InterChange on
CyberEthics (2/16)

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Wayne Butler:
Should there be cyberethics?  If so, who should set them?  Who 
should enforce them?  If you are interested in this topic, state your 
position on the issue, offer a couple of reasons why you believe the 
way you do, and then offer some evidence to support your position.  
Then, look for someone who disagrees with you and look for the 
fallacies in their argrument.

Todd Dubinsky:
There should be generally understood acceptable things on the net, 
but there shouldn't be a set list of rules

Kelly Kloustin:
This is a very sticky subject with me, because I believe that their 
should be unwritten rules concerning common courtesies, not 
specificly regulated rules because that will just feed the pro-
censorhip argument.

Kathleen Soo Hoo:
There should definitely be a set of "cyberethics." There is a line 
between right and wrong.

Todd Dubinsky:
I don't think there is a line between right and wrong....I kinda think 
it's a lot less defined.    

Kathleen Soo Hoo:
Less defined how?

Kelly Kloustin:
I remember reading in a book a list of the "computer 
commandments", and that is what i'm talking about. However I am 
not quite sure how I would pick one specific aspect because it 
overlaps other issues like privacy and censorship.

Wayne Butler:
Kelly,
I'm sorry to hear in the other conference that you've been getting 
harassed.  One way the person could have gotten your number is 
through x.500.  As you probably know, we each have an entry in U of 
M's electronic phonebook.  So, all someone needs to do if they know 
your name and school affiliation is look you up on the UM directory 
through gopher.  By the way, if feel threatened in any way, I'd 
suggest you contact authorities.  You do have a right to privacy and 
not to be harrassed!

Kelly Kloustin:
I just feel that is not right for certain jerks out there to alienate new 
users . I used to be so enthusiastic about the net, but right now it is 
just scaring me.

Kelly Kloustin:
Dr.Butler,
It is not enough to be condsidered harassment by legal standards it 
is just enough to be annoying.

Kathleen Soo Hoo:
Kelly: There are a lot of jerks out there. If you haven't already I 
would change your X500 entry. 

Kelly Kloustin:
Kathleen: I think it is kind of too late for that. Sometimes I wonder 
though, why with not only the University but the federal 
government that private inforamtion is just too easy to come by.  My 
boyfriend is  a computer fiend so I asked him to try and see how 
much information he could find out about me, just so I could see 
what other people have access to.  He told me that he can get a hold 
of my student id number ,which we all know is just our social 
security number plus a digit. With someone's  S.S. number you can 
find out almost anything. 

Wayne Butler:
Take a look at my original message at the top of the transcript for 
this conference, and try to do what I suggest if you can. I think it will 
help us all get something really substantial going.

Kelly Kloustin:
Is anyone  still there, I feel like I'm talking  to a brick wall.

Kathleen Soo Hoo:
Kelly: wow, I didn't know that. 

Vanessa Liou:
The only thing I think you can do is just be aware that anything can 
happen on the net and through the net.

Kelly Kloustin:
There should definitely be some standard of cyberethics. However, 
they need not be enforced by the thought police. Instead,  virtual 
community members should be self regulating. This is how I feel ,but 
I am not sure that this would provide for a very strong argument.

Kathleen Soo Hoo:
This issue is a very tricky one. It definitely overlaps with the issue of 
censorship. In today's society we have a set of unwritten rules which 
makes us able to live peacefully. We should have somthing like this 
for the Net. And I think that the users should regulate themselves.

Todd Dubinsky:
 
I think something like what is being talked about already exists.   
When people use bad language on the net,  everyone gets 
mad....when wrong things are posted....people get upset.  It exists.

Mike Edwards:
I think the ethics should come from the people on the net also.  I all 
these people act this way in real life I'd be very suprized.  I think 
one should just take a deep breath before your responce.  I like to 
see the attiude of the net mature especially on the irc.  But there is 
also a place needed to kick back and talk but the irc in my opinion 
should be handled fairlly soon before it gets way out of hand.

Mike Edwards:
Kelly,
what does it feel like to talk to a brick wall?

Kelly Kloustin:
I am also curious as to why the government feels a need to go after 
people like Jake Baker who are playing around with perverted 
fantasies,while other people are getting DIRECTLY harassed via the 
net. Are there rules anywhere about this stuff? What is legal and 
what is not ?

Kelly Kloustin:
It is very hard to bounce ideas off of people when there is nobody 
there.

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Modified: 3/4/95