Ethical Issues of Internet Privacy Essay Example

there are issues about whether third parties should be allowed to store or read emails without informed consent. Whether or not, the third parties should be permitted to track the visitors on a website, is another major privacy concern. The other important Internet privacy issue is whether the sites that gather personally identifiable information from the users should store or share it. Internet privacy can be considered as a subset of computer privacy.

Computer privacy consists of the data privacy relating to the avoidance of the improper disclosure of the personally identifiable information collected and stored by websites. The effective sharing of data while protecting the private information is the real challenge. One school of thought denies the existence of Internet privacy while the other advocates the necessity of the Internet privacy. Complete anonymity is not the intent of Internet privacy. It rather intends to achieve a controlled disclosure of one's personal information.

Internet is a network of networks and when a person uses the Internet, he/she connects to it and is identified by an address. In technical terms this address is known as an IP address. For security reasons, a website may wish to track these addresses of its users. Websites may collect the non-personally identifiable information of their users. Such information is the one, which in no way can be used to uniquely identify a person. The disclosure of these forms of information is acceptable. It is actually the means by which websites track the users' Internet activities.

Some users prefer stricter forms of privacy such as anonymity to the Internet. Is it ethically right to allow users to use the Internet with a fake or

an anonymous identity? While it caters to the privacy needs of some users, it may endanger the Internet usage for the others. Many users complain of being stalked by the anonymous users. The freedom of expression endowed by social networking, has resulted in some Internet users publicizing wrong or undesired information under false names. They are free to discuss and opine about any and all topics in forums, chat rooms, communities and blogs.

Moreover, such expressions do not require the users to disclose their identities. This raises issues in research ethics pertaining to the privacy of research subjects and informed consent. This is an undue advantage of the Internet privacy whereby the border between the private and the public spaces is made blurred. While providing open platforms for discussions, the Internet is ironically becoming a stage where fake people can voice false opinions and foster fallacies. Does Internet privacy imply that all the information posted on to the Internet remains private and confidential?

Does Internet privacy ascertain the privacy of every Internet user? There are people who dread using online banking and shopping websites because they doubt the unauthorized disclosure of their personal information. Some disguise themselves while using the Internet. Mailing lists and forum posts are a part of the search results on the topics discussed in them. Is it ethically correct to expose people's views in these ways? Some people fear the fact that they have a visibility over the Internet for such reasons.

The rade-off would be to define the demarcating line between what's public and what's private. Internet privacy is indeed important in case of the revelation of personally identifiable information but it requires

to be delimited in cases where privacy puts the Internet ethics on stake. What are the Effects of Computer Hacking? Computer hacking refers to unethical use of technology for gaining unauthorized access to sensitive information on a computer, thereby hampering the security and privacy of computer users. For a closer look at the effects of computer hacking, read on.

Computer hacking is the act of modifying computer hardware or software, in order to cause damage to sensitive data on a computer or to simply steal confidential information. Computer hackers often target home and office computers that are connected to the Internet. The Internet is a gateway for a computer to connect to the world, which also makes it vulnerable to attacks from hackers from across the globe. What are the consequences of computer hacking? Let us find out. Effects of Computer Hacking Computer hacking is a breach of computer security. It can expose sensitive user data and risk user privacy.

Hacking activities expose confidential user information like personal details, social security numbers, credit card numbers, bank account data and personal photographs. User information, in the hands of computer hackers, makes it vulnerable to illegitimate use and manipulation. Hackers may even delete sensitive information on gaining access to it. Deletion or manipulation of sensitive data with intent to achieve personal gain is another effect of computer hacking. A user whose computer has been hacked is at the risk of losing all the data stored on his/her computer.

Manipulation of sensitive user data is a grave consequence of hacking. Identity theft is another important consequence of computer hacking. Identity theft is a fraud that involves pretension to be someone else,

with intent to gain unauthorized access to information or property. It refers to an illegal use of someone else's identity for personal interest or gain. The advances in technology have led to the evolution of key-logging software, which is capable of tracking and recording every key stroke by the user, thereby stealing passwords and account details.

Another serious effect of computer hacking is the denial of service attack. The DOS attack, as it is called, refers to the attempt of making computer resources unavailable to authorized users. Often, websites fall prey to denial-of-service attacks, whereby they are made unavailable for long periods of time, causing inconvenience to users while also hampering website business. Computer hacking can lead to theft of critical business information. Important information about business clients and customers can be lost or manipulated through computer hacking.

Hacking can expose email addresses to hackers, which they might use for spamming and hampering email privacy. Information critical to national security, confidential government data, information related to national defense, security and crime, if exposed by means of hacking, can have grave consequences on the welfare of the nation. Hacking of highly sensitive data can potentially risk the national security and stake the overall well-being of the country's citizens. Hacking can be used to convert computers into zombies i. e. Internet-enabled computers that are compromised by hackers or computer viruses.

Zombie computers are used for fraudulent activities like spamming and phishing. How can you find out whether your computer has been hacked? An unexplained decline in computer performance, an unexpected increase in file size, unexplained modifications to files, sudden changes in network settings of the computer and frequent disk crashes

are some of the warning signs of a hacked computer. Installing reliable antivirus software, enabling a firewall before connecting to the Internet and installing operating system updates on a regular basis, can help you combat hackers.