Industry, medical and educational institutions, and government agencies are concerned about maintaining Internet integrity to maintain security standards and respect for the benefit of all of its members, clients, and stakeholders. To comply with this objective, such organizations typically insist that their members abide by the Cyber Security Code of Conduct as outlined in their place of employment, and if they fail to do so, penalties—at times including hefty fines and/or imprisonment—will be applied.

Accepting that there is variability in the Cyber Security Code of Conduct particulars from one employer to another, such a code typically speaks to the adverse impact aspects and relevant penalties affiliated with: the promotion and dissemination of illegal activities; the promotion of material in any format that is harmful, hateful, libelous, offensive, harassing, or discriminatory on the basis of race, ethnicity, creed, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or gender; the promotion of sexually explicit, obscene, or pornographic displays in audio, graphic, streaming media formats, or text; and violations of copyright or other intellectual property rights.

See Also: Cyber Ethics; Cyber Etiquette; Integrity; Internet; Security.