Ethics

Having computer ethics and making sure you’re following everything ethically is vital when using anything electronic. Things like hacking can be misconceived. Not all forms of hacking are harmful due to forms of things like hiring a white-hat hacker to hack your system. A white-hat hacker will hack into a system to try to find out where the confidentialities are in a system so the owner can better improve his product or possession. In computer ethic number four it states "thou shalt not use a computer to steal". If this is violated it could be harmful because the fact of stealing another person’s personal information can lead to 20 years in prison as from the wiretap act. I think this amendment is smart because stealing is morally generalized as wrong and should not be allowed even if not physically. I do not find anything wrong with this ethic. Another ethic is number 3 "thou shalt not snoop around in other people's computer files." This could be harmful because someone could see personal information linked to passwords, addresses, etc. I think this is ethically correct because privacy is a vital topic in society and protecting one’s privacy is important. I also see how this could be wrong because if you were in some sort of war and could snoop into your enemy's files to find information that would influence the war could me ethically correct. Ethic number six states "Thou shalt not copy or use proprietary software for which you have not paid." This could be harmful because if someone was to copy one's product like a movie disc by renting it, they would be able to have the movie much cheaper. This means that the company selling and the company producing the movie is getting stolen from. This is morally correct because this relates back to stealing where one should never steal from another. Ethic one states "thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people". This is ethically correct because one should not try to harm someone if there is no reason for it. I could see how this could be wrong if there was an ethical reason behind the harm. For example, if there was a hacker and you used your computer to harm there's. That would be ethically correct. In total making sure you include ethics when using a computer is vital to device use.

Computer ethics found from Ten Commandments

Website Created by Anderson Howard, student at the John Carroll School