Ethical and Social Issues

EthicsPrinciples of right and wrong used by

individuals as free moral agents to guide behavior

Moral dimensions of the information age

Information rights & obligationsProperty rightsAccountability & controlSystem qualityQuality of life

Technology trends & ethical issues

Computing power doubles every 18 months

Advances in data storageAdvances in data mining techniquesAdvances 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 damagesDue process: insures laws are applied properly

Ethics in an information society

Ethical analysis: Identify, describe factsDefine 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 timePut value on outcomes, understand

consequences Incur least harm or costNo 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: Repetitive stress injury (RSI) Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) Computer vision syndrome

(CVS) Technostress: irritation,

hostility, impatience, enervation, fear

VDT radiation

Liability on the internet

LibelCopyright infringementPornographyFraud 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.