Reinforcing Our Moral Vision: Examining the Relationship Between Unethical Behavior and Computer Crime

摘要

According to some writers, ethics is one of the most important issues of the century. We are told that ethical issues provides framework for analyzing and understanding a number of problems, but on a daily basis, we seem to need more specific and direct guidelines in order to keep ethical responsibilities in the fore front. There does not appear to be a way to directly measure a person's ethical standards. But it has been demonstrated that there maybe a correlation between ethical and moral values. This correlation allows us to indirectly measure ethical standards through their moral values. Thus "Business ethics refers to inquiry into the nature and grounds of moral judgments, standards and rules of conduct in situations involving business decisions.". One thing that we must realize that the mere existence of an ethical code in the information field doesn't assume automatic ethical behavior. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the importance of ethics in the information field and the relationship between ethical and unethical behavior and computer crime. Among the many concerns of information professionals today are data integrity, computer viruses, and invasion of privacy. The need to deter and prevent unethical behavior have brought about new legislation, ways of safeguarding information such as encryption and description devices, a written code of ethics, and crime management and prevention programs. Additionally for those engaged in business, we must remember that ethics with its concerns for the common good of all people and its attempt at a coherent analysis of how it can be achieved, directs us that at times, not to define business in purely economic terms.