Adriano, Karen Claire M.

Group 2
Bisquera, Joy Alexa P. BSA 2-2
Cahatol, Patricia May O. Living in the IT Era
Campos, Kristia U. Written Report
Esquivel, Joshua Rafael V.

Ethical Issues in Information Technology

- Information technology has been defined as the processing and distribution of data using computer
hardware, software, telecommunications and digital electronics.
- Ethical considerations for ICT related issues first appeared under the topic ‘’information ethics’’ in
the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology in 1992.
- The impact of ICT on human relationship has been tremendous.
a. How genuine are such relationship?
b. What does it portend for individual satisfaction?
- A wide range of new laws, regulations, rules and practices are therefore needed if society is to
manage these workplace and other changes and development brought about by ICT.
- Thus the society need to consider the following ethical and social challenges related to ICT use:
a. Recognition for personal and corporate ethics associated with ICT.
b. Striking a balance between ethical, economic and technological as well as political
considerations.
1. Intellectual property rights issue (trademarks, patents, copyright and trade secrets).
2. Non violation of privacy and associated rights amidst electronic information data
mining.
3. The opportunity to commit crime with ICT (computer crime).
4. Legal issues and limitations.
5. Consequence of using ICT.
6. Professional responsibilities

Concepts of Ethical Issues

- In the rapidly changing technological environment in which we live; ethical issues are increasingly
been raised, demanding attention and efforts towards resolution.
- The explosive growth of ICT and the use of its enabling technologies have had major impacts on
society and thus raise serious ethical questions for individuals and organizations.
- The pressing issues raised by ICT include the invasion of individual and corporate privacy, intellectual
property rights, individual and societal rights, values preservation and accountability for the
consequences arising from the use of ICT, etc.
- These issues have thrown up important challenges in the area of employment; working conditions
and individuality.
- IT also has problematic implications, and some negative impacts on our society.
- It poses and creates some problems related to ethics, and contains in general three main types of
ethical issues: personal privacy, access right, and harmful actions.
 a. Personal privacy
 In this situation, there is increased potential for disclosing information and
violating the privacy of any individuals and groups of people due to its widespread
disseminations worldwide.
 It is our challenge and responsibility to maintain the privacy and integrity of data
regarding individuals.

b. Access Right
 Due to the current popularity of international commerce on the Internet, the
topic of computer security and access right has moved quickly from being a low
priority for corporations and government agencies to a high priority.
 Without implementation of proper computer security policies and strategies,
network connections on the Internet can’t be made secure from illegal accesses.

c. Harmful action
 This means injury or negative consequences, such as undesirable loss of
information, loss of property, property damage, or unwanted environmental
impacts.
 This principle prohibits use of computing technology in ways that result in harm
to any of users, the general public, employees, and employers.
 Harmful actions include intentional destruction or modification of files and
programs leading to serious loss of resources or unnecessary expenditure of
human resources such as the time and effort required to purge systems from
"computer viruses.

Some Ethical Issues in IT

1. PLAGIARISM
- It is where the work of others is copied, but the author presents it as his or her own work.

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to "plagiarize" means:

• To steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
• To use (another's production) without crediting the source
• To commit literary theft
• To present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about
it afterward.

All of the following are considered plagiarism:

• Turning in someone else's work as your own
• Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
• Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
 • Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
• Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit

Consequences of Plagiarism
- Plagiarism can get you expelled from your course, college and/or university.
- Plagiarism can result in legal action; fines and penalties etc.

2. PIRACY
- Online copyright piracy is the practice of illegally reproducing and sharing information on the internet,
such as music or software.
- Piracy is the unauthorized distribution, theft, reproduction, copying, performance, storage, sale, or other
use of intellectual property (IP) protected under copyright law.

Types of software piracy include:

• Softlifting: Borrowing and installing a copy of a software application from a colleague.
• Client-server overuse: Installing more copies of the software than you have licenses for.
• Hard-disk loading: Installing and selling unauthorized copies of software on refurbished or new
computers.
• Counterfeiting: Duplicating and selling copyrighted programs.
• Online piracy: Typically involves downloading illegal software from peer-to-peer network, Internet
auction or blog. (In the past, the only place to download software was from a bulletin board system
and these were limited to local areas because of long distance charges while online.)

Loss of Revenue Due to Piracy

According to the Business Software Alliance's 2011 Piracy Study, the global piracy rate is 42
percent: Almost half of the copies of software in use are pirated. Their study claims that the pirated
software in use has a total value of $63.4 billion.

3. HACKING
- Hacking generally refers to unauthorized intrusion into a computer or a network.
- A hacker is an individual who is knowledgeable enough to gain access without authorization to computer
systems to identify security flaws.

 Hacking can be undertaken for a variety of reasons, such as the wish to damage a system or the
wish to understand how a system works, so that money can be made out of it. Alternatively, there
might be a desire to alert people to the fact that a system is insecure and needs improving.
 Due to this, some argue that there are ‘hacker ethics’. Hacking can present a moral dilemma. This
is because ‘reformed hackers’ sometimes offer their expertise to help organizations protect
themselves against other hackers.
 Hackers cannot just wander into a system, as they could into an unlocked door. Instead, it requires
a lot of skill. With this skill hackers can demonstrate that a system is insecure and needs improving.
  In this way, it could be argued that hackers play a valuable role. Many argue that hacking might
lead to some improvements, but that it causes such a lot of disruption that it is not worth it in the
long-run.

Hackers employ a variety of techniques for hacking, including:

 Vulnerability scanner: checks computers on networks for known weaknesses.
 Password cracking: the process of recovering passwords from data stored or transmitted by
computer systems.
 Packet sniffer: applications that capture data packets in order to view data and passwords in transit
over networks.
 Spoofing attack: involves websites which falsify data by mimicking legitimate sites, and they are
therefore treated as trusted sites by users or other programs.
 Root kit: represents a set of programs which work to subvert control of an operating system from
legitimate operators.
 Trojan horse: serves as a back door in a computer system to allow an intruder to gain access to the
system later.
 Viruses: self-replicating programs that spread by inserting copies of themselves into other
executable code files or documents.
 Key loggers: tools designed to record every keystroke on the affected machine for later retrieval.

5 Easy Ways on How to Protect Yourself from Hacking:

Number one: Use two-factor authentication or two-step verification everywhere that you can.
Number two: Don’t use the same password everywhere.
Number three: Make sure that you stay up to date.
Number four: Social media, be careful with how much information you actually put online.
And last but not least: Personal information. That’s one of the biggest things that attackers can leverage
to get access to your data.

4. MALICIOUS CODES
- Malicious code attacks include a number of types of computer programs that were created with the
intention of causing data loss or damage.

Three main types of malicious code attacks:

a. Virus
 A virus is malicious software that is attached to another program to execute a particular unwanted
function on a workstation.
 An example is a program that is attached to command.com (the primary interpreter for Windows
systems) and deletes certain files and infects any other versions of command.com that it can find.

b. Trojan horse
 A Trojan horse is different only in that the entire application was written to look like something
else, when in fact it is an attack tool.
  An example of a Trojan horse is a software application that runs a simple game on a workstation.
While the user is occupied with the game, the Trojan horse mails a copy of itself to every address
in the user's address book. The other users receive the game and play it, thereby spreading the
Trojan horse to the addresses in each address book.

c. Worms
 Worms are self-contained programs that attack a system and try to exploit a specific vulnerability
in the target.
 Upon successful exploitation of the vulnerability, the worm copies its program from the attacking
host to the newly exploited system to begin the cycle again.

Clearly writing and spreading virus programs are unethical acts; they have very serious consequences, and
cause systems to crash and organizations to cease operating for certain periods. One of the most
concerning consequences of such actions is when viruses interrupt the smooth functioning of an
organization which could in extreme cases even cause people to die. Logic bombs are also sometimes
planted. There is obviously a lot of anti-virus software on the market now though that helps to deal with
this ever-growing problem.

How can you protect yourself against malicious code?

Following these security practices can help you reduce the risks associated with malicious code:
 Install and maintain antivirus software.
 Use caution with links and attachments.
 Block pop-up advertisements.
 Change your passwords.
 Back up data.

5. CYBERCRIME
 It is an attack on information about individuals, corporations, or governments. Although the
attacks do not take place on a physical body, they do take place on the personal or corporate
virtual body, which is the set of informational attributes that define people and institutions on
the Internet.
 Breach of personal or corporate privacy, such as assaults on the integrity of information held in
digital depositories and the use of illegally obtained digital information to blackmail a firm or
individual.
 Highlights the fragility of such seemingly solid facts as individual identity.
 Internet offers criminals multiple hiding places in the real world as well as in the network itself.

INTERNATIONAL TREATIES
 NOVERMBER 23, 2001 - Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention
 USA PATRIOT Act of 2001

TYPES OF CYBERCRIME
1. Identity Theft – unauthorized use of someone’s personal data or documents.
 2. Internet Fraud – use of Internet services or software with Internet access to defraud victims or to
otherwise take advantage of them.
3. Child Pornography – possession of images of children under age 18 engaged in sexual behavior.
4. Digital Piracy – an act of copying a certain product (other than the copyright holders) and resells
it for a fraction of the cost that the legitimate producer charges.
5. Cyberterrorism – use of the Internet to cause public disturbances and even death. Cyberterrorism
focuses upon the use of the Internet by nonstate actors to affect a nation's economic and
technological infrastructure.

6. IDENTITY THEFT AND INVASION OF PRIVACY

 “identity theft occurs when a party acquires, transfers, possesses, or uses personal information
of a natural or legal person in an unauthorized manner, with the intent to commit, or in
connection with, fraud or other crimes”
 Why does it happen?
 They make off with digital information about individuals that is useful in many ways.
 They might use individual personal information to create new identities for other criminals.

STAGES OF IDENTITY THEFT:

1ST - acquisition of personal information belonging to persons, living or dead, which might come from an
ordinary handbag or wallet theft, or a database (even password protected) that can easily be opened by
individuals with the expertise and special equipment.

2ND - the stolen information will be either sold on illegal markets online where the law of supply and
demand will help determine its real value (for hackers), or modified to create synthetic identities.

3RD - includes the fraud itself, considering that the possession of personal information belonging to third
parties is not considered, by many jurisdictions, as breach of the law.

TYPES OF INFORMATION:
 Identifying information - name, age, gender, address, phone number, mother’s maiden name,
social insurance/security number, personal identification number (PIN), income, occupation,
marital status, place of residence, etc.
 Buying patterns - stores visited on a regular basis, accounts, assets, liabilities, etc.
 Navigation habits - websites visited, frequency of visits, pseudonyms used on forums,
acquaintances on the net, etc.
 Lifestyle - hobbies, social networks, travelling behaviour, vacation periods, etc.
 Sensitive data - Employment, medical or criminal records
 Biological information - blood group, genetic code, fingerprints

7. INTERNET FRAUD
- The term ‘internet fraud’ refers to any type of fraud scheme that uses email, web sites, chat rooms or
message boards to present fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims, to conduct fraudulent
transactions or to transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions or to others connected with the
scheme.
 Internet fraud may include spam, scams, spyware, identity theft, phishing or internet banking
fraud.
a. Spam
 Spam is a generic term used to describe electronic ‘junk mail’ or unwanted messages sent
to your email account or mobile phone.
 These messages vary, but are essentially commercial and often annoying in their sheer
volume. They may try to persuade you to buy a product or service, or visit a website where
you can make purchases; or they may attempt to trick you into divulging your bank
account or credit card details.

b. Scam
 The power of the internet and email communication has made it all too easy for email
scams to flourish. These schemes often arrive uninvited by email.

c. Spyware
 Spyware is generally considered to be software that is secretly installed on a computer
and takes things from it without the permission or knowledge of the user.
 Spyware may take personal information, business information, bandwidth or processing
capacity and secretly gives it to someone else. It is recognized as a growing problem.

d. Phishing
 Phishing is a technique used to gain personal information for the purpose of identity theft.
Phishing involves using a form of spam to fraudulently gain access to people’s online
banking details. As well as targeting online banking customers, phishing emails may target
online auction sites or other online payment facilities.
 Typically, a phishing email will ask an online banking customer to follow a link in order to
update personal bank account details. If the link is followed the victim downloads a
program which captures his or her banking login details and sends them to a third party.

e. Identity Theft
 A large part of online crime is now centered on identity theft which is part of identity
fraud and specifically refers to the theft and use of personal identifying information of an
actual person, as opposed to the use of a fictitious identity.
 This can include the theft and use of identifying personal information of persons either
living or dead.

f. Internet Banking Fraud

 Internet banking fraud is a fraud or theft committed using online technology to illegally
remove money from a bank account and/or transfer money to an account in a different
bank.
 Internet banking fraud is a form of identity theft and is usually made possible through
techniques such as phishing.
Cybercrime Complaints

Source: National Computer Emergency Response Team Philippines

8. CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
- Child pornography is a form of child sexual exploitation. Federal law defines child pornography as any
visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor (persons less than 18 years old). Images of
child pornography are also referred to as child sexual abuse images. (USA, Department of Justice)
- However, Child pornography in the Philippines is under the Republic Act No. 9775 - AN ACT DEFINING
THE CRIME OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, PRESCRIBING PENALTIES THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
This Act shall be known as the “Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009.”

Child Pornography under section 3 of the said Republic Act, as follows:

Child pornography
- refers to any representation, whether visual, audio, or written combination thereof, by electronic,
mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or any other means, of child engaged or involved in real or simulated
explicit sexual activities.

Explicit Sexual Activity includes actual or simulated

(1) As to form:
(i) sexual intercourse or lascivious act including, but not limited to, contact involving genital to
genital, oral to genital, anal to genital, or oral to anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite
sex;
(2) Bestiality;
(3) Masturbation;
(4) Sadistic or masochistic abuse;
(5) Lascivious exhibition of the genitals, buttocks, breasts, pubic area and/or anus; or
(6) Use of any object or instrument for lascivious acts.
Section 4. Unlawful or Prohibited Acts.
– It shall be unlawful for any person:
(a) To hire, employ, use, persuade, induce or coerce a child to perform in the creation or production of
any form of child pornography;
(b) To produce, direct, manufacture or create any form of child pornography;
(c) To publish offer, transmit, sell, distribute, broadcast, advertise, promote, export or import any form of
child pornography;
(d) To possess any form of child pornography with the intent to sell, distribute, publish, or broadcast:
Provided. That possession of three (3) or more articles of child pornography of the same form shall be
prima facie evidence of the intent to sell, distribute, publish or broadcast;
(e) To knowingly, willfully and intentionally provide a venue for the commission of prohibited acts as, but
not limited to, dens, private rooms, cubicles, cinemas, houses or in establishments purporting to be a
legitimate business; and many more.

Section 6. Who May File a Complaint.

– Complaints on cases of any form of child pornography and other offenses punishable under this Act may
be filed by the following:
(a) Offended party;
(b) Parents or guardians;
(c) Ascendant or collateral relative within the third degree of consanguinity;
(d) Officer, social worker or representative of a licensed child-caring institution;
(e) Officer or social worker of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD);
(f) Local social welfare development officer;
(g) Barangay chairman;
(h) Any law enforcement officer;
(i) At least three (3) concerned responsible citizens residing in the place where the violation occurred; or
(j) Any person who has personal knowledge of the circumstances of the commission of any offense under
this Act.

Section 14. Care, Custody and Treatment of a Child Victim.

– The DSWD shall ensure that the child who is a victim of any form of child pornography is provided
appropriate care, custody and support for their recovery and reintegration in accordance with existing
laws.

Section 15. Penalties and Sanctions.

– The following penalties and sanctions are hereby established for offenses enumerated in this Act:

(a) Any person found guilty of syndicated child pornography as defined in Section 5 of this Act shall suffer
the penalty of reclusion perpetua and a fine of not less than Two million pesos (Php2,000,000.00) but not
more than Five million pesos (Php5,000,000.00);

(b) Any person found guilty of violating Section 4(a), (b) and (c) of this Act shall suffer the penalty of
reclusion temporal in its maximum period and a fine of not less than One million pesos (Php1,000,000.00)
but not more than Two million (Php2,000,000.00);
(c) Any person found guilty of violating Section 4(d), (e) and (f) of this Act shall suffer the penalty of
reclusion temporal in its medium period and a fine of not less than Seven hundred fifty thousand pesos
(Php750,000.00) but not more than One million pesos (Php1,000,000.00); and many more.

 The global poll asked 550 experts about the most dangerous countries for women when it came
to healthcare, discrimination, cultural traditions, sexual violence, non-sexual violence, and human
trafficking. The Philippines made it to the top ten of the last category.

Image: Thomson Reuters Foundation

Human Trafficking in the Philippines as of December 2017

REFERENCES

https://www.iuokada.edu.ng/journals/5B6AA29B40ADBA7.pdf
https://www.plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism
https://www.scanmyessay.com/plagiarism/consequences-of-plagiarism.php
https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/piracy
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/loss-revenue-due-piracy-76178.html
https://www.techopedia.com/definition/26361/hacking
https://insights.samsung.com/2018/07/20/5-easy-ways-to-protect-yourself-from-hackers/
https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/tips/ST18-271
http://www.site.uottawa.ca/~nelkadri/CSI5389/Papers/8-Aimeur_and_Schonfeld_PST2011.pdf
https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-fraud-schemes/internet-fraud
https://www.yourdictionary.com/digital-piracy