Sherri Shade

Information Technology Ethical Challenges

Ethics eth•ic

Pronunciation: (eth'ik), [key] —n. 1. the body of moral principles or values governing or distinctive of a particular culture or group: the Christian ethic; the tribal ethic of the Zuni. 2. a complex of moral precepts held or rules of conduct followed by an individual: a personal ethic.

Webster’s Dictionary

IT and Ethics Who is responsible? Who is affected? Should IT Professionals be in the ethics

business? Training Refer ethical issues to HR

Development Implementation Application

Ethical Behaviors? Is your 80 gigabyte hard drive full?

• Music and videos That sure is a great music where did you get it?

• Downloading of music from the web Have you given a friend a copy of your Microsoft Project

software?• Software Piracy

Did you read the confidential company file that was accidentally attached to your email?

• Computer abuse Did you gain access to the network and invade other workers

emails and files?• Computer abuse

You formatted your hard drive prior to leaving your company because you were angry about leaving.

• Destruction of property

Information Technology Ethics

Deal with proper use of technology devices, data, services, and software.

Prior to Technology it may have been easier to know whether the activity was right or wrong

Virtual World Judging behaviors is no longer straight forward Ethical or Unethical?

• A student downloads a sexually explicit picture from the Internet on a computer in the school library. Other students are able to see the picture

• A student finds the teacher’s password to the school’s information system and uses it to change his grades and vi the grades of other students.

• A student uses the copy and paste commands to place large parts of an electronic article into an assigned paper. She turns the paper in as her own work

• A student makes a copy of a software program borrowed from another student to use on his computer at home.

• A student downloads a graphic file from the web to place on his own webpage. However, he does provide a link to the author’s site.

• A student uses another student’s project website as a guideline. • A student copies a previous published story in his own handwriting and submits

it as his own work.

Information Technology Ethics New ethical considerations may be required with technology

capabilities Email spamming

• Does the fact that the financial burden of unsolicited ads etc. now falls on the recipient not the sender create new rules?

Digital photography• What obligations does a anyone have to present an undoctored photo,

even if the message is not as good as the digitally enhanced photo? Pornography access

• What security measures need to be put in place by schools, parents, companies and libraries to keep individuals from seeing inappropriate materials?

Intellectual property• Do we need better/clearer definitions of property?

Globalization of the organization• What do we need to better understand cultures, language, and behaviors?

Information Technology Ethics

Some users view their computing actions as less serious than their actions in the “real world” Examples:

• Stealing software from a store – no way! ….• However, SW piracy costs businesses billions of dollars per

year• Most of us would not pick a lock to someone’s house

• However, guessing passwords to gain access to a website, information, or programs is a common

• Sometimes the technology is not well understood…romance and fear may accompany a new technologies.

• Movies, books, TV capitalize on this fear and romance and make unethical or illegal actions seem heroic, or necessary

The Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics Computer Ethics Institute

Challenges:Code of Ethics No Form of licensing for computer professionals

Results in no real way to enforce ethical standards within the computing field

There is movement within the industry to create a licensing process but there are many issues to be resolved

• What will be included on the exam?• How often will an IT professional be required to renew the

license? Developed by several organizations

Adoption Implementation Monitoring Example: http://www.acm.org/constitution/code.html

Challenges: Web Design

Implementation of features Pop ups Blocking/filters Aliases and redirecting Cookies Privacy policies Security policies Spyware

Use of other design features Javascript Graphics - pictures, buttons, logos, icons Content Design layout Accountability/responsibility Outdated material, inaccurate material

Challenges: Commerce Fraud Taxation Free Trade Gambling Auctions Spamming

Who were Canter and Siegel? Spamming cell phones?

Term papers for sale Atlanta Journal Constitution aritcle

Challenges: Workplace Accessibility Ergonomics Outsourcing Telecommuting Customer relationships – Vendor relationships Should IT professionals be in the ethics business or

should other areas of the business handle these issues?

Monitoring Should your employer have the right to monitor private email

messages? What are the two most popular Web sites for American

workers? Playboy and ESPN

Challenges:Workplace 62% of employers monitor employees' eMail and Internet use. 68% cite legal liability as the primary reason to monitor. 87% of companies that monitor have a written eMail Policy, 83.1% an Internet Policy, 68% a Software Policy. 51% of employers have disciplined or terminated employees for violating

ePolicy. 35% of organizations have eMail retention & deletion policies in place. 10% of companies have been ordered by courts to turn over employee

eMail related to workplace lawsuits. 8.3% of organizations have battled sexual harassment and/or sexual

discrimination claims stemming from employee e-mail and/or Internet use. Source: The 2001 Electronic Policies & Practices Survey from The American

Management Association, US News & World Report, and The ePolicy Institute-Click Here for Survey Results.

Music Downloads Risk of getting caught

Studies have shown that a majority of the people who share music on the Internet are aware that their actions are illegal, said Michael McGuire, a analyst with the Gartner Group. ``But they also know that the chances of getting caught are pretty remote''

Why is “getting caught remote”?• There are an estimated 60 million peer-to-peer network

subscribers in the United States alone, with tens of millions more in other countries

The RIAA is seeking out people who make their music files available for others to download.

• The networks have features that allow users to block others from downloading their files but allow them to continue to download files

Challenges: Speech Net Etiquette Email privacy

Email privacy policy “Flaming” – insulting, argumentative or chastising replies to messages

Free Speech Accountability and responsibility for web content

• Abortion sites• Outdated information• Accurate information• Privacy and security policies

Porn• Professors pc – filled with porn, found by pc maintenance workers• Visa – won’t give permission to be used on offensive or pornographic sites

Hate• MACHADO CASE

Internet Filters• Should filters be in schools or libraries, and /or should they be mandated by law?• Filters can also be set up to filter out other subjects, would this be an ethical violation?

Chain Letters

Challenges:Computing Resource Abuse

Computers in the Workplace and the Classroom Use or Abuse Internet Access Instant Messenger Laptop use in the classroom Email

• Legal document• Can be modified• Flaming

Access Computer Usage policy Email policy

Challenges: Computing Resource Abuse

Computer Crime Viruses Hackers Theft “These cyber swindles and dot-cons

present new challenges to law enforcement” said John Ashcroft

US Charges 135 With Net Crimes

Challenges: Privacy Privacy issues are at the top of the list in regards to

ethical use of information.• Loss of control• Misuse of information• Risk to physical privacy• Risk of identity theft (video)• Unwanted intrusions into daily life

USA Patriot Act (post 9/11)• Efforts to detect and deter terrorist activity• Datamining corporate data• Loss of business and risk of lawsuits due customers being

outraged at their loss of data privacy Cookies Privacy policies

Challenges: Intellectual Property Electronic Copyright Licensing Interoperability Licensing

Cyberlicenses Shrinkwrap Shareware Freeware

MP3 RIAA court case against college students University Internet Usage policies

Internet Downloads Files Graphics Text

Challenges: Intellectual Property Patent, trade secrets, and copyright law

Who owns the program Who owns the algorithm

Software Piracy Why shouldn't I use pirated software? Who am I hurting by

doing so? Piracy exists in everywhere. Loss of revenue hurts everyone. All software piracy is illegal and Software piracy is unethical. Various studies have found that the software industry

loses approximately $12 billion every year . State Industry Study

CD-RW

Challenges: Other Decision making using Expert

Systems Network Security Software accuracy and reliability

who is ethically responsible? Therac-25 Accidents Killer Robots The Hughes Whistleblowing Case

Conclusion: Some Ideas to Ponder

Computer ethics today is now a global effort The gap among the rich and poor nations, rich and poor citizens exists.

How can it be eliminated or reduced eithically and morally to provide information and services that will move them to into the world of cyberspace?

Will the poor be cut off from job opportunities, education, entertainment, medical care, shopping, voting - because they cannot afford a connection to the global information network?

Whose laws will apply in cyberspace when hundreds of countries are incorporated into the global network?

What happened? Where did our knowing right from wrong go too? Are we missing an opportunity to introduce ethics at an early age in

children by not integrating these thoughts and practices in video games? Should more controls and regulations be introduced into the system?

Will they actually help to improve our moral and ethical behavior? Unethical behavior continues to permeate industry, what measures,

policies, codes of conduct be changed to change this behavior?

Works Cited: http://www.brook.edu/dybdocroot/its/cei/overvie

w/Ten_Commanments_of_Computer_Ethics.htm http://www.computingcases.org/case_materials/c

ase_materials.html http://www.epolicyinstitute.com/ http://legacy.eos.ncsu.edu/eos/info/computer_eth

ics/ http://www.spa.org/piracy/ http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/cases.html http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~kschwaig/

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