Research on an existing or emerging technology and its related ethical issues.

Running head: KANT’S APPROACH TO WORKPLACE WEB PRIVACY 1

Application of a Decision-Making Framework to an IT-Related Ethic

Kyami Clarke

University of Maryland University College

Writing Assignment 2 | Paper A

IFSM 304 7982 Ethics in Information Technology (2188)

Professor Linda Beach

Fall 2018

Grade 89.33%

KANT’S APPROACH TO WORKPLACE WEB PRIVACY 2

Introduction

Private information is all-encompassing, which means it contains multiple connotations.

For that reason, it is broken down into subcategories. The four primary subcategories are private

communications, the privacy of the body, personal information, and information about one’s

possessions. (Yedav, 2017). For this paper we will narrow the focus to privacy on the web as it

relates to the workplace. I recommend Kant’s Categorical Imperative, specifically the Duty-

Based approach to ethical decision-making. Kant describes the duty-based approach as follows,

“You ought never to act in any way unless that way or act can be made into a universal maxim”

(University of Maryland University College, 2013). Most HR decision-making approaches are

based on the premise; what you do for one you must do for all. This method of decision making

minimizes the risk of unfair or discriminatory employee-related decisions.

Step 1: State the Problem

At the moment, workplace web privacy rules are primarily just a set of basic guidelines,

for codes of conduct. This lack of structured regulations leaves each case unclear. This leaves IT

professionals asking what is right and wrong when it comes to workplace privacy on the web. Is

it acceptable for employers s to collect or monitor employee web activity? Is it only applicable to

business hours or are all areas open to employers.? With vague guidelines for workplace web

privacy, it is essential to explore and establish a framework for handling proper workplace web

privacy policies.

Step 2: Gather Facts

Old laws have not caught up to modern technology, so at the moment a lot of the

decision-making process is on employers with input from their IT professionals. Step 2 is when

I will research possible legal restrictions, the technical specifications, and the non-ethical

KANT’S APPROACH TO WORKPLACE WEB PRIVACY 3

components that need to be addressed (Davis, 2013). Once I have gathered the case facts, I will

likely have to make some assumptions because all the information is clearly defined.

Step 3: Identify Stakeholders

At this stage in the decision-making process, I will need to identify all internal

stakeholders that will be impacted by this process. Internal stakeholders usually include the

organization, upper management, human resources, and employees (Davis, 2013). External

stakeholders are considered the governmental, societal, economic, and environmental factors

integrated with the business (Boundless, 2016). In this case, external stakeholders have a

marginal impact on this decision-making process. This marginal impact relates to state and

federal compliance regulations. Juridical guidelines state that a person’s information is not

considered private if it has been shared publicly and it is publicly known (Yedav, 2017). Most

guidelines tend to lack ethical empathy in regards to an individual’s rights to privacy, and that

means IT professionals and employers must consider this when making their decisions.

Step 4: Develop a Decision Plan

Now that I know the problem, have gathered the facts, and identified possible affected

parties, I begin brainstorming my decision plan options. An employer cannot infringe on an

employee’s privacy, as it relates to the collection, monitoring, or use of employee information

that is irrelevant to the employment contract (Yedav, 2017). Employers do have the right to

conduct internet, email, and surveillance monitoring (Harvard, n.d.). The key is to strive for a

balance between respecting an employee’s right to privacy outside the company but still

maintaining a sense of accountability in the context of their specific job within the company. A

privacy policy should be established to outline the elements of the employees’ rights when it

comes internet privacy. An employer can limit it to the workplace and business resources (i.e.

KANT’S APPROACH TO WORKPLACE WEB PRIVACY 4

business computers, servers, WIFI, and laptops). This would be applied to all employees,

regardless of their position.

Step 5: Test and Evaluate the Impact of Decision Plan

Internet ethics is defined as acceptable behavior while using the internet; being honest and

respecting the rights of others on the internet. This would be the premise for which I would help

determine the impact of my decisions. Step five is the actual method for testing each decision

plan and the potential impact on stakeholders. There are seven tests I can use when trying to

decide and they are as follows (Davis, 2013):

1. Harm Test 2. Publicity Test 3. Defensibility Test 4. Reversibility Test 5. Virtue Test 6. Professional Test 7. Organization Test

Step 6: Preliminary Decision Review

Based on the outcome of step five I am able to determine a viable option that we are

ready to proceed with. My decision would establish clear internal employee policies and

employer rules surrounding office privacy on the web; it will put everyone on the same page. I

will have the management team educate each employee on the new policies. As confirmation that

these policies were reviewed with them, signed employees acknowledgements are required.

Step 7: Final Decision

The last step is actualizing your final decision. Even though the decision has been made,

it is essential to take a look back the entire process. Ask yourself how this situation can be

avoided in the future? Moreover, what precautions, policies, or documentation is necessary to

address this situation on an organizational level (Davis, 2013). All ethical decisions made under

KANT’S APPROACH TO WORKPLACE WEB PRIVACY 5

the Kant decision-making approach should result in a universal maxim. If the workplace web

privacy policies are developed as a result of an ethical solution than stakeholders should feel a

sense of security and clarity. Besides, thanks to step one I have included necessary compliance

requirements as outlined by state or federal laws. By following these seven steps in my decision-

making method, the beforementioned decision-making framework should result in a better

workplace environment.

Conclusion

The last century has seen the rapid progression of technology and more recently the

internet’s exponential reach. Privacy on the web is a persistent problem for IT professionals.

Workplace internet privacy, adds another layer to an already complex problem. There is so much

ambiguity surrounding what employers are and are not allowed to do when it comes internet

privacy. With vague guidelines for workplace web privacy, it is essential to explore and discuss

the framework for handling proper workplace web privacy policies in advance. This will require

IT professionals to assume greater responsibility when it comes to IT-related ethical decisions. It

is important to keep a broad mindset when making ethical decisions.

Furthermore, decisions should be objective, based on facts, with a sense of ethical

consideration. The approach taken should be uniformed and consistent. The end result will

encourage businesses to adopt privacy policies that protect employers and employees from

possible legal actions

KANT’S APPROACH TO WORKPLACE WEB PRIVACY 6

Bibliography

Boundless. (2016). Chapter 13: Ethics in Business. In Boundless Management. Lumen Learning.

Davis, M. (2013). 7 Step Method for Ethical Decision Making. Retrieved November 1, 2018,

from Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professors:

http://ethics.iit.edu/IPRO/7stepmethod.pdf

The Ethics Centre. (2016, September 27). Ethics, Morality, Law - What's The Difference.

Retrieved October 22, 2018, from The Ethics Centre: http://www.ethics.org.au/on-

ethics/blog/september-2016/ethics-morality-law-whats-the-difference

University of Maryland University College. (2013). Module 1: Introduction to Ethical Theories.

Retrieved October 22, 2018, from IFSM 304 7982 Ethics in Information Technology

(2188): https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/le/content/329020/viewContent/12976236/View

Yedav, N. (2017, February 17). Technology as a threat to Privacy: Ethical Challenges to

Technology Professions. Retrieved November 1, 2018, from LinkedIn Pulse:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/technology-threat-privacy-ethical-challenges-profession-

neetu-yadav/

Running head: A MATRIX MAPPING OF A KEY IT-RELATED ETHICAL ISSUE 1

A Matrix Mapping of a Key IT-Related Ethical Issue Concerning Privacy

Kyami Clarke

University of Maryland University College

Writing Assignment 3 | Paper B

IFSM 304 7982 Ethics in Information Technology (2188)

Professor Linda Beach

Fall 2018

Grade 100%

A MATRIX MAPPING OF A KEY IT-RELATED ETHICAL ISSUE 2

A Matrix Mapping of an Organizational Ethical Issue Concerning Privacy

Ethical Issue: The gathering and application of big data on privacy. Confidentiality Autonomy Publicity

Me I am entitled to the right of data privacy.

I have the right of deciding how and when my data is used

I have the right to know how and when my data is used.

Consumers Consumers have the right to expect their data is private.

Consumers have the right to participate or not participate with business data collection practices.

Consumers have a right to know how and when their data is being used.

Businesses Businesses have a duty to protect consumer data and maintaining privacy standards.

Businesses have the right to provide consumers with a choice of data collection participation.

Businesses have a duty to make decisions based on ethical standards that must be known and recognized by all who are involved.

The Gathering and Application of Big Data

Big data is defined as large sets of information that is analyzed to determine trends and

correlations between human behavior and interactions (What is big data?, 2016). The benefit of

information gleamed from big data is its universal application, such as marketing, behavior

analytics, health care, and governmental research. Data analytics has grown exponentially since

the rapid rise of technology. Businesses and governments are using and sharing data about

personal information and movements to better understand individual characteristics, behavior,

and relationships. Although on the surface the evolution of data collection is a powerful tool,

below the surface are serious risks to individual privacy. Information is not only being collected

and analyzed internally by businesses, but data brokers are selling and slicing personal

information to promote other businesses in an effort to advertise to consumers. Those in the IT

industry have expressed similar concerns over privacy issues when it comes to technology and

big data analytics. Through a combination of data mining software and data machines, free user

A MATRIX MAPPING OF A KEY IT-RELATED ETHICAL ISSUE 3

applications are taking consumer data to tracking consumers without their knowledge or without

their true understanding of the information they are giving up. Even with informed consent, big

data is a resource that is being used in ways that are inconceivable (Electronic Frontier

Foundation, 2018) to the average consumer and at times not even the businesses looking to

obtain information.

Confidentiality, Autonomy, and Publicity

The three normative ethics principles I selected are publicity, autonomy and

confidentiality. I choose these three principles because they address each facet of data collection.

It outlines the concerns for self, others, and how we manage that publicly. According to research

concerning big data regulations, publicity, autonomy, and confidentiality were the top three

ethical concerns. Regardless of their status or location, a consumer has the basic right to privacy

and the right to know when their information is being collected. Even though a business has the

right to collect data, they also must give their consumers the right to decide if they would like to

be included in data collection. The decision to participate must be made by each consumer. In

addition it is up to businesses to develop consumer privacy policies and are obligated to maintain

standards of ethical data collection. Most businesses adhere to these standards by displaying their

privacy notices, which include when data is collected and how that data is being used.

Matrix Analysis

As a person who utilizes the varies aspects of big data, as a consumer and a business

partner, there is a sense of responsibility to ensure that the privacy of others is respected, as well

as to make ethical decisions. It is important to balance treating those we collect information on

fairly and equally. It is critical that other consumers take seriously their responsibility to ensure

the data collected and privacy of all others is respected. Businesses have to be held to a higher

A MATRIX MAPPING OF A KEY IT-RELATED ETHICAL ISSUE 4

standard when it comes to their responsibilities where user privacy is concerned and respect their

consumers rights as individuals. A majority of these rights are addressed in the 2012 Consumer

Privacy Bill of Rights (Electronic Privacy Information Center, 2018). This bill was established to

tackle consumer data protection and provide consumers with a sense of confidence and trust

when it comes to e-commerce and technology usage.

The ability to capture, not only information, but real-time information has a significant

impact not just on an individual level but on a global scale. Due to this fact, it is important to

establish principles for businesses to practice and regulations to protect consumer rights. The

European Parliament has recognized this concern by drafting a legislative initiative procedure

titled “Fundamental rights implications of big data: privacy, data protection, non-discrimination,

security and law enforcement” (Electronic Privacy Information Center, 2018). Unfortunately, at

this time there are no national or universal regulations pertaining to the collection or use of

personal information.

A MATRIX MAPPING OF A KEY IT-RELATED ETHICAL ISSUE 5

References

Electronic Frontier Foundation. (2018). Biometrics. Retrieved November 7, 2018, from Eff.org:

https://www.eff.org/issues/biometrics

Electronic Privacy Information Center. (2018). Big Data and the Future of Privacy. Retrieved

November 9, 2018, from EPIC.org: https://www.epic.org/privacy/big-data/

Module 3: Information Systems Ethics: Privacy, Accuracy, Intellectual Property, and

Accessibility. (2018). Retrieved November 5, 2018, from IFSM 304 7982 Ethics in

Information Technology:

https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/le/content/329020/fullscreen/12976238/view

What is big data? (2016, 7 March). World Economic Forum. World Economic Forum.

Retrieved November 8, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVSfJhssXUA

Running head: AN ORGANIZATIONAL POLICY ON IT-RELATED ETHICAL ISSUE 1

An Organizational Policy on IT-Related Ethical Issue Concerning Privacy

Kyami Clarke

University of Maryland University College

Writing Assignment 4 | Paper B2

IFSM 304 7982 Ethics in Information Technology (2188)

Professor Linda Beach

Fall 2018

Grade 73.33%

AN ORGANIZATIONAL POLICY ON IT-RELATED ETHICAL ISSUE 2

Big Data Analytics Protection Policy

In this technology-driven era, Big Data provides us with unparalleled insights into a

variety of industries from manufacturing, financial to the health industry. However, it has

emerged to raise serious concerns as well as questions that need to be addressed via the right

channel (Hilbert, 2016). The unyielding modifications in big data have turned out to keep

everyone on toes. The fact remains that even the institutions, groups and consumer protection are

hardly struggling to keep this concept of big data in organizations.

Purpose

The tenacity of this dogma is to equip the organization with the ability to take appropriate

care the voluminous data that they have and use. Another goal of this policy is to enable the

organization to get the optimum value of the available data that they have and ensure that the

essential aspects of the data are generated. The policy should also provide the organizations with

the capabilities to manage the aspects that tend to make use of the optimal consumption of the

data (Analytis et al., 2014). Emission of errors in the handling of data and omission of the

existing data is not the only goal; the policy should also generate new metadata that will properly

merge the new uses of the data to its emerging attributes. Therefore, the flexibility of the big data

is another purpose of this policy.

Scope

All stakeholders, employees, contractors and casual workers of the organization must all

adhere to this policy. All those affiliated to the organization and any third parties that make use of

the big data must comply with the policy. This policy will apply to all disciplines that in one way

AN ORGANIZATIONAL POLICY ON IT-RELATED ETHICAL ISSUE 3

or the other are linked to big data. The cradles of big data, the categories and the pre-defined

roles of the concept’s managers should as well comply with this law.

Policy

All beforementioned parties that make use of the organization’s big data must comply with the

following policies requirement.

Employ Technology as the Enabler for their Entire Activities

Management of big data typically includes a plethora of activities. Therefore there is a

need to involve all the stakeholders from various sectors of the organizations. Processes

involving the use of big data are also to be considered time sensitive. Big data processes are time

sensitive because the frequency and the volume of data continually change within a span of short

intervals. As a result, as much as one can be at a position of executing the required tasks more

than once, ensuring governance remains a problem if automation is not integrated. Integration of

technology ensures efficiency and effective use of the big data.

Existing Processes and Best Practices Must Be Leveraged

All parties must follow the labels and the workflow charts that are meant to provide the

base foundation for the formal management of the big data. The steps outlined should be

considered as the starting point. These steps are meant to ensure big data will provide optimum

value to the organization.

People and Process Must Remain Priorities

The organization will prioritize people and the process as far as the management of the

big data is concerned. Proper priorities will ensure that the right people are responsible for

handling and executing issues related to big data. With the right people in place, the organization

will establish ethical and valid policies in matters concerning the use of big data. Also, having

AN ORGANIZATIONAL POLICY ON IT-RELATED ETHICAL ISSUE 4

the right people will enhance the proper application of the big data metrics and appropriate

determination of the impact that big data is created on the organization's operations (Tonidandel

et al., 2018).

Policy Compliance

Compliance Measurements

Regular auditing should be carried out to check the protection of sensitive data. It is

factual that securing large chunks of data is a challenge and protection heavily relies on the right

people and the right processes in place. The steps required to have secured data must be followed

("The Need for Big Data Governance | MapR", 2018). Conjointly, the compliance measurement steps

should incorporate a systematic approach for how available data will be used in information

insemination, to consumers. There will be an infrastructure, which will accommodate different

forms of the data.

Maintenance of data validity is another compliance that must be met. Data validity can be

achieved through the establishment of systematic controls around the data. Regulators’ will be

employed to validate the degree of data accuracy is suitable for the use in the purpose it is meant

for (Grunes & Stucke, 2016). The workflow policies must be met as they will ensure that there is

a productive collaboration among the business users who understand data collaboration easily.

Integration with IT where needed is another compliance that will ensure that policy information

is easily implemented once it has been formulated.

The organization must comply with the data quality policies, and at the end of each

activity, they should give a detailed report on whether the data has improved or not.

Related Standard Policies

None

AN ORGANIZATIONAL POLICY ON IT-RELATED ETHICAL ISSUE 5

References

Analytis, P. P., Moussaïd, M., Artinger, F., Kämmer, J. E., & Gigerenzer, G. (2014). “Big data”

needs an analysis of decision processes. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37(1), 76-78.

Grunes, A., & Stucke, M. (2016). Big data and competition policy. Oxford University Press.

Hilbert, M. (2016). Big data for development: A review of promises and

challenges. Development Policy Review, 34(1), 135-174.

Policy-development in the age of big data: data-driven policy-making, policy-modelling and

policy-implementation | Programme | CORDIS | European Commission. (2018).

Retrieved from https://cordis.europa.eu/programme/rcn/701848_en.html

The Need for Big Data Governance | MapR. (2018). Retrieved from

https://mapr.com/resources/need-big-data-governance/

Tonidandel, S., King, E. B., & Cortina, J. M. (2018). Big data methods: Leveraging modern data

analytic techniques to build organizational science. Organizational Research

Methods, 21(3), 525-547.