Lecture 4: Ethical Organizational Communication in Information Systems PDF

Lecture 4 BHMS4472 ICT in Business Ethical Organizational Communication in Information Systems ICT (Information, Communication, and Technology) Learning Objectives What ethical, social, and pol...

Lecture 4 BHMS4472 ICT in Business Ethical Organizational Communication in Information Systems ICT (Information, Communication, and Technology) 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 laws for establishing accountability, liability, and the quality of everyday life? What is Business ethics? Business ethics, it is often claimed as an Oxymoron. Is business inherently bad or posses some ethics. What is Business ethics? Business ethics is the study of business situations, activities, and decisions where issues of right and wrong are addressed. Morality, Ethics and Ethical theory Morality is concerned with the norms, values and beliefs embedded in social processes which define right and wrong for an individual or a community. Ethics is concerned with the study of morality and the application of reason to elucidate specific rules and principles that determine right and wrong for any given situation. Ethical theories are the codifications of these rules and principles. What Ethical, Social, and Political Issues are Raised by Information Systems? Recent cases of failed ethical judgment in business – Volkswagen AG, Wells Fargo, General Motors, Takata Corporation – Facebook: Cambridge Analytica data scandal – In many, information systems used to bury decisions from public scrutiny What Ethical, Social, and Political Issues are Raised by Information Systems? Information systems raise new ethical questions because they create opportunities for: – Intense social change, – threatening existing distributions of power, money, rights, and obligations New opportunities for crime New kinds of crimes What Ethical, Social, and Political Issues are Raised by Information Systems? Four major categories of issues: – Information rights – Property rights – Governance – Public safety and welfare 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 The Relationship Between Ethical, Social, and Political Issues in an Information Society Five Moral Dimensions of the Information Age Information rights and obligations Property rights and obligations Accountability and control System quality Quality of life Key Technology Trends That Raise Ethical Issues Computing power doubles every 18 months Data storage costs rapidly decline Data analysis advances Networking advances Mobile device growth impact Advances in Data Analysis Techniques Profiling – Combining data from multiple sources to create dossiers of detailed information on individuals Nonobvious relationship awareness (NORA) – Combining data from multiple sources to find obscure hidden connections that might help identify criminals or terrorists Nonobvious Relationship Awareness (NORA) Basic Concepts: Responsibility, Accountability, and Liability 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 Ethical Analysis Five-step process for 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 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 Slippery Slope Rule – If an action cannot be taken repeatedly, it is not right to take at all Candidate Ethical Principles 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 Candidate Ethical Principles The New York Times test – If a story or piece of information is deemed suitable for publication in a reputable outlet like The New York Times, it is likely credible and newsworthy. – Credibility, Relevance and Impact The Social Contract Rule – It suggests that individuals consent, either explicitly or implicitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of a governing body in exchange for protection of their remaining rights and maintenance of social order Professional Codes of Conduct Promulgated by associations of professionals – American Medical Association (AMA) – American Bar Association (ABA) – Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Promises by professions to regulate themselves in the general interest of society Real-World Ethical Dilemmas One set of interests pitted against another Examples – Monitoring employees: Right of company to maximize productivity of workers versus workers’ desire to use Internet for short personal tasks – Facebook provides useful services for users but monitors user behavior and sells information to advertisers and app developers 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 and association) – Fourth Amendment (unreasonable search and seizure) – Additional federal statues (e.g., Privacy Act of 1974) Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the Internet Age Fair information practices – Set of principles governing the collection and use of information ▪ Basis of most U.S. and European privacy laws – Used to drive changes in privacy legislation ▪ COPPA ▪ Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ▪ HIPAA Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the Internet Age FTC FIP principles – Notice/awareness (core principle) – Choice/consent (core principle) – Access/participation – Security – Enforcement Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the Internet Age Principle Description Notice/Aware Sites must disclose their information practices before collecting data. Includes ness (core identification of collector, uses of data, other recipients of data, nature of collection principle) (active/inactive), voluntary or required, consequences of refusal, and steps taken to protect confidentiality, integrity, and quality of the data. Choice/Conse There must be a choice regime in place allowing consumers to choose how their nt (core information will be used for secondary purposes other than supporting the transaction, principle) including internal use and transfer to third parties. Opt-in/opt-out must be available. Access/Partic Consumers should be able to review and contest the accuracy and completeness of ipation data collected about them in a timely, inexpensive process. Security Data collectors must take reasonable steps to assure that consumer information is accurate and secure from unauthorized use. Enforcement There must be a mechanism to enforce F I P principles in place. This can involve self- regulation, legislation giving consumers legal remedies for violations, or federal statutes and regulation. EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Requires unambiguous explicit informed consent of customer EU member nations cannot transfer personal data to countries without similar privacy protection – Applies across all EU countries to any firms operating in EU or processing data on EU citizens or residents – Strengthens right to be forgotten Privacy Shield: All countries processing EU data must conform to GDP requirements Heavy fines: 4% of global daily revenue Information Collected by websites Data collected includes – Personally identifiable information (PII) – Anonymous information Types of data collected – Name, address, phone, e-mail, social security – Bank and credit accounts, gender, age, occupation, education – Preference data, transaction data, clickstream data, browser type Internet Challenges to Privacy Cookies – Identify browser and track visits to site Web beacons (web bugs) – Tiny graphics embedded in e-mails and web pages – Monitor who is reading email message or visiting site Spyware – Surreptitiously installed on user’s computer – May transmit user’s keystrokes or display unwanted ads Google services and behavioral targeting Internet Challenges to Privacy The United States allows businesses to gather transaction information and use this for other marketing purposes. Opt-out vs. opt-in model Online industry promotes self-regulation over privacy legislation. – Complex/ambiguous privacy statements – Opt-out models selected over opt-in – Online “seals” of privacy principles  How Cookies Identify Web Visitors 1. The Web server reads the user's Web browser and determines the operating system, browser name, version number, Internet address, and other information. 2. The server transmits a tiny text file with user identification information called a cookie, which the user's browser receives and stores on the user's computer. 3. When the user returns to the Web site, the server requests the contents of any cookie it deposited previously in the user's computer. 4. The Web server reads the cookie, identifies the visitor, and calls up data on the user. Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved Key Issues in Online Privacy of Consumers Top concerns – Profiling and ad targeting – Social network privacy – Sharing of information by marketers – Mobile phone privacy – Digital assistant privacy Marketing: Profiling, Behavioural Targeting, and Retargeting Profiling – Creation of data images that characterize online individual and group behavior – Anonymous profiles – Personal profiles – Facial recognition a new dimension Marketing: Profiling, Behavioural Targeting, and Retargeting Advertising networks – Track consumer and browsing behavior on Web – Dynamically adjust what user sees on screen – Build and refresh profiles of consumers Business perspective: – Increases effectiveness of advertising, subsidizes content – Enables sensing of demand for new products Consumer Privacy Regulation: the FTC Fair Information Practice (FIP) principles Informed consent: Opt-in and opt-out Harm-based approach “Do Not Track” mechanism Recent emphasis is to give consumer rights regarding collected personal information Consumer Privacy Regulation: the FTC FTC’s current privacy framework – Scope: ▪ Applies to all commercial entities – Privacy by Design: ▪ Companies should promote consumer privacy throughout the organization and at all stages in the development of products – Simplified Choice ▪ Companies should simplify consumer choice – Greater Transparency Technical Solutions Solutions include – Intelligent Tracking Protection (ITP) – Differential privacy software – Privacy preserving machine learning (PPML) – Privacy default browsers – Message encryption – Spyware blockers – Pop-up blockers and ad blockers – Secure e-mail, anonymous remailers – Cookie managers – Public key encryption Property Rights: Intellectual Property Intellectual property – Tangible and intangible products of the mind created by individuals or corporations Protected in four main ways: – Copyright – Patents – Trademarks – Trade secrets Challenges to Intellectual Property Rights Digital media different from physical media – Ease of replication – Ease of transmission (networks, Internet) – Ease of alteration – Compactness – Difficulties in establishing uniqueness Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Copyright Protects original forms of expression (not ideas) from being copied by others for a period of time Fair use doctrine Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 – First major effort to adjust copyright laws to Internet age – Implements WIPO treaty that makes it illegal to make, distribute, or use devices that circumvent technology-based protections of copyrighted materials – Safe-harbor provisions Patents Grant owner 20-year monopoly on ideas behind an invention Invention must be new, non-obvious, novel Encourages inventors Promotes dissemination of new techniques through licensing Stifles competition by raising barriers to entry Trademarks Identify, distinguish goods, and indicate their source Purpose – Ensure consumer gets what is paid for/expected to receive – Protect owner against piracy and misappropriation Infringement Dilution – Federal Trademark Dilution Act and Trademark Dilution Revision Act Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) Trade Secrets Business procedures, formulas, methods of manufacture and service delivery May not be unique or novel Trade secrets are – (a) secret – (b) have commercial value to owner – (c) owner has taken steps to protect 2016 Defend Trade Secrets Act Computer-Related Liability Problems If software fails, who is responsible? If seen as part of a machine that injures or harms, software producer and operator may be liable If seen as similar to book, difficult to hold author/publisher responsible If seen as a service, would this be similar to telephone systems not being liable for transmitted messages? 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) Quality of Life: Equity, Access, Boundaries Negative social consequences of systems Big Tech: concentrating economic and political power Rapidity of change: reduced response time to competition Maintaining boundaries: family, work, and leisure Dependence and vulnerability Computer crime and abuse Quality of Life: Equity, Access, Boundaries Computer crime and abuse – Computer crime – Computer abuse – Spam – CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 Employment – Trickle-down technology – Reengineering job loss  Quality of Life: Equity, Access, Boundaries Equity and access – The digital divide Health risks – Repetitive stress injury (RSI) – Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) – Computer vision syndrome (CVS) – Technostress Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. 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