Computer ethics for the computer professional from an Islamic point of view

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society 6 (1):28-45 (2008)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the ethical behaviour of Muslim IT professionals in an attempt to stop many unethical practices such as software piracy, software intellectual property violations and general software development.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines the computer ethical principles presented in the Association for Computing Machinery code of conduct from an Islamic point of view through studying some relevant verses of The Holy Quran and Hadiths of Prophet Mohammed. An evaluation of the benefits of this newly proposed Islamic computer code of ethics is presented by surveying how IT students, IT professionals and software house owners would adhere to it. The evaluation was carried out by teaching different groups of participants aspects of the ACM code of conduct and the proposed Islamic computer ethics code and then surveying their opinions by a questionnaire.FindingsThe study demonstrates that teaching computer ethics in general, and computer ethics from an Islamic point of view in particular, clearly contributes to ethical behaviour of Muslim IT professionals with regards to software development issues.Research limitations/implicationsIt is not possible to put participants through real life scenarios and practically observe how they would react to different ethical situations. The empirical research thus relies on what participants said they would do.Practical implicationsThe newly developed Islamic code of computer ethics and its proposed implementation method can be utilised by organisations for their benefit.Originality/valueThe study is the first to address the issue of computer ethics and Islam for IT professionals. This paper presents a first Islamic computer code of ethics and presents a methodology for applying it. It also reports a study undertaken in Bahrain of how attitudes might be influenced by teaching computer ethics in general, and computer ethics from an Islamic point of view in particular.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Computer ethics: Its birth and its future. [REVIEW]TerrellWard Bynum - 2001 - Ethics and Information Technology 3 (2):109-112.
Unique ethical problems in information technology.Professor Walter Maner - 1996 - Science and Engineering Ethics 2 (2):137-154.
On teaching computer ethics within a computer science department.Michael J. Quinn - 2006 - Science and Engineering Ethics 12 (2):335-343.
Introduction and overview: Global information ethics.Terrell Ward Bynum & Simon Rogerson - 1996 - Science and Engineering Ethics 2 (2):131-136.
How can computer simulations produce new knowledge?Claus Beisbart - 2012 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 2 (3):395-434.
Two Issues in Computer Ethics for Non-Programmers.Mark E. Wunderlich - 2010 - International Journal of Applied Philosophy 24 (2):255-264.
The role of metaethics and the future of computer ethics.Antonio Marturano - 2002 - Ethics and Information Technology 4 (1):71-78.
Unique ethical problems in information technology.Walter Maner - 1996 - Science and Engineering Ethics 2 (2):137-154.
The future of computer ethics: You ain't seen nothin' yet! [REVIEW]James H. Moor - 2001 - Ethics and Information Technology 3 (2):89-91.

Analytics

Added to PP
2014-02-19

Downloads
23 (#584,438)

6 months
6 (#202,901)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Strengthening Ethics: A Faith Perspective on Educational Research.Imran Mogra - 2017 - Journal of Academic Ethics 15 (4):365-376.
Islamic ethics: an exposition for resolving ICT ethical dilemmas.Salam Abdallah - 2010 - Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society 8 (3):289-301.
Attitudes towards information ethics: a view from Egypt.Omar E. M. Khalil & Ahmed A. S. Seleim - 2012 - Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society 10 (4):240-261.
Privacy from a Saudi Arabian Perspective.Yeslam Al-Saggaf & John Weckert - 2011 - Journal of Information Ethics 20 (1):34-53.

View all 7 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

What is computer ethics?James H. Moor - 1985 - Metaphilosophy 16 (4):266-275.
Flourishing ethics.Terrell Ward Bynum - 2006 - Ethics and Information Technology 8 (4):157-173.

Add more references