INFORMATION SYSTEM.
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Week 7
Ethics and Privac y
Fundamentals of Business Information Systems
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Why are we doing this?
By completing the activities in this week, you should be able to:
1. Describe the four categories of ethical issues related to information technology.
2. Discuss potential threats to the privacy of personal data stored in different locations and how they may violate the common good.
3. Have practical skills to work with database
Essential Question
What are the major areas of ethical and privacy concerns due to the use of information technology?
1. In our career, we often encounter numerous ethical and privacy issues.
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2. Many of which will involve IT in some manner.
3. The objective of this chapter is to gain an understanding of and how to respond to these issues.
4. It will help us to make contributions to our company’s code of ethics and its privacy policies.
5. You will also be able to provide meaningful input concerning the potential
ethical and privacy impacts of your organisation’s information systems on people inside and outside the organisation.
Ethical issues
Ethics: principles of right and wrong that individuals use to make choices that guide their behavior
Deciding what is right or wrong is not always easy or clear-cut.
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Fortunately, many frameworks are available to help us make ethical decisions.
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General Framework for ethical decision making
Evaluate
alternative
actions
under all 4
ethical
standards
(next page)
Which
option best
addresses
the
situation?
Does this
decision
damage
someone?
Does this
decision
involve a
choice
between
good/bad
alternative?
Does it go
beyond what
is legal?
Identify
stakeholders
and consult
relevant
persons /
groups What
are the
relevant
facts of the
situation?
Do I know
enough to
make a
decision?
Implement the
decision with
greatest care -
Evaluate the
outcome,
reflect on
lessons learnt
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Ethical standards
Utilitarian approach • States that an ethical action is the one that provides the most good or does the least
harm. This approach would be the one that produces the greatest good and does the least harm for all affected parties – customers, employees, stakeholders, the community and the environment.
Rights approach • Maintains that an ethical action is the one that best protects and respects the moral
rights of the affected parties. Moral rights can include the rights to make one’s choices about what kind of life to lead, to be told the truth, not to be injured and to a degree of privacy. These are actually the moral rights that people are entitled to.
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Ethical standards
Fairness approach • States that ethical actions treats all humans equally, or if unequally, then fairly, based
on some defensible standard. For example, the difference between the salaries of employees and that of an CEO in a company. Is it fair? Is it based on a defensible standard? Is it a result of imbalance of power hence unfair?
Common good approach • Highlights an ethical action that best serves the community as a whole. It is important
to the welfare of everyone, not just some members.
• It emphasises the common conditions that are important to the welfare of everyone. These conditions can include a system of laws, effective police, fire department, healthcare, public education and even public recreational areas.
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Ethics and information technology
Privacy issues • Involve collecting, storing, and disseminating information about individuals
• Example: Google Street View
Accuracy issues • Involve the authenticity, fidelity (degree of correctness), and accuracy of information
that is collected and processed
Property issues • Involve the ownership and value of information
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Accessibility issues • Revolve around who should have access to information and whether they should have
to pay for that access
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Ethics and Information
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Technology
Privacy
Privacy • The right to be left alone and to be free of unreasonable personal intrusions.
Privacy Law • The protection of an individual’s personal information that could identify the
individual.
• The Privacy Act 1988
• Regulates the use of personal information
• Includes 10 NPPs (National Privacy Principles) and 11 IPPs (Information Privacy Principles)
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• Freedom of information
• The public’s right to access government information
Threats to privacy
Electronic surveillance • The tracking of people’s activities, online or offline, with the aid of computers
• The Surveillance Devices Bill 2004 regulates the use of surveillance data by law enforcement agencies.
Personal information in databases • Banks, utility companies, government, and credit reporting agencies
Information on Internet bulletin boards,
newsgroups, and social networking sites
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Privacy codes and policies
They are an organisation’s guidelines with respect to protecting the privacy of customers, clients, and employees.
Informed consent models: • Opt-out model
• Organisations are permitted to collect personal information until the customer specifically requests that the data not be collected
• Opt-in model (Preferred by privacy advocates)
• Organisations are prohibited from collecting any personal information unless the customer specifically authorises it
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Chapter Summary
This chapter focused on • The ethical issues related to information technology
• The potential threats to the privacy of personal data stored in different locations