Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

Question one

This question will aim at defining some of the basic terms associated with cyber security. These terms includes the following:

1. Ethics

According to Whitaker (2016), ethics is a branch of knowledge that deals with the study of moral principles. Persons of ethics are guided by a moral behavior in every aspect of life. Ethics are the basic and fundamental principles of a decent behavior of human beings. In computer technology, ethics can be defined as those moral principles that guides the use and the handling of computers. This means that as we use computers, we should have the knowledge of distinguishing between what is right and what is wrong (Brinkman et al, 2017). These are also termed as the cyber ethics.

Applied ethics- this is the branch of ethics that is usually concerned with the act of analyzing a particular moral issue in both public and private life. This branch of ethics has various subdivisions including business ethics, biomedical and environmental ethics. It basically means the study of basics and the terms of ethics which all individuals should understand.

Theoretical ethics- this is the branch of ethics that is concerned with the understanding of the nature of ethics as the study of moral principles (Grace, 2017). This branch of ethics tries to define the nature and scope of those moral principles that should guide the human concept. Theoretical ethics is also concerned with the understanding of ethical language and ethical reasoning. This branch of ethics also deals with the way man applies ethics in his/her daily life and it has a prime aim of ascertaining the ideal moral life and manhood.  

1. Morality

Morality is basically defined as the extent in which an action is right or wrong. In most cases, morality is based on beliefs concerning what is wrong or right and this can be only reached by a person of a good moral behavior. Morality promotes cyber security. This was argued by Iredale & Heinze (2017).

• Moral absolutism

According to Brinkman et al, (2017), moral absolutism is defined as an ethical view that particular actions of man can be described as eight or wrong. A good example of this is that, some actions like stealing are considered immoral always. Even if someone steals with an aim of benefiting others, the fact remains that the action does not promote any good to humanity. Brinkman et al, (2017) adds that moral absolutism is a form of deontology because it   asserts that there are certain moral principles in which all the actions of human should be judged.

1. Moral relativism

This is defined as a view that moral judgements of human beings are either true or false only relative to some particular limits or standpoints and that there is no any standpoint that is privileged in a unique way than the other (Grace, 2017). It asserts that some moral or ethical prepositions do not make any reflection on the generally accepted moral truths and that claims are made on historical or cultural circumstances.

There are outstanding differences between ethics and morality. Ethics deals with the study of moral principles that guides human behavior while morality is the extent to which an action is right or wrong (Fleischmann et al, 2017). Ethics is concerned with human behavior while morality is concerned with the human action. Another difference between the two is that ethics can be applied or theoretical as opposed to morality. The similarity between the two is that, both promote sound and prudent human actions and that all people should embrace, as recommended by Technica (2016).

Question 2

1. Critical reasoning

Critical reasoning is a branch of informal logic and is considered as one of the main tools that can be used to solve disputes that arises in cyber ethics (Iredale & Heinze 2017). It is the ability to think in a rational manner about what to do or what to believe about something or an event. A person who can manage critical reasoning has the ability to make an engagement in reflective and independent thinking. Also, a person with critical reasoning skills is advantaged because he/she has the ability to understand the connection between ideas in a logical manner (Whitaker 2016). Some examples of critical reasoning skills that we all need to develop includes analysis, observation, evaluation, interpretation, problem solving and decision  making skills.

1. An argument

This is a form of reasoning that makes an attempt of establishing the truthfulness of one claim usually referred to as a conclusion and this establishment is based on the assumed truth of an evidence that if found in other claims that are commonly known as premises (Fleischmann et al, 2017 ). Such premises are provided so as to offer support to a conclusion. An argument therefore has some characteristics in that, it is a form of reasoning, it is composed of claims and finally, it aims at establishing a conclusion based on evidences that are provided by premises (Leicester, 2016).

• Claim

Technica (2016) defines it as an assertion that something is the case without having provided any evidence or proof for the same. A claim mostly arises during the disputation of something because each party offers an assertion that something is in the way they want it to be without providing any proof or evidence for the same. In many times, a winning of a claim depends with the argumentative power of one party.

1. A premise

This is a previous statement from which another one follows as a conclusion or basically, it is the base of any argument (Wolf, 2016). It can also be defined as an assumption that something is true and thus it forms the basis of any theory of plot of any discussion. Premises can be two or more statements in a sentence and it is the basis in which a conclusion is made.

1. Conclusion

This is the judgement or any decision that is finally reached through reasoning or in simple terms, it is the end or finishing of any event or process. It is the final claim that is usually based on evidences or premises.

1. True

It is anything that is in accordance with a fact or a fallacy. A situation, statement or action is considered true if evidence is provided beyond reasonable doubt.

• False

It is anything that is not in accordance with a fact or a fallacy. False statement lacks proof and evidence. It is any statement that is incorrect and that has been deliberately made or meant to deceive someone.

• Valid

An argument is considered to be valid if only it takes a certain form that puts an impossibility to a premise to be true and the conclusion to be false. In this case, a deductive statement is considered to be invalid (Brinkman et al, 2017). All valid arguments are sound and has true premises. However, if a valid argument does not have any untrue conclusion, then all its premises will be false as well.

1. Invalid

According to Wolf (2016), invalid is a deductive argument or an argument which does not take the form that puts an impossibility to a premise to be true and the conclusion to be untrue. In some circumstances, an invalid argument can have all its premises to be true and thus if this happens, then the conclusion must be false.

1. A fallacy

A fallacy is an argument whose conclusion does not fall from its premises even in those circumstances when all its premises are assumed to be true. Fallacious arguments are subdivisions of invalid arguments (Leicester, 2016). It can also be defined as an argument that fools human reasoning and but in logical since, it is not valid.

Question 3

1. Moral responsibility

Moral responsibility mostly deals with human actions and their consequences. It is the act of deserving praise, reward, blame or a punishment for an act and this is in accordance with moral obligations (Iredale & Heinze 2017). In ethics, it entails making a decision on what is morally obligatory for anybody. A person can be termed as morally responsible if their actions that are undertaken voluntarily bring about outcomes that are morally significant and that would make it appropriate to praise them or to put a blame on them for their actions. Moral responsibilities may be individuals or groups. As far as the individuals are concerned, moral responsibility means that each of them can be held accountable for doing what is right (Whitaker 2016). For the whole personnel, it entails communal activities whose accountabilities are held to each member of that group. It therefore studies to a larger extend the relationship between individuals and the society since the actions of people in which they would be held responsible usually have consequences in the society.

1. Legal liability

Legal liability is the state of being morally responsible about something in conjunction with the law. This means that any action of an individual is obliged to do or perform something that is regulated by the law (Brinkman et al, 2017). In this case, the consequences of such human actions can attract sanctions of the court incase their consequences are affecting the other people negatively. In the business environment, it is a legal liability of every company to protect the health of the customer by producing those items that are not harmful to the human health.  Also in ethics, it is a legal liability of every member of the community to undertake actions that cannot be argumenta because maybe their outcomes have a negative impact on humans. The same happens in the military environment (Grace, 2017).

• Accountability

In the work environment, accountability refers to the responsibility of employees to perform the tasks that have been assigned to them or perform the duties required by their job without being coerced. Wolf (2016) says that all this is aimed at fulfilling the goals and objectives of the organizations in which these people are working for.  At home, accountability entails being responsible for every each and every aspect at home. This includes offering proper guidance and direction to children as well as the proper execution of activities. In military, accountability means a commitment executed on an officer so as to be in a position to keep accurate records of property. Such obligation is tied to law because it is imposed by a lawful order (Leicester, 2016).

The comparison between social responsibility, legal liability and accountability is that, these three terms move together harmoniously. Social responsibility means that one is accountable for something or an actions (Whitaker 2016). Since it is a required by law, then it is a legal liability. This is mostly in association with the army whose actions are regulated by the law of the land. The three terms are therefore related and that they lead to the same consequences. Nevertheless, social responsibility, legal liability and accountability are guided by professional codes.

Social responsibility, legal liability and accountability are also contrasting depending with the environment in which they are taking place. At home, each individual is socially responsible to every actions which he or she undertakes.  Iredale & Heinze (2017) says that each member is also accountable for every action. The same happens at the places of work and in the military but the defense is that, at home, the actions of parents and other members are not enforced by the law. However, if the consequences are too severe, then it is taken as a failure of their legal liability and thus they can face the law (Leicester, 2016). In order to ensure that social responsibility, legal liability and accountability happen as required, there is always the need to apply professional codes of ethics because they will give us the ability to distinguish between a good and bad action.

Reference

Brinkman, B., & Carter, K. (2017, March). The ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct: Teaching Strategies and the Coming Update. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE        Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 721-721). ACM.

Fleischmann, K. R., Hui, C., & Wallace, W. A. (2017). The Societal Responsibilities of     Computational Modelers: Human Values and Professional Codes of Ethics. Journal of the      Association for Information Science and Technology, 68(3), 543-552.

Grace, P. J. (2017). Nursing ethics and professional responsibility in advanced practice. Jones &    Bartlett Learning.

Iredale, S., & Heinze, A. (2016, September). Ethics and professional intimacy within the search    engine optimisation (SEO) industry. In IFIP international conference on human choice     and computers (pp. 106-115). Springer International Publishing.

Leicester, N. (2016). Ethics in the IT Profession: Does a Code of Ethics have an Effect on            Professional Behaviour?.

Technica, A. (2016). Making a positive impact: updating the ACM code of            ethics. Communications of the ACM, 59(12).

Whitaker, S. (2016). Ethics and Professional Conduct. In Pass the PMP® Exam (pp. 475-494).    Apress.

Wolf, M. J. (2016). The ACM code of ethics: a call to action. Communications of the ACM, 59(12),          6-6.