a discipline that studies the ethical problems created, transformed or intensified by the innovations of computers. However, ethics involve decision making. Ethical issues seem not to have much change over time, though the type of decisions and available remedies may change quite much. There are other researchers who have stated that computer ethics is finding and evaluating the influence of information technology on individual and social values such as work, wealth, health, security, self-actualization and opportunity. This is a broad definition which embraces many fields such as the laws of computer, applied ethics and sociological matters of computing. In addition, it has used notions, methodologies and concepts from those subjects, and other related disciplines.

According to Moor (2001), computer ethics can be seen as an area of growth. The technology in computer ethics is a unique factor. Computers have an uncommon feature; they can be described as worldwide machines that are unique in principle. They are flexible in logic, both in their semantics and syntactically. Their functioning can be regulated almost infinitely, through creation of new interpretations or algorithms. They can be shaped, trained and developed to perform whatever function they are required to perform. The most important machines are computers. For this reason, we are focused on confronting a revolution of computers, not that of toasters. In the modern world, it is common to find us asking a computer if it can help us do the jobs we have. There are unlimited applications, and we can find computers in unexpected places.

The high usage of computers has brought about numerous opportunities. The ways in which computers are in many situations so rare that we lack policies that have been set up to guide their appropriate usage. There are policy vacuums. There should be policies, whether formal or informal, in order to ensure that we perform functions that are ethical. For instance, there are parents who use computers for monitoring their young children and toddlers in their rooms. There is nothing wrong, but at what rate do we need to use computers for monitoring? We can as well use computer chips to monitor and locate our children by putting them in their clothes. We can also insert those chips in our young children and babies. We may insert the computer chips into people working on delicate ventures or adults that have been released on bail. Your opinion on what is right or wrong on these issues is now a matter of concern due to the evolution of computing, which has made it possible to implant computer chips. The new usage of computer innovations bring about the need for policy vacuums to be filled with suitable policies, which should be logically justified (Moor, 2001).

Online Social Networks and Ethics

According to Johnson (1997), the prime reactions to disturbing online behavior can for now be described as technological and legal. Just as the existing issues have been found and defined, there have been formulated and extended laws, and the law enforcers have become part of this new system. New innovations have been made for encrypting and decrypting data, and for detecting viruses. There has been a great enhancement on our awareness of how our systems are kept safe, and on the transactions of detect or trace. These strategies, nevertheless, are not enough to act as a control of online behavior. The best solution is for people to adopt standards of behavior. Individuals do know those types of behavior that are inappropriate, unwelcome or unacceptable, and hence behave accordingly. For this to be possible, internet behavior and its character needs to be discussed. Its primary meaning needs to be understood, along with the reasons behind its description as illegal or legal, wrong or right, undesirable or desirable, unacceptable or acceptable. The users of computers need to understand the impact their actions may cause. Computer innovations were not developed as a vacuum. They were developed and trained to fit in with our culture, lifestyle, social lives and political affairs.

The ethical matters that surround computer technology have brought about many generic morality issues. This can be seen in internet-based communication among other computer technologies. These generic issues are of property, confidentiality, creating disparity between personal (private and public) freedoms, and factors such as respect, authority, and ascribing responsibility. New features are created when there are activities implemented and mediated by computers. These matters have new changes which have made them abnormal, but the primary issue has not been affected. For instance, before the invention of computers, there was no need to look into property rights based on code lines of code which can be executed using a machine, yet over time, there have been new innovations which have challenged outdated concepts of property over and over again. There has never been confrontation of a confidentiality threats brought about by computer technology, yet there have previously been such threats in other technologies like phones and cameras. This also applies to electronic networks. There are special features in various networking activities, though these activities are not part of any human behavior. Our activities include: playing, working, exchanging information, and sending messages, among others. Computer networks have led to development of new offline activities and new kinds of problems which have previously come up (Johnson, 1997).

In this part, we will look at three exceptional characteristics of communication and how they impact people's morals. These include Anonymity, Reproducibility and Scope.

Scope --People who use electronic networks to communicate reach more people than those communicating offline. When one person sends a message online, it can quickly reach a large number of people worldwide. The scope's uniqueness is as a result of the number of people it reaches, its accessibility by individuals and its speed. It is not a surprise that communicating through the internet is fast, since it is the same case for over the phone and direct communication. It is also not new that it reaches a large number of people, since telephones, radios and televisions reach many people as well. Activities such as transmission of data and communication may be more effective online than in an ordinary situation. When I speak to a person who is near me, or print an article from a certain journal, the action will have some reach. This reach is influenced by the physical domain. The effect of a comparable action done within a network is expanded several times over. If, for instance, I post a concept to an automated bulletin board, it will be accessible to a large number of individuals worldwide, after quite a short period. Furthermore, it may be in the network forever, so it can be accessed even later on. Also, if I come up with a computer encryption outside the network, this act can cause a change in the functioning of my computer. If I come up with an encryption online and send it to people, it can make many systems worldwide collapse. Power or scope affects our morals in that, people that deal with powerful actions are the ones expected to be more careful. There are restrictions for powerful actions through licensing, among other ways. Those who deal with more powerful and dangerous activities are expected to take much more care than those with less powerful activities, such as using a camera or a megaphone. In most cases, we certainly believe that people who are careless with powerful actions bear the legal liability for the consequences (Johnson, 1997).