--Originally published at El Machetero Blog´s
IT it´s a common profession in companies, but are IT people aware of all the power that it´s in their hands, and as we all know
One big problem is that contrary to other branches of study in IT it´s not common to take ethical courses, some people don´t even take courses, they´re just self learning people, and there is not a certain guideline or book to know how to proceed in certain cases or if something is bad or not and as a result of this they´re more prone to do something unethical without knowing.
But what lead IT people to do bad things, well the thing is that they have access to if not all, a big part of the company and employees information, and something that may not seem bad could turn out to be so wrong or it wasn´t bad at the beggining, but little by little you start doing other things and end up falling through the slippery slope all the way down to bad things.
What would you do if you see info in an employee computer about him/he selling info about the company, stealing data?
Maybe you notice that the company is doing ilegal things, they may ask you to be quiet about certain topic, or even tell you to do something that it´s unethical. Is it wrong if you do it? Will somebody else do it if you don´t? You could lose your job if you disobey, what would you do in that situation?
The problem lies in all the power they have, with administrator access it´s possible to get into any device in the system, which lead to access to sensitive data, but everyone hopes and trust you won´t do anything stupid, so try not to disappoint them and ask for permission when you
From The Computer Ethics Institute
- Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people
- Thou shalt not interfere with other people’s computer work.
- Thou shalt not snoop around in other people’s computer files.
- Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.
- Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.
- Thou shalt not copy or use proprietary software for which you have not paid.
- Thou shalt not use other people’s computer resources without authorization or proper compensation.
- Thou shalt not appropriate other people’s intellectual output.
- Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you are writing or the system you are designing.
- Thou shalt always use a computer in ways that ensure consideration and respect for your fellow humans.
Even with this there still exist other problems you may have to face, and make a choice, but you´ll never know for sure if it was te best or not, I see very hard to judge someone for doing something they were forced to do just to keep their job and be able to feed them and their family.
