Ethical Considerations in Computer Crimes the Study

Ethical Considerations in Computer Crimes

The study is based on the topic of ethical consideration in computer crimes. The rapid expansion of computer technology has resulted in an extremely sensitive issue of computer crimes. The ethical standards that are applied in other fields cannot be applied to the field of computer technology therefore the paper has discussed various aspects that are crucial for the understanding of the topic.

There are a number of issues that have appeared in the recent times due to the rapid expansion of computer technology and with it, the advancements made in the field of computer crimes. Computer Crimes have been a major threat to the development f the modern technologies and have resulted in a number of financial and security breaches. Financial frauds, phishing, spoofing, piracy, privacy breaches, and a number of other issues come under the domain of ethics concerning computer crimes. [footnoteRef:1] [1: Williams, M. Virtually Criminal: Crime, Deviance and Regulation Online, Routledge, London. (2006)]

Computer ethics is an extremely touchy subject. Unethical does not mean that a company or an individual is not conforming to a particular code of conduct. On the other hand ethical does not mean that a company or an individual has violated a particular set of code of conduct. The constant advancements in the information technology industry make it difficult to update the ethical standards in the fields related to this field. The application of ethical standards in other fields is much easy as compared to the implication of ethical standards in computer related fields. Computers have changed the way communication and data management takes place, nowadays the personal contacts and direct dealings are much less which makes it easy to cheat on each other. The data is transmitted and shared with enormous speed. The process of communication takes place at such a great speed that people do not have time to consider the ethical implications of their actions. Information in the electronic form is far more fragile than in the conventional paper form. Freedom of expression can be abused extremely easily with the use of the Internet and can hurt the feelings of millions of people with a single post and cause protests like it did in the Muslim world. The affects of computer crimes are also magnified therefore the ethical responsibility should be far more than in other fields. [footnoteRef:2] [2: Halder, D., & Jaishankar, K. Cyber crime and the Victimization of Women: Laws, Rights, and Regulations. Hershey, PA, USA: IGI Global. (2011)]

In the early 1980s most of the computer crimes were committed by young college students who wanted to gain some attention and popularity by stealing someone's identity and playing fun pranks. This has changed great deal now; computer crimes are committed by professional hackers and crackers who engage themselves in serious financial fraud, privacy intrusions, blackmailing, phishing and spoofing. Credit card hacking is one of the most dangerous forms of computer crimes and has led to serious concerns for the whole banking sector.[footnoteRef:3] [3: McQuade, S. (ed) The Encyclopedia of Cybercrime, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. (2009)]

Media itself has not played a responsible way to counter computer crimes. Media is responsible for educating the younger generation about developing a sense of belonging to the society and adopting fair practices in day-to-day dealings. Instead, media has somehow glorified the hackers, and has been promoting the hackers and crackers as some kind of geniuses and role models by glorifying their acts. Media has often portrayed these hackers and crackers as Robin Hoods of the modern generation. This has led to the younger generation to follow the route of computer hacking and cracking to be acknowledged as computer experts.

There have been various laws made against the computer crimes but the law enforcing agencies find it extremely difficult to implement those laws. Security agencies of the state themselves have engaged themselves in computer crimes, as they monitor the movement of each and every user that come under the domain of the state. This information is accessed without any prior permission taken which makes it a privacy breach for the users made by the state or the agencies. Another issue for law enforcing agency is that they do not have any control over the Internet activities and hence cannot interfere in the electronic information flow.

Piracy is an issue of computer ethics that has been a topic of debate for a decade now. Software piracy is responsible for the financial losses for the whole industry and these losses are in billions of dollars. These pirated software are responsible for spreading many dangerous computer viruses, these viruses are transferred instantly when the users download these software. Piracy is rampant these days, and there are certain critics have been supporting software piracy. Many critics accuse these software companies of spreading their own viruses so that people can then buy the anti-viruses from these software manufacturers.[footnoteRef:4] [4: Balkin, J., Grimmelmann, J., Katz, E., Kozlovski, N., Wagman, S. & Zarsky, T. Cybercrime: Digital Cops in a Networked Environment, New York University Press, New York. (2006)]

The morality of the general public plays an important role in setting a code of ethics in cases computer crimes. Everyone has to understand that we all are a part of this virtual community and are connected to one other, therefore we should all think of the greater good. Computer education should be backed up with a clear ethics manual in high school which should educate the children on their ethical responsibilities to the society and the virtual community. Media should step in and defame those hackers and crackers who they have been glorifying for the past few years as "Geniuses" and presenting them as role models for the youth.