Ethics+B







**The Fairness Perspective ** People on the Internet tend to get the feeling that it is like the Wild West, lawless and free. They also like to imagine themselves as a Robin Hood type; they see themselves as a person who is robbing the rich in order to give to the poor. The hackers believe that since not everyone can afford the, sometimes, high prices of software, that it is up to them to make it available to everyone. They like to envision themselves as the leveling factor, in the battle between consumers and big business. The reason that these feelings can exist are that most people are not educated on the laws that pertain to online behavior, so they feel like they won't get caught ("What is cyber," n.d.). On the other side of the argument, //if// they do get caught, the software providers, and the artists who are being ripped off, feel as though the punishments are not as severe as the crimes committed. For example, "police conducted a raid against a piracy ring which had produced 125,000 cd-roms containing counterfeited software with a retail value of $237 million. Yet the pirates got off with suspended sentences and small fines" (Schenker, 2002). Since there are often times little, or no, consequences to their actions, the hackers feel that in order to keep things fair, they have to take these chances; the profit margins can be tremendous, and worth the risk.



**The Common Good Perspective**

Hackers, like the very recent Sony hackers, will hack into a company's web site, because they can. To try to justify their position, they might even say that they are doing it in order to show the company where their security flaws are, as if they are doing the company a favor. They feel like if they hack in to many different companies websites, that they can help everyone be secure, in case a true attack does come. The truth is that it is just a joke to them; the same Sony hackers also hacked PBS's website and made up a story about two deceased rappers being alive, and well, and living in New Zealand ("Hackers Warn Sony," 2011). If they were truly doing these deeds for the good of the companies, or for the good of the world, they would go about it a different way.

** On the next page, we will talk about the relevancy of our topic, and we will summarize the wiki. **

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