Technology has helped blur the lines between mine, yours and ours. The distinction between right and wrong is even a little fuzzy. Are traded music files really stolen? Is using someone else’s wireless Internet unethical? Do we need new rules for new technology?

The public Internet access opened a global library to users, giving us access to resources we may never have been able to reach otherwise. The downside? Pornography, race hatred, recipes for explosives. It seems the Internet is the modern-day Deadwood or Las Vegas. Lawlessness, anarchy and unbridled speech are the order of the day. There are no bouncers, few fees and boundless material. The proliferation of free software and open access has led many to take a cavalier attitude toward paying for or controlling use of the Internet and files on it.

The music industry has cried foul the loudest. Over the last four years, they’ve seen a 31 percent decrease in CD sales, while distribution of their product has continued through on-line file sharing and ripping of CDs. Are these materials being stolen? If you take something that is not yours, isn’t that stealing? It’s easy to lose site of the basic here since nothing physical gets lifted. When a CD is stolen off a rack, something tangible is taken. When a single song is downloaded, there’s no physical evidence of its transfer.

Attitudes toward this were measured in a recent Gallup Youth Survey in which 81% of 13- to 17-year-olds believe that cheating on school tests is morally wrong, where only 15% felt downloading music for free was wrong. It’s an extension of the “no-harm, no-foul” mentality.

The latest victims of this mentality are giving away Internet access over unsecured wireless (WiFi) connections. I’m talking about the unwitting home user here, not the supposedly free “hot spots” offered in many locations. Without proper security on a WiFi location, anyone with a computer and a WiFi access card can jump on a network and Internet connection. Most users that try to roam onto such systems do so to either a) steal time on the Internet connection to check e-mail or cruise the Web or b) simply show off their expertise in finding such open-access connections. A few unscrupulous folks might actually tap into the owner’s network and steal files and passwords, or wreak some other havoc. It’s kind of like joy riding; find an unlocked connection and take it for a spin.

So, do all these new ways to test our moral and ethical boundaries require new rules? While there’s been a rush to create new “use policies” in our schools and workplaces, many of these simply restate existing policies in new techno-terms. Pornography has never been allowed in schools, so why take up someone’s valuable time to draft and rework policies against the electronic version? Many workplaces have codes of conduct regarding the personal use of company resources, so why not rely on these for new forms of communication and entertainment? Make copies of music and videos for other people wasn’t right before CD and DVD burners, why is it right now? I’m an advocate of looking to existing rules first. Sure, we’re going to need some new ones along the way, but let’s not waste time rehashing what’s already there.

Maybe, too, as Business 2.0 writer Paul Keegan suggests, it’s time for those affected by changing attitudes to take note. Keegan specifically calls the recording industry to read the subtext of the trends in their industry and try to give the people what they want. If listeners want just one track from an artist, the recording industry needs to adapt. Since I may need copies of my music for my stereo, my computer, my MP3 player and my car system, the music industry should help me find ways to do this so I don’t question my moral character.

Let’s chart the way together. It’s not an easy road, though. As Rush Kidder states on www.globalethics.org, “The industrial revolution created seismic changes in social, economic, and ethical conditions that took more than a century to sort through. The Information Age is creating similar shifts.”