Business Information Management (MI4007) Week 10 Lecture 2 PDF

Business Information Management Dr. Michael P. O’Brien Module: MI4007 Week 10 (Lecture 2) 1 Ethics, Privacy & Social Issues 1 in 3 people admit they throw away documents containing important personal information without shredding them! A UK...

Business Information Management Dr. Michael P. O’Brien Module: MI4007 Week 10 (Lecture 2) 1 Ethics, Privacy & Social Issues 1 in 3 people admit they throw away documents containing important personal information without shredding them! A UK County Council left social work records in a filing cabinet that was sold at auction! 62,000 Bank of Scotland mortgage customer details were put on a CD and put in the post but it never turned up... 2  People are aware of their rights! A senior academic at Lancaster University recently received a written warning for making "illicit disclosures" after he responded to a mother's complaint about her son's tuition. The professor replied immediately, listing the student's modules, contact time etc. BUT When the student became aware of the exchange, he complained to the university that it had released the information without his consent. 3 Ethics, Privacy & Social Issues 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? 4  Content Pirates Sail the Web Problem: Pirated content costs the U.S. economy $58 billion a year, including lost jobs and taxes. Solutions: Search engine algorithms to prevent pirated content appearing on search engines Crawlers find pirated content and notify content users. New products and services to compete with the appeal of pirated content 5 Content Pirates Sail the Web NBC uses crawlers to find unauthorized content and block videos on YouTube; Internet service providers slow Web access and enforce penalties for downloaders. Demonstrates IT’s role in both enabling and preventing content piracy Illustrates the value of new IT-enabled products to counter the appeal of pirated content. 6  Ethical, Social & Political Issues Information systems and ethics – Information systems raise new ethical questions because they create opportunities for: Intense social change, threatening existing distributions of power, money, rights, and obligations New kinds of crime 7 Ethical, Social & Political Issues Five moral dimensions of the information age: – Information rights and obligations – Property rights and obligations – Accountability and control – System quality – Quality of life 8  Ethical, Social & Political Issues Key technology trends that raise ethical issues 9 Ethical, Social & Political Issues – 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 – Mobile device growth Tracking of individual cell phones 10  Principles to Guide Ethical Decisions 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. 11 Principles to Guide Ethical Decisions 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. 12  Principles to Guide Ethical Decisions Professional codes of conduct – Promulgated by associations of professionals Example: Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) – Promises by professions to regulate themselves in the general interest of society Real-world ethical dilemmas – E.g. Companies trying to use new systems to reduce the size of their workforce – Situations where ’right’ and ‘wrong’ aren’t clearly defined. 13 Challenges to Privacy & Intellectual Property 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, organisations, or state; claim to be able to control information about yourself 14  Challenges to Privacy & Intellectual Property A Data Protection Act is designed to protect personal data stored on computers or in an organised paper filing system. Basically it works by: – setting up rules that people have to follow – having an Information Commissioner to enforce the rules It does not stop organisations storing and using information about people. It just makes them follow rules! 15 Challenges to Privacy & Intellectual Property 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. U.S. businesses use safe harbor framework to work with EU personal data. – Stricter enforcements under consideration: Right of access Right to be forgotten GDPR Video: https://youtu.be/jwFoMe5vE-o 16  Social Networking What social media tools are you using? Are they used for work or social purposes? Social Media ‘posts’ are subject to Data Protection legislation! Think before updating that Facebook status! 17 Remember….. The Internet Doesn’t Forget! 18  Challenges to Privacy & Intellectual Property Some Internet challenges to privacy: – Cookies Identify browser and track visits to site Super cookies (Flash cookies) – Web beacons (Web bugs) Tiny graphics embedded in e-mails and Web pages Monitor who is reading e-mail message or visiting site – Spyware Surreptitiously installed on user’s computer May transmit user’s keystrokes or display unwanted ads 19 Challenges to Privacy & Intellectual Property Technical solutions – E-mail encryption – Anonymity tools – Anti-spyware tools – Browser features “Private” browsing “Do not track” options – Overall, few technical solutions 20  Challenges to Privacy & Intellectual Property 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 21 Challenges to Privacy & Intellectual Property Challenges to intellectual property rights – Digital media different from physical media (e.g., books) Easier to replicate Easier to transmit (networks, Internet) Easier to ‘steal’ Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998) – U.S. Copyright Law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization – Makes it illegal to circumvent technology-based protections of copyrighted materials 22  Information Systems and Quality of Life Quality of life: Equity, access, boundaries – Negative social consequences of systems Reduced personal interaction: more and more people now work from home Maintaining boundaries: computing, Internet use lengthens work-day, infringes on family, personal time Reduced physical activity: users may adopt a more sedentary lifestyle Dependence and vulnerability: public and private organisations ever more dependent on computer systems Etc. 23 Information Systems, Laws and Quality of Life 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 24 25