Contact: Maridith Geuder
662) 325-3442
[email protected]
http://www.msstate.edu
Who's policing the Internet? Web site focuses on cyberethics
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Internet has spawned millions of users and countless ways to access information. It also has created a myriad of ethical issues.
To monitor some of them, David A. Vance of Mississippi State University maintains a web site devoted exclusively to issues of computer ethics and usage. Intended primarily for those who teach, http://cyberethics.cbi.msstate.edu is a centralized resource linking articles, discussions and other web sites.
Vance, who teaches survey of information systems in the College of Business and Industry, said the rapid growth of e-commerce has made privacy issues among the most hotly debated "cyberethic" topics.
"Consumers who provide information about themselves may not realize that the information often is sold to others," he said. "Personal information is a natural resource that can be exploited."
Vance, who recently completed a research report on the topic, said private information should be regarded as economic goods. "As things presently stand, we tend to have personal data harvested from us and sold at a profit," he said. "Fundamentally, it is a matter of who has ownership and control of one's personal information."
With identity theft among the fastest-growing crimes in the nation, such discussions have more than theoretical interest.
"Privacy and information rights are seen by some as the next great civil liberties issue," Vance said, pointing to a recent Business Week editorial that calls for clear online privacy standards that give consumers control of how their personal data is used.
Vance said Americans "have much less control over information such as Social Security numbers and age than consumers in European countries." Commercial data also is a ripe area for ethical debate.
"For instance, sites which carry MP3 music files offer consumers the opportunity to download music for free, raising copyright and trademark issues," he said. "Again, we have the question of ownership in a manner unique to digital media."
Given this electronic proliferation, can privacy truly exist when a person uses the Internet? Vance thinks not.
"The only way to assure privacy right now is to unplug your computer and do all your purchases with cash," he said. "That's an unattractive alternative, however."
Vance said a Harris poll taken in March indicates that 57 percent of Americans want the federal government to pass laws to protect personal information, while 21 percent want the government to at least set some national standards. Only 15 percent wanted to continue on the current path of industry self-regulation.
He said those numbers suggest changes are about to transpire. "We will have national legislation to protect personal information," Vance said. "The format of the legislation is unknown, but I believe the impact on business will be profound.
"What we want to do with this site at Mississippi State is to raise awareness of the issues and provide resources for informed policy decisions."
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For additional comments or information, telephone Dr. Vance at (662) 325-3928.
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