Chapter 2

Ethics in Information
Technology, Second Edition

Ethics for IT Professionals and IT

Users
1
 Objectives

 What key characteristics distinguish a professional from other kinds of

workers, and what is the role of an IT professional?

 What relationships must an IT professional manage, and what key ethical

issues can arise in each?

 How do codes of ethics, professional organizations, certification, and

licensing affect the ethical behavior of IT professionals?

Book page 34
 Objectives (continued)

 What are the key tenets of four different codes of ethics that provide
guidance for IT professionals?

 What are the common ethical issues that face IT users?

 What approaches can support the ethical practices of IT users?

Book page 34
 IT Professionals

 Profession is a calling that requires

 Specialized knowledge
 Long and intensive academic preparation

Book page 35
5
 Are IT Workers Professionals?

 Partial list of IT specialists

 Programmers
 Systems analysts
 Software engineers
 Database administrators
 Local area network (LAN) administrators
 Chief information officers (CIOs)

Book page 35
 Are IT Workers Professionals?
(continued)
 Legal perspective
 IT workers are not recognized as professionals
 Not licensed
 IT workers are not liable for malpractice

Book page 36
 Professional Relationships That Must
Be Managed
 IT professionals have many different relationships with:
 Employers
 Clients
 Suppliers
 Other professionals
 IT users
 Society at large

Book page 34
 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
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software produced by its members
Book page 36
 Relationships Between IT Professionals
and Employers (continued)

 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

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Book page 38
11
 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

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Book page 39
 Relationships Between IT Professionals
and Clients (continued)

 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

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Book page 39
 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

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Book page 40
 Legal Overview:
Fraud, Misrepresentation, and
Breach of Contract (continued)

 IT projects are joint efforts in which vendors and customers work together
 Difficult to assign blame

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Book page 40
16
17
 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

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Book page 41
 Relationships Between IT Professionals
and Suppliers (continued)

 Bribery
 At what point does a gift become a bribe?
 No gift should be hidden
 Perceptions of donor and recipient can differ

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Book page 41
 Distinguishing Between a Bribe and a
Gift

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Book page 42
Relationships Between IT Professionals
and Other Professionals

 Professionals owe each other adherence to a profession’s code of conduct

 Ethical problems between members of the IT profession
 Résumé inflation

 Inappropriate sharing of corporate information

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Book page 42-43

 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 behavior by users

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Book page 43
23
 Relationships Between IT Professionals
and Society

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Book page 43
 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

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Book page 46
 Certification (continued)

 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

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Book page 47
27
 Certification (continued)

 Industry association certifications

 Require a certain level of experience and a broader perspective than vendor
certifications
 Lag in developing tests that cover new technologies

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Book page 47-48

 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

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Book page 48-49

 Government Licensing (continued)

 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

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Book page 49-50

31
 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

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Book page 50
 IT Users

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

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Book page 91
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viruses

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 Common Ethical Issues for IT Users

 Software piracy
 Inappropriate use of computing resources
 Inappropriate sharing of information
 Private data
 Confidential information

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Book page 51
 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

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Book page 52
 Manager’s Checklist of Items to Consider when
Establishing an IT Usage Policy

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Book page 53
 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

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Book page 54-55

 Summary (continued)

 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

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