Facing the Computer Ethics Dilemma
C. Dianne Martin and David H. Martin
Proposed IFIP International Code of Ethics
Recently, the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) has
undertaken the ambitious task of developing an international code of ethics
for information technology professionals. In attempting to cut across international
boundaries in a multi-cultural arena, the proposed IFIP ethics code goes far
beyond ethics into the areas of international law and cultural values. At the
individual level it covers some of the same issues of the four previous codes.
Excerpts from the proposed IFIP Code of Ethics is shown in Table 6.
The code promotes social responsibility through the assessment of social consequences,
stresses the protection of established cultural and ethical norms of privacy,
defines individual integrity as honesty, probity, objectivity, and trustworthiness
in human relations, promotes professional competence, and calls for personal
accountability for quality and effects of work done. Nine of the ten common
ethics themes found in previous ethics codes are found, either directly or indirectly,
in the new IFIP code as shown in Table 7a. Eight additional ethical themes not
found in previous codes are raised in the proposed IFIP code and are shown in
Table 7b. They are (1) specific statement of social responsibility, (2) establishment
of standards, (3) emphasis on quality of life, (4) protection of intellectual
property, (5) consequences of networks, (6) basic human rights, (7) rights of
the user and (8) equity.
The second section covering International Organizational Ethics is an aspirational
statement delineating the voluntary obligations of the international community
of computer professionals related to professional standards, certification standards,
the quality of working conditions, and user participation and feedback. The
third section on Ethics for International Legal Informatics is a call for the
development of international law to protect intellectual property rights, to
establish legal obligations regarding privacy and other public law matters,
to regulate and protect telecommunications networks, and to establish international
computer crime law. The final section called International Public Policy Ethics
is a utopian statement of desirable human values regarding freedom of communication,
the privacy and dignity of individuals, humanized information systems, universal
computer literacy, equitable opportunity for information services, and the cultural
quality of life.
Go to: Ethics in the Context of a Profession
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