Stillwater Sunrise Rotary Club - Stillwater, Minnesota

With the encouragement of Rotary District 5960, our club sponsored an Ethics Essay contest at Stillwater Area High School.  Club friend and SAHA teacher, Debbie Drommerhausen assisted our Club Vocational Director, Tim Trooien in promoting this project at the High School.  At the April 8, 2008 meeting, the two winning students were presented to the club. Seniors Taylor Green and Sheila Stormont were awarded prize money for their winning essays. Taylor received $500 for first prize and Sheila received $250 for second. The topics of the essays focused on ethics and modern technology.

Scroll down to learn more about the winning students and read their essays.

Taylor Green, SAHA Senior. Taylor is planning on attending either the University of Washington in Seattle, or the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in the fall. She is interested in medicine.

As cell phones have become exponentially more popular in American culture, as well as national culture, today, the way in which we communicate with them has evolved.  With this evolution has come text messaging, or texting.  Most popular with the younger generations, texting allows people to communicate without actually calling and talking to one another.  Many believe that this new form of communication has distanced people, and is one less way for people to have interpersonal connections.  The legal and safety side of the issue is also concerning to many when driving safety is discussed.  While texting may be a fun to way to talk, there are repercussions that need to be taken into account and discussed.

Among teens and young adults today, text messaging is a way to talk to people without actually talking to them.  It is a silent way of communication.  Text messaging is fun for people, and is more desireable than picking up the phone and calling the person that we wish to communicate with.  However, texting can cause some problems, in school in particular.  With texting being a silent form of communication, students find it easy to use their cell phones during class to talk to their friends who are usually also in school.  Ethics come into play when students use texting during tests and exams to provide other students with the answers.  Students are finding a way to cheat using new technologies where it is often difficult for teachers to identify that it is happening.  While students should be paying attention in class, they are chatting with their friends in a way where it is hard to stop them. 

For these reasons, I think that while texting does provide a way for people to communicate quickly and efficiently, it has some moral grey area.  When applied to the Rotary 4-Way Test, text messaging has benefits, as well as drawbacks.  Texting is not always the truth, but in this respect, text messaging does not differ all that greatly from other ways of communication.  When considering text messaging’s fairness, ethical issues do arise.  Under this category falls the issue of cheating during school, perhaps texting while driving and the dangers that come with it, and things of that nature.  Text messaging does not benefit all, nor is is fair to all concerned.  As a form of communication, text messaging does bring people together and builds bonds, but it does not necessarily build better friendships all the time.  Better friendships are more likely to result from interpersonal contact, not through a cellular device.

While text messaging has swept the nation in a huge way, it is not necessarily the best way to go about communication.  However, with its enormous popularity it does not seem to be going anywhere soon.  In that case, restrictions on cell phone use, or that of texting should be put in place and monitored if we hope to negate ethically questionable aspects of the technology.

Sheila Stormont, SAHA Senior.  Sheila has played Varsity soccer since 9th grade, club soccer since 7th and ran Varsity track since 10th.  This summer she will be working at Lucy Winton Bell Athletic Fields and also as a soccer coach in a community education soccer program for ages 4-10.  In her free time, she likes to play the guitar (mostly acoustic) and read.  Next year, Sheila will be attending Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI on scholarship.

Flickering onto the screen before every motion picture, the text warns “the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal” (“Federal Bureau of Investigation”), advising those who practice piracy to discontinue doing so, unless they desire five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Thus, YouTube, the online video-sharing giant, has been under scrutiny for containing copyrighted videos and clips in its possession. Though YouTube fosters the transfer of ideas and information, it must be held responsible to a certain degree for its users’ violations and falls short of passing the Rotary Four-Way Test, which in turn confirms its alleged unethical operations.

First, YouTube’s actions have not necessarily been the “truth”. When creating a YouTube account, users are asked to check the box that corresponds to the contract: “I agree to the terms of use and privacy policy” (“YouTube”), which strictly prohibits uploading copyrighted film. Many people, plagued daily by these little annoyances, simply click the box without thinking twice; this holds them, to a certain degree, responsible for not only what is written in fine print, but practicing integrity. It is difficult to expect YouTube to catch everyone who consciously and unlawfully uploads film, though it is YouTube’s responsibility to take appropriate measures to prevent and eradicate copyrighted videos that are put on the site.

Not only is this ethically degrading, it is economically unjust as well. Copyrighted movies are considered property and legally deserve the protections of ownership. These works were intended to bring in revenue which they are unduly stripped of when millions can watch it for free online. It is hardly fair for one company to exploit another’s property for popularity and profit.

Although YouTube is a beloved network where many log on to laugh, learn, or to simply express something, good will and better friendship are not necessarily guaranteed. Among the Average Joe’s of the world, YouTube is a great tool in the transfer of ideas and information. Still, for those who have privatized their works legally yet find them at public disposal, feelings of good will and the improvement of friendships are plainly not encouraged.

Lastly, this situation is not beneficial to all concerned. Though YouTube has constructively catapulted many people into the international spotlight (such as aspiring comedians or actors), copyrighted video is, nevertheless, the property of the owner. It resides within the owner’s discretion what to do with their possessions.

Make no mistake; YouTube is a progressive technology that has transformed the global online community in ways that are too numerous to mention. For the vast majority of the site’s users, it is a place to connect with others. Yet, in a world that is shifting, changing and developing at a rapid pace, fairness to all is something to be aspired for and carefully guarded in the search for improvement. This objective in this particular moral dilemma will never be achieved unless the existence of copyright infringement on YouTube is brought swiftly to an end.

Bibliography

• "Create Your YouTube Account." YouTube. 12 Jan 2008 <http://youtube.com/signup>
• "Cyber Investigations." Federal Bureau of Investigation. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/>

We appreciate their participation and wish these two future Rotarians all the best!