Question

How should the ethical problems presented by Computer Technology, Information Technology, Information Networks and the Internet be approached?

there is an answer existing in chegg already but i couldn't open that .. will you please help me out ?

Answer 1

Robbery and cheating in order to obtain personal data and the lack of security on the Internet is a controversial subject nowadays, as it is difficult to control it without taking away the freedom of speech. What is the balance between control and freedom? Additionally, the number of incidents related to the data robbery is growing and growing; thus, some kind of control is needed and it should be international.

The problems related to this subject might affect us in three different ways:

1. Personal data. There several techniques to get the personal data. Perhaps, the most used technique is “spoofing” which imitates the user interface and the behavior of web sites in order to deceive users into thinking that that is the real web site and then users will introduce their passwords. However, sometimes the personal data is stolen from the companies which are storing them and in which you trust, but other times, those companies are the ones which use your personal information without your approval or knowledge.
2. Confidential data which belongs to companies or countries. There are several examples of recent incidents related to it. Today, the Snowden case is the most popular one; the United States (US) used companies to get data from other states and to spy on them. Nevertheless, this is not an isolated incident, this year (2014) Canada stated to change its network infrastructure because of a Chinese attack by hackers – China denied its participation in the attack. In fact, several countries are taking actions to control this leak of information. China has banned Windows 8 and Apple products in the government facilities for security issues. In addition, Russia asked for the source code to IBM and Apple so that it could study it and verify the trust in their software.
3. The protection of intellectual rights. It is important to know the differences between Europe and the US, since in the US the software can be patented and in Europe it cannot. There is an exception in which software can be patented in Europe, if it is a part of an invention which includes hardware. Therefore, the protection of the software in Europe is lower.

Aside from that, regarding the illegal use of music or movies, the protection of intellectual rights on the Internet is really difficult, although there are various techniques (Digital Rights Management, Fingerprinting…). In fact, in Spain some money is paid to artists through what is called the Digital Canon to help them. This payment is made by everyone who buys a CD, DVD or something related to electronics, since they have to pay a fee for those things and no matter if they are making an illegal use of them or not.

In general, it is difficult to fight against these problems, as sometimes guilty parties are from other countries and the state which is interested in solving the problem does not have jurisdiction there. This is the case of some Spanish web sites which have links to other web sites in which movies or songs can be downloaded.

CONCLUSION

In my opinion, the Internet has to be controlled, we should know what companies or countries are doing with our information and make sure that our rights are protected everywhere. Therefore, an international law or an international institution should be created. Perhaps, we might use what we have learnt in Montego Bay, where an international agreement to rule the sea was reached. I believe that, given the international scope of both, the Internet and the international waters, the Internet could be controlled by using the same foundations which were created in the Montego Bay Convention.