Create an sample essay about an Ethical Issue for IT Workers Research any ethica

Question

Create an sample essay about an Ethical Issue for IT Workers

Research any ethical issue involving IT workers that occurred in the past two years. Using Microsoft Word develop an MS Word format essay.

-Describing the situation

-Presenting the ethical issues involved

-Evaluating alternative actions

-Recommending and justifying your solution to the situation

Include at least 3 links to sources where you gathered information. It is a requirement that you link directly to the content where I am able to validate the information.

Explanation / Answer

What are the ethical issues in IT ?

There are many ethical issues that are faced by the IT professionals. Following are the various issues the faces at their workplace:

1. Their private e-mails are being read by the network users or network administrator just because for the security reason that the confidential company information is not being disclosed by them.

2. Their browse history of websites visited b them is monitored by network users to ensure the internet usage to prevent the pornography in workplace may cause a hostile environment.

3. They keeps check on key loggers and capture all the things by taking screenshots and they are also informed that they are been monitored

4. Sometimes they captures all the documents, graphics content and data of the professionals to inspect any unethical aspects that is being carried out by them.

Remember that we're not talking about legal questions here. A company may very well have the legal right to monitor everything an employee does with its computer equipment. We're talking about the ethical aspects of having the ability to do so.

As a network administrator or security professional, you have rights and privileges that allow you to access most of the data on the systems on your network.

You may even be able to access encrypted data if you have access to the recovery agent account. What you do with those abilities depends in part on your particular job duties (for example, if monitoring employee mail is a part of your official job description) and in part on your personal ethical beliefs about these issues.

Examples :

The pertains to the ease with which a person can go from doing something that doesn't really seem unethical, such as scanning employees' e-mail "just for fun," to doing things that are increasingly unethical, such as making little changes in their mail messages or diverting messages to the wrong recipient.

In looking at the list of privacy issues above, it's easy to justify each of the actions described. But it's also easy to see how each of those actions could "morph" into much less justifiable actions. For example, the information you gained from reading someone's e-mail could be used to embarrass that person, to gain a political advantage within the company, to get him/her disciplined or fired, or even for blackmail.

The slippery slope concept can also go beyond using your IT skills. If it's OK to read other employees' e-mail, is it also OK to go through their desk drawers when they aren't there? To open their briefcases or purses?

Real world ethical problems

What if your perusal of random documents reveals company trade secrets? What if you later leave the company and go to work for a competitor? Is it wrong to use that knowledge in your new job? Would it be "more wrong" if you printed out those documents and took them with you, than if you just relied on your memory?

What if the documents you read showed that the company was violating government regulations or laws? Do you have a moral obligation to turn them in, or are you ethically bound to respect your employer's privacy? Would it make a difference if you signed a nondisclosure agreement when you accepted the job?

IT and security consultants who do work for multiple companies have even more ethical issues to deal with. If you learn things about one of your clients that might affect your other client(s), where does your loyalty lie?

Then there are money issues. The proliferation of network attacks, hacks, viruses and other threats to their IT infrastructures have caused many companies to "be afraid, be very afraid." As a security consultant, it may be very easy to play on that fear to convince companies to spend far more money than they really need to. Is it wrong for you to charge hundreds or even thousands of dollars per hour for your services, or is it a case of "whatever the market will bear?"

Is it wrong for you to mark up the equipment and software that you get for the customer when you pass the cost through? What about kickbacks from equipment manufacturers? Is it wrong to accept "commissions" from them for persuading your clients to go with their products? Or what if the connection is subtler? Is it wrong to steer your clients toward the products of companies in which you hold stock?

Another ethical issue involves promising more than you can deliver, or manipulating data to obtain higher fees. You can install technologies and configure settings to make a client's network more secure, but you can never make it completely secure. Is it wrong to talk a client into replacing their current firewalls with those of a different manufacturer, or switching to an open source operating system – which changes, coincidentally, will result in many more billable hours for you – on the premise that this is the answer to their security problems?

Here's another scenario: What if a client asks you to save money by cutting out some of the security measures that you recommended, yet your analysis of the client's security needs shows that sensitive information will be at risk if you do so? You try to explain this to the client, but he/she is adamant. Should you go ahead and configure the network in a less secure manner? Should you "eat" the cost and install the extra security measures at no cost to the client? Should you refuse to do the job? Would it make a difference if the client's business were in a regulated industry, and implementing the lower security standards would constitute a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

Resources

1) For very detailed discussions of both technological and non-technological ethical issues that face IT pros from systems admins to programmers to ISPs, see Stephen Northcutt's book IT Ethics Handbook, published by Syngress.

2) deb@shinder.net or at www.shinder.net.

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