Information and the Professional

Professional workers, by the nature of their work, often meet situations where it may be difficult to decide between right and wrong. Should a doctor, for example, give a drug to a patient that will relieve some immediate pain while shortening their life?

A question like this - to do with right or wrong - is called a moral or ethical question. There is often no easy or clear-cut answer and professional worker will depend on a set of rules to help guide them to a decision. A set of rules that help someone to make a decision about a moral question is called a code of practice. Most professions - including the IT industry - have an ethical code or code of practice. This will guide the behaviour and work practice of people in the profession.

For some professions the code may be partly or completely covered by law. In other cases it may actually conflict with the law - as is the case when a journalist chooses to go to jail rather than reveal the source of a story. Usually a professional body or organisation will be responsible for setting out a code of practice and ensuring that members comply with it. This helps members of the public when they deal with that particular profession because they know what behaviour and standards are acceptable. In the UK the British Computer Society is the professional body that is responsible for maintaining standards of professional behaviour in the IT industry. The society, which was formed in 1957, was granted a Royal Charter for this and other purposes in 1984, so that it is recognised as the official regulatory body for the IT professional. Membership is restricted to those who have passed certain examinations to ensure that professional standards are maintained. In addition the Society helps to keep its members' knowledge up-to-date by organising meetings and training courses.

In order to help maintain professional standards of behaviour within the industry, the British Computer Society publishes a code of conduct that comprises twenty-two rules relating to the professional behaviour of its members. These rules cover four areas:

• The Public Interest
• Duty to Employers and Clients
• Duty to the Profession
• Professional Competence and Integrity

There is also a great deal of law concerning the interaction between employers and employees. In addition there is an increasing amount of legislation relating to IT matters. The code of conduct is separate from and additional to the obligations imposed by law.

Responsibility to Society

As part of society we all have rights and duties that must carry over into our working lives. Any code of practice for the IT industry must therefore cover the interaction between the professional and society as a whole. IT systems can have considerable implications for society in terms of employment prospects and quality of life. Complex systems may fail, putting lives at risk or causing environmental damage. They can be used to infringe or deny human rights - such as the right to privacy - and they can also be used for criminal purposes. The following situations are cases where these sort of ethical questions may arise:

• A foreign police state hires an IT firm to create a system to monitor the activities of political dissidents - does it make any difference if the dissidents are engaging in terrorist activities or if the government has been democratically elected?
• The Government hires IT professionals to work develop systems to crack encryption codes used for digital telephone networks. Initially this is to allow phone tapping of suspected criminals.
• A large chemical company is installing a computer controlled process but is unwilling to pay for the detailed safety backup systems that you, as an IT professional, think are needed.
• A company wants to introduce an IT system that will allow it to become so efficient that it will be able to put its competitors out of business and which will eventually lead to massive unemployment.

Responsibility to the Employer or Client

All employees have responsibilities to their employer. Some of these responsibilities are set out in law. The IT professional is in a special position because he or she has been employed to provide expertise that the employer will often have no background knowledge of at all. In many cases the employer will be entirely dependent on the skill and integrity of the IT specialist. This is more so than when a lawyer or accountant is hired since in these cases the employer is at least likely to have a common basis of understanding and language with the person employed. The IT expert however talks in technical jargon that can be unintelligible to the non specialist and that will, because of the rapid developments in IT, most probably be outside their range of experience. Ethical issues that arise in this situation are illustrated by the following scenarios:

• A client wants a time/cost estimate but there is no time to perform a proper analysis. If you guess then the project will probably go over time and budget. If you don't then another firm may get the contract. You start work and find the problems are greater than first appeared. The project will go seriously over budget.
• While working for one client you discover information that may be of personal benefit or that you could use to benefit your next client.
• The client is totally ignorant of IT hardware. You need to shift some equipment that that will do the job but that you know is about to be replaced by new stock with a better specification and at a cheaper price.
• You do some part time work for a software company who offer to give you a bonus for every package you sell. You recommend the package to your client but omit to mention your connection with the company.
• A client thinks that the backup provision is over specified and insists that you reduce costs in this area. You know that this could have disastrous consequences in case of a failure but if that's what the client wants then that's what you'll give them.
• You think the client may not pay you. So you leave a logic bomb embedded in the system. This will only activate if you access the system with a special code and you will remove it when you are paid.

Responsibility to the Profession

Professional organisations regulate the behaviour of their individual members. They also take on a responsibility for promoting the good standing of the profession as a whole. The professional is therefore expected to refrain from activities or behaviour that brings the profession into disrepute. In addition the professional member is expected to act with integrity towards fellow members and to support new entrants to the profession. There are fewer moral pitfalls in this area than the last but examples might include:

• You are desperate for a particular contract that you know you can do well. Chatting to the managing director you find out that a rival IT company is likely to be given the work. You drop a hint that they have mishandled a similar installation.
• You have a client who does not pay his bills on time and who demands far more from you than is reasonable. The client is undertaking a major expansion which you know will be a disaster. You recommend a rival firm as having specialist expertise in this area.
• A systems analyst is a poor team worker and is a major source of disruption. He applies for another job and you write a glowing reference.

Personal Responsibility

The professional worker is responsible for his or her own abilities and actions. He or she has a personal responsibility to have up to date knowledge and skills so that the client is not disadvantaged by an incompetent or out of date implementation. A professional should also recognise then a particular task is beyond their competence and should be prepared to advise a client accordingly. They must be able to give impartial and objective advice and avoid any situation that causes a conflict of interest between them and the client. The professional will also take full responsibility for their work should things go wrong.

• While working for a particular client you are offered a large contract by one of his main competitors.
• A system your company has implemented for a client fails. The client believes that the failure was due to hardware but you know that it was actually due to the way the system was set up by one of your colleagues. The client has lost business and goodwill as a result of the failure.

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