Taken from The Computer Ethics Institute.

  1. Thou Shalt Not Use A Computer To Harm Other People.
  2. Thou Shalt Not Interfere With Other People’s Computer Work.
  3. Thou Shalt Not Snoop Around In Other People’s Computer Files.
  4. Thou Shalt Not Use A Computer To Steal.
  5. Thou Shalt Not Use A Computer To Bear False Witness.
  6. Thou Shalt Not Copy Or Use Proprietary Software For Which You have Not Paid.
  7. Thou Shalt Not Use Other People’s Computer Resources Without Authorization Or Proper Compensation.
  8. Thou Shalt Not Appropriate Other People’s Intellectual Output.
  9. Thou Shalt Think About The Social Consequences Of The Program You Are Writing Or The System You Are Designing.
  10. Thou Shalt Always Use A Computer In Ways That Insure Consideration And Respect For Your Fellow Humans.

Email communication ethics

  • Assume that email is not secure; i.e., don't write what you wouldn't write on a postcard in an email; on the other hand: for incoming mail, make sure it's from who you think it's supposed to be from.
  • Respect the copyright of the materials you reproduce.
  • Never send chain letters; this activity is very severely punished.
  • Never send so-called "spam" either!; this is sending unsolicited (usually commercial) emails to multiple addresses at once; this is even more severely punished than chain letters and you will then be added to the blacklists of anti-spam organizations, so your emails will be rejected.
  • The golden rule is: be conservative in what you send and be liberal in what you receive; don't be provoked into heated debates (so-called "flame-wars").
  • It is a good habit to look at the Subjects of all incoming emails in your inbox before responding to it in order; sometimes it happens that the person who asked you for something has sent another email in the meantime, with an addition or that they no longer need it, etc.; it is also a good idea to check whether you are the original recipient or you only received a copy.
  • Make the recipient's life easier: it is a good idea to add a so-called "signature" at the end of the letter, stating who you are, some of your contacts, including a reply address; this signature should not be longer than about 4 lines.
  • Always keep in mind who you are writing to; sometimes the address is directed to an individual, sometimes to a group.
  • Don't leave people in the CC field if the conversation has turned into a debate between you and the recipient.
  • Don't bother unknown people with requests for help in general matters; they don't have time for that.
  • Keep in mind that the people you are communicating with are located all over the globe and therefore have different time zones; give them enough time to wake up and read the email before assuming, that they didn't get it or don't give a damn about you.
  • Bear in mind that the recipient may be a person with a different culture, language or sense of humour to you; so be careful of dates, measurements or abbreviations; especially beware of sarcasm.
  • Don't use all capital letters, it makes it look like you're shouting.
  • Use symbols for emphasis, e.g. "That's a *really* good idea." or "I'll be there _tomorrow_ at 8:00."
  • Use "smileys" to convey tone of voice, but in moderation.
  • Use established abbreviations to save typing; e.g. IMHO (In My Humble/Honest Opinion), FYI (For Your Information) or BTW (By The Way); of course, take into account the recipient's understanding.
  • Put text in the Subject that reflects what the email is about.
  • Beware of using slang or local lingo; generally the other party may not understand it.
  • The cost of delivering an email is (on average) equal to the sender and recipient; both parties also cost network bandwidth, disk space or processor usage; this is the basic economic reason why unsolicited advertising emails are unwelcome (and often prohibited).
  • If your mail server can automatically forward e-mail to an address you specify elsewhere (so-called "forwarding"), be careful that the mail does not get into an endless cycle of servers forwarding it on and on.