Transcript Ethical Challenges in Digital Environment

Mayuri Das Biswas
University of Calcutta
The metamorphosis of the print environment
into a digital one has not only brought about a
sea change in the society but also has produced
several ethical challenges.
Print
Document
Conventional
Book
Digital
Version
E Book
Traditional
Library
Digital
Library
Ethics: Science of moral principles that governs
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Individual’s conduct
Behavior
Character
Fairness
Values
Humbleness
Commitments
Duties of self improvement
The ethical values guides oneself in every field of life,
whether in business, education, social behaviour, using a
computer or even accessing digital resources.
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Library users are inclined to access electronic formats than
printed documents.
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Publishers are abandoning traditional print models in favor of
electronic formats.
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Born-digital resources are also in huge demand today.
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Numerous internet schemes, fraudulent scams, means of identity
theft.
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Numerous vulnerability and threats.
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Reproduction and electronic transmission of original work.
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How can a democratic right of access to electronic
information be guaranteed?
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Different moral and legal traditions lead to various
protective laws in different regions around the globe.
Europe: Authorship receives the utmost value.
Anglo American tradition: Focus on Copyright.
Conflict arises when national and international laws and
moral traditions protect different aspects of various media.
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Berne Convention(1886, revisions)
Universal Copyright Convention(1952)
Ethical issues: Digital resources or information must not be exchanged
or copied without the owner’s consent. Downloading files, making for
distribution and resale is entirely an illegal activity.
People should provide due respect to IPR. It must be protected for it:
 Encourages individuals and businesses to create new digitized
resources, as well as improving the existing ones.
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Ensures new ideas and technologies to the information seeker.
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Promotes investment in the national economy.
To protect IPR a creator may get his work –
 Copyrighted
 Patented or
 Use trademarks
There should be strict laws to prevent digital piracy. The
following restricts unauthorized access and malpractices Digital Rights Management
 Licensing agreements
 Cryptography
 Digital watermarks and
 Digital signatures
Copyright grants the creator of an original work exclusive
rights for usage of his own work in order to gain economic
benefits for a stipulated period of time.
People indulge in plagiarism due to –
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poor monetary condition.
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lack of understanding the economic benefits of
copyright.
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lack of awareness for fair use guidelines.
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Unauthorized accessing to electronic documents may
also distort the original data which might raise the
question of information credibility and relevancy.
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Inaccurate or ambiguous information will produce
erroneous results that might be harmful for the user.
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Privacy and confidentiality of authors and authenticity
of documents should be the prime areas of concern and
should be emphasized.
Measures taken to build data security checks and manage
digital resources ethically are:
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Microsoft’s Windows Media Rights Manager
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Electronic Media Management Systems (EMMS) by
IBM
Such crimes might threaten an individual, a
group or even a nation.
 Misuse of internet and cell phone facilities.
Results
 Copyright infringement.
 Loss of privacy and confidentiality.
Information Security
 Encryption
 Backups
 Data masking
 Data erasure
 Scrambling
It is an emerging issue that has raised several questions.
Certain economical and social barrier and lack
of resources deprive people to access ICT.
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Lack of computer equipment & network access.
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Do not have proper training of usages.
In order to minimize this digital gulf between the‘information
rich’ and ‘information poor’, ‘computer literate’ and
‘computer illiterate’ forcefully, people get involved in
unethical, illegal and societal problems.
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We are heading towards a digital economy
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Paralysing human ethics and morale
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Safeguarding the IPR and maintaining proper ethics
while accessing digital documents demands immediate
concern.
The ethical development of human society is moving at
a much slower pace than the technological boom.
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‘Who’ should have access to ‘What’ information?
Protection of IPR.
Data Security.
Proper dissemination of information in an ethical manner.
Equitable distribution of information.
Instruct users how to locate & use digital resources.
Should learn and apply new techniques & skills like
negotiating license agreements.
Should provide ethical reasons defending their activities
against illegal policies and rules dictated by publishers and
lawmakers.
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Codes for professional ethics ought to be a part of the
Library and Information Science programme for all
students and learners.
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Should be made compulsory section of the course
curriculum which would provide proper ethical
guidelines to each individual working professional as
well as to the future librarians.
LIS professionals need:
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Additional exposure to ethical issues.
Learn about the rights of the information seekers and
the duties to be performed facing all the ethical
challenges tactfully.
Traditional ethical questions should be re-examined
and new questions that arise should be solved with
immediate effect.