Semantech's IT Manifesto continued...

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Some could go so far as to say that all professions might someday become IT or perhaps that IT will become so thoroughly woven within the fabric of all other professions that it will disappear as a separate discipline. Perhaps whenever either of those outcomes occurs the challenge of applying an appropriate set of ethical guidelines will become clearer. For now we will have to make due with a reasonable canon of ethics that can be applied either to those who consider themselves purely IT practitioners or those who consider themselves part of another profession that just so happens to rely heavily on IT.

IT Canon 1 - "Acting as an Honest Broker"

The term "Honest Broker" refers to the ability to retain an objective and fair perspective regardless of the environment one is working in. Often times, IT workers use what might be loosely analogous to the Nuremburg defense as an explanation as to why they didn't say anything even when they knew that a certain actions would lead to problems or project failure. An honest broker maintains their integrity consistently across projects and employers. External pressure or fear of reprisal cannot be the primary motivation for ones actions as an IT provider.

 

IT Canon 2 - "Privacy..."

We understand that the term "privacy" in the information age is often considered an oxymoron. Availability of information however does not insinuate that information should be be made available in all cases. We cherish and protect the privacy of our clients - it is a priviledged relatonship that we honor throughout the term of our engagements and thereafter.

IT Canon 3 - "Security..."

Working for organizations charged with the public trust has impressed upon us on the need to safeguard client information security. Semantech Inc. is authorized to work within the DoD "Secret" classification level. We have experience with federal security compliance as well as industry best practices. In 1998, Semantic principals helped to design one of the first Intrusion Detection architectures (SANE - Secure Adaptive Network Ecosystem) and we also participated in the initial GCSS-AF security architecture. We believe that our experience working with C2 systems and cutting edge security architectures over the past decade gives us a unique perspective regarding how to achieve the proper balance between security, privacy and information access. While informaiton security is a critical issue - it is not the only enterprise issue and every organization needs to take into account what represents a reasonable set of security measures appropriate to specific scenarios. In other words, security doesn't or shouldn't equate to paranoia.

 

IT Canon 4 - "Expectations..."

This is perhaps the most important consideration for any IT project. We always place the customer's expectations over ours.