Computer Ethics and Cyber Laws to Mental Health Professionals

The explosive growth of computer and communications technology raises new legal and ethical challenges that reflect tensions between individual rights and societal needs. For instance, should cracking into a computer system be viewed as a petty prank, as trespassing, as theft, or as espionage? Should placing copyrighted material onto a public file server be treated as freedom of expression or as theft? Should ordinary communications be encrypted using codes that make it impossible for law-enforcement agencies to perform wiretaps? As we develop shared understandings and norms of behaviour, we are setting standards that will govern the information society for decades to come.