INFS 452 – Computer Ethics & Society

Ethics in information technology by George W. Reynolds

What is Ethics?

• Each society forms a set of rules that establishes the

boundaries of generally accepted behavior. These rules are
often expressed in statements about how people should
behave, and they fit together to form the moral code by
which a society lives.

• The term morality refers to social conventions about right and

wrong those are so widely shared that they become the basis
for an established consensus.
Definition of Ethics & other terms

• Ethics is a set of beliefs about right and wrong behavior within

a society.

• Ethical behavior conforms to generally accepted norms—

many of which are almost universal.

• Virtues are habits that incline people to do what is

acceptable.

• Vices are habits of unacceptable behavior.

The Difference Between Morals, Ethics, and Laws

• Morals are one’s personal beliefs about right and wrong.

• The term ethics describes standards or codes of behavior expected

of an individual by a group (nation, organization, profession) to
which an individual belongs.

• Law is a system of rules that tells us what we can and cannot do.
Laws are enforced by a set of institutions (the police, courts, law-
making bodies).

• Legal acts are acts that conform to the law. Moral acts conform to
what an individual believes to be the right thing to do.
ETHICS IN THE BUSINESS WORLD

• Ethics has risen to the top of the business

agenda because the risks associated with
inappropriate behavior have increased, both
in their likelihood and in their potential
negative impact.
Why Fostering Good Business Ethics Is Important

• Organizations have at least five good reasons for promoting

a work environment in which employees are encouraged to
act ethically when making business decisions:

1. Gaining the good will of the community

2. Creating an organization that operates consistently
3. Fostering good business practices
4. Protecting the organization and its employees from legal
action
5. Avoiding unfavorable publicity
Characteristics of a successful ethical program

The Ethics Resource Center has defined the following

characteristics of a successful ethics program:

1. Employees are willing to seek advice about ethics

issues.
2. Employees feel prepared to handle situations that
could lead to misconduct.
3. Employees are rewarded for ethical behavior.
4. The organization does not reward success obtained
through questionable means.
5. Employees feel positively about their company.
Improving Corporate Ethics

• The risk of unethical behavior is increasing, so the improvement of

business ethics is becoming more important. The following sections
explain some of the actions corporations can take to improve
business ethics.
1) Appointing a Corporate Ethics Officer

2) Ethical Standards Set by Board of Directors

3) Establishing a Corporate Code of Ethics

4) Conducting Social Audits

5) Requiring Employees to Take Ethics Training

6) Including Ethical Criteria in Employee Appraisals

Creating an Ethical Work Environment
Including Ethical Considerations in Decision Making
Four common approaches to ethical decision making
• Virtue Ethics Approach
• The virtue ethics approach to decision making focuses on how you should
behave and think about relationships if you are concerned with your daily
life in a community.

• Utilitarian Approach
• The utilitarian approach to ethical decision making states that you should
choose the action or policy that has the best overall consequences for all
people who are directly or indirectly affected.

• Fairness Approach
• The fairness approach focuses on how fairly actions and policies distribute
benefits and burdens among people affected by the decision. The guiding
principle of this approach is to treat all people the same.

• Common Good Approach

• The common good approach to decision making is based on a vision of
society as a community whose members work together to achieve a
common set of values and goals.
ETHICS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Here are some examples that raise public concern about the ethical use of
information technology:
• Many employees might have their e-mail and Internet access monitored
while at work, as employers struggle to balance their need to manage
important company assets and work time with employees’ desire for
privacy and self-direction.
• Millions of people have downloaded music and movies at no charge and in
apparent violation of copyright laws at tremendous expense to the owners
of those copyrights.
• Organizations contact millions of people worldwide through unsolicited e-
mail (spam) as an extremely low-cost marketing approach.
• Hackers break into databases of financial and retail institutions to steal
customer information, and then use it to commit identity theft—opening
new accounts and charging purchases to unsuspecting victims.
• Students around the world have been caught downloading material from
the Web and plagiarizing content for their term papers.
• Web sites plant cookies or spyware on visitors’ hard drives to track their
online purchases and activities.
Are IT workers professionals

• Many business workers have duties, backgrounds,

and training that qualify them to be classified as
professionals, including marketing analysts, financial
consultants, and IT specialists.

• A partial list of IT specialists includes programmers,

systems analysts, software engineers, database
administrators, local area network (LAN)
administrators, and chief information officers (CIOs).
Some Important Terminologies

• Trade Secret is information, generally unknown to the public, that has

economic value and company has taken strong measures to keep
confidential.
• Whistle Blowing is an effort by an employee to attract attention to a
negligent, illegal, unethical, abusive, or dangerous act by a company that
threatens the public interest.
• Fraud is the crime of obtaining goods, services, or property through
deception or trickery.
• Misrepresentation is the misstatement or incomplete statement of a
material fact.
• Breach of contract occurs when one party fails to meet the terms of a
contract.
• Bribery involves providing money, property, or favors to someone in
business or government to obtain a business advantage.
Relationships Between IT Workers and IT Users

• The term IT user distinguishes the person who uses a

hardware or software product from the IT workers
who develop, install, service, and support the
product.
• IT users need the product to deliver organizational
benefits or to increase their productivity.
• IT workers have a duty to understand a user’s needs
and capabilities and to deliver products and services
that best meet those needs.
Relationships Between IT Workers and Clients

•An IT worker often provides services to clients who either work

outside the worker’s own organization or are “internal.” In
relationships between IT workers and clients, each party agrees
to provide something of value to the other. Generally speaking,
the IT worker provides hardware, software, or services at a
certain cost and within a given time frame.
•The client provides compensation, access to key contacts, and
perhaps a work space. This relationship is usually documented in
contractual terms—who does what, when the work begins, how
long it will take, how much the client pays, and so on. Although
there is often a vast disparity in technical expertise between IT
workers and their clients, the two parties must work together to
be successful.
Relationships Between IT Workers and Clients

•Typically, the client makes decisions about a project on the basis

of information, alternatives, and recommendations provided by
the IT worker. The client trusts the IT worker to use his or her
expertise and to act in the client’s best interests. The IT worker
must trust that the client will provide relevant information,
listen to and understand what the IT worker says, ask questions
to understand the impact of key decisions, and use the
information to make wise choices among various alternatives.
Thus, the responsibility for decision making is shared between
client and IT worker.
Relationships between IT Workers and Suppliers

•IT workers deal with many different hardware, software, and

service providers. Most IT workers understand that building a
good working relationship with suppliers encourages the flow of
useful communication as well as the sharing of ideas. Such
information can lead to innovative and cost-effective ways of using
the supplier’s products and services that the IT worker may never
have considered.
•IT workers should develop good relationships with suppliers by
dealing fairly with them and not making unreasonable demands.
Suppliers strive to maintain positive relationships with their
customers in order to make and increase sales. To achieve this
goal, they may sometimes engage in unethical actions.
•Clearly, IT workers should not accept a bribe from a vendor, and
they must be careful in considering what constitutes a bribe.
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 and helps promoting:

• Ethical decision making

• High standards of practice and ethical behavior

• Trust and respect from the general public

• Evaluation benchmark
Common Ethical Issues for IT Users

• Software Piracy
Sometimes IT users are the ones who commit software piracy.
A common violation occurs when employees copy software
from their work computers for use at home.

• Inappropriate Use of Computing Resources

Some employees use their computers to surf popular Web
sites that have nothing to do with their jobs, participate in
chat rooms, view pornographic sites, and play computer
games.

• Inappropriate Sharing of Information

Some IT users can share secret and confidential information
with an unauthorized party.
Supporting the Ethical Practices of IT Users

• Establishing Guidelines for Use of Company Software

• Defining and Limiting the Appropriate Use of IT

Resources

• Structuring Information Systems to Protect Data and

Information

• Installing and Maintaining a Corporate Firewall