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Ethics is a set of beliefs about right and wrong behavior within a society. Ethical behavior conforms to generally accepted norms, many of which are almost universal. The growth of the internet, the ability to capture and store vast amounts of personal data, and greater reliance on information systems in all aspects of life have increased the risk that information technology will be used unethically.
At the centre of the government’s policy on climate change is pricing carbon. Many commenter’s and politicians have referred to this as a “carbon tax”. The idea is that polluters will pay per tone of carbon they release into the atmosphere. This cost will initially be set at $23, and increase gradually until 2015. This is widely thought of as the most effective and least costly mechanism to reduce carbon output and reduce the level of climate change that is occurring.
Emmanuel Kant (1724-1804) argued that morality must ultimately be grounded in the concept of duty or obligations that humans have to one another and never in the consequences of humans actions. As such, morality has nothing to do with the promotion of happiness or the achievement of desirable consequences. Thus Kant rejects utilitarianism in particular and all consequentiality ethical theories in general.
He points out that in some instances, performing our duties may result in our being unhappy and may not necessarily lead to consequences that are considered desirable. Theories in which the notion of duty, or obligation, serves as the foundation for morality are called deontological theories. Kant believed that our system should be based on two essential principles: universality and impartiality. In such as system, every individual would be treated fairly because the same rules would apply universally to all persons. And in terms of impartiality, it does not allow for one individual or group to be privileged or favored over another.
IT is estimated to represent about 2% to 3% of global emissions. But that’s expected to increase to about 6% by 2020, according to the SMART 2020 Report. There is an important role to play in the clean energy revolution and IT needs to be integrated across all of a company’s sustainable practices, a good start is the optimization of the resources, with a commitment for better use and distribution of the hardware and software of any company without interfering with the execution of the same processes Just in a more efficient way.
Green IT may well form the basis of strategic advantages and the production of new sustainable products, which could revolutionist businesses and industries in the future. As an approach to the duty- based ethical theory, implementing green IT measures has to be a duty of every company without taking count of the consequences that every company wishes generate cost savings. The Australian Government is trying to implement the carbon tax without the intention of giving a better future to any particular industry including IT.
The main objective behind this new proposed tax is the benefit of the all country, its individuals as a community as it is a duty of any government to make this world a better place to live for future generations and try to stop the damage we have been doing for many years. The duty-based theory outlines the principle of impartiality, it does not allow for one individual or group to be privileged or favored over another, clearly the impact of he carbon tax will be different for each industry but it will be necessary for the benefit of the community as a whole.
Some analysts are agree that the increase of the cost of energy would be the main outcome of the carbon tax. It will affect negatively the IT industry as many data centers currently based in Australia would have to move to other countries to avoid the extra cost that a more expensive energy would bring. IT can make operations more environmentally friendly starting from the sourcing of material used to manufacture equipment, how it is used and then reused, recycled or exposed.
Another option is buying energy-efficient equipment, for example swapping old cathode ray tube monitors for more energy-efficient screens, and putting equipment into a low power state such as standby, hibernate or shut down out of hours. The form in which we can recycle the IT equipment is through regulations put in place by the government establishing more tax incentives to the companies that carry out donations to institutions that can give an adequate use of the still working condition equipment such schools and libraries and even to other undeveloped countries .
The recycling of IT equipment has to be established as a duty that according to the duty-based theory should be completed by each business or otherwise a penalty should exist for throwing equipment to the dumpsters. Additionally another form that we can recycle this equipment is with the creation of small companies financed by the government dedicated to the recycling of old computer’s parts for the production of second hand equipment and the product of the sales can be destined to finance investigations that aim the replacement of the current forms of energy.
One of the vendors has developed software called Mismatching and Semiweekly which helps reduce energy waste by turning off computers overnight, and Kewaskum reporters machines from a centralized command the next morning. As a result, there is an estimated of 40 percent reduction in energy cost each year. Approaching the duty-based theory we can analyze this alternative as a way of reduce the impact of the carbon tax that the government has suggested to be imposed for the uncontrolled excess of CO emissions.
On the other hand is the duty of absolutely every individual of making our planet a sustainable place to live for the next generations, Furthermore the strengths of adopting this software to any many from any industry would bring a substantial reduce of the energy cost and in that way that hypothetical company would be able to continue its operations without being affected for the carbon tax which meaner that there would not be a reduction of the number of employees or an extra cost in the products of services that the company produces or offers which could lead the company to lost many customers.
This is one effective way of actively participate in the duty of giving back something to the planet that is currently overfilled with the high levels of energy institution and as a consequence the high levels of carbon emissions. It is not a matter of Just positive consequences in terms of reduction of costs for the company it is more the duty of keeping a balance with the environment.
In terms of weakness we can consider the fact of the reliability of the software in terms of exactitude for the actions of shutting down and shutting up every day. This meaner that the total network will depend on the performance of the centralized command to operate. Related with the carbon tax we cannot find any weaknesses of implementing this software to any company. Another vendor is developing a supercomputer which is suppose to be the most energy efficient supercomputer in the world and is scheduled to be deployed in 2012.
Energy efficient supercomputers can allow companies to realize critical cost savings by lowering power consumption, reducing expenses associated with cooling and scaling to larger systems while maintaining an acceptable power consumption bill. In terms of the duty-based theory this is other positive way of contributing to our duty of saving the planet. Again it should not be just the idea of prevent the imposition of carbon tax as a consequence of switching to presumptuous which save energy and money as well.
The duty of making this world greener is universal and impartial as per Kant theory. Furthermore the strengths of replacing old and less efficient computers to supercomputers would bring a substantial reduce of the energy cost and in that sense the companies which invest in new equipment would be able to reduce or even avoid an extra cost for carbon tax, limiting the negative consequences that any extra costs could bring. On the other hand the weakness for this alternative could be the initial cost of buying and placing the computers for the all company for the new supercomputers.
ACS code of ethics and standards of conduct From the six ACS codes of ethics there are three which can be associated to the case study and the Demonology theory: Priorities: This code said that a person must place the interests of the community above those of personal or sectional interests. Because IT industry is one of the industries to emit the most amount of carbon dioxide, referent with the demonology theory IT industry must be plan something to reduce this amount of carbon that they are emitting each year, because this is the right.
They should do this without think what would be the result of this act. Honesty: IT professional must be honest in representing their skills, knowledge, services and products. I think with the demonology theory, the IT person has the right to be honest with the community no matter what would be the result of begging honest with the people. Social Implications: In this code an IT person must strive to enhance the quality of life of those affected by their work, According to Demonology theory, they should do something to avoid the emotion of carbon dioxide, this is the right.
Individual Conclusion There are many companies that will be affected with the carbon tax. The carbon tax will be too expensive for IT companies; the impact of this carbon tax may force IT to move their operations offshore. Group Conclusion: Finally to conclude, all my group members had made good efforts to accomplish the assignment, we discussed the different outcomes related with the carbon tax into the IT industry, also we applied the different theories in the case study given.
The discussion was really helped us to understand all the theories and how those theories can help us in the future, the theories that we explore in this assignment ere: Consequences based theory Duty based theory Character based theory Rights based theory And eventually we came up with a final conclusion by deciding that not only the IT industry has to plan something to reduce carbon pollution, everyone has to contribute to reduce the pollution to have a better future for the next generation, because if nothing is implemented the IT industry would be and also to reduce their cost.