Ethics in Information

Technology, Fourth Edition

Chapter 2
Ethics for IT Workers and IT Users

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Objectives
As you read this chapter, consider the following questions:
◦ What key characteristics distinguish a professional from other kinds of
workers, and is an IT worker considered a professional?
◦ What factors are transforming the professional services industry?
◦ What relationships must an IT worker manage, and what key ethical issues
can arise in each?

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Objectives (cont’d.)
◦ How do codes of ethics, professional organizations, certification, and
licensing affect the ethical behavior of IT professionals?
◦ What is meant by compliance, and how does it help promote the right
behaviors and discourage undesirable ones?

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 IT Professionals
Profession is a calling that requires:
◦ Specialized knowledge
◦ Long and intensive academic preparation

“professional employee”:such as doctors, lawyers, and accountants

◦ Require advanced training and experience
◦ Must exercise discretion and judgment in their work
◦ Their work cannot be standardized. (varied in character)
◦ Contribute to society, participate in lifelong training, assist other professionals
◦ Carry special rights and responsibilities

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Are IT Workers
Professionals?
Partial list of IT specialists
◦ Programmers
◦ Systems analysts
◦ Software engineers
◦ Database administrators
◦ Local area network (LAN) administrators
◦ Chief information officers (CIOs)

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Are IT Workers
Professionals?
(cont’d.)
Legal perspective
◦ IT workers do not meet legal definition of professional
◦ Not licensed by state or federal government
◦ Not liable for malpractice

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Professional Relationships
That Must Be Managed
IT workers involved in relationships

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 Relationships Between
IT Workers and
Employers
Relationship is critical, multifaceted relationship that requires ongoing effort
by both parties to keep it strong.
IT workers and employer agree on many aspects of work relationship before
workers accept job offer such as (may include job title, general performance
expectations, specific work responsibilities, drug-testing requirements, dress
code, location of employment, salary, work hours, and company benefits).
Other aspects of work relationship defined in company’s policy and procedure
manual or code of conduct, including (include protection of company secrets;
vacation policy; time off for a funeral or an illness in the family; tuition reimbursement;
and use of company resources, including computers and networks.)

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 Relationships Between
IT Workers and
Employers
Some aspects develop over time: For example, whether the employee can
leave early one day if the time is made up another day)
Some aspects are addressed by law—for example, an employee cannot be
required to do anything illegal, such as falsify the results of a quality assurance
test.
Some aspects are specific to the role of the IT worker and are established
based on the nature of the work or project—for example, the programming
language to be used, the type and amount of documentation to be produced

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Relationships Between
IT Workers and
Employers
• Software piracy
– Area in which IT workers can be tempted to violate laws and policies
– Make illegal copies of commercial software or enabling access to software to
which they are not entitled
– The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is a trade group representing the
world’s largest software and hardware manufacturers; mission is to stop the
unauthorized copying of software
– Thousands of cases prosecuted each year

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Relationships Between
IT Workers and Employers
(cont’d.)

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 IT Workers and Employers
(cont’d.)
IT workers must set an example and enforce policies regarding the ethical use of IT
in: (cont’d.)
◦ Trade secrets
◦ Business information generally unknown to public
◦ Company takes actions to keep confidential
◦ Require cost or effort to develop
◦ Have some degree of uniqueness or novelty
◦ can include the design of new software code, hardware designs, business plans, the
design of a user interface to a computer program, and manufacturing processes.
◦ Whistle-blowing:‫االبالغ عن المخالفات‬
◦ Employee attracts attention to a negligent, illegal, unethical, abusive, or dangerous act that threatens the public
interest

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 Relationships Between
IT Workers and Clients
In relationships between IT workers and clients, each party agrees to provide
something of value to the other.
IT worker provides:
◦ Hardware, software, or services at a certain cost and within a given time frame

Client provides:
◦ Compensation
◦ Access to key contacts
◦ Work space

Relationship is usually documented in contractual terms )includes who does

what, when the work begins, how long it will take, how much the client pays,
and so on. )

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Relationships Between
IT Workers and Clients
(cont’d.)
Ethical problems arise if a company recommends its own products and
services to remedy problems they have detected
◦ Creates a conflict of interest

Problems arise during a project if IT workers are unable to provide full

and accurate reporting of a project’s status
◦ Finger pointing and heated discussions can ensue

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Relationships Between
IT Workers and Clients
(cont’d.)
Fraud ‫الخداع او الزييف او االحتيال‬
◦ Crime of obtaining goods, services, or property through deception or trickery

Misrepresentation ‫التحريف‬
◦ Misstatement or incomplete statement of material fact
◦ If misrepresentation causes a party to enter into a contract, that party may
have the right to cancel contract or seek reimbursement for damages

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Relationships Between
IT Workers and Clients
(cont’d.)
Breach of contract
◦ One party fails to meet the terms of a contract
◦ When there is material breach of contract:
◦ The non-breaching party may rescind the contract, seek restitution of any compensation paid to
the breaching party, and be discharged from any further performance under the contract

IT projects are joint efforts in which vendors and customers work

together
◦ When there are problems, it is difficult to assign who is at fault

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Relationships Between
IT Workers and
Suppliers
IT workers deal with many different hardware, software, and service
providers
Develop good working relationships with suppliers:
◦ To encourage flow of useful information and ideas to develop innovative and
cost-effective ways of using the supplier in ways that the IT worker may not
have considered
◦ By dealing fairly with them
◦ By not making unreasonable demands

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Relationships Between
IT Workers and Suppliers
(cont’d.)
Bribery ‫الرشوة‬
◦ Providing money, property, or favors to obtain a business advantage
◦ U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA): crime to bribe a foreign official, a
foreign political party official, or a candidate for foreign political office
◦ At what point does a gift become a bribe?
◦ No gift should be hidden
◦ Perceptions of donor and recipient can differ
◦ United Nations Convention Against Corruption is a global treaty to fight
bribery and corruption

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Relationships Between
IT Workers and Suppliers
(cont’d.)

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Relationships Between
IT Workers and Other
Professionals
Professionals feel a degree of loyalty to other members of
their profession
Experienced professionals can also serve as mentors and
help develop new members of the profession.
Professionals owe each other adherence to their
profession’s code of conduct
Ethical problems among the IT profession
◦ Résumé inflation on 30% of U.S. job applications
◦ Inappropriate sharing of corporate information
◦ Information might be sold intentionally or shared informally with those who have no
need to know

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Relationships Between
IT Workers and IT Users
IT user: person using a hardware or software product
IT worker who develop, install, service, and support
the product.
IT workers’ duties
◦ Understand users’ needs and capabilities
◦ Deliver products and services that meet those needs
◦ Establish environment that supports ethical behavior:
◦ To discourages software piracy
◦ To minimize inappropriate use of corporate computing resources
◦ To avoid inappropriate sharing of information

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Relationships Between
IT Workers and Society
Society expects members of a profession:
◦ To provide significant benefits
◦ To not cause harm through their actions

Actions of an IT worker can affect society

Professional organizations provide codes of ethics to guide IT workers’
actions

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Professional Codes of
Ethics
State the principles and core values that are essential to the work of an
occupational group
Most codes of ethics include:
◦ What the organization aspires to become
◦ Rules and principles by which members of the organization are expected to
abide

Many codes also include commitment to continuing education for those

who practice the profession

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Professional Codes of
Ethics
(cont’d.)
Following a professional code of ethics can produce benefits for the
individual, the profession, and society as a whole
◦ Ethical decision making
◦ High standards of practice and ethical behavior
◦ Trust and respect from general public
◦ Evaluation benchmark for self-assessment

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Professional
Organizations
No universal code of ethics for IT professionals
No single, formal organization of IT professionals has emerged as
preeminent
Five of the most prominent organizations include:
◦ Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
◦ Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society (IEEE-CS)
◦ Association of IT Professionals (AITP)
◦ SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security (SANS) Institute

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Certification
Indicates that a professional possesses a particular set of skills,
knowledge, or abilities in the opinion of the certifying organization
Can also apply to products
Generally voluntary
May or may not require adherence to a code of ethics
Employers view as benchmark of knowledge
Opinions are divided on value of certification

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Certification (cont’d.)
Vendor certifications
◦ Some certifications substantially improve IT workers’ salaries and career
prospects
◦ Relevant for narrowly defined roles or certain aspects of broader roles
◦ Require passing a written exam, or in some cases, a hands-on lab to
demonstrate skills and knowledge
◦ Can take years to obtain necessary experience
◦ Training can be expensive

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Certification (cont’d.)
Industry association certifications
◦ Require a higher level of experience and a broader perspective than vendor
certifications
◦ Must sit for and pass written exam
◦ May need to pay annual renewal fee, earn continuing education credits,
and/or pass renewal test
◦ Lag in developing tests that cover new technologies
◦ Are moving from purely technical content to a broader mix of technical,
business, and behavioral competencies

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Government Licensing
License is a government-issued permission to engage in an activity or
operate a business
Generally administered at the state level in the United States
Often requires that recipient pass a test
Some professionals must be licensed – doctors, lawyers, CPAs, medical
and day care providers, engineers
One goal: protect public safety

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Government Licensing
(cont’d.)
Case for licensing IT workers
◦ Encourages following highest standards of profession
◦ Encourages practicing a code of ethics
◦ Violators would be punished

Without licensing, there are no requirements for heightened care and

no concept of professional malpractice

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Government Licensing
(cont’d.)
Issues associated with government licensing of IT workers
◦ There are few licensing programs for IT professionals
◦ No universally accepted core body of knowledge
◦ Unclear who should manage content and administration of licensing exams
◦ No administrative body to accredit professional education programs
◦ No administrative body to assess and ensure competence of individual workers

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IT Professional
Malpractice
Negligence: not doing something that a reasonable person would do, or
doing something that a reasonable person would not do
Duty of care: obligation to protect people against any unreasonable
harm or risk
◦ Reasonable person standard
◦ Reasonable professional standard

Professional malpractice: professionals who breach the duty of care are

liable for injuries that their negligence causes

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IT Users
Employees’ ethical use of IT is an area of growing concern because of
increased access to:
◦ Personal computers
◦ Corporate information systems and data
◦ The Internet

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Common Ethical Issues
for IT Users
Software piracy
Inappropriate use of computing resources
◦ Erodes productivity and wastes time
◦ Could lead to lawsuits

Inappropriate sharing of information, including:

◦ Every organization stores vast amounts of private or confidential data
◦ Private data (employees and customers)
◦ Confidential information (company and operations)

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Supporting the Ethical
Practices of
IT Users
Policies that protect against abuses:
◦ Set forth general rights and responsibilities of users
◦ Create boundaries of acceptable behavior
◦ Enable management to punish violators

Policy components include:

◦ Establishing guidelines for use of company software
◦ Defining appropriate use of IT resources
◦ Structuring information systems to protect data and information
◦ Installing and maintaining a corporate firewall

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Supporting the Ethical
Practices of
IT Users (cont’d.)

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Compliance
To be in accordance with established policies, guidelines, specifications,
and legislation
◦ Sarbanes-Oxley – established requirements for internal controls
◦ HIPAA – ensures security and privacy of employee healthcare data
◦ Failure to be in conformance can lead to criminal or civil penalties and also
lawsuits

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Compliance (cont’d.)
Major challenge to comply with multiple government and industry
regulations that are sometimes in conflict
To meet this challenge:
◦ Implement software to track and record compliance actions
◦ Hire management consultants for advice and training
◦ Create Chief Compliance Officer position

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Compliance (cont’d.)
Audit committee is subset of the board of directors, with oversight for
the following activities:
◦ Quality and integrity of accounting and reporting practices and controls
◦ Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements
◦ Qualifications, independence, and performance of organization’s
independent auditor
◦ Performance of company’s internal audit team

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Compliance (cont’d.)
Internal audit committee responsibilities:
◦ Determine that internal systems and controls are adequate and effective
◦ Verify existence of company assets and maintain proper safeguards over
their protection
◦ Measure the organization’s compliance with its own policies and procedures
◦ Insure that institutional policies and procedures, appropriate laws, and good
practices are followed
◦ Evaluate adequacy and reliability of information available for management
decision making

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Summary
Professionals
◦ Require advanced training and experience
◦ Must exercise discretion and judgment in their work
◦ Their work cannot be standardized

From a legal standpoint, a professional:

◦ Has passed the state licensing requirements
◦ Has earned the right to practice in a state(s)

IT professionals have many different relationships

◦ Each with its own ethical issues and potential problems

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Summary (cont’d.)
Professional code of ethics
◦ States the principles and core values essential to the work of an occupational
group
◦ Serves as a guideline for ethical decision making
◦ Promotes high standards of practice and behavior
◦ Enhances trust and respect from the general public
◦ Provides an evaluation benchmark

Licensing and certification of IT professionals

◦ Would increase the reliability and effectiveness of information systems
◦ Raises many issues

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Summary (cont’d.)
IT-related professional organizations have developed their code of
ethics that:
◦ Outlines what the organization aspires to become
◦ Lists rules and principles for members
◦ Includes a commitment to continuing education for those who practice the
profession

Audit committee and internal audit team have a major role in ensuring
that both the IT organization and IT users are in compliance with
guidelines and various legal and regulatory practices

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