'IT ethics' is no oxymoronic conversation
By Peter Kerr for sticK
(sticK - 8 Dec. 2010 ) There's a gradually coalescing idea in Alison Holt's mind around the issue of 'IT ethics', which the leader of global forums and standards on a number of other IT issues is well versed to consider.
From her point of view, IT ethics is about the application of ethical values to the design, development, delivery and management…through to retirement…. of information technology. It could also be called responsible IT.
What it means in practice, as software based systems become ubiquitous across everything from traffic lights to phones to hospital equipment is to understand software's potential uses and abuses.
As part of the World Class New Zealanders network, Holt has been at the forefront, often chairman, of global 'standards' initiatives across wide ranges of IT infrastructure and operations. She carries out the standards work mainly on a voluntary basis, though concedes that such work helps drive her IT strategic consultancy business, Longitude 174°.
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