The Context of IT Ethical Issues

Abstract

A few other background issues deserve clarification before I examine specific ethical problems of information technology. IT always appears in the context of an organization, and so ethical problems of IT come to us with certain organizational interests attached. In this chapter, I note these interests and the points of view behind them. I also discuss in general terms the ethical problem of the individual who is required by an organization to do something he or she feels is unethical. This problem (and what can be done about it) is also part of the IT ethical context.