http://www.sajim.co.za/editorial.main.9nr4.asp?print=1


   
  Editorial Vol.9(4) December 2007 

The critical question What constitutes information integrity’ is being asked in the first article 
of this issue. Flowerday and Von Solms address this question with private enterprise as the 
departure point. It constitutes a fresh approach by departing from the traditional theoretical 
approach towards information integrity. The authors argue that information integrity, as 
such, is one of the pillars of the concept of information security. What is more important is 
that a sound security management programme cannot be successful without ensuring 
information integrity within an enterprise. However, owing to various limitations, it is 
difficult if not impossible to reach a state of full integrity. Therefore, as a solution, the 
authors suggest that an enterprise should rather follow the well-known auditing concept of 
reasonable assurance. The authors succeed in illustrating the importance of information 
integrity and in providing a macro view of what it constitutes.  

Closely related to information integrity and with a similar pragmatic approach, follows the 
second article entitled Level of importance attached to competitive intelligence at a mass 
import-retail organization. With this article authors Begg and Du Toit attempt to establish 
the level of importance of competitive intelligence (CI) at a mass import retail organization 
in South Africa. In their discussion, the value and significance that CI presents to this 
organization is addressed by focusing specifically on the need for a competitive strategy, the 
significance of institutionalizing CI, various organizational structure options and establishing 
a CI culture within the enterprise. An empirical survey was conducted, and the results 
indicated that although CI was practised in an informal manner only, a relatively high level 
of importance was attached to CI. However, a few areas of improvement were discovered. 
The implementation of a formal CI function within such an organization is recommended. 

The third article examines some aspects brought about by the availability of on-line 
pornography via the World-Wide Web, especially at the so-called anonymous level. The 
research was limited to the tertiary sector (a large university) and in particular the extent to 
which access to on-line pornography can be managed (Investigating online pornography at 
the University of Johannesburg). For the empirical part of this research, authors Laughton 
and Rensleigh proportionally distributed 1037 questionnaires to the five campuses of this 
university. The gender distribution for the sample was almost even, with a total of 49,4% 
male and 50,6% female participants, with the largest grouping of respondents (61,6%) aged 
between 19 years and 21 years. The findings of the project make fascinating reading. Study 
the article to discover the percentages of students who indicated 'None' when asked to what 
extent they should have access to pornography; how many believed that restricted access 
should be granted, or who wanted to see that students have 'Total access' to pornography via 
the university's facilities. These and other results from the project could be used by any 
tertiary institute to better manage student access to on-line resources. 

Pieter van Brakel 
Scientific Editor  

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