Ethics and Legal Issues in IT

By the end of the course, the students should be able to: 1. describe laws and regulations related to ethics; 2. recall relevant codes of ethics for computing practice; 3. interpret consequences of violating ethical provisions; 4. explain the ethical issues associated with intellectual property; and 5. develop a strategy for resolving conflict in the workplace.

Social, ethical, legal, and managerial issues in the application of information technology in government, organisations, and industry. Foundations of intellectual property. Ownership of information. Plagiarism, Software piracy. Fairness in the workplace. Digital millennium copyright act. Patents. Trademarks and trade secrets. Legal issues in computing. Organisational context; professional and ethical issues and responsibilities. Relationships with professional societies. Codes of professional conduct. Ethics and history of ethics. Whistle- blowing. Workplace issues (harassment, discrimination). Identify theft. Ethical hacking. Privacy and civil liberties organisations.