Ethics for IT Professionals and IT Users Summary
Chapter two was an overview of professional ethics in IT. The first question proposed is if IT workers are professionals. Legally a professional has to pass state license requirements(certifications) so an IT worker is not a professional. However, while reading one can conclude that it is that the acceptance of ethical responsibility is what distinguishes a professional from the mere expert. Therefore an IT worker is a professional as long as they follow ethical practices to some individuals. Some people believe that licensing and certification of IT professionals would increase dependability. However there are a few issue with that such as who should administer such exams and there is no core information to test people on.
Another issue with IT work is when a professional behaves unethically it makes it more difficult for all professionals to do their job effectively. For example, if a user calls for help with an issue with a program being used and is treated dishonestly or spitefully, that individual with put together a generally assumption that all the programmers or IT professionals in that company are not going to help them so it would be best for them to just stop using the program. This is not only seen in IT work but all different kinds.
Overall, ethics for IT professionals and IT users does not differ completely from ethics in any work area. The only difference is ethical issues for IT users such as, software piracy, inappropriate use of computing resourses, in appropriate sharing of information, etc.
Discussion Question #3
Q: What is professional malpractice? Should a software engineer ever be sured for professional malpractice? Why or why not?
A: Professional malpractice involves professional who breech their duty of are and are liable for injuries their negligence causes. There are no uniform standards to which software engineers or IT professionals are held to. Therefore there is no standard to compare their actions to, hence courts cannot hold s/he to a malpractice suit.
Software engineers should be sued for professional malpractice because like everyone else, they should be held responsible for their actions. Allowing software engineers to be sued for their malpractice will help ensure they act ethically.