Activity 12-1 # 1 and 2

1. From the cases summarized above(from the book), explain what constitutes a computer crime.
(a) Credit Card Fraud is computer crime for which a person unlawfully obtaining and using a credit card from the other person without his knowledge or the card may steal from him
(b) Creating a virus and unleashing it to the network is also a computer crime because the consequences that suffered here were thousands of servers in net due to the shutdown of system operation.

(c) Hacking. This is also a serious computer crime by breaking the security of the system.

d) Spamming. spam even more generally as any unsolicited e-mail. However, if a long-lost brother finds your e-mail address and sends you a message, this could hardly be called spam, even though it's unsolicited. Real spam is generally e-mail advertising for some product sent to a mailing list or newsgroup.
The activity of spam is obviously a computer crime because you can imagine this, aside of wasting people's time with unwanted e-mail, spam eats up a lot of network bandwidth.

2. Discuss at least three other examples of computer crimes.


(A) Unauthorized Use.
1. Changing data. For example, change a grade on a school transcript, add "money" to a checking account, etc. Unauthorized changing of data is generally a fraudulent act.
2. Deleting data. Deleting entire files could be an act of vandalism or sabotage.

B. Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks
A denial of service attack occurs when an Internet server is flooded with a nearly continuous stream of bogus requests for webpages, thereby denying legitimate users an opportunity to download a page and also possibly crashing the web server.

Criminals have developed a simple technique for executing a distributed DoS attack:
· The criminal first plants remote-control programs on dozens of computers that have broadband access to the Internet. The remote-control program will, at the command of the criminal, issue a nearly continuous series of pings to a specified victim's website.
· When the criminal is ready to attack, he instructs the programs to begin pinging a specific target address. The computers containing the remote-control programs act as "zombies".
· The victim computer responds to each ping, but because the zombie computers gave false source addresses for their pings, the victim computer is unable to establish a connection with the zombie computers. Because the victim computer waits for a response to its return ping, and because there are more zombie computers than victims, the victim computer becomes overwhelmed and either (a) does nothing except respond to bogus pings or (b) crashes.
· Typically, after one or two hours, the criminal instructs his programs to stop pinging the victim. This brief duration is not because the criminal is a nice person, but because long-duration attacks make it easier for engineers at the victim's website to promptly trace the source of the attacks.
C. Harassment & Stalking
In general, the harasser intends to cause emotional distress and has no legitimate purpose to his communications. Harassment can be as simple as continuing to send e-mail to someone who has said they want no further contact with the sender. Harassment may also include threats, sexual remarks, pejorative labels (i.e., hate speech).

A particularly disturbing form of harassment is sending a forged e-mail that appears to be from the victim and contains racist remarks, or other embarrassing text, that will tarnish the reputation of the victim.

It is often difficult to get law enforcement personnel and prosecutors interested in harassment, unless threats of death or serious bodily harm are made, simply because the resources of the criminal justice system are strained by "more serious" criminal activities. I put "more serious" in quotation marks, because the victim of harassment certainly is adversely affected by the harassment, therefore it is a serious matter to the victim. But the law treats harassment as a misdemeanor, the group of less serious crimes.

Activity 10 #1

Pornography in the Internet

It is every parent's nightmare. You turn on your home computer and are shocked to see disturbing images of children being physically abused, sexually molested, tortured, and even murdered. You investigate further and discover sexually explicit, obscene e-mail from a cyber predator intended for your preteen son or daughter. You race up the stairs to your child's bedroom to discuss what you have discovered, only to find the receipt for a plane ticket to a destination across the country on the dresser and clothes missing from the closet.
Such nightmares are becoming a reality for a small but increasing number of parents as more families go online. While the Internet offers a vast array of helpful information, access often comes with little, if any, warning of the risks it poses to children, who may unwittingly invite dangerous predators into their home.
It is a moral responsibility of parents to advise their children never to talk to strangers who approach them in person or over the telephone. Wise parents instruct their children to tell them about any such encounters. Yet the same parents rarely educate their children about the dangers of exchanges with strangers on the Internet, often because they are unaware of the risk to their children or of measures to protect them.
Some ethical move that parents should do is to keep the family computer in a central location where the child is not isolated, limit the time the child spends online, set guidelines and rules for computer use, and learn about Internet technology in order to better monitor their child's online activity and most important is the parents should get to know their children's cyberspace friends, just as they would want to know their real-life friends.

SAQ 9-1.1

The Access of the Internet with physical disabilities

For disabled college students, professors' increased use of the Web for instruction can create obstacles rather than clear them away. Many disabled students find that new technology cuts them off from the learning process. To prevent that, colleges are -- among other things -- designing Web sites and buying computer workstations that meet the needs of disabled students. Disabled students say the regulation is necessary. Lured by Web-design products, professors often create colorful, stylish, and audible Internet sites for their classes. But students with limited vision struggle to comprehend electronic pictures and graphs, audio material is meaningless to the deaf, and those with impaired mobility can struggle just to send An e-mail message.

Among other things, the rule clarification means that state-university Web pages must provide text alternatives to images and make color-coded information available without color. Video and multimedia productions understood through visual data must be made audible as well. Streaming audio is also of no use to the deaf. Or an e-mail chat room that allows many students to discuss a topic simultaneously can be difficult for a blind person to follow, even with screen-reading software.

In the Philippines this issue should not be ignore especially we are not as rich country that could afford to buy equipments that will help those who have physical disabilities. The government really needs to purchase computers, printers, fax machines, and video and multimedia equipment. Such equipment must meet certain height and reach requirements; either by being adjustable or through installation and software to interpret images and hyperlinks on a Web page must be made available to visually impaired students. Though equipments are quite costly but it will really answer to this social issues problem that still happening in the Philippines today.

SAQ 8-1# 1 & 2

SAQ8.1# 1 and 2
1. Evaluated types of privacy
A. Email Privacy
Here are some of the helpful commandments of email privacy to be follow:
1. Respect confidentiality. If you desire to forward or otherwise share received mail, check with the sender to make sure it is permissible. If that is somehow impossible, strip off all personal and identifying information including routing.
2. Don't "flame" . To send an inflammatory remark or message can cause great harm to another individual. Such words delivered electronically are experienced differently than any other type of media with potential for long lasting effects.
3. Don't use anonymous remailers. Don't use these services, unless whistle blowing or otherwise fear recrimination for telling the truth. This would be a teleological decision, based on the extrinsic value of the action.
4. Don't look at other's messages. Gaining access to another's account is not justifiable unless expressly acting as their agent. Looking at someone's printed out mail is equally incorrect.
5. Don't misrepresent or lie. Given the issue of the lack of privacy with email transmission, the potential exists for a misrepresentation or falsehood to revisit the sender. While the old adage of "what goes around comes around" may not be universally true with positive energies and deeds, it often is realized via negative actions and perspectives.
6. Follow EMA guidelines. Check to see if the service provider, or company, has an electronic messaging privacy policy. If one in place, learn what is delineated. If not, follow guidelines for development summarized below. Anything transmitted may be publicly aired if a privacy policy is not in effect.
7. Consider presentation of message. Evaluate the physical appearance of the message to be sent. Consider starting with a blank line, don't shout (all caps) and eliminate sexist language from email via use of gender-neutral pronouns and titles. Try to be aware of cultural differences or other issues that may affect the reader adversely.
Reference: http://www.inetcon.com/priv.html

B. Privacy on the Web
One of the key issue in the privacy on the web is the anonymity. Questions of anonymity on the internet are sometimes discussed in the same context with questions of privacy and the internet, because anonymity can provide many of the same benefits as privacy. For example, if someone is using the internet to obtain medical or psychological counseling, or to discuss sensitive topics (for example, AIDS, abortion, gay rights, venereal disease, political dissent), anonymity can afford protection similar to that of privacy. Similarly, both anonymity and privacy on the internet can be helpful in preserving human values such as security, mental health, self-fulfillment and peace of mind. Unfortunately, privacy and anonymity also can be exploited to facilitate unwanted and undesirable computer-aided activities in cyberspace, such as money laundering, drug trading, terrorism.
Reference: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-computer/#3.3


C. Database Privacy

Database privacy concerns the protection of information about individuals that is stored in a database. Database privacy can (and should) use solutions developed for database security. Database privacy must be based on a confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Unethical act may occur when an employee access an individual’s information. This may happen when the individual phones to discuss an item on his/her account or other record, when the employee happens to process an order, account or other item related to the individual and in many simple scenarios. Making it difficult for the employee to access personal information of, say, customers may hamper efficiency (and even the individual’s perception of the organization because they seem not have the information readily available to provide proper customer service). The problem with giving people access to all individuals’ information is that it becomes relatively hard to distinguish between work and mere browsing of individual information. What these questions have illustrated are the facts that database privacy needs to consider the purpose(s) for which data was collected, verification of protection mechanisms by those who would stand to lose most if private information is disclosed or modified and protection of each specific individual’s information.


2. Example of an act that violates the privacy in computing.

Cyberstalking

Though the legal recognition of stalking is a recent evolution, the behaviour that is involved is by no means a product of the 20th century. It is known though that criminal behaviour is incredibly adaptive to new technologies, with credit card, mobile phone and computer fraud as examples. It is also acknowledged that stalking has now taken an on-line form, colloquially referred to as cyber-stalking.

As the personal computer and the Internet bring the world into our homes, they provide access to a vast amount of information, and provide forums for individuals from all over the world to meet one another in a relatively anonymous environment. One example of these forums is the chat room where people from hundreds of countries may gather and meet, trade information and files, and chat about a range of topics from music to sex. Though this has bred a large number of international relationships, most of which prove harmless, it does present the possibility that ones on-line personality may become the target of unwanted attention.

Cyberstalking, which is simply an extension of the physical form of stalking, is where the electronic mediums such as the Internet are used to pursue, harass or contact another in an unsolicited fashion. Most often, given the vast distances that the Internet spans, this behaviour will never manifest itself in the physical sense but this does not mean that the pursuit is any less distressing. There are a wide variety of means by which individuals may seek out and harass individuals even though they may not share the same geographic borders, and this may present a range of physical, emotional, and psychological consequences to the victim.

Reference: http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminology/cyberstalking/index.html

SAQ 7.1#3

The Computer Abuse which I think is morally wrong is Hacking.

Originally, hacking was used to describe a programmer who was very skilled at his/her profession Often, this person knew programming inside and out and appeared to be able to work miracles with programs. Today, hacking commonly refers to a person who abuses computer access, breaks into computers and/or uses computers without authorization. Example Credit card details are stolen by hackers and then used to make fraudulent purchases.

Hacking is morally wrong in ethical principles because of the following reasons:
• Using a personal computer to access another computer without prior authority to access that computer and gain access to information that is stored on the computer.
• Using a personal computer to gain access to information stored on another computer that is considered confidential without the permission of the content owner.
• Using a personal computer to deny legitimate users access to a computer.
• All the above are some examples of the computer crime. All these computer intrusions or hacking, copyright and trademark violations, theft of trade secrets, economic espionage, and theft of computer and high-tech components will be penalized under the law because the individual deserves to have the right to protect the control of reproduction and distribution of creative product or the intellectual property.

SAQ 6-1

B. Three precepts on computer use.
1. The use of computer to harm other people
- One example here is Hacking, the unauthorized access to a computer, its files and program. This is another form of theft in breaking the system of the other person. Most of them have their reasons why they do it but it is morally violates the rights and emotional hurt the other person.
2. The moral choices in using the computer.
- If employees ask by his superior to create program to hack the system of their competitor’s and if he refuses to do it then it will probably cause to lose his job otherwise, he will perform the unethical act. this scenario illustrates the two conflicting moral obligations. The ethical act here is by doing the right thing to a person without the influence from the other.
3. The Problem of Freedom
- It is not ethical for doing anything that infringe on the rights of the other people. Though we are free to surf and explore web sites but we have to limit our freedom, that is to prevent unlawful act. It always be an ethical if the user always ask permission from the owner of the site even just for viewing or browsing only.
c. Two ethical issues in computing.
1. Intellectual property rights issues.
- Intellectual property is an asset in which you can’t buy or sold, and therefore it always need a protection of rights against unauthorized person to use or sale the property.
2. Free speech issues.
- Some of the people expressed their rights over the net for global information like for example the publishing of opinion about politics. It is ethical act as long as there will be a restriction or it will not be threaten to the minor age of society which one example is pornography. Although some countries find it as a form of expression or a form of an art but majority find it an offensive expression to a person. Thus it doesn’t confine righteousness.

D. Yes, because I believe everyone should subject to norms or rules common to all people of society. We should abide and recognize a certain law in order to live a moral life.

SAQ4.1.1-2

SAQ 4-1.

Which of the finalist theories appeals to you the most?

For me the finalist theory appeals to me most is the Aristotle’s Nicomachean ethics because his idea and concept of human to be morally good is ultimate. Aristotle states that man is rational by nature. The results of living rational life is happiness thus, will pursuit to excellence. Human being will have to live in accordance with reason and the function of a self-actualized human being is to reason excellently. Since man is the only being endowed with rationality then it follows that reason made him separate from other being. However in accordance of living with excellent reasoning, human beings also need “external prosperity” or “circumstantial security” (money, friends, power, etc.) and human excellence or internal goods (Psychological e.g., peace of mind, Bodily e.g., physical health). With these, human being will get his desires of being happy. Lastly, Aristotle considers the life of intellectual excellence at the level of theoretical reasoning will result to the highest degree of happiness.

2. Which do you think seems to predominate in the world of computing, as you know it?

I think the John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism, because underlying philosophy of utilitarianism, and states that people pursue things that provide pleasure and avoid things that produce pain; all individuals seek to maximize their total pleasure. Utilitarianism is the notion that conduct should be directed toward promoting the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people. Utilitarian critics argue that because utilitarian are so preoccupied w/ promoting happiness for the majority they ignore the importance of justice and fairness for each individual. In sum theory of utilitarianism, this is an area of philosophy that plays an essential role in encouraging adherents of morality to focus on the determination of ethical standards that would more or less afford universal acceptance. If in case of two pleasures if there be one to which all or almost all who have experience of both give a decided preference, like for example in computing:

Josh is an employee at HOW Programs, a programming company that specializes in writing customized software for large corporations. Josh's boss, Jo Ann, asked him to write a program enabling ABC Wood Company to analyze their sales and predict what supplies the company should stock up on to maintain a proper inventory. After sitting down with the ABC Wood Company representatives to get an idea of what they wanted for the program, Josh realized there were commercial software packages that would do bits and pieces of what he wanted to write in his program. He identified a piece of code that was a significant portion of the commercial program. Josh felt he could take a few shortcuts, thus getting the program to ABC sooner if he took the program already written and incorporated it into his program code. He only had to write a few short functions and a user inter-face to complete the project significantly quicker. By completing such a large project a few days earlier, Josh received a bonus and promotions. He was able to go home sooner and spend time with his wife and new baby boy.

Here the original intent of josh is to accomplish his boss tasks by working his own capability. However after discovering that there is a commercial program that facilitates his work, he is tempted to copy the code because it was a nice idea for him to complete the task in less effort and finish it in a short period of time. Though copying is unethical but the more desirable pleasure here is justified from the enjoyment of the boss and the satisfaction of both parties.

SAQ 2-1.1-2

SAQ2-1

1. What relevance, if any, does the study of the concept of law, in general, have in computing and your study of the computer ethics?


The relevance of studying the concept of the law will result its moral imperatives of computer ethics, thus:

· Contribute to society and human well-being
· Avoid harm to others
· Honest and trustworthy
· Be fair and take action not to discriminate
· Honor property rights including copyrights and patents
· Give proper credit for intellectual property
· Respect the privacy of others
· Honor Confidentiality


2. List down two laws governing computer use and explain what types of non-jural law seem to underpin these two laws.

a. Republic Act No. 8792 -AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE RECOGNITION AND USE OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCIAL AND NON -COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS AND DOCUMENTS, PENALTIES FOR UNLAWFUL USE THEREOF AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
SHORT TITLE AND DECLARATION OF POLICY
Sec. 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known and cited as the "Electronic Commerce Act".
Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. - The State recognizes the vital role of information and communications technology (ICT) in nation-building; the need to create an information-friendly environment which supports and ensures the availability, diversity and affordability of ICT products and services; the primary responsibility of the private sector in contributing investments and services in ICT; the need to develop, with appropriate training programs and institutional policy changes, human resources for the information age, a labor force skilled in the use of ICT and a population capable of operating and utilizing electronic appliances and computers; its obligation to facilitate the transfer and promotion of technology, to ensure network security, connectivity and neutrality of technology for the national benefit; and the need to marshal, organize and deploy national information infrastructures, comprising in both telecommunications network and strategic information services, including their interconnection to the global information networks, with the necessary and appropriate legal, financial, diplomatic and technical framework, systems and facilities.
b. Republic Act No. 8293 -AN ACT PRESCRIBING THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CODE AND ESTABLISHING THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE, PROVIDING FOR ITS POWERS AND FUNCTIONS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Section 1.Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines."
Sec. 2. Declaration of State Policy. - The State recognizes that an effective intellectual and industrial property system is vital to the development of domestic and creative activity, facilitates transfer of technology, attracts foreign investments, and ensures market access for our products. It shall protect and secure the exclusive rights of scientists, inventors, artists and other gifted citizens to their intellectual property and creations, particularly when beneficial to the people, for such periods as provided in this Act.
The use of intellectual property bears a social function. To this end, the State shall promote the diffusion of knowledge and information for the promotion of national development and progress and the common good.
It is also the policy of the State to streamline administrative procedures of registering patents, trademarks and copyright, to liberalize the registration on the transfer of technology, and to enhance the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the Philippines.

SAQ1-1.4

SAQ1-1.4 ETHICAL OR UNETHICAL

In order an act to be an ethical, you must make ethical decisions in all aspects of your life. These decisions come in your relationships with other people, everyday life, and your profession.
The first step in being an ethical person is thinking. You must think about how your actions will affect the people in the world around you. Once you have thought about the possible outcomes of your actions you must stop and think. Then you must apply your thoughts and choose the action that causes the least amount of harm to others.
Ethics do not only apply to interpersonal relationships; one must also apply ethics to everyday decisions on how they live their lives. Suppose you found 100 pesos in an unmarked envelope and spent it on new clothes. While that action does not specifically hurt anyone, it may not be the ethical decision. Do you have the right to spend that money even if there is no way to give it back to its rightful owner?
For example, someone may decide that blowing up an abortion clinic is the moral and ethical thing to do in order to stop abortions. I strongly disagree with his decision on what is right. My point of view looks at that act of violence as highly unethical. The bombers world view on the other hand looks as the act as a justifiable way to stop what he believes to be an immoral act.

SAQ1-1.3

SAQ1-1.3 Case of Rona


My Judgment here, as the principle of law says "ignorance of the law excuses no one", the actions done by Rona is unethical so she is guilty. Even Rona belongs to community that no law prohibits the production or trading of intellectual property but she violates the provisions of ethics where her principles is unlawful or immoral acts.

SAQ1-1.2

SAQ1-1.2 Applied Ethics


I choose Medical Ethics:

This concerned with the professional relationship that is institutionally established between health care professionals and patients. During my research I compiled some information that might help about the applied ethics specifically in medical ethics.



Motivated Guide to the Rise of Medical Ethics - Euthanasia

•The term ‘euthanasia’ (or ‘mercy killing’) comes from the Greek word meaning ‘good death’





The History of Euthanasia



–--Greek and Roman Times
• Hippocrates vs. Stoicism
–-Christian Perspectives
• Natural Law and the Preservation of Life
–-Modern Secular Perspectives
• Utilitarianism (Bentham, Mill)
–-The Nazi Era (involuntary euthanasia)
–--Medical Advances in the 1960’s and 1970’s


Circumstances for Euthanasia

-The very young (babies born prematurely who are suffering from a variety of complications)
•-Severe trauma victims whose suffering cannot be alleviated and whose death is certain
•-The very old who have severe medical complications
•-Those who are suffering from the last stages of an incurable disease


A Paradigm Example
Albert A., a hospital patient, was dying of cancer, which had spread throughout his body. The intense pain could no longer be controlled. Every four hours he would be given a painkiller, but over many months of treatment he had built up a tolerance for the drug, until now it would relieve the pain for a few minutes each time. Albert knew that he was going to die anyway, for the cancer could not be cured. He did not want to linger in agony, so he asked his doctor to give him a lethal injection to end his life without further suffering. His family supported this request.
•-The patient would have been deliberately killed
•-The patient was going to die anyway
•-The patient was suffering terrible pain
•-The patient asked to be killed


In my observation, killing would have been an act of mercy; that is, the reason for the killing would have been to prevent further needless suffering and to provide the patient with a ‘good death’, or at least as good as it could be under the circumstances hence my ethical view reveals that this concern is not promoting the good values, correct practices and doing a right attitude to its professions. Furthermore the physician should have a certain duties to uphold in dealing the life and death situation by setting the right principles of ethics.

SAQ1-1.1

SAq1-1.1 My Three definitions of Ethics:



1. Ethics is the study of the morality of human actions.

Ethics is concern with human and intellectual action. They are judged as ethical or unethical based on standard or circumstances generally accepted by the people or the community. For example in the computer professionals, their roles are designing, developing, and maintaining computer hardware and software systems If a certain programmer discovers that a software product she has been working on is about to be released for sale to the public, even though it is unreliable because it contains "buggy" software then she "blow the whistle” here then her act is ethical although it may cause her unemployed or blacklisted.



2. Ethics is the study and philosophy of human conduct with emphasis on the determination of right or wrong.


Several sites make hundreds of thousands of public domain and shareware programs available for downloading via the Internet, including shareware.com and Filez. The following actions are illegal If a user incorporating all or part of a licensed program in a program that he sell, violating the terms of a software license, making copies of site-licensed programs for your personal use at home, giving or selling copies of commercial programs to others. Of all these violates the morality of human.



3. Ethics deals with the basic principles of right action especially with reference to a particular person, profession, and others.


You are a network administrator with access to many email accounts. The temptation to read personal email is strong. However, you know you should never read a person’s email because it violates a person’s rights to privacy, and resist the temptation, and from there you have the right action and its an ethical behavior.