What to Teach About Computer Ethics

Abstract

In the industrialized world computers are changing everything from education to health, from voting to making friends or making war. Developing countries can also fully participate in cyberspace and make use of opportunities offered by global networks. We are living a technological and informational revolution. It is therefore important for policy makers, leaders, teachers, computer professionals and all social thinkers to get involved in the social and ethical impacts of this communication technology. Computer ethics is the analysis of nature and social impact of computer technology and the corresponding formulation and justification of policies for the ethical use of technology. Ethics is a dynamic and complex field of study, which cover both social as well as personal policies for ethical use of technology. The commonly faced problem while dealing with computer ethics is the policy vacuum which means how computer technology should be used. Another difficulty in the path is the conceptual vacuum. This enhances the registration of an analysis, which facilitates a coherent conceptual framework within which one has to formulate a policy for action. This will aid the determination of programs and instances of the same program. But in the barrier of coherent conceptual framework too, policy formulation through computer technology will be tough in the growing information revolution. This paper analyzes the role of computer ethics in various fields such as, integrity, confidentiality, intellectual property, privacy property rights, policies and values with regard to the ever changing computer technology. [5]