The lack of ethics in cyber space: a case for cyber ethics

Abstract

Summary form only given as follows. The cyber world has become a most important part of our everyday lives. We spend an increasingly significant portion of our lives in it and use it to communicate with friends, acquaintances, loved ones, and business associates. We make use of our computers and Internet connectivity to look for and purchase all kinds of goods and services. We make airline and other travel reservations through this medium we call the World Wide Web. We look through weather forecasts in planning our daily lives, including our recreation, travel activities and social functions. We use the web and all its powerful resources to educate ourselves and to gain knowledge. We are able to look for, join and keep up with special interest groups and to discuss topics of interest to us. We research serious as well as mundane issues on line. In summary, cyberspace has become an interactive world that many of us have fully integrated into our lives. There is dark side to this phenomenon. The ease and anonymity by which we are able to perform all and many more of these feats of contact and access with an entire universe of places and people has created a dilemma: a lack of cyber ethics. This issue threatens all of us and introduces a whole set of ethical and legal issues for business people, scientists, parents, educators, children and law makers.