Information Technology (IT) Ethics in the Light of Islam

Abstract

Globalization and digital convergence in the emerging knowledge society has raised complex ethical, legal and societal issues. We are faced with complex and difficult questions regarding the freedom of expression, access to information, the right to privacy, intellectual property rights, and cultural diversity. To overcome these issues, it requires qualified and educated IT (Information Technology) beneficiaries professionally and ethically. Professional organizations like ACM, IEEE and ABET have established codes of ethics to help IT professionals, especially end users to understand and manage their ethical responsibilities. Islamic ethics comprise moral principles and guidance that differentiate between right and wrong, which are comprehensive, stable, fair, and historically proved success in building ethically great societies. The estimated 1.5 billion of Muslims should have an effective role in IT related activities and life, which requires them to understand and implement ethics, specially the Islamic ethics in their IT related works. This paper is a roadmap for modeling the IT user principles, which show the main phases for solving such problems. It focuses mainly on adopting a new version of IT user principles based on Islamic ethical values.