Ethics and the Challenge of ICT: Advisory Note for Users and IT Professionals

Ethics and the Challenge of ICT: Advisory Note for Users and IT Professionals Osuagwu O. E1 ., Ihedigbo E2 ., Ndigwe chinwe3 Chioma E4 , Njoku Obilor5 1 Department of Computer Science, Imo State University, Owerri ...

Ethics and the Challenge of ICT: Advisory Note for Users and IT Professionals Osuagwu O. E1 ., Ihedigbo E2 ., Ndigwe chinwe3 Chioma E4 , Njoku Obilor5 1 Department of Computer Science, Imo State University, Owerri 2 Department of Computer Science Micael Okpara University of Ariculture, Umudike 3,4Department of Computer Science, Odimewu Ojukwu University, Ulli 5 Department of Computer Science, Federal University of Tecnoloy, Owerri Abstract This paper has attemted to provide advice to IT Professionals and Users on the professional ethical bevaviours in the IT industry. It is an advisory note to guide professionals and users to provide a guide on best practices in the areas of software licensing and application, misuse of IT resources and the need to comply with corporate IT polices particularly on securities and the need to avoid creative accounting ___________________________________________________________________ Introduction What is ethics? What is ICT? Ethics is a set of principles by which people live. ICT (short for Information communications technology) can be described as all matters concerned with the furtherance of computer science and technology and with the design, development, installation, and implementation of information systems and applications [1] [3] [4]. This definition can be further expanded to include the technology architecture which is an integrated framework for acquiring and evolving IT to achieve strategic goals. It has both logical and technical components. The communications [C] component deals with the transmission of electronic signals via specified media channels for extended diffusion of information services across very wide spectrum [. Ethics and ICT is a new field. The Internet has been a force for bad as well as for good and has generated w whole new set of issues. It is rarely clear what is “right” and what is “wrong” and we should not let issues of personal taste cloud our judgment. Few of the items to be discussed here include Software Licensing, Pornography, misuse of resources by employees 2.0Software licences Is all your software appropriately licenced? Do you have a licence for every PC running Windows and Office? Not sure? Ensure you pay for your software! If you have an unlicenced copy of computer software you can buy the licence or stop using it and move onto free and open source software. The most common issue arising from an IT audit in a small organisation is that there are often more copies of a particular piece of software (MS Office is a good example) installed on the computers than there are legitimate licenses. This puts IT professionals and circuit riders in a difficult position. Yes, we can advise you to purchase more but do we follow it up? Do we say “you should” but whisper off the record “but we know you don’t have the funds so it’s OK to wait a bit”? Do we steer you in the direction of open source alternatives (Open Office – free to download and use for example)? Or do we simply forget about it? Ethics deman that you purchase a software on license because software is an intellectual property. Clean and guilt-free living makes you happier!. 3.0 The importance of policies and procedures Where does HR end and ICT begin? You wouldn’t tolerate someone looking at porn magazines in your office so why should you tolerate someone looking at porn on a computer screen in the furthest corner of the office? Does it do any harm if you don’t know about it? What is porn anyway? What if you access a website and get a dodgy popup (probably means your security software isn’t doing its job either)? All organizations should have an acceptable use policy and a process for referring and managing issues as they arise. This would also cover abuse of resources (using too much bandwidth for internet radio, spendin