Abstract
The explosive growth of computer and communications technology raises new legal and ethical challenges that reflect tensions between individual rights and societal needs. For instance, should cracking into a computer system be viewed as a petty prank, as trespassing, as theft, or as espionage? Should placing copyrighted material onto a public file server be treated as freedom of expression or as theft? Should ordinary communications be encrypted using codes that make it impossible for law-enforcement agencies to perform wiretaps? As we develop shared understandings and norms of behaviour, we are setting standards that will govern the information society for decades to come.
Keywords: computer, cyber law and ethics
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