29/08/2017
the topic of today is Computer ethics and crime
After studying this lesson, student should be able to:
- Define computer and state some computer code of conduct and the commandments of computer ethics
- Discuss some issue of computer ethics and unethical actions taken by computer users
- Discuss some legislations the govern computer ethics
INTRODUCTION
Computers are involved to some extent in almost every aspect of our lives. They often perform life-critical tasks. Computer science is not regulated to the extent of medicine, air travel, or construction zoning. Therefore, we need to carefully consider the issues of ethics.
I. DEFINITION AND OBJECTIVES
Ethics refers to the standards and rules that "should" be followed and it helps us to regulate our conduct in a group or with a set of individuals
Computer Ethics is a branch of practical computer science which deals with how computing professionals should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct. It is morally acceptable use of computers i.e. using computers appropriately
It helps us solve the legal issues that crop up every day, to underline and solve those violations that were not defined by the older laws; to form new laws, rather to form an organized structure of laws to govern the world of internet, which is termed as "cyber law". The primary objective of computer ethics is identifying the ethical issues, which fall in the broad category of copyright issues, issues concerning privacy and censorship.
II. ETHICS CODE OF CONDUCT
A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the responsibilities of or proper practices for an individual, party or organization. The standard bodies that have produced computer code of conduct are BCS (British Computer Society), ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). These rules are:
• Avoid harm to others.
• Honor property rights including copyrights and patents.
• Give proper credit for intellectual property.
• Respect the privacy of others.
• Honor confidentiality.’
• Be honest and trust worthy
• Be fair and take action not to discriminate
• Information stored on the computer should be treated as seriously as written or spoken word.
• Intrusive software such as "worms" and "viruses" which are destructive to the computer system is also illegal.
• Congesting somebody's system with a lot of unwanted information is also unethical.
• Sending sexually explicit content, message or pictures is also forbidden.
III. COMMANDEMENTS OF COMPUTER ETHICS
1. Thou Shalt Not Use A Computer To Harm Other People.
2. Thou Shalt Not Interfere With Other People’s Computer Work.
3. Thou Shalt Not Snoop Around In Other People’s Computer Files.
4. Thou Shalt Not Use A Computer To Steal.
5. Thou Shalt Not Use A Computer To Bear False Witness.
6. Thou Shalt Not Copy or Use Proprietary Software for Which You have Not Paid.
7. Thou Shalt Not Use Other People’s Computer Resources without Authorization or Proper Compensation.
8. Thou Shalt Not Appropriate Other People’s Intellectual Output.
9. Thou Shalt Think About The Social Consequences Of The Program You Are Writing Or The System You Are Designing.
10. Thou Shalt Always Use A Computer In Ways That Insure Consideration And Respect For Your Fellow Humans.
IV. PRIMARY ISSUES IN COMPUTER ETHICS
There are four primary issues in computer ethics:
Privacy – responsibility to protect data about individuals
Accuracy - responsibility of data collectors to authenticate information and ensure its accuracy
Property - who owns information and software and how can they be sold and exchanged
Access - responsibility of data collectors to control access and determine what information a person has the right to obtain about others and how the information can be used
V. SOME UNETHICAL ACTIONS
V.1 Software piracy
Software piracy refers to the unauthorized duplication and use of computer software. Software is intellectual property, and is protected by copyright laws in most countries. Most software licenses (The act of giving a formal (usually written) authorization) grant users the permission to use the software, but the license holder does not "own" the software. There exist many types of license software:
Freeware: Freeware is software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware can be either of proprietary code only accessible by the developer or open-source software, where the code is published and available for inspection.
General Public License: GPL software has the same restrictions as freeware, but cannot be sold for profit.
Shareware: The term shareware (also known as trialware or demoware) refers to proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability or convenience. There are several kind of shareware:
- Crippleware: limited in the amount of feature available
- Nagware: The variety of shareware that displays a popup screen at the beginning or end, and sometime even during the ex*****on of the program, reminding you to register, typically requiring some sort of keystroke to continue
- Time limited: some of the feature or the entire program become unavailable after a period of time
Liteware: It is a free version of a program that normally cost money. The features are limited, but the missing features are not “grayed out” (disable) in the menu.
Basic Software Piracy Terminology:
• Cloning - Ideas cannot be copy protected, and unfortunately some software developers choose to "clone" other applications rather than creating their own.
• Crack - A software crack is an illegally obtained but working version of the software, which circumvents the software's copyright protection. Software cracking refers to the modification of software in order to remove encoded copy prevention.
• Hack - It usually refers to working around the copy protection of an application for the sole purpose of creating an illegal version of the software.
• Hardware Locking - A method of protecting software from duplication by locking the software license to a specific piece of computer hardware, such as the hard drive it is installed on, so that it will not function on any other computer.
• KeyGen- a KeyGen (short for Key Generator) is a small program that will generate an unauthorized but working registration key or serial number for a piece of software.
• Warez - Another term for a software crack.
V.2- Plagiarism
Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work as your own; this includes work represented in hard copy, on disk, or on the Internet, illegal downloading of music, illegal burning of CD… Plagiarism is protected by the copyright act. Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time
V.3- computer misuse:
This include unauthorized access of information or modification-
V.4- Computer crime
Computer Crime (cybercrime, e-crime) refers to criminal activity that involves the use of a computer and the internet. These can be traditional criminal offenses committed with the use of a computer and newer crimes that originated with the advent of computers and networks. These crimes cover a very large and diverse range of offenses. Net crime refers to criminal exploitation of the Internet. Cybercrimes are defined as: "Offences that are committed against individuals or groups of individuals with a criminal motive to intentionally harm the reputation of the victim or cause physical or mental harm to the victim directly or indirectly, using modern telecommunication networks such as Internet (Chat rooms, emails, notice boards and groups) and mobile phones (SMS/MMS)".
Some examples of computer crimes are:
a) Hacking:
Hacking is the process of exploiting vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to systems or resources. A person who commits such a crime is a hacker. There is many form of hacking
- A denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) or distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack) is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users. ...
- Cyberextortion is a crime involving an attack or threat of attack against an enterprise, coupled with a demand for money to avert or stop the attack.
b) Phishing scams
Phishing scams are typically fraudulent email messages appearing to come from legitimate enterprises (e.g. your university, your Internet service provider, your bank). These messages usually direct you to a spoofed web site or otherwise get you to divulge private information (e.g., password, credit card, or other account updates). Different types are:
- Identity fraud and identity theft: Identity fraud may occur when someone steals personal information, opens credit card accounts in the victim's name without permission, and charges merchandise to those accounts. Identity theft is when your personal details are stolen and identity fraud is when those details are used to commit fraud.
- War dial: War dialing is a method that makes use of a model and this is done in order to dial all the numbers with similar local area code.
c) Computer fraud
Computer fraud is using a computer to deceive, steal information, or cause harm to others. Common types of computer fraud include the following:
- Sending hoax emails intended to scare people.
- Illegally using someone else’s computer or “posing” as someone else on the Internet.
- Using spyware to gather information about people.
d) Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's "exclusive rights", such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the copyrighted work, spread the information contained within copyrighted works, or to make derivative works
e) Child po*******hy
Child po*******hy refers to images or films (also known as child abuse images) and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child. Abuse of the child occurs during the sexual acts which are recorded in the production of child po*******hy.
f) Spam
Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services. Spam costs the sender very little to send -- most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender.
VI. SOME ETHICAL LEGISLATIONS
Computers and their uses have become pervasive in today's society with new uses occurring on almost a daily basis. In general this use is beneficial; however, as we mention in the previous paragraph, computers may be put to the wrong use. In order to safeguard computer users in the UK there are different types of legislation covering the many uses or misuses of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
VI.1- Data protection act (1998)
The Data Protection Act 1998 was designed to provide a legal framework upon which to protect the privacy of personal data when used with information technology. The act gives people rights to protect themselves against any misuse of data held about them.
VI.2- Computer misuse act
The Computer Misuse Act is designed to protect computer users against willful attacks and theft of information. Offences under the act include hacking, Unauthorized access to modify computers include altering software and data, changing passwords and settings to prevent others accessing the system, interfering with the normal operation of the system to its detriment and purposefully spreading malicious and damaging software (malware), such as viruses. The Computer Misuse Act 1990 was designed to clarify UK law with regards to the intentional malicious use of computers.
VI.3- Copyright, Designs and Patent Act
The Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988 was designed to protect the copyright of individuals and groups. The act protects the ownership of computer software in a similar way that copyright works with printed material. This act protects the software developer's rights and lasts for fifty years after the writer's death.
VI.4- Consumer Protection Act
The Consumer Protection Act 1987 is designed to protect consumers and give them rights when buying goods and services, eg manufacturers are legally obliged to put certain information on products, such as health and safety messages on ci******es.
VI.5- Children's Internet Protection Act
The Children’s Internet Protection Act (C**A) was enacted by Congress in 2000 to address concerns about children’s access to obscene or harmful content over the Internet.
VI.6-The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, first enacted in 1984 and revised in 1994, makes it certain activities designed to access a "federal interest computer" illegal. These activities may range from knowingly accessing a computer without authorization or exceeding authorized access to the transmission of a harmful component of a program, information, code, or command. A federal interest computer includes a computer used by a financial institution, used by the United States Government, or one of two or more computers used in committing the offense, not all of which are located in the same State.
VI.7- Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section
The Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) is responsible for implementing the Department's national strategies in combating computer and intellectual property crimes worldwide. The Computer Crime Initiative is a comprehensive program designed to combat electronic penetrations, data thefts, and cyberattacks on critical information systems. CCIPS prevents, investigates, and prosecutes computer crimes by working with other government agencies, the private sector, academic institutions, and foreign counterparts.
VI.8- Computer Software Privacy and Control Act
To prevent deceptive software transmission practices in order to safeguard computer privacy, maintain computer control, and protect Internet commerce.
