Online+Ethics

Online ethics refers to how people behave on the Internet. People using the Internet have access to vast stores of written material, music and movies. In addition, most of the days news and television shows are available online for free. Content creators (copyright holders) expect to be compensated for their work and few people work exclusively for the betterment of mankind. There is a free software movement which does exactly that via the GNU General Public License, however most content creators do so for financial return. Internet users have a choice as to whether they will or will not behave ethically online.

One area of suspect Internet ethics relates to copyright infringement. Many people who use the Internet purposefully infringe on copyrights, some might do this without knowing that they are breaking the law, but most understand that they are breaking the law. The people who know they are breaking the law don't think that what they are doing is too bad, and feel protected by the fact that "Everyone is doing it, so who is going to find out about the small time theft I am doing". These people see copyright infringement as a victimless crime, however there is no such thing.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) works on behalf of the major recording industry companies. As such, they are very interested in people downloading copyrighted music for free. File sharing of copyrighted works has been going on since the inception of the Internet, more specifically since the advent of IRC channels and FTP. In 1997, Forbes magazine stated "So far, RIAA's response has been to juice up its anti-piracy division and, in June, went to court to shut down three of the more "egregious" illegal music archive sites--with promises of more to follow." (Forbes, 1997)

In the years since, the RIAA has litigated more and worked in concert with record companies to arrange for Digital Rights Management (DRM) to be included with music downloads. DRM is copy protection which is added to the music file, preventing people from trading music easily. This has proven to be a joke because for every DRM measure taken, hackers make the effort to thwart the copy protection. Once the largest proponent of DRM technologies for his iTunes store, now Steve Jobs has insinuated that DRM should go away. "Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRM simply hasn't worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy." (Jobs, 2007)

The music industry has made many mistakes in dealing with Internet downloads and we have yet to see the end of the download fiasco. Internet users must decide whether they want to abide by the rules set down by the RIAA or take their music without compensating the creator. Thankfully, there are new options coming out like subscription services which let people listen to the music they want to and compensate the creator for a reasonable monthly fee. Young Internet users must be made aware of the laws and learn of the consequences if they willingly break the law.

Richardson states, there is an "Overwhelming amount of inappropriate content on the Internet" (Richardson, pg. 10) So individuals need to think about their own stewardship of this very powerful tool. A person needs to think about what type of content they wish to view on the web and age appropriateness is one consideration. Some Internet users simply aren't old enough to make good decisions about the proper websites to patronize. Therefore, steps must be taken to preserve the innocence of young people, until they are old enough to experience and discern good content from bad content on the web. Thus, parents and teachers must monitor the Internet activity of the children in their care.

The question of an individuals ethics brings into question a persons integrity. Integrity is best described as what a person does when someone is not looking. Integrity is tied to a persons value system, someone who does not behave ethically will seek out inappropriate material. Young people are still developing their value system, as such, need to be monitored to make sure they do not mistakenly stumble across inappropriate material or go to them knowing rules against such activities. Firewalls help to keep children off of bad websites, but the best firewall in the world will still let some inappropriate sites through.

Parents must take a role in knowing what their children are doing on the Internet. This is key because younger Internet users need to be taught what is and is not appropriate material for them to view. Unlike much explicit content available in stores and highly regulated, online material is easy to find and very hard to control. This creates great opportunities for teachable moments where adults can teach children about viewing appropriate websites and a persons responsibility when using the Internet. This is where children will develop their values which must be fostered with care. Without guidance, children will create their own value system which may be different than what their parents or teachers intended. Perhaps a lack of proper education is where these problems have arisen from in the first place.

Research for Students to complete (Q&A + Webquest):


 * How do you download music from the Internet? From what websites do you download? Do you pay for the music you download? Do you think you should pay for the music you download? Why or why not?
 * Define Integrity - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrity
 * What do you think of the statement "Integrity is what you do when people are not looking?"
 * Do you visit different websites at home than you do at school? If any, what is the difference between using the Internet at home and at school?
 * How do (should) you react when you stumble upon inappropriate websites?

Handouts for Students:


 * Can You Hack It? - http://www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/act_sheets/CY00_Stdnt_G68_L10.pdf
 * Consider Copying - http://www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/act_sheets/CY00_Stdnt_G68_L9.pdf
 * Power and Responsibility - http://www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/act_sheets/CY00_Stdnt_G68_L7.pdf

References Forbes, Inc. (1997). Song Pirates. Retrieved on July 2, 2008 from http://www.forbes.com/1997/07/11/pirate1.html Apple, Inc. (2007). Thoughts on Music. Retrieved on July 2, 2008 from http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/ Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press. Wikepedia. (2008). Integrity. Retrieved on 7/1/08 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrity The CyberSmart Education Company. (2008). Lesson Plans and Activity Sheets. Retrieved on July 3, 2008 from http://www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/lesson_plans/#68