Teaching the Ethical Use of Information Assets
Donn B. Parker · Information Systems Security · 1992
Conflicts in ethical values give rise to computer crime and, hence, the need for information security. Therefore, information security practitioners must have an understanding of ethics applied to all the things we do to and with information. Unfortunately, our employers and clients rarely support the expense of effort on this important topic. Instead, they expect us to advise them on the visible symptoms of ethical problems rather than on the basic causes of these problems. With this first column on the application of ethical values to information processing, I intend to provide insights on ethics and computer crime for information security practitioners. In future issues, I will examine such topics as loyalty to employers and clients, management's loyalty to employees, business competition, contract disputes, electronic communications proprieties, privacy, and the hacker ethic. Useful ideas for organizational policies and standards and security motivation and awareness programs will be provided.