CHAPTER 4

(UPDATED NOV. 26, 2013)

Social, Ethical, & Legal Issues in ISs

Ethics

Principles of right & wrong that individuals, acting as free moral agents, use to make choices to guide their behaviours*

Not the same as legal, but frequently, actions that are unethical are also illegal – and not everything that is illegal is unethical* Digital Law – new, expanding**

MIS 2000Chapter 4

2

A Metaphor for Thinking about Ethical, Social, & Political Issues

• Society as a calm pond• IT as a rock dropped in pond, creating

ripples of new situations not covered by old rules

• Social & political institutions cannot respond overnight to these ripples — it may take years to develop etiquette, expectations, laws

• Requires understanding of ethics to make choices in legally grey areas

MIS 2000Chapter 4

3

Five Moral Dimensionsof the Information Age

• Information rights & obligations

• Property rights & obligations

• Accountability & control

• System quality

• Quality of life

MIS 2000Chapter 4

4

The Relationship among Ethical, Social, & Political Issues in an Information Society

MIS 2000Chapter 4

5

Technology Trendsthat Raise Ethical Issues

MIS 2000Chapter 4

6

Nonobvious Relationship Awareness

MIS 2000Chapter 4

7

Basic Concepts:Responsibility, Accountability, Liability

Responsibility: Accepting the potential costs, duties, & obligations for decisions

Accountability: Methodology for identifying responsible parties

Liability: Permits individuals to recover damages done to them

Due process: Laws are well known & understood, with an ability to appeal to higher authorities

MIS 2000Chapter 4

8

Ethical Analysis

1. Identify & clearly describe the facts2. Define the conflict or dilemma, &

identify the higher-order values involved

3. Identify the stakeholders4. Identify the options that you can

reasonably take5. Identify the consequences of your

options

MIS 2000Chapter 4

9

Candidate Ethical Principles

1. Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule

2. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative: If an action is not right for everyone to take, then it is not right for anyone

3. Descartes’ rule of change: If an action cannot be taken repeatedly, then it is not right to be taken at any time

MIS 2000Chapter 4

10

Candidate Ethical Principles #2

4. Utilitarian Principle: Take the action that achieves the greatest value for all concerned

5. Risk Aversion Principle: Take the action that produces the least harm or incurs the least cost to all concerned

6. Ethical “no free lunch” rule: Assume that all tangible & intangible objects are owned by someone else, unless there is a specific declaration otherwise

MIS 2000Chapter 4

11

Privacy in the Internet Age

Privacy: Claim of individuals to be left alone, free from surveillance or interference from other individuals, organizations, or the state. Ethical (cultural) norms with legal backing.

Personal Information Protection & Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) establishes principles for collection, use, & disclosure of personal data*

Provinces have parallel legislation

MIS 2000Chapter 4

12

Internet Challenges to Privacy

Internet facilitates tracking of online activities (e.g., cookies are used to trace Web site visits)*

Web bugs & spyware can install automatically

Opt-in versus opt-out models of informed consent(e.g., filling in online profiles in order to get access to some documents or software)

MIS 2000Chapter 4

13

Cookies

MIS 2000

Figure 4-3

Chapter 4

14

Privacy Policies

MIS 2000

Figure 4-4

Chapter 4

15

How Google Uses the Data It Collects

MIS 2000Chapter 4

16

Technical Solutions

Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) Enables automatic

communication of privacy policies between an e-commerce site & its visitors

Privacy policy can become part of the page’s software

MIS 2000Figure 4-4

Chapter 4

17

Intellectual Property Rights

• Intellectual property is intangible property created by individuals or corporations

• Protected by:• Trade secrets• Copyright• Patents

MIS 2000Chapter 4

18

Trade Secrets

Intellectual work or product belonging to a business and not found in the public domain

Supreme Court test for breach of trade secrets:1. Communications must be labelled

“confidential”2. Communicated content must have been

misused by the receiver3. Effects must have been harmful to the

complainant

MIS 2000Chapter 4

19

Copyright

Statutory grant protecting intellectual property from being copied for at least 50 years

Canadian copyright law protects original literary, musical, artistic, & dramatic works. It also includes software & prohibits copying of entire programs or their parts.

NOTE: This week, the US Congress began entertaining a bill to reduce copyright to 50 years from 70.

MIS 2000Chapter 4

20

Patent

A grant to the creator of an invention giving the owner an exclusive monopoly on the ideas behind an invention for between 17 & 20 years

Patent law grants a monopoly on underlying concepts & ideas of software

Originality, novelty, & invention are key concepts

MIS 2000Chapter 4

21

Challenges to Intellectual Property Rights

MIS 2000

Perfect digital copies cost almost nothingSharing of digital content over the Internet

costs almost nothingSites, software, & services for file trading

are not easily regulatedA Web page may present data from many

sources & may incorporate framing

Chapter 4

22

Accountability, Liability, & Control

MIS 2000

• Computer-related liability problems• System quality

• Data quality & system errors• No software is perfect, errors will be made,

even if the errors have a low probability of occurring

• Software developers knowingly ship “buggy” products

• At what point should software be shipped?

Chapter 4

23

Accountability, Liability, & Control

MIS 2000

Quality of life: Equity, access, & boundaries (continued)• Computer crime & abuse (stealing data vs. using work

computer for private purposes)• Employment: Trickle-down technology & reengineering

job loss impact • Equity & access: Increasing racial & social class divisions

• AKA The Digital Divide• Health risks: RSI, CVS, & technostress

Chapter 4

24

Mason’s PAPA Model

MIS 2000

Property: Whose property is it anyway? Do NOT pirate anything!

Accuracy: How accurate does it need to be? Think of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Privacy: Do you want everything about you to be public knowledge? How can you protect your privacy? (The Globe & Mail test, the Mama test)

Access: Who should have access? Equity of access within a business. Do not omit staff from access if they need access.

Chapter 4

25

Brabston’s Extension toMason’s PAPA Equity

Layoffs: These are people’s lives, not statistics!

Access to IT: For an equitable society & one that trains everyone in certain fundamental skills, everyone must have access to appropriate hardware, software, & networks

Access to computer literacy: Everyone must understand how to use a computer & the Internet

Access to informing literacy: Everyone should understand what information is valid, reliable, consistent, accurate, appropriate, etc. --?

MIS 2000Chapter 4

26