Chapter 4 Lecture PDF

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 ethic...

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 laws for establishing accountability, liability, and the quality of everyday life? 2 “We should all have the right to be forgotten.” Information History and The right to Privacy I feel that certain things have the potential to be deleted.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX11SOHU5oc 3  Your Mobile Phone: Big Brother’s Big brother - The novel from 1984, predictions of reality now Best Friend Problem  Opportunities from new technology  Collect, sell and analyze mobile phone location data  Location databases and Mobile location tracking systems  SDKs Phones listening to conversations through conversation without  Weak legal environment using your phone Solutions Google is notorious for listening - then advertise towards what  Develop location data strategy and privacy policies you were talking about Lessons  Demonstrates how technological innovations can be a Can be useful but it can be harmgul double-edged sword  Illustrates how I T systems create consumer benefits and Google Maps: knows everything - listens to everything - even costs from past years 4 Ethical, Social, and Political Issues Exampels - Refer to book notes  Recent cases of failed ethical judgment in business:  Volkswagen, Wells Fargo, General Motors, Takata Corporation  In many cases, information systems used to bury decisions from public scrutiny Ethics: What is right and wrong  Ethics Community dependent (certain things) dress codes,  Principles of right and wrong that individuals, acting consumption of substances as free moral agents, use to make choices to guide their behaviors 5 Society is changing due to information systems Ethical, Social, and Political Issues Computers mad everybody’s job easier, especially criminals for  Information systems and ethics hacking online instead house robbery. Making it easier for law  Information systems raise new ethical questions enforcement because they create opportunities for: Intense social change, threatening existing if you are in China, you cannot use anything via Google distributions of power, money, rights, and obligations Googles old Mott: “Do No Harm.” Changed it about 10 years New opportunities for crime ago New kinds of crime 6  WE must have really good understanding to make the correct and indepth decision. Ethical, Social, and Political Issues  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 7 THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG ETHICAL, SOCIAL, POLITICAL ISSUES IN AN INFORMATION SOCIETY 8 Information rights: who has the right to what infomration, and who has the obligation or is required to do it - how much information is out there about us Ethical, Social, and Political Issues Property rights  Five moral dimensions of the information age: Accountabiliity: when things happen, who is accountable  Information rights and obligations  Property rights and obligations system:  Accountability and control  System quality quality of life: how computers ffect us  Quality of life 9  Ethical, Social, and Political Issues  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 10 Profiling - law enforcement and retailers (interest in buying what) still has potential of harm Ethical, Social, and 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 11 NONOBVIOUS RELATIONSHIP AWARENESS (NORA) 12  Principles to Guide Ethical Decisions  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, with an ability to appeal to higher authorities 13 Principles to Guide Ethical Decisions  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. 14 Principles to Guide Ethical Decisions  Professional codes of conduct  Promulgated by associations of professionals Examples: AMA, ABA, 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: right of company to maximize productivity of workers versus workers right to use Internet for short personal tasks Facebook monitors users and sells information to advertisers and app developers 15  Challenges to Privacy and 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, 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 statutes (e.g., Privacy Act of 1974) 16 Challenges to Privacy and Intellectual Property  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 Do-Not-Track Act of 2019 17 Challenges to Privacy and Intellectual Property  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.  Security Data collectors must take steps to ensure accuracy, security of personal data.  Enforcement Must have mechanism to enforce FIP principles. 18  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 GDPR requirements  Right to be forgotten  Heavy fines: 4% of global daily revenue 19 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  Google services and behavioral targeting 20 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. 21  Challenges to Privacy and Intellectual Property  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.  However, extent of responsibility taken varies:  Complex/ambiguous privacy statements  Opt-out models selected over opt-in  Online “seals” of privacy principles 22 Challenges to Privacy and Intellectual Property  Technical solutions  E-mail encryption  Anonymity tools  Anti-spyware tools  Browser features “Private” browsing “Do not track” options  Overall, few technical solutions 23 Challenges to Privacy and Intellectual Property  Property rights: Intellectual property  Intellectual property: intangible property of any kind created by individuals or corporations  Protected in four main ways:  Copyright  Patents  Trademarks  Trade secret 24  Challenges to Privacy and Intellectual Property  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 25 Information Systems, Laws, and Quality of Life  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? 26 Information Systems, Laws, and Quality of Life  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) 27  Information Systems, Laws, and Quality of Life  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 28 Information Systems, Laws, and Quality of Life  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 29 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 30