Legal and Ethical Issues Related to the Use of Computers
Legal and Ethical Issues Related to the Use of Computers
By: Paige Reynolds
- illegal Computer and file downloading article (1)
- Stanford research paper (2)
- Cyber Bullying Statistics (3)
- Dictonary (4)
- How Cyber Bullying is illegal (5)
Technology has impacted everyone around the globe.
It has made communication, sharing knowledge, and access
to world news almost effortless. However the internet is
sometimes used in a careless, inadequate, and unethical way.
Ethics is defined as "moral principles that govern a person's
behavior or the conducting of an activity"(4). Unethical use of
technology includes things such as identity theft, music and
file sharing, and cyberbullying. Although many activities are
unethical they are not illegal, creating opossing opinions if they action is unethical or ethical .
Cyber Bullying
Bullying has been going on for decades now and to escape bullying you could go home or avoid the bully,
but cyberbullying is everywhere 1 in 3 people experience cyber bullying (3) .
Cyberbullying is very different from original/traditional bullying because of the anonymous side in the
internet allowing bullies to hide behind screen without owning up to their actions. Although, the internet
provides some anonymity to the victim allowing them to say mort hurtful statements behind the computer but
a study found that 73% of respondents to the study were "pretty sure" or "totally sure" of the cyberbullies
identity (2). Also, well over half of cyberbullying victims do not tell their parents when
cyberbullying occurs (2). Cyberbullying although very unethical is illegal in some forms for example:
-
Damages
The parents and child can sue the bully for damages both mental and physical.
-
Criminal Harassment
Repeated harassment online, with texts, phone calls, and/or emails causing the other person to fear for their safety.
-
Threats and Extortion
Blackmailing someone and threatening to publish/share someone's personal information if they don't do what you want them to do.
- Assault
Threats or acts of non-consensual force, violence, bodily harm, or destruction of personal property.
- Identity Theft/Fraud
Creating a fake online profile to ruin someone's reputation.
- Defamatory Libel
Spreading rumors about someone.
(5).
Music and File Downloading for free
All accross the internet there are many things you can download for
free like music, movies, books, files and more. But it is ethical? a
survey conducted by stanford university asked a group of college
student, "is it ethical to download copyrighted music for free?"
the results showed that 44% of people responded,"Yes"(2). Although it is
compltely illegal to download copyrighted music without authorization.
Although downloading of free music is illegal it is completly unreasonable
to sue billions of people who have downloaded free files and music. So is
downloading free music ethical? or is downloading free music unethical? we will consider both sides.
Why downloading free music is unethical.
This long lasting debate has been going on for decades is downloading free music and
files ethically wrong? Most of the older generation of 30 year olds and up seem to
believe it is ethically wrong but why? One of the main arguments of why it is unethical
is because of the economic loss on music artists and producers. In 2010 1.2 billion songs
were illegally downloaded worth about $1 billion(1) . This enormas loss has a huge toll of
artists. Paul Stanley from KISS was on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, he was asked
"what KISS chances of success would be like if the band was starting out today." he responded
by saying how KISS would not have have a lot of success because of "sharing'… well, file sharing
is just a fancy way of saying 'stealing.' You can't share what you don't own. The idea that somebody
is taking songs or music off the Internet and taking it for free and calling it 'file sharing' is like
me saying 'transportation borrowing,' and I steal you car"(1) .
Why downloading music and files for free is ethical.
Although to many people downloading music and files is illegal it is not considered unethical because although it is stealing it is stealing from companies and artists that will now make 60 million instead of 70 million. Another point of view is that all music should be free and that it is a fundemental right to express your emotion through listening to music for free even if it might be illegal.
Questions:
- List and explain three ways cyberbullying can be illegal?
- Why is downloading music and files illegally seen to be unethical?
- If downloading music and files illegally is illegal why are most people not charged and or arrested?
Answers
Bibliography
- Robert Dex, 2 Billion Songs Illegally Downloaded, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/12-billion-songs-downloaded-illegally-2161907.html, 2010.
- Stanford University, Ethics, https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/2003-04/peer-to-peer/ethics.html, n.d
- Bullying statistics, Cyberbullying Statistics, http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html, 2010
- Oxford Dictonary, ethics, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ethics, n.d
- FindLaw, is Cyberbullying Illegal?, http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/cyber-bullying.html, 2012
Picture Bibliography
Image 1, Cyberbullying image, https://www.dosomething.org/sites/default/files/styles/550x300/public/Girls%20laughing%20cyberbully.jpg?itok=yB_KDtGW
image 2, ethical pathway, https://www.legalindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ethical-legal.jpg
image 3, music icon, https://cdn1.iconfinder.com/data/icons/audio-2/512/musicfile-512.png
