Ethics and Computers
Ethics are moral decisions people make based on what they believe is right or wrong. There are many ways to abuse or take advantage of technology and information systems but by applying ethics to these technologies people can hopefully make ethical decisions. When using information think about privacy, accuracy, property, and access to ensure ethical use. Even though email is informal, people still must remember it is permanent after you send it to another person and almost all of the time can be found again even if deleted so people should always use ethics in writing their emails. The Ten Commandments for the ethical use of computers are rules everyone can use to make sure what they are doing is ethical. Ethics or morals can establish questions about what is right and wrong not only for individuals, but how their actions affect society. Individuals can use information systems or technology in ways that are unethical but there are ways to avoid these unethical uses.All individuals have a concept of what is right and wrong. They use these concepts in decision making processes concerning ethical questions. In some instances there may be conflicting answers to these questions. For instance, an employee may be using a spread
The information must be transmitted. Pathways using communications equipment such as electronic signals, and radio signals in various frequencies are used. Who owns the pathways? Who controls them? If people wish to send information over these pathways, what rights do they have? Access to information technology and the information it provides has become essential in today's industrialized society. Businesses require information systems to compete effectively. The technology must be put in place so business and individuals can use them so that say a business can know who to target as its market or what people would be good candidates for putting on the mail order list. Software must also be provided so the technology can be used. Information must be made accessible through the use of technology. The information must be gathered, stored, and open to those who need it. But the ethics is who should have access to this information and how much of it should they be able to use? 10. Always use a computer in ways that ensure consideration and respect for you fellow humans. There are many legal uses and benefits from computerized information about people. No one would receive welfare if it wasn't for social security's information system. Credit would be harder to obtain without the computerized credit bureaus. This information can also be abused, say if anyone could get a hold of someone's medical reports, work history, credit reports, and tax return were matched along with all the other information that is out there about people, there would be no privacy for anyone. As information systems become larger and more comprehensive, it becomes much easier to match information about people for instance companies buy mailing list and e-mail address off other companies about there members to that they can have access to these people as well. Many people would feel threatened if all this information was stored on a central computer and made available to anyone who wanted it because of the fact that anyone who wanted to could know everything about another person's privet life. There are laws out there to help prevent the abuse of computerized information and the distributions of it. Even though these laws are in place they cannot prevent the abuse of information, they can only help minimize the problem and help ensure privacy for people. 9. Think about the social consequences of the program you are writing or the system you are designing. There is etiquette a person should follow when emailing. Whenever possible the subject should be a single word and descriptive of its contents. The contents in the email should only be about a single subject. This makes the email easy to file, retrieve, and easy to reply. A person must assume and message they send in permanent. They must be careful in what they send in an email. This means no flaming. Flaming is writing and email when emotional and saying things you would not normally said. Emails tend to be informal so keep the messages brief and to the
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Approximate Word count = 2039
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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