1 SESSION 5 ETHICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN THE DIGITAL FIRM

2 Information rights and obligations Property rights Accountability and control System quality Quality of life Moral Dimensions of the Information Age UNDERSTANDING ETHICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES RELATED TO SYSTEMS

3 Computing power doubles every 18 months: Dependence on computer systems Rapidly declining data storage costs: Easy maintenance of individual database Datamining advances: Analysis of vast quantities of data Networking advances and the Internet: Remotely accessing personal data Key Technology Trends that Raise Ethical Issues UNDERSTANDING ETHICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES RELATED TO SYSTEMS

4 Information system being used by organizations to: Increase productivity and reduce the size of its workforce to lower costsIncrease productivity and reduce the size of its workforce to lower costs Monitor employees to prevent wastage of resources for non-business activitiesMonitor employees to prevent wastage of resources for non-business activities Some Real-World Ethical Dilemmas ETHICS IN AN INFORMATION SOCIETY

5 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 the statePrivacy: Claim of individuals to be left alone, free from surveillance or interference from other individuals, organizations, or the state Profiling: understanding the customers’ interests and habits by tracking their habits and routes they take to navigate through websites and from one website to another.Profiling: understanding the customers’ interests and habits by tracking their habits and routes they take to navigate through websites and from one website to another. THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

6 The European Directive on Data Protection Informed consent: Consent given with knowledge of all facts needed to make a rational decision U.S. businesses would be allowed to use personal data from EU countries if they develop privacy protection policies that meet EU standardsU.S. businesses would be allowed to use personal data from EU countries if they develop privacy protection policies that meet EU standards Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the Internet Age THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

7 Opt-out model Informed consent permitting the collection of personal informationInformed consent permitting the collection of personal information Consumer specifically requests for the data not to be collectedConsumer specifically requests for the data not to be collected Internet Challenges to Privacy Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the Internet Age THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

8 Opt-in model Informed consent prohibiting an organization from collecting any personal informationInformed consent prohibiting an organization from collecting any personal information Individual has to approve information collection and useIndividual has to approve information collection and use Internet Challenges to Privacy Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the Internet Age THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

9 Cookies Tiny files deposited on a hard driveTiny files deposited on a hard drive Used to identify the visitor and track visits to the Web siteUsed to identify the visitor and track visits to the Web site Internet Challenges to Privacy Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the Internet Age THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

10 Web bugs Tiny graphic files embedded in messages and Web pagesTiny graphic files embedded in messages and Web pages Designed to monitor on-line Internet user behaviorDesigned to monitor on-line Internet user behavior Internet Challenges to Privacy Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the Internet Age THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

11 P3P Platform for Privacy Preferences Project Industry standard designed to give users more control over personal information Technical Solutions Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the Internet Age THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

12 Technical Solutions Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the Internet Age THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

13 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 getting copied for 28 years Patents: Legal document granting the owner an exclusive monopoly on the ideas behind an invention for 20 years Property Rights: Intellectual Property THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

14 Ease of replication, ease of transmission, ease of alteration, compactness etc. Construction of web pages from different sources; framing Challenges to Intellectual Property Rights THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

15 Who is accountable for the consequences of the use of information technologies? “Booklike” software and software as a service Web sites vs. broadcasters and cable television systems Censorship: Govt. officials have supported taking steps to censor the content that is transmitted over the net. Accountability, Liability and Control THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

16 System Quality: Data Quality and System Errors What is an acceptable, technologically feasible level of system quality? Three sources of poor system performance Software bugs and errors Facility failures caused by natural or other causes Poor input data quality THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

17 Balancing power center versus periphery: Key policy decisions centralized as in the past Rapidity of change- Reduced response time to competition: Reduced normal social buffers Maintaining boundaries: Family, work, and leisure: “Do anything anywhere” environment blurring boundaries between work and family time Quality of Life: Equity, Access, and Boundaries THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

18 Dependence and vulnerability: Our life depends incredibly on IS. However, no regulatory or standard-setting forces Computer abuse: Commission of acts involving a computer that may not be illegal but are considered unethical Computer crime: Commission of illegal acts through the use of a computer or against a computer system Spamming, hacking, jamming (denial of service attacks), malicious software, sniffing, spoofing, and pagejacking Quality of Life: Equity, Access, and Boundaries THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

19 Employment- Trickle-down technology and reengineering job loss: Causes millions of middle-level managers and clerical workers to lose their jobs Equity and access- Increasing racial and social class cleavages: Society of computer literate and skilled, versus computer illiterate and unskilled Quality of Life: Equity, Access, and Boundaries THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

20 Repetitive stress injury (RSI) Occupational disease Computer vision syndrome (CVS) Eyestrain condition Technostress Stress induced by computer use Health Risks Quality of Life: Equity, Access, and Boundaries THE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS