Scribd
Upload
56 views

Lecture 3 Professional Ethics and Responsibilities

Professional ethics concerns proper conduct when doing professional work like consulting or teaching. It considers relationships with clients, society, and other professionals. Codes of ethics from groups like IEEE and ACM symbolize professionalism and specify good conduct. Computer ethics applies classical ethics to technology use and addresses privacy, property, access, and accuracy issues raised by widespread computing. Moral problems include hacking, piracy, and viruses. Education aims to increase awareness of computing's disruptive potential and importance of ethics without strict laws in the field.

Uploaded by

malik hadia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
56 views

Lecture 3 Professional Ethics and Responsibilities

Professional ethics concerns proper conduct when doing professional work like consulting or teaching. It considers relationships with clients, society, and other professionals. Codes of ethics from groups like IEEE and ACM symbolize professionalism and specify good conduct. Computer ethics applies classical ethics to technology use and addresses privacy, property, access, and accuracy issues raised by widespread computing. Moral problems include hacking, piracy, and viruses. Education aims to increase awareness of computing's disruptive potential and importance of ethics without strict laws in the field.

Uploaded by

malik hadia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 19

Professional Ethics?

 Professional Ethics: concerns one's conduct of


behavior and practice when carrying out
professional work, e.g., consulting,
researching, teaching and writing
 Professional Ethics must take into accounts:
– Relations between professionals and clients
– Relation between profession and society
– Relations among professionals
– Relations between employee and employer
– Specialized technical details of the profession
Professional Ethics?
 A computing professional must understand
– Cultural, social, legal, and ethical issues in
computing
– Responsibility and possible consequences of
failure
 Professional organizations dealing with
computing have code of ethics (e.g. IEEE,
ACM, and NSPE)
Professional Ethics
 Professional code of ethics:
– Symbolize professionalism
– Protect group interests
– Specify membership etiquette
– Inspire good conduct
– Educate and discipline members
– Foster external relations
– Enumerate principles, express ideals
– Put forth rules, offer guidelines
– Codify rights
IEEE - Code of Ethics
 In recognition of importance of our technology in
affecting the quality of life we commit ourselves
to conduct of the highest ethical and professional
manner and agree to:
– accept responsibility in making decisions
consistent with safety, health, and welfare of the
public
– avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest
IEEE - Code of Ethics
– be honest and realistic in stating claims or
estimates
– reject bribery in all forms
– improve understanding of technology, its
application, and potential consequences
– maintain and improve our technical competence
and undertake technological tasks for others only
if qualified
IEEE - Code of Ethics
– seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of
technical work
– acknowledge and correct errors
– credit properly the contributions of others
– treat all persons fairly regardless of race, religion,
gender, disability, age, or national origin
– avoid injuring others, their property, reputation,
or employment by false or malicious action
– assist colleagues and co-workers in their
professional development and to support them
in following this code of ethics
Computer Ethics
 Computer ethics defined as the application of
classical ethical principles to the use of computer
technology
 Ethical problems related to computers are not
unique but they tend to occur on a much larger
scale and scope
– Scope: communications networks bring the world
together
– Anonymity: beneficial but creates problems of
integrity
– Reproducibility
Computer Ethics

 Aspects of computer ethics:


– Analysis of the nature of problems related to
the social impact of computers
– Formulation and justification of policies
needed to manage computer technology
Categories of Computer Ethics
Issues
 Privacy
– Computers create a false sense of security
– People do not realize how vulnerable
information stored on computers are
 Property
– Physical property
– Intellectual property (in both copyright and
patent)
– Data as property
Categories of Computer Ethics
Issues
 Access
– Access to computing technology
– Access to data
 Accuracy
– Accuracy of information stored
Moral and Ethical Problems
 Hacking, cracking and virus creation
– Serious crimes that cannot be justified
– Attempts at justifying such actions
• Electrons are free- they do not belong to anybody
• Companies have weak protection
• Point out flaws and vulnerabilities in information
systems
• Hacking or virus creation is right in a particular
country or culture
Moral and Ethical Problems

 Software piracy
– Unauthorized copying of software is stealing
– It is morally wrong as it constitutes a violation of
someone else’s rights
Problems with Codes of Ethics

 A legal system is not a complete and correct


guide to moral behavior
 Codes of ethics are mostly voluntary
 May encounter situations for which the code
makes no explicit recommendations
 Goodness cannot be defined through a list of
Dos and Don'ts
 You must use your internal sense of ethics
Computer Ethics
Awareness and Educational Issues
 How to raise the moral consciousness and
ethical level
 Possibilities of developing global computer
ethics codes
 Computer ethics education should include:
– Explanation of disruptive potential of even a
single user
Computer Ethics
Awareness and Educational Issues

– Understanding of importance of ethics and


lack of laws in computer/information
technology
– Explanation of information security & related
problems
– Making people aware of ethical impact of
their actions
– Training and education by professionals
Computing Ethics and Guidelines -
Example
 Respect privacy of other users and do not share
your account with others
 Respect appropriate laws and copyrights
 Obey established guidelines for any network or
system used
 Do not use computer resources for unauthorized
purposes
 Do not use computer resources for commercial
endeavors
 Do not use computer resources in ways detrimental
to normal operation
Conclusions

 Must understand cultural, social, legal and


ethical issues related to computing
 Expect to face variety of ethically difficult
situations
 Hold to highest possible ethical standards
 Use your internal sense of ethics
Conclusions

 Making the wrong ethical choice begins with


focusing on short-term self-interest
 Ethical behavior is a way of life, best learned
through experience
 Living ethically requires strong and sincere
motivation

You might also like