Ethics and IT - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The profession itself, if, consists of many branches these days which include computer science, information systems, information science, software engineering, computer engineering, database engineering, network engineering systems engineering, software architecture, human-computer interface design, computational science, computational statistics, numerical modeling, library sciences and several more. All of these segments of the profession have an important ethical component. That component is the method in which information is dealt with (Denning, 2008).

Computer ethics comes from the practical concerns that occur in connection to the fact that essentially everyone's life is available on a computer. The so called digital revolution in contemporary society has caused many good things to happen but also some very confusing things such as what the ethical considerations are. When studied by Floridi & Sanders (2002), it was found that ethical considerations were inconsistent, inadequate and unsatisfying as well as lacking in regular principles. The aim of computer ethics must be to reach decisions that are defensible as well as having a principle and have moral insight. With this technology, no one is watching over their shoulder which allows these ethical considerations to be less defensible than others. The profession must develop ethical decision-making tactics that are defensible both ethically and legally.

There is presently much research being done to determine what the true definition of ethics is and should be and how it is maintained in the setting of a computing profession. It is also questioned as to what makes a difference in maintaining those ethical standards and whether that can be done without instituting more legal action to maintain (Litzky, 2008). One has to wonder if ethics can be legislated anyway. Litzky asks in the question of whether or not IT education on ethics makes a difference in whether ethical policies are followed? The six issues addressed in the study were the same that are listed in the codes of ethics for IT professionals.  ...Download file to see next pages Read More