Computer Ethics Moral Reasoni Essay Research Paper

Computer Ethics: Moral Reasoni Essay, Research Paper

Computer Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Ethics

Responsibilities for the ethical use of computers vary among individuals based on their basic principles of moral reasoning. As an individual, my beliefs are distinctive to my social and moral background. These beliefs are then molded from my interactions in educational and community environments. Initially, we all are raised to be individuals who follow the basic rules of morality. We are set to follow basic guidelines that society sets for individuals. In the computer world, moralities in terms of ethics are, to some extent, unique. I generally apply the rudimentary guidelines of life to those of the computer world. On an educational level, I would never use some other student s work as my own. Society would call this plagiarism. I also would never harass anyone in a chat room, by e-mail, or by any other means of communication. Harassment by any means is punishable by law. In my community environment, my beliefs on ethics would be very simple and similar to that of others. Destruction of another s property, violence towards others, and any acts of hate would be a crime in my eyes and should punishable by any means. On both levels, I combine these ethics to form ethics of the computer world.

Morality and moral reasoning are not ideas that are given to individuals, rather, they are ideas that we created and develop as individuals. If morality was a standard that every individual is raised with, then why is there such a variety of wrongdoing. Morality, in my opinion, is not handed down from our parents, teachers, and others we look up to, it is something that all individuals must learn from and develop. As a Computer Science student, the best I can relate is through programming. I think that in the not to distant future programmers will be a dime a dozen. Having this in mind, we are taught to not only program, but we are taught to program better. My recent visit to Cisco Systems proved this very well. Every individual was able to program routers to Cisco specifications, but the leaders of every team and section of Cisco were the programmers who possessed the extra knowledge of programming more efficiently. These leaders had the knowledge that was needed to know for getting the job done, but they had the knowledge of details that they wanted to know. The additional information proved to help these leaders to create better ideas in designing new hardware as well as leading the team more efficiently. Programming languages are ever-changing because there are many individuals who create better techniques in coding. These individuals develop their knowledge of programming to the next level by creating something entirely new. Morality is similar through this kind of development. If a child is raised to not hurt another person, that child will develop the ideas to abide by this guideline in different fashions. This child will not hurt anyone physically, and then later expand on that idea by being a kind and caring individual. Then, the child will expand even more by not hurting anyone on a mental level. All this is simply developed throughout the child s life through the interactions he/she has in their educational and community environments. If the environments are based with hurting people, then the child will learn to hurt, but if the environments are morally correct, the child will be the same.

My morality and moral reasoning is purely based on the environments around me. In a world of ever-changing technology, new technology is developed but offered at a high price. Currently, I have seen more people who cheat, steal, and hurt others more than I have seen good Samaritans . Following the rules seems to be on the other end of the spectrum for much of society today. In today s computer world, any software that issues a license and registration for a price can now most likely be found for free download . The software piracy era is in full effect and it seems that there is no way to stop it. The ever-popular warez sites can be found virtually anywhere on the web now. It seems that software piracy has become a common household term in today s world. Although software piracy is easy to learn and be part of, there are restrictions. Many companies now, one that we have discussed in class, such Red Hat offer their version of LINUX for free, but they do charge for extra features. One of the most important features that they require a payment for is technical service. Companies are beginning to follow the open-source path but still charge for the extras. Technical service, free limited downloads and upgrades, and other services are widely becoming popular. This popularity comes with a price. Software piracy if virtually eliminated by open-source and the only product that is left to pay for is simple services such as technical support. Studying as a Computer Science student, I have not been taught much about morality and ethics in the computer world except for maybe what to do and what to wear at a co-op interview. My basic principles of moral reason are based on and adapted from those that I have followed in my life. Never to hurt anyone physically or emotionally as well as following all major rules given by authority are my basics. Having these in mind, I develop these ideas and create new codes of ethics in the computer world as well as the world around me. My morality is b