IS-102 Unit-3 (ch04).ppt

Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems 4.1  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems LEARNING OBJECTIVES What ethical, social, and political...

Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems 4.1  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems LEARNING OBJECTIVES What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems? What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions? Why do contemporary information systems technology and the Internet pose challenges to the protection of individual privacy and intellectual property? How have information systems affected everyday life? 4.2  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Behavioral Targeting: Your Privacy Is the Target Problem: Need to efficiently target online ads. Solutions: Behavioral targeting allows businesses and organizations to more precisely target desired demographics. Google uses tracking files to monitor user activity on thousands of sites; businesses monitor activity on their own sites to better understand customers. Demonstrates IT’s role in organizing and distributing information. Illustrates the ethical questions inherent in online information gathering. 4.3  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems Recent cases of failed ethical judgment in business: – Barclay’s Bank interest rate case – GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical false drug reports – Walmart bribes officials to go into Mexico In many, information systems used to bury decisions from public scrutiny Ethics – Principles of right and wrong that individuals, acting as free moral agents, use to make choices to guide their behaviors 4.4  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems Information systems and ethics – Information systems raise new ethical questions because they create opportunities for: Intense social change that is threatening to existing distributions of power, money, rights, and obligations New kinds of crime It’s difficult to measure one person’s ethics against another person’s desire to make money or wreak havoc that’s made much easier by the Internet 4.5  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems A model for thinking about ethical, social, and political Issues – Society as a calm pond – IT as rock dropped in pond, creating ripples of new situations not covered by old rules – Social and 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 gray areas 4.6  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems Five moral dimensions of the information age: – Information rights and obligations – Property rights and obligations – Accountability and control – System quality – Quality of life 4.7  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems Key technology trends that raise ethical issues – 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 are much easier. 4.8  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems – Advances in data analysis techniques Profiling – Combining data from multiple sources to create files of detailed information on individuals – Example: Nonobvious relationship awareness (NORA) » Combining data from multiple sources to find obscure hidden connections that might help identify criminals or terrorists – Mobile device growth Tracking of individual cell phones 4.9  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems NONOBVIOUS RELATIONSHIP AWARENESS (NORA) NORA technology can take information about people from disparate sources and find obscure, nonobvious relationships. It might discover, for example, that an applicant for a job at a casino shares a telephone number with a known criminal and issue an alert to the hiring manager. Figure 4-2 4.10  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Ethics in an Information Society Basic concepts for ethical analysis – 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; ensuring the laws are applied fairly and correctly; with an ability to appeal to higher authorities 4.11  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Ethics in an Information Society Five-step ethical analysis 1. Identify and clearly describe the facts. 2. Define the conflict or dilemma and identify the higher-order values involved. 3. Identify the stakeholders. 4. Identify the options that you can reasonably take. 5. Identify the potential consequences of your options. 4.12  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Ethics in an Information Society Candidate ethical principles – Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. – Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative If an action is not right for everyone to take, it is not right for anyone. – Descartes’ Rule of Change If an action cannot be taken repeatedly, it is not right to take at all. 4.13  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Ethics in an Information Society Candidate ethical principles (cont.) – Utilitarian Principle Take the action that achieves the higher or greater value. – Risk Aversion Principle Take the action that produces the least harm or potential cost. – Ethical “No Free Lunch” Rule Assume that virtually all tangible and intangible objects are owned by someone unless there is a specific declaration otherwise. 4.14  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems Ethics in an Information Society Professional codes of conduct – Publicized by associations of professionals Examples: AMA, ABA, AITP, ACM – Promises by professions to regulate themselves in the general interest of society Real-world ethical dilemmas – One set of interests pitted against another Example: right of company to maximize productivity of workers versus workers right to use Internet for short personal tasks 4.15  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems Information rights: privacy and freedom in the Internet age – Privacy: Claim of individuals to be left alone, free from surveillance or interference from other individuals, organizations, or state Claim to be able to control information about yourself – In the United States, privacy protected by: First Amendment (freedom of speech) Fourth Amendment (unreasonable search and seizure) Additional federal statues (e.g., Privacy Act of 1974) 4.16  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems Fair information practices (FIP): – Set of principles governing the collection and use of information Basis of most U.S. and European privacy laws Based on mutuality of interest between record holder and individual Restated and extended by FTC in 1998 to provide guidelines for protecting online privacy – Used to drive changes in privacy legislation Consumer Protection Act (COPPA) Financial Services Modernization Act (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Do-Not-Track Online Act (online version of Do-Not-Call) 4.17  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems Federal Trade Commission's Fair Information Practice (FTC FIP) principles: – Notice/awareness (core principle) Web sites must disclose practices before collecting data. – Choice/consent (core principle) Consumers must be able to choose how information is used for secondary purposes. – Access/participation Consumers must be able to review and contest accuracy of personal data. 4.18  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems FTC FIP principles (cont.) – Security Data collectors must take steps to ensure accuracy and security of personal data. – Enforcement Must be mechanism to enforce FIP principles. 4.19  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems European Directive on Data Protection: – Companies must inform people information is collected and disclose how it is stored and used. – Requires informed consent of customer. – EU member nations cannot transfer personal data to countries without similar privacy protection (e.g., the United States). – U.S. businesses use safe harbor framework. Self-regulating policy and enforcement that meets objectives of government legislation but does not involve government regulation or enforcement. 4.20  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems Internet challenges to privacy: – Cookies Identify browser and track visits to site Super cookies (Flash cookies) – Designed to be permanently stored on a user’s computer – Web beacons (Web bugs) Tiny graphics embedded in e-mails and Web pages Monitor who is reading e-mail message or visiting site – Spyware Secretly installed on user’s computer May transmit user’s keystrokes or display unwanted ads – Google services and behavioral targeting 4.21  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems HOW COOKIES IDENTIFY WEB VISITORS Figure 4-3 Cookies are written by a Web site on a visitor’s hard drive. When the visitor returns to that Web site, the Web server requests the ID number from the cookie and uses it to access the data stored by that server on that visitor. The Web site can then use these data to display personalized information. 4.22  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems The United States allows businesses to gather transaction information and use this for other marketing purposes. – Europeans practice opt-in – Americans practice opt-out Online industry promotes self-regulation over privacy legislation. However, extent of responsibility taken varies: – Complex/ambiguous privacy statements – Opt-out models selected over opt-in – Online “seals” of privacy principles 4.23  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems Technical solutions – E-mail encryption – Anonymity tools – Anti-spyware tools – Browser features “Private” browsing “Do not track” options – Overall, few technical solutions 4.24  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems Property rights: Intellectual property – Intellectual property: intangible property of any kind created by individuals or corporations – Three main ways that intellectual property is protected: Trade secret: intellectual work or product belonging to business, not in the public domain Copyright: statutory grant protecting intellectual property from being copied for the life of the author, plus 70 years Patents: grants creator of invention an exclusive monopoly on ideas behind invention for 20 years 4.25  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems Challenges to intellectual property rights – Digital media different from physical media (e.g., books) Ease of replication Ease of transmission (networks, Internet) Difficulty in classifying software Compactness Difficulties in establishing uniqueness Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) – Makes it illegal to circumvent technology-based protections of copyrighted materials 4.26  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems Accountability, Liability, Control – Computer-related liability problems If software fails, who is responsible? – If seen as part of machine that injures or harms, software producer and operator may be liable. – If seen as similar to book, difficult to hold author/publisher responsible. – What should liability be if software seen as service? Would this be similar to telephone systems not being liable for transmitted messages? 4.27  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems System Quality: Data quality and system errors – What is an acceptable, technologically feasible level of system quality? Flawless software is economically unfeasible. – Three principal sources of poor system performance: Software bugs, errors Hardware or facility failures Poor input data quality (most common source of business system failure) 4.28  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems Quality of life: Equity, Access, Boundaries – Negative social consequences of systems Balancing power: although computing power decentralizing, key decision making remains centralized Rapidity of change: businesses may not have enough time to respond to global competition Maintaining boundaries: computing, Internet use lengthens work-day, infringes on family, personal time Dependence and vulnerability: public and private organizations ever more dependent on computer systems 4.29  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems Computer crime and abuse: – Computer crime: commission of illegal acts through use of computer or against a computer system—computer may be object or instrument of crime – Computer abuse: unethical acts, not illegal Spam: high costs for businesses in dealing with spam Employment: – Reengineering work resulting in lost jobs Equity and Access—the digital divide: – Certain ethnic and income groups in the United States less likely to have computers or Internet access 4.30  Foundations of Information Systems Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems Health risks: – Repetitive stress injury (RSI) Largest source is computer keyboards Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) – Computer vision syndrome (CVS) Eyestrain and headaches related to screen use – Technostress Aggravation, impatience, fatigue 4.31