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

2. 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.

3. Five moral dimensions of the information Age

4. 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

5. 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

7. 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 for Ethical analysis and page 130 for ethical principles
Professional codes of conduct
Real-world ethical dilemmas

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

9. Privacy laws

10. 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)

11. 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?

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

13. 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)