Codes of Conduct: Computer Ethics
Outcome 2 – Codes of conducts
Computer ethics is a set of moral guidelines of what users should and shouldn’t do when using computers. Through the vast progression of computer, technology and the internet in the last decade, use of computers has had more of an impact on society and there have been a lot of common concerns raised in regards to computing ethics such as; intellectual property, privacy and how computer usage has affected society. An examples of intellectual property may be making copies of copyrighted content in electronic format,(such as a song) it may be a quick easy task to do, but one might argue it is unethical to do so without the owner’s permission. An example of privacy may be accessing one’s personal information on a computer system. A more controversial example of intellectual property may be for one to protect their computer program or code. One may argue that code is not intellectual property as it’s ideas which aren’t owned by anyone but another may argue that it is intellectual property as it is user generated content. There are many complexities in computer ethics, in comparison to real life situations, stealing a physical CD from a high street store is legally and ethically wrong, however when one torrents a mp3 file from the internet, one may deem that is ethical, providing the user is not copying and selling it. The BCS Code of Conduct is the rules and professional standards (which are usually stricter than in the law) set by the British Computer Society (who is the awarding bodies for accrediting IT qualifications) for professional IT members to follow. Breaches of the Code of Conduct can result in expulsion from membership. (Which in turn renders one’s qualifications useless as it won’t be recognised) The
Computer ethics is a set of moral guidelines of what users should and shouldn’t do when using computers. Through the vast progression of computer, technology and the internet in the last decade, use of computers has had more of an impact on society and there have been a lot of common concerns raised in regards to computing ethics such as; intellectual property, privacy and how computer usage has affected society. An examples of intellectual property may be making copies of copyrighted content in electronic format,(such as a song) it may be a quick easy task to do, but one might argue it is unethical to do so without the owner’s permission. An example of privacy may be accessing one’s personal information on a computer system. A more controversial example of intellectual property may be for one to protect their computer program or code. One may argue that code is not intellectual property as it’s ideas which aren’t owned by anyone but another may argue that it is intellectual property as it is user generated content. There are many complexities in computer ethics, in comparison to real life situations, stealing a physical CD from a high street store is legally and ethically wrong, however when one torrents a mp3 file from the internet, one may deem that is ethical, providing the user is not copying and selling it. The BCS Code of Conduct is the rules and professional standards (which are usually stricter than in the law) set by the British Computer Society (who is the awarding bodies for accrediting IT qualifications) for professional IT members to follow. Breaches of the Code of Conduct can result in expulsion from membership. (Which in turn renders one’s qualifications useless as it won’t be recognised) The