THE IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS IN EDUCATION          pt2         1800w

What is computer ethics?

We have seen that teaching ethics to students is a good idea but what is computer ethics? The word “ethics” is a derivative of the Greek word ethos, which means “customs”. This is because these are the guiding beliefs on the ideals that defined a community. This is why I think we use the word ethics to talk about professional ethics and not the word morals which relate to oneself. It is of course possibly that someone’s ethics may conflict with their morals. Ethics consists of statements that tell us how the world should be. Everything we do and do not do can be a possible subject for ethical evaluation.

When reading about computer ethics, most people view it as separate from regular ethics.

Kallman and Grillo state that there is no actual special category for computer ethics but the ethical situations in which computers are involved have drastically changed the situation. Computers have addressed the concerns related to free speech, jurisdiction, anonymity, and trust. There are also some concerns about the characteristics of personal information on the Internet. In short the Internet has made it so everybody can be an author and the author can be anonymous. This has led to problems with trust. If anyone can publish, how can we trust the information? It has also led to questions about free speech because the Internet is so anonymous people can write or do whatever they want. They can publish hateful messages and commit hate crimes. Another problem is that the Internet is global and different countries have different laws so who has jurisdiction when a law is broken? Some countries have erected a global firewall to censor the population to unwanted political or social views. Lastly there is a problem with what people put up online regarding privacy. I did not really understand this issue but that is not the point. The point is that computers have made these problems more