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MODULE 1: What is Ethics


Definition of Ethics

Derived from the Greek term “ethos” which means character or custom. Its equivalent term in Roman is the word “mores”, from which words like morality, morals and moral are derived.

It is intertwined with customs and traditions believed in adopted by particular community. What is “ethical” is therefore relative to the customs applicable to a community.

e.g software piracy might be ethical in in Asia but unethical in US.

The study of the morality of human action.

Human actions are judged as ethical or unethical depending on the circumstances surrounding the same and based on certain standards generally accepted by a particular community of group of people.e.g.hacking, plagiarism, infringing IP rights

Ethics focuses on the care for the soul.
This focus of this definition is religious or spiritual. Unethical or immoral acts are those that bring sins that contaminate the human soul

An area of Philosophy that deals with man's pursuit of the “good life”.
The attainment of “good life” is predicated upon one's adherence to ethics. This is means that ethics is used as a means to reach a particular end which justifies the “good life”

The study and philosophy of human conduct with emphasis on the determination of right and wrong.
Human conduct as manifested through human actions may either be right/ethical or wrong/unethical

Ethics deals with the basic principles of right action especially with reference to a particular person or profession.
This pertains to the norms that govern human actions specifically in the practice of a profession or craft

Ethics as a concept suggests that notion of correct or incorrect practice relative to various concerns or fields of study.
This pertains to the growing need to address moral issues and unethical practices within the boundaries of various areas of study. This is also referred as applied ethics

MODULE 2

Ethics and the Law

Laws in general govern the acts of humans. In school our actions are controlled by rules enforced by school administrators

Laws can be:

Written or unwritten
Formal or informal
Rigid or flexible

e.g the New Constitution of the Philippines is an example of a Written, formal and rigid type of law
Law, in its widest and most comprehensive sense, refers to an ordering principle of rule of action that people must obey or conform to.


Laws are rule of consecution, or an order of sequence, that people cannot counter without detrimental consequences. Any deviation or departure from law is subject to punishment or condemnation.

As a rule of action, the law pertains to any regulation, precept, and measure or precedent that governs any human concern act or conduct, contract or transaction and proceedings, inclusive of their effects

Applying the above to computing, the following would be examples of rules of action:

Law on IP
Law governing freedom of expression
Statutes and laws promulgated by Congress
Pres. Decrees and Republic Acts
Code of conduct or Ethics governing professionals within a particular field or profession

Rule of Action does not lose its validity by mere violation or even by repetitive transgression.

Laxity in enforcement of non-implementation of law will not affect its efficacy and validity.

As an order of sequence, law pertains to systematic arrangement or sequencing of consecutive progression indicating uniformity of a given set of occurrences

Example of order of sequence
Computer Programming procedures
Computer Applications

There are different kinds of laws. Two general categories are jural and non-jural laws

4 Kinds of Non-jural Laws

Divine Law

Pertains to the entire system of faultlessness and perfection that God has initiated to govern the whole of creation, both living and non-living.

All other laws would fall under the divine law as it encompasses and governs not only human action but the whole universe as well

It encompasses the dogmas of religious faith that give emphasis on the reparation of sins and salvation of life.
As a rule of action, Divine law is absolute

Natural Law

Unwritten law permeating and governing nature as a rational harmony and orderly pattern of different things and events without which the latter would be reduces to chaos and disarray.

It is not merely legal law because what is legal may not be naturally just. It is likewise absolute. (Plato)

The precepts of natural law are righteousness, justice, equity and fairness. From these precepts the laws that govern in computing is derived. E.g. piracy, pornography

Moral Law

The precepts of this law include goodness, and virtuous conducts

Consists of moral norms that ascertain and dictate what sort of behavior or conduct may or may not be expressed. What sort of acts may or may be performed within a particular community.

Generally recognized as the desirable ethical norms and principles based on good and virtuous conduct that governs human actions

Example of human actions in computing that are compliant to the moral law

Respect for others privacy and Intellectual rights
Fidelity in the using information
Honestly in the sharing of information
Integrity in creating computer programs
Condemnation of computer crimes and abuses

Physical Law

Known as “Law of Nature” but sometimes confused with natural law because on their correlation with ordering sequences and uniformities of distinct things and occurrences that are relied upon as being constant and regular

Characterized by regularity and imperativeness. Regular because once it becomes operative, its efficacy remains constant and unbreakable. Imperative because it is permanent and unchangeable.

Without constancy, regularity, uniformity and imperativeness, an occurrence or corporeal phenomena cannot be regarded as physical law of a law of nature

MODULE 3

Preliminary Theories

Ethical Relativism

· espouses the idea that each moral situation is unique and that no absolute universal truths apply

· moral situations are incomparable with others due to individual differences brought about by: cultural heritage, varied religious affiliations, different prevailing social norms and distinct individual preferences

· Ethical Relativism may be understood through Richard Burton's lines:

There is no good, there is no bad
these be the whims of mortal will;
What makes me weal what call I good
What harms and hurts I hold as ill.
They change with space of time,
Each vice has worn a virtue's crown.
All good been banned as sin or crime.

· The above reiterates the idea that what we desire and consider good vary from time to time, from one social group to another.

· Relativism subscribes and principle “what may be morally right for you may not be morally right for another

o e.g. It is a fact in the Phils. that there is very high computer literacy rate and therefore there is a high demand software and programs but the low income level of filipinos do not support that we can afford to buy licensed softwares. This explains why pirated or unlicensed copies of software are so in demand and that it proliferation has become popular, ordinary and socially acceptable.

· John Dewey asserted that human beings should be judge and be judged in the context of the complexities that characterize human life. This implies that you may have examine each ethical situation as a particular case rather thaan as a general one.

Ethical Absolutism

· Asserts that there should be fixed or rigid factors in evaluating actions. Fixed factors are universal, constant and there unchanging reasons for judging action as good or bad, right or wrong, just or unjust, among others.

· Absolutism simply argues that one must follow a consistent ethical standard, one that universal in nature. What is considers bad in one sense cannot be good in another.

· All actions must be black or white and never gray, at any given time.

Ethical Egoism, and Ethical Altruism

· According to Thomas Hobbes, what predisposed us to act in a certain way is determined by whether it is an object of aversion or object of desire.

o Objects of desires and those that motivate one to pursue

o Objects of aversion are those that motivate on to avoid.

· objects and actions have no intrinsic value rather the assessment of their moral value hinges on how they are categorized. Objects of desire are labeled good while object of aversion are considered evil

· Hobbes depicted human being as being completely and exclusively egoistic. They are preoccupied solely with seeking the satisfaction or pleasure that are considered morally good.

o e.g. K fabricated stories about how P's program loopholes that would somehow create security problems on the intranet. Because of what K did, P was demoted to a lesser position. From the given situation what possibly prevented K from doing what she did might be: from an egoist point of view: his fear that sooner people will discovered that his stories are lies and she will be penalized, she will put high regard of himself and wants to project himself as a law abiding citizen. Both options point to K's interest

Altruism is the desire to promote the good and welfare of others.

· Egoist believe that pure altruism merely mask self-interest.

· According of Moritz Schlick, people have the tendency to lie about their motives in doing certain things

· He believe that “the cult of altruism is merely a particular form of egoism that regularly appears under certain psychological circumstances

· Various thinker have tried to debunk the egoists' theory and contend that altruism is feasible and realistic. Each one of us has a sense of fairness that rouses us to rationalize our selfish actions

· They contend that we would not have inventions such as computers if everyone in the world are egoistic

· Human instinct usually shadow our egoistic side, and rationality shadow our altruistic side

MODULE 4

Finalist Theories

Utilitarianism

- John Stuart Mill believe those actions that bring happiness are considered morally right while those actions that inhibit happiness are considered morally wrong.
- popularly known as the greatest happiness principle
- Actions are either inherently pleasurable or merely instrumental – that is things may be valued for their own sake(inherent value) or because they are instrumental in attaining an end(instrumental value)
- It considers the results or consequences of a particular action in determining whether or not the said action is right or wrong.


Categorical Imperatives


- Immanuel Kant's concept of what is good per se does not need qualification

- An act is good not because of certain consequences that occur in its performance, or on the basis of its end-result, but because of the "will" that accompanies the act.

-The "will" when employed with traits that many treats as good and desirable (such as courage, resoluteness, perseverance) may turn negative and harmful when in itself "will" is not good.

- "Good Will" therefore corrects the mind and protects it from the repelling influences of arrogance and pride. Will is the competence to discern and decide whether to obey certain laws with the use of reason or rationality. This formulation of command of reason is called imperative - a means towards understanding an objective principle in so far as it is mandatory for the will.

- Kant introduced the concept of "duty" to exemplify good will. Duty comprises the notion of what is good with certain limitations and impediments.

- Kant presented 3 prepositions of morality related to duty

• - To have moral worth, an action must be done out of duty

e.g. Kara takes care of his computer because it is her duty to do as its owner. She does not think about why she should do so. She only wills the performance of her said duty.

• An action done from duty does not have its moral worth in the purpose, which is to achieved through it, but in the maxim by which it is determined. This means that the purpose or end for which an action is done has nothing to do the moral worth but the on the principle of the will that can be fulfilled through the performance of said action

• Duty is the necessity of an action done from respect for the law. To duty every other motive must give place, because duty is the condition of a will good in itself, whose worth transcends everything

e.g. The following does not qualify the concept of duty Chito buys genuine and branded software not because he wills it but because he is acting in compliance with the law against piracy.

- Imperatives as stated above are either hypothetical or categorical.
- hypothetical imperative - commands an action that is meant to be good merely as means to something else - meaning an action is good for some purpose and therefore conditional

e.g. a CS student is advised to become familiar with computer languages, since the computer although user-friendly, would operate only upon the user's command, the act of learning by heart therefore computer language and its application is an imperative to attaiiin a particular end - that is familiarization of computer operations

- Categorical imperative commands an action that is good in itself - meaning necessary without regard for any purpose or any end other than itself. This is also known as the imperatives of morality

e.g. Love one another is good in itself and does not need any purpose



Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

- referred to as "Virtue Ethics,"
- Aristotle observed that the different ends of human beings can be classified into three: instrumental, final, and supreme.
- He argued that there are ends that are used only as means for attaining other ends. This means they are not pursued for themselves or for their own sake; rather, they are utilized as instruments for other end. In computing, the design and creation of programs are the ends (or goals) of computer programmers. Once & particular program is completed, it ceases to be an end and becomes a means towards attaining another end

e.g. Paula is a newly graduated computer programmer. Luckily, she was able to get employment in a computer service provider. As a young professional, Paula is full of energy and dreams. One of her fantasies is to be able to design and create a -unique marketing program for a client. Paula devotedly and patiently executes her design into a program. After several months of hard work, Jeanne Paula finally completes the program. When, tested, the marketing program is approved and is considered a big success.

- Ends that are described as final those pursued for their own sake but conditionally final. This means, there are same circumstances when they become subservient to other ends. This happens when a "more comprehensive end" has to be taken into account

- Aristotle claimed that it is the reason why some final ends are embraced or abandoned. Furthermore, it the supreme end that is unconditionally final end that gives "purpose" and '"direction" to our lives.

- Aristotle's account of happiness is quite different from the usual conception of happiness. While some people would identify bodily pleasures like food, drink and
sex, among others, as the defining factor of happiness, he insisted that it should instead be understood in terms of man's distinctive function. Since man is the only being endowed with rationality, then if follows that reason is what separates him from other beings.

- Since computing is a human action, it follows that the norms or standards of morality apply to it. Moral ideals such as righteousness, fairness, goodness, and justice apply in the evaluation of computing as a human action. Actions that do not infringe the intellectual creations of others, decency, honesty and integrity in the use of computer and its applications, among others, are the computer users' means towards attaining the "good life,"

- According to Virtue Ethics, there are types of virtues: moral virtue and intellectual virtue both are identified as the activities not of the body but the soul

- Moral virtue is also known as the virtue of character include generosity and temperance
- Intellectual virtue or virtue of thought include wisdom, comprehension, and intelligence

- The soul as mentioned comprised of rational and irrational parts. The rational component directs us to what is right; the irrational element is that which is natural opposed reason.

-The irrational Part is further subdivided into two: the nutritive and appetitive component. Nutrition and growth are not in reason's nature to control. The appetitive component includes the desiring elements which in a sense share in a rational principle. This only means that this component has the tendency to obey and listen to reason. It is reason that directs the desires and appetites to what is best. That is the mean between two extremes.

- the "mean" according Aristotle, is highly relative to the variables surrounding a particular moral situation the require careful discernment and sensitivity to what reason will dictate

- Aristotle added that moral virtues can be developed through the repeated exercise of the acts that strike the "mean". This emphasize that it is not enough that the moral agent can discern what is right. This will not make any sense if not acted out.

- More precisely; it is in the repeated performance of rational activities over time that makes virtuous character.

- Virtue of character then is

• (a) a state that decides;
• (b) consisting in a mean;
• (c) the mean relative to us;
• (d) which is defined by reference to reason;

- Aristotle also enumerated some requisite characteristics that must describe a morally virtuous agent:

• (1) The agent must act in full consciousness of what he is doing;
• (2) The must will his action and pursue it for its own sake;
• (3) The act must proceed from a fixed and unchangeable disposition. (Irwin)

- It is through virtues of thought that the human being is able to grasp, deliberate, and discern the first principles and the truths concerning the particulars and the universals. As a result every excellent decision presupposes an excellent reason. Decision is to the character while deliberation and thought are to the intellect. (White)

Module 5 - Moral Problems

The study of ethics is the study of moral problems. There are 4 considered moral problems relevant of computing

Problem of Moral Principle
- Humans search for a guiding method, standard or principle that can employ in making good decision and right choices in pursuit of good life. However, looking at the various theories previously discussed, there is not standard or moral principle that defines good decisions, right choices and moral action

Problem of the scope of Morality
- A moral principle should serve as a guide for making moral choices. However, there is difficulty on how individuals determine which among their choices are moral and which are not. The problem of scope of morality deals with the identifying what it includes and what it excludes

Problem of Moral Obligation
- Individuals act in accordance with the dictates of society. Conflict arises when what an individual wants to do is the reverse of what he/she ought to do as a member of the society. In this case, the problem is one conflicting moral obligations to oneself and to the society at large

Problem of Freedom
- Freedom determines whether there is morality or not. When humans are free, then there is no morality, if there are restrictions or no freedom then there must be morality. When we are free, every action we act is a unique expression of our self, and no action is moral or immoral, right or wrong, good or bad. When we are no free, this means that there exists a recognition of the rights of others, there will always be s set of criteria or standards of morality on which our action shall be based. This problem reflects the saying: "Your rights end at the tip of my nose"

Module 6 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 other people’s 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 use or copy software for which you have not paid.

7. Thou shalt not use other people’s computer resources without authorization.

8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people’s intellectual output.

9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you write.

10. Thou shalt use a computer in ways that show consideration and respect.

Module 7

Computer Hoax Categories

Malicious Code (Virus and Trojan ) Warnings

Warnings about Trojans, viruses, and other malicious code that has no basis in fact. The Good Times and other similar warnings are here.

Urban Myths
Warnings and stories about bad things happening to people and animals that never really happened. These are the poodle in the microwave and needles in movie theater seats variety. Give Aways Stories about give aways by large companies. If you only send this on, some big company will send you a lot of money, clothes, a free vacation, etc., etc. Expect to wait a long time for any of these to pay off.

Inconsequential Warnings
Out of date warnings and warnings about real things that are not really much of a problem.

Sympathy Letters and Requests to Help Someone
Requests for help or sympathy for someone who has had a problem or accident.

Traditional Chain Letters
Traditional chain letters that threaten bad luck if you do not send them on or that request youto send money to the top n people on the list before sending it on.

Threat Chains
Mail that threatens to hurt you, your computer, or someone else if you do not pass on the message.

Scam Chains
Mail messages that appear to be from a legitimate company but that are scams and cons.

Scare Chains
Mail messages that warn you about terrible things that happen to people (especially women).

True Legends

Real stories and messages that are not hoaxes but are still making the rounds of the Internet. Hacked History

Hacker's Code of Ethics

1. Do not intentionally damage any system.
2. Do not alter any system files other than ones needed to ensure your escape from detection and your future access.
3. Do not leave your (or anyone else's) real name, real handle, or real phone number on any system that you access illegally.
4. Be careful who you share information with.
5. Do not leave your real phone number with anyone you do not know.
6. Do not hack government computers.
7. Don't use codes unless there is no way around it. If you use codes long enough, you will get caught.
8. Be paranoid. Remember, you are breaking the law.
9. Watch what you post on boards.
10. Don't be afraid to ask questions. That's what more experienced hackers are for.
11. Finally, you have to actually hack.

Module 7 Computer Abuses

Ethics deals with placing a value on acts according to whether they are good or bad. Ethics involves standards; values, morals, principles, and the like which are used as basis for one's decisions or actions. Often there no clear good or bad action.

When computers first began to be used, there were no ethical standards relevant it. However, as the use of computers became widespread, computer ethics became a concern. Today, most of the rules on the ethical use of computers have already been formulated as laws such as E-commerce law to curb down computer crimes and fraud.

Major Classification of Computer Abuses

Denial of Service
A denial of-service attack is characterized by an explicit attempt by at­tackers to prevent or bar legitimate users of computers from availing them­selves of computer services. Examples of denial-of-service attacks are:
attempts to "flood" a network, thereby preventing legitimate network traffic attempts to disrupt connections between two machines, thereby pre­venting access to a service attempts to prevent a particular individual from accessing a service attempts to disrupt service to a specific system or person
Denial-of-service attacks come in a variety of forms and aim at a variety of services. There are three basic types of attack:
1. consumption of scarce, limited, or non-renewable resources;
2. destruction or alteration of configuration information
3. physical destruction or alteration of network component

Consumption of scarce, limited, or non-renewable resources:

Consumption of scarce resources targets network connectivity. The goal is to prevent hosts (or network servers) from communicating on the net­work. In this type of attack, the attacker begins the process of establishing a connection to the victim machine, but does it in such a way as to pre­vent the ultimate completion of the connection. In the meantime, the vic­tim machine has reserved one of a limited number of data structures required to complete the impending connection. The result is that legiti­mate connections are denied while the victim machine is waiting to com­plete bogus "half-open" connections.
In bandwidth consumption, an intruder may also be able to consume all of the available bandwidth on your network by generating a large num­ber of packets directed to your network. Typically, these packets are ICMP ECHO packets, but in principle they may be anything. Further, the in­truder need not be operating from a single machine; he may be able to coordinate or co-opt several machines on different networks to achieve the same effect. An intruder may consume other resources that your systems need in order to operate, For example, in many systems; a limited number of data structures are available to hold process information. An intruder may be able to consume these data structures by writing a simple program or script that does nothing but repeatedly create copies of itself, Many modern operating systems have quote facilities to protect against this problem, but not all operating systems do. Moreover, even if the process table is not filled, the CPU may be consumed by a large number of pro­cesses and the associated time spent switching between processes. An intruder may attempt to consume disk space in other ways, including generating excessive numbers of mail messages, intentionally generating errors that must be logged, and placing files in anonymous ftp areas or network shares.

Alteration of configuration information

An improperly configured computer may not perform well or may not operate at all. An intruder may be able to alter or destroy configuration information that prevents you from using your computer or network. For example, if an intruder can change the muting information in your routers, your network may be disabled. If an intruder is able to modify the registry on a Windows NT machine, certain functions may be unavail­able.

Physical destruction or alteration of network components

The primary concern in this type of attack is physical security. You should guard against unauthorized access of com­puters, routers, network wiring closets, network backbone segments, power and cooling stations, and any other critical components of your network. Physical security is a prime component in guarding against many types of attacks

Hacking

Hacking involves unauthorized access to a computer, its files, and pro­grams, There are many reasons why hackers hack computers.

1. Theft of service, meaning, if a system offers some type of service and a hacker has a use far it, he/she will hack the system. For example, a hacker can hack into a system to use The CPU for free or to use it for sending emails for free.

2. Hacking is to take valuable files, such as credit card numbers and list of customers, The hacker may sell the informa­tion gathered to rival companies.

3. Vengeance and hatred. For example, a hacker may get into the homepage of the university that kicked him out and deface the homepage.

4. Some hackers break into systems for the thrill and excitement because somewhere they are not authorized to be.

5. For the sake of knowledge and ex­perimentation. Hackers learn a great deal every time they break into a new type of system.

Flaming

Flaming is the sending of abusive email or messages to other people or newsgroups. You flame people when you disrespect their opinion and attack them personally, calling them names or questioning their parent­age. Flaming is considered poor online conduct and is not tolerated well in chat rooms or newsgroups. Other people in the chat room or newsgroup can quickly turn on individuals who flame. It is best to practice good online conduct and avoid getting into personal confrontations with other people.

Spamming

Spam, sometimes called unsolicited commercial email, is the internet version of junk mail. It is an attempt to deliver a message over the Internet to someone who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Almost all spam is commercial advertising. Scanning Usenet creates potential target lists postings, stealing Internet mailing lists, or searching the web for addresses. Automated searches are used to retrieve e-mail addresses for spamming. The low cost of e-mail spamming engines offered for sale with millions of email addresses, coupled with the fact that the sender does not pay extra to send email, has resulted in the explosive growth of junk email. Cur­rently, unless the spammer offers to sell illegal items, there is no legal way of putting a stop to e-mail spammers. Many Internet Service Providers now have policies on spamming, includ­ing disabling the offender's account. In some countries, spamming is con­sidered illegal.

Worm and Virus


A virus is a program that reproduces its own code by attaching itself to other executable files in such a way that the viruses code is executed when the infected executable file is executed. A virus reproduces usually with­out your permission or knowledge. In general terms a virus has an infec­tion phase during which it reproduces widely, and an attack phase dur­ing which it does whatever damage it is programmed to do (if any).

A worm is a self-replicating program designed to spread across a net­work without requiring any outside actions to take place. The main dif­ference between a worm and a virus is that a virus relies on human actions, such as sending e-mail or sharing files, to copy itself from one computer to another, whereas a worm is able to do so independently, allowing it to spread much faster.

Internet Hoax

Among the junk mail and spam that fill our e-mail boxes are dire warn­ings about devastating new viruses, Trojans that eat the heart out of your system, and malicious software that will destroy everything you have in your hard disk. There are also messages about free money, children in trouble, and other items designed to grab you and get you to forward the message to everyone you know. These messages are hoaxes or chain let­ters. While hoaxes do not automatically infect systems like a virus or Tro­jan, they are time consuming and costly to remove from all the systems where they exist.

Internet Flaming and Hoax Example

The foregoing mail is a hoax and inciting racial Cy-war- an example to flaming

To: memargonz@yahoo.com
Subject: Filipinos.....*make me puke* (Art Bell)
As we've all come to notice, in the past few decades, Filipinos have begun to infest the United States like some sort of disease. Their extensive involvement in the U.S. Armed Forces is proof of the trashy kind of qualities all Filipinos tend to exhibit on a regular basis.

You can see this clearly by studying the attitudes and cultural Icons of most Filipino Americans. Origins of Pinoys / Pinays: Are they really Asian? Well we've come to accept the fact the Filipinos come from a part of the world known as South East Asia. But the term "Asia" is used in the wrong way. You may notice that contemporary Filipino Americans try very hard to associate themselves with groups that we know as Asian. I cannot count the number of times I have seen a 'Third World' Filipino try to connect themselves to the Chinese or Japanese people. There is no connection and here's why.

The Philippines is a Third World country. Nothing respectable has EVER been created by Filipino people during our entire human history. Young Filipino men in America have become obsessed with "import racing”. They have an enormously perverted affection for Japanese cars. It's a common phenomenon. In their minds, these Filipinos somehow believe that they are Asian and that it somehow connects them to Japanese people and Japanese cars. They often take credit for the ingenuity of Japanese people and say how it's an "Asian thing".

This term..."Asian thing" derived directly from African American slang "black thang". "It's a black thang." "It's an Asian thang." You can see the connection. It's even funnier that, in Japan, Filipinos are heavily discriminated against. The only Filipinos that can live successfully in Japan are the Filipino prostitutes. But that's the case for most Filipino people no matter where they live in the world .Now we've come down to this fact...and it is a fact. Nothing in Filipino Culture can be seen as Asian.

They have no architectural, artistic, or cultural influence which is in ANY way, Asian Thinking of the great countries in Asia such as Japan, Korea, and China there is no way you can possibly connect the Philippine Islands.

This assault by Filipino Americans to connect themselves with the great peoples of North East Asia is foul and disgusting. Try visiting a young Filipino’s web site too. You'll see something called the "Asian IRC Ring". It has to do with the chat rooms. The most horrible thing about this is that these TRASHY people are trying to associate themselves with Asia again!!

People in Asia don't act like this at all. What we are seeing here is the natural Filipino in it's element with full access to technology and this is how they act! You will consistently see this behavior over and over again. Another interesting thing is that these "third world" people also frequent IRC chat rooms such as #Chinese #Japan and #Asian. They must believe that they are some how related racially or culturally to North Asians. But it's completely WRONG! There might have been some distant contact with China and even less with Japan during World War II, but these people are actually more closely related to African Americans and Mexican Americans. Do the parents of these young Filipinos know what's going on? Would they accept this? I believe that they would and do. This is the natural "Trash" element in Filipinos manifesting itself.

Nothing good has ever come from Philippines and I don't believe anything good ever will.

Recognizing your Roots (A Message to Filipinos).
To all Filipino people:

Please recognize your ROOTS!

You come from the Third World! You country is a disgusting and filthy place. Most people there live in poverty! Your culture has MUCH MORE SPANISH influence than Chinese, and absolutely no JAPANESE influence whatsoever. People in Japan and China, do not act like you. They do not constantly talk about sex and they have a MUCH HIGHER level of RESPECT for each other.

There is NO WAY that you can connect yourself to Asia other than location.

Your culture and technological advancement does not even come CLOSE to what Chinese, people have done in the past and what Japanese and Korean people are doing now!

Everything you do is distinctly Filipino. You cannot take credit for Japanese cars, video games, or Hentai! It's not an "Asian thing" it's, an "American thing".

You have no concept of culture.. No concept of Asian ideas or Asian philosophy! Can you demonstrate how you use Confucianism or Taoism in you everyday, life?? You can't. And you will NEVER be able to. I understand that you are trying to create an identity for yourselves as young people... but it is NOT related to Asia. Your Identity is Filipino.

That's all you are.

Just Filipino. Think about what that means....

Sincerely,
Art

Sources:
http://www.awsp.com/spamming.html http://w3f.com/no-spam.html
The WWWeb Factor John R. Beaman

Module 8 - Privacy Issues

Database Privacy

The information you supply to databases should be used only for their intended purpose. Such information should not be distributed openly. For example, it is unethical for a bank to sell client account information to other banks.

Email Privacy

Only you and the intended recipients, and nobody else, should read what you write in your emails. It is therefore unethical for system administra­tors who have access to your account to read your mail sent folders and mailboxes.

Privacy on the Web

Ideally, only you should know the websites you visited. However, be­cause of access logs, the websites you visit may be known especially to system administrators who have access to these logs.

An issue related to privacy is the establishment of a national identifica­tion system. National ID cards have long been advocated as a means to enhance national security, unmask potential terrorists, and guard against illegal immigrants. They are in use in many countries around the world, including most European countries, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.

One basic issue against its institution in every country is the privacy issue since the card might contain basic personal information of individuals that will also be maintained in some central computer of the government. Countries opposing its institution are arguing that it is open to abuse by governments. But with the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 in the US, most governments are again opening the debate on the possibility of introducing a national identification system.

In this case we see that a national identification system is considered ethi­cal in some countries and unethical in other countries.

Finally, there are many ways exist to enhance your privacy online. One method is the use of encryption in every transaction you make in the Internet.

Module 9 - Social Justice Issues

According to Justice Jose P. Laurel

Social justice is neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy, but the humanization of laws and the organization of social and economic forces by the State so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated. Social justice means the promotion of the welfare of the people, the adoption by the government of measures calculated to insure economic stability of all the elements of society, through the maintenance of a proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the community, constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extra-constitutionally through the exercise of powers underlying the existence of all governments on the time-honored principle of salus populi est suprema lex. (from the case Calalang vs. William; reference: p. 335, Political Law Reviewer, first edition, Judge Ed Vincent V. Albano)

Social justice is concerned with the promotion of the welfare of the people. This is further reinforced by the Latin maxim, "salus populi est suprema lex," which means that the welfare of the people is the supreme law. In upholding this constitutional dictum, the government as "parent of the people" must maintain proper economic and social stability that would ensure the promotion of the people's welfare.

In computing, social justice would pertain to the promotion of the welfare of computer users and professionals. More specifically, social justice in computing is primarily concerned with equity of access. Digital divide is the term used for "the division of the world into people who have access to ICTs [information and communication technologies, including computers] and those who do not have access to these technologies."

(Soriano, 2003, p. 23) To quote Soriano further: A digital divide can exist between urban dwellers and rural folk, between the educated and the uneducated, between socio-economic classes, between ethnic groups, between men and women. The digital divide also exists between countries and geographical regions. Specifically, in terms of Internet backbones, the US, Canada and European countries are well connected whereas Asia, the Pacific region, Latin America and the Caribbean still have to improve their Internet backbones.

The discussion that follows is taken from Soriano's Nets, Webs and the Information Infrastructure, one of a series of primers on the Information Economy, Society and Polity published in May 2003 by the e-ASEAN Task Force and the United Nations Development Program Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP).

Are women more disadvantaged in the Information Age?

In a research paper titled "Gender, Information Technology, and Developing Countries: An Analytic Study," Nancy Hafkin and Nancy Taggart argue that "Women within developing countries are in the deepest part of the (digital) divide, further removed from the information age than are the men whose poverty they share." Among the obstacles cited to greater women's access to ICTs are literacy and education, language, time, geographical location, and social and cultural norms. Literacy and education are prerequisites in the use of information technologies. However, especially in the developing countries, girls and women are less likely than men to earn the basic education needed to use information technologies. Similarly, women and other marginalized groups are less likely to learn an international language such as English, which limits them to resources written in their native tongue.

Internet Access for those with physical disabilities

Korea is a leader in the effort to build an information environment that encourages persons with disabilities. In December 2000, Korea passed the "Digital Divide Law" to help ensure universal, unlimited access to the telecommunications networks and use of the telecommunications services for low-income earners, rural residents, the disables, the ages, women, etc. who have difficulties in accessing or using the telecommunications services for economic, regional, physical or social reasons... [To] improve the quality of living for these people and thereby contributes to the balances growth of the national economy."

The law set accessibility guidelines for telecommunications services to help the poor. Other provisions would subsidize PC purchases of poor and disabled people; support the development of access technologies for the disabled; and support information providers for the disabled, the elderly, the poor, and the fishing and farming industry.

Are people unable to access the Net because of language?


The digital divide is seen in the languages used on the internet. English is the dominant language used on the internet: 68% of the Web content is written in English and 40.2% of internet users access the Internet in English. But non-English speaking users outnumber English-speaking users of the Internet. The most widely spoken language worldwide is Chinese, with more than 1.2billion speakers (as of 2000). But only 3.9% of Internet users access the internet in Chinese.

Japanese is only the tenth most widely spoken language (126 million people) but Japanese is the second most important language (in terms of content) on the Web. Hindi, Arabic Bengali and Malay are all in the top 9 most widely spoken languages but these languages do not have significant share of web content.

Are the foregoing ethical issues? Opinions will differ. What is clear is that they are development issues. As Soriano asserts, because computers and the Internet are “the enabling technologies in the Information Age, the digital divide is an important concern of the 21 century.”

Other social justice issues relevant in computing

Electronic Monitoring is the system for tracking employee activities in the office. For example, in some software development companies, the user account of their programmers are logged to trace what they have done while in the office. The question is, is this ethical? In come countries this is considered as ethical and legal. In others, however, it is considered unethical and illegal

Repetitive Strain injuries are almost synonymous to back injuries. It is injury you get if you continuously sit in front of your computer during office hours. The issue is whether you are entitled to compensation for this.

Electromagnetic Radiation is a old issue. There is belief that radiation emitted by computer monitors is harmful health. But this has not been proven medically yet.

Occupational Hazards - These are issues in the workplace such as sickness acquired at work is compensable under the law. Hence if a clerk succumbs to an illness that is proven to have been acquired because of prolonged exposure to computer and photocopying machines, she will be compensated.

Module 10 - Free Speech Issues

This module deals with specific issue in the following categories:

a. Pornography
b. Hate speech
c. Extreme/Political views
d. Internet filters

The freedom if expression is one of the constitutional rights guaranteed by the supreme law of the land. Hence, it is constantly advocated by those who do not want to be subjected to restrictions in their expression or articulation of their thoughts

Pornography / Cyberporn
- Advocates of pornography in the internet invoke their freedom of speech and expression. Pornography on the other hand threatens families everywhere, especially children. Which should take precedence? At this point you might wish to refer back to the ethical standpoints presented previously. One standpoint is that the exercise of individual rights is not boundless. One should be responsible enough to realize that one's acts are subject to certain ethical norms that forbid abuse and misuse. The question of whether pornography is harmful is one main motivator for censorship of the Internet in regards to cyber-porn. In using the word 'harmful', it is understood that this is not necessarily physical damage but more of a mental harm to moral, religions, and ethical values. (Censored By: J-Sin).

Hate Speech
Still the issue of free speech, is it all right to publish hate and libelous speeches against Islamic fundamentalist and disseminate these over the internet? Is it Ok to write hate speeches against a certain person and then post this on the internet? Is it moral to set up web sites exclusively for hate materials, racist or propaganda? Again these issues must be resolved and determined on the basis of whether they fall under computer ethics. Hate speeches will vary in genre such as: hate against Islamic fundamentalists, against homosexuality, against religious order and the like.

Extreme/Political Views
The proliferation of the site with violent contents such as beheading videos, bizarre and voyeuristic images posted freely on the net poses a great threat on society’s general welfare particularly the young. In a journal report by Russell, Sabin - San Francisco Chronicles, A significant number of visitors accessed freely the video of E. Armstrong’s beheading. What is frightening here is that nobody had any idea about the profiles of these individuals who accessed these violent sites. Nobody knew if such sites were accessed by minors particularly children who, at their very young age would definitely have difficulties comprehending the horror of such reality. The report also added that such traumatic experience triggers a terrible reenactment of the worst moments of one’s life. It is an experience the lurks into the subconscious mind more especially in children who might have the natural tendency to perceive violent real-life incidents such beheading and human being in cold blood as normal and tolerable act. Again this are issue that still hanging in vague whether not freedom of expression such as these falls under the reign of computer ethics

Internet Filters
Some network employ the use of internet filters to block access to sites considered pornographic, for example. Some people consider this as censorship. Is it ethical for moralists to cause the blocking of access to sites that they consider as indecent and destructive?

The US passed in December 2000 the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) that requires all schools and libraries receiving-rate discounts or other federal assistance for Internet access to install filters on all computers used by adults as well as minors. The Clinton administration encouraged filtering as a response to the Supreme Court's 1997 decision striking down the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which is an attempt to block minors form Internet pornography, criminalized virtually all "indecent" or "patently offensive" communications online.

Addressing the digital divide

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was held in two phases, with participation of 175 countries. The first phase took place in Geneva hosted by the Government of Switzerland from 10 to 12 December 2003, and the second phase took place in Tunis hosted by the Government of Tunisia, from 16 to 18 November 2005.

The link below presents the Plan of Action that would address the digital divide in ICT on the worldwide scale

http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs/geneva/official/poa.html

Module 11 - Intellectual Property Rights

Most countries, including the Philippines, enforce laws that penalize copying or imitation of inventions, identifying symbols/ and creative expressions. These laws encompass four separate and distinct types of intangible property, namely, patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, which collectively are referred to as "intellectual property". Intellectual property shares many of the characteristics associated with real and personal property. For example, intellectual property is an asset, and as such it can be bought, sold, licensed, exchanged, or gratuitously given away like any other form of property. Furthermore, the intellectual property owner has the right to prevent the unauthorized use or sale of the property. The most noticeable difference between intellectual property and other forms of property, however, is that intellectual property is intangible; that is, it cannot be defined or identified by physical parameters.

In computing, an algorithm can be patented (like the Rivest, Shamir and Adelman Algorithm for Encryption and Digital Signatures); a program or an online textbook is copyrightable; and domain names could be considered trademarks.

Software piracy

Software piracy is the act of using software without paying the appropriate license. Doing this is the same as stealing from the software developer. The ethical implication is of course is quite obvious: since stealing is bad, piracy is also bad.

Software is one of the most valuable technologies of the Information Age, running everything from personal computers to the Internet. Unfortunately, because software is so valuable, and because computers make it easy to create an exact copy of a program in seconds, software piracy is widespread. It involves individual computer users as well as professionals who deal wholesale in stolen software; it exists in homes, schools, businesses, and government. Software pirates not only steal from the companies that make the software; their acts also redound to less money for research and development of new software. Thus, all users are hurt by software piracy.

There are several types of software piracy. Three of them are as follows:

1. End user piracy — Using multiple copies of a single software package on several different systems or distributing copies of software to others.

2. Reseller piracy — Reseller piracy occurs when an unscrupulous reseller distributes multiple copies of a single software package to different customers; this includes preloading systems with software without providing original manuals and diskettes. Reseller piracy also occurs when resellers knowingly sell counterfeit versions of software to unsuspecting customers. Indications of reseller piracy are multiple users with the same serial number, lack of original documentation or an incomplete set, and non-matching documentation.

3. BBS/Internet piracy — BBS/ Internet piracy occurs when there is an electronic transfer of copyrighted software. That is, system operators and/or users upload or download copyrighted software and materials onto or from bulletin boards or the Internet for others to copy and
use without the proper license.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a difficult concept to define. Considered a form of fraud and/or theft, plagiarism occurs anytime that a person copies any written work and claims it as his/her own. It includes a range of actions from failure to use proper citation to wholesale cheating. A student who plagiarizes may do so unintentionally or with deliberation. With the advent of the Internet, plagiarism has become rampant. The most common type of plagiarism is the cut-and-paste plagiarism. When preparing a term paper, for example, a student could simply copy from the Internet text relevant to his topic. The worst type of plagiarism is when the student simply downloads a term paper from the Internet and submit this as her own. There are many sites in the Internet where term papers are downloadable for free.

Software and Copyright Law of the US

For us to understand what is copyrightable in a software, let us consider several cases in the US that deals with software and copyright law.

The first case is the Whelan vs. Jaslow case. In 1985, Jaslow Dental Laboratory sued Whelan Associates, Inc. on the ground that Whelan's Dentcom program infringed Jaslow's copyright on its Dentalab program even though both were written using different programming languages. The court ruled in favor of Jaslow on the basis of the argument that the structure (sequence and organization) of a computer program is protectable by copyright. The court found that the coding part is a comparatively small part of programming and that Ms. Whelan spent a tremendous amount of time studying Jaslow's Dentalab program. The court's verdict on this case tells us that copyright protection of programs may extend beyond the code to their structure, sequence, and organization.

The second case is Computer Associates vs. Altai. The court decided that Altai's program did not infringe a program by Computer Associates. The first version of Altai's program had been written by an ex-programmer of Computer Associates who, unknown to Altai, copied 30% of the code from a similar program of Computer Associates. Discovering this, Altai then wrote a second version, using programmers not familiar with the Computer Associates program. Computer Associates nonetheless argued that Altai had copied the structure of the program. The court in this case concluded that the decision in Whelan vs. Jaslow was based on a somewhat outdated appreciation of computer science. This case therefore went against the idea that program structure, sequence, and organization are copyrightable.

The third case is Apple vs. Microsoft. In 1989, Apple sued Microsoft and HP, claiming that the Windows graphical user interface (Windows 2.03 and HP's New Wave) infringed Apple's copyright on the look and feel of the Macintosh deskstop. Apple lost the case. The court had to decide whether the two GUI presentations were virtually identical. Apple argued substantial similarity.

Finally, a related case is the Lotus look and feel suit. At issue was whether the menu structure or the arrangement of commands in the menu hierarchy in Lotus 1-2-3 is copyrightable. Lotus sued Paperback Software and Mosaic Software, which had produced spreadsheets that had the same interface as 1-2-3. There was no copying of code, but Lotus claimed that copying the interface itself constituted copyright infringement. Lotus won the case and Paperback and Mosaic went out of business.

Lotus then sued Borland over Quattro. Even though Quattro's user interface is different from Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro followed the Lotus menu hierarchy and Lotus accused Quattro of copyright infringement. Lotus won at the District court, but Borland appealed and won in the US First Circuit court. This case was elevated to the US Supreme Court, but the highest court was split and thus no decision was made on this case.

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digital divide for the Disabled

Monday, December 5, 2005 - CNN reports

Technology helping blind, deaf enjoy movies

Module 12 - Computer Crimes

When a country institutes laws against computer abuses, a computer abuse becomes a computer crime. Not all abuses, however, constitute a crime. For example, consider a hacker who breaks into someone's computer system without permission. If the hacker steals confidential data from the system, this is considered a crime in some countries. A hacker who simply gets into the system to explore it—that is, to see how it works and what files it contains, may have breached privacy but has not necessarily committed a crime. Both acts, however, are unethical. Below we show actual examples of computer crimes. These cases happened in the US where computer crime laws are well established.At the end of this module, it is expected that you will be able to determine when a computer abuse counts as a computer crime.

Credit Card Fraud

A person in the US was sentenced to a term of 27 months in prison after being found guilty of defrauding Priceline.com and others with credit card information unlawfully obtained from a credit union employee. The person was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $116,869.30 and serve a three-year term of supervised release following his incarceration.
On March 1, 2002, the person pled guilty to three felony counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy to obtain unauthorized computer access to customer account information from a financial institution, and credit card fraud. He admitted to masterminding a scheme to defraud Priceline.com, Southwest Airlines, the Hotel Reservations Network, Inc., a credit union, and the credit union's credit card holders, by making fraudulent Internet credit card charges for hotel and airline reservations, totaling more than $116,000. He obtained the confidential customer account and credit card information from a credit union employee, who was subsequently terminated and convicted. He then used the credit card information to make hotel and airline reservations on the Internet and telephone. Most of the reservations were made with Priceline.com, Southwest Airlines, and the Hotel Reservations Network, Inc.After making a reservation with the credit card information, he would enlist another person to check into the hotel room using the reservation and credit card information he supplied, and to return the hotel room keys to him. He then obtained full use of the hotel rooms.[U.S. v, Luckey (E.D. Cal.) May 17, 2002]

Creating a Virus and Unleashing It To a Network

A man accused of unleashing the "Melissa" computer virus in 1999, caus ing millions of dollars in damage and infecting untold numbers of computers and computer networks, was sentenced to 20 months in feden prison. He was also ordered to serve three years of supervised releas after completion of his prison sentence and was fined $5,000. He we further ordered, upon release, to keep away from computer network the Internet, and Internet bulletin boards, unless authorized by the Court. At the plea hearings, the virus creator admitted that he created the Melissa virus and disseminated it from his home computer. He said that he constructed the virus to evade anti-virus software and to infect cor puters using the Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT operating systems and the Microsoft Word 97 and Word 2000 word processing programs.

The Melissa virus appeared on thousands of email systems on March 26, 1999, disguised as an important message from a colleague or friend. The virus was designed to send an infected email to the first 50 email addresses on the users' mailing lists. Such emails would be sent only if the computers used Microsoft Outlook as its email program.

Because each infected computer could infect 50 additional computers, which in turn could infect another 50 computers, the virus proliferated rapidly and exponentially, resulting in substantial interruption or impairment of public communications and services. According to reports from business and government following the spread of the virus, its rapid distribution disrupted computer networks by overloading email servers, resulting in the shutdown of networks and significant costs for repairing computer systems.The virus creator described in state and federal court how, using a stolen America Online account and his own account with a local Internet service provider, he posted an infected document on the Internet newsgroup "Alt.Sex." The posting contained a message enticing readers to download and open the document with the hope of finding passwords to adult-content websites. Opening and downloading the message caused the Melissa virus to infect victim computers. The virus altered Microsoft word processing programs such that any document created using the programs would then be infected with the Melissa virus. The virus also lowered macro security settings in the word processing programs. The virus then proliferated via the Microsoft Outlook program, causing computers to send electronic email to the first 50 addresses in the computer user's address book.[U.S. v. Smith (D. NJ) May 2, 2002]

Hacking

A Boston man was charged with using his home computer to illegally gain access to a number of computers, including those controlled by NASA and an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, where, among other things, he intercepted login names and passwords and intentionally caused delays and damage in communications. In April 1999, the hacker obtained unauthorized access to a corporate Internet account, which he then used to illegally access a computer controlled and operated by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency. He then concealed his actual computer address through a service known as "telnet proxy" which made it seem like his address was that of the government's computer. Once "hidden", he accessed, without authorization, the web site of Internet service provider ZMOS, and recklessly caused damage to the ZMOS computer located in the State of Washington. As a result, ZMOS, which hosts corporate web pages and provides Internet service to corporate customers, suffered a significant loss of business.

Beginning in May 1999 and continuing until August 1999, the hacker obtained unauthorized access to the same corporate Internet account, this time using it to access the NASA computer research project web server located in Maryland. He seized control of the NASA computer, allowing him to read, delete, or modify any files on the system. He then installed a "sniffer" program onto the system to intercept and save login names and passwords of users that were transferred over the NASA system for his own later use. The compromised NASA web server did not contain classified or sensitive information and was not involved in any way with satellite command or control.The hacker also used the NASA computer as a platform to launch attacks on other computer systems, such as an attack on the U.S. Department of the Interior's web server, where he defaced web pages with hacker graphics.The hacker also allegedly accessed various computers operated by Northeastern University, from which he illegally copied a file containing the names, dates of birth, addresses and social security numbers of numerous men and women affiliated with the University, either as students, faculty, administration, or alumni. Investigators however are not aware of any use or dissemination of this information. Northeastern University cooperated fully with investigators on this matter.If convicted, the hacker faces a maximum penalty of 10 years incarceration and a fine of $250,000.[U.S. v. Iffik (D. Mass.) February 23, 2000]

Stock Fraud

Two former Cisco Systems, Inc. accountants were each sentenced to 34 months in prison for exceeding their authorized access to the computer systems of Cisco Systems in order to illegally issue almost $8 million in Cisco stock to themselves.In pleading guilty, both accountants admitted that between October 2000 and March 27, 2001, they participated together in a scheme to defraud Cisco Systems in order to obtain Cisco stock that they were not authorized to obtain. As part of the scheme, they exceeded their authorized access to computer systems at Cisco in order to access a computer system used by the company to manage stock option disbursals; used that access to identify control numbers to track authorized stock option disbursals; created forged forms purporting to authorize disbursals of stock; faxed the forged requests to the company responsible for controlling and issuing shares of Cisco Systems stock; and directed that stock be placed in their personal brokerage accounts. The two defendants admitted that the first time that they did this, in December 2000, they caused 97,750 shares of Cisco stock to be placed in two separate Merrill Lynch accounts, with 58,250 of the shares deposited in an account set up by one of them and 39,500 shares deposited in an account set up by the other accountant. In February 2001, they caused two additional transfers of stock, in amounts of 67,500 shares and 65,300 shares, to be transferred to brokerage accounts in their names. The total value of the Cisco stock that they took on these three occasions (at the time that they transferred the stock) was approximately $7,868,637,[U.S. v. Osowski (N.D. Cal) November 26, 2001]

Spamming

In a 1998 lawsuit brought by America Online against an unsolicited commercial e-mail sender, the judge awarded AOL compensatory and punitive damages and permanently barred the commercial e-mail sender from sending bulk unsolicited commercial e-mail to AOL members or through AOL services.[America Online Inc. v. Prime Data Systems Inc., 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20226 (E.U Va. Nov. 20, 1998).]In another lawsuit, Hotmail sued a company for allegedly providing false e-mail header information in unsolicited commercial e-mail which made it appear that the messages originated from Hotmail accounts. In that lawsuit, a federal court in California found that Hotmail established a likelihood of success of establishing false designation or origin, unfair competition, dilution, violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, breach of contract, fraud, misrepresentation, and trespass to chattel. The court then issued a preliminarily injunction enjoining the defendant company from falsely designating Hotmail addresses as the point of origin of their commercial e-mail messages,[Hotmail Corp. v. Van Money Pie Inc., No. C98-20064,1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10729 (N.D. Cal, Apr. 16, 1998)].

Hate and Vengeance Case

A former employee in the Human Resources department at Marsh Inc., an insurance company located in Manhattan, was sentenced in a Manhattan federal court to 18 months in prison for illegally accessing and deleting hundreds of computer records at Marsh. On October 31, 2001, the hacker pled guilty to a one-count indictment charging him with accessing a protected computer without authorization and deleting approximately 950 files relating to employee compensation.A female employee at Marsh had complained that the hacker was harassing her because she rebuffed his romantic advances. He was later terminated from Marsh and obtained employment at Viacom, Inc. In January 2001, he used a password belonging to another employee at Marsh to obtain unauthorized access to Marsh's computer database and deleted approximately 800 files relating to the compensation of Managing Directors at Marsh and approximately 150 files relating to compensation of other Marsh employees. He also altered the female employee's compensation record to reflect a $40,000 increase in her salary and a $100,000 bonus. In February and March 2001, senior managers at Marsh received an email attached to which was a file containing information from the deleted salary files. The email appeared to have been originally sent from an e-mail account established at Hotmail.com. The user ID of that account contained the female employee's last name. The female employee denies having established that account. A forensic image of hacker's computer at Viacom revealed that the e-mails to the senior managers at Marsh were sent from that computer.[U.S. v. Leung (S.D. N.Y.) March 27, 2002]

MODULE 13: Related Philippine Laws

RA8792 Salient features

Here's the salient features of RA8792:

• It gives legal recognition of electronic data messages, electronic documents, and electronic signatures.
• Allows the formation of contracts in electronic form.
• Makes banking transactions done through ATM switching networks absolute once consummated.
• Parties are given the right to choose the type and level of security methods that suit their needs.
• Provides the mandate for the electronic implementation of transport documents to facilitate carriage of goods. This includes documents such as, but not limited to, multi-modal, airport, road, rail, inland waterway, courier, post receipts, transport documents issued by freight forwarders, marine/ocean bill of lading, non-negotiable seaway bill, charter party bill of lading.
• Mandates the government to have the capability to do e-commerce within 2 years or before June 19, 2002.
• Mandates RPWeb to be implemented. RPWeb is a strategy that intends to connect all government offices to the Internet and provide universal access to the general public. The Department of Transportation and Communications, National Telecommunications Commission, and National Computer Center will come up with policies and rules that shall lead to substantial reduction of costs of telecommunication and Internet facilities to ensure the implementation of RPWeb.
• Made cable, broadcast, and wireless physical infrastructure within the activity of telecommunications.
• Empowers the Department of Trade and Industry to supervise the development of e-commerce in the country. It can also come up with policies and regulations, when needed, to facilitate the growth of e-commerce.
• Provided guidelines as to when a service provider can be liable.
• Authorities and parties with the legal right can only gain access to electronic documents, electronic data messages, and electronic signatures. For confidentiality purposes, it shall not share or convey to any other person.
• Hacking or cracking, refers to unauthorized access including the introduction of computer viruses, is punishable by a fine from 100 thousand to maximum commensurating to the damage. With imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years.
• Piracy through the use of telecommunication networks, such as the Internet, that infringes intellectual property rights is punishable. The penalties are the same as hacking.
• All existing laws such as the Consumer Act of the Philippines also applies to e-commerce transactions.

Anyone who uses the Internet, computer, cellular phone, and other IT-enabled devices has the duty to know RA8792. As the old saying goes, “Ignorance of the law doesn’t excuse anyone.”

Reference

Toral, Janette, Salient Features of RA8792, The E-Commerce Law , excerpt extracted January 1, 2006 from http://www.digitalfilipino.com/writing_article.cfm?id=19