MGMT 2006 – Management
Information Systems I
Module 9
Ethical and Social Issues
Simon Fraser
simon.fraser@sta.uwi.edu
Objectives
By the end of this module you should be able to:
– Describe the ethical, social, and political issues raised by
information systems?
– Determine why contemporary information technology poses
challenges to the protection of individual privacy and
intellectual property?
– Discuss the principles for conduct that can be used to guide
decisions about ethical dilemmas?
– Discuss how have information systems affect everyday life.
– Describe how organizations can develop corporate policies to
promote ethical conduct?
Management Challenges
• Understanding the moral risks of new technology
• Establishing corporate ethics policies that include
information systems issues
What are Ethics?
• Principles of right and wrong
• Can be used by individuals acting as free moral
agents to make choices to guide their behavior
Technology Trends Driving Ethical
Issues
• Increases in Computing power:
Dependence on computer systems
• Rapidly declining data storage costs: Easy
maintenance of huge databases.
• Data mining advances: Analysis of vast
quantities of data
• Networking advances and the Internet:
Remotely accessing personal data
Social and Ethical IS Issues
• Information rights and obligations
• Property rights
• Accountability and control
• System quality
• Quality of life
Information Rights
Privacy
qPrivacy: Claim of individuals to be
left alone, free from surveillance or
interference from other individuals,
organizations, or the state
qFair Information Practices: Set of
principles governing the collection
and use of information on the basis
of U.S. and European privacy laws
Information Rights
Privacy
qInformed consent: Consent given
with knowledge of all facts needed
to make a rational decision
Information Rights
Privacy
q Cookies: Tiny files deposited on a
hard drive. They are used to identify
the visitor and track visits
to the Web site
Information Rights
Privacy
qOpt-out model
qInformed consent permitting the
collection
of personal information
qConsumer specifically requests for
the data not to be collected
Information Rights
Privacy
Opt-in model
qInformed consent prohibiting an
organization from collecting any
personal information
qIndividual has to approve information
collection and use
Information Rights
Privacy
What about Facebook?
qWhat expectations of Privacy can
Social Network users realistically
expect?
qHow does Facebook make $$
qRemember Granny Quilla or the young
lady who got whipped by her mother.
Information Rights
Privacy
Privacy: Ethical, Social and Political
Issues
• Under what conditions should the privacy of others be
invaded?
• What legitimates intruding into others’ lives through
unobtrusive surveillance, through market research, or by
whatever means?
• Do we have to inform people that we are eavesdropping?
• Do we have to inform people that we are using credit
history information for employment screening purposes?
Privacy: Ethical, Social and Political
Issues
• Concerns the development of “expectations of
privacy” or privacy norms, as well as public
attitudes
Privacy: Ethical, Social and Political
Issues
• Concern the development of statutes that govern
the relations between record keepers and
individuals
Systems Check
• Name five areas where Information Systems
are causing concern along ethical, social and
political dimensions?
Intellectual Property Rights
• Intellectual property: Intangible creations
protected by law
• Trade secret: Intellectual work or product
belonging to business, not in public domain
Intellectual Property Rights
• Copyright: Statutory grant protecting intellectual
property from getting copied for minimum of 70
years
• Patents: Legal document granting the owner an
exclusive monopoly on the ideas behind an invention
for 20 years
Intellectual Property Rights
• There are several issues that confront
anyone thinking about IP rights.
– Ethical issues: Production of intellectual property
– Social issues: Current intellectual property laws
breaking down
– Political issues: Creation of new property protection
measures
Accountability and Liability
• As information systems planners we
also have to deal with the issue of
accountability and liability.
– Ethical issues: Who is morally responsible for
consequences of use?
– Social issues: What should society expect and allow?
– Political issues: To what extent should government
intervene, protect?
Accountability and Liability
• Systems and Data Quality must also be
considered.
– Ethical issues: At what point to release the
software/services for consumption?
– Social issues: Should people be encouraged to
believe systems are infallible?
– Political Issues: Laws of responsibility and
accountability
Quality of Life Issues
• Balancing power center versus periphery: Key
policy decisions centralized as in the past. Big Brother and the
Patriot Act?
• Rapidity of change- Reduced response time to
competition: Reduced normal social buffers. Coping with
constant change?
Quality of Life Issues
• Maintaining boundaries: Family, work, and
leisure: “Do anything anywhere” environment blurring
boundaries between work and family time
• Dependence and vulnerability: As we come to rely
on these technologies what happens if they are damaged and
become unavailable.
Quality of Life Issues
• Computer crime: Commission of illegal acts
through the use of a computer or against a
computer system
• Computer abuse: Commission of acts
involving a computer that may not be illegal
but are considered unethical
Quality of Life Issues
• Employment- Trickle-down technology and
reengineering job loss: Causes millions of middle-level
managers and clerical workers to lose their jobs
• Equity and access- Increasing racial and social
class cleavages: Society of computer literate and skilled,
versus computer illiterate and unskilled
Quality of Life Issues
• Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI)
– Muscle groups are forced through repetitive
actions with high-impact loads or thousands of
repetitions with low impact loads.
– Perhaps the most common type of RSI is Carpal
Tunnel Syndrome
Quality of Life Issues
• Computer vision syndrome (CVS)
– Eyestrain condition
– Related to computer display screen usage
– Symptoms include headaches, blurred vision, and
dry and irritated eyes
Quality of Life Issues
• Techno stress
– Stress induced by computer use. May be brought
about by information overload.
– Symptoms include aggravation, hostility toward
humans, impatience, and enervation.
Ethical Analysis
• Identify and describe clearly the facts
• Define the conflict or dilemma
• Identify the higher order vales
• Identify the stakeholders
• Identify the options that you can reasonably
take
• Identify the consequences of your options.
Ethical Principles
qGolden rule: Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you
qImmanuel Kant’s categorical
imperative: If an action is not right
for everyone to take, then it is not
right for anyone
Ethical Principles
qDescartes’ rule of change: If an
action cannot be taken repeatedly,
then it is not right to be taken at
anytime
qUtilitarian principle: Put values in
rank order and understand
consequences of various courses
of action
Ethical Principles
qRisk aversion principle: Take
the action that produces the least
harm or incurs the least cost
qEthical “no free lunch” rule: All
tangible and intangible objects are
owned by creator who wants
compensation for the work
Management Challenges
• So as an information systems planner or senior executive you must
consider the following when designing your IS strategy
– Information rights and obligations
– Property rights and obligations
– Accountability and control
– System quality
– Quality of life
Systems Check
• During a meeting of Insurance industry IS
Managers, a decision was made to share
policy holder medical records via an Extranet.
The executives are sure that this will save their
employers millions by reducing the number of
claims.
• What are the ethical, social and political
issues?
Systems Check
• T&TEC upgrades to a new meter reading technology. Automated software
at HQ can “read” the meters and there is no longer a need to employ
meter readers or data entry clerks. Several hundred employees are to be
sent home.
• Furthermore the proliferation of GPRS enabled cell phones means that
customers no longer have to call into to the helpdesk. They can use web
based self service options and email or text if they have queries. An
automated responder will send the correct information back 98% of the
time.
Objectives
By the end of this module you should be able to:
– Describe the ethical, social, and political issues raised by information
systems?
– Determine why contemporary information technology poses
challenges to the protection of individual privacy and intellectual
property?
– Discuss the principles for conduct that can be used to guide
decisions about ethical dilemmas?
– Discuss how have information systems affect everyday life.
– Describe how organizations can develop corporate policies to
promote ethical conduct?
