Ethics in Cyberspace: The Case of Mr. Tabalbag

The assignment discusses the concept of cyber prognosis and its relevance to virtue ethics in cyberspace. It highlights the importance of teaching digital wisdom to internet users to prevent wrong behaviors, such as stalking and hacking, which can lead to serious consequences like Mr. Tabalbag's murder conviction. The contract theory is also discussed, explaining how individuals have an implicit social contract with their country, obliging them to abide by moral and legal issues. The assignment concludes that cybercrime and privacy infringement not only affect online societies but also impact day-to-day lives, emphasizing the need for continuous review of legislation to address these vices.

Running Head: ETHICS IN THE CYBER SPACE
The Ethical Theories of the Cyber Space
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ETHICS IN THE CYBER SPACE
Cybercrime, also referred to as computer crime is any illegal activity that is carried
out with the use of a computer or any device that can be used to access the internet, such as a
mobile phone. The department of Justice has categorized cybercrime into three categories:
crimes where the computer is employed as the weapon, crimes which involves the computer
itself as the target and also where the computer has been used as an accessory to crime
The internet has been the biggest invention ever since printing, and the more it has
spread, cybercrime has also spread with the same magnitude, since a person does not now
need to be present physically to commit a crime in a certain place. The internet also avails
speed, anonymity, a borderless scope and convenience all which makes crime easier to carry
out (("Cybercrime", 2017).
Cybercrime can be explained in relation to classical ethical theory. To begin with,
deontology holds that the actions of people are to be guided by moral laws; which are
universal. Deontological ethics are drawn from the philosophy of Kant’s categorical
imperative. He proposed that for an ethical school to appeal to all rational people, it had to be
based on the reasoning of a rational person ("The Cambridge handbook of information and
computer ethics", 2010). It is duty ethics, the actions of any individual are seen as
performance of duty to act ethically towards other internet users, or the following of the rules
laid down by country. Therefore, according to deontology, it was wrong for Mr. Tabalbag to
use a phishing app to obtain information illegally from his wife’s phone. This is clearly phone
hacking because he used an app to gain unauthorized access to his wife’s deleted messages
and phone bills. Mr. Tabalbag in his use of the internet violated the duty a person has
towards other cyber users and the state. He committed a cybercrime, because he used a
computer and his phone as the tools in harming other people, his wife and her lover.
Utilitarianism holds that the end justifies the means; that the right action is the one
that will produce the greatest happiness or the best. Rule utilitarianism leads us to adopting

ETHICS IN THE CYBER SPACE
the moral rules that would produce happiness if they were followed by everyone, while act
utilitarianism leads us to do those actions that produce more happiness than unhappiness
(Driver, 2017). Ethical hackers use their skill to benefit the society, thus it would be legal
under utilitarian principles, Ethical hacking has been of tremendous benefit to many
organizations. For instance, it has helped to strengthen national security.it has been used by
the united states air force to evaluate their operating system; which is a contribution to the
fight against terrorism and external threats. IBM also uses ethical hackers to keep their
systems and those of their clients secure (Chao, 2017). Mr. Tabalbag did use a sort of a
phishing app that could retrieve the deleted messages and phone bills of his partner. He was
suspicious that his wife was having an affair and the information he got helped him to catch
her right in the act, so in a sense, the end justified the means. There are still some grey areas
however. Despite the end justifying the means, his actions did not lead to happiness. If every
suspicious spouse followed his cause of action many lover’s affairs would be exposed, with
several fatalities as in this case. It is hard to determine, now that Mr. Tabalbag actions of
hacking into his wife’s phone, and used another app to stalk her, whether he ended up happy
or unhappier, now that he is in prison for manslaughter.
Virtue ethics are normative ethical theories that are weighted on the virtues of mind
and character. Ethics should thus be concerned with the character that is displayed by a moral
agent, rather than the rules that are dictating what is right and what is wrong. According to
Aristotle, a virtuous person is that person who has ideal character traits. He will display
kindness across many situations because it is in their character to do so, rather than being in
search of recognition or maximizing utility. Rules are hard to establish and the consequences
are harder to perceive in cyberspace. Virtue ethics are therefore aimed at producing citizens
that are digitally wise and will as a result be able to supervise their online activities.
According to Aristotle these virtues cannot be taught theoretically, rather they can be learnt

ETHICS IN THE CYBER SPACE
through experience, practice and the development of practical wisdom, which he referred to
as phronesis.in cyberspace, they would be cyber prognosis, which would be implemented by
students, parents, teachers and other stakeholders in the digital world ("Virtue Ethics |
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy", 2017). Thinking in the lines of virtual ethics, most
cybercrime activities are wrong, because they reflect a weakness in character. If Mr.
Tabalbag did not practice cyber prognosis, he went out of his way to gain unauthorized
access to his wife’s phone billing information and deleted text messages, which is not the
behaviour that a virtuous user of the internet would exhibit. His aim was to maximize his
utility; to catch his wife in the act. virtue ethics are aimed at producing people that are
digitally wise, which was not reflected at all in his stalking and hacking tendencies.it is
indeed important for virtue ethics to be taught to internet users, because had Mr. Tabalbag
been bit more digitally wise, he would not have ended up with a murder, later reduced to
manslaughter conviction.
The contract theory states that there is an implicit social contract between that citizen
and the country and the state that he lives and as a result that that citizen is obliged to abide
by the moral and the legal issues of the state even if he would rather not. The social contract
line if thought was mainly propagated by Thomas Hobbes. He theorized a situation where
there was no law governing the society, where each person was free in every state of nature.
He observed that though it would be a pleasant thing, people are motivated by their own self-
interests, and the world would turn into a very unpleasant place. the solution would be
therefore for each person to give up some of their absolute freedom and in exchange each
person would give up an equal measure of their freedom ("Phil 2800 - 3 Ethical Theories",
2017). Phone hacking is the practice of manipulating or gaining unauthorized access to
mobile phones. It is the use of telephone technology to steal information, which is what Mr.
Tabalbag did, which is illegal. It is an illegal invasion of privacy. Phone hacking is covered in

ETHICS IN THE CYBER SPACE
the law that regulates phone tapping and other ways of gathering information. It is an offence
to gain information that is stored in information system, without a search warrant and or
production order which has to be approved by a judge (Davies, 2017). There are other
avenues that Mr. Tabalbag could have exploited to obtain information on his wife’s account.
He could have called the service provider and asking for a breakdown of texts and numbers
called by his wife using his own phone account. Tracking a user using their cellphone is not
illegal, but if the information is used in an abusive manner it becomes stalking and it is
illegal. It would have been better if Mr. Tabalbag had informed his wife that he would be
tracking his movements, given he had already voiced his suspicion that way, issues of privacy
would not have emerged ("Cell Phone Monitoring: Is Mobile Surveillance Legal?", 2017).
Clearly cybercrime and privacy infringement do not only affect a society online. The
consequences affect a society in their day to day lives. There is need for continual review of
legislation to tame these vices as their scope widens with the spread in technology.

ETHICS IN THE CYBER SPACE
References
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