CyberEthics: Key Facts

1
CyberEthics Key Facts

• Ethics ultimately involve the rightness and
  wrongness of specific human actions and the
  motives that prompt those actions
• Since the days of the Industrial Revolution,
  social critics have questioned the ethics or
  morality of business executives
• The anonymity provided by the Internet entices
  and allows many Internet users to develop and
  apply their own unique sense of justice and
  morality

2
CyberEthics Key Facts

• The speed at which events evolve in the Internet
  Era often forces individuals to make ethical
  judgments before they have time to thoroughly
  consider and evaluate the ethical issues
• This case defines an ethical dilemma as a
  situation involving principles of morality that
  require a choice between two undesirable
  alternatives

3
CyberEthics Key Facts

• Ethical dilemmas often prove to be critical tests
  of an individuals ethical values or morals
• This case explores several ethical dilemmas
  monitoring email, harvesting info from
  competitors websites, and risk-profiling.

4
CyberEthics Key Facts

• A key obstacle to ethics in e-commerce is
  reaching a consensus on cultural standards across
  the globe
• Civil rights groups insist that measures intended
  to elliminate many of the unethical practices
  infringe on civil rights
• The most pervasive obstacle to higher ethical
  conduct in e-commerce the free-spirited culture
  of the Internet

5
Assignment

• Provide a brief factual overview of the vignette
• Identify the key ethical issues
• Provide a personal viewpoint or analysis of the
  situation