CHAPTER 12 Ethics and Privacy 1 Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

Ethical Issues 12.2 Privacy Chapter 12: ETHICS AND PRIVACY

3 LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1.Define ethics, list and describe the three fundamental tenets of ethics, and describe the four categories of ethical issues related to information technology. 2.Identify three places that store personal data, and for each one, discuss at least one potential threat to the privacy of the data stored there. Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

4 OPENING CASE What to Do About WikiLeaks? The Problem Whistleblowers can capture huge amounts of incriminating documents on a laptop, memory stick, or portable hard drive. This information can be sent through personal accounts or online drop sites, or they can simply submit it directly to WikiLeaks ( WikiLeaks receives approximately 10,000 new documents every day. Since its inception, in December 2006, WikiLeaks has had significant impacts on both businesses and governments; how can future disclosures be prevented? Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

5 OPENING CASE The IT Solution –Several cyber security measures from the DLP (data leak protection) industry have been tried. However, none have been effective. Recently, organizations have turned to network forensics, which is the process of constantly collecting every digital “fingerprint” on an organization’s servers to trace and identify an intruder who has broken into the system. Although this software gathers data and makes them easily available, it does not identify the culprit. Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

6 OPENING CASE The Results –How can organizations and governments respond to WikiLeaks? Lawsuits will not work, because WikiLeaks, is a mere conduit for documents. Moreover, even if a company or a government somehow won a judgment against WikiLeaks, that would not shut down the company, because its assets are spread all over the world. Governments may need to revise their practices to avoid being targeted. Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

7 OPENING CASE What we learned from this case? –All organizations, large and small, must be concerned with ethics. You will encounter numerous ethical and privacy issues in your career, many of which will involve IT requiring solutions that do not violate the privacy of governments, organizations, and individuals. Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

8 DISCUSSION 1.Define the term “whistleblower” as it relates to IT issues. 2.How can governments, organizations, and even individuals prevent future disclosures from whistleblowers? Is it possible to accomplish this task, given that the sources of WikiLeaks’ information appear to be internal? Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

ETHICAL ISSUES Ethics refers to the principles of right and wrong that individuals use to make choices that guide their behaviour. Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

10 ETHICAL FRAMEWORKS Ethical Frameworks are standards used to develop general frameworks for ethics or ethical decision making: –Utilitarian –Rights –Fairness –Common Good For examples of standards used in Canada click here: Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

11 TRADITIONAL AND GVV APPROACHES Traditional GVV 1. Recognize an ethical issue1. Identify an ethical issue 2. Get the facts2. Purpose and choice 3. Evaluate alternative actions3. Stakeholder analysis 4. Make a decision and test it4. Powerful response 5. Scripting and coaching Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

12 ETHICS IN THE CORPORATE ENVIRONMENT Code of ethics: a collection of principles that are intended to guide decision making by members of an organization. organization Fundamental tenets of ethics include: –Responsibility –Accountability –Liability Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

13 ETHICS AND IT Four general categories of ethical issues in IT applications: –Privacy –Accuracy –Property –Accessibility Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

14 UNETHICAL VS. ILLEGAL What is unethical is not necessarily illegal. –Ethics scenariosEthics scenarios Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

15 IT’S ABOUT BUSINESS 12.2 Big Brother Is Watching You –People today live with a degree of surveillance that would have been unimaginable just a few generations ago. Examples include surveillance cameras, GPS and facial-recognition software. Facebook encourage users to assign names to people in photos, Once you are tagged in a photo, that photo could be used to search for matches across the entire Internet or in private databases, including databases fed by surveillance cameras.Facebook

PRIVACY Court decisions have followed two rules for defining privacy: 1.The right of privacy is not absolute. Your privacy must be balanced against the needs of society. 2.The public’s right to know supersedes the individual’s right of privacy. Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

17 IT TECHNOLOGIES Data aggregators, digital dossiers, and profiling Electronic Surveillance Personal Information in Databases Information on Internet Bulletin Boards, Newsgroups, and Social Networking Sites Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

18 DATA AGGREGATORS, DIGITAL DOSSIERS, AND PROFILING Data Aggregators collect public and non-public data then integrate these data to form digital dossiers on most adults in North America. Click on the following links to review examples of data aggregators: – – – Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

19 ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE 1.The law supports the right of employers to read their employees’ and other electronic documents and to monitor their employees’ Internet use. 2.See the Globe & Mail article regarding surveillance in Canada.Globe & Mail Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

20 PERSONAL INFORMATION IN DATABASES 1.Banks and financial institutions 2.Utility companies 3.Employers 4.Government agenciesGovernment agencies 5.Credit reporting agenciesCredit reporting agencies 6.Hospitals 7.Schools and universities 8.Retail establishments © Nicolas Nadjar/Age Fotostock America, Inc. Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

21 INFORMATION ON INTERNET BULLETIN BOARDS, NEWSGROUPS, AND SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES Social Networking Sites often include electronic discussions such as chat rooms. These sites appear on the Internet, within corporate intranets, and on blogs. A blog (Weblog) is an informal, personal journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public reading. Clicking here will take you to the Government of Canada article on the Pros and Cons of Social Networking in businessClicking here © Marina Bordjieva/Age Fotostock America, Inc. Click on the picture to read about the pros and cons of Social Networking in business

22 PRIVACY CODES AND POLICIES Opt-in Model prohibits an organization from collecting any personal information unless the customer specifically authorizes it.Opt-in Model Opt-out model permits the company to collect personal information until the customer specifically requests that the data not be collected.Opt-out model Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

23 IT’S ABOUT BUSINESS 12.3 Your Privacy on Facebook –The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has engaged in numerous actions against Facebook due to potential privacy concerns. Facebook continues to innovate, providing new products such as Graph Search and software for Android users. Every new product announcement is greeted by privacy concerns, while Facebook’s view is that users still have the ability to tailor their privacy settings while having better services available.Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

24 INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF PRIVACY Approximately 50 countries have some form of data- protection laws.50 countries Many of these laws conflict with those of other countries, or they require specific security measures. Some countries have no privacy laws at all Whose laws have jurisdiction when records are stored in a different country for reprocessing or retransmission purposes. Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

25 CHAPTER CLOSING 1.Ethics refers to the principles of right and wrong that individuals use to make choices that guide their behavior including responsibility, accountability, and liability. 2.Major ethical issues related to IT are privacy, accuracy, property and access to information. Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

26 CHAPTER CLOSING (CONTINUED) 3.Threats to privacy include advances in information technologies, electronic surveillance, personal information in databases, Internet bulletin boards, newsgroups, and social networking sites. 4.One personal threat to the privacy of data stored is that you might post too much personal information that many unknown people can see. Copyright John Wiley & Sons Canada

Copyright Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of this work beyond that permitted by Access Copyright (the Canadian copyright licensing agency) is unlawful. Requests for further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. The purchaser may make back-up copies for his or her own use only and not for distribution or resale. The author and the publisher assume no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages caused by the use of these files or programs or from the use of the information contained herein. 27