Barbarians and Roman Civilisation

Barbarians and Roman Civilisation The debate surrounding the extent to which the Barbarians facilitated the disappearance of Roman civilisation in the years 376AD to 496AD is one that has been contested throughout history. The arguments can be divided into two major schools of thought. Firstly, Henri Pirennes, Pirenne Thesis[1], which postulates the Barbarians did not facilitate for the disappearance of Roman civilisation and culture, with Roman society continuing after the breakdown of central authority. Pirenne asserts the Barbarians sought to benefit from the established Roman civilisation, and thus strove to preserve the Roman way of life. Conversely, the eminent Bryan Ward-Perkins -archaeologist and professor at Oxford University- hypothesises in his magnum opus, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization the argument: Germanic people instigated the end of civilisation for almost one thousand years, characterised by social, economic and technological regression.[2] I believe, its undeniable to determine that n umerous areas of the former Western Empire suffered detrimental changes to their quality of life at the hands of the Barbarian tribes. Nevertheless, evidence shows an abundance of continuity across the former Western Empire following the Germanic incursions, with society progressing in Barbarians cities such as Marseille[3]. Therefore, when assessing the extent to which the Barbarians facilitated for the disappearance of Roman Civilisation; one must determine on a case-by-case basis with no overarching answer conclusively possible. Although, it appears for the majority of the former Western Empire that society progressed, characteristically Roman, but slowly transformed into a Germanic-Romano society, reinforced prominent primary and contemporary sources. One example of the supposed regression that Ward-Perkins uses to develop the idea of the fall of Roman civilisation is the collapse of literary sophistication[4] which characterised the Empire. Ward-Perkins argues the literary record of the Dark Ages was not as comprehensive and sophisticated as the period of Roman authority that preceded it. When assessing whether Romanic literary culture survived, or in fact developed, the most utilitarian surviving material is the primary source of eight court charters from Lombardy and Merovingian France. These documents provide an unrivalled primary source for evaluating if Romanic literary culture survived. The Merovingian documents illuminate that of 138 subscribers 73.2% managed to sign the document themselves.[5] With only 37 not being able to sign and therefore assumed illiterate we can see an exceptionally high literacy rate. The documents also highlight the demographics of the signatories allowing us to see indisputably, 53 out of the lit erate 101 were traditional laymen.[6] Of course, this statistic cannot be conclusive of the entire former Western Empire, but is an indicator that decades after the sacking and formal Germanic occupation a culture of literacy did not irrefutably fall, and in places such as Merovingian France it undeniably developed. Subsequently, this primary source supports Henri Pirenne, who asserted, There was an extensive and mostly literate Merovingian lay culture [under Clovis I.][7] However, as much as these primary documents aid Pirennes argument, in equal regard, they retract, supporting the argument that one cannot provide an overarching answer, assisting Ward-Perkins overall regression claims. The first reason why the source is disputable in its substance is those called to sign attendance were innately from the higher echelons of society, even at upper lay level[8], where literacy was more common than across the general population spectrum. Analysing the equivalent primary documents of Lombard Italy, the number is nowhere near as impressive, considering that of 988 signatories only 326[9] could sign their name. Despite representing 633 of the signatures, only 14% of laymen managed to sign with 554 instead having to use the stamp. The value of this Pro-Pirenne source is retracted further when consider ing that Lombard women were excluded from signing, allowing us to assume immediately that 50% of the population was inherently illiterate. Subsequently, this primary source provides a clear level of understanding into the nature of post-Roman literacy. Nevertheless, it must be ascertained that the documents cant be treated overly conclusive due to their incomplete nature, and as they only show a localised picture.   Moreover, the documents suggest arguably the most conclusive argument, pockets of Romanic civilisation in the field of literacy continued to excel, whereas others regressed following the fall of Rome. It must be acknowledged since only a modicum of documents survived they cannot be wholly representative of the population, coupled with the fact, not everyone would have been called to sign a during their life. These people were the lowest on the social hierarchy; as a feudal society and due to the nature of the time its overwhelmingly likely that the majority of the population would remain illiterate. Overall, this primary source appears to be mostly useful as it mirrors the trends of many other facets of Roman life that can be proved more conclusively with France flourishing, culturally and economically whereas other regions, especially in Italy[10]. There is evidence, in line with the Pirenne Thesis suggesting society did not back track, seen in Merovingian France, with Gregory of Tours Historia Francorum,[11] allowing us to see literary sophistication surviving 108 years after the fall of Rome. Yet, concurrently supporting Ward-Perkins as there is evident disparity across the Empire, from written sophistication, down to technical regression, with the reduction of documents written on Papyrus paper; seen by the fact that 7th century Italy only has eight surviving Papyrus documents, only one originating from Rome.[12] Therefore, allowing us to see that even though the upper classes are still literate theyre producing less material of the prow ess that characterised the empire. Similarly, for the subordinate classes the lack of evidence makes it impossible to formulate a broad conclusion for large areas of the former Western Empire. On the surviving information, available the evidence would suggest the Pirenne Thesis as the most convincing argument when analysing literacy in the former Western Empire, as it appears broadly, a literary culture survived. Many contemporary historians promote the view of the Barbarian as, lacking refinement being primitive, ignorant, brutal, rapacious, destructive and cruel.[13] Emphasising the idea, Roman civilisation was extinguished suddenly and brutally: Roman civilization did not pass peacefully. It was assassinated.[14] Which I do not agree with; rather I align with Pirenne who affirms the Barbarians found it advantageous to embrace the culture.[15] The Primary source, Sidonius Apollinaris promotes in his letters[16] the civilised Barbarian, the Visigoth King, Theodoric II. Apollinaris presents Theodoric with a lengthy description describing him as a man of prestige and celestial reverence, with the masculine grandeur avowing If there is a miss through eithers error, your vision will mostly be at fault, and not the archers skill. Yet still possess a fair complexion often flush, but from modesty, and not from anger. From Apollinaris description, we see Theodoric as the ideal Tertullian[17] noblema n, an embodiment of Western Culture; which Theodoric II unequivocally strove to fit, a blend between the philosophically methodical and the compassionate.[18] We can see that Apollinaris epistle is a valuable source for analysing whether the Barbarians continued Roman ideals, due to contextual factors. Firstly, Theodoric strove to preserve Roman civilization like his father, as they saw Frankish culture as subordinate to Roman due to the admirable ideals Roman culture presented. Their determination to preserve roman culture can be seen at the Battle of Chà ¢lonswhere they fought alongside the Romans to force Attila out of North-Eastern France. Despite being the (illegitimate) grandson of Alaric I, under Theodoric I, Frankish-Barbarian culture became interconnected with the Romans. As they were pivotal to Roman victory upon Theodorics II succession he was engulfed into the higher strata of Romanic civilisation having gained acclamation defending Romanic culture against rival Barbari an empires. Therefore, when evaluating the source, we can see from Theodorics territories, despite the loss of a centralised government in 476AD, the region remained Roman in nearly every sense of the word, only through decades of gradual attrition long after the fall of Rome that the region itself stopped identifying as Roman, evolving into a Gallo-Romano society. Theodoric produced a myriad of geometric and stonework motifs[19] in Carcassonnea promoting continuity between Rome and the reign of Theodoric II, showing Roman civilisation surviving. Despite Apollinaris sheer idealisation of Theodoric, we can see that the description isnt just propaganda comparable with Tacitus Germania[20], but, rather an astute analysis of Theodorics character. We can see this as Apollinaris outlines Theodoric wanting to represent a Roman man but falling short, he embraced Christianity to preserve Roman civilisation; however, it was apparent his prayers were more in habit than in convicted assiduity. Subsequently, its undeniable to determine that despite the sources amplification, its credible in its material; a criticism suggesting Theodoric wasnt a convicted Christian would send him into a bout of rage. However, the suggestion he was almost so civilised as for him to be Roman should be taken lightly as despite his appreciation of culture and art, he obtained th e throne by the murdering elder brother Thorismund[21]. Gibbon stated: he justified this atrocious deed by the design which the heir-apparent formed of violating his alliance with the empire.[22] Therefore, regardless of the good nature to Theodorics crime, defending the Empire, he violated the principles of being Roman. In Theodorics Visigoth kingdom, its clear to see Romano culture surviving, only after gradual attrition, evolving. Therefore, we see both Pirenne and Ward-Perkins coming through; Pirenne could clearly assert that culture here did survive before transforming into a Gothic kingdom. This source validates the argument of Ward-Perkins, its clear despite the attempts made by Theodoric to maintain a level of Roman culture; it was incompatible with the average Barbarian who had little interesting in preserving Romanness dating back to the tribe of Theodorics grandfather sacking Rome in 410AD. Theodorics Roman ideals were not shared by the upper echelons of the Frank society , seen by the fact he was assassinated only a few years after taking the throne by brother Euric. Its possible to see the shift (or, perceived shift) in civilisation from Roman control to Barbarian through the primary source, the Bishop of Chaves, Hydatius. Hydatius The Chronicle of Hydatius and the Consularia Constantinopolitana[23] provides the only extensive account of Spanish history through the fifth century. Hydatius states that post-Roman Gallaecia was, A wretched place to live, the inhabitants: cold, inhospitable and brutishà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Despite the mineral wealth, the place had a vile reputation for brigandage and ruinous tribal warfare.[24] Hydatius allows us to see the transition from peaceful times the emergence of a Germanic kingdom, following 411AD and, Vandal and Suevi invasions theres a drop in the variety of sources used by the Churchman. Hydatius was forced to live within an isolated Roman community constantly threatened by the barbarian presence[25], subsequently Germanising the region facilitating for a cultural revolution. The complexity of the Chronicle is replaced by uncertainty; Hydatius makes no secret of the fact that the Barbarians that facilitated for the loss of sophistication in his work. Following the death of John of Jerusalem in 417AD, all Hydatius could ascertain was that an elderly man took over the bishopric, despite it being well known outside Northern Spain that Praylius had been occupying the role for several years. Due to the Barbarian occupation, we see clear gaps in the information the source presents. Hydatius knows after the expulsion of Nestorius from Constantinople, Flavian became the Patriarch (447-449); but gives no indication that he knew of either man who occupied the role from 431-447AD, Maximian and Proclus[26]. Subsequently, we see an undeniable decline under Germanic occupation regressing from fluid streams of communication with Flavius Aetius to uncertainty; reinforcing the argument that Barbarians facilitated the disappearance of Roman civilisation in the years 376AD to 496AD. However, akin to many characteristics of the period, the answer appears to be somewhere in the middle, which becomes apparent due to Hydatius source limitations. Hydatius is intrinsically anti-German due to their forceful occupation of his land and therefore he demonises them at every opportunity. Its perspicuous that the Chronicle was never intended for anyone outside Spaniards, potentially even Galicia.[27] Despite being a one-of-a-kind account of Barbarians in Spain, Hydatius is prone to exaggerating the occupations impacts. The barbarian entry in 409AD was undoubtable an event which made an impact, but not a resounding one, with chroniclers such as Count Marcellinus passing over it with silence, but to Hydatius it was an event of equal significance to the Sack of Rome. Delusion expected of a man who fully expected the world to end within fifteen years[28]. One of the reasons why Hydatius source is not conclusive of Germanic Spain is due the contrast between Hydatius meagre knowle dge of the world, compared with the other letters and sources coming out of Spain synchronously. We can see that during the period of 468-483AD, when the times were more tumultuous, encompassing the fall of Rome we can see that communication between the Rome and Mà ©rida was frequent and fast. This consequently, suggests the rest of Spain was not so cut off from civilisation and the Romanic world. There are many communiquà ©s addressed to Zeno, the Bishop of Mà ©rida from Pope Simplicius, with one reading We have learned from the report of many[29], about Zenos excellent administration. Therefore, it can be deduced that many travellers reported the ecclesiastical conditions in Southern Spain, Simplicius bears no hint of anticipating any difficulties in sending confidential letters outlining his ambitions to a distant land that Hydatius had marked as Barbaric. Correspondingly, the metropolitan bishop, and the Pope years prior to Hydatius, referred to North-Western Spain as the edge of the world and an extreme part of the earth[30], it is subsequently no surprise that Cape Finisterre was believed to the furthest west point on Earth. Therefore, the hypothesis that the Barbarians alone were responsible for the lack of communication is not a conclusive one, despite it being true that the reach of the sources decreased; there was a reason why for centuries the Greeks referred to the land as mountainous, cold and hard to reach. Subsequently, supporting the argument that despite what Hydatius said appearing mostly true, when considering the entire Western Empire, the account is microcosmic. Reinforcing the idea that in certain areas, life carried on as normal, whereas in other places, such as Galicia, the status-quo Romanic culture was replaced by the new Germanic one. For the majority of people in Spanish lands communication does not seem to be affected, referenced by the dozens of surviving letters between Tarragona and Rome (463-465AD) with, in the many qualms raised, communication never even being implied. When assessing whether Roman Civilisation disappeared or not, one of the most compelling arguments from both Ward-Perkins and Pirenne is centred on the post-Roman economy. Henri Pirennes Thesis has spearheaded the argument suggesting continuity with the Roman economic model. The Thesis establishes that Mediterranean trade in 600AD was no different to that of 400AD taking the stance that the Germanic invasions did not destroy the unity that the ancient Mediterranean world had enjoyed[31]. This perception of continuity has stemmed debate, especially considering Pirennes Thesis is heavily reliant upon written evidence[32],   Looking at the archaeology along with the written sources is pivotal to comprehending the post-Roman economy and the role the barbarian invasions played; thus, Ward-Perkins provides a convincing argument. Extensive settlements such as Marseille are communities that had significant populations supported by excellent archaeological records, enabling the most ro unded view on the extent to which Barbarians facilitated the disappearance of Roman Civilisation. As preluded, one such case study mentioned by both Ward-Perkins and Pirenne is Marseille, a site which has been extensively excavated enabling for detailed accounts of Late Antique Marseille to be presented. Ward-Perkins incorporates the evidence of professor Simon Loseby, accredited for the most vigorous excavation and analysis of Marseille into his work, Ward-Perkins believes, Marseille may have been particularly well-placed to ride, even to turn back, a tide of events whichà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ was pushing ahead the process of urban and economic decline.[33] This conclusion is possible due to examination of both written and archaeological evidence; pinpointing the fact that Marseille continued as a trading centre centuries after 476AD through examination of the ceramic material available there.[34]   It appears Marseille was able to continue as a part of the pan-Mediterranean trading network until at least the end of the sixth century.   Its also noted that Marseille had i ts own mint, capable of producing copper and gold coinage, suggesting that Marseille had an economic hegemony on the surrounding area[35].   Thus, Marseilles image is not simply of a city that endured Barbarian rule, but rather one that progressed.   This view is emphasised in written sources too, seen from the Bishop of Tours, presenting a thriving cosmopolitan city, stimulated by the perpetual flow of merchants, diplomats and churchmen[36]. Conclusively, Marseille undoubtedly avoided economic decline under the rule of the barbarians and from the contextual evidence available the Roman way of life appear does not appear to vanish from the city; collateral to, neighbours Arles. However, Marseille is an isolated case study.   In this instance, the barbarians appear to have had a very small role in the end of the Roman world, Marseille is not representative of the situation many found themselves in after the barbarian invasions.   What it shows through archaeology was that the invasions were not universally detrimental as in some areas, Barbarians sought to use Roman institutions for profit, promoting continuity between the Romans and Barbarians. This is where the differentiation between Ward-Perkins and Pirenne comes in. Across the former Empire, evidence suggests a general decline in standards of living. Ward-Perkins actively pursues the idea that the period following 476AD was one of a dramatic move away from sophistication toward much greater simplicity.[37] He reinforces this stance by through an examination of pottery and coinage, seen through the existence of luxury, but a substantial middle and lower goods market.[38]   Ward-Perki ns also establishes a pattern of reduced pottery and coinage production, across the former Empire in from 476 until the fourteenth century[39].   Where the Pirenne Thesis falls short compared to Ward-Perkins is the fact that Ward-Perkins recognises cities such as London and Marseille flourished following the collapse of Imperial power, whilst other economic centres collapsed. Wherever the Barbarians didnt see profit, they laid siege destroying the societies civilisation, seen from the economic damage left to industries such as farmland, and the loss of citizens either through capture or violence.   Evidence of the Barbarian trail of destruction can be seen from the sack of Mainz all the way to Toulouse and into Spain.   It may be unfair to criticise Pirenne exceedingly, as Ward-Perkins had the best part of seventy years extra research available following Pirennes posthumously published Thesis. Considering the information Pirenne had in the 1920s he provides a de tailed, accurate analysis of Mediterranean trade and Roman Civilisation. But, when we add the years of development, with widespread archaeological analysis, predominantly a post-World War II development; in the Mediterranean and Central/Western European we see a new light. Thus, we are able to come to the conclusion that whilst areas of the former Western Empire fell into a state of economic devastation, other areas improved, rising to new heights under Barbarian occupation. In conclusion, whilst the Barbarians catalysed the ending of the most vast and complex institution in the ancient world, the notion they conclusively marked the end of civilisation in the west for a thousand years is a claim that does not stand true conclusively.   There is undoubtable evidence to suggest that after the occupation of the Empire by the barbarian peoples, the systems implemented by the Romans were still in place, and that both the administrative[40] and day to day status quo remained largely unchanged for over two hundred years. Archaeological and literary evidence suggests, after the Barbarian invasions individual provinces and communities continued to carry out daily life in much the same way that they had done in the later days of the Empire the early seventh century. Following the Barbarians penetration of the empire its undeniable that certain tribes sought to ruthlessly destroy, as can see be in Pesaro and Fano in Italy which had their walls destroyed and internal structures burnt to the ground.[41] Milan too, where the Milanese women and children were enslaved and the men all killed[42]. But, there were clear examples of the preservation of Roman culture as we can see through case studies such as Marseille, and Barbarian kingdoms originally characterised by their Roman way of life. Leading to the assertion that the extent to which Roman civilisation survived depended on where you happened to live. Predominantly, Romanic culture appears to continue for decades after the first crossing of the Danube by the Barbarians, the period of Germanic rule ushered a time of narrowing horizons, strengthening local roots, and consolidating old loyalties.[43] Bibliography [1] A series of papers published from 1922 to 1939. Each book or paper shall be referenced as the title of the book in the footnotes but referred to as the Pirenne Thesis in the document for ease of understanding. [2] The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilisation (Ward-Perkins, 2005) p. 104. [4] The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilisation (Ward-Perkins, 2005) p. 37. [5] Writers and Readers in Medieval Italy (Petrucci, 1995) p. 66. [6] Of the Literate: 53 Lay, 37 ecclesiastics, 2 women and 9 uncertain. [7] Mohammed and Charlemagne (Pirenne, 1939, reprint 2012 edition) p. 284.   Originally published as: De là ©tat de linstruction des laÃÆ' ¯ques à   là ©poque mà ©rovingienne(translation: Lay Education in the Merovingian Epoch) (Pirenne, 1934) [8] Traditional Yeoman for instance, as they would be classified as lay. [9] Writers and Readers in Medieval Italy (Petrucci, 1995) Book, Handwriting and School. [11] The Historia Francorum: Ten books recounting the worlds history from Creation to the Christianization of Gaul, as well as Frankish conquests and the Christianisation of Gaul. [13] Terry Jones Barbarians, Episode 4 End of the World (BBC Two, 2006) [14] The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilisation (Ward-Perkins, 2005) p. 220. [15] Key theme of all books in the Pirenne Thesis mentioned throughout Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade [16] http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/source/sidonius2.html [17]  The father of Western Theology: Tertullian published the book De Pallio, which in part outlined what it meant to be an ideal Roman man, with special focus on those in higher society. [18] Apollinaris on Theodoric II: Silent at a good throw, he makes merry over a bad, annoyed by neither fortune, and always the philosopher. He is too proud to ask or to refuse a revenge; he disdanisn to avail himself of one if offered and if it is opposed will quietly go on playing.- Footnote 16 for the web address to the quote. [19] http://imgur.com/gallery/J41Jl [20] Tacitus Germania: a historical and ethnographic work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire. The book outlines different characteristics and details of each tribe, describing them as a purer race compared to the decadent Romans, the antagonists of Tacitus polemic. [21] This is arguably very Roman. However, we are following the idealised Roman perspective as outlined by Tertullian.   [24] The Chronicle of Hydatius and the Consularia Constantinopolitana (Burgess, 1993) pp. 72-83. [25] The Chronicle of Hydatius and the Consularia Constantinopolitana. (Burgess, 1993) p. 4. [26] The Chronicle of Hydatius and the Consularia Constantinopolitana. (Burgess, 1993) p. 96. [27] Hydatius records events such as the eclipse of the sun on the 11th November 402AD which was a total eclipse where it was scarcely visible in Northern Spain, where he was, but almost total in Constantinople. [28] The Chronicle of Hydatius and the Consularia Constantinopolitana. (Burgess, 1993) p. 32. [29] Romans and Barbarians: The Decline of the Western Empire. (Thompson, 1982) p. 149. [30] The name Finisterre even directly translates to Latin as finis terrae, meaning end of the earth. [32] Mohammed, Charlemagne the Origins of Europe: Archaeology and the Pirenn

How Games Makes a Better World

How games can make a better world A few months ago I saw a talk by Jane McGonigal on TED. com. She has been a game designer for about 10 years now and she had some really interesting ideas about how we spend way to little time playing videogames. We are currently spending 3 billion hours a week playing online games. That might sound like an awful lot of playing games and not so much solving problems like hunger, poverty and climate change. But according to her research, we have to increase that playtime to 21 billion hours a week to survive the next century. Have you ever heard about an â€Å"epic win†?That’s when you succeed with something and the outcome is so extremely positive that you didn’t even know that it was possible. What we need is to transfer epic wins into the real world. But that’s not an easy task. In game we become the best version of our self. When we are playing games we get much better confidence and we are much more likely to stand up and try again after failure, as opposed to when we try to tackle real life problems. In game the missions and problems that you have to solve are always match to the level you’re currently at. That means that before you even start, you know it’s possible.You have to work hard to succeed, but you know it’s possible. When we face a problem in real life we often don’t feel the same way. We often feel overvalued by the problem, depressed or frustrated. In game you rarely feel that way. So what is it in games that make us feel like we can achieve everything? What is it that games have that the real world doesn’t? When you’re first showing up in a cooperative online game, like Guild Wars, World of Worldcraft or Little Big Planet, there are people that are willing to support you with a world saving mission right away.All these collaborators that are willing to help you achieve your epic mission is nothing that exist in real world situations. Thereà ¢â‚¬â„¢s also a lot more positive feedback in games than it is in the real world. Games like Guitar Hero always boost your confidence by giving bonus point when you for instance managing to play all the notes right at a really difficult part of a song. Or when you make an awesome slide in the middle of the solo. You don’t get that kind of positive feedback in real life. When I’m done cleaning my room, I wont get â€Å"+1 cleaning†. Or when I’ve finished this homework I wont get â€Å"+25 school†.The problem is that it’s so rewarding to play computer games that many people decide to spend almost all of their time in this virtual world. Just because they think the virtual world is better than the real one. So far, gamers have spent 5,93 million years solving the problems in World of Worldcraft. Imagine if we somehow could transfer all that problem solving in to the real world! How we could do this has been a mystery for me ever since I heard h er speech. Until now that is. Just a few days ago I read a really interesting article in the news magazine â€Å"Ny Teknik†.The article was written by Helen Ahlbom and she gave some very good examples on how we are already making the world better with games. Nissan and Fiat has developed new cars models that save your fuel efficiency in an onboard computer. You later upload your statistics to their website and compete with each other on who can drive most eco friendly. I got so interested by these new ideas that I just had to visit Fiats website to see it for myself. It appeared that the transferring of all the good stuff from games to the reality had already begun.The game gives you a lot of positive feedback on your driving, much like the feedback I earlier said you didn’t get for real world accomplishments. I’ve already started making my own computer games. I always thought that computer games was just something silly you played when you where bored. But now I see how games can make the real world a better place. These new ideas has really got me thinking and I think that this is something that I actually would like to have as a job in the future. ———————– A portrait taken by the photographer Phil Toledano of a gamer on the verge of an epic win This is a screenshot from Fiats website

Ethical Issue on the Internet

Ethical issues relating to the use of the Internet and the implications for managers and business practice. by Mihai C. Orzan Abstract When we address the topic of ethical issues on the Internet we are generally referring at two different matters: privacy and intellectual property. Each has been examined extensively in the last five years, since the Internet explosive intrusion in everyday life activities, each has an important number of sub fields that require special attention from managers and other business professionals.The purpose of this paper is to to make a short presentation of most relevant developments pertaining Internet ethical issues in direct connection with the business world. The Privacy debate is centered on the arguments regarding citizens’ right to privacy granted or implied by laws on one hand and companies approach on â€Å"customer data, considered an asset to sell for profits† (Choi, 2000, p. 317) on the other hand. Privacy on the Internet is ex ploding as a topic of public concern these days. A recent Internet survey showed that 4 out of 5 users have major concerns regarding various privacy threats when they’re online.Yet only 6% of them have actually experienced privacy abuses. Those who are not yet on the Net cite privacy as the main reason they have chosen not to become Internet users. If electronic commerce is going to thrive, this fear is going to have to be dealt with by laws and by industry practices and this paper attempts to give a thorough description of the major computer ethics trends of the moment. The other major source of concern for business world as well as the majority of Internet users is copyright control.Serious question come from both approaches on this matter: what information available on the Internet can I freely use and how can one protect the hardly earned information that he posts on a website. In fact, â€Å"The Internet has been characterized as the largest threat to copyright since it s inception. It is awash in information, much of it with varying degrees of copyright protection. † (O’Mahoney, 2001). Copyrighted issue constitutes an important part of this paper and it details most of the present concerns of intellectual property. 1 Privacy Everyone has the right to know what information is collected and how it will be used and to accept or decline the collection or dissemination of this information– particularly financial and medical information. † President George W. Bush. Privacy has become a major concern on the Internet. According to (Ferrell, Leclair & Fraedrich, 1997), â€Å"the extraordinary growth of the Internet has created a number of privacy issues that society has never encountered before and therefore has been slow to address. † Opinions have been expressed and actions were taken in order to resolve these matters in one way or another.In an interview earlier this year United States President George W. Bush (Miller, 2 001) expressed numerous and informed concerns regarding privacy issues, including access, security, and use of personal information. He promised to ensure actions that will meet consumer demands for privacy protection and advocated â€Å"opt- in† policies for mailing lists. He concluded the interview by stating: â€Å"I share many people's concerns that, with the advent of the Internet, personal privacy is increasingly at risk, and I am committed to protecting personal privacy for everyone. Privacy issues on the Internet relate to two major concerns. The first concern is users’ ability to control the rate, type, and sequence of the information they view. Spam, or unsolicited commercial e- mail, is a control concern because it violates privacy and steals resources. A second concern relates to the ability of users to address and understand how organizations collect and use personal information on the Internet. Many 2 Web sites require visitors to identify themselves and provide information about their wants and needs.Some Web sites track visitors’ â€Å"footsteps† through the site by storing a cookie, or identifying string of text, on their computers. The use of cookies can be an ethical issue, especially because many users have no idea that this transfer of information is even occurring. Internet privacy is an important ethical issue because most organizations engaging in e- commerce have not yet developed policies and codes of conduct to encourage responsible behavior. Spamming â€Å"Junk e- mail and spam are both terms for advertising and e- mail sent to you which you did not ask for and which you do not want†, (Elbel, 2001).However, spam is a more generic term that includes broadcast posting to newsgroups as well as individuals. And spamming is very costly for the end users: recent surveys showed that various forms of spam consume up to 15% of Internet bandwidth. According to a recent European Union study â€Å"junk email costs all of us some 9. 4 billion (US) dollars per year, and many major ISPs say that spam adds 20% of the cost of their service†, (Elbel, 2001). As you can see spamming is a very profitable endeavor and have grown over the years to assume a number of different forms.Thus, we can distinguish: v Unsolicited e- mail is any email message received where the recipient did not specifically ask to receive it. It might not be always an abuse. v Bulk e- mail is any group of messages sent via e- mail, with substantially identical content, to a large number of addresses at once. Many ISPs specify a threshold for bulk e- mail to be 25 or more recipients within a 24- hour period. Once again, bulk e- mail itself is not necessarily abuse of the e- mail system. 3 Unsolicited Commercial E- mail (UCE) is a form of e- mail containing commercial information that has been sent to a recipient who did not ask to receive it. Several ISPs specify that sending even one UCE is a violation of privacy. v Make Money Fast (MMF) are e- mail messages that â€Å"guarantee immediate, incredible profits! â€Å", including such schemes as chain letters. v Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) are e- mail messages that â€Å"guarantee incredible profits! â€Å", right after you send them an â€Å"initial investment† and recruit others. v Mailbomb is probably the most harmful type of spamming.It takes the form of email packages delivered repeatedly to the same address until the mailbox is overloaded, or perhaps even the system that hosts the mailbox crashes. Mailbombs generally take one of two forms. A mailbox might be targeted to receive hundreds or thousands of messages, making it difficult or impossible for the victim to use their own mailbox, possibly subjects them to additional charges for storage space, and might cause them to miss messages entirely due to overflow. This is seen as a denial- of- service attack, perhaps also harassment.Another form of mailbombing is to forge subscripti on requests to many mailing lists, all for one recipient. The result is a huge barrage of email arriving in the victim's e- mail box, all of it unwanted, but â€Å"legitimate†. There are several ways to escape spamming, but none will guarantee 100 percent reliability. First, a complaint to the ISPs that originated and forwarded the spam is required. It is also recommended to switch to an ISP that uses one or all of the anti- spam databases available (RBL, RSS, and DUL). About 40% of the Internet is using these services, with good success.Also, it is important that you never, under any circumstance, reply to junk e- mail, even if it is to send a â€Å"remove† request. Most spammers ignore such 4 responses, or worse, add you to their list of validated e- mail addresses that they sell. Also, getting removed doesn't keep you from being added the next time they mine for addresses, nor will it get you off other copies of the list that have been sold or traded to others. Fina lly, we should note that there are voices that argue that spamming is a legitimate form of expression and restricting it would be a First Amendment infringement.Even more, has been suggested that â€Å"junk e- mail (also called â€Å"bulk† e- mail and â€Å"spam†) should be legally protected†, (D’Ambrosio, 2000). Tracking a user on the Internet Data about individuals is collected in a wide variety of ways, including information provided on application forms, credit/debit card transactions, and cookies. Many users expect that such activities are anonymous, but unfortunately they are far from being so. It is possible to record many online activities, including which newsgroups or files a subscriber has accessed and which web sites a subscriber has visited.This information can be collected both by a subscriber's own service provider (available in the request headers of browsers) and by agents of remote sites which a subscriber visits. But the most popular fo rm of collecting data about web surfers is the cookie. These are short pieces of data used by web servers to help identify web users. The cookie is stored on the user's computer, but contrary to popular belief it is not an executable program and cannot do anything harmful to the machine. Cookies are used by Internet shopping sites to keep track of users and their shopping carts.When someone first visits an Internet shopping site, they are sent a cookie containing the name (ID number) of a shopping cart and other useful tags. Another use of cookies is to create customized home 5 pages. A cookie is sent to the user’s browser for each of the items they expect to see on their custom home page. One of the less admirable uses of cookies, and the one that is causing all the controversy, is its use as a device for tracking the browsing and buying habits of individual web users.On a single web site or a group of web sites within a single subdomain, cookies can be used to see what web pages you visit and how often you visit them. However, such concerns can be easily addressed by setting the browser to not accept cookies or use one of the new cookie blocking packages that offer selective cookie access. Note that blocking all cookies prevents some online services from working. Also, preventing the browser from accepting cookies does not confer anonymity; it just makes it more difficult to be tracked on the Web. Related to cookies, but more damaging is the activity known as â€Å"prying†.Many of the commercial online services will automatically download graphics and program upgrades to the user's home computer. News reports have documented the fact that certain online services have admitted to both accidental and intentional prying into the memory of home computers signing on to the service. In some cases, personal files have been copied and collected by the online services. Use of Personal Information You can find out simple directory information about peopl e on a variety of web sites, like Switchboard, Whowhere, Four11, Bigfoot.These contain information retrieved from telephone books. And most of these sites allow someone who doesn’t want to be listed in their databases to have his/her information removed. But beyond the free services there are the fee- based services where one can find out a great deal about 6 individuals on the Internet. There are services like as KnowX, Informus, Infotel, CDB, Infotek, Information America, and Lexis- Nexis that offer subscription based services and give access either through the Internet or through their own telephone networks.The information they provide is primarily from public records like records of court cases, both civil and criminal (not the full text, not yet anyway, but an index of cases), bankruptcies, judgments and liens, property records, such as county tax assessors files, professional license information, if regulated by the state, Dept of Motor Vehicle data from many states, v oter registration data from many states, stock investments, if you own 15% or more of a company’s stock, and many more other sources.Data warehouses built with this kind of sensitive personal information (including â€Å"browsing patterns,† also known as â€Å"transaction- generated information†) are the lifeblood of many enterprises that need to locate their customers with direct mailing (or e- mailing) campaigns. It may also create the potential for â€Å"junk e- mail† and other marketing uses. Additionally, this information may be embarrassing for users who have accessed sensitive or controversial materials online. In theory, individuals (data subjects) are routinely asked if they would permit their information to be used by the information collector.Application forms usually include a clause stating that personal information provided may be used for marketing and other purposes. This is the principle of informed consent, meaning that if the individual does not so request that his/her data not to be used for such purposes, it is assumed that he/she had given permission. The alternative principle, of affirmative consent, where an individual is required to give permission for each and every occasion on which a data user wishes to make use of an individual’s data, becomes extremely expensive and complex and is seldom practiced.The Federal Trade Commission is urging commercial web site operators to make public their information collection practices in privacy policies posted on web sites. 7 Many web sites now post information about their information- collection practices. You can look for a privacy â€Å"seal of approval,† such as TRUSTe, Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, WebTrust, and others on the first page of the web site. Those that participate in such programs agree to post their privacy policies and submit to audits of their privacy practices in order to display the logo.There are several technologies that help online users protect their privacy. v Encryption is a method of scrambling an e- mail message or file so that it is unintelligible to anyone who does not know how to unscramble it. Thus, private information may be encrypted, and then transmitted, stored or distributed without fear that outsiders will have access to its content. Various strong encryption programs, such as PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and RSA (RSA Data Security) are available online.Because encryption prevents unauthorized access, law enforcement agencies have expressed concerns over the use of this technology, and Congress has considered legislation to create a â€Å"back door† to allow law enforcement officials to decipher encrypted messages. Federal law limits exporting certain types of encryption code or descriptive information to other countries and file them under the same ammo type as nuclear weapons. v Anonymous remailers. Because it is relatively easy to determine the name and email address of anyone who posts messages or sends e- mail, the practice of using anonymous remailing programs has become more common.These programs receive e- mail, strip off all identifying information, and then forward the mail to the appropriate address. v Memory protection software. Software security programs are now available which help prevent unauthorized access to files on the home computer. For 8 example, one program encrypts every directory with a different password so that to access any directory you must log in first. Then, if an online service provider tries to read any private files, it would be denied access. These programs may include an â€Å"audit trail† that records all activity on the computer's drives.Censorship and Blocking Software â€Å"With its recent explosive growth, the Internet now faces a problem inherent in all media that serve diverse audiences: not all materials are appropriate for every audience† (Resni ck & Miller, 1996). Any rules or laws about distribution, however, will be too restrictive from some perspectives, yet not restrictive enough from others. Apparently it might be easier to meet diverse needs by controlling reception rather than distribution. In the TV industry, this realization has led to the V- chip, a system for blocking reception based on labels embedded in the broadcast stream.On the Internet, the solution might be considered even better, with richer labels that reflect diverse viewpoints, and more flexible selection criteria. Not everyone needs to block reception of the same materials. Parents may not wish to expose their children to sexual or violent images, businesses may want to prevent their employees from visiting recreational sites during hours of peak network usage, and governments may want to restrict reception of materials that are legal in other countries but not in their own.The blocking solution with the largest acceptance at this moment is PICS (Pla tform for Internet Content Selection). Its labels are supposed to be able to describe any aspect of a document or a Web site. As was natural to be expected, PICS labels started out as an attempt to block web pages that were not compliant with indecency 9 laws. As one of its initiators said, â€Å"the original impetus for PICS was to allow parents and teachers to screen materials they felt were inappropriate for children using the Net†, (Weinberger, 1997).At this moment, Microsoft, Netscape, SurfWatch, CyberPatrol, and other software vendors have PICS- compatible products, while AOL, AT WorldNet, CompuServe, and Prodigy provide free blocking software that is PICS- compliant. Intellectual Property Intellectual Property concerns the protection of â€Å"all products created or designed by human intellect – book, songs, poems, trademarks, blueprints†¦and software† (Davidson, 2000, p. 9). The copying of software programs, although nominally protected by copyright laws, is certainly widespread. Much of the argument about IP lies in the deontological dichotomy between rights and duties†, (Davidson, 2000, p. 12). Software producers claim that they have the right to protect the fruit of their endeavors, and have the right to be compensated for the resources spend in the development process, while consumers claim that they have the right to use a product for which they have paid and expect that the product will be free of defects. This should lead to competitively priced products with superior quality, providing value for money. 10 Copyright, Patents, and TrademarksAccording to prof. Johnson (2000) â€Å"as computing resources become more and more prevalent, computer software becomes easier and easier to access, and as such, easier and easier to copy†, (p. 124). Protection for one’s work, from a legal point of view, requires copyright, patents, and trademarks for sensible and strategic information. The best approach is to hav e a combination of trade secret protection, copyright laws, and trademark laws for the product in question because these are cheap, effective, and fast ways of protecting a software product from being pirated.Copyright Issues Copyrighted works on the net include news stories, software, novels, screenplays, graphics, pictures, Usenet messages and even e- mail. â€Å"In fact, the frightening reality is that almost everything on the Net is protected by copyright law† (O’Mahoney, 2001). Software and manuals, as novels and other literary works, are protected under copyright laws. In simple terms, this guarantees the copyright owner, the author in most cases, the exclusive rights to the reproduction and distribution of his intellectual property.Thus, copyright law guarantees the owner of the intellectual property the same types of rights that patent law guarantees the owner of an invention or other piece of seemingly more tangible physical property. Computer software and dat a are intellectual property, and as such are covered by copyright law. The problems start when people cannot, or will not, make the mental transition from physical to intellectual property. While most people would not steal books from a bookstore or a software package from a dealer's showroom, 11 ven if they knew they would not be caught, many of the same people would not hesitate copying a computer program from a demo or from their friends and colleagues. The only free software is the one places in the public domain, also known as freeware. For the rest of the software products the user must abide by the license agreements which usually come with a program and places restrictions upon reproducing and distributing the software, including such things as loaning the software to a friend or colleague and making duplicates for classroom or network use. Some licenses even go so far as to restrict use to a specific computer.In most cases, however, the user does have the right to make a ba ckup copy of the software for archival purposes. In theory, any use of a software package which falls outside of the limits of the license agreement renders the user, and quite often the user's company or institution, liable to prosecution. A computer program is defined in the copyright law as â€Å"a set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a computer in order to bring about a certain result. † Copyright protection begins at the time a work is created in fixed form; no act other than creation of the work is required to obtain a copyright for the work.According to (Yoches and Levine, 1989) â€Å"the scope of copyright protection for a computer program's expression may extend beyond its literal code to the structure, sequence and organization of the program. † Another debated and important aspect of software copyright involves the use of databases, data warehouses, and other forms of data collections. Under traditional concepts of literary copyright, the data contained in a compilation, and the selection of the data, may sometimes not be protected from copying. Only the coordination and arrangement of the database may be protected, and even then there must be some originality to the collection and arrangement for it to be protected†, (Losey, 1995). 12 There are essentially three ways to legally protect computer databases: copyright, trade secret and contract. Raw facts in a database may not be protected by copyright, regardless of the time or expense that went into locating them. However, in many databases the data itself, or the particular expressions of the facts, may have been created by the author. In such cases the data has originality and can be protected.Even if the contents are raw facts, not new materials created by the author, the compilation aspects of the database (selection, coordination and arrangement) may still receive copyright protection. A trade secret is â€Å"knowledge which a person or com pany acquires through its own efforts and which has some value to it† (Losey, 1995). Typically, this knowledge is kept secret from competitors because it is felt that this information provides some type of competitive advantage. Since a computer database is a compilation that derives economic value, it is a type of intellectual property that has frequently received trade secrecy protection.Finally, the owner of a database can require that any purchaser enter into a written contract as a condition of purchase of the database. That written agreement could expressly provide that the purchaser will not disclose the content to anyone but authorized users, nor make any copies or unauthorized use of the information. Typically this takes the form of a License Agreement between the owner/licensor of the database and the user/licensee of the database. Protect your site against theft It might be useful to know that a link is a URL, a fact not unlike a street address, and is therefore not copyrightable.However, a URL list may be copyrightable under a 13 compilation copyright if it contains some originality. The Internet was created on the basis of being able to attach hypertext links to any other location on the Web. Consequently, by putting yourself on the Internet, â€Å"you have given implied permission to others to link to your Web page, and everyone else on the Web is deemed to have given you implied permission to link to their Web pages† (O’Mahoney, 2001). The two primary methods of protection are technical countermeasures and legal protection.Technical countermeasures include strategies such as digital watermarking and spiders that search the Internet for copies of your pages or graphics. These strategies tend to be difficult, expensive, and user- unfriendly. The primary vehicle for legal protection is copyright. This is by far the easiest and most popular form of protection in use today. In implementing a copyright strategy, there are three ite ms that you should consider: v Ownership: before trying to copyright your website, a clear understanding of what exactly it is considered to be copyrighted is required.There are many elements to a website, including text, graphics, scripts, data, and code. If everything was created from scratch for the website, ownership is not an issue. However, if someone else created text, or some clip art was downloaded from another website, or scanned photographs from archives were used, or a web design firm was hired to load all informational content into an attractive package, then ownership of the respective elements is shared with the original creators, unless otherwise stated in contracts and licenses. Copyright notice: it is generally a good idea to put a copyright notice on your website. It used to be that in order to be afforded any copyright protection whatsoever, one needed to put the world on notice by attaching a copyright notice to the work. While this is no longer the case, it is still customary to attach a 14 copyright notice on copyrighted works in order to be eligible for certain types of damages. The copyright notice consists of at least elements that include the copyright symbol and/or the term â€Å"Copyright†, the year of copyright, and the name of the copyright holder. Registration: register your copyright with the Copyright Office. Although the Copyright Act gives protection just for creating your work and reducing it to a tangible form, that protection proved somewhat illusory in some cases when registration was overlooked. Patents and Trademarks â€Å"A recognized brand name or trademark represents the goodwill that has been built into the product or service†, (Eldenbrock & Borwankar, 1996). Consumers tend to associate the recognized brand name or trademark with certain characteristics that are specific to that name or mark.Therefore, companies often spend millions of dollars annually for safeguarding the investment in the related in tellectual property rights. Trademark laws protect the name of the software, not the software itself. Some examples include: â€Å"Lotus 1- 2- 3†, â€Å"Apple â€Å", â€Å"D- BASE†, â€Å"WordPerfect†, and many others. Copyright protection protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. A patent protects the idea itself. There are two major drawbacks to patents. They take a lot of money and a lot of time (usually two or more years).Computer games are rarely patent protected because the shelf life for a game is usually no more than six months. 15 Fair Use â€Å"When the fair use doctrine applies to a specific use of a work, the person making fair use of the work does not need to seek permission from the copyright owner or to compensate the copyright owner for the use of the work†, (Lehman, 1998). The fair use is a form of limitation of the exclusive rights of copyright owners for purposes such as criticism, comments, news reporting, teaching (i ncluding the possibility to make multiple copies of a copyrighted work for classroom use), scholarships, or research.In order to determine whether the use made of a work in any particular case is not a copyright infringement, Smith’s (2001) Copyright Implementation Manual offers the following guidelines: 1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; 2. the nature of the copyrighted work; 3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and 4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors. Those creators and authors who wish to dedicate their works to the public domain may, of course, do so notwithstanding the availability of protection under the Copyrigh t Act. 16 Libel and Defamation â€Å"We know that as the Internet grows, there will be more and more lawsuits involving libel and defamation. † said attorney David H. Donaldson, editor of Legal Bytes, â€Å"The only question is if the number of cases will grow steadily or if there will be an explosion of lawsuits all at once. The Internet has been used to harass, slander, threat and these online activities led to arrests, successful sues (because have used netnews to slander and for delivering inappropriate screen saver images) and other forms of legal punishments. The most frequent form of libel on the Internet is flaming, defined as â€Å"the practice of sending extremely critical, derogatory, and often vulgar e- mail messages, or newsgroup postings to other users on the Internet or online services† (O’Brien, 2002, pp. 326).Famous cases of racism or defamation have turned the attention at the gaps in legislation regarding Internet crime. Sexual explicit web p ages are responsible for another stir in social awareness regarding Internet- related legal void. Sometimes even a â€Å"link to another's page could be defamatory and may subject someone to legal liability†, (INET Legal Networks, 2001), if it links to a page where offensive or illegal content is present and if you do not give strong warning to the web surfer about the consequences of his/her â€Å"click†.There are a number of features unique to the Internet that distinguish it from any other medium and have â€Å"led to the current re- examination of existing libel laws to allow for their possible evolution and ultimately their application in the cyberspace†, (Potts & Harris, 1996). These features include its global nature (more than 125 countries are linked via Internet), which raised questions about jurisdiction, repeated publication every time a 17 page is updated/viewed, and the possibility to enforce judgments.Another Internet specific aspect is its highly interactive nature, which decreases the effectiveness of later corrections, but empowers the ability to reply, which might be considered more gratifying, immediate and potent than launching a libel action. Accessibility is another feature of the Internet, which distinguishes it from traditional print or broadcast media. The relatively low cost of connecting to the Internet and even of establishing one's own website means that the opportunity for defamation has increased exponentially. Now, on the Internet everyone can be a publisher and can be sued as a publisher.Internet anonymity means that users do not have to reveal their true identity in order to send email or post messages on bulletin boards. This feature, coupled with the ability to access the Internet in the privacy and seclusion of one's own home or office and the interactive, responsive nature of communications on the Internet, has resulted in users being far less inhibited about the contents of their messages than in any other form of media. Computer Crime One of the biggest threats for the online community comes from various ways in which a computers network in general and the Internet in special might be used to support computer crime.The list of such actions is vast as â€Å"criminals are doing everything from stealing intellectual property and committing fraud to unleashing viruses and committing acts of cyber terrorism† (Sager, Hamm, Gross, Carey & Hoff, 2000) and a few of the most dangerous and common ones have already entered the general IT folklore. The Association of Information Technology Professionals defined computer crime as including â€Å"unauthorized use, access, modification, and destruction of hardware, software, data, or network resources; unauthorized release of information; unauthorized copying of 18 oftware; denying an end user access to his or her own hardware, software, data, or network resources; using or conspiring to use computer or network resources to illegally obtain information or tangible property. † Software piracy Software piracy is the illegal copying of computer software. It is also considered the computer industry's worst problem and, according to the specialists, has become a household crime. â€Å"People who wouldn't think of sneaking merchandise out of a store or burgling a house regularly obtain copies of computer programs that they haven't paid for†, (Hard- Davis, 2001).Software piracy is fought by legal means (licenses, copyright, trademarks and patents, and lawsuits, when all else fails). According to Zwass (1997), â€Å"deterrent controls (legal sanctions) and preventive controls (increasing the cost of piracy by technological means) can be used to combat software piracy. † Information technology is a key driver in the globalization and growth of the world economy. In a recent study of worldwide software market (International Data Corporation, 1999) the total worldwide package software market has been st imated at $135 billion. Worldwide expenditures on software are expected to increase to about $220 billion by the year 2002. The U. S. software industry is reaping the benefits of this hyper growth, having captured 70% of global software sales. According to (Software Publishers Association, 1998), the worldwide revenues of business- based PC applications was $17. 2 billion, but global revenue losses due to piracy in the business application software market were calculated at $11. 4 billion.This is very similar to the report of (International Research and Planning, 2001)’s Business Software Alliance (BSA), a watchdog group representing the world’s leading software manufacturers, which announced the results of 19 its sixth annual benchmark survey on global software piracy. The independent study highlights the serious impact of copyright infringement with piracy losses nearing $11. 8 billion worldwide in 2000. Figure 1 shows an interesting correlation between the national piracy rates compiled by the SPA with the per capita GNP for 65 countries in the year 1997.Higher software piracy rates are heavily skewed towards countries with low per capita GNP. The effect of GNP is much more pronounced for the countries with GNPs less than $6,000, as shown in Figure 2. Each $1,000 increase in per capita GNP is associated with a nearly 6% decrease in the piracy rate. These results indicate a significant income effect on the global piracy rates, particularly in the poorer segments of the world. The different ways of illegally copying computer software can be broken down into five basic ways of pirating. Counterfeiting is duplicating and selling unauthorized copies of software in such a manner as to try to pass off the illegal copy as if it were a legitimate copy produced by or authorized by the publisher. v Softlifting is the purchasing of a single licensed copy of software and loading it on several machines, contrary to the terms of the license agreement. This i ncludes sharing software with friends and co- workers. v Hard- disk loading is selling computers pre- loaded with illegal software. v Bulletin-board piracy is putting software on a bulletin- board service for nyone to copy or copying software from a bullet in- board service that is not shareware or freeware. v Software rental is the renting of software for temporary use. An interesting study regarding software piracy in academic environment was conducted at the Faculty of Business at the City University of Hong Kong (Moores & 20 Dhillon, 2000). A total of 243 usable responses were received, of which 122 were female and 121 were male. As shown in Figure 3, 81% of the respondents report they buy pirated software on a regular basis, with a significant minority (29%) buying every month, and 3% even reporting they buy several times a week.The most popular pirated software bought was spreadsheets, followed by programming languages, databases, word processors, and statistical packages. Oth er software mentioned included e- mail, graphics, and game software. Only 7% claim to have never bought pirated software. Illegal Information The Internet was designed as an inherently insecure communications vehicle. This allowed an impressive number of security gaps that led to numerous hacking techniques. Probably the most famous one at this moment is the denial of service attack, that led to the shutdown of many famous Internet sites, including Yahoo! , eBay, Amazon, and CNN.Other hacking tactics include spoofing (faking an web page to trick users into giving away critical information), Trojan horses (programs that are planted on user’s machine without his knowledge), logic bombs (instructions in computer programs that triggers malicious acts), and password crackers. According to Givens (2001), â€Å"Identity thieves are able to shop online anonymously using the identities of others. Web- based information brokers sell sensitive personal data, including Social Security n umbers, relatively cheaply. † In December 1999 300,000 credit card numbers were stolen from the online music retailer CD Universe database.That’s way it is considered a federal crime to possess 15 ore more access devices like cellular activation codes, account passwords, and credit card numbers. 21 Beside the theft that these kinds of devices enable, such actions lead to loss of trust from customers to such services that have been the target of hacking. It is also illegal in many states to have pornographic related material on your machine, and in some cases mere possession of child pornography is punishable by many years in jail. As mentioned before, possession or export of certain types of cryptographic techniques is a very serious federal crime.AMA Code of Ethics of Marketing on the Internet â€Å"All professionals find a code of ethics is useful to guide them through the sometimes thorny issues that confront them† (Klampert, 1998). Codes of ethics are an orga nized, written set of rules that describe expected behaviors. There are many such codes in Information Systems (ACM, IEEE, British Computer Society), but none of them has overall recognition. Most institutions that provide Internet access have formulated policies and procedures regarding the fair use of their facilities.The most frequent policies are grouped under the following categories: a Code for Ethical Computer Use (usually a written policy an institution has developed to describe ethical use of their computer system), an E- mail Privacy Policy, and an Internet Access Policy. One of the most representative such codes for the Internet community is the one that has been imposed by the American Marketing Association for its members. Below there are a few of the most interesting requirements, as they can be found in the latest edition of (AMA, 2001) Code of Ethics for Marketing on the Internet: 2 Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations with no use of Internet marketing th at would be illegal, if conducted by mail, telephone, fax or other media. Organizational commitment to ethical Internet practices communicated to employees, customers and relevant stakeholders. Information collected from customers should be confidential and used only for expressed purposes. All data, especially confidential customer data, should be safeguarded against unauthorized access. The expressed wishes of others should be respected with regard to the receipt of unsolicited e-mail messages.Information obtained from the Internet sources should be properly authorized and documented. Marketers should treat access to accounts, passwords, and other information as confidential, and only examine or disclose content when authorized by a responsible party. The integrity of others' information systems should be respected with regard to placement of information, advertising or messages. Conclusions This R paper gives a general overview of the most debated ethical issues related to the us e of Internet and their implications for managers and business practice.However, there are several other less critical aspects that should be considered by a very thorough revision and some very interesting papers on these subjects are listed in Appendix C. These aspects include unauthorized use of computer resources at work, accessing individuals’ private e- mail and telephone conversations and computer records by the companies they work for and other forms of computer monitoring, challenges to 23 work conditions and individuality that are brought about by computer systems, mistaken computer matching of individuals, and many, many more.To protect themselves and the people they work with, information professionals need to be as professional as they can be and, sometimes, must decline a project if clients insist that they do something they have moral objections about. Ethical considerations are inherent for any IT professional. Moral behavior, including acting with integrity, increasing personal competence, setting high standards of personal performance, accepting responsibility for your actions, avoiding computer crime, and increasing the security of computer systems developed are just a few of many such considerations.Overall, I believe that there is a critical need for heightened debate on professional ethics in Information Systems. 24 Appendix A Figure 1. Per capita GNP and piracy rates. Figure 2. Piracy rates and per capita GNP less than $6000 25 Figure 3. Frequency of pirated software. 26 Appendix B Cited Works 1. Choi, S. – Y. & Whinston, A. B. (2000). The Internet Economy: Technology and Practice. Austin, TX: SmartEcon Publishing. 2. D’Ambrosio, J. (2000,. January). Should â€Å"Junk† E- mail Be Legally Protected? [online]. Available: http://www. fmew. com/archive/junk/. October 26, 2001). 3. Davidson, Robert (2000, April). Professional Ethics in Information Systems: A Personal Perspective. Communications of the AIS, Vol. 3, Article 8. 4. Elbel, F. (2001, October 23). Junk E- mail and Spam. [online]. Available: http://www. ecofuture. org/jmemail. html. (October 26, 2001). 5. Elderbrock, David and Borwankar, Nitin. (1996). Building Successful Internet Businesses: The Essential Sourcebook for Creating Businesses on the Net. Foster City, CA: IDG Books Worldwide. 6. Ferrell, O. C. , Leclair, D. T. , & Fraedrich, J. P. (1997, October).Integrity Management : A Guide to Managing Legal and Ethical Issues in the Workplace. O’Collins Corp. 7. Givens, Beth. (2001, March). A Review of Current Privacy Issues. [online]. Available: http://www. privacyrights. org/ar/Privacy- IssuesList. htm. (October 26, 2001). 8. Hard- Davis, G. (2001, March). Internet Piracy Exposed. Alameda, CA:Sybex. 27 9. INET Legal Networks (2001). Defamation – Law for Internet [online]. Available: http://www. lawforinternet. com/subject_defamation. php3? searchkys=defamation =topdefamation. html. (October 26, 2001). 10.Internationa l Data Corporation (1999, February 10). Distribution of Worldwide Software Revenues Vary Dramatically [online]. Available: www. idcresearch. com/Press/default. htm. (October 26, 2001). 11. International Research and Planning. (2001, May). Sixth Annual BSA Global Software Piracy Study. [online]. Available: http://www. bsa. org/resources/200105- 21. 55. pdf. (October 26, 2001). 12. Johnson, Mark B. (2000, January). Software Piracy: Stopping It Before It Stops You. Proceedings of the sixteenth ACM SIGUCCS Conference on User Services. pp. 124- 131. 13. Klampert, Elizabeth (1998, July 13).Business Ethics for Information Professionals. Proceedings of the AALL 1998 Conference on Independent Law Librarian Program, Anaheim, CA. 14. Lehman, B. A. , (1998). The Conference on Fair Use: final report to the commissioner on the conclusion of the Conference on Fair Use. Washington, DC: Office of Public Affairs U. S. Patent and Trademark Office. 15. Losey, Ralph C. 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Habits and Traits of Centipedes, Class Chilopoda

Taken literally, the name centipede means one hundred feet. While they do have a lot of legs, the name is really a misnomer. Centipedes can have anywhere from 30 to over 300 legs, depending on the species. Class Chilopoda Characteristics Centipedes belong to the phylum Arthropoda and share all the characteristic arthropod traits with their cousins (insects and spiders). But beyond that, centipedes are in a class by themselves: the class Chilopoda. Description Centipede legs extend visibly from the body, with the final pairs of legs trailing behind it. This allows them to run quite fast, either in pursuit of prey or in flight from predators. Centipedes have just one pair of legs per body segment, a key distinction from millipedes. The centipede body is long and flattened, with a long pair of antennae protruding from the head. A modified pair of front legs functions as fangs used to inject venom and immobilize prey. Diet Centipedes prey on insects and other small animals. Some species also scavenge on dead or decaying plants or animals. Giant centipedes, which inhabit South America, feed on much larger animals, including mice, frogs, and snakes. While house centipedes may be creepy to find in the home, you might want to think twice about harming them. House centipedes feed on insects, including the egg cases of cockroaches. Life Cycle Centipedes may live for as long as six years. In tropical environments, centipede reproduction usually continues year-round. In seasonal climates, centipedes overwinter as adults and reemerge from their sheltered hideaways in spring. Centipedes undergo an incomplete metamorphosis, with three life stages. In most centipede species, females lay their eggs in soil or other damp organic matter. The nymphs hatch and go through a progressive series of molts until they reach adulthood. In many species, young nymphs have fewer pairs of legs than their parents. With each molt, the nymphs gain more pairs of legs. Special Adaptations and Defenses When threatened, centipedes use a number of different strategies to defend themselves. Large, tropical centipedes dont hesitate to attack and can inflict a painful bite. Stone centipedes use their long hind legs to throw a sticky substance at their attackers. The centipedes that live in the soil dont usually try to retaliate. Instead, they curl into a ball to protect themselves. House centipedes choose flight over fight, skittering quickly out of harms way.