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L14C4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems, Benjamin - Coggle…
L14C4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems
A Model for Thinking About Ethical, Social, and
Political Issues
Society as a calm pond
IT as rock dropped in pond, creating ripples of new situations not covered by old rules
Social and political institutions cannot respond overnight to these ripples—it may take years to develop etiquette, expectations, laws
Requires understanding of ethics to make choices in legally gray areas
Five Moral Dimensions of the Information Age
Information rights and obligations
Property rights and obligations
Accountability and control
System quality
Quality of life
Key Technology Trends that Raise Ethical Issues
Computing power doubles every 18 months
Data storage costs rapidly decline
Data analysis advances
Profiling
Combining data from multiple sources to create dossiers of detailed information on individuals
Nonobvious relationship awareness (NORA)
Combining data from multiple sources to find obscure hidden connections that might help identify criminals or terrorists
Networking advances
Mobile device growth impact
Ethics in An Information Society
Basic Concepts; Responsibility, Accountability,
Liability
Responsibility
Accepting the potential costs, duties, and obligations for decisions
Accountability
Mechanisms for identifying responsible parties
Liability
Permits individuals (and firms) to recover damages done to them
Due process
Laws are well-known and understood, with an ability to appeal to higher authorities
Ethical Analysis
Five-step process
Identify and clearly describe the facts.
Define the conflict or dilemma and identify the higher-order values involved.
Identify the stakeholders.
Identify the options that you can reasonably take.
Identify the potential consequences of your options
Candidate Ethical Principles
Golden Rule
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative
If an action is not right for everyone to take, it is not right for anyone.
Slippery Slope Rule
If an action cannot be taken repeatedly, it is not right to take at all.
Utilitarian Principle
Take the action that achieves the higher or greater value.
Risk Aversion Principle
Take the action that produces the least harm or potential cost.
Ethical “No Free Lunch” Rule
Assume that virtually all tangible and intangible objects are owned by someone unless there is a specific declaration otherwise.
Professional Codes of Conduct
Promulgated by associations of professionals
American Medical Association (A M A )
American Bar Association (A B A )
Association for Computing Machinery (A C M )
Promises by professions to regulate themselves in the general interest of society
The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems
Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the
Internet Age
Privacy
Claim of individuals to be left alone, free from surveillance or interference from other individuals, organizations, or state; claim to be able to control information about yourself
In the United States, privacy protected by
Fourth Amendment (unreasonable search and seizure)
Additional federal statues (e.g., Privacy Act of 1974)
First Amendment (freedom of speech and association)
Fair information practices
Set of principles governing the collection and use of information
Basis of most U.S. and European privacy laws
Used to drive changes in privacy legislation
COPPA
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
HIPA A
FTC FIP principles
Notice/awareness (core principle)
Choice/consent (core principle)
Access/participation
Security
Enforcement
Internet Challenges to Privacy
Cookies
Identify browser and track visits to site
Super cookies (Flash cookies)
Web beacons (web bugs)
Tiny graphics embedded in emails and web pages
Monitor who is reading email message or visiting site
Spyware
Surreptitiously installed on user’s computer
May transmit user’s keystrokes or display unwanted ads
Google services and behavioral targeting
The United States allows businesses to gather transaction information and use this for other marketing purposes.
Opt-out vs. opt-in model
Online industry promotes self-regulation over privacy legislation.
Complex/ambiguous privacy statements
Opt-out models selected over opt-in
Online “seals” of privacy principles
Property Rights: Intellectual Property
Intellectual property
Tangible and intangible products of the mind created by individuals or corporations
Protected in four main ways
Copyright
Patents
Trademarks
Trade secret
Challenges to Intellectual Property Rights
Digital media different from physical media
Ease of replication
Ease of transmission (networks, Internet)
Ease of alteration
Compactness
Difficulties in establishing uniqueness
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA )
System Quality: Data Quality and System Errors
Three principal sources of poor system performance
Software bugs, errors
Hardware or facility failures
Poor input data quality (most common source of business system failure)
Quality of Life; Equity, Access, and Boundaries
Negative social consequences of systems
Big tech: Concentrating economic and political power
Rapidity of change
Maintaining boundaries: family, work and leisure
Dependence and vulnerability
Computer crime and abuse
Computer crime
Computer abuse
Spam
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
Employment
Trickle-down technology
Reengineering job loss
Equity and access
The digital divide
Health risks
Repetitive stress injury (R S I )
Carpal tunnel syndrome (C T S)
Computer vision syndrome (C V S)
Technostress
Benjamin