The power of the personal computer is no secret. PCs and the Internet are often connected to give us unprecedented tools for helping to improve businesses. But the power of the PC can be used for evil as well as good. Among the wrongdoers, you may be the person staring back at yourself each morning in the mirror. Most of us, most of the time, try to do the right thing, but with PCs, this can be easier said than done. Just because something isn't illegal, it isn't ethical, even if you don't get caught, that doesn't mean you are better off. Say you chatted on the computer when you were suppose to be working, you are unethically wasting money that you business give you to perform. With the introduction of the World Wide Web in 1990 it has catalyzed the expansion of the Internet, which is still growing today at unprecedented rates. Now many business corporations are using the Internet for marketing, communication, and productivity. The recent growth of the Internet it has r!

esulted not only in an increase in the amount of available knowledge, but in an increase in the problems inherent to its usage and distribution. It has become clear that traditional rules of conduct are not always applicable to this new medium, so new ethical codes are now being developed.

According to Webster's Dictionary ethics, "refer to the rules and standards governing the conduct of an individual with others". As technology and computers became more and more a part of our everyday lives, we must understand that the problems that have always plagued businesses will continue to be a problem. Since the introduction of the World Wide Web into businesses, the definition of ethics has evolved. A new type of ethics known as computer ethics has emerged. Computer ethics is concerned with standards of conduct as they pertain to computers.

One ethical decision that has plagued business websites is that many domain names (www.walmart.com) are being attacked. Unethical people are buying and then selling the website to the highest bidder. For example, a man bought the name www.walmart.com and auctioned it off. Many people are purposely buying up company names and selling them to those companies at outrageous prices. President Clinton calls these people 'Squatters' and wants to pass a law forbidding them to buy up already existing company names. Also script kiddies, unethical people who deface websites, are attacking websites just for the fun. There are hacking websi