Ethics (relating to information technology) - Essay Example

Ethics in Information Technology: A Critical Review 2007 Ethics in Information Technology: A Critical Review Key Term: ethics Definition: The relationship between ethics and information technology is one of incredible importance and significance and one which absolutely needs to be properly understood. When most people think of the term ethics, they basically think of right and wrong, following rules and disobeying them so to speak, and most people learn their ethical value systems in the home.

However it is also important to realize that "Most societies also have legal rules that govern behavior, but ethical norms tend to be broader and more informal than laws. Although most societies use laws to enforce widely accepted moral standards and ethical and legal rules use similar concepts, it is important to remember that ethics and law are not the same. An action may be legal but unethical or illegal but ethical." (Any classification of ethics is considered as being the study of particular values and customs of a person or group, and applied ethics are most commonly used in the information technology field.

This is an "applied discipline of philosophy that attempts to apply ethical theory to real-life situations. The lines of distinctions between meta-ethics, romantic ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics are often blurrybut it can also depend more on general normative principles, such as possible rights of self-rule and right to life." (Frauenheim, 2006). Article Summary: Anderson, J. G. & Goodman, K. (2002). Ethics and Information Technology. New York: Springer Publishing. The applications here are enormous, and the issue of ethics is one of the most major and significant within this.

The given article relates very strongly to the issue of ethics then, as it discusses how ethics is presented relating to e-businesses: due to the convenience that is brought to the table by these e-businesses, the issue of ethics changes quite a bit, because now the general public does not have to leave their home and drive anywhere anymore, they can simply access everything that they need from their computer in the comfort of their own home. This means that the issue of ethics needs to be altered significantly in regards to all businesses, especially those which have not yet transferred over and joined the electronic world.

Today the term information technology has really expanded, and now includes a variety of different aspects that were never included before. Just a few of the different duties that IT professionals perform which involve ethics may include: data management, computer networking, computer engineering, database systems design, software design, management information systems, and systems management. There have been some phenomenal approaches and advancements to ethics and information technology that have been made over recent years, and truly, information technology is now more than ever changing aspects of human endeavor and existence.

"Information technology has become ubiquitous, invading all aspects of human existenceone can almost say that information technology has become construed as the default technology for solving a whole raft of technical and social problems such as health provision, security, governance, etc. One could also argue that it has become synonymous with society's view of modernization and progress." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2007). From this review we can conclude a few important factors, namely that ethics and information technology is one of the most serious and significant relationships in the business world.

From a summary of the given article as well as various other resources we have seen that there have been various different advancements made in the field of information technology over time, particularly over the past few years and especially in regards to ethics. This is important and critical to the IT field keeping up with the age of time. ReferencesAdelman, C. (2000). A Parallel Postsecondary Universe: The Certification System in Information Technology. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Allen, T., & Morton, M. S. (1994).

Information Technology and the Corporation of the 1990s. New York: Oxford University Press. Anderson, J. G., & Goodman, K. (2002). Ethics and Information Technology. New York: Springer Publishing. Frauenheim, E. (2006). Oracle Details Product Plans, but Fusion Questions Remain. Workforce Management, 85 (21), pp.3-4. Ramsey, E., Ibbotson, P., & McCole, P. (2006). Application of Projective Techniques in an e-Business Research Context. International Journal of Market Research, 48 (5), pp. 551-573.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2007). Phenomenal Approaches to Ethics and Information Technology. Retrieved August 31, 2007, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-it-phenomenology/Resnik, D. B. (2007). What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important Retrieved August 31, 2007, from http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis.cfmWebster, F., & Robins, K. (1986). Information Technology - A Luddite Analysis. Norwood, NJ: Albex.