Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems

• Ethical and social issues arise in information systems.

Ethical, Social, and Political Issues

• Recent failed ethical judgements have occurred in business, such as Volkswagen, Wells Fargo, General Motors, and Takata Corporation.
• In many cases, information systems were used to bury decisions from public scrutiny.
• Ethics involves principles of right and wrong to guide behavior.
• Information systems raise ethical questions due to new opportunities for intense social change, crime, and threats to existing power structures.

Model for Ethical Thinking

• The introduction of IT can disrupt societal norms, leading to new situations not covered by existing rules.
• Social and political institutions take time to adapt to these changes, emphasizing the need for ethical understanding.

Five Moral Dimensions

• Information rights and obligations
• Property rights and obligations
• Accountability and control
• System quality
• Quality of life

Key Technology Trends

• Rapid advancements, such as increased computing power, declining data storage costs, and networking, raise ethical issues.

Advances in Data Analysis

• Profiling involves combining data from multiple sources to create detailed dossiers on individuals.
• Nonobvious relationship awareness (NORA) can uncover hidden connections to identify potential criminals or terrorists.

Basic Concepts for Ethical Analysis

• Responsibility: Accepting the costs, duties, and obligations for decisions.
• Accountability: Identifying parties responsible for actions.
• Liability: Allowing individuals to recover damages.
• Due process: Ensuring laws are known and appealable.

Ethical Analysis Steps

• Identify and describe the facts clearly.
• Define the conflict and identify the values involved.
• Identify the stakeholders.
• Determine reasonable options.
• Identify potential consequences.

Professional Conduct

• Professional codes of conduct, such as those by AMA, ABA, and ACM, aim to regulate professions in the public interest.
• Real-world ethical dilemmas often involve conflicting interests.

Information Rights

• Privacy involves the claim to be free from surveillance and able to control personal information.
• Privacy is protected by the First and Fourth Amendments and federal statutes like the Privacy Act of 1974 in the United States.

Fair Information Practices

• Fair Information Practices (FIP) are principles governing the collection and use of information.
• They drive changes in privacy legislation, including COPPA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, HIPAA, and the Do-Not-Track Act of 2019.

FTC FIP Principles

• Notice/awareness: Websites must disclose practices.
• Choice/consent: Consumers can choose how info is used.
• Access/participation: Consumers can review/correct data.
• Security: Data collectors must ensure data accuracy, security, and enforcement mechanisms.

EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

• GDPR requires explicit consent, restricts data transfer to countries without adequate privacy protection, and strengthens the right to be forgotten.
• Non-compliance results in fines of 4% of global daily revenue.

Internet Privacy Challenges

• Cookies and super cookies track browsing activity.
• Web beacons monitor email and website visits.
• Spyware is installed on users' computers to transmit keystrokes or display ads.
• Google services and behavioral targeting raise privacy concerns.

Business Practices

• The United States allows businesses to gather transaction information for marketing purposes using opt-out models.
• The online industry promotes self-regulation over privacy legislation, though responsibility varies.

Technical Solutions

• E-mail encryption and anonymity and anti-spyware tools are technical solutions.
• "Do not track" options exist

Property Rights

• Intellectual property includes intangible creations protected by copyright, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets.

Challenges to Intellectual Property

• Digital media's easy replication and transmission pose challenges to intellectual property rights.
• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) makes it illegal to circumvent technology-based protections of copyrighted materials.

Accountability, Liability, Control

• Determining responsibility for software failures is a computer-related liability problem.

System Quality

• System quality refers to data quality and system errors.
• Achieving flawless software is economically unfeasible, and poor input data is a common source of business system failure.

Quality of Life

• Systems have negative social consequences by centralizing power, causing rapid change, blurring boundaries between work and personal life, and increasing dependence on computer systems.

Computer Crime and Abuse

• Computer crime involves illegal acts using or against computer systems.
• Computer abuse includes unethical acts like spam, which imposes high costs on businesses.
• Reengineering work leads to job losses, and the digital divide creates unequal access for certain groups.

Health Risks

• Repetitive stress injury (RSI), computer vision syndrome (CVS), and technostress pose health risks.
• The largest source of RSI is computer keyboards.