Monday, May 10, 2010
Saturday, March 28, 2009
ETHICS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Information ethics is the field that investigates the ethical issues arising from the development and application of information technologies. It provides a critical framework for considering moral issues concerning informational privacy, moral agency (e.g. whether artificial agents may be moral), new environmental issues (especially how agents should one behave in the infoshere, problems arising from the life-cycle (creation, collection, recording, distribution, processing, etc.) of information (especially ownership and copyright, digital divided. Information Ethics is related to the fields of computer ethics and the philosophy of information.
Dilemmas regarding the life of information are becoming increasingly important in a society that is defined as "the information society". Information transmission and literacy are essential concerns in establishing an ethical foundation that promotes fair, equitable, and responsible practices. Information ethics broadly examines issues related to ownership, access, privacy, security, and community.
Information technology affects fundamental rights involving copyright protection, intellectual freedom, accountability, and security.
Professional codes offer a basis for making ethical decisions and applying ethical solutions to situations involving information provision and use which reflect an organization’s commitment to responsible information service. Evolving information formats and needs require continual reconsideration of ethical principles and how these codes are applied. Considerations regarding information ethics influence “personal decisions, professional practice, and public policy. Therefore, ethical analysis must provide a framework to take into consideration “many, diverse domains” (ibid.) regarding how information is distributed.
PHILIPPINES E-COMMERCE LAW
When President Estrada signed the e-commerce law, the Philippines became only the third country in
Southeast Asia with legislation to promote and protect electronic transactions. This culminates a very long
and tedious process that was started way back July 1st 1998, when Senator Juan M. Flavier filed the first of
many bills that would eventually lead to the Philippine Electronic Commerce Act (R.A. 8792, an act
providing for the recognition and use of electronic commercial and non- commercial transactions, penalties
for the unlawful use thereof, and for other purposes).
The E-Commerce law addresses the significant legal challenges facing Filipinos who wish to participate
in this wealth-creating global phenomenon. First, it gives validity and legal recognition to electronic
documents, electronic signatures and electronic transactions. Second, it facilitates the admission of
electronic documents and electronic signature as evidence in cases of disputes. Third, it outlaws and
penalizes unauthorized access to information and interference in communications systems (i.e., hacking,
introduction of viruses and the like). Finally, it calls upon government to formulate and institute programs
that are not only supportive of e-commerce but would actually get the government online.
Many questions will be raised especially in the first months of the law’s implementation. This is an
initial attempt to provide some answers to questions regarding to how the law was intended to mean. This
will discuss many, not all, provisions of the law that we feel is the most important for the private as well as
public sectors.
In this law, the Philippine government explicitly recognizes the vital role of information and
communications technology (ICT) in nation-building. The need to create an information-friendly
environment that would ensure the availability, diversity and affordability of ICT products and services is also
recognized as an important component of government policy. It also recognizes the need for policies and
programs to develop human resources for the information age. The law also recognizes the need to marshal,
organize and deploy a national information infrastructure. In achieving these goals, the primary
responsibility of the private sector in contributing investments and services in ICT is acknowledged.
This e-commerce law is intended to facilitate the use of