Ethical and Social Issues

Ethics Principles of right and wrong used by individuals as free moral agents to guide behavior

Moral dimensions of the information age Information rights & obligations Property rights Accountability & control System quality Quality of life

Technology trends & ethical issues Computing power doubles every 18 months Advances in data storage Advances in data mining techniques Advances in telecommunications infrastructure

Ethics in an information society Responsibility: accepting costs, duties, obligations for decisions Accountability: assessing responsibilities for decisions & actions Liability: must pay for legal damages Due process: insures laws are applied properly

Ethics in an information society Ethical analysis: Identify, describe facts Define conflict, identify values Identify stakeholders Identify options Identify potential consequences

Ethics in an information society Ethical principles: Treat others as you want to be treated If action not right for everyone, not right For anyone If action not repeatable, not right at any time Put value on outcomes, understand consequences Incur least harm or cost No free lunch

Information rights Privacy: right to be left alone Fair information practices (FIP): No secret personal records Individuals can access, amend information about them Use info only with prior consent Managers accountable for damage done by systems Governments can intervene

Intellectual property Intellectual property: intangible creations protected by law Trade secret: intellectual work or product belonging to business, not in public domain Copyright: statutory grant protecting intellectual property from copying by others Trade Mark: legally registered mark, device, or name to distinguish one’s goods Patent: legal document granting owner exclusive monopoly on an invention for 17 years

ACCOUNTABILITY, LIABILITY & CONTROL ETHICAL ISSUES: who is morally responsible for consequences of use? SOCIAL ISSUES: what should society expect and allow? POLITICAL ISSUES: To what extent should government intervene, protect?

DATA QUALITY & SYSTEM ERRORS ETHICAL ISSUES: when is software or service ready for release? SOCIAL ISSUES: can people trust quality of software, services, data? POLITICAL ISSUES: should congress or industry develop standards for software, hardware, data quality?

QUALITY OF LIFE CENTRALIZATION VS. DECENTRALIZATION RAPID CHANGE: reduced response time to competition MAINTAINING BOUNDARIES: family, work, leisure DEPENDENCE AND VULNERABILITY COMPUTER CRIME & ABUSE EMPLOYMENT: trickle-down technology; reengineering job loss EQUITY & ACCESS: increasing racial & social class cleavages HEALTH RISKS: äRepetitive stress injury (RSI) äCarpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) äComputer vision syndrome (CVS) äTechnostress: irritation, hostility, impatience, enervation, fear äVDT radiation

Liability on the internet Libel Copyright infringement Pornography Fraud Jurisdiction? Seek legal advice before developing web site...

Exercise The text discusses five steps of ethical analysis :  Identify and 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. Select a problem from your employment – preferably information systems related – and apply these steps to help reach a solution.