Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace

Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace Richard Spinello. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2000. i65 pp. ISBN 0-7637-i269-8.Deregulation and the Internet's expansion have brought with them decentralized control in communications and publishing. Individuals have gained extraordinary power in exercising free speech and, if they so choose, encrypting that speech to protect it. As this virtual space becomes a greater part of our lives, society is faced with readdressing the social issues of free speech, privacy, intellectual property, and security issues in the context of cyberspace.Cyberethics does not profess to have the answers. It presents issues as a starting point for discussion. There is a need to go beyond law, norms, market place, and software code to find answers for regulating behavior in this new medium called cyberspace. We must also consider the fundamental principles of ethics, principles with a universal quality that transcend space and time. We must be cautious in our decisions to ensure that we do not sacrifice justice and human rights for the sake of the majority. Regulating through external forces can be e∂ective to some degree, but there is greater value in having fixed ethical values as the constraining force, values that promote an atmosphere where individuals can pursue their own well-being, a place where they can flourish. With this premise in mind (the need for an ethical groundwork when addressing the social issues surrounding the Internet), Spinello's work explores how the basic values of autonomy and privacy should be the core for those who would regulate cyberspace to ensure that decisions made will be fair and just.Utilitarian rights promulgated by Mill and Bentham; the contractual rights of Locke, Rousseau, and Rawls; the natural rights of Aquinas and Finnis; the pluralism of Kant: each philosophy contributes possibilities for approaches to an ethical backbone for cyberspace. From utilitarianism comes cost benefit analysis with its inherent flaw of possibly subverting human rights if it benefits a majority. Spinello uses the monitoring of corporate email as an example of weighing the benefit versus the cost for such behavior. In the contractual discussion, i.e., the implicit social contract between an individual and society, property and privacy rights are used to illustrate that although the premise is appealing, utilitarianism gives no guidelines for choosing one right over another when each is valued. Spamming is used to illustrate the complexity of this need to have guidelines for selection when one value interferes with another. Marketers consider mass e-mailings as a right under free speech, while the recipients take issue with invasion of privacy and misuse of valuable resources (employee time and computer storage). Natural rights look at the individual's right to flourish, the right to truth in communication, the right not to be falsely accused, etc. Policies for cybercommunication should support this right to flourish. Introducing Kant's concept of a universal principle into the discussion of online provision o∂ers a basis for fair service. Proposed services should be examined in light of whether expanding the service will be acceptable as a universal principle and not just expedient for the individual creating it. Are all treated with the respect that one would expect for oneself if the service is initiated? The flaw in this comes with its lack of flexibility for competing values. Using these guiding principles for cyberspace, we must first judge whether any policy imposed is partial, and second, whether it is fair and just, not for a majority, but for all.Spinello challenges the reader to give thought to best solutions for very di[double dagger]cult questions. …

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