Transcript ethics 1

Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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
PRELIM
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
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Controls on Human
Behavior
• Courtesy
• Law
• Ethics
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
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The Levels of Behavior
• Feelings
• Beliefs
• Reputation
• Ability
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
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The Scope of Behavioral
Rules
• Individuals
• Organizations / Groups
• Society / Government
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
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Important Concepts on
Judgment/Statement
/Ethics
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
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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”)
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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”)
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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”)
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
Judgment/Statement
 descriptive (factual) statement—
a statement that purports to
represent some fact about the
world
UNIT
TITLE
Introduction
to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
Judgment/Statement
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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
UNIT
TITLE
Introduction
to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
Moral philosophy
includes—
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•
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normative ethics
applied ethics
moral psychology
metaethics
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
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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
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
Professional
• A professional is someone:
– who requires advanced training
and experience;
– who exercises discretion and
judgment during work;
– whose work cannot be
standardized
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
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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
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
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Ethical Reasoning
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
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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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
THREE STEPS TO STRICTLY
FOLLOW ETHICAL REASONING:
2. A person must be able to
identify the key facts that
pertain to a particular
decision situation.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
THREE STEPS TO STRICTLY
FOLLOW ETHICAL REASONING:
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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
THREE PROPERTIES OF IT THAT
COMPLICATES ETHICAL
REASONING
1. PERVASIVENESS OF
INFORMATION 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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
THREE PROPERTIES OF IT THAT
COMPLICATES ETHICAL
REASONING
2. 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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
THREE PROPERTIES OF IT THAT
COMPLICATES ETHICAL
REASONING
3. INTANGIBILITY OF INFORMATION
AND SOFTWARE
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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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
Two Broad Categories of
Ethical Codes
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
Consequentialist
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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.
UNIT
TITLE
Introduction
to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
Examples of Ethical Codes
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
General Ethical Codes
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
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
General Ethical Codes
Ethical Code
Description
Example
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.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
General Ethical Codes
Ethical Code
Natural Law
Description
What’s right is
whatever a
legitimate authority
(your religion, your
gov’t., your
professional
society) says it
right.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Example
I will not litter
because it is
against the law.
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
Summary
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Ethics
Judgment/Statement
Ethical Reasoning
Ethical Codes
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals
Kaizen 2006 - 2007
Evaluation
• Why do we need to study
ethics?
• Give examples of ethical
issues in different fields.
Introduction to Ethics for IT Professionals