Ethics and Information Technology

Valerie J. H. Powell, R.T.(R), Ph.D.

Department of Computer and Information Systems

Robert Morris University

Organizations:

· ACM - The ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Code of Ethics can be used in helping to understand moral and ethical considerations in our profession. The ACM (http://www.acm.org) has Professional Standards stated in the General ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (http://www.acm.org/serving/ethics.html) and the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice (http://www.acm.org/serving/se/code.htm)
The ACM standards cover General Moral Imperatives, Professional Responsibilities, Organizational Leadership Imperatives, and Compliance. The ACM Codes of Ethics are copyrighted.

· The AITP (Association of Information Technology Professionals (http://www.aitp.org)) has a Code of Ethics (http://www.aitp.org/about/code_of_ethics.html) which covers obligations. The AITP Code of Ethics is copyrighted

· The AMIA (American Medical Informatics Association) (http://www.amia.org) has an Ethics Committee (http://www.amia.org/about/committees/ethics.html) which reviews policies and procedures of AMIA programs to "ensure that high ethical standards are maintained" and " recommends policies about conflicts of interest and types of conduct that should be discouraged, as well as procedures for discipline, if needed."

Sites dealing with ethics in general, in computing, in business, in professions:

· http://legacy.eos.ncsu.edu/eos/info/computer_ethics/ Ethics in Computing, administered by Dr. Edward F. Gehringer - efg@ncsu.edu – North Carolina State University – topic areas covered: basics, commerce, social-justice issues, computer abuse, speech issues, privacy, intellectual property, risks – please note the interesting site map interface!

· http://onlineethics.org/ for engineering and science, Case Western Reserve University – note ABET connection

· http://www.iit.edu/departments/csep/PublicWWW/codes/ Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology – online collection of over 850 codes of ethics

· http://www.ethics.harvard.edu/ Harvard University Center for Ethics and the Professions

· http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/e/ethics.htm James Fieser, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Department of Philosophy, University of Tennessee at Martin - definitions

· http://www.ethics.org/ Ethics Resource Center

· The College of Commerce at DePaul University has an Institute for Business and Professional Ethics - http://commerce.depaul.edu/ethics/ - no resources posted yet

Publication:

· Ethics and Information Technology (Kluwer Academic Publishers, ISSN1388-1957) See http://kluweronline.nl

Ethics Discussion topics.

Neuroethics:

· Gerald R. Lucas, “Neuroethics and Brain Privacy” at http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000196.shtml

· “A Vote for Neuroethics,” Scientific American 299, 3 (September 2003): 13. See www.sciam.com/ and link to article.