Personal Ethics Influenced By...
• Faculty/mentors
• Internship supervisors
• Professional codes of ethics
• Textbooks & professional materials
• Colleagues
• Family & friends
• Religious & moral influences
Professional Relationships That Must
Be Managed
• IT professionals have many different relationships
with:
– Employers
– Clients
– Suppliers
– Other professionals
– IT users
– Society at large
Relationships Between IT
Professionals and Employers
• IT professionals must set an example and enforce
policies regarding the ethical use of IT
• Ethical Issues
– Software Piracy
– Trade Secret
– Whistle blowing
Relationships Between IT Professionals and
Employers (continued)
• Software piracy
– Software piracy is the act of illegally making copies of software
or enabling others to access software to which they are not
entitled
– Software piracy is an area in which IT professionals can be
• The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is a trade group that
represents the world’s largest software and hardware manufacturers
– Its mission is to stop the unauthorized copying of software
tempted to violate laws and policies
produced by its members
Relationships Between IT Professionals and
Employers (continued)
• Trade secret
– Information used in business
– Generally unknown to the public
– Company has taken strong measures to keep confidential
• Whistle-blowing
– Attracts attention to a negligent, illegal, unethical, abusive, or
dangerous act that threatens the public interest
Relationships Between IT
Professionals and Clients
• IT professional provides
– Hardware, software, or services at a certain cost and within a
given time frame
• Client provides
– Compensation
– Access to key contacts
– Work space
• Relationship is usually documented in contractual terms
Relationships Between IT
Professionals and Clients (continued)
• Ethical problems arise if a company recommends its
own products and services to remedy problems they
have detected
• A company is unable to provide full and accurate
reporting of a project’s status
Fraud, Misrepresentation, and Breach
of Contract
• Fraud
– Crime of obtaining goods, services, or property through
deception or trickery
– Fraud is proven in court
• Breach of contract
– One party fails to meet the terms of a contract
• IT projects are joint efforts in which vendors and customers work
together
– Difficult to assign blame
Relationships Between IT
Professionals and Suppliers
• Develop good relationships with suppliers
– Deal fairly with them
– Do not make unreasonable demands
– Do not accept bribes
Relationships Between IT Professionals and
Suppliers (continued)
• Bribery
– Providing money, property, or favours to someone in
business or government to obtain a business
advantage
– At what point does a gift become a bribe?
– No gift should be hidden
– Perceptions of donor and recipient can differ, How?