Executive summary
Internet is very essential in society and over the past years, it has continued to gain popularity. The more the internet has continued to gain popularity in society from schools to workplaces, the more ethical issues continue to arise concerning the different uses of the internet. From the study, it is clear that there are certain factors that hinder or make it challenging for ethical standards to be set to govern internet usage. These factors include its distribution and broad coverage that are beyond national boundaries hence challenging to have common global standards. The other factors include the original purpose of the internet and other related factors. Because of such issues, there are certain set ethical standards that govern the operations within the internet hence increased cases of unethical behaviors taking place in the internet. In order to solve such issues, there are certain guidelines provided that should be followed.
Introduction
Currently, the internet has become part of life for many people in society, ranging from young to old internet is widely used. The more the internet is gaining roots in society and especially in the twenty-first century the more the need for clearly understood business ethics in regards to internet usage. Business ethics is very important in any business entity or even non-business entities. Internet like many of the business entities in society also has its own business ethics that govern it (E-center for business ethics, 2008).
For many people, the internet has never been thought of as an ethical issue and because of this, there are many cases in society in regards to the internet that people commit without the knowledge of ethical issues behind their actions. The main aim of the study is to identify the different issues in regards to the internet that raise ethical issues and the different ethical standards that might be there to act against such actions in the internet world (James, 2008).
Discussion
The Internet has evolved over a long period of time more than thirty years ago and the evolution of the internet over time has brought together with it certain implications in society. There are certain factors that have highly triggered the increased adoption and use of internet in the society currently. The major factors are the advancement and the technological changes that have been taking place. The more the technology has been advancing the more the adoption and realization of more opportunities via the internet in society. The more the popularity of the internet and the more many people are using it the more the issues related to business ethics come up. (Roger 2002)
Factors contributing to increased unethical actions on the internet
The distributed nature of the internet
There are certain things that raise concern for the internet business ethics that are related to the usage of the internet. The first factor is the distributed nature of the internet. Internet is highly distributed in large geographical areas such that it is challenging to know the other person who is utilizing the internet. The reason for the high distribution of the internet is because it is “based on packet switching and the routing and rerouting of packets along with multitudinous networks and nodes.” Such connections make it challenging for the development of central control to the whole system of the internet (Roger, 2002).
Since the internet has no central control point it is challenging to control the movement of information or data on the internet. Secondly, there is no given route or path that the data or information follows through the internet to the specified place. The following is an illustration of data that may move from the University of Georgia to Phoenix computer specialists in Arizona.
When there is no proper way to have central control of the internet then it is very challenging to come up with a central control to business ethics in regards to the internet. Also, this presents a further challenge since it is not possible to control and know who uses the internet and where, because it is widely spread. Because of this, there are many unethical actions that take place on the internet, and that is challenging to trace who might have committed them. This is one of the main factors that have highly contributed to the increased unethical issues in internet usage in society generally (E-center for business ethics, 2008).
The original purpose of the internet
The other factor that has contributed a lot to the increased unethical actions over the internet is based on the initial idea or purpose of the internet for which it was developed. Originally internet was developed for the military and the second purpose was academics. Because of its initial purposes, it was more of a closed network that had specific purposes and functions to perform. Because of the specific purposes for which the internet was purposely created for there were no ethical standards that were set to govern the operations or the uses of the internet in society (Roger 2002),
The users and usage of internet services have continued to increase over time and currently, almost fifty-five percent of the population is using computers in workstations, schools, and almost everywhere computers and the internet is highly used. It means that the uses and purposes have increased hence many unethical actions and issues continuing to rise in society. Because of the increased use and the number of users, there should be business ethics that govern the operations within the internet and better ways to trace the people engaged in unethical actions while using the internet services (E-center for business ethics 2008),
For instance, currently, there are many people who are engaged in unethical actions via the internet that results in high losses and damages to the property of high value. Some of the unethical issues that have taken place in society include issues with the development of viruses that are spread via the internet to people’s computers. These viruses are very dangerous to computer software’s and they damage the computers and any valuable information completely. These are unethical actions since the viruses are developed by individuals intentionally to destroy other people’s computers and soft wares. Ethical standards should be developed in order to avoid such actions taking place in society since they cause high damages to computers (Roger, 2002).
Internet was originally designed for, and used by, the few and the intellectual
The third contributing factor is the fact that the internet was “originally designed for, and used by, the few and the intellectual.” Because of the fact that they were to be used by the intellectual in the society it was not easy to think of ethical values and standards regarding use of the internet by a large population instead the values only referred to the specific group that included “tolerance of dissent and antipathy to control” because of the limited intended users for the internet the question of regulation and ethical standards still remains a main question to the users of the internet (E-center for business ethics ,2008).
Internet was originally used exclusively by Americans
The initial users of the internet were the Americans and for that reason today almost two thirds of the internet users are Americans. Since it was originally used by Americans it means that mostly it is highly influenced by the Americans value and culture hence in most cases leaving out the rest of the population. It also means that issues of internet ethical standards are also highly influenced by the American values and culture hence it is challenging to come up with ethical standards that best suit all the users of the internet since they are located in different parts of the world. (E-center for business ethics, 2008).
Growth of the internet has been exponential
Internet is highly used currently in the society for various purposes that include communication, business activities and even transfer of money. With the increased uses and users of the internet there are certain impacts that have resulted that result to increased unethical standards in the society. (Sreenath 1998)
For instance the internet is no longer for the few intellectual people in the society nearly every person is using internet for various reasons. The more the increased number of users with limited values for the intellectual the more the unethical actions take place in the society without much control.
Services provided by the internet
There are various services that are provided by the internet and through which the cases of business ethics emerge.
Communications, internet provides a fast means of communication in the society, communication through the internet has been enhanced through use of e-mails and telephony that is facilitated through internet protocol networks. There are many people especially young people who highly utilize internet for communication. Though this is one of the important services provided by the internet it has increased number of unethical cases in the society. This is because there are certain people that get access to the e-mail addresses of people through unrightfully ways and they use them to send insecure information to people. Also there are certain ways through which they access information in your emails hence making it insecure in most cases when transferring private information. (Roger 2002)
Privacy issues have been reduced for communication via the internet because of lack of ethical values that have been set and practiced by the internet users. What has contributed highly to this is lack of central control of the internet services and usage (Sreenath, 1998).
Information, the other important provided by the internet is the provision of all kinds of information to the users. Internet provides wide range of information to the users in all fields and because of this the utilization of the internet is very high. Some of the information provided in the internet is very sensitive and for that reason there should be ethical standards to govern the kind of information to be provided in the internet in different websites. For instance pornography should not be provided in pages that children can access. Lack of properly set ethical standards has resulted to provision of filthy information through the internet that should not be highly exposed to the public.
Business opportunities, internet provides business opportunities in the society. There are many people in the society who trade using the internet and who earn a living through use of internet. This shows how important internet is in the society; the more it is used for business purposes the more ethical issues rise on daily basis. For instance which ethical standards or regulations govern internet businesses, incase you are trading with a person overseas and fails to pay you what action can you take. These are some of the issues that raise the questions of ethical standards and regulations in the usage of the internet. (Roger 2002)
Concerns raised by different services provided
The different services provided by the internet raise high concerns in the society in regards to ethics. First thing is that internet is not one network but there are many networks, this means that setting up ethical standards to meet all the different networks providing different services is a challenge unless the ethics are set based on the different networks that may not work out well. Because of such an issue solving the internet ethics question might be a great challenge in the society (Sreenath, 1998).
The second factor is that internet is composed of many users that have different interests concerning what they want out of it. Because of such a combination of users of the internet and providers of the services it becomes a challenge to come up with ethical standards that best suit all the groups. This is one of the main reasons as to why there are no clear ethical standards and guidelines that guide internet operations and ways in which it can be used. (James 2008)
Not many of the users of the internet understand clearly ethical and unethical actions in regards to the usage of the internet. Lack of knowledge on these issues is also contributing a lot to the lack of properly laid down standards and regulations governing internet usage. Also there are technological complexities that many of the people do not understand that hinder ethics in internet usage. Because of this the cases of unethical incidences via the internet have continued to increase over time (Chris, 2007).
The other factor is that internet is globally used hence ethical standards and regulations are usually set nationally. This limits the development of common ethical standards and regulations that govern usage of internet since it is globally used. In order to have effective standards they should be set globally but not nation based. When there are global standards it is easier to implement as well as follow them keenly since they are implemented globally and one can be held responsible for any unethical action in any part of the world (Sreenath, 1998).
Things to follow for proper implementation of internet ethics
Since internet ethics is faced with many challenges that have cost a lot in the society there are certain things that should be understood in order to have proper implementation of internet ethics.
Acceptance that internet is not value-free zone
The general society and the users of the internet should clearly understand that internet is not just a place to express any thing but instead is a world wide opportunity whereby different people share valuable information. When this is clearly understood it becomes easier to shape the content as well as the services that are provided. The users can wholly benefit from the internet. Due to this many of the unethical issues that are highly reported today can reduce since there is respect for the internet (Chris, 2007).
Application of off-line laws to the on-line world
It would be easier to use the off-line laws and ethical standards that are there in the internet usage. This is because coming up with other laws and standards can be challenging and at the same time the off-line can also be utilized and fitted in the internet services. This would be an easier way of setting up ethical standards for internet and any other on-line activities that take place. (Roger, 2002)
Sensitivity to local and local cultures
When coming up with ethical standards it should be understood that it has to cover all the national as well as local cultures. This is because internet is global and the different people who use it have different national values as well as cultures so these diversifications should be highly considered (James, 2008).
Responsiveness to customer or user opinion
The ethical standards and regulations that are set to cover the global society should put into consideration the customers or users opinions. This is because these people are very important in any business and internet is one of the businesses that should consider its customers. The reason is that some of the standards may be set and may instead oppress the customers instead of helping them (Chris, 2007).
Conclusion
Business ethics is very important in any business organization or entity and for the internet is also very important. The reason as to why there are many unethical cases reported currently in the internet services is because there are not properly set down ethical standards that govern the operations of the internet hence many people doing things to harm others intentionally. In order for these problems to seize the above points should be put into consideration when coming up with internet ethical standards and implementing them.
Works cited
- Chris MacDonald, Anonymous Internet: Tool of the Oppressed, and Pornographers?
- E-center for business ethics, Internet privacy
- James A. Warholic, Importance of ethics on the internet, Web.
- Roger Darlington, Internet Ethics; Oxymoron or Orthodoxy, Web.
- Sreenath Sreenivasan, Business ethics on the Web, The New York Times, Web.