Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems

Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems Ethics – Principles of right and wrong individuals use to make choices that guide their behavior Information systems raise new ethical questions Opportunities for intense social change, new kinds of crime, etc.

Five moral dimensions of the information Age

Technology trends Doubling of computer power More organizations depend on computer systems for critical operations Rapidly declining data storage costs Organizations can easily maintain detailed databases on individuals Networking advances and the Internet Copying data from one location to another and accessing personal data from remote locations is much easier

Technology trends (cont) Advantages in data analysis techniques Companies can analyze vast quantities of data gathered on individuals for: Profiling Combining data from multiple sources to create collections of detailed information on individuals Nonobvious relationship awareness (NORA) Combine data from multiple sources/find connections to identify criminals or terrorists

Ethics in an information society 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 Review Pages 129-130 for Ethical analysis and page 130 for ethical principles Professional codes of conduct Real-world ethical dilemmas

Information rights TrustE European directive Informed consent Safe harbor Internet challenges Cookies Web beacons Spyware Opt in Opt out P3P TrustE

Privacy laws

Property rights: intellectual Property Protection of Intellectual Property: Trade Secrets (company owned; business purposes) Copyright (70 yrs after death individual; 95 for corporate-owned) Patents (ideas behind invention for 20 years) Digital Millennium Copyright Act (protection from selling intellectual property online)

Accountability, liability, and control Computer - related liability problems Who is responsible if software not used as it should be? Who is responsible if offensive content is on a website?

System Quality: Data quality and System Errors GIGO Data quality is more often a source of business system failure

Quality of life: equity, access, and boundaries Balancing Power Rapidity of Change Maintaining Boundaries Dependence and vulnerability Computer Crime and Abuse Employment Equity and Access (and digital divide) One laptop Health Risks (RSI, CVS, Technostress)