Ethics in Information Technology

Ethics in Information Technology

                                    IT Professionals

•      Profession is a calling that requires

–     Specialized knowledge

–     Long and intensive academic preparation

Is IT Workers Professionals?

•      Partial list of IT specialists

–     Programmers

–     Systems analysts

–     Software engineers

–     Database administrators

–     Local area network (LAN) administrators

–     Chief information officers (CIOs)

•      Legal perspective

–     IT workers are not recognized as professionals

–     Not licensed

–     IT workers are not liable for malpractice

Professional Relationships That Must Be Managed

•      IT professionals have many different relationships with:

–    Employers

–    Clients

–    Suppliers

–    Other professionals

–    IT users

–    Society at large

Relationships between IT Professionals and Employers

•      IT professionals must set an example and enforce policies regarding the ethical use of IT

•      Software piracy is the act of illegally making copies of software or enabling others to access software to which they are not entitled

•      Software piracy is an area in which IT professionals can be tempted to violate laws and policies

•      The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is a trade group that represents the world’s largest software and hardware manufacturers

–    Its mission is to stop the unauthorized copying of software produced by its members

•      Trade secret

–    Information used in business

–    Generally unknown to the public

–    Company has taken strong measures to keep confidential

•      Whistle-blowing

–    Attracts attention to a negligent, illegal, unethical, abusive, or dangerous act that threatens the public interest

Relationships between IT Professionals and Clients

•      IT professional provides

–    Hardware, software, or services at a certain cost and within a given time frame

•      Client provides

–    Compensation

–    Access to key contacts

–    Work space

•      Relationship is usually documented in contractual terms

•      Ethical problems arise if a company recommends its own products and services to remedy problems they have detected

–    A company is unable to provide full and accurate reporting of a project’s status

Legal Overview:
Fraud, Misrepresentation,
and Breach of Contract

•      Fraud

–     Crime of obtaining goods, services, or property through deception or trickery

–     Fraud is proven in court

•      Breach of contract

–     One party fails to meet the terms of a contract

•      IT projects are joint efforts in which vendors and customers work together

–    Difficult to assign blame

Relationships between IT Professionals and Suppliers

•      Develop good relationships with suppliers

–     Deal fairly with them

–     Do not make unreasonable demands

Bribery

-Providing money, property, or favors to someone in business or government to obtain a business advantage

Relationships between IT Professionals and Other Professionals

•      Professionals owe each other adherence to a professions’ code of conduct

•      Ethical problems between members of the IT profession

–     Résumé inflation

–     Inappropriate sharing of corporate information

Relationships Between IT Professionals and IT Users

•      IT user is a person for whom a hardware or software product is designed

•      IT professionals’ duty

–     Understand users’ needs and capabilities

–     Deliver products and services that best meet those needs

–     Establish an environment that supports ethical behaviour by users

Relationships between IT Professionals and Society

•      Actions of an IT professional can affect society

The Ethical Behaviour of IT Professionals

•      Corporations are taking actions to ensure good business ethics among employees

Professional Codes of Ethics

•      A professional code of ethics states the principles and core values that are essential to the work of a particular occupational group

•      Main parts:

–     Outlines what the professional organization aspires to become

–     Lists rules and principles by which members of the organization are expected to abide

•      Benefits for individual, profession, and society

–     Improves ethical decision making

–     Promotes high standards of practice and ethical behavior

–     Enhances trust and respect from the general public

–     Provides an evaluation benchmark

Professional Organization

•      No universal code of ethics for IT professionals

•      No single, formal organization of IT professionals has emerged as preeminent

•      Most prominent organizations include:

–     Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

–     Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP)

–     Computer Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-CS)

–     Project Management Institute (PMI)

Certification

•      Indicates a professional possesses a particular set of skills, knowledge, or abilities in the opinion of a certifying organization

•      Can also apply to products

•      Generally voluntary

•      Carries no requirement to adhere to a code of ethics

•      Vendor certifications

–     Some certifications substantially improve IT workers’ salaries and career prospects

–     Relevant for narrowly defined roles

•      Or certain aspects of broader roles

–     Require passing a written exam

–     Workers are commonly recertified as newer technologies become available

•      Industry association certifications

–     Require a certain level of experience and a broader perspective than vendor certifications

–     Lag in developing tests that cover new technologies

Government Licensing

•      Generally administered at the state level in the United States

•      Case for licensing IT professionals

–     Encourage IT professionals to follow the highest standards of the profession

–     Practice a code of ethics

–     Violators would be punished

•      Issues associated with government licensing of IT professionals

–     There are few international or national licensing programs for IT professionals

–     No universally accepted core body of knowledge

–     Unclear who should manage content and administration of licensing exams

–     No administrative body to accredit professional education programs

–     No administrative body to assess and ensure competence of individual professionals

IT Professional Malpractice

•      Negligence has been defined as not doing something that a reasonable man would do, or doing something that a reasonable man would not do

•      Duty of care refers to the obligation to protect people against any unreasonable harm or risk

•      Courts consistently reject attempts to sue individual parties for computer-related malpractice

IT Users

•      Employees’ ethical use of IT is an area of growing concern

Common Ethical Issues for IT Users

•      Software piracy

•      Inappropriate use of computing resources

•      Inappropriate sharing of information

–     Private data

–     Confidential information

Supporting the Ethical Practices of IT Users

•      Policies that protect against abuses:

–     Establish boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior

–     Enable management to punish violators

•      Policy components include:

–     Defining and limiting the appropriate use of IT resources

–     Establishing guidelines for use of company software

–     Structuring information systems to protect data and information

–     Installing and maintaining a corporate firewall

Summary

•      A professional from a legal standpoint

–     Has passed the state licensing requirements

–     Has earned the right to practice there

•      IT professionals have many different relationships

–     Each with its own set of ethical issues and potential problems

•      Professional code of ethics

–     States the principles and core values essential to the work of an occupational group

•      Licensing and certification of IT professionals

–     Many people feel that certification will increase the reliability and effectiveness of information systems

–     Raises many issues

•      IT-related professional organizations have developed a code of ethics

•      IT usage policy defines appropriate and inappropriate IT user behavior