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MAMA on the Web: Ethical Consideration for Our Networked World
Abstract
Information systems ethics have been studied for many years. It has primarily focused on the impact information systems in general have had on society. This research has been very valuable and has helped information systems professionals and students assess various business scenarios using ethical constructs. As a result of these studies we do have a strong sense of information systems ethics. However, the popularity of the Internet and more specifically the World Wide Web (web for short) has created new ethical concerns. It is important to remember that the Internet was built in an open systems environment, where collaboration to advance the improvement was encouraged. However, it was a closed community of a few intellectuals primarily in the United States of America. In this spirit many individuals spent countless hours expanding the capabilities of the Internet without worrying about ethical issues. As long as the Internet was used within this relatively closed community – government and academics – ethical problems could be discussed and resolved. Even though Internet use was extended to commercial venues, the software actually running the web is non-commercial. The Internet commercial pressures exploded in 1991 with Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web (WWW or web). With the web, users now had virtually seamless interfaces using browsers. Around 1995 the web was being transferred from a governmentally- run network to a network run by commercial organizations. One issue that had to be resolved was the limited assignment and control over domain names. After worldwide discussion the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was empowered to oversee the new DNS assignments. The first new registrars were announced in April 1999. Assignment of domain names was no longer a governmental sanctioned monopoly.
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