ICT and Ethics

"It is a mistake to suppose that any technological innovation has a one-sided effect. Every technology is both a burden and a blessing; not either-or, but this-and-that." Neil Postman

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With globalization and advancement in the technological innovation and convergence, there exist inevitable ethical, legal and societal issues of freedom of expression, access to information, the right to privacy, intellectual property rights, and cultural diversity.

ICT, being an instrument to access, store and transmit information is a need in the society. With its rapid development globally, it has made possible a transition in information storage, processing, and dissemination; with speed, efficiency, and accuracy in human activities.

However, this has happened not without the of emergence of ethical issues in leveraging ICT. ICT and the right ethics must co-exist to integrate ICT and human values where ICT's role should advance and protect human values and not damaging them.

ICT ethics can be looked at two related areas: Information Ethics and Computer Ethics.

INFORMATION ETHICS

The information ethics is a field that concerns the moral issues arising from the development and application of information technologies. The issues are many and varied however they may be summarised as issues related to the followings:

•             Privacy 

Privacy is about the right of individual or society has to retain and not disclose their personal information. The extraction and sharing of information must be with their respective consent and  should be protected against unauthorized access.

•             Accuracy

Information must be accurate. Accurate information is error-free, complete, and relevant to the decisions that are to be based on it. Pervasive use of information has made it susceptible to misinformation. This may result in wrong decision making.

•             Property

Information is intangible. Whilst the right to property confines in the legal domain, the right to information lies more in ethical domain. Information ownership is an ownership to the intellectual property that results from individual's or corporation's creativity.   This ownership is protected by copyrights, patent and trade secret law.

•             Access

Rights on the access to information is individual's rights to obtain and use information collected or generated by others.

COMPUTER ETHICS

While using ICT, the following ethical standards, however the list is not exhaustive, must be observed:

• Comply with law and regulations and also code of practice on usage of intellectual property. This includes identifying and acknowledging the owner of the digital sources. References on the sites should be cited accordingly.

• Secure and protect all private information posted online. 

• Respect others while working online.  Be responsible when sharing digital materials.

• Be wary and understand the risks involve when doing online transactions.

• Observe all health and safety guidelines while using ICT tools.

What is Ethics?

"Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do."  Potter Stewart

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ethics  plural of eth·ics (Noun)
Noun

    Moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior.
    The moral correctness of specified conduct.

Synonyms
   morality - morals - ethic - moral
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According to Tomas Paul and Linda Elder of the Foundation for Critical Thinking, "most people confuse ethics with behaving in accordance with social conventions, religious beliefs, and the law", and don't treat ethics as a stand-alone concept. Paul and Elder define ethics as "a set of concepts and principles that guide us in determining what behavior helps or harms sentient creatures". The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy states that the word ethics is "commonly used interchangeably with 'morality' ... and sometimes it is used more narrowly to mean the moral principles of a particular tradition, group, or individual." 

Ethics concerns itself with what is good or right in human interaction. It is considered to be ethical in behaviour if one does not merely consider what is good for oneself, but also considers what is good for others. Here, the interaction between one self and others in the society must be of quality interaction.One must also not neglect one own interest as a sense of own well-being is prerequisite for balanced and ongoing interaction with the other people. The interest of others however, must also be taken into consideration to avoid one's selfishness. Ethics ensure the interests of both oneself and others.

Ethics is the knowledge that differentiates between what is right and wrong, explain the actions that one should take and not take, or set the objectives of one's action and guiding them the route that should be taken.

According to the Islamic teachings, Muslims have to guard their behaviours, deeds, words, thoughts and intentions. Adhering to a specific moral code and ethical behaviour is compulsory because this is part of Islamic faith (iman). Islam asks its believers to observe certain norms and moral codes in their family affairs; in dealings with relatives, neighbours, and friends; in their business transaction; in their social affairs, nay in all spheres of private and public life (Sabahuddin Azmi, 2007).

 

What is ICT?

"We're changing the world with technology." Bill Gates

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ICT is an acronym for Information and Communication Technology. It refers to technologies that store, receive, manipulate and transmit information using computers and telecommunications. ICT has more recently been used to describe the convergence of several technologies and the use of common transmission lines carrying very diverse data and communication types and formats.

ICT has evolved ever so fast in the last few decades. With the development of ICT, information can be accessed, processed and transmit real-time across the border-less digital globe. People can communicate with each other anywhere and anytime despite the dispersed geographical locations.

ICT has a tremendous effect and impact on society as a whole. It is undeniably has become an important part of our everyday life. So it is imperative that we must ensure that ICT brings benefit and not harm to us and the society.