Face To Face

*Note: This is a blog entry about another one of the classes I missed while I was on a trip. My knowledge may not be as detailed as it should be. Please excuse that.

Recently a discussion about 'ethics' took place in I.T. class. Ethics is a term referring to principles that apply to a system. Ethics are basically a question of morality. A situation involving ethics can be described using a very simple example. If you step into a store and see an item that you would like to possess, most people would choose to purchase it. The small amount of people who would consider stealing the item and do it are demonstrating that there are always two ways to deal with a situation. One is wrong and one is right, and ethics define right and wrong.

In I.T. class we deal with computer ethics. Ethics seem to work very differently virtually than they do when you are face to face with a person. Participating in harmful or illegal activities such as hacking, cracking and piracy aren't viewed from a serious standpoint virtually. When someone takes part in these activities they don't think they are dealing with a person, it seems as if they are dealing with just the computer screen. No immediate harm is determinable so it makes it easier for them to justify their actions and consider them 'okay'.

This has led to a growing problem in our world today as hackers and crackers continue to do damage without stopping to think about what they are doing. Everything you do virtually affects somebody in the physical world. So please think about your actions, whether they be virtual or in person because they are both part of a reality.