Running head: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND RELATED ETHICS 1

Information Technology and Related Ethics

Name

Institution
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Information Technology and Related Ethics

Description of the topic

The development of information technology includes the incorporation or the transfer of

information through the communication and computer networks. Information technology and

systems consist of hardware, software and the telecommunication networks used by the

individuals in the collection, creation, and the distribution of useful data in an organization

setting. Information systems are a combination of various components and objects such as the

people, hardware, software, and the data communication networks.

People

In the information technology and systems, people perform a great role of building,

developing, implementing and managing and maintaining the information systems. The people in

the information systems include the various technical and the software professionals

implementing and maintaining the information systems (Chiu, Fisher & Young, 2015). The

technocrats include the database administrators, system operators; network administrators

including the information systems professors. The information systems help the individuals in

the organization to process sales, marketing transactions, and the management of the loans

applications and financial analysis.

Data

Data and information are two relevant terms used in the information systems while data

is termed as raw materials to be stored for processing information is the already processed data

stored for particular analysis. Data is meaningless as they represent to non-circumstances.

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Software and hardware

The software and the hardware include all the computing system and the communication

networks and the application programs used to initiate the development of the information

technology. Computer networks enable the transfer of data and information from one location to

another via the network cables online. The information is them manipulated using the computer

application programs written in the languages understandable to the computer professionals.

Hardware includes the computer system components aiding in the imputing and outputting of the

data within the computer network systems. They include all the input and output devices I/O and

the connecting cables for information transfer including the wireless transmissions.

Explanation of the reason for selecting the topic

The reason for selecting the topic of ethical issues in information technology is that the

sector is the most expanding sector globally. The sector drastically influences the society both

positively and negatively expanding the human knowledge while developing the society.

Information technology has influenced the society positively in various ways leading to the

development or various organizations.

In business, information technology has broadened the marketing strategies of various

organizations by expanding the customers base incorporating various marketing strategies such

as social networking media, television advertisements and sending text messages on phones.

Online transactions have become easier and cheap to access because of the development of the

perfect communication systems helping in the transfer of money services globally. Online

education is another milestone in the development of the information systems making studies

easy and cheaper (De Haes, & Van Grembergen, 2015). Online Education Trends universally by
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people from different parts of the globe because of sharing of recourses by the students from

different parts of the globe online.

The impact of information systems in the society is that it has changed the lifestyles of

the youth. Youth engages in criminal activities online since they have easy access to every bad

material online such as the pornography promoting bad activities within the society. Data loss

and theft is also common online since there are activities such as account hackings revealing the

details of attacked victims to criminals to access their confidential information.

Critical important questions addressing emerging information technology and relate ethics

1. Describe the major information technology ethics

The information technology ethics are the computer ethics used in the extensively

growing in the advances and the popularity of information technology. Computer ethics studies

and analyzes the social impact of ethical issues while using information technology. The

information technology ethics pertains to commands between the management and the

employees and the organization and its clients. There are various ethical issues related to

information technology in the current expanding computer technology. Computer ethics

describes the issues, standards, and standards of conduct while using information systems. There

are various information technology ethical issues such as information property, information

privacy, and information accuracy and information accessibility.

Information property

It controls the manipulation of individual information by focusing on who owns

information about individuals. The individual information may be sold without or with the
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consent of the particular owner of the information. Companies maintain the ethics by the creation

of relevant databases of customers or the subscribers legally owning the information. The

confidential information of the customers is stored in the system database of a company for

future references, mailing, and solicitations.

Information privacy

It controls the information an individual should have to reveal to others while using the

internet services. There is widespread access to information in the current technological age

leading to the unauthorized access to individual information. Information is always private to

maintain the integrity of the information and the particular owner. People tend to keep their

information confidential, but it is not possible because of the vastness of the internet use.

Information privacy tends to protect the information crimes such as the identity theft such as

stealing individuals social security number and other confidential information online.

Netiquette

It is a term use in the combination of internet and the etiquette concerns with the

etiquette guidelines regarding messages posted via online services. The paramount rule is the

posting of information, which may be of interest to many others rather than the intended

personality.

2. What are the benefits of information technology to the society?

Information technology has improved the world of business and other disciplines such as

education, health, and entertainment. It improves the productivity and saves time in handling the

business activities. Information technology improves the communication via communication

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technology techniques. The techniques are the phones, video conferencing, electronic mail and

the databases. Alternatively, it improves data storage and file management by various business

ventures using the cloud hosting services to store and backup business data.

The incorporation of techniques such as Dropbox.com enables owners to access data

anytime globally. It improves the business and consumer relationships by constant interaction of

consumer and the fans. Information technology improves on the business competitive advantage

making other companies gain competitive advantages over others by the type of technology they

use in their activities. Information ethics relates to the field of computer ethics and the

philosophy of information pertaining to the society (Lowry et al, 2014). Both information

transmission and literacy are important in the establishment of ethical foundation promoting fair,

equitable, and responsible activities. Information technology influences fundamental rights

involving protection, intellectual freedom, accountability, and copyright security.

3. How do the ethical issues influence the development and existence of information

technology?

Ethics is the moral philosophy addressing questions about morality and concepts such as

good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice including justice. Every enhancement in

information technology includes ethical elements. In every computer, activities there should be a

fine balance between the ethics and the profit received by the service providers. He software

developers including the businesses and individuals should think about the rights and wrongs of

using information technology in the field investigating ethical issues. The issues arise from the

development and the application of the information technologies. The ethical issues provide a
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critical framework for considering moral issues concerning informational privacy, moral agency,

and new environmental problems.

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References

Chiu, C. J., Menacho, L., Fisher, C., & Young, S. D. (2015). Ethics Issues in Social Media

Based HIV Prevention in Low-and Middle-Income Countries.Cambridge Quarterly of

De Haes, S., & Van Grembergen, W. (2015). Enterprise governance of information technology.

Springer.

Lowry, P. B., Posey, C., Roberts, T. L., & Bennett, R. J. (2014). Is your banker leaking your

personal information? The roles of ethics and individual-level cultural characteristics in

predicting organizational computer abuse. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(3), 385-401.