CyberEthics Essay Outline
 (Full) Outline assignment Postponed until
next Friday Feb 10
 PRE-Outline assigned added



Graded as PART of the Outline
Due tomorrow Feb 3
3 (body) points (only)
 More to come in a moment
CyberEthics
Is it special?
CyberEthics
 What is Ethics? (What is not Ethics?)
 What is Morality?
 What is CyberEthics?
 Are CyberEthics issues unique?


Do cyber-technologies introduce new ethical
issues?
What is the best case to illustrate that cybertechnologies introduce new ethical issues?
What Is Cyberethics?
 Cyberethics is the study of moral, legal, and
social issues involving cybertechnology.
 It examines the impact that cybertechnology
has for our social, legal, and moral systems.
 It also evaluates the social policies and laws
that have been framed in response to issues
generated by the development and use of
cybertechnology.
 Hence, there is a reciprocal relationship here.
Reciprocal relationship of cyber technology and social system
CyberEthics
Examines impact
Cyber
Technology
Social
system
Evaluates social response
Summary
 Ethics?
 Study
of morality
 Branch of Philosophy
 Morality?
 System
of Rules
 Rules of conduct
Why the term cyberethics?
 Cyberethics is a more accurate label than
computer ethics, which might suggest the
study of ethical issues limited to computing
machines, or to computing professionals.
 It is more accurate than Internet ethics, which
is limited only to ethical issues affecting
computer networks.
Question Set 2
Friday Feb. 17
What is the most novel ethical issue
introduced by cyber technologies?
Name and describe the most novel (new) ethical issue that
you can think of that has arisen as a result of computer
(cyber) technologies.
Be sure to explain how it is a new ethical issue, and how
computing or cyber technologies give rise to it.
Are Cyberethics Issues Unique?
 Consider the Amy Boyer case of
cyberstalking in light of issues raised.
 Is there anything new or unique about this
case from an ethical point of view?
 Boyer was stalked in ways that were not
possible before cybertechnology.
 But do new ethical issues arise?
Are Cyberethics Issues Unique?
(Continued)
 Two points of view:
 Traditionalists argue that nothing is new –
crime is crime, and murder is murder.
 Uniqueness Proponents argue that
cybertechnology has introduced (at least
some) new and unique ethical issues that
could not have existed before computers.
Are Cyberethics Issues Unique?
(Continued)
 Both sides seem correct on some claims, and wrong
on others.
Traditionalists
 underestimate the role of scale and scope in
describing computer technology.

Cyberstalkers can stalk multiple victims simultaneously
(scale) and globally (scope).

Cyberstalkers can operate without ever having to leave
the comfort of their homes.
Are Cyberethics Issues Unique?
(Continued)
 Uniqueness proponents tend to overstate the
effect that cybertechnology has on ethics per
se.
 Maner (1996) argues that computers are
uniquely fast, uniquely malleable, etc.
 There may indeed be some unique aspects of
computer technology.
Are Cyberethics Issues Unique?
(Continued)
Uniqueness Proponents
 Tend to confuse unique features of technology with
unique ethical issues.
 Use the following logical fallacy:


Cybertechnology has some unique technological
features.
Cybertechnology generates ethical issues.
Therefore, the ethical issues generated by
cybertechnology must be unique.
Are Cyberethics Issues Unique?
(Continued)
 Traditionalists correctly point out that no new
ethical issues have been introduced by
computers.
 Uniqueness proponents are correct in that
cybertechnology has complicated our
analysis of traditional ethical issues.
Are Cyberethics Issues Unique?
(Continued)
 So we must distinguish:


(a) unique technological features, and
(b) any (alleged) unique ethical issues.
 Two scenarios:
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(a) Computer professionals designing and
coding a controversial computer system
(b) Software piracy
Alternative Strategy for Analyzing
the Uniqueness Issue
 James Moor (1985) argues that computer
technology generates “new possibilities for
human action” because computers are
logically malleable.
 Logical malleability, in turn, introduces policy
vacuums.
 Policy vacuums often arise because of
conceptual muddles.
Case Illustration of a Policy
Vacuum: Duplicating Software
 In the early 1980s, there were no clear laws
regarding the duplication of software
programs, which was made easy because of
personal computers.
 A policy vacuum arose.
 Before the policy vacuum could be filled, we
had to clear up a conceptual muddle: What
exactly is software?
Is this true?
 What exactly is the policy vacuum?

How to govern software duplication?
Software is a product (good) that requires
capital to engineer, manufacture, market, etc.

But there are laws governing other products

Why is software different?

What is software?
Machine Instructions
and Media
 Existed BEFORE computers
 Could be copied and distributed (?)
 What is really different about software?
Machine Instructions (as software)
 Became a commodity (in and of themselves)
 They became the valued and marketed item apart
from the product (of the machine).


prior to computers, machines were the harder part
Instructions were the “know how” and coupled tightly
to the machines to which they applied
 Different than print media? Intellectual Property?
Cyber-Ethics Assignment PRE-OUTLINE
This assignment is designed to help you prepare to write a well-formed, OUTLINE for a 5paragraph (intro, 3 body points, conclusion) essay.
List THREE (3) arguing points for the claim below. Write in complete sentences, and be
sure to state three substantial and convincing points that you can develop for the outline
and essay assignments that follow.
Claim: Cyberethics does NOT introduce new ethical issues.
In the next assignment (due next Friday), you will develop these three (3) points into a full
and complete OUTLINE for a 5-paragraph (intro, 3 body points, conclusion) essay that
argues the claim:
For this assignment, the outline, and the essay, be sure to recognize the following
understanding:
Computing introduces new conceptual puzzles and dilemmas related to ethics (cyberethics) that Tavani refers to as "conceptual muddles". These can lead to "policy vacuums".
We can distinguish between unique technological features and unique ethical issues. New
technologies and their capabilities can introduce "conceptual muddles" and/or "policy
vacuum", but we should be careful to distinguish "policy vacuums" and "unique ethical
issues".