Abstract
Cyber ethical decisions have grave moral, legal, and social consequences on individuals, organizations, and societies at large. This chapter examines the extent of cyber unethical intentions among students on cyber piracy, cyber plagiarism, computer crime and abuses, and cyber privacy infringement. Using frequency analysis and the t-test of independent samples, the results showed that almost 24% of the respondents have intentions to engage in cyber piracy and about 13% would infringe on others privacy in cyberspace. More respondents have intentions to commit cyber piracy as compared to other cyber ethic issues, while cyber privacy infringement was the least observed. Almost 30% of respondents had intentions to commit software piracy, and 18.6% would engage in hacking activities. Also, cybercrime and computer abuse were more common among males than females. Cyber plagiarism was significantly higher among foreign students when compared to local students. Cyber piracy, cyber plagiarism, computer crime, and cyber privacy infringement were significantly higher in public universities.
TopBackground
Theories of Ethical Guidelines
Ethics seek to address questions on how humankind must live. Its guidelines are derived from theories including Deontology, Consequentialism, and Virtue ethics. Ethical theories provide perspectives for assessing and resolving ethical situations (Yaokumah, 2020). Deontology argues that to act ethically, one ought to follow the appropriate rules needed to perform his or her duty (Kant, 1998). This suggests that right actions are those that are performed out of duty, or in reverence to moral laws.
Consequentialism is the rightness or wrongness of actions, and it depends on an action's consequence (Scheffler, 1988; Sinnott-Armstrong, 2003; Stocker, 1969). Character ethics, also referred to as virtue ethics seek to answer, “what kind of person ought I to be”. It focuses on character, with the underlying belief that a person of good character will take actions that are considered to morally best. Thus, a person with good character would not want to do things that might hurt others. Right actions are those that are performed by virtuous persons. In other words, character ethics is the moral character and habits of the person acting it.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Intellectual Property: Intellectual property is an intangible property used by individuals or corporations. Three different legal traditions protect intellectual property, trade secrets, copyrights, and patent.
Computer Crime: The use of computer as an instrument to further illegal ends.
Academic Integrity: It is the commitment to and demonstration of honest and moral behaviour in an academic setting.
Ethics: Moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or in conducting of an activity.
Cyber Piracy: Using the internet to illegally copy and /or distribute software or intellectual property protected under copy right law.
Computer Abuse: The incident caused by intentional acts from which a perpetrator could have realized a gain and a victim could have suffered a loss.
Cyber Plagiarism: Copying or downloading in part or in their entirety articles or research papers found on the internet and not giving proper attribution or acknowledgement.
Cyberprivacy: The individual right to control the distribution or dissemination of information about himself when using the internet. This involves using right techniques and technologies to protect an individual sensitive data online.