File Management and Protection/Ethical Issues

= Ethical Issues =

Welcome to Unit 4: Ethical Issues. This unit will provide you with the necessary knowledge of ethical issues in relation to the management of files on your computer.

Ethics relates to the management of data about you and me held in computer systems. It relates to ensuring the privacy of the data held in a database eg your name and address not being given out to say - Readers Digest. It is about behaving responsibly with all the data held in your computer system.

It is also about ensuring copyright and preventing piracy, or, looking at it from the other point of view, it is about not abusing copyright and piracy.

Email ethics are becoming more and more important. Ethical behaviour covers not sending out, or receiving in, emails with questionable content especially from a company computer system; not using a company computer system to send and receive personal communications; and not putting a company computer system at risk by opening attachments that have not been scanned.

The produces guidelines for sound ethical behaviour within the computer industry. These guidelines are based upon the principles of:


 * interests of the community
 * respect for the individual
 * interests of the client

and supported by the values of:


 * competence
 * truth
 * social justice
 * ethical behaviour.