Pre-midterm Topic (Technopreneurship Ecosystem & Intellectual Property Rights)

In our class in Technopreneurship, our instructor discussed regarding the Technopreneurship Ecosystem, the three vital components for business, Seed Money and its examples, Angel Investors, some Famous and Successful Technopreneurs and she also discussed to us the lessons regarding Intellectual Property and its Rights. Let me discuss these topics one by one.

We have learned that the parts of the Technopreneurship Ecosystem in order to be successful are Human Resources, Environment, Laws and Policices, and Financial Resources (or HELF). The components of Human Resources are Research, Developer, Scanner and marketing people and financers. The researchers are the thinkers, idea generators and the innovators, developers are the implementers and technical people. Also, scanner, marketing people and financers are components of human resources. Moving further, the components of Environment are Science parks, Incubation centers, Academic Institutions, R & D Centers , Internet access, Communication, Other Support Services, Geographic accessibility, and Venture Mentoring Services/Support. Incubation centers have incubation programmes provide incubation services to assist technology start-ups in their vulnerable beginning stages, enabling them to grow and flourish. Their supports are Office Space and Facilities, Technical and Management Assistance, Promotion and Development Assistance, Business Support and Financial Aid Package. Going further, the components of Laws and Policies are Intellectual Property Rights Office, Technology Licensing Office (facilitates commercialization of inventions) and Legal Services. Lastly, the components of Financial Resources are investors, business sector, funding agencies and financial services (i.e. Accounting).

We have also learned about the three vital components for business and these are Excellent Market Opportunity, Superb entrepreneur (and management team) and Resources needed to start the company and make it grow. Talking about Excellent Market Opportunity, it needs to know the Customer need and must have Timing. If in case, would-be entrepreneurs who are unable to name customers are not ready to start a business. They have only found an idea and have not yet identified a market need. In this case, one must plan to start a business with the knowledge of the market need and must identify customers.  Also, if the window of opportunity is brief, the entrepreneur will rush to open the business, usually with inadequate planning. This means that usually if entrepreneurs who rush to open a business without proper planning will lead to costly mistakes. Thus, planning to open for a business needs proper timing. Going further, the Technopreneur and the management team should have experience in the same industry or a similar one and cannot go on OJT at the same time. In addition to this, ideal entrepreneur/technopreneur is one who has been a successful entrepreneur in the same industry, have management experience, preferably with responsibility for budgets, profit and loss, sales. The business will be successful if led by a person with strong entrepreneurial and management skills. And the last vital component for business is the Resources that has a principle of Entrepreneural frugality (pagtitipid) which means Low overhead (operating cost), High Productivity and Minimal ownership of capital assets.

We also learned about Seed Money or Seed Funding which is a form of securities offering in which an investor purchases part of a business. According to our class discussion, the term seed suggests that this is an early investment, meant to support the business until it can generate cash of its own, or until it is ready for further investments. The options of this include friends and family funding, angel funding and—recently -- crowd funding. In our lessons also, tapping family and friends to raise cash for a company that's either too new or too small to get financing elsewhere is an age-old formula that still makes sense. But here's one risk too big to ignore in today's highly competitive capital marketplace: if you don't follow professional standards in structuring and documenting "F&F" loans or equity arrangements, your sloppiness will likely come back to haunt you. This is true because if and when your company grows to the point at which it can credibly approach banks or professional investors for funds, their lawyers will examine your corporate capitalization structure with a fine-tooth comb. In my own opinion, an entrepreneur must have a good credit record everywhere so that whenever he needs to borrow money, especially in banks in which really investigate your credit backgrounds very keenly, they would grant him loans. The examples of Seed Money that has been discussed during our class are Blood Money, Borrowing: Avoiding Problems with Family and Friends, Borrowing Money for Your Business, Steps to Borrowing from Family or Friends, and Try Bank Borrowing. Blood Money or borrowing money from family and friends is the most common way to finance a start-up and it's also the riskiest. In avoiding problems with family and friends in borrowing, it's best to prepare for the worst -- before it happens. Moreover, the steps in borrowing money from family and friends includes one should keep the relationship professional is the key to successful borrowing from close acquaintances. Also, in borrowing money for your business, especially in the banks or someone you know, it is best to sign a promissory note - - a legally binding contract in which you promise to repay the money. Tips to remember, one should try Bank borrowing for bank financing isn't impossible and one should find an Angel Investor because they will not only share their money; they're also great sources of knowledge for fledgling businesses. Lastly, our instructor taught us the 9Fs to consider in starting a business and these are Founders (first class entrepreneur), Focused (focus on niche markets, specialize), Fast (decision making, implementation), Flexible (open mind, respond to change), Forever Innovating, Flat (organizations), Frugal (low overhead, productivity high), Friendly (to their customers, suppliers, workers) and Fun (to be associated with an entrepreneur company).

Our instructor also shared some examples of Famous Technopreneurs and their inventions and contributions, local and international. The examples she gave us are...

Bill Gates (Microsoft software),

Steve Jobs (founded the Apple together with Steve Wozniac),

Michael Dell (Created a new model for PC sales Cutting out the retail middleman and custom-building computers),

             Larry Page                                                                         and Sergey Brin (founded Google),

Dado Banatao (Filipino ICT Hero),

and Winston Damarillo (Developed Gluecode Software as an open source application system provider).

Going further, talking about Intellectual Property which refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. 

Our instructor also shared to us regarding Intellectual Property Rights these are the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. It usually grants the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a certain period of time. Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines is the Republic Act No. 8293 of June 6, 1997 is an act prescribing the intellectual property code and establishing the intellectual property office, providing for its powers and functions, and for other purposes. 

It is divided into three categories: 

Industrial property (PATENT), Trademark and Copyright. Industrial property includes inventions (patents), Trademarks include industrial designs, and geographic indications of source and Copyright includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. 

Going further, according to our lessons, a Patent grants an inventor exclusive rights to make, use, sell, and import an invention for a limited period of time, in exchange for the public disclosure of the invention. It has a term of protection of twenty (20) years providing an inventor significant commercial gain. In return, the patent owner must share the full description of the invention. This information is made available to the public in the form of the Intellectual Property Official Gazette (is the public journal and main publication of the government of the Republic of the Philippines) and can be utilized as basis for future research and will in turn promote innovation and development.

Requirements for Filing a Patent

1. Request for the Grant of Patent
2. Description of the Invention (Specification and Claim/s)
3. Drawings necessary for the Invention (if any)
4. Filling Fee

Going further, talking about Trademarks according to our lessons, is a tool used that differentiates goods and services from each other. It can be one word, a group of words, sign, symbol, logo, or a combination of any of these. Generally, a trademark refers to both trademark and service mark, although a service mark is used to identify those marks used for services only. Trademark is a very effective tool that makes the public remember the quality of goods and services. Once a trademark becomes known, the public will keep on patronizing the products and services. Utilized properly, a trademark can become the most valuable business asset of an enterprise. In addition to making goods and services distinctive, the owner of a mark may earn revenues from the use of the mark by licensing its use by another or though franchising agreements.

These are examples of Trademarks:

•     ®          Registered trademark

•     ™        Intent to use application filed for product

•     ^SM       Intent to use application filed for services

Rights are reserved exclusively for owners for 17 years; it can be renewed and lasts indefinitely.

TM = unregistered trade mark, SM = unregistered service mark,  ® = registered trade mark

Trademark can be protected through registration. Registration gives the trademark owner the exclusive right to use the mark and to prevent others from using the same or similar marks on identical or related goods and services. Your mark should be able to distinguish your goods or services from those of others.  Your mark should also meet the requirements for registrability of marks under Sec. 123.1 of the Intellectual Property Code.

What are the requirements to apply for registration? 

1.  A duly filled out trademark application form [you can access link from site]
2.  Drawing of the mark
3.  Payment of fees

Part of our lesson is the Trademark Infringement, Counterfeiting, and Dilution.  Infringement is a mark that is likely to cause confusion with a trademark already existing in the marketplace, Counterfeiting is the deliberate copying of a mark, and Dilution is defined as the value of the mark is substantially reduced through competition or through the likelihood of confusion from another mark.

And the last category for Intellectual Property is Copyright. It is a protection for authors of original works, whether published or unpublished. It covers original works of authors, composers, screenwriters, and computer programmers. In Section 172 of the IP Code are the copyright protection listed.

THE TWO TYPES OF RIGHTS UNDER COPYRIGHT

(1) economic rights, so-called because they enable the creator to obtain remuneration from the exploitation of his works by third parties, and

(2) moral rights, which makes it possible for the creator to undertake measures to maintain and protect the personal connection between himself and the work.

The term of protection of Copyright for original and derivative works is the life of the author plus fifty (50) years after his death.

Technopreneurship (Prelim Topic)

Technopreneurship

Before I elaborate about Technopreneurship, I will discuss first what Entrepreneurship is.

According to our instructor, Entrepreneurship involves having the guts to do what you believe is right, thinking out of the box and making business out of it.  In my opinion, people who will enter in the world of business will have to consider market needs in a certain environment and being effective is to think a unique strategy and product not the common business strategies and product in a certain area, these people are called Entreprenuers . According to French economist, Richard Cantillon, they invests, transforms and makes (profit or loss). They are also whole-brained, meaning he/she uses both the left brain (logical) and right brain (creative). It came from the French word, ‘entreprendre’ which means individuals who undertake (the risk of new ventures).

Moving further when talking about Technopreneurship, for some people, it is not a product but a process of synthesis in engineering the future of a person, an organization, a nation and the world but according to our lessons, Technopreneurship is entrepreneurship in the field of technology. This means that the people that are in technopreneurship use existing technologies or invent and develop a new product. Examples of these are High tech ventures in ICT, electronics, internet, life sciences and biotech. This are innovations that are not confined to tangible products but also include services and processes like that of banks, airlines, shipping lines, telecommunications, hospitals, agencies and other establishments. 

Talking about the definitions about Technopreneurs, “describing an entrepreneur who uses cutting- edge technology to develop new business models (Mankani, D.)”. In my own interpretation, this means that, having ideal ways of using technology in making business models more effective.

Technopreneurship has great importance. In our class discussion, our instructor tackled that these are Employment Creation, Local Resources, Decentralization and diversification of business, Promotion of technology, Capital formation, Promotion of an entrepreneurial culture. 

When we talk about Employment Creation, Entrepreneurs create employment for themselves and other people. They are employers, and hence assist in solving the unemployment problem in the country. For me, when someone starts a new venture, there are opportunities that are opened not just for the entrepreneur but also to other people who looks for a job. 

Another importance of Technopreneurship is Local Resources which when used by entrepreneurs causes increase in value of this resources. I see an example of these local resources, just like that of raw materials or ingredients in a certain product. 

Another is Decentralization and diversification of business is defined in its importance as Entrepreneurs are able to identify business opportunities and locate these businesses in suitable areas, including rural areas. Thus, in my own opinion, if entrepreneurs or technopreneurs will locate a certain business with a right product in a suitable area, then, the business can really help in meeting the needs of the residents there. 

Then, about Promotion of technology, in my own point of view, when one entrepreneur or technopreneur is being creative then using of technology is being utilized and because of the growing needs of the business, technology needs to be developed leading to new inventions and innovations. 

Going further, talking about Capital formation, its importance is Entrepreneurship increases capital formation and investment. Thus, for me, when one increases income and can gain for a new investment, then, the business will grow and grow and will benefit the owner and its workers in a business. 

And the last importance that was being discussed to us is Promotion of an entrepreneurial culture, in my own understanding it is making young people motivated by showing other successful entrepreneur or technopreneur its achievements. According from our class discussion, it is by projecting successful images.

It is best if one can be a pioneer in the field of technology, but how? In our class discussion, it must be that the mindset of a person should always be looking out for innovation. For me, this is true because if one thinks for innovation, then he or she can plan a unique business that is new in an area and can be useful. It is said also that a technopreneur needs to think “out of the box”. The box is the logic of an industry, business or product. The explanation about this is that, Logic answers why people are buying that product, why is the entrepreneur using that kind of raw material, etc. Thus, an entrepreneur has to look at the box and find something that is different. He or she doesn’t just copy what is currently available in the industry/business.

There are many significant reasons why one must become a technopreneur, and some of the examples during our discussion are: (1) Thousands of new ventures have been set up every year around the world and venture capitalists have invested billions of dollars into these business; (2) The internet is still in its infancy; (3) Many technopreneurs are hoping that their product, service or solution will become the industry standard in their chosen field in the same manner as we have Internet Explorer for web browsing, Amazon for online book and eBay for Internet auctions; (4) High risk for technopreneur investment but their rewards are great such as founders of Microsoft, Amazon and eBay and their backers. For me, this is so true because everyone can be a technopreneur, it is only in the start of the business venture where you may experience risks but if one is persistent and will keep on trying, then they would enjoy the benefits of their hardships.

In our class, it was also discussed by our instructor that a technopreneur usually generate new business ideas, one is able to identify the business or consumer need, one is not limited to a certain idea but expand the idea, he or she identify market needs and offering the solution, he or she ensure the technology to make the idea work exists or can be developed at a reasonable cost and within a reasonable time, he or she thinks of workable idea, then bounces it to friends or associates. After receiving feedback, and deciding, he or she starts the business plan. Finally, he or she tries to get financing.

Under our lesson about technopreneurship is about the SEED Model. The SEED stands for Self-Mastery, Environment Mastery, Enterprise Mastery, and Development of Business Plan. Self-mastery is a passion that comes from knowing yourself meaning you know what you want and do not want. It was also taught to us that a self-mastered person does not need high Intelligent Quotient (IQ) but if it is high, this will be beneficial to him or her, does need high Emotional Quotient (EQ) which means that it is ability for an entrepreneur/technopreneur to connect to other people and be able to feel others’ emotions easily, does need high Adversity Quotient (AQ) which is the is the ability to rise up after a failure and to go against the norm. Moving further, talking about Environment Mastery, it is about generating business ideas and seeking opportunities out from his or her environment through serendipity walks, crisis, trends and others. Examples of environment-mastered person is someone who understands the industry he/she is in, sees the opportunities, not the problems, is on top of the situation instead of being under the situation, is the organization/industry innovator and strategist. Another is about Enterprise Mastery which is about how to run a business. This also pertains to the knowledge of the different enterprise disciplines such as: Creating the Business, Marketing Management (creating a promise), Operations Management (keeping the promise and how to make the perception a reality), Financial Management (putting only a small margin on your product), and Risk Management (ability to take measured or calculated risks). Examples of enterprise-mastered person is someone who understands and integrates the functions of management (marketing, human resource, operations, and finance), understands and integrates the process of management (planning, organizing, directing, and controlling), and leads and inspires rather than manage.

In our class, we also tackled about Development of Business Plan and this covers writing the business plan, presenting and defending the business plan, adding refinements to the presented business plan. We also tackled the four types of entrepreneurship and these are incremental (Routine business, modest innovation, i.e. new coffee shop, new BPO), imitative (Imitation of venture, same business model and template, i.e. new regional branch, franchised operations), rent-seeking (Business that utilizes standards, regulations and laws to share in value of enterprise, i.e. Coca Cola Export), and innovative (Business based on innovation, i.e. new memory chip). We also learned about the Characteristics of a technopreneur and these are: hard working, self-confident, builds for the future, profit-oriented, goal-oriented, persistent, copes with failure, responds to feedback, demonstrates initiative, willing to listen, sets own standards, copes with uncertainty, committed, builds on strengths, reliable and has integrity, and risk-taker.

The bottom line is a Technopreneur are technology idea owner who ventures to make his idea a commercial reality and it is also an entrepreneur who gets a technology idea, finds an opportunity to make it a commercial reality.

An Overview of Ethics

In my research about ethics, it is stated that ethics is a branch of study dealing with what is the proper course of action for man. Without it, our actions would be random and aimless. In our class in Values and Ethics in Information Technology, we have learned a little about business ethics, that it is a set of beliefs about right and wrong behaviour, ethical behaviour conforms to generally accepted social norms and  that this is important in many fields especially in a company, school, and offices or in general, in business.

I will discuss some of my research and learning in regards to ethics and according to our instructor, these are also some of the objectives or help towards learning further about our subject in Values and ethics in Information Technology.

Business Ethics in corporations are a very important academia that deals with the public image of the firm, which decides the future of a firm's products or services. Business ethics also determine the trust factor that public have in a corporate, based on which future investments are initiated. In addition to this, corporations are interested in fostering good business ethics. According to an article, fostering a good relationship through practicing good business ethics is important today; probably even more so than at any time previously. Screwing your customer base to profiteer from the financial worlds bad practices isn't any way to do this. In fact, when a customer feels that this is being done to them, or worse, when they can actually prove it, means they simply won't be returning customers. That’s why, a certain company needs to have ethical decision making. Ethical Decision Making is an important aspect that ensures that all companies not only meet but continue to perform at the highest ethical level without leaving any room for laxity. But there are these people who just abuse the power of information technology. Reason for this is that some trends have increased the risk of using information technology unethically. Example of these trends are there are too many people who don't want to think, for example researching about something for their school project or just for an information that they just want to get quick answers from other people resulting to posting something on the web that are not facts but merely unreliable. In my own opinion, that’s why they have these unethical actions because they just want to make fun.

Under ethics is the moral code, which is a set of rules. It establishes boundaries of generally accepted behavior. In my own understanding, this is to free a society from immoral actions meaning that there are some acts that is moral that of a doer and not to the person who witness the actions of the doer. A perfect example to this that is related to Information Technology is a true incident about two IT Professionals whom are hired to work for a certain school and are tasked to remove or heal virus from a professor’s computer. And these two IT Professionals detected nude pictures of girls that are just teenagers. They reported this to the police. But according to the professor, it is private that’s why it is not unethical act to have those pictures. Ethics also speaks about morality. Morality is a social convention about right and wrong and is widely shared. For me, it means that as an IT Professional, you must know what is proper and improper for you and to others especially to your co-worker, employer, customer and etc. These may vary by age, cultural group, ethnic background, religion, and gender and it can affect a person’s morality through these variations. Others that are under ethics are virtues, vices, and value system. Virtues are habits that incline people to do what is acceptable. Examples of virtues are hard work, perseverance, honesty, integrity, compassion, generosity, courage, etc. Vices are habits of unacceptable behavior.  In Catholic moral theology, a vice is a state of habitual sin that interferes with a person's freedom to choose his or her own actions.  And lastly, a value system, which is a scheme of moral values.

In our subject about Values and Ethics in Information Technology, we have also discussed about the importance of integrity. It is stated in our lessons that it is a cornerstone of ethical behavior. According to many, integrity is the core quality of a successful and happy life. Having integrity means being totally honest and truthful in every part of your life. By making the commitment to become a totally honest person, you will be doing more to ensure your success and happiness in life than anything else you can ever do. People with integrity will act in accordance with a personal code of principles. For me, this means that a person has its own principles which he or she can distinguish what’s right from wrong because of integrity. To add, a person with integrity has always extended to all people the same respect and consideration that it desires. It means that, that if you do good to others, you will receive the same from them. And lastly, people with integrity are applying the same moral standards in all situations. Meaning, that wherever and whatever a person is in a situation, he acts morally according to his own principles because of integrity.

All too often we hear people say that business is evil and a major cause of the many problems of society. Unfortunately, that statement is true in all too frequent cases. That doesn't mean, however, that all business is bad. A few bad apples can spoil an entire barrel. Such is the case in the business world where a few dishonest and uncaring people make all business people look bad. This speaks about Ethics in the Business World (Article Source: www.blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com/2006/05/business-ethics-change-world.html). According to our lessons in our subject, ethics raised to business agenda because of risks associated w/ increased inappropriate behavior. This is true to maintain the good reputation not just in a business or pertaining to their employees but in the whole nation. Furthermore, risk is the product of multiplying the likelihood of an event by the impact of its occurrence. In my opinion, talking about risk, it is necessary to be experience by a company and its employees. But through the help of ethics, the risk encountered will be solved immediately. Last thing we have discussed about Ethics in the Business World is that pertaining to risk, it have increased due to Globalization and heightened vigilance by employees, shareholders, and regulatory agencies.

Business today in many countries is fast gaining a reputation for bad business ethics. Some businesses today are seen by many struggling families as gouges. Costs to run a business today in Australia have risen considerably but so many small to large businesses haven't explained the rising costs very well to their customers. By not explaining the rising costs to their customers they certainly aren't fostering good relations with their client base (Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5388150). In accordance with our subject lessons, the reason why fostering good business is important in order to gain the goodwill of the community, to create an organization that operates consistently, to produce good business, to protect the organization and its employees from legal action, and to avoid unfavorable publicity. To elaborate these, for example in gaining the goodwill of the community, making contributions to charitable organizations and nonprofit institutions is one great technique to develop one’s business because as we know, goodwill can make it easier for corporations to conduct business. Another, for example in creating an organization that operates consistently, operating with honesty, integrity, staying true to corporate principles, in accordance to standards of ethical conduct, and other business values will definitely make a company’s stability stable. Another is about producing good business, for example, produce safe and effective products can really mean good business. To add about protecting the organization and its employees from legal actions, for a real scenario example, fines for criminal violations can be lowered by up to 80 percent if the organization has implemented an ethics management program and cooperate with authorities. And lastly, in avoiding unfavorable publicity, of course a company has its public reputation and it strongly influences value of its stock, how consumers regard products and services, degree of oversight received from government agencies and amount of support and cooperation received from business partners.

When company executives behave unethically, that behavior often ends up in the news. While most companies have ethics policies, they don't necessarily enforce or even follow them. By incorporating ethics into the very heart of the business and reinforcing the idea of ethical behavior, businesses can run efficiently, legally and ethically (Article Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_6860392_improve-corporate-ethics.html). It’s true that nowadays risks of unethical behavior are increasing and improvement of business ethics is becoming more important. There are means in improving corporate ethics examples are appointing a corporate ethics officer, having ethical standards set by board of directors, establishing a corporate code of ethics, conducting social audits, requiring employees to take ethics training, including ethical criteria in employee appraisals, when good ethics result in short-term losses and creating an ethical work environment. In elaborating this ways of improving corporate ethics for example in appointing a corporate ethics officer, a corporate ethics is defined as an ethical conduct, legal compliance and corporate social responsibility. A corporate ethics officer is well-respected and a senior-level manager, he/she provides vision and direction in the area of business conduct, and he/she tries to establish an environment that encourages ethical decision making. In complex to having ethical standards that is set by the board of directors, the board is the one who is responsible for supervising management team and the directors of company are expected to conduct themselves according to the highest standards of personal and professional integrity, set standard for company-wide ethical conduct and ensure compliance with laws and regulations. And lastly about establishing a corporate code of ethics, Code of ethics is a statement that highlights an organization’s key ethical issues. In our class, our instructor gave an example about Intel’s Code of Conduct and these are: 1.) Intel conducts business with honesty and integrity, 2.) Intel follows the letter and spirit of the law, 3.) Intel employees treat each other fairly, 4.) Intel employees act in the best interests of Intel and avoid conflicts of interest, and 5.) Intel employees protect the company’s assets and reputation. About conducting social audits, a social audit identifies ethical lapses committed in the past, reviews how well it is meeting its ethical and social responsibility goals, and sets directives for avoiding similar missteps in the future. Also about, requiring employees to take ethics training, it is merely important because comprehensive ethics education program encourages employees to act responsibly and ethically. Another one is the including the Ethical Criteria employee appraisals, this method is about having an evaluation for the performance of each employee if an employee treat others fairly with respect, accepting personal accountability and many more basis. About the method, when good ethics result in short-term losses, this means that operating ethically does not always guarantee business success. Lastly, about creating an ethical work environment, explains that good employees sometimes make bad ethical choices, may be encouraged to do “whatever it takes” to get the job done, and employees must have a knowledgeable and potent resource available to discuss perceived unethical practices. By following these methods, you'll be better prepared to handle judgments and decision-making that come up every day in the mortgage and real estate business. And you will ensure that you have done everything possible to make sure that your reputation, the most important component of your business, is firmly established.

Unethical behavior in the workplace, whether by management or employees, is detrimental to a good working environment.
How management can affect employees’ ethical behavior? Managers should take the ethical high road at every juncture, but the sad truth is that management often points to the bottom line to justify their bad behavior. Employees, on the other hand, may feel justified in cutting corners and fudging on important issues, blaming their unethical behavior on the pressure to perform (Article Source:http://www.ehow.com/info_8247861_unethical-behavior-management-employees-workplace.html).

In our class, we learned also the 7 steps to ethical decision making. These are getting the facts, identify stakeholders and their positions, consider the consequences of a decision, weigh various guidelines and principles, develop and evaluate options, review a decision and evaluate the results of a decision.

In relation of ethics to information technology, it is vital nowadays to study ethics about information technology because many public concerns related to IT are affecting the society these days. Examples of these are e-mail and internet access monitoring, peer-to-peer networks violation of copyright, unsolicited e-mail, hackers and identify theft, plagiarism, cookies and spyware.