Information Technology Ethics Professional Corporate Sector

Question: Describe about the Information Technology Ethics for Professional Corporate Sector. Answer: Introduction Every industry in the business environment faces ethical challenges in both the professional and corporate sector. Ethics play a significant role in creating a conducive environment over which a business can thrive. The creation of a strong foundation of ethical behavior enables a company to create a long-term impact as well as maintaining a positive reputation to the society (Yoon, 2011). Ethical theories and perspectives provide a framework for judging between the right and the wrong decisions to be taken by the management authorities of an organization. The purpose of this essay is identifying ICT related ethical issues and applying the classical ethical theories to the analysis of an ethically questionable situation to determine the righteous or wrong actions undertaken by the ICT experts. Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Ethical Issue Based on the case study between Apple and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), there was a legal case over the access to iPhone used utilized by the shooter. The tussle got based over the data privacy and access to the iPhone rights by the two technology firms (Arjun, 2016). The most evident ICT related ethical issues from this case study include access and privacy, intellectual property rights, cyber crime, and insecurity, and these are explained below with a proper application of ethical theories in making the right decisions by the right authorities. Acess and Privacy The most obvious ethical issue in the case of Apple versus FBI is over access ti iPhone used by a shooter over the attacks by San Bernardino. The relevant authorities responsible for the ICT firms clarified that the two companies had access to the iPhone illegally (Arjun, 2016). This is an ethically questionable situation to the two companies because there are no proper privacy access rights for either of the firms as seen evident in the legal tussle. The deontological ethical perspective can be used by the management to provide a judgment on whether it was moral for the ICT firms to consider in the access of the device (Dzuranin, Rebecca, Pamela, 2013). Based on the unethical actions of the two companies, the management should take the right steps to ensure that in future all the actions of the ICT firms conform to the ethical codes of the industry. Cybercrime The moral issue of cyber crime is evident from the case whereby Apple company makes it uneasy for the judges to solve the case between the two ICT rivals and stop terrorist attacks. The inability to curb terrorist attacks shows that there is the presence of cyberbullying in the ICT industry. The government's step to unlock the attacker's phone is ethically right since it helped the Apple and FBI in protecting user data from the hackers (Arjun, 2016). The government's initiation of surveillance activities to protect the internet data of the two firms was right since this created an opportunity for the businesses to exercise full potential in solving cyber crimes. Grounded on the attempts made by the government mainly to stop cyber stalking in the ICT industry, this gives a clear evidence of the applicability of deontological ethical approach in solving corporate issues in the industry (Moores Chang, 2006). Based on the consequences caused by cyber crimes to the operations of the firm, the consequentialist ethical theories enables the government in coming up with the right policies to curb this crime by placing a particular emphasis on the relationship between the functions of the firms and the morality of human actions. Security Another questionable situation from the case between Apple and FBI is insecurity, and the application of teleological ethical perspective may help the relevant authority in determining the moral or wrong decisions of the two ICT firms (Arjun, 2016). According to the case study report, Apple company had made ten(10) unsuccessful password attempts, and the judge asked the firm to offer reasonable technical assistance to the United States authorities. The law required the ICT company to disclose the system they employ in disabling the iPhone. The teleological ethical theory could help the judge in deciding whether it was right or wrong for Apple to install a system that disables the access to the iPhone by FBI by overhauling a password (Griseri Seppala, 2010). To determine whether right or wrong for the company to use the unknown password, the end or outcomes of the system justifies the means of coming up with the judgment. Property rights Intellectual property right is also an ICT related ethical issue as evident in the case study and application of both the deontological and teleological ethical perspectives in differentiating whether the corporate policies of Apple and FBI are right or wrong (McLean, 2011). The case between the two ICT giants created a misunderstanding between them and the government since it was unclear of which company had the right to use the iPhone device. Apple company employs the use of confidential passwords and this makes it harder for them to solve intellectual property rights thus unable to stop terrorist attacks. In this approach to ethics, it is the outcomes of both the government and the two ICT firms actions that create a basis for determining the consequences worth. About the teleological theories, the two modern theories of egoism and utilitarianism, it is easy for the law authorities to rule whether Apple has the intellectual property rights over FBI (Yoon, 2011). Apple acts optimally with a believe to achieve the greatest good just as FBI looks to achieve the same goal. Therefore, the government should offer only one ICT firm the IP right to access the iPhone device, and this will eradicate the ethical dilemma. Conclusion Ethical perspectives place emphasis on the relationship between duty and morality of the actions taken by people. While some measures may be considered morally correct because of the characteristics of the measures adopted by the relevant authorities themselves, other actions are morally obligatory regardless of their consequences for human life. The development of ethical principles within an organization needs to be morally acceptable to the government authorities so as to establish good ethics in the operations of the company. Application of wrong codes of ethics leads to the creation of an ethical dilemma in the performance of a company. Therefore, all ICT firms must understand the ethical issues possibly surrounding their operations and therefore come up with strategies to minimizing and eradicating their effects to the overall productivity. Bibliography Arjun, K. (2016, March 29). Cyber Security. Retrieved from CNBC: Apple vs. FBI: https://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/29/apple-vs-fbi-all-you-need-to-know.html Dzuranin, A. C., Rebecca, T. S., Pamela, S. A. (2013). Building ethical leaders: a way to integrate and assess ethics education. Journal of Business Ethics, 101-114. Griseri, P., Seppala, N. (2010). Business ethics and corporate social responsibility. Boston: Cengage Learning. McLean, A. (2011). Ethical Frontiers of ICT and older users: Cultural, pragmatic and ethical issues. Ethics and Information Technology, 313-326. Moores, T., Chang, J. (2006). Ethical decision making in software piracy: Initial development and test of a four-component model. MIS Quarterly, 167-180. Yoon, C. (2011). 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