Ethics in Functional Areas of Business-Information Technology Management
Any Technology used to Create, Process and Disseminate information that is critical to business performance come under this purview.
Information technology is important to the business sector as
a management tool to optimize the processing of information to
produce goods and services for profit.
The IT includes the management information
systems (computers, hardware, software, networks) used to automate and support
business tasks and decision-making. The IT is used to automate simple, routine
tasks such as word processing and advanced processes such as production,
scheduling and logistics. In this manner, information technology enables
businesses to operate efficiently and profitably
In very simple term ethics is nothing more than your belief
towards the action and happening situations. As the world is adopting the new
technology the need of ethics arises to sustain the proper growth and to
minimize the risk of wrong uses.
For example, while it is easy to duplicate copyrighted
electronic or digital content, computer ethics would suggest that it is wrong
to do so without the author's approval. And while it may be possible to access
someone's personal information on a computer system, computer ethics would
advise that such an action is unethical.
Information technology ethics is the study of the ethical
issues arising out of the use and development of electronic technologies. Its
goal is to identify and formulate answers to questions about the moral basis of
individual responsibilities and actions, as well as the moral underpinnings of
public policy.
Information technology ethics raises new and unique moral
problems because information technology itself has brought about dramatic social,
political, and conceptual change. Because information technology affects not
only how we do things but how we think about them, it challenges some of the
basic organizing concepts of moral and political philosophy such as property,
privacy, the distribution of power, basic liberties and moral responsibility.
Significance of IT & e-Commerce(Feb 2020)
Information Technology gets its huge popularity after year
1995 when Microsoft Company initially launched the office programs for
computers. Today whole world is relying on such office suites
Information systems have made many businesses successful today. Some companies such as Google, Facebook, EBay, etc. would not exist without information technology
Look at the following statistics:
1. By 2021 there will be more than 2 billion people buying goods and services through e-commerce shops.
2. India will rank
first in eCommerce growth in the retail industry by 2023.
3. Global eCommerce
companies’ revenue is predicted to reach more than $6 trillion by 2022.
4. By 2023 90.8% of
all purchases will be conducted on retail websites.
5. The list of
eCommerce websites is constantly changing because more are being created every
day. Today there are more than 24 million eCommerce websites in 2020.
6. US website
revenue estimates that eCommerce in the apparel and accessories niche will
exceed $145.8 billion by 2023.
7. 27% of all
fashion eCommerce traffic comes from the United States. Japan holds second
place with 17.57% and Russia, third with 11.49%.
8. More than 70% of
internet users in the EU shopped on eCommerce sites in 2019.
9. The US eCommerce
growth for 2020 is projected to increase by $56.4 billion from last year,
amounting to $600 billion in total revenue.
There is a great risk that expensive but necessary computer systems are abandoned because of scandals and conflicts. There is also a risk that ethically controversial systems are used suboptimally, that persons may get hurt, and that organizations may be damaged if they hesitate to use otherwise importand and necessary computer tools.
Richard O. Mason identified four such areas, which can be summarized by the acronym PAPA: Privacy, Accuracy, Property, and Accessibility.
The Ten
Commandments of computer ethics have been defined by the Computer Ethics
Institute.
•
One
should not
1) Use a
computer to harm other people.
2) Interfere
with other people's computer work.
3) Snoop around
in other people's files.
4) Use a
computer to steal.
5) Use a
computer to bear false witness.
6) Use or copy
software for which you have not paid.
7) Use other
people's computer resources without authorization.
8) Distribute
other people's intellectual output; without permit.
•
One
should
9) Think about
the social consequences of the program you write.
10) Use a computer
in ways that show consideration and respect.
Some threats to
information system are:-
•
Computer
Abuses:- hacking Id & sending mail through hacked id.
•
Computer
crime:-Hacking &theft
•
Theft
of equipment
•
Theft
of data
•
Equipment
malfunctions:- virus in excel sheet
•
Environmental
hazards
•
Destruction
from viruses
•
Errors
in handling & usage of data.
Commencement of
the IT Act, 2000
•
In
the year 2000, when privacy concern was the big issue for all the business
firms. Indian Government passed the very first cyber law which is named as the
Information Technology Act, 2000.
•
Mandatory
Privacy Policy Page
•
In
the year range of 2005 to 2010 the webmasters started cheating customers with
untruthful claims thus today it is necessary for every IT professionals to involve
a Privacy Policy page / line everywhere.
Cyber offenses are the unlawful acts which are carried in a
very sophisticated manner in which either the computer is the tool or target or
both
Information Technology has a strong dissonance created in thecompeting values of security and openness that is worked right into the design
of these technologies and this is all based on the competing moral values held
by the various people who designed the technologies themselves.
Kenneth Himma largely agrees that the activity of computer
hacking is unethical but that politically motivated hacking or “Hacktivism” may
have some moral justification, though he is hesitant to give his complete
endorsement of the practice due to the largely anonymous nature of the speech
entailed by the hacktivist protests (Himma 2007b).
A very similar value split plays out in other areas as well,
particularly in the field of intellectual property rights (see entry on intellectual property/) and pornography and censorship (see
entry on pornography and censorship).
Finally, one
good IT audit system will keep the firm in good shape.
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