IT Ethics

Ethical behavior cannot be legislated or mandated.

Information technology, or IT, has changed human interactions and business operations. People who work in IT must follow certain governing principles of conduct, known as ethics, because IT is at the core of virtually every aspect of society. The common thread in much of the history of IT ethics has been the protection and advancement of human values, such as privacy, security and protection of intellectual property.

Privacy

There are four issues related to IT privacy. First is freedom from intrusion, which is the right to be left alone from telemarketers and spam. Second is control of personal information, which means securing the information provided to banks and online stores. Third is protection against unauthorized surveillance, such as software cookies that gather information from your computer. And the fourth issue is anonymity, which involves guaranteeing the confidentiality of people seeking help on sensitive topics either in person or online.

Encryption

Encryption protects sensitive information by altering plain text into code. It allows secure communications between individuals, businesses and government agencies. However, it also raises the issue of balancing privacy and confidentiality with public security interests. For example, in 2010, BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion ran into trouble with the governments of Dubai and India over their inability to conduct surveillance of encrypted BlackBerry messages.

Intellectual Property

Some people believe that information and software should be open and free. Others believe that, as in the case of pharmaceutical drugs, companies will not invest adequate resources in research and development if there are no enforceable intellectual property laws governing unauthorized duplication and reverse engineering.

Internet Ethics

In 1989, the Internet Activities Board declared the Internet to be a "national facility" and that "irresponsible use of this critical resource poses an enormous threat to its continued availability to the technical community." It characterized as unethical and unacceptable several activities, including seeking unauthorized access and compromising user privacy.

Code of Ethics

Nonprofit IT associations often establish codes of ethics for their members, which include a commitment to improving the understanding of technology and report system vulnerabilities (see Resources). Businesses usually embed IT ethics guidelines in their corporate governance and computer usage policies.

References

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Computer and Information Ethics; October 2008
• IBM: Ethics and Software Development; Gary Pollice; May 2006
• New York Times: U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet; Charlie Savage; September 2010
• Internet Engineering Task Force: Ethics and the Internet; Internet Activities Board; January 1989

Resources

• Association for Computing Machinery: ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct; October 1992
• IEEE: Code of Ethics