50 lines
2.5 KiB
Plaintext
50 lines
2.5 KiB
Plaintext
Contact: "Greg Johnson -aka CCGREG@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU"
|
|
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Computer Ethics
|
|
|
|
University of Missouri-Kansas City
|
|
|
|
Modern computer technology places extraordinary power and information
|
|
in the hands of users. This power carries with it matching
|
|
responsibility. Computer information should be treated no differently
|
|
than the written word. Viewing and using another person's computer
|
|
files, programs, or data without authorized permission is an invasion
|
|
of privacy and unethical behavior which may be considered plagiarism.
|
|
Ethical standards apply even when material is left unprotected.
|
|
|
|
Respect for intellectual labor and creativity is vital to academic
|
|
discourse and enterprise. This principle applies to works of all
|
|
authors and publishers in all media. It encompasses respect for the
|
|
right to acknowledgement, right to privacy, and right to determine the
|
|
form, manner, and terms of publication and distribution. Because
|
|
electronic information is volatile and easily reproduced, respect for
|
|
the work and personal expression of others is especially critical in
|
|
computer environments. Violations of authorial integrity, including
|
|
plagiarism, invasion of privacy, unauthorized access, and trade secret
|
|
and copy-right violations, may be grounds for sanctions against
|
|
members of the academic community.
|
|
|
|
(The above paragraphs are reproduced from "Using Software (A Guide to
|
|
the Ethical and Legal Use of Software for Members of the Academic
|
|
Community").
|
|
|
|
For questions regarding use of certain software, call the Help Desk.
|
|
|
|
>From UMKC, Access A New Era, January 1988.
|
|
|
|
Note: Recently UMC suspended an employee for violating our ethics policies;
|
|
specifically, using a pen plotter to draw huge banners for non-university use.
|
|
We might not have noticed had not the plotter burned out a couple of times from
|
|
cross-hatching 2-foot high block letters. In addition to being suspended from
|
|
work for 6 weeks, his manager asked him to present a research paper on computer
|
|
ethics as part of the terms of his reinstatement!
|
|
|
|
In a similar case here, a graduate student printed thousands of stick-on labels
|
|
for a local ethnic grocery. However, he graduated and returned home before
|
|
we could complete the case, so we've let it drop. We also encountered students
|
|
trading their student userids for use with TELNET and e-mail, so our ID policy
|
|
requiring enrollment is now enforced much more vigilantly.
|
|
|