IT ethics: Hacking And Copyrights Essay

IT clean-livingity is a new branch of good motive that is growing and changing rapidly as IT applied science also grows and develops. The boundary IT ethics is open to interpretations both broad and narrow. On the matchless hand, for example, IT ethics might be understood very narrowly as the efforts of victor philosophers to apply traditional honest theories or virtue ethics to make outs regarding the using up of IT engine room. On the other hand, it is possible to construe IT ethics in a very broad elan to include, as well, standards of professional practice, codes of conduct, conniptions of IT jurisprudence, public policy, corporate ethics even certain topics in the sociology and psychology of computing.In the industrialized nations of the valet de chambre, the development revolution already has signifi stinkpottly altered mevery aspects of living in banking and commerce, work and employment, medical c atomic number 18, national defense, transportation and ent ertainment. Consequently, data applied science has begun to affect community life, family life, human relationships, education, degagedom, democracy, and so on. IT ethics in the broadest sense natural depression bum be understood as that branch of applied ethics, which studies and analyzes much(prenominal) social and ethical impacts of information technology (Bynum).In recent years, this gamey new field has led to new university courses, conferences, workshops, professional organizations, curriculum materials, books, obliges, journals, and query centers. The introduction of the World Wide Web in 1990 has catalyzed the expansion of the net profit, which is quiet down growing today at unprecedented rates and IT ethics is readily being transformed into global information ethics. The recent light upon of the net income has resulted not entirely in an increase in the add of available k outrightledge, simply also in an increase in the problems subjective to its usag e and distribution. It has stick clear that traditional rules of conduct argon not always applicable to this new medium, so new ethical codes be now being developed.Edward F. Gehringer gives broad and wide-ranged classification of ethical issues in information technology ara. He distinguished following main aspects of IT ethics (Gehringer)basicsCommerceIT Ab determinationIntellectual PropertyPrivacyRisksSocial nicety IssuesAlthough, in practice every fortune involves at least two of those issues. At first, let us discuss problems of procures in present-day IT industry. It seems that this issue deals with al approximately every aspect listed above and it go out be devout example of ethics implementation in IT.In name Napster, videodisk cases increase copy near headlands in digital age, we can recover some problems concerning copyright issues of IT industry. The article discusses this problem on example of Napster, the Internet search engine which solelyows over 60 mi llions consumers to find and download free music. Experts say the high-tech context in which copyright questions are being raised as exemplified by the Napster case in California and a videodisk-encryption case out of New York also shows that the law is always a few steps behind technology. The Recording Industry Association of the States commoved a lawsuit against Napster in December 2000, accusing the company of support the il legal copying and distribution of copyright music on a massive scale. Author asserts that the case raises fundamental questions about freedom of information and activity on the Internet and what copyright aegiss musicians create or do not throw off in cyberspace. For those and other powers, legal experts point to the Napster case as crucial to the future of cyberspace and copyright law in the United States, the worlds leader in high-tech issues, he states.In this article, the writer also describes how copyright law needs rewrite because it has bec ome so complicated and counterintuitive. He also maintains that many satisfy givers and copyright lawyers tend to propagate made-up rules that purport to clarify ambiguities such as the right of overlap music on peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Author asserts that copyright rules, however, are in considerable flux these geezerhood and very little is clear about these new technologies. According to article, we certainly develop no obligation to follow made-up rules, although it is sometimes informal to confuse these specious requirements with real ones. Given this confusion, it concludes that the need for copyright remediate is urgent.With the dawning of the Internet and other highly advanced technology, community all around the world are now able to copy, download, and distribute copyright material with ease. Unfortunately, the use of the Internet has increased the conflict with copyright laws. In 1998, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to address the silken issue of copyright protections in a digital environment. An important aspect of that law was anti-circumvention protection, which barred people from circumventing password-protected and other honorable Web sites that provide access to creative works. The law said the copyright owners could file well-mannered lawsuits against those who break into such secure Web sites. This is the directly applicable law in the DVD case. At its core, copyright law says that the creators of certain literary and artistic works have the right to ensure that un accepted people do not use their work for un referenceized purposes. The creators hold the copyright. They can give up their exclusive right to publishers or other authorized entities for a limited time or permanently. Legislation and court rulings have held that people have a authoritative right to make use of exceptions within the copyright law to avoid lawsuits.On the other hand, if the arouse majority of actors regulated by the cop yright law are modal(a) end-users, it makes no sense to insist that each of them retain copyright suggest in ramble to fit herself within niches created to suit affaires and institutions, nor is it wise to draw off the lines where the representatives of todays veritable stakeholders insist they would prefer to draw them. Extending the prescriptions and proscriptions of the current copyright law to govern the everyday acts of non-commercial, non-institutional users is a fundamental limiting. To do so without affecting a drastic shift in the copyright balance will require a comparably fundamental change in the copyright statutory scheme.In a whole, issues in article raised very well, opposing two different views on copyright problem from creators and from consumers side. Undoubtedly, both the Napster and DVD cases raise free speech, fair use and copyright issues, which makes them important to future legal and legislative action in the high-tech area. Using those cases writer s hows moot issues and concludes that the need for copyright reform is urgent. On the other hand on that point is no strong support for reasons in which way legislation concerning copyrights could be established.In my opinion, the eloquence surrounding digital copyright in general, and peer-to-peer file sharing and DVD encryption in particular, heated in article, inspires colossal confusion about what the copyright law does and does not prohibit. In general, more or less of the key legal questions are still unsettled, in part because copyright defendants have run out of money and gone out of business before their cases could go to trial. In that vacuum, some copyright owners are claiming that their preferent rules of conduct are well-established legal requirements. at that place whitethorn be an ethical obligation to follow real rules, even when they seem unreasonable. But on that point is any ethical obligation to follow made-up ones. Indeed, in this context, we may have an et hical obligation to resist them.When considering this new and advanced way of sharing information, with regard to copyright laws, the following factors must be assessed the legality of the situation, financial losses and gains, and moral issues. Two different views can be inevitably argued over this controversial issue those who think the downloading of copyright material, without the authority of the author is theft, and those who believe file sharing of copyrighted material is their right in the information age. Although the digital age has made advanced technology available to everyone, the principles of justice and fairness should still prevail.As an IT professional, we have the moral responsibilities to point out when incumbent about copyrights. We should be aware that copyrighted material on the Internet is available for free download only if the creators give consent to its publication and distribution. It can be certain that the confer on copyright in the digital age will continue, and that a definitive solution will take a while to grip for each side. Technology will always be here and will continue to advance, but the industries must be willing to work with the technology to meet the demands of the consumer in the information age.Hacking is also one of the most significant issues nowadays, which involves almost every aspect of IT ethics. Second article I have submitted for hacking ethics topic is Under the scramble of digital crime from BBC News.The article discusses issues of positive and negative hacking. It claims that there was a time when hacking was something positive. It was done in the name of intellectual curiosity rather than financial reward. Now hacking has become an activity that holds two positions and is therefore both solemnized for its insightful inventiveness and defamed for its devious acts. Article claims that the ethics behind hacking and the actions taken by taxicabs constitute a manifesto that transcends ordinary understa nding of this activity. Hackers argue that their actions promote a instrument for tighter warranter department by way of detecting flaws and patches for systems and package. However, these very actions are viewed as violations of the rights to silence and security for both individuals and organizations. Consequently, this establishes a cautionary attitude toward ethical issues such as, privacy, security and the future of the Internet.Another trend that article raises is the weirdo criminality of hacking, much of which is now carried out for explicitly financial reward. just about criminal drudges are threatening to bombard some web-based businesses with gigabytes of data unless man-sized amounts of cash are handed over. It is extortion with a hi-tech gloss. In authors experience, many of these criminal hackers have full-time jobs in technology. skipper hackers are professional in all senses of the word, he states, they work in the industry.The fundamental doctrine or ethic that hackers use in order to justify their behavior is the idea that hacking offers a mode of investigation, which allows an individual to gain knowledge necessary to infiltrate systems that contain vulnerabilities. Acquiring this knowledge allows one to develop strategies that facilitate exploration of their functions and the inner components of the systems. The hacker ethic states in part that all information belongs to everyone and there should be no boundaries or restraints to prevent disclosure of this information. This philosophy that is upheld by the hacker community prefaces ethical questions regarding the freedom of information and the loss of privacy. One more telephone line back up by the hacker ethic is that break-ins elucidate security problems to those who can do something about them. Hacker intrusions into systems surpass the traditional understanding of violating the laws of trespassing. Hacking involves the exploitation, or the consumption of a bug, or a backdoo r that is inherently present within the system. In this view, hacking is not a threat against the integrity of the system being exploited, but instead is a means of implementing corrections and enforcing tighter security.Although issues in article arise well, the writer did not make a conclusive support argument of the statement that many of criminal hackers have full-time jobs in technology. There is not strong support for causes of criminal actions by hackers. The only reason that they carried out hacking, he argued for explicitly financial reward. Concerning hacking ethics, problem discussed very particularly, and the third estate statement depicts real situation.Undoubtedly, hackers and hacking problems are real ones, but how might they be solved? Security requires much more than designing a secure technical infrastructure that resembles an impenetrable fortress. The key to a secure network is the development of real time enforceable policies that take advantage of security bu lletins and published security holes. It is ethically wrong to wait until systems under protection are compromised in order to begin patching up the holes. Securing a network doesnt begin with high cost software and security firewalls aimed at halting the intruders, but begins with utilizing available knowledge that calls for improvements made by ethical hacking. (Mikkkeee).Whatever the case, hackers believe that when they compromise a system they are in effect introducing fixes that force the system administrator to take the necessary precautions in patching up the hole, thereby tightening the security of the system. From this position, the hacker is actually doing a service to the system administrator who is unfamiliar with the bugs that can lead to a system compromise. If there is any criminal purport on the part of the hacker, then they should be held legally accountable for violating the security of the system and their actions should be punishable by law.From the point of vie w of IT professional, we have the moral responsibilities to point out when necessary about hacker activities. so far though hacking undoubtedly has led to productive improvement in IT and software security, it has in effect created many disruptive problems online and offline. Hacking is an activity that introduces a mode of analysis that targets and works on various components. Therefore, hacking has the potential to cause price and to violate legitimate privacy and property rights. By ethical standards hacking does introduce crucial security fixes, but does so at the expense of violating privacy and the security of individuals. Furthermore, hacking activities lead to disruptive and dangerous problems for society, which tend to be troublesome to eradicate. But, with awareness of those problems, we also should take into account that hacking is underside of technical progress, and could not be considered apart of it. As The Mentor warns in the conclusion to his manifesto, I am a h acker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you cant stop us all (Mentor, 1). Even if the authorities catch a hacker, as long as there is a motivation, hacking will persist. On the other hand, IT professionals should clearly recognize boundary between real professionalism and hacking in their own activity, because that line is very transparent.In conclusion, we should note, that significant attention nonrecreational to issues erected above in public press. Many publications leave negative impression about hacking and copyrights, as those are lawless anyway. The Napster and DVD cases received the most publicity because it involves highly popular software that millions of people around the world use to share music and films. Concerning hacking issue, media tend to use the word hacker as a synonym for cyber vandal, digital criminal and basically any person who uses digital means to perform criminal or vicious activities. Nevertheless, it would be better to cons ider not only consequences, but causes as well.For the first look hacking and copyrights are on the contrary sides of ethics, but when we see to it details, there are much more common between them. These problems are permanent topics of news nowadays. With penetration of information technology into mass media, which now functioning very closely related with World Wide Web, moreover, when Internet becoming a main media, issues of hacking and intellectual property ethics are affecting mass media itself noticeably. Thus those problems widely covered now in press and will cover on with spreading of information technology. The question is in qualitative impact of subjects on mass media.BibliographyBynum, Terrell, IT Ethics rudimentary Concepts and Historical Overview. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2001 Edition), Edward N. Zalta(ed.), Gehringer, Edward. Ethics in Computing. Ethical Issues. Homepage. 2001 Chebium, Raju. Napster, DVD cases raise copyright questions in di gital age. CNN.com News. August 7, 2000 Ward, Mark. Under the skin of digital crime. BBC News Online. 11 May, 2004 Mikkkeee. Hacking Ethical Issues of the Internet Revolution. New assure Portal. March 29, 2003 The Mentor, The Conscience of a Hacker, Phrack, Vol One, Issue 7, Phile 3, January 8, 1986. February 10, 2003.