ICT and the Holy Month

ALKHOBAR, 2 October 2007 — If you think that Ramadan is simply about fasting, then you’re misinformed. The fasting during Ramadan is supposed to be carried out accompanied by purity of thought and deed. That means no lying, stealing, anger, envy, greed, lust, sarcastic retorts, backbiting or gossip.

Now I’ve been doing some checking, and IT managers at some of the Kingdom’s largest companies report that there is an amazing amount of free bandwidth available on their networks and their mail servers are running way below capacity. Why is that? It seems that their Muslim employees aren’t sending around nasty video clips. One IT manager told me that on the Monday before Ramadan, the amount of bandwidth eaten up by suspected obscene content hit an all time high. Then on Wednesday, the last day of Sha’aban, e-mails circulated with subject lines exhorting people to fast. He expects that after Ramadan the number of pornography laden e-mails will increase slowly, until by mid-November the company will be facing a shortage of bandwidth once again.

In a casual survey taken to see what sort of non-work related content people are receiving on company e-mail accounts this month in the Kingdom, it should be noted that there has been a reduction in both the tone and the volume of personal e-mails circulating in the workplace. Jokes and gossip e-mails are still common. Some very ugly e-mails critical of certain Arab groups has also been making the rounds. While nudity appears out of bounds in e-mails right now, employees still don’t understand that sending and receiving any personal e-mail using office resources without permission is actually stealing.

It’s not just personal e-mail that’s a problem. Accessing Facebook and other social networking sites at work is an abuse of corporate network resources. Many large companies block access to these sites but some smaller firms aren’t as proactive. Broadband connections at home aren’t the norm yet in the Kingdom, so lots of employees download all sorts of enormous personal data files at work — and then share them with friends. An IT manager told me that for the Saudi National Day, one father used the company’s laser printer to print the graphics so his child’s class could make National Day “badges” to wear at the school’s celebration. The manager said that the company would have happily given permission for the printing — if only they’d been asked.

Before the Internet, most often, gossip was shared through voice, whether over the telephone or through face-to-face interaction. But my brothers and sisters in Islam, times are changing. That e-mail you send around which is full of unsubstantiated rumor, qualifies as gossip and may be backbiting, lying, envy, lust and/or sarcasm, too. If you are sending the e-mail with unauthorized company resources, then it’s theft as well. Quite a dirty deed for a fasting Muslim. Actually, that’s a pretty bad thing for a Muslim to do at any time.

During this holy month, which is supposed to be a time for personal reflection and an opportunity to re-establish self accountability, I would urge all of you to reconsider your conduct when using information and communications technologies. To help you in that exercise, turn to the resources of the Computer Ethics Institute (CEI), a project of the Brookings Institution. CEI is focused on identifying, assessing and responding to ethical issues associated with the advancement of information technologies in society. Through advisory and consultative activities, research and education, and public outreach, CEI has stimulated awareness of the issues likely to arise as technology continues to develop.

CEI has written “The Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics,” a highly effective code of ethics for the proper use of information technology. After you read them here, learn more about CEI’s offerings through www.brookings.edu/its/cei/cei_hp.htm.