Unlike legal issues, ethical issues can be more subjective. Ethics can be defined as the study of moral principles or values that determine whether actions are right or wrong and outcomes are good or bad.
Since the invention and wide spread use of the Internet, a number of new ethical questions have been raised. People have been communicating and swapping information for centuries but when conducted in this new context, new ethics have to be devised. The ethics relating to the Internet can be divided into serval categories. The main categories are discussed below.
When using the Internet consumers can sell and purchase goods from all over the world. This idea is remarkable however several ethical issues are raised. On the surface the Internet appears to also consumers to participate in free trade with the rest of the world, where national boundaries are irrelevant. However trade is only really free when all the partners participating are equal � and this is not the case. Like all trade this wealthy will benefit as they have access to more materials and resources and the poor will be disadvantaged, however over the internet there is nothing like a Government to protect them.
The Internet also increases a consumer�s freedom of choice. When using the Internet, the consumer has access to a much wider variety of products. However, with this wider access to all products comes the access to offensive, inappropriate and potentially harmful material. On the Internet, people of various religions, customs and moralities come into contact. What is offensive to one may not be to another. The ethical question that needs to be answered is who controls the content and protects the users of the Internet, as well as do people need protecting and does someone have the right to limit another�s freedom.
This has become an important issue for several reasons, mainly privacy. However a person that is anonymous cannot be held accountable for their actions. The scale of the Internet allows users to reach a large number of people very easily. If this tool is used in good faith there are no problems. However when it is not several ethical questions are raised, primarily how the problem will be solved, who is responsible, and what will happen to those people.
Privacy can be viewed as �either a presumed or stipulated interest that individuals have with respect to protecting personal information, personal property, or personal space�. As the Internet is a worldwide resource it might appear that in different parts of the world privacy is valued to different degrees. However even though this is the case, it has been found that that privacy is universally valued. In fact studies have found that most Internet user are very concerned about their privacy when online. The ethical question that has to be asked, is what is a persons right to protect their own privacy, and as new technologies are developed that conflict with the privacy interests of the individual, how does the individual protect themselves, and to what extent.
The main ethical issues on this topic will be discussed on the following page outlining the Copyright issues in the Internet.
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Legal, and Copyright issues of the internet.