Ethical and Social Issues of Information Systems

System and Information Technology
Summary of Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues of Information Systems
 4-1 What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
Ethics refers to the principles of right and wrong that individuals, acting as free moral
agents, use to make choices to guide their behaviors. Ethical issues in information systems
have been given new urgency by the rise of the Internet and e-commerce. The introduction
of new information technology has a ripple effect, raising new ethical, social, and political
issues that must be dealt with on the individual, social, and political levels. These issues
have five moral dimensions: information rights and obligations, property rights and
obligations, system quality, quality of life, and accountability and control.
 4-2 What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
Ethical choices are decisions made by individuals who are responsible for the
consequences of their actions. Elements of ethical action:
a) Responsibility means that you accept the potential costs, duties, and obligations for
the decisions you make.
b) Accountability means that mechanisms are in place to determine who took action
and who is responsible.
c) Liability is a feature of political systems in which a body of laws is in place that
permits individuals to recover the damages done to them by other actors, systems,
or organizations.
d) Due process is a related feature of law-governed societies and is a process in which
laws are known and understood, and ability exists to appeal to higher authorities to
ensure that the laws are applied correctly.
Five-step process in doing ethical analysis: Identify and describe the facts clearly; Define
the conflict or dilemma and identify the higher-order values involved; Identify the
stakeholders; Identify the options that you can reasonably take; Identify the potential
consequences of your options.
Some ethical principles that have survived throughout the history:
a) Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (the Golden Rule)
b) If an action is not right for everyone to take, it is not right for anyone (Immanuel
Kant’s categorical imperative)
c) If an action cannot be taken repeatedly, it is not right to take at all (slippery slope
rule)
d) Take the action that achieves the higher or greater value (utilitarian principle)
e) Take the action that produces the least harm or the least potential cost (risk
aversion principle)
f) Assume that someone else owns virtually all-tangible and intangible objects unless
there is a specific declaration otherwise. (This is the ethical no-free- lunch rule)
 4-3 Why do contemporary information systems technology and the Internet pose

challenges to the protection of individual privacy and intellectual property?
Information rights: Privacy and freedom in the Internet age
 Privacy is the claim of individuals to be left alone, free from surveillance or
interference from other individuals or organizations, including the state. The
claim to privacy is protected in the United States, Canadian, and German
constitutions in a variety of ways and in other countries through various
statutes.
 Internet Challenges to Privacy
⁃ Cookies are small text files deposited on a computer hard drive when a user
visits websites.
⁃ Web beacons, also called web bugs (or simply tracking files), are tiny
software programs that keep a record of users’ online click- streams.
Property rights: Intellectual property
 Intellectual property is considered to be tangible and intangible products of the
mind created by individuals or corporations. (Trade secrets, copy rights,
patent)
 Challenges: Individuals have been illegally copying and distributing digitized
music files on the Internet for several decades.
 4-4 How have information systems affected laws for establishing accountability and
liability and the quality of everyday life?
New information technologies are challenging existing liability laws and social
practices for holding individuals and institutions accountable for harm done to others.
Although computer systems have been sources of efficiency and wealth, they have
some negative impacts. Computer errors can cause serious harm to individuals and
organizations.
Three principal sources of poor system performance are (1) software bugs and errors,
(2) hardware or facility failures caused by natural or other causes, and (3) poor input
data quality.
Some of the negative social consequences of systems, considering individual, social,

and political responses:
a) Balancing Power: Center Versus Periphery
b) Rapidity of Change: Reduced Response Time to Competition
c) Maintaining Boundaries: Family, Work, and Leisure
d) Dependence and Vulnerability
e) Computer Crime and Abuse
f) Employment: Trickle-Down Technology and Reengineering Job
g) LossEquity and Access: Increasing Racial and Social Class Cleavages

Ethical and Social Issues of Information Systems

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ethical and Social Issues of Information Systems

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ethical and Social Issues of Information Systems

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

System and Information Technology

Summary of Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues of Information Systems

 4-3 Why do contemporary information systems technology and the Internet pose

Some of the negative social consequences of systems, considering individual, social,

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.