Ethical and Social Issues in the Digital Firm · •The four quadrants of ethical and legal...

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MBA 8125Information technology Management

Professor Duane Truex III 1

Ethical and Social Issues in theDigital Firm

MBA 8125 – Week 14

Professor Truex MBA 8125Informatioon Technology management

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Corporate

Strategy

Ethics/Privacy

ISStrategyand Plan

InternalSystems

Development

OutsourcedSystems

Development

Implementation

InternalSystems

Operations

OutsourcedSystems

Operations

Infrastructure

Security

Course Overview

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ChoicePoint – Personal InfoDatabase Raises Privacy Concerns

• What Do They Do?– Collects data from public sources– Compiles dossiers on individuals– Sells information to customers

• Employers, landlords, insurance companies, lawenforcement


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ChoicePoint – Personal InfoDatabase Raises Privacy Concerns

• Challenges– Information

• May be inaccurate• Potential liability

– Improper access of personal, privateinformation

– Information belongs to individuals, notChoicePoint

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• Ethics– What is it?– Options

• Social Issues in Information Systems– Privacy– Intellectual Property Rights– Accountability, Liability, and Control– System Quality– Quality of Life

• Management Challenges and Considerations

Outline


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Ethics

“The principles of right and wrong that individuals,acting as free moral agents, use to make choicesto guide their behavior.”

Laudon & Laudon,2006

• Ethical dilemma– two opposing courses of action– both support worthwhile causes

Why be concerned with ethics andinformation technology?

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Standards of conduct & moral behavior people expected tofollow

• Personal versus business– Personal ethics– day to day actions in private life– Business ethics – actions in business

• Ethical versus Legal behavior– Ethical behavior – expected actions– Legal behavior – required actions

• Action– Legal but not ethical– Ethical but not legal

Source: J. Senn 2004

Ethics


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Ethics: Guidelines for TechnologyUse

• The four quadrants of ethical and legal behavior

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Technology Trends that RaiseEthical Issues

TREND• Computing power

continues to increase

• Declining data storagecosts

• Data mining advances

• Networking advances

IMPACT• Depend on information

systems for criticaloperations

• Maintain detaileddatabases on individuals

• Analyze data to developdetailed profiles

• Copy data from onelocation to another; accessfrom remote locations

Laudon & Laudon, 2006, p.150


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NonObvious RelationshipAwareness (NORA)

“Watch”Lists

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Outline


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• The right to be left alone

• Fair Information Practices (FIP)– Notice/Awareness: consumers should have notice of an organization's online

information practices– Choice/consent: consumers should have a choice about the use and

dissemination of information they reveal, usually through an opt-in or opt-outmechanism

– Access/Participation: consumers should have access to the informationbusinesses collect about them to help ensure accuracy and completeness

– Integrity/Security: consumers should have the personal information collectedabout them adequately secured from outside parties and from corruption of thedata

– Enforcement/redress: consumers should have a way to ensure that businessesand organizations comply with these core privacy principles either throughexternal regulation (audits) or certification programs

Privacy

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Data Privacy

Self-determination of when and whatpersonal information iscommunicated to others (balancedwith society’s right to know)


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• Cookies – files stored on a computer that saveinformation and track visits to a website.– Cannot directly obtain name and address– Information available if user registered with a site

• Web Bugs – graphic files embedded in email andweb pages to monitor visitors

• Spyware – applications secretly installed oncomputer to report user activities on Internet

• Role of Privacy Policies

Internet Challenges to Privacy

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• Security vs. Privacy: Does Terrorism Change theDebate (p. 179-181)– Take 3 minutes to re-read the case and form some

opinions• In Groups of 3-4, assign the following roles

– Leader (1 person)– Recorder (1 person)– Reporter (1 person)– Devil’s Advocate (1 person)

• Discuss Case Study Questions 1, 3, 5 (p. 181)

Group Activity

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Intellectual Property Rights

Intangible property created by individuals orcorporations

• Trade Secret – Novel ideas not in public domain.Employees must sign nondisclosure agreement.

• Copyright – Prevents copying, but does notprotect underlying ideas.

• Patent – Grants exclusive monopoly for 20 years,idea must be disclosed publicly.


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• 1998 – Implements a World IntellectualProperty Organization treaty

• Makes it illegal to circumvent technology-based protections of copyrighted materials.

• ISPs are required to take down sites ofcopyright infringers once notified.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act(DMCA)

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• When information systems fail, who is responsible?– Example – In March, 2002, Bank of America fails to properly

process electronically deposited funds• In eyes of law, software products are like books

– Publishers of books are not responsible for physical and economicharm

– Should software be considered similarly?• Telephone carriers not responsible for messages carried

over their phone lines– Should ISP’s be responsible for content transmitted through their

service?

Accountability, Liability, andControl


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Real Example

• Man and woman date• Man and woman break up• Man has nude photos of woman• Man puts nude photos of woman in a Yahoo!

Profile• Woman finds out when strange men show up at

her place of employment wanting to date• Woman contacts Yahoo! to remove profile• Yahoo! doesn’t remove profile• Woman is in process of suing Yahoo!

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• Software will always have some defects– Should software vendors ship software even if

there are known bugs?• Sources of poor system performance

– Software bugs– Hardware or facility failures– Poor data quality

System Quality


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• Balancing Power– Decentralized computing, decentralized decision-making– Illusion of empowerment

• Increased Response Time– Speed of competition has increased– Organizations are less stable

• Blurred Work/Family Boundaries– Work at home– Personal life at work

• Dependence and Vulnerability– Most organizations rely on technology– System failure can bring organization to a standstill

Quality of Life

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• Computer Crime and Abuse– Computer Crime – Commission of illegal acts

through the use of a computer or against acomputer system

• Stealing files and information• Crippling computers• Altering records to commit fraud

– Computer Abuse – commission of unethicalacts involving a computer

Quality of Life


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• Spamming – Marketers send out unsolicited mass-email to unwilling recipients

• Hacking – Exploiting weaknesses in security togain access to machines and data

• Jamming – Denial of service, tie up resources tomake them unavailable

• Worms/viruses – Malicious software that spreadsand may be destructive

• Sniffing – Placing software for electroniceavesdropping

• Spoofing – fraudulent misrepresentation ofidentity

Types of Computer Crime

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• Employment Changes– Nature of many jobs have changed– Difficult to re-skill some segments of the population for new jobs

• Equity and Access– Digital Divide – haves vs. have-nots– Desire to give equitable access to computing

• Health Risks– Repetitive Stress Injuries– Carpel Tunnel Syndrome– Computer Vision Syndrome– Technostress

Quality of Life


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Outline

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Understanding Moral Risks ofTechnology

• Technology can bring about great benefit orgreat harm– Managers should assess ethical implications of

choices– Consider alternatives


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Establish Clear Ethics Policies

• Include consideration of informationsystems when creating ethic policies– Technology creates new issues– Important for non-IS managers

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Costs of Non-Work Related InternetAccess

• What are they?– Lost employee time– Consumption of valuable bandwidth

• Concerns:– Firm’s reputation, legal responsibilities– Loss of trade secrets.– Reduction of network performance– Lost revenue / overcharge to clients for personal time


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Why Do Companies MonitorEmployees?

Costs...(Employee hourly wage) x (# of hrs. lost for average employee)

x (# of employees)

Example:• 1000 employees• 15 minutes/day on personal issues• Average worker $50K per year

= $50,000 / 2080 hours per year = $24/hr= $24/hr x 250 days per year x 0.25hrs= $1500 x 1000 employees= $1,500,000 / year

Source: EMBA 2004 Students

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• Legal Liability (68%)• Security Concerns (60%)• Productivity Measurement (46%)• Legal Compliance (50%)• Performance Review (45%)

(Source: American Marketing Association’s survey of policies andpractices of workplace monitoring and surveillance.)

Why do companies monitor?


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What are Employers Doing?

• Monitor e-mail and personal use of Internet• Create policy regarding Internet usage to protect

against employee lawsuits– Explicit ground rules in easily understood language– Includes who has what rights and under what

circumstances.– Vague terminology cannot be applied fairly.– Zero tolerance vs. modified usage policy options.

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Summary

• Ethics and Information Systems• Social Issues in the Digital Firm• Management ChallengesComplex issue!

Ethical and Social Issues in the Digital Firm · •The four quadrants of ethical and legal...

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Transcript of Ethical and Social Issues in the Digital Firm · •The four quadrants of ethical and legal...