Going through the code of ethics of two different bodies of computing professionals i.e. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP), it is certain that a Computing Professional has a lot of responsibilities to uphold. With responsibilities like maintaining professional competence, respecting the privacy of others, being honest and trustworthy as well as avoiding causing harm to persons through the use of computing technology.
Computing Professionals have the following responsibilities:
They are aware that customers rely on their expertise and knowledge;
They know their duty affect many people;
They follow good professional standards and practices;
They maintain an expected level of competence and;
They are up-to-date on current knowledge and technology, also
They educate non-computer professionals.
With most organizations having an IT department that does all the data backup, system maintenance, email server configuration, password renewal, etc., a Computing professional must maintain in his line of duty, competence, honor confidentiality, and also improve on the public understanding of computing and its consequences. For example, if a colleague is sharing an important folder on his computer and connecting to the internet, the chances that he/she will fall prey to a hacker is very high. So it is the duty of a Computing Professional to educate his immediate colleagues or coworkers not to leave an important folder shared when connecting to the internet.
A computing professional may in some cases be faced with the challenge of implementing a company policy thereby forcing him/her to practice what ethically is not allowed in his profession, it is his duty to advise the company on the best way to implement that policy in other to be neutral.
Since the invention of computers and the world wide web, there have been more ethical issues affecting businesses, from gaining access to classified information, data mining, workplace monitoring, and privacy invasion. The role of a Computing Professional in maintaining a good business ethic is ever-growing. Then it is very important for a Computing professional to acquire and maintain professional competence by upgrading his technical know-how, writing more certification exams, and probably attending more seminars.
To be called a Computing professional, one will need to act in line with all the ethics accorded to this profession.
References:
Sara Baase, A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computers and the Internet (2nd Ed. 2003) [Online]. Available from: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/giftfire/2e/Chapter10.ppt (Accessed: 1st of July 2010)
ACM Council, ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct 16th October 1992 [Online]. Available from: http://www.acm.org/about/code-of-ethics (Accessed: 1st of July 2010)
AITP, Code of Ethics (2006) [Online]. Available from: http://www.aitp.org/organization/about/ethics/ethics.jsp (Accessed: 1st of July 2010)
Wikipedia, Business Ethics 18th June 2010[Online] Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_ethics#Ethics_and_technology (Accessed: 1st July 2010)