Encyclopedia information ethics and security

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Encyclopedia of
Information Ethics
and Security
Marian Quigley
Monash University, Australia

InformatIon ScIence reference
Hershey • New York

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Copyright © 2008 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or distributed in any form or by any
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Encyclopedia of information ethics and security / Marian Quigley, Editor.
p. cm.

Topics address a wide range of life areas affected by computer technology, including: education, the workplace, health, privacy, intellectual property,
identity, computer crime, cyber terrorism, equity and access, banking, shopping, publishing, legal and political issues, censorship, artificial intelligence,
the environment, communication.
Summary: “This book is an original, comprehensive reference source on ethical and security issues relating to the latest technologies. It covers a wide
range of themes, including topics such as computer crime, information warfare, privacy, surveillance, intellectual property and education. It is a useful
tool for students, academics, and professionals”--Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59140-987-8 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-1-59140-988-5 (ebook)
1. Information technology--Social aspects--Encyclopedias. 2. Information technology--Moral and ethical aspects--Encyclopedias. 3. Computer crimes-Encyclopedias. 4. Computer security--Encyclopedias. 5. Information networks--Security measures--Encyclopedias. I. Quigley, Marian.
HM851.E555 2007
174’.900403--dc22
2007007277
British Cataloguing in Publication Data
A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.
All work contributed to this encyclopedia set is new, previously-unpublished material. The views expressed in this encyclopedia set are those of the
authors, but not necessarily of the publisher.


Editorial Advisory Board

Kathy Blashki
Deakin University, Australia
Matthew Butler
Monash University, Australia
Heather Fulford
The Robert Gordon University, UK
James E. Goldman
Purdue University, USA
Katina Michael
University of Wollongong, Australia

Bernd Carsten Stahl
De Montfort University, UK


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List of Contributors

Abdallah, Salam / Amman Arab University for Graduate Studies, Jordan .............................................355
Abdolmohammadi, Mohammad / Bentley College, USA .......................................................................440
Al-Fedaghi, Sabah S. / Kuwait University, Kuwait ..........................................................................513, 631
Ali, Muhammed / Tuskegee University, USA ...........................................................................................507
Arbore, Alessandro / Bocconi University, Italy ......................................................................................655
Averweg, Udo Richard / eThekwini Municipality and University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa ......297
Barger, Robert N. / University of Notre Dame, USA ..............................................................................445
Becker, Reggie / Emerson Electric, USA .................................................................................................451
Beggs, Christopher / Monash University, Australia ...............................................................................108
Blashki, Kathy / Deakin University, Australia ........................................................................................194
Bourlakis, Michael / Brunel University, UK .............................................................................................15
Boyle, Roger / University of Leeds, UK ....................................................................................................208
Buchanan, Elizabeth / University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, USA .......................................................397
Busuttil, T. B. / Deakin University, Australia ..........................................................................................609
Butler, Matthew / Monash University, Australia ......................................................................................96
Cazier, Joseph A. / Appalachian State University, USA ..........................................................................221
Chapple, Michael J. / University of Notre Dame, USA ...........................................................................291
Chatterjee, Sutirtha / Washington State University, USA ......................................................................201
Chen, Irene / University of Houston – Downtown, USA .........................................................................130
Chen, Jengchung V. / National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan ............................................................102
Chhanabhai, Prajesh / University of Otago, New Zealand ....................................................................170
Chin, Amita Goyal / Virginia Commonwealth University, USA ..............................................................273

Chu, Chao-Hsien / The Pennsylvania State University, USA ....................................................................89
Cole, Robert J. / Pennsylvania State University, USA ..............................................................................89
Cote, Jo Anne / Reginald J. P. Dawson Library, QC, Canada ................................................................136
Countermine, Terry / East Tennessee State University, USA .................................................................507
Crowell, Charles R. / University of Notre Dame, USA ...................................................................291, 445
Currier, Dianne / Columbia University, USA ..........................................................................................384
Dark, Melissa / Purdue University, USA .................................................................................................507
Doherty, Neil / Loughborough University, UK ........................................................................................377
Douma, Michael / Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement, USA .............................................362
Drake, John R. / Auburn University, USA ...............................................................................................486
Du, Jianxia / Mississippi State University, USA ........................................................................................49
Dunkels, Elza / Umeå University, Sweden ..............................................................................................403
Dyson, Laurel Evelyn / University of Technology Sydney, Australia ......................................................433
Ellis, Kirsten / Monash University, Australia ..........................................................................................235
Engelbrecht, Judith / Massey University, New Zealand .........................................................................534

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Enochsson, AnnBritt / Karlstad University, Sweden .............................................................................403
Epstein, Richard / West Chester University, USA ...................................................................................507
Etter, Stephanie / Mount Aloysius College, USA ....................................................................................214
Fedorowicz, Jane / Bentley College, USA ...............................................................................................440
Fulford, Heather / The Robert Gordon University, UK ..........................................................................377
Gamito, Eduard J. / University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, USA ...........................................362
Gasmelseid, Tagelsir Mohamed / King Faisal University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ...........................187
Gray, Kathleen / University of Melbourne, Australia .............................................................................164
Grillo, Antonio / Università di Roma, Italy ...............................................................................................55
Guan, Sheng-Uei / Brunel University, UK ......................................................................................556, 571
Gupta, Manish / State University of New York at Buffalo, USA .............................................................520

Gupta, Phalguni / Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India ............................................................478
Gurău, Călin / GSCM – Montpellier Business School, France ...............................................................542
Halpert, Benjamin J. / Nova Southeastern University, USA ..................................................................492
Handy, Jocelyn / Massey University, New Zealand .................................................................................534
Harter, Nathan / Purdue University, USA ...............................................................................................507
Hiltbrand, Robert K. / University of Houston, USA ...............................................................................411
Hirsch, Corey / Henley Management College, UK .................................................................................370
Hocking, Lynley / Department of Education, Tasmania, Australia .........................................................470
Holt, Alec / University of Otago, New Zealand ........................................................................................170
Huang, ShaoYu F. / National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan ...............................................................102
Hunter, Inga / Massey University, New Zealand .....................................................................................534
Im, Seunghyun / University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, USA ...............................................................114
Irons, Alistair / Northumbria University, UK ..........................................................................................208
Isenmann, Ralf / University of Bremen, Germany ..................................................................................622
Jasola, Sanjay / Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi ...................................................594
Johnston, Allen C. / University of Louisiana Monroe, USA ...................................................................451
Jourdan, Zack / Auburn University, USA ..................................................................................................68
Kamthan, Pankaj / Concordia University, Canada ................................................................................266
Kao, Kai-Ti / Monash University, Australia ............................................................................................326
Kats, Yefim / Southwestern Oklahoma State University, USA ...................................................................83
Kawash, Jalal / American University of Sharjah, UAE ...........................................................................527
Kiau, Bong Wee / Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia ........................................................................157
Kidd, Terry T. / University of Texas Health Science Center, USA ..................................................130, 411
Korb, Kevin B. / Monash University, Australia ......................................................................................279
Kotlarsky, Julia / University of Warwick, UK .........................................................................................370
LaBrie, Ryan C. / Seattle Pacific University, USA ..................................................................................221
Lawler, James / Pace University, USA ....................................................................................................549
Lazarus, Belinda Davis / University of Michigan – Dearborn, USA ......................................................241
LeDonne, Keith / Robert Morris University, USA ...................................................................................214
Lee, Zu-Hsu / Montclair State University, USA ......................................................................................229

Lentini, Alessandro / Università di Roma, Italy .......................................................................................55
Leonard, Lori N. K. / University of Tulsa, USA .....................................................................................260
Li, Koon-Ying Raymond / e-Promote Pty. Ltd., Australia .........................................................................1
Loke, Seng / La Trobe University, Australia ....................................................................................463, 563
Mahmood, Omer / Charles Darwin University, Australia ......................................................................143
Manly, Tracy S. / University of Tulsa, USA .............................................................................................260
Marshall, Thomas E. / Auburn University, USA .......................................................................................68
McNaught, Carmel / The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong .............................................342


Me, Gianluigi / Università di Roma, “Tor Vergata,” Italy ................................................................55, 418
Mehrotra, Hunny / Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India ..........................................................478
Michael, Katina / University of Wollongong, Australia ..........................................................................312
Michael, M. G. / University of Wollongong, Australia ............................................................................312
Mishra, Sushma / Virginia Commonwealth University, USA ..................................................................273
Molinero, Ashli M. / Robert Morris University, USA ..............................................................................214
Molluzzo, John C. / Pace University, USA ..............................................................................................549
Morales, Linda / Texas A&M Commerce, USA .......................................................................................507
Nestor, Susan J. / Robert Morris University, USA ..................................................................................214
Ngo, Leanne / Deakin University, Australia ............................................................................................319
Nichol, Sophie / Deakin University, Australia .........................................................................................196
Nissan, Ephraim / Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK ......................................30, 36, 42, 638
Oshri, Ilan / Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus, The Netherlands ...........................................370
Palaniappan, Ramaswamy / University of Essex, UK ...........................................................................335
Papagiannidis, Savvas / University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK ............................................................15
Paperin, Gregory / Monash University, Australia ..................................................................................602
Park, Eun G. / McGill University, Canada .............................................................................................136
Pate, George H. / Mississippi State University, USA .................................................................................49
Patnaik, Lalit M. / Indian Institute of Science, India ..............................................................................335
Peterson, Richard / Montclair State University, USA .............................................................................229

Phillips, Patricia G. / Duquesne University, USA ...................................................................................214
Popova-Gosart, Ulia / Lauravetlan Information and Education Network of Indigenous
Peoples of Russian Federation (LIENIP) and University of California in Los Angeles, USA ..................645
Power, Mark / Monash University, Australia ..............................................................................................1
Quigley, Marian / Monash University, Australia ....................................................................................235
Rainer Jr., R. Kelly / Auburn University, USA ..........................................................................................68
Ramim, Michelle M. / Nova Southeastern University, USA ...................................................................246
Ras, Zbigniew W. / University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA .....................................................114
Rattani, Ajita / Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India .................................................................478
Rose, Matt / Purdue University, USA ......................................................................................................507
Roy, Jeffrey / Dalhousie University, Canada .........................................................................................585
Ruvinsky, Alicia I. / University of South Carolina, USA ...........................................................................76
Schmidt, Mark B. / St. Cloud State University, USA ......................................................................451, 579
Sharma, Ramesh C. / Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi .........................................594
Sharman, Raj / State University of New York at Buffalo, USA ...............................................................520
Shen, Yifeng / Monash University, Australia ...............................................................................................7
Sherrod, Deneen / Mississippi State University, USA ...............................................................................49
Shetty, Pravin / Monash University, Australia ................................................................................463, 563
Shiratuddin, Norshuhada / Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia ........................................................157
Sixsmith, Alan / University of Technology Sydney, Australia ..................................................................426
Skalicky Hanson, Jan / St. Cloud State University, USA .........................................................................579
Sofra, James / Monash University, Australia ..............................................................................................1
Srivastava, A. / Monash University, Australia .........................................................................................179
Stafford, Thomas F. / University of Memphis, USA ................................................................................616
Stahl, Bernd Carsten / De Montfort University, UK ..............................................................................348
Sugden, Paul / Monash University, Australia ..........................................................................................391
Third, Amanda / Monash University, Australia ......................................................................................326
Thomson, S. B. / Monash University, Australia ......................................................................................179
Tribunella, Heidi R. / University of Rochester, USA ...............................................................................254

Tribunella, Thomas J. / Rochester Institute of Technology, USA ...........................................................254
Tyrväskylä, Pasi / University of Jyväskylä, Finland ...............................................................................285
Walker, Christopher H. / The Pennsylvania State University, USA .......................................................150
Wang, John / Montclair State University, USA .......................................................................................229
Warren, M. J. / Deakin University, Australia ..................................................................................304, 609
Whiddett, Dick / Massey University, New Zealand .................................................................................534
Wickramasinghe, Nilmini / Illinois Institute of Technology, USA ..........................................................498
Xiang, Yang / Central Queensland University, Australia ........................................................................121
Xue, Fei / Monash University, Australia ..................................................................................................457
Yao, James / Montclair State University, USA .........................................................................................229
Yu, Wei-Chieh / Mississippi State University, USA ...................................................................................49
Yuan, Qing / East Tennessee State University, USA ................................................................................507
Zhao, Wenbing / Cleveland State University, USA .............................................................................23, 62
Zhou, Wanlei / Deakin University, Australia ...........................................................................................121


Contents

3D Avatars and Collaborative Virtual Environments / Koon-Ying Raymond Li, James Sofra,
and Mark Power ............................................................................................................................................1
Access Control for Healthcare / Yifeng Shen ................................................................................................7
Advertising in the Networked Environment / Savvas Papagiannidis and Michael Bourlakis ...................15
Anonymous Peer-to-Peer Systems / Wenbing Zhao ....................................................................................23
Argumentation and Computing / Ephraim Nissan ......................................................................................30
Argumentation with Wigmore Charts and Computing / Ephraim Nissan ..................................................36
Artificial Intelligence Tools for Handling Legal Evidence / Ephraim Nissan ............................................42
Barriers Facing African American Women in Technology / Jianxia Du, George H. Pate,
Deneen Sherrod, and Wei-Chieh Yu ............................................................................................................49
B-POS Secure Mobile Payment System / Antonio Grillo, Alessandro Lentini, and Gianluigi Me ............55

Building Secure and Dependable Information Systems / Wenbing Zhao ...................................................62
Classifying Articles in Information Ethics and Security / Zack Jourdan, R. Kelly Rainer Jr.,
and Thomas E. Marshall .............................................................................................................................68
Computational Ethics / Alicia I. Ruvinsky ..................................................................................................76
Computer Ethics and Intelligent Technologies / Yefim Kats .......................................................................83
Computer Worms, Detection, and Defense / Robert J. Cole and Chao-Hsien Chu ...................................89
Conflicting Value of Digital Music Piracy / Matthew Butler ......................................................................96
Content Filtering Methods for Internet Pornography / Jengchung V. Chen and ShaoYu F. Huang ..........102
Cyber-Terrorism in Australia / Christopher Beggs ...................................................................................108


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Data Security and Chase / Zbigniew W. Ras and Seunghyun Im ..............................................................114
Defending against Distributed Denial of Service / Yang Xiang and Wanlei Zhou ....................................121
Digital Divide Implications and Trends / Irene Chen and Terry T. Kidd ..................................................130
Digital Rights Management Metadata and Standards / Jo Anne Cote and Eun G. Park ..........................136
Dilemmas of Online Identity Theft / Omer Mahmood .............................................................................143
Document Security in the Ancient World / Christopher H. Walker .......................................................... 150
DRM Practices in the E-Publication Industry / Bong Wee Kiau and Norshuhada Shiratuddin ...............157
Educational Technology Practitioner-Research Ethics / Kathleen Gray ..................................................164
E-Health and Ensuring Quality / Prajesh Chhanabhai and Alec Holt .....................................................170
Electronic Signatures and Ethics / A. Srivastava and S. B. Thomson .......................................................179
Engineering Multi-Agent Systems / Tagelsir Mohamed Gasmelseid .......................................................187
Ethical Approach to Gathering Survey Data Online / Sophie Nichol and Kathy Blashki .........................194
Ethical Behaviour in Technology-Mediated Communication / Sutirtha Chatterjee .................................201
Ethical Concerns in Computer Science Projects / Alistair Irons and Roger Boyle ..................................208
Ethical Debate Surrounding RFID The / Stephanie Etter, Patricia G. Phillips, Ashli M. Molinero,
Susan J. Nestor, and Keith LeDonne .........................................................................................................214
Ethical Dilemmas in Data Mining and Warehousing / Joseph A. Cazier and Ryan C. LaBrie ................221

Ethical Erosion at Enron / John Wang, James Yao, Richard Peterson, and Zu-Hsu Lee ..........................229
Ethical Usability Testing with Children / Kirsten Ellis and Marian Quigley ...........................................235
Ethics and Access to Technology for Persons with Disabilities / Belinda Davis Lazarus ........................241
Ethics and Perceptions in Online Learning Environments / Michelle M. Ramim ....................................246
Ethics and Security under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act / Thomas J. Tribunella and Heidi R. Tribunella ......254
Ethics Education for the Online Environment / Lori N. K. Leonard and Tracy S. Manly ........................260
Ethics in Software Engineering / Pankaj Kamthan ..................................................................................266
Ethics in the Security of Organizational Information Systems / Sushma Mishra
and Amita Goyal Chin ..............................................................................................................................273

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Ethics of AI / Kevin B. Korb .....................................................................................................................279
Fair Use / Pasi Tyrväskylä ........................................................................................................................285
Federal Information Security Law / Michael J. Chapple and Charles R. Crowell ...................................291
Formulating a Code of Cyberethics for a Municipality / Udo Richard Averweg ......................................297
Hackers and Cyber Terrorists / M. J. Warren ............................................................................................304
Homo Electricus and the Continued Speciation of Humans / Katina Michael and M. G. Michael .........312
IT Security Culture Transition Process / Leanne Ngo ...............................................................................319
ICT Leapfrogging Policy and Development in the Third World / Amanda Third and Kai-Ti Kao ..........326
Identity Verification using Resting State Brain Signals / Ramaswamy Palaniappan
and Lalit M. Patnaik .................................................................................................................................335
Individual and Institutional Responses to Staff Plagiarism / Carmel McNaught .....................................342
Information Ethics as Ideology / Bernd Carsten Stahl .............................................................................348
Information Ethics from an Islamic Perspective / Salam Abdallah ..........................................................355
Information Security and the “Privacy Broker” / Michael Douma and Eduard J. Gamito ......................362
Information Security Policies for Networkable Devices / Julia Kotlarsky, Ilan Oshri,
and Corey Hirsch ......................................................................................................................................370
Information Security Policy Research Agenda / Heather Fulford and Neil Doherty ...............................377

Internet and Suicide / Dianne Currier ......................................................................................................384
Internet Piracy and Copyright Debates / Paul Sugden ..............................................................................391
Internet Research Ethics Questions and Considerations / Elizabeth Buchanan .......................................397
Interviews with Young People using Online Chat / Elza Dunkels and AnnBritt Enochsson ....................403
Intrusion Detection and Information Security Audits / Terry T. Kidd and Robert K. Hiltbrand ..............411
Investigation Strategy for the Small Pedophiles World / Gianluigi Me ....................................................418
Managed Services and Changing Workplace Ethics / Alan Sixsmith .......................................................426
Managing the Environmental Impact of Information Technology / Laurel Evelyn Dyson .......................433


Measuring Ethical Reasoning of IT Professionals and Students / Mohammad Abdolmohammadi
and Jane Fedorowicz ................................................................................................................................440
Meta View of Information Ethics / Charles R. Crowell and Robert N. Barger ........................................445
Mitigation of Identity Theft in the Information Age / Reggie Becker, Mark B. Schmidt,
and Allen C. Johnston ...............................................................................................................................451
Mobile Agents and Security / Fei Xue ......................................................................................................457
Modelling Context-Aware Security for Electronic Health Records / Pravin Shetty and Seng Loke .........463
Moral Rights in the Australian Public Sector / Lynley Hocking ...............................................................470
Multimodal Biometric System / Ajita Rattani, Hunny Mehrotra, and Phalguni Gupta ...........................478
Objective Ethics for Managing Information Technology / John R. Drake ...............................................486
Parental Rights to Monitor Internet Usage / Benjamin J. Halpert ............................................................492
Patient Centric Healthcare Information Systems in the U.S. / Nilmini Wickramasinghe .........................498
Pedagogical Framework for Ethical Development / Melissa Dark, Richard Epstein, Linda Morales,
Terry Countermine, Qing Yuan, Muhammed Ali, Matt Rose, and Nathan Harter .....................................507
Personal Information Ethics / Sabah S. Al-Fedaghi .................................................................................513
Pharming Attack Designs / Manish Gupta and Raj Sharman ...................................................................520
Port Scans / Jalal Kawash .........................................................................................................................527
Privacy and Access to Electronic Health Records / Dick Whiddett, Inga Hunter, Judith Engelbrecht,
and Jocelyn Handy ....................................................................................................................................534
Privacy and Online Data Collection / Călin Gurău ..................................................................................542

Privacy in Data Mining Textbooks / James Lawler and John C. Molluzzo ..............................................549
Protection of Mobile Agent Data / Sheng-Uei Guan ................................................................................556
Rule-Based Policies for Secured Defense Meetings / Pravin Shetty and Seng Loke ...............................563
Secure Agent Roaming under M-Commerce / Sheng-Uei Guan ..............................................................571
Secure Automated Clearing House Transactions / Jan Skalicky Hanson and Mark B. Schmidt ..............579
Security Dilemmas for Canada’s New Government / Jeffrey Roy ............................................................585
Security Model for Educational Satellite Networks / Sanjay Jasola and Ramesh C. Sharma .................594


Security of Communication and Quantum Technology / Gregory Paperin .............................................602
Security Protection for Critical Infrastructure / M. J. Warren and T. B. Busuttil ......................................609
Spyware / Thomas F. Stafford ...................................................................................................................616
Sustainable Information Society / Ralf Isenmann .....................................................................................622
Taxonomy of Computer and Information Ethics / Sabah S. Al-Fedaghi ..................................................631
Tools for Representing and Processing Narratives / Ephraim Nissan ......................................................638
Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property / Ulia Popova-Gosart .................................................645
Universal Internet Access under an Ethical Lens / Alessandro Arbore ....................................................655


xiii

Preface

We create technology and choose to adopt it. However, once we have adopted a technological device, it can
change us and how we relate to other people and our environment. (Quinn, 2006, p. 3)
…the computer profoundly shapes our ways of thinking and feeling…computers are not just changing our lives
but our selves. (Turkle, 2000, p. 129)
Alongside the examination of technological advancements and the development of new computer software
and hardware, an increasing number of scholars across a range of disciplines are researching and writing about
the ethical dilemmas and security issues which the world is facing in what is now termed the Information Age.

It is imperative that ordinary citizens as well as academics and computer professionals are involved in these
debates, as technology has a transformative effect on all of our daily lives and on our very humanness. The
Encyclopedia of Information Ethics and Security aims to provide a valuable resource for the student as well as
teachers, researchers, and professionals in the field.
The changes brought about by rapid developments in information and communication technologies in the
late twentieth century have been described as a revolution similar in impact to the Industrial Revolution of the
nineteenth century. The development of the personal computer in the 1980s and the creation of the World Wide
Web (WWW) in the early 1990s, followed by the development of low-cost computers and high-speed networks,
have resulted in dramatic changes in the way humans communicate with one another and gain information. Today,
more than 600 million people have e-mail accounts (Quinn, 2006, p. 2). Communication via cell phone and the
Internet is now regarded as commonplace, if not indeed, essential by Westerners, yet there remain many groups
both in developing countries and within developed countries who do not have access to these technologies or
who lack the skills to use them. Technology has thus helped to create social divisions or to reinforce existing ones
based on socio-economic and educational differences. These divisions are often described as the gap between
the ‘information rich’ and the ‘information poor.’
Technology can bring harm as well as benefit. It can undermine basic human rights and values, and challenge
established social or cultural norms and legal practices. While the home PC with an Internet connection may
provide us with ready access to a wealth of information, it also makes us potential victims of cyber crime or
subject to invasions of our privacy. Some members of society may enthusiastically embrace the new opportunities
offered by new technologies, while others such as the elderly or disabled may become increasingly marginalized
by the implementation of these technologies in the public domains of commerce, banking, and education.
It is important to remember that no technical invention is conceived or used in complete isolation or without
repercussions which impact on others, therefore we need to study technological developments and their ramifications within their social and cultural contexts. As Raymond Williams noted as far back as 1981 in his seminal
text Contact: Human Communication and History, “a technology is always, in a full sense, social. It is necessarily in complex and variable connection with other social relations and institutions…’ (p. 227). It is therefore
rewarding to see that particular ethical or security issues concerning local cultures and institutions or developing
nations are addressed by a number of the encyclopedia’s contributors.


xiv

Although the technologies may be new, many of the moral dilemmas they give rise to are longstanding.
Consequently, knowledge of history is an essential accompaniment to our knowledge of current ethical issues
and new technological developments. This is demonstrated by several contributors to this volume who, in addressing ethical problems, draw upon the writings of earlier moral philosophers such as Aristotle and Immanuel
Kant. Similarly, articles such as those by Christopher Walker concerning ancient methods of document security
remind us that information security is not merely a twenty-first-century issue, but rather one to which computers
have given an added dimension.
Although the area of Information Ethics is gaining increasing credence in the academic community, the recent
study by Jordan, Rainer, and Marshall, which is included in this volume, reveals that there are still relatively few
articles devoted to ethics in information systems journals compared with those devoted to security management.
The Encyclopedia of Information Ethics and Security addresses this gap by providing a valuable compilation
of work by distinguished international researchers in this field who are drawn from a wide range of prominent
research institutions.
This encyclopedia contains 95 entries concerning information ethics and security which were subjected to
an initial double-blind peer review and an additional review prior to their acceptance for publication. Each entry
includes an index of key terms and definitions and an associated list of references. To assist readers in navigating and finding information, this encyclopedia has been organized by listing all entries in alphabetical order by
title.
Topics covered by the entries are diverse and address a wide range of life areas which have been affected by
computer technology. These include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

•
•
•
•
•

education
the workplace
health
privacy
intellectual property
identity
computer crime
cyber terrorism
equity and access
banking
shopping
publishing
legal and political issues
censorship
artificial intelligence
the environment
communication

These contributions also provide an explanation of relevant terminology and acronyms, together with descriptions and analyses of the latest technological developments and their significance. Many also suggest possible
solutions to pressing issues concerning information ethics and security.
Apart from providing information about current and possible future technological developments, this volume
contains much thought-provoking material concerning the social and moral implications of information and communication technologies which is of immense importance to us all. Hopefully, it will enable us to make considered
and cautious decisions in our adoption and use of new technologies in order to support human flourishing.

xv

In the current era of globalization which has been enabled by the revolution in communications, the renowned
ethicist, Peter Singer, suggests that the developed nations should be adopting a global approach to the resolution
of ethical and security issuesissues which, he argues, are inextricably linked. As he explains: “For the rich
nations not to take a global ethical viewpoint has long been seriously morally wrong. Now it is also, in the long
term, a danger to their security” (Singer, 2004, p. 15).

REFERENCES
Quinn, M. (2006). Ethics for the Information Age (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Singer, P. (2002). One world: The ethics of globalisation. Melbourne: Text Publishing.
Turkle, S. (2000). Who am we? In Baird et al. (Eds.), Cyberethics: Social and moral issues in the computer age
(pp. 129-141). New York: Prometheus.
Williams, R. (1981). Communications technologies and social institutions. In R. Williams (Ed.), Contact: Human communication and its history. London: Thames and Hudson.

Dr. Marian Quigley
Monash University
Berwick, Victoria, Australia
May 2007


xvi

Acknowledgment

I wish to thank all of those involved in the collation and review process of this encyclopedia, without whose
support the project could not have been satisfactorily completed.
As well as providing articles for this volume, most of the authors also served as referees for other submissions.
Additional reviews were undertaken by my colleagues at Monash University: Mark Szota, Grace Rumantir, Tom

Chandler, Joachim Asscher, and by Tim van Gelder of Melbourne University and Allison Craven at James Cook
University. Thanks go to all for their constructive and comprehensive reviews.
I am also indebted to Bianca Sullivan, Cheryl Ely, Carmel Dettman, Michelle Jones, and Melanie Smith of
the Berwick School of Information Technology, Monash University, who assisted with collating the final submissions and assembling the final document at a time which, due to unforeseen circumstances, was a particularly
trying period for me.
Special thanks also go to the publishing team at IGI Global for their invaluable assistance and guidance
throughout the project, particularly to Michelle Potter and Kristin Roth, who promptly answered queries and
kept the project on track, and to Mehdi Khosrow-Pour for the opportunity to undertake this project.
This has been a mammoth task, but one which I have found most rewarding. I am particularly grateful to
the authors for their excellent contributions in this crucial and growing area of research and to the Editorial
Advisory Board members who, in addition to their contributions as reviewers and authors, helped to promote
interest in the project.

Dr. Marian Quigley
Monash University
Berwick, Victoria, Australia
May 2007


xvii

About the Editor

Marian Quigley, PhD (Monash University); B.A. (Chisholm Institute of Technology); Higher Diploma of
Teaching Secondary (Art and Craft) is a former senior lecturer in the Faculty of Information Technology, Monash
University, Australia. Her research interests include the social effects of technology and animation. Her recent
publications include the books Women Do Animate: Interviews with 10 Australian Animators (Insight Publications, 2005) and Information Security and Ethics: Social and Organizational Issues (IRM Press, 2004).


xviii

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3D Avatars and Collaborative Virtual
Environments
Koon-Ying Raymond Li
e-Promote Pty. Ltd., Australia
James Sofra
Monash University, Australia
Mark Power
Monash University, Australia

INTRODUCTION
With the exponential growth in desktop computing
power and advancements in Web-based technologies
over the past decade, the virtual community is now a
reality. The latest derivative of the virtual community,
made possible by 3D avatars, is called the collaborative
virtual environment (CVE). These CVEs often provide
“fantasy-themed online worlds” for participants to
socially interact. Instead of placing emphasis on teamplaying, the sharing of information, and collaborative
activities, a CVE focuses on social presence and communication processes. Unlike virtual environments
which allow participants to discuss what is going on
in the real world, the participants’ experiences of the
virtual world provided by the CVE are often the main
topics for discussion. These CVEs, just like their real
counterparts, have their own issues and problems. This

article will analyze the potential benefits of avatars,
helping to build virtual communities and explore the
possible issues that are associated with the CVE.
A virtual community (VC) is a computer-mediated
communication environment that exhibits characteristics of a community. Unlike the physical community,
the participants in a virtual community are not confined to a well-defined physical location or to having
distinctive characteristics. Members of most VCs (for
example, the Final Fantasy game community or a
newborn baby support group) are often bounded only
by a common interest.
A VC can be a simple message board with limited
or no visual identifiers for its users to utilize when
posting and sharing their text messages with others.
Conversely, it can also be a sophisticated 3D environment with interactive objects and fully detailed human-

oid character animations. The ARPANET, created in
1978 by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced
Research Projects Agency, is often said to be the first
virtual community (Rheingold, 2000). Other significant landmarks in the evolution of VCs, as noted by
Lu (2006), are: Multi-User Domain/Dungeon (MUD)
(1979), Internet Relay Chat (IRC) (1988), America
On-Line (AOL) (1989), Doom (online games) (1993),
ICQ (instant messaging) (1996), Everquest (Massively
Multi-player Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG))
(1999), and Friendster (social networks) (2003). While
the earlier VCs emphasized team-playing, the sharing
of information, and collaborative activities, the latest
ones (the social networks) focus on social presence and
communication processes (Kushner, 2004).
These social networks may be referred to as collaborative virtual environments (Brown & Bell, 2004).

They provide a “fantasy-themed online world” for
participants to socially interact and collaborate. There
is also a distinctive difference between the two types of
VCs in terms of the contents of their discussion: the earlier VCs provide an online media to allow participants
to discuss what is going on in the real world, while the
inhabitants’ experiences within the virtual world are
the main topics for conversations in a CVE.
Anonymity of its members is one of the important
features of VCs. Avatars are often employed by their
members to identify each other. The word ‘avatar’
comes from ancient Sanskrit and means “a manifestation of the divine in human form or reincarnation”
(Parrinder, 1982). In other words, it is the earthly
manifestation of God. The term ‘avatar’ is now used to
describe a person’s alter ego in a virtual world. Avatars,
such as those used in an online chat environment like
ICQ, are 2D image based. The users in these environ-

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3D


3D Avatars and Collaborative Virtual Environments

ments select a name or a 2D image so other members
may identify them.
Avatars can also be 3D. With 3D avatars, users
can project a certain amount of their own personality

through the appearance of the avatars chosen to represent them, while remaining anonymous. A majority of
the current 3D avatars are humanoid in form and many
allow for gestures and facial expressions.
This article focuses only on 3D avatars and their
3D virtual worlds. The benefits of 3D avatars helping
to build virtual communities will be explored and the
associated issues, particularly those relating to CVE,
will be analyzed and discussed.

3D AVATARS AND THE
VIRTUAL WORLD
Users can use their 3D avatars’ appearance to project
their chosen personalities and characteristics to others
within a virtual world (see Figure 1) and, at the same
time, can maintain their chosen degree of anonymity.
Anonymity helps open communication channels, encourages users to voice more freely, and removes social
cues. As such, avatars can help to promote the better
sharing of information. With the freedom of choice in
both representation and anonymity, users will acquire
a more comfortable version of themselves, which
would help them to increase their levels of confidence
in dealing with others. According to Brown and Bell
(2004), anonymity encourages interactions between
strangers which do not happen in the real world.
Avatars can also be used to help businesses and large
corporations conduct successful meetings (Exodus,

Figure 1. Avatar’s eyelashes shape and fingernail
color can be customized (Source: www.There.com)



2003). Avatars, including the text- and 2D-based types,
can help to remove human inequalities, such as racism
and sexism, as well as biases against mental deficiencies and handicaps (Castronova, 2004). Victims who
are troubled by “issues of secrecy, hyper vigilance,
sexuality and intimacy” can now gain comfort from
other virtual world inhabitants and online therapists.
Victims, having been physically or sexually abused,
who feel ashamed to discuss their situations, can use
their avatars to enter the virtual world to commence
treatment (Fenichel et al., 2002).
In text-based chat virtual environments, meanings
are sometimes lost due to lack of supporting cues such
as body language and facial expression. Emoticons,
such as smileys (
), can help to partially solve this
issue. 3D avatars in humanoid form can now provide
gestures, postures, body languages, as well as facial
expressions. Gestures include handshakes, nodes, and
even dancing with joy. According to Brown and Bell
(2004), “emotional communication enhances communication.” 3D avatars can help to express emotions
through facial expressions and gestures, thus enhancing
the communication process. They help to provide a
better environment for collaborative activities.
In text-based virtual communication, posted messages are often not specific for a particular participant.
Conversations within a 3D avatar world, however, can
be targeted at a particular audience, similar to what is
happening in the real world. 3D avatars’ gestures and
gazes can assist in the communication process within

a crowded virtual room and identify who is currently
engaged in a conversation. It also helps to identify
those who are in private communication and thus allows conversations to remain undisturbed (Salem &
Earle, 2000).
Besides being more aesthetically appealing to users,
3D avatars can be more engaging as the users can have
a choice in their perspective: a first- or third-person
view of the virtual world. These avatars not only represent the presence of their users in a virtual space,
but also display the users’ orientations and locations
(Salem & Earle, 2000). The users can now interact
with other objects or avatars within the virtual world
similar to what is happening in the real world. Some
3D virtual worlds are now enhanced with 3D sound
(with distance attenuation and stereo positioning) to
provide feedback as to the spatial positioning of other
participants and elements within the virtual world. As
such, 3D avatars do not only have the potential to assist


3D Avatars and Collaborative Virtual Environments

Figure 2. VC inhabitants can interact as if in real life
in virtual environments, such as this 3D dance club
or shopping for virtual goods (Source: www.There.
com)

Avatars can now be customized with extra virtual
items to reflect the chosen status of the persons they
represent. Users of virtual worlds can now use real monies to purchase real-life fashion-branded (for example,
Nike and Levi) virtual items. This helps to create a

virtual economy that ultimately will consolidate and
provide further growth to the virtual communities
(Kushner, 2004).

POTENTIAL PRObLEmS

in building and reinforcing virtual communities; they
can also motivate and encourage all users to enter a
VC for a longer period of time.
3D avatars provide compelling experiences to users
by transforming VCs from the traditional environment
for collaborative/competing activities and sharing information, into fantasy-theme-based online hangout
spots (Kushner, 2004). 3D avatars now enable millions
to experience life in a digital landscape and allow them
to engage in novel experiences (see Figure 2).
A CVE inhabitant can now experience what it is like
to have another career. He or she can now take on the
opposite gender. This would allow him or her to explore
the ways in which one gender interacts with the other
and learn to appreciate the opposite sex. Socialization
and experience within the virtual world take precedence
over the discussion of real-world issues. “The virtual
world feeds upon itself, providing shared experiences
that its inhabitants can chat about” (Kushner 2004).
For example, a glitch in the system provides exciting
news within a virtual world for its inhabitants to be
excited for a few days (Brown & Bell, 2004).

An avatar allows its user to retain a chosen degree
of anonymity. Therefore, no one can be assured as to

whether the user is disclosing his or her true identity.
An avatar’s appearance and name can easily be changed
by its user, and therefore, consistency in identification
can never be assured (Taylor, 1999). This removes
accountability for ones’ actions and can thus prompt
users to behave badly and rudely or to act irresponsibly
(Sulers, 1997). Users may even commit offences that
they would not otherwise do in the real world. There
are already reported cases of rape in cyberspace. For
example, the owner of a male avatar used some coding
trick to control female avatars and then sodomized
them in a public room in front of a large “crowd.” It was
also reported that some of these victims felt that they
had been violated personally, despite the fact that the
events were virtual; they carried such feelings over to
the real world (Dibbell, 1993)! Cyber bullying, online
harassment, and cyber stalking are other examples of
offences. Countermeasures such as user IP tracking
and possible prosecution in the real world are being
developed. Nevertheless, the incidence of these offences
are on the rise (ABC, 2006).
Anonymity may keep users of virtual communities
motivated to participate, but can also lead to identity
deception: the use of avatars allows participants in a
virtual world to conceal their true identities and to
claim to be someone that they are not. A member of
a virtual community can deliberately have as many
avatars or identities as he or she sees fit, with the
intention to deceive others. The identity deceptions
may be in the form of gender, race, or qualification.

While real-world evidence of a person’s credibility is
reasonably easy to determine, such assurance may not
be offered in the virtual world. In the real world we
are better equipped to ascertain whether what we are
being told is fact or lie. Taking advice within a virtual
world is therefore dangerous. In fact, it is important to


3D


3D Avatars and Collaborative Virtual Environments

bear in mind that “the best, busiest experts are probably the least likely ones to bother registering with
any kind of expert locator service” (Kautz & Selman,
1998). With the ease in changing avatar at will, it is
almost impossible to ban any users who have violated
their privileges. Identity deception can easily lead to
virtual crimes, such as hacking into others’ accounts
and selling of a virtual house and other properties to
another person for real money.
Assuming a person’s gender from his or her avatars
is impossible. In VC where chimeras and cyborgs are
available as the choice for avatars, gender identity
is often blurred. A user can also impersonate an opposite sex. In fact, many male users log onto the VCs
as women because they enjoy the sexually suggestive
attention they received from other avatars. Gender
blurring and gender impersonation with an intention
to deceive others can be a big issue (Kaisa, Kivimaki,
Era, & Robinson, 1998).

The ability to propagate ideas to individuals across
the globe with probable anonymity can be alarming.
Social behaviors, especially for the youth, can easily
be shaped by media through propaganda and promotions. Behavior molding is now easy when the youths
are actually “living” out their experiences through their
avatars (Winkler & Herezeg, 2004, p. 337).
Because of the lack of facts about a VC member’s
identity, respect and trust between members can be
issues. Lack of respect and trust of others may introduce problems into the real world when some of the
VC members carry their behaviors over to the real
world.
In an online forum, it is generally accepted that
those who participate are actually who they purport to
be and have the desire to maintain their individuality
consistently. The motivation behind this may be that a
user needs to use his or her avatar’s position as a ‘status
symbol’ for dissimulating his knowledge, or may merely
stem from his or her wish for instant recognition by
fellow members. However, within a 3D-avatar-based
virtual environment, in particular the CVE, it is generally accepted as fact that an avatar is a fabrication of
a user’s imagination. As such, many users of VC treat
“other players impersonally, as other than real people”
(Ludlow, 1996, p. 327) and may carry these molded
unwelcome behaviors over to the real world.
As virtual spaces can be accessed simultaneously, a
user will, therefore, have the ability to take on various



identities within multiple CVEs. They can also take

on various identities within one virtual world. They
can exert different personalities behind their avatars
simultaneously. Such a behavior would be considered
in the real world as a psychiatric disorderdissociative
identity disorder.
Addiction to CVEs is an issue. 3D avatars make one
feel that one is really ‘there’. CVE has the elements
of suspense and surprise that can be experienced in
the real worldone will not know what is around the
corner or the reactions from others in the shared virtual spaces. Those who endure loneliness, alienation,
and powerlessness in the real world will look to the
virtual world for comfort (Bartle, 2003; Cooper, 1997).
They can now be free to leave behind the constraints
of the real world and play a role in the community that
they feel is more comfortable to them. They may even
abandon the real world and continue to hang out at the
cyber spots. CVE is also an attraction to teenagers who
may have found that they can acquire their perfect self
and interact with those who can only be found in their
imagination. Despite the fact that some of the larger
virtual worlds already have mechanisms in place for
detection and prevention, a user can hop from one
virtual world to another to satisfy their addiction to
VC, refusing to live in the real world.
As the realism in the CVE improves, some users
may find it difficult to differentiate the real world from
the virtual world. Illusion of being in the cyber world
while in the real world can be a problem. CVEs bring
people of different cultures together. Different ethnic
or national cultures, as well as religions or religious

attitudes may have variations in their definitions of
acceptable behaviors. These differences in perceptions
about acceptable actions and behaviors can create tensions within the virtual world. The worst case scenario
would be the lowering of the community norm to the
common denominator and ultimately alter the norms
in the real world.
In many CVEs, avatars are owned by the virtual
world creators, but users can customize their avatars
to represent them. In addition to minor alterations to
appearance, such as fingernail colors or hair highlights,
users can now purchase virtual items for their avatars
with real money. There are already reported cases of
teenagers committing real-world crimes to finance
their purchases of the branded items just so that they
can improve the “social” status of “themselves” in the
virtual world (Lee, 2004).


3D Avatars and Collaborative Virtual Environments

CONCLUSION
Avatar technology helps to build virtual communities and makes CVEs a reality. It brings compelling
experiences to VC users and encourages more users
to enter virtual worlds for longer periods. Just like any
other emerging technology, avatars benefit humankind
but also bring some negatives. Addiction to CVEs,
abandonment of the real world, the blurring between
the real world and the virtual world, crimes commission in the pursuance of the finance of virtual items,
virtual rape, gender impersonation, and personality
disorders are just some of the issues. If unchecked,

these problems will likely cause significant detriment
to our real-world community in the future. Currently,
solutions such as user-IP tracking, laws against virtual
crimes and bullying, and rules of some virtual world
creators forbidding users from performing certain acts
(such as lying down, removing clothing from avatars,
and touching without consent) have been developed to
tackle some of the issues. However, due to anonymity
and the fact that users can change their avatars at will,
it would be difficult, if not impossible, to address all
of the relevant issues. Significant cooperation efforts
at the global level between the virtual world creators,
law reinforcing agencies, computer security and networking experts, user groups, and virtual community
organizers are needed in the next few years to develop
countermeasures and to stop problems at their roots.
Above all, there should be a global agent that will oversee the conduct of virtual world creators, virtual world
organizers, and users, and prosecute those who have
abused their privileges within the virtual world.

of virtual reality. In D Holmes (Ed.), Virtual politics:
Identity and community in cyberspace (pp. 93-106).
London: Sage.
Dibbell, J. (1993). A rape in cyberspace. The Village
Voice, (December 21).
Exodus. (2003). Avatar-based conferencing in virtual
worlds for business purposes. Retrieved February 2,
2006, from />pdf/Avatar_leaflet.pdf
Fenichel, M., Suler, J., Barak, A., Zelvin, E., Jones,
G., Munro, K., Meunier, V., & Walker-Schmucker,
W. (2002). Myths and realities of online clinical work.

CyberPsychology & Behavior, 5(5), 481-497.
Heim, M. (2000). Some observations on Web-art-writing. Retrieved February 2, 2006, from http://www.
fineartforum.org/Backissues/Vol_14/faf_v14_n09/
text/feature.html
Lu, K.Y. (2006). Visual identity and virtual community.
Retrieved January 31, 2006, from pia.
tk/eyedentity/netid.htm
Kaisa, K., Kivimaki, A., Era, T., & Robinson, M. (1998,
November 2-5). Producing identity in collaborative
virtual environments. Proceedings of VRST’98.
Kautz, H., & Selman, B. (1998). Creating models of
real-world communities with ReferalWeb. Retrieved
September 6, 2005, from />kautz98creating.html
Kushner, D. (2004). My avatar, my self. Technology
Review, 107(3).

REFERENCES

Lee, O. (2004). Addictive consumption of avatars in
cyberspace. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7(4).

ABC. (2006). Cyber bullying on the rise, say experts.
ABC News - Good Morning America, (February 2).

Ludlow, P. (1996). High noon on the electronic frontier: Conceptual issues in cyberspace. Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, USA.

Bartle, R.A. (2003). Designing virtual worlds. New
Riders Publishing.

Paniaras, I. (1997). Virtual identities in computer mediated communication. SIGGROPT Bulletin, 18(2).

Brown, B., & Bell, M. (2004). Social interaction in
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Parrinder, G. (1982). Avatar and incarnation: A comparison of Indian and Christian beliefs. New York:
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Castronova, E. (2004, February 10). The future of
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Power, M. (1997). How to program a virtual community.
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Cooper, S. (1997). Plenitude and alienation: The subject


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3D Avatars and Collaborative Virtual Environments

Rheingold, H. (2000). The virtual community: Homesteading on the electronic frontier. Cambridge, MA:
The MIT Press.
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Taylor, T.L. (1999). Life in virtual worlds: Plural
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Proceedings of IEEE 2004.

KEY TERmS
Avatar: A graphical symbol used by virtual community members in order to represent themselves in
the virtual environment.
Collaborative Virtual Environment: A virtual
community usually represented in the form of a 3D
environment where individuals are afforded a high



degree of interaction via their avatar with other individuals and objects within the environment.
Dissociative Identity Disorder: A psychiatric
disorder of an individual projecting more than one
distinct identity into his or her environment.
Emoticon: Image icon used in a text-based chat
environment to communicate emotional expression,
for example, happy, sad, laughing.
First-Person View: Where visual information is
presented to the individual as though being perceived
through the eyes of his or her avatar.
Message Board: A Web-hosted communication tool
in which individuals can correspond via the posting
of text messages.
Social Network: A social structure that provides a
platform where individuals may extend their personal

contacts or attain personal goals.
Third-Person View: Where visual information is
presented to the individual from a perspective external
to his or her 3D avatar.
Virtual Community: An environment where the
principal communication between groups of individuals is computer mediated.