The Importance Of Cyber-Ethics On The Internet

Introduction According to the Washington Ethical Society, “Ethics refers to the specific values, standards, rules, and agreements people adopt for conducting their lives” (What Does, n.d., par. 1) Cyber-ethics is the practice of using appropriate and good behavior while on the Internet (Harris, 2011). A person’s perception of ethical behavior is influenced by many things such as values that we learn from our family when we are children and social influences from our peers (Lauby, 2012). With the emergence of the Internet, came a whole new world filled with ethical challenges as people were given additional opportunities to act in appropriate and inappropriate ways. Some of these ethical challenges involve digital media and its proper use,

As the number of Internet users continues to increase and diversify, etiquette will continue to be increasingly important. It is vital that people recognize personal differences and practice etiquette within diverse digital communities. The respect that is expected of an individual when communicating with someone does not change just because he is not making face-to-face contact. Comments that are posted to a blog, newsgroup, forum or website and write during a public chat session leave a digital footprint even if they are deleted by the author. That is why it is important to watch what one writes and not use offensive and vulgar language which is not acceptable and very unnecessary (What is Cyberethics, n.d.). The ability to communicate in writing is more difficult and therefore it is essential to communicate ideas clearly and concisely, so as to avoid their misinterpretation by receivers (Kozik & Slivova, 2014). That is why one should not use all capital letters when constructing an email or posting something as it is viewed as a form of internet shouting. It is illegal and unethical to use digital media to access other people’s accounts and/or to pretend to be someone else. To create sites, pages, or posts that seem to come from someone else can be wrong and hurtful (What is Cyberethics, n.d) “In New York and California, online impersonation

There are ways that others can acquire your information even with privacy settings such as phishing attacks which use email or malicious websites to gather personal and financial information (Spam, 2014). By limiting the amount of personal information that one makes available on the Internet, a person is better able to protect their privacy and