Ethics in IT Systems - Essay Example

Ethics in IT Systems Information technology systems’ rapid development and the concept of internet boom have contributed immensely to the ease of communication in today’s business world. In general, the advent of internet and complex IT systems are literary turning the world around. With such milestone achievements, the risk of misuse, crime, and unethical behavior in the field is eminent. Such a possibility calls for review of existing IT systems code of conduct and application of new ethics in the IT systems. It is important for users of an IT system, especially in corporate setups, to maintain a proactive approach in communications through such a media. A company should design a technological communication code of conduct to govern its employee, while keeping in mind concerns on their privacy. Such a set of conduct refers to Information technology Ethics, or Cyber ethics (Northcutt 12). IT ethics are the principle than guides the use of IT systems covering a variety of concerns including intellectual property rights and copyrights, security, privacy, and appropriate use of the systems. These regulations are specifically designed to safeguard the organization or individual from the most serious problems emanating from an IT system, like hacking and receipt of viral emails. The first step in designing these regulations is ensuring that all the involved individuals agree to the body of policy under implementation. After following the proper process, these policies should be communicated to all the employees using the most appropriate method available. Implementation and reinforcement of the policies should be done with similar seriousness as those other policies that govern an organization. IT systems cyber crimes analysis for financial year 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 for 50 company, including this organization, indicate that denial of service and malicious code have the highest percentage in cyber cost. Below is a graph showing the analysis report. An IT system, just like any other formal system, incorporates ethical, social, and political issues. Some of the ethical issues facing IT systems originate from political and social debates. Let us consider an example in order to understand the issues that concern an IT system. Let us visualize the society as a calm pond in summer time, reflecting a society at equilibrium with individuals and political and social institutions. The individuals in the society adhere to a given code of conduct developed by social institutions, like organizations, family, education, and enforced by the political institutions. In that calm society, let us now throw a stone inside the pond. The action will most definitely disturb the calm society. This stone is IT systems in the current society, and it sure does cause ripples. The individuals in the calm society face issues not covered by the social or political institutions. This conceptual model illustrates the current society and the continually developing IT systems. Results of such IT systems raise several moral issues of concern to the society, which include information rights and obligations, property rights and obligations, accountability and control, system quality, and quality of life. Information rights and obligations concern the information in IT systems and possession power of the same by employees and the organizations. Questions like what the employees should protect, and their obligation and that of the company concerning the information fall under this moral category. Property rights and obligations revolve around the protection of intellectual rights in the digital society where the problem of ownership is inevitable. Tracing the owner of an intellectual property is cumbersome. In the accountability and control category contains the issue of who is accountable in case of harm of individual or organization information, and the extent of liabilities. The system quality issues are those that concern the standards and quality of data and system that individuals ought to demand in order to protect them and ensure that the society is safe. Lastly, the quality of life category incorporates issues concerning values to be preserved in an IT society, the institutions to be protected from violation and the cultural values that IT systems support (Northcutt 46). The basic concepts of IT system ethics are responsibility, liability, and accountability . Responsibility is the cornerstone element of ethical acts. It implies that an individual acknowledges the potential consequences, costs, obligations, and duties based on the decision made. Accountability is the mechanism in systems and social institutions that determine the individuals responsible for particular actions and who to hold responsible for those actions. Institutions and IT systems which do not provide a way for tracing responsibility of individuals or employees is not capable of upholding ethics or executing ethical actions. Liability extends the concept of responsibility to the field of law. Based in the political system, liability is an element backed by a set of law that enables individuals and organizations to recover damages inflicted on them by other individuals or organization. Liability usually follows a consistent law-governed due process with the choice of appeal for the correct justice. The above basic principles reflect the ethical analysis applied in IT systems. Information systems contain safe information, but through filtration by organizations and individuals, this information has an impact, which may be positive or negative. Responsibility of technology use lies with the organization and individual managers who choose to use the technology. The individuals using the IT system in a socially responsible manner will be accountable for their actions. Lastly, individuals and organizations may seek legal assistance in recovering damage inflicted to them by other individual or organizational users of IT systems. In the normal operation of an IT system, a user may encounter circumstances that present ethical and moral issues. The user should approach such a circumstance with a five-step process that includes: describing and identifying the facts of the situation, defining the situation and identifying the higher-order values, identifying the stakeholders in the situation, identifying the reasonable options available, and finally, identifying the probable consequences of the options available (Northcutt 193). In the first step of ethical analysis, the IT user should find out the individual involved in the situation, how, when, and where. Often, initial reports have errors. The first step assists the users to get the facts straight, which helps in getting the solution to the problem. It also involves the other party and may lead to a mutual agreement of the facts. The second step involves the task of defining the conflict and defining the higher-order values that are involved in the problem. A typical structure of ethical problems consist of two opposing courses of action, most commonly the choice to protect organization from computer crimes and the decision to maintain individual privacy. The third step is to identify the stakeholders involved in the situation. Identifying the individuals and groups who have vocal opinion will assist greatly in designing a solution. The fourth step is identifying reasonable or logical options that are available in the situation. Situations may not have the perfect options, but there are those that come second best in the list. The final step is identifying the probable consequences of the options. Despite the ethical values of some options, they may be inappropriate in others. Consequently, some options may be effective in some situation and completely irrelevant in others. On completion of ethical analysis, the main issue is the concern of the ideal options that reflect the correct ethics. What values influence decisions? Ethics are considerably relative, but there are those standard principles that are generally acceptable to the society, and have successfully survived through time. Some of these principles include the golden rule, the categorical imperative theory, the slippery-slope rule, the utilitarian principle, the risk aversion principle, and “no free lunch” principle (Northcutt 374). The first principle, the golden rule, implies that people should do onto others what they would approve to be done onto them, or simply putting oneself into others’ shoes. The second principle, categorical imperative, is the consideration of actions for the general good of the organization or society. The third guiding principle is the slippery-slope rule, which forbids actions that may bring unacceptable changes if repeated. The fourth principle stipulates implementation of actions that achieve a greater value. It derives its ethics from the utilitarian principle. The fifth principle, the risk aversion principle, advocates for actions whose consequences result in the least harm. It prohibits implementation of high-failure-cost actions. Lastly, the principle of “no free lunch” states that all objects are properties of others, unless clears declaration otherwise. In conclusion, all users of IT systems (both individuals and organization), should observe ethics in their actions concerning others. A professional code of conduct guiding the principles in IT systems to be adhered to, without prejudice or favor. Just as the respect accorded to a society, the IT society should be respected. Work cited Northcutt, Stephen. IT Ethics Handbook: Right and Wrong for IT Professionals. Rockland, MA: Syngress Publishing, Inc, 2004. Read More