Security in Computing 5th Edition by Shari Lawrence Pfleeger, Charles P Pfleeger, Jonathan Margulies

Exercise 8

Prepare an argument for or against the proposition that the following is ethical behavior. Without telling anyone, your ISP starts tracking every HTTP exchange from all its customers’ computers. They use the data to determine heavy traffic routes in order to improve service to frequently accessed sites, such as search engines. Does the argument change if the purpose is to derive revenue by selling the data to advertisers seeking to determine popularity of different sites? Does the argument change if the purpose is to make traffic records available for government analysis?

Step 1 of 3

Ethics of Tracking Internet Usage by ISPs

The problem speculates on the ethics of Tracking Internet Usage by ISPs. Since the ISP has not obtained permission from the users about such activities, it is highly unethical on the part of the ISP to monitor usage statistics of its customers. HTTP exchanges frequently involve confidential data, which is intended for the recipient only. By tracking an exchange, the ISP is breaching an agreement and performing an illegal activity. The legal issues are enlarged by the fact that while the ISP is keen to improve services to its customers, the end result is for personal gain.