Internet Listserve:cei-1@listserv.american.edu

This is a listserv on the Internet hosted by American University in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Computer Ethics Institute. Electronic mail sent to this address is automatically forwarded to others interested in computer ethics and in activities surrounding the Computer Ethics Institute. To join the list, a person should send E-mail to:

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The National Computer Ethics and Responsibilities Campaign (NCERC)

The NCERC is a campaign jointly run by the Computer Ethics Institute and the National Computer Security Association. Its goal is to foster computer ethics awareness and education. The campaign does this by making tools and other resources available for people who want to hold events, campaigns, awareness programs, seminars, and conferences or to write or communicate about computer ethics.

The NCERC itself does not subscribe to or support a particular set of guidelines or a particular viewpoint on computer ethics. Rather, the Campaign is a nonpartisan initiative intended to foster increased understanding of the ethical and moral issues peculiar to the use and abuse of information technologies.

The initial phase of the NCERC was sponsored by a diverse group of organizations, including (alphabetically) The Atterbury Foundation, The Boston Computer Society, The Business Software Alliance, CompuServe, The Computer Ethics Institute, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, Merrill Lynch, Monsanto, The National Computer Security Association, Software Creations BBS, The Software Publisher’s Association, Symantec Corporation, and Ziff-Davis Publishing. The principal sponsor of the NCERC is the Computer Ethics Institute.

Other information about the campaign is available on CompuServe (GO CETHICS), where a repository of computer privacy, ethics and similar tools, codes, texts, and other materials are kept.

Computer Ethics Resource Guide

The Resource Guide to Computer Ethics is available for $12. (Send check or credit card number and signature to: NCERC, 10 S. Courthouse Ave., Carlisle, PA, 17013, or call 717-240-0430 and leave credit card information as a voice message.) The guide is meant as a resource for those who wish to do something to increase the awareness of and discussion about computer ethics in their workplaces, schools, universities, user groups, bulletin boards, and other areas.

The National Computer Security Association

The National Computer Security Association (NCSA) provides information and services involving security, reliability, and ethics. NCSA offers information on the following security-related areas: training, testing, research, product certification, underground reconnaissance, help desk, and consulting services. This information is delivered through publications, conferences, forums, and seminars — in both traditional and electronic formats. NCSA manages a CompuServe forum (CIS: GO NCSA) that hosts private online training and seminars in addition to public forums and libraries addressing hundreds of issues concerning information and communications security, computer ethics, and privacy.

The information about computer ethics that is not well suited to electronic distribution can generally be obtained through NCSA’s InfoSecurity Resource Catalog, which provides one-stop-shopping for a wide variety of books, guides, training, and tools. (NCSA: 10 S. Courthouse Ave., Carlisle, PA, 17013, 717-258-1816).

SUMMARY

Computer and information technologies have created many new ethical problems. Compounding these problems is the fact that computer users often do not know the full consequences of their behavior.

Several common fallacies cloud the meaning of ethical computing. For example, many computer users confuse behavior that they have a right to perform with behavior that is right to perform and fail to consider the ramifications of their actions. Another fallacy that is widely held by hackers is that as long as the motivation is to learn and not otherwise profit, any action using a computer is acceptable.

It is up to the system managers to destroy these fallacies and to lead the way in educating end users about policies and procedures and behavior that can clearly be discerned as right or wrong.