ICT AND ETHICAL ISSUES

Initially, there is no exact or precise amount of computer crime since most of the computer crimes are not easily be traced by victims and never reported to the authorities. Nevertheless, there is a consensus among both law enforcement personnel and computer scientists who specialize in security that both the number of computer crime incidents and the sophistication of computer criminals are increasing rapidly. Estimates are that computer crime costs victims in the USA at least US$ 5×108/year, and the true value of such crime might be substantially higher.Unauthorized use of computers tends generally takes the following forms:

1. Computer voyeur. The criminal reads (or copies) confidential or proprietary information, but data is neither deleted nor changed.

In 1999, the Melissa virus infected a [possibly confidential] document on a victim's computer, then automatically sent that document and copy of the virus via e-mail to other people. Subsequently, the SirCam and Klez malicious programs made a similar release of [possibly confidential] documents from a victim's computer. These malicious programs are a new way to release confidential information from a victim's computer, with the confidential information going not to the author of the malicious program, but to some person unknown to the author of the malicious program.
2. Changing data. For example, change a grade on a school transcript, add "money" to a checking account, etc. Unauthorized changing of data is generally a fraudulent act.
3. Deleting data. Deleting entire files could be an act of vandalism or sabotage.
4. Denying service to authorized users. On a modern time-sharing computer, any user takes some time and disk space, which is then not available to other users. By "denying service to authorized users", I mean gobbling unreasonably large amounts of computer time or disk space, for example:
1. by sending large amounts of junk e-mail in one day, a so-called "mail bomb",
2. by having the computer execute a malicious program that puts the processing unit into an infinite loop, or,
3. by flooding an Internet server with bogus requests for webpages, thereby denying legitimate users an opportunity to download a page and also possibly crashing the server. This is called a denial of service (DoS) attack.

During 1950-1975, computer programs and data were generally stored on cardboard cards with holes punched in them. If a vandal were to break into an office and either damage or steal the punch cards, the vandal could be adequately punished under traditional law of breaking and entering, vandalism, or theft.

However, after about 1975, it became common to enter programs and data from remote terminals (a keyboard and monitor) using a modem and a telephone line. This same technology allowed banks to retrieve a customer's current balance from the bank's central computer, and merchants to process credit card billing without sending paper forms. But this change in technology also meant that a criminal could alter data and programs from his home, without physical entry into the victim's building. The traditional laws were no longer adequate to punish criminals who used computer modems.

Most unauthorized use of a computer is accomplished by a person in his home, who uses a modem to access a remote computer. To successfully use a remote computer, any user (including criminals) must have both a valid user name and valid password. There are several basic ways to get these data:

1. Call up a legitimate user, pretend to be a system administrator, and ask for the user name and password. This sounds ridiculous, but many people will give out such valuable information to anyone who pretends to have a good reason. Not only should you refuse to provide such information, but please report such requests to the management of the online service or the local police, so they can be alert to an active criminal.
2. Search user's offices for such data, as many people post their user name and password on the side of their monitor or filing cabinet, where these data can be conveniently seen.
3. Write a program that tries different combinations of user names and passwords until one is accepted.
4. Use a packet "sniffer" program to find user names and passwords as they travel through networks.
5. Search through a garbage bin behind the computer building in a university or corporate campus, find trash paper that lists user names and passwords.

In recent years, there have been a large number of attacks on websites by hackers who are angry with the owner of the website. Victims of such attacks include various U.S. Government agencies, including the White House and FBI. Attacking the FBI website is like poking a lion with a stick.

In a typical attack, the hacker will delete some pages or graphics, then upload new pages with the same name as the old file, so that the hacker controls the message conveyed by the site.

This is not the worst kind of computer crime. The proper owner of the site can always close the website temporarily, restore all of the files from backup media, improve the security at the site, and then re-open the site. Nonetheless, the perpetrator has committed a computer crime by making an unauthorized use of someone else's computer or computer account.

The Internet is a medium for freely sharing information and opinions. However the criminals who trash other people's websites are acting as self-appointed censors who deny freedom of speech to those with whom they disagree. These criminals often make the self-serving excuse for their actions that they only attack sites sponsored by bad corporations or bad people. However, this excuse makes these criminals into vigilantes who serve as legislature, judge, jury, and executioner: arrogantly determining what is in the best interests of society.

In the name of Allah the most gracious, most merciful

Allah (SWT) said in the holy qura’an ( وَقُل رَّبِّ زِدْنِي عِلْمًا)the translation is *{…O my Lord! advance me in knowledge}*(Ta-Ha 20:114) us as human beings its our nature to want to develop our knowledge and learn more from what’s around us, it is our knowledge that Allah (SWT) has given to us that has made the world we live in develop more and make it a better place to live in ;from buildings and transportations to computers and telecommunication devices and many more amazing creations it has all developed in time; meaning a 1000 years ago these developments haven’t even existed yet and thanks to Allah for giving us knowledge we have to seek for more to improve ourselves in everything . Nowadays technology has become part of our lives but the problem is do people use it in an ethical manner?
Some people don’t understand what ethics really is Ethics is a code or set of principles by which people live by; ethics and ICT are connected in many ways for example the internet has been a force for bad as well as good and generated a whole new set of issues. It’s rarely clear what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’ and we shouldn’t let issues of personal usage change our principles and misuse the technology. Mostly students use IT to cheat on doing there assignments or research and take the easy way out by copying and pasting without even reading what’s written but sometimes they get away with it but only a few get caught but the Prophet (PBUH) stated, "He is not one of us who cheats us."
ICT (information and communication technology) is no longer something that only appears on organizational wish lists. ICT has become the backbone that will enable your life and work to deliver services effectively and efficiently, helping you reaches more people and ultimately does more with your daily life and helps produces money only in an ethical manner.
With ICT you can:
· raise your organization’s profile
· keep abreast of current developments and legislation in your field
· manage and organize information more easily
· accurately monitor your finances
· securely maintain your users’ contact details
· understand who is using your service and how you can widen your reach
· enable service users to support one another through online communities
· Save costs and operate more effectively allowing staff to work easily
So why do people want to use it unethically? Its because sometimes its cheaper or easier from them; there are many types of unethical work in ICT for example piracy, software piracy is the unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted material; it is mostly approved by students because they assume it is cheaper in price; it is illegal and unethical but it is also not Islamic, in the religion of Islam stealing is prohibited and piracy is considered stealing, there is also cyber crime which is also prohibited and unethical.
In conclusion, ICT is part of our daily lives so we should not misuse it in an unethical manner.
Prepared by: Yasmeen Fadaak.

Ethical issues are very important in our changing, open and global world. Information technology, which is the motor and channel of this new fast moving world, develops and changes more rapidly itself. The IT world of today implies a series of new unanticipated ethical challenges and, given the high pace IT changes itself and the world, it is impossible to foresee important ethical problems and conflicts, and therefore it is very difficult to handle ethical issues. Under such conditions it is necessary for designers and users of Information Technology to acquire high ethical competence and confidence in handling all the possible ethical problems that may arise in their real life professional activities.

Information Technology users and designers need high ethical awareness, adaptive ethical problem-solving and decision-making abilities at individual, group and organizational level, effective ethical argumentation and communication skills, and confidence in handling controversial issues. In order for course participants to acquire the competence to cope effectively with difficult ethical problems in the design and use of IT the educational program will focus on real life professional issues.

According to NDCC 54.59.01 Information Technology means the use of hardware, software, services, and supporting infrastructure to manage and deliver information using voice, data, and video.

Information technology also include all computers with a human interface, all computer peripherals which will not operate unless connected to a computer or network, all voice, video and data networks and the equipment, staff and purchased services necessary to operate them, all salary and benefits for staff whose job descriptions specifically includes technology functions, (network services, applications development, systems administration), all technology services provided by vendors or contractors, operating costs associated with providing information technology and all costs associated with developing, purchasing, licensing or maintaining software

Agencies may wish to include other costs at their discretion. For example, an agency may wish to include digital cameras in their IT budget even though they can be operated stand-alone. Data entry personnel may be included if they are considered part of the technology staff. Costs that are excluded above may be included if they are an integral part of a computer applications or would be difficult to break out because the costs are included with other information technology costs. There are examples of information technology such as Telephone and radio equipment and switches used for voice communications, Traditional computer applications that include data storage and programs to input, process, and output the data and others.

Ethics are considered the moral standards by which people judge behavior. However, the definition of what constitutes having “good” ethics in today’s society is often debated. Ethics are often summed up in what is considered the “golden rule” do unto others as you would have them do unto you. While this makes sense as a general rule of thumb, it does not truly offer much in terms of helping one to make moral decisions in daily life. Society often places certain standards of conduct upon the people which are governed together. Groups of people who agree about what constitutes major unethical acts, such as stealing or murder, work to have their viewpoint written into laws that govern the entire body of people. Ethics includes objectivity, honesty, integrity, carefulness, respect for intellectual property, confidentiality, responsible publication, responsible mentoring, respecting for colleagues, Social responsibility, non-discrimination, competence, legality and human subject protection.