1. CISB 412
Social and Professional Issues
Understanding Ethical Issues in
Networking

2. Reference
• Materials used in this presentation are extracted mainly from
the following texts, unless stated otherwise.
Michael J. Quinn “Ethics for the
Information Age”, 3rd edition.
Pearson 2009

3. Learning Outcomes
• At the end of this lesson you should be able to
– Identify issues that come with networking especially
the use of world wide web.
– Apply the ethical principles on the issues to establish
morality of the action

4. Networking
• Description
• What comes with the territory?
– Email SPAM
– Pornography
– Children and the web
• Web Filters
– Identity theft
– Online Predators
– Internet Addiction

5. Issues in Networking
• Work in your team
• Refer to the handouts and prepare for a brief
presentation to address the question(s) asked

6. Email Spam
• Email spam, 3 important attributes
– anonymity: the sender’s identity and address are
concealed
– mass mailing: spam email is sent to a large number of
recipients and in high quantities
– unsolicited: the individuals receiving spam would
otherwise not have opted to receive it
• Amount of email that is spam has increased
– 8% in 2001, 40% in 2003, More than 50% in 2004
• Spam is effective
– More than 100 times cheaper than “junk mail”
– Profitable even if only 1 in 100,000 buys product

7. Email Spam
• How firms get email addresses
– Opt-in lists
– Dictionary attacks
• Spammers seek anonymity
– Change email and IP addresses to disguise sending
machine
– Hijack another system as a spam launch pad
• Spam blockers
– Attempt to screen out spam
– Have led to more picture-based spam

8. CAN SPAM Act of 2003
• Took effect January 1, 2004
• The law divides emails sent by business into three
categories
– Transactional email messages related to a commercial
transaction or ongoing business that have already
been established
– Commercial email messages to which recipients have
presumably consented (by explicitly request or by not
opting out)
– Unsolicited commercial email messages

9. CAN SPAM Act of 2003
Emails Categories Must meet these
requirements
Transactional email messages • message header, sender,
related to a commercial organization and information
transaction or ongoing must be correct
business that have already •Must not disguise the
been established identity of the computer
from which the message was
sent

10. CAN SPAM Act of 2003
Emails Categories Must meet these
requirements
Commercial email messages •must meet all the above
to which recipients have requirement
presumably consented (by •must inform recipient can
explicitly request or by not opt out from the mailing list
opting out) •Must provide internet
based mechanism to opt out
•Must contain postal address
of the sender

11. CAN SPAM Act of 2003
Emails Categories Must meet these
requirements
Unsolicited commercial email • must meet all the above
messages requirement
• must include clear notice
that it is an advertisement
• if it contains explicit
materialism must include in
the subject line

12. CAN SPAM Act of 2003
• Critics call it “You CAN Spam Act”
– Spam still legal, as long as regulations followed
– Opting out can have harmful consequences – it
confirms your email is valid
– Spammers can avoid prosecution by locating outside
United States

13. World Wide Web
How we use it?
• Shopping
• Promoting business
• Learning
• Exploring our roots
• Playing games
• Entering virtual worlds
• Paying taxes
• Gambling
• Blogging
• Lots more!

14. Apparent issues with WWW
Pornography
• Description - Printed or visual material containing
the explicit description or display of sexual organs or
activity.
• Different opinions
– Pornography is immoral (How do you explain that
from Kantianism viewpoints?)
– Adult pornography is moral (How do you explain
that from Utilitarianism viewpoints?)

15. Apparent issues with WWW
• Censorship : An attempt to suppress or regulate
public access to material considered offensive or
harmful.
• Direct censorship
– Government monopolization
– Pre-publication review
– Licensing and registration
• Self-censorship
— A group deciding for itself not to publish material
• What are the benefits and harms of Internet
censorship?

16. Apparent issues with WWW
Children and the Web
• Many parents believe they ought to protect their
children from exposure to pornographic and violent
materials on the Web
– Web Filters
– Child Internet Protection Act
• Libraries receiving federal networking funds must filter
pages containing obscenity or child pornography
• How do you see this Act from act utilitarianism
viewpoints?

17. Apparent issues with WWW
Breaking Trust
• Identity Theft
• Chat Room Predator
• False Information

18. Apparent issues with WWW
Internet Addiction
• Is it real?
• Factors contributing to addictive behavior
• Some liken compulsive computer use to pathological
gambling
• Traditional definition of addiction:
– Compulsive use of harmful substance or drug
– Knowledge of its long-term harm

19. Questions?