In a paper that discussed various cyber-crimes throughout the years carried out by juveniles, Radnofsky (2006) points us to the seriousness of these types of threats. The paper discusses the importance of changing cyber-culture through education and points to education through safety, security and ethics. Cultural values in terms of cyber ethics is a something that needs to be dealt with both at home and abroad. There are many cases where people within our own country find it perfectly acceptable to share someone else’s production on YouTube or Vimeo, or to share their latest music collection through a peer-to-peer torrent network. While ethically wrong, when activities become commonplace and large organizations encourage sharing of information online via social media outlets, it becomes a grey area to many when they want to share their favorite song or video to friends. Education must be at the forefront in order to clarify such issues and create a better ethical foundation.
Bigger problems exist in the international space where different countries do not have in place well developed laws for protecting copyright, in effect stealing of intellectual assets run rampant in these locations. Bidgoli (2006) highlight the seriousness of the underlying cultural value and opinions on the legitimacy of hacking and sharing of other individual’s or company’s information. Some hackers claim that this kind of activity can be justified in terms of free expression and they believe in the free flow of information. Others here have pointed out the rising popularity of the Swedish Pirate Party that encourages copyright infringement on many scales. This type of political party is not only growing in popularity, but it is influencing cultural values on larger scales overseas. Technology has not only made copyright infringement a simple process today, but it has also made it commonplace. Li (2004). With sponsored organizations overseas it will continue to create more challenges for artists having their work stolen by the mass.
References:
- Bidgoli, H. (2006). Handbook of Information Security. Bakersfield, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Li, M. (2009), “The Pirate Party and the Pirate Bay: How the Pirate Bay Infuences Sweden and International Copyright Relations”, Pace International Law Review, Vol. 21, pp. 281-307. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=pilr
- Radnofsky, M. (2006). Corporate and Government Computers Hacked by Juveniles. The Public Manager, 35(3), 50–55. Retrieved from: http://www.socratesinstitute.org/research/CorpGovHacks.pdf
