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IIC/100613031

Ethical Issues in Information Systems

Author: Vladimir Zwassa 

Abstract

Information technology offers potent tools that can serve to fulfill an individual's life, to further organizational goals, pursue national interest, or support environmentally sustainable regional

development. The same technology can also be used to infringe on property in a digital form,

invade individuals' private sphere, and to hold them in fear of omnipresent surveillance. The waythe technology is deployed depends on our decisions as professionals and as users of informationsystems. It also depends on the enacted policies and legislation. All of us, therefore, should make

the relevant decisions guided not only by the economic, organizational, and technological aspectsof information systems, but also in consideration of their effects on individuals. Our knowledge

of ethics helps us in making such decisions. What we may call infoethics is the application of ethical thinking to the development and use of information systems.

Ethics is a study of the principles of right and wrong that ought to guide human conduct. Ethics

concerns itself with what values are worth pursuing in life and what acts are right. Therefore,ethics is a study of morality.

Human behavior and decision making fall into three domains, shown in Fig. 1. The legal domain

governs a variety of relatively well defined behaviors, specified by law enforceable in the courtsof a given country or within a local jurisdiction. International bodies increasingly address legal

issues that cross national borders. Computer crime and abuse, such as destruction of databaseswith the use of computer viruses or misrepresentation of electronic identity toward financial

gain, are the breaches of law and fall into this domain.

However, not every legal action is ethical. The domain of ethics is governed by the generalnorms of behavior and by specific codes of ethics. To see whether your decision-making in a

given case involves an ethical issue, you may apply the ³sunshine principle´: ³What if I read

about my decisions and subsequent actions in tomorrow's paper?´ Ethical considerations gobeyond legal liability, and the breach of norms not punishable by law meets with socialopprobrium. Only if the action is both legal and ethical, does it fall in the discretionary domain,

where we properly act entirely according to our preferences.

Knowledge of ethics as it applies to the issues arising from the development and use of information systems, which we may call infoethics, helps us to make decisions in our 

professional life. Professional knowledge is generally assumed to confer a special responsibilityin its domain. This is why the professions have evolved codes of ethics, that is, sets of principles

intended to guide the conduct of the members of the profession. The principal code of ethics for information systems professionals is the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Code of 

Ethics and Professional Conduct, binding on the members of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).2 The code should be familiar also to all those whose professional life is

affected by information systems. We have reproduced the fundamental statements of the ACMCode in Fig. 2. In addition, corporations and other employers should establish their own codes of 

infoethics. Such corporate codes have been shown to influence the behavior of people whowould otherwise not think that an important ethical issue was involved in their decision-

making.3&43, 4

To select a course of action in an ethical dilemma, we turn to ethical theories.

Ethical theories give us the foundation for ethical decision making. There are two fundamental

approaches to ethical reasoning:

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1.  Consequentialist theories tell us to choose the action with the best possible consequences.

Thus, the utilitarian theory that prominently represents this approach holds that our chosen action should produce the greatest overall good for the greatest number of people

affected by our decision. The difficulty lies in deciding what the ³good´ is and how to

measure and compare the resulting ³goods.´ The approach may also lead to sacrificingthe rights of a minority. There are certain acts that are wrong in themselves and should bealways avoided. The unethical acts interfere with the rights of others, the rights that may

be derived from the other principal group of ethical theories.2.  Deontological theories argue that it is our duty to do what is right. Your actions should be

such that they could serve as a model of behavior for others²and, in particular, youshould act as you would want others to act toward you. Our fundamental duty is to treat

others with respect²and thus not to treat them solely as a means to our own purposes.

Treating others with respect means not violating their rights. It is, therefore, vital that werecognize the rights of each human individual. The principal individual rights recognized

in democratic societies are:

y  a. The right to life and safety;y  b. The right of free consent²individuals should be treated as they freely consent to be

treated;y  c. The right to private property;

y  d. The right to privacy;y  e. The right of free speech, extending to the right to criticize truthfully the ethics or 

legality of the actions of others;y  f. The right to fair treatment²individuals who are similar in regards relevant to a given

decision should be treated similarly;y  g. The right to due process²individuals have a right to an impartial hearing when they

believe their rights are being violated.

The application of ethical theories is best illustrated by considering practical cases, whichwe will now proceed to do.

SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE

Information technology offers potent tools that can serve to fulfill an individual's life, to further organizational goals, pursue national interest, or support environmentally sustainable regional

development. The way the technology is deployed depends on our decisions as professionals andas users of information systems. Our knowledge of ethics helps us in making such decisions.What we may call infoethics is the application of ethical thinking to the development and use o

information systems. Ethics is a study of the principles of right and wrong that ought to guidehuman conduct. Ethics concerns itself with what values are worth pursuing in life and what acts

are right. Therefore, ethics is a study of morality. Knowledge of ethics as it applies to the issuesarising from the development and use of information systems, which we may call infoethics,

helps us to make decisions in our professional life. Corporations and other employers shouldestablish their own codes of infoethics. Such corporate codes have been shown to influence the

behavior of people who would otherwise not think that an important ethical issue was involvedin their decision-making.