Topics in IT Ethics1 Law proposed against uploading violent images on the internet This article was posted on the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, the main purpose of this article is that the South Australia government wants to conclude posting violent pictures of social media as violent attempt. The article states that the South Australian government wants to make it offensive to post violent picture on social media. Legislations have to been proposed to this case stating the if any person knowingly post anything that can harm the interest of some other person and make the aggressive, then the person posting the image or clip is liable for punishment under the eye of South Australian law. A person cannot post anything that is demeaning and related to other person. Consent of other person is must in this case, this law is specially designed to tackle thugs who initially assault person, then film them and post it on internet. Underpinning one of the acts of a viral video on YouTube, in that video a student was tormented by another boy in school playground. The kid was then picked up and then violently thrown on the ground. The government wanted to seize the person posting this video and doing such act openly. This act took the focus of the government on the social media websites and the information posted on them. The government imposed penalties on the other guy and sentenced him in jail as well. Thus, with the completion of this event the government of South Australia wanted to make it clear stating that no person will perform such act from now an post it on social media as when people see such videos they react abruptly (according to them). Any person who is involved in such act would be held liable by the government. Even if person has given their mobile phones intentionally to other person to post some video, then they would also be held liable under the cause (SMH, 2011). Apart from being right, the government also needs to ethical in their actions. The utilitarianism ethical theory in this case refers to the act that says that the amount of happiness and suffering created by a person’s actions is what really matters. The actions that people perform in the society should only maximize the level of happiness of other people present in the society. Along with this, the suffering of people should also be reduced. The theory also states that even if a person needs to break some traditional rule related to the case then also they should do it, concerning the satisfaction level of the people present in the society (Savaux, et. al., 2015). Under this case, the rightness and wrongness of an action is judged by the consequences of the event. Under the above mentioned case, the government is initiating this legislation concerning
Topics in IT Ethics2 the interest to large scale people of the society. With the accomplishment of this law in South Australia, a large section of the society would feel safe and secure (Habermas, 2015). Now students won’t getting trolled in school just because people want likes on social media. Further, it should also be noted that every action has its pros and cons so this law would be disregarded by many people in the society but the ratio of people feeling happy with this action would be far more than the people suffering from the action. Thus, according to the utilitarian theory of ethics, the government should apply this act on the people of the society to increase their satisfaction level (Mandal, Ponnambath, & Parija, 2016). Another theory of ethics is the theory of deontology, this theory states that a person should focus on the rightness and wrongness of an action themselves; they should not focus on the outcomes of the decision taken. According to this rule, the morality of the action is judged; the act should be right according to the rule of law. The person initiating such act should not change their ethical decision on the basis of consequences of the event. Relating it to the article given in Sydney Morning Herald, the law initiated by government is not right in the eye of law. According to the constitution, every person has the right of freedom of speech; the government cannot prohibit the people from posting anything that they wish as this act ultimately breaches the prior law that is implemented for people (Mill, 2016). These laws will barr the right of freedom of people. It is unethical to ask people to not to post any violent image or clip, the image posted on internet might bring awareness among people and initiate them to take a good cause in the society. So, it should be noted that if the government is implementing the rule that is against the law, then they should not do it even if the outcomes of the rule are positive (Loke, 2017). Further, the third theory that is virtue says that the action should be undertaken by a person on the basis of their character and the action should not consider its outcomes of the rules related to it. Relating it to the law, it should be noted that the government is imposing the law on people to not to post a violent image, this law has two different effect good as well as bad. As, some people post violent pictures to make people aware of the things happening around them (Andriof, et. al., 2017). This helps people to know about both the faces of an event whereas some people post things on internet just to get famous. So, on the basis of virtue, the government should not impose this act, instead thy should evaluate the character of the person posting the image and his intention related to that image, then only they should levy penalties or let them free. Just because
Topics in IT Ethics3 of filthy minds of some people, the government should prohibit all people to post things according to their will (Khalid, Eldakak, & Loke, 2017). Lastly, according to the contract theory, a person who lives in the society has some moral obligation for the betterment of the society. These obligations are further converted into a contract. A person’s obligations are dependent upon an agreement that they form in the society in which they live (Nucci, Krettenauer, & Narváez, 2014). According to that agreement, people in the society needs to follow the rules and regulations authorized by the government and harm no person. So, according to this theory the government rule for abolishing posting violent images no internet should be strictly followed by the people present in the society. The people should follow this rule not because they want or do not want to but it their moral duty to perform it (Kristjánsson, 2016). Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events, it should be noted that different ethical rules have their different meanings and duties to fulfill. The government present in the society need select one ethical theory that they want to consider and then initiate activities accordingly. AS all the four theory have their different meanings and rules according to which the judgment of the law might changes. So, the government cannot follow all the ethical rules at a time while initiating an act, perhaps they should consider only one ethical theory on the basis of which they should implement or not implement this law in the society.
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Topics in IT Ethics4 References Andriof, J., Waddock, S., Husted, B., & Rahman, S. S. (2017).Unfolding stakeholder thinking: theory, responsibility and engagement. Routledge. Habermas, J. (2015).Between facts and norms: Contributions to a discourse theory of law and democracy. John Wiley & Sons. Khalid, K., Eldakak, S. E., & Loke, S. P. (2017). A Structural Approach to Ethical Reasoning: The Integration of Moral Philosophy.Academy of Strategic Management Journal. Kristjánsson, K. (2016).Aristotle, emotions, and education. Routledge. Loke, S. P. (2017). A structural approach to ethical reasoning: the integration of moral philosophy.Electronic Business,16(1). Mandal, J., Ponnambath, D. K., & Parija, S. C. (2016). Utilitarian and deontological ethics in medicine.Tropical parasitology,6(1), 5. Mill, J. S. (2016). Utilitarianism. InSeven Masterpieces of Philosophy(pp. 337-383). Routledge. Nucci, L., Krettenauer, T., & Narváez, D. (Eds.). (2014).Handbook of moral and character education. Routledge. Savaux, J., Vion, J., Piechowiak, S., Mandiau, R., Matsui, T., Hirayama, K., ... & Silaghi, M. (2015). Utilitarian Approach to Privacy in Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems. SMH., (2011).Law proposed against uploading violent images on the internet.Viewed on 6 May2018fromhttps://www.smh.com.au/technology/law-proposed-against-uploading- violent--images-on-the-internet-20110316-1bwye.html
Topics in IT Ethics5 Doing ethics technique 1.What is going on? The government of South Australia wants to issue a law under which people shouldbeprohibitedfrompostingviolentimagesandvideoclipsonline intentionally. Looking at various cases under which people posting pictures while harming people made them take such actions. 2.What are the facts? Every person is available on internet now days Internet is the biggest platform to communicate with mass Peoples sentiments get affected by watching violent images These images harms the self-esteem of other party The government wants to implement this law to stop violence in society 3.What are the issues? Prohibiting people to post things on their account can hamper their right to freedom. It is the right of the account holder to post images that they want to and no person can interfere in it. The intention to post violent image can be good also. As it can be posted to spread awareness 4.Who is affected? All people using internet are affected including the people who post picture and thee people who view these picture. This leads to ETHICS ANALYSIS: 5.What are the ethical issues and implications? The deontology theory states that the government should never overrun the rule. They should take actions that are right irrespective of the consequences of the event (Mandal,Ponnambath, & Parija, 2016). The rule states that freedom is the utmost right that should not be disregarded by any act of government.
Topics in IT Ethics6 Also, the virtue theory states that one should not see the consequence or the rightness but they should judge the event on the basis of the character of the person. So, this rule cannot adequately apply all people equally, as different people have different opinion and behavior. 6.What can be done about it? The government can monitor activities happening on internet They can ask people to apply the incognito mode Lastly they should imprison the people who post violent things to negatively impact the environment The intention behind the posting of image should be considered. 7.What options are there? Implement the above mentioned law Implement the law with few amendments Do not implement any law bout monitor activities properly 8.Which option is best – and why? Not implementing any law but keeping a strict eye can help the government to keep the society happy and imprison the people doing wrong acts in the society.