Unit 1- Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals Definition of terms Ethical Reasoning –Three Ways to follow Ethical Reasoning –Three Properties of

Unit 1- Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals• Definition of terms• Ethical Reasoning

– Three Ways to follow Ethical Reasoning

– Three Properties of IT that complicates Ethical Reasoning

• Ethical Codes

Kaizen 2006 - 2007

PRELIM

Objectives

• Define key concepts and terms used in ethics for IT Professionals.

• Determine the three properties of Information Technology that complicates ethical reasoning.

• Differentiate the two categories and examples of ethical codes.

Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals

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Moral

• mor·al (môr¹el, mòr¹-) adjective

• 1. Of or concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of human action and character: moral scrutiny; a moral quandary.

• 2. Teaching or exhibiting goodness or correctness of character

• and behavior: a moral lesson.

• 3. Conforming to standards of what is right or just in behavior; virtuous: a moral life.

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Ethics

• eth·ic (èth¹îk) noun

• 1. a. A set of principles of right conduct. b. A theory or a system of moral values: “An ethic of service is at war with a craving for gain” (Gregg Easterbrook).

• 2. ethics (used with a sing. verb). The study of the general nature of morals and of the specific moral choices to be made by a person; moral philosophy.

• 3. ethics (used with a sing. or pl. verb). The rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession: medical ethics.

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Controls on Human Behavior

• Courtesy

• Law

• Ethics

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The Levels of Behavior

• Feelings

• Beliefs

• Reputation

• Ability

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The Scope of Behavioral Rules

• Individuals

• Organizations / Groups

• Society / Government

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Important Concepts on Judgment/Statement

/Ethics

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Judgment

• value judgment—a judgment that something is good/bad or that one thing is better/worse than something else (“Detroit is a better team than Chicago”)

• prescriptive judgment—a judgment that something is right/wrong or ought/ought not to be done (e.g., “That is the wrong way to hold a golf club,” (“You ought to keep your promises”)

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Judgment/Statement

• normative judgment—a judgment that presupposes a norm or standard; category includes both value judgments and prescriptive judgments

• descriptive statement—a factual statement about the world (e.g., “Houghton gets more snow than Marquette,” “Water freezes at 34 degrees Fahrenheit”)

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Judgment

• moral judgment—one type of normative judgment; presupposes a moral norm or standard (e.g., “We should always tell the truth”)

• nonmoral judgment—any judgment that does not presuppose a moral norm or standard; may be either normative or nonnormative (e.g., “Australia is in the southern hemisphere”)

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Judgment/Statement

descriptive (factual) statement—a statement that purports to represent some fact about the world

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UNIT TITLE Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals

Judgment/Statement

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Ethics Concepts

• descriptive ethics—concerned primarily with descriptive statements relating to ethics, e.g., sociological statements about ethical beliefs and practices in different societies

• normative ethics—concerned primarily with moral judgments and their foundations

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Ethics Concepts

• applied ethics—concerned with moral judgments about specific types of behavior (e.g., sex, violence, distribution of wealth)

• moral psychology—the study of human motivation as it relates to morality

• metaethics—the study of the logic of ethical reasoning and the meanings of ethical concepts and statements

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Moral philosophy includes—

• normative ethics

• applied ethics

• moral psychology

• metaethics

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Two Kinds of Moral Conflicts

• Conflicts between Moral Standards and Nonmoral Normative Standards (e.g., social custom, the law)

• Conflicts between apparently incompatible moral principles or obligations

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Information technology (IT)

• Information technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)is: "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." In short, IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit and retrieve information.

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Professional

• A professional is someone:

– who requires advanced training and experience;

– who exercises discretion and judgment during work;

– whose work cannot be standardized

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IT Professional (defined by PCS)

• A person engaged primarily in IT-related work for an IT supplier, telecommunication vendor, user or government organization. He/she must be employed by the organization on a full-time/part-time basis, either as permanent or direct contract staff, working in the local organization or stationed overseas. The work of the person may include the following:

– the development, distribution, implementation, support and operation of telecommunication, computer

– the provision of information services to end-user; – the dissemination of IT knowledge and skills; or – the management of the above processes

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Ethical Reasoning

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Ethical Reasoning

• is a process that ensures that our actions and decisions can be justified according to some general standard of code, rather than being driven by the exigencies of the moment.

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Ethical Reasoning

• In any given situation a wide range of actions might be viewed as ethical, depending on the code that is used. Therefore, what makes an action ethical is not that it can be justified after the fact by any of the many ethical codes that are available, but rather, that it can be justified according to the code a person has committed to following prior to the time they were confronted with ethical situation.

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THREE STEPS TO STRICTLY FOLLOW ETHICAL REASONING:

1. A person must be aware of the differing ethical codes that might apply to a particular class decisions, and must choose from among these ethical codes the one that will be used to guide their decisions within that class. Some ethical codes apply to very broad classes of decisions, and others to narrow classes.

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2. A person must be able to identify the key facts that pertain to a particular decision situation.

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3. A person must logically apply the rules of the chosen ethical code to the facts of the particular situation, draw the correct logical conclusion about the suggested ethical course of action, and then choose that course of action.

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THREE PROPERTIES OF IT THAT COMPLICATES ETHICAL

REASONING 1.1. PERVASIVENESS OF PERVASIVENESS OF

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYINFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - IT systems for collecting, storing and

accessing information about individuals have become so extensive that new kinds of opportunities to invade privacy or misuse information or computers constantly arise for which there are no well established precedents to follow. The Dominion-Swann and the “Web Lining” articles assigned for next time illustrate these new kinds of opportunities quite well.

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REASONING2. COMPLEXITY OF IT SYSTEMS2. COMPLEXITY OF IT SYSTEMS

- This complexity ensures that inaccuracies will exist in the data collected about people, potentially to their disadvantage. The complexity of IT also makes it difficult for people to anticipate the full consequences of their actions.

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REASONING3. INTANGIBILITY OF INFORMATION 3. INTANGIBILITY OF INFORMATION

AND SOFTWAREAND SOFTWARE - Many people that would never think of

digging around in another person’s desk or swiping a software title from a store find it much easier to snoop around another person’s computer or to use pirated software. This arises, in part, from the intangibility element.

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Two Broad Categories of Ethical Codes

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Consequentialist

• ethical codes that tell you to choose the action with the best overall consequences.

• The idea that an action can be right or wrong regardless of its consequences, or that individual people have in inherent right to be treated in a certain way is not present in this kind of ethical code.

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Consequentialist

• This kind of reasoning is that the person might think of the consequences of his actions first before doing the real move. In the table on the following page, the first code utilitarianism, is a consequentialist code.

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Obligational

• Ethical codes by contrast, hold that certain actions are inherently right or wrong and we don’t have to balance out the consequences to determine this.

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Obligational

• In this is a situation where the person considers his obligations professionally before doing such actions or moves. By means of respecting the rights of others, and also the natural laws, contracts, and ethics. Therefore, we can practice the ethical codes based on our obligations, either to the mother nature or to our fellowmen.

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Examples of Ethical Codes

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General Ethical Codes

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Ethical Code Description Example

Utilitarianism Choose the action that creates the greatest good for the greatest

number of people

I will not litter because the benefit of convenience to me is outweighed by the inconvenience to whoever must pick it up and the eyesore this creates for passers-by

Universal Application Principle

The action is right if we would like everyone to accept the moral rule presupposed by the action.

I will not litter because if everyone did we’d be up to our eyeballs in litter


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Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

I will not litter because I wouldn’t like people dump trash in my yard

Human rights You must respect the rights of others, i, e., the right to life, safety, privacy, property, free speech, due process, fair treatment

I will not litter because this infringes the property rights of the person who owns the

land my litter falls upon.



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Natural Law What’s right is whatever a legitimate authority (your religion, your gov’t., your professional society) says it right.

I will not litter because it is against the law.


Documents

Unit 1- Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals Definition of terms Ethical Reasoning –Three Ways to follow Ethical Reasoning –Three Properties of