Summary Of Richard Spinello's Code Of Ethics

As technology becomes increasingly available in today’s society, so too are technological users, digitally stored information as well as computer programmers. The more one knows about technology, they more they are can take advantage of its efficiency as well as suffer some of its draw backs or manipulate technology to their own advantage. The invention of the computer brought about a whole new way to transmit and store information. It is still so new, in fact, that users are still muddled about the ethics behind the use of technology. Richard Spinello, author of CyberEthics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace, introduces some varying ideas of ethics and applies them to modern technology. In particular, several ethic models that he uses will be
Since humans are increasingly relying on computer software to accomplish tasks that speed-up and improve on the paper and pen methods of yesterday, it is only essential that this sort of technology is used to help create a more efficient and productive society. This reasoning is what Spinello describes as natural rights-based since the employee is essentially doing human kind a favor by programming software. With the applications that employee has programmed by using his company’s equipment he adds to the ever-growing community of applications that ultimately strive for efficiency. The company also benefits since more programming leads to a better programmer, thus the company has a better programmer on their hands. Even if there was a possibility that this employee creates malicious computer viruses and distributes them throughout the internet, years from now, the final results of his actions would be increased security for the target programs. While he hurt thousands of people now, he ultimately saves millions of people later since companies are increasingly putting sensitive data in digital databases accessible by personal
The idea is based on Utilitarianism, a form of an outcomes-based ethical model which Spinello quotes William Frankena as describing, “‘…the moral end to be sought in all that we do is the greatest possible balance of good over evil…’”2 Essentially, the best outcome is the best aggregate net gain. So, if the employee chooses to use the sensitive information to sign up for credit cards on his own behalf then he may benefit greatly the free money in his possession, however, those with the stolen identities may suffer long-term credit problems. This is certainly not the best outcome since one party suffers and the other benefits when there is still a viable opportunity for both to benefit. So if, for example, the employee copies and backs up the sensitive information because of an imminent hardware failure at his agency, he ultimately saves his company from losing all the data and wasting resources to re-attain the information. The consumers would also benefit from the act since their information is not used to their disadvantaged and they do not have to take the time and effort to give their information back to the agency. In this example, both parties were able to achieve the best possible outcome, however, the situation could not be judged morally right or