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2 Chapter 4
Ethical and Social
Issues in Information
Systems Management Information Systems
Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
red
Analyze the relationships among ethical, social, and
political issues that are raised by information
systems.
Identify the main moral dimensions of an information
society and specific principles for conduct that can be
used to guide ethical decisions.
Evaluate the impact of contemporary information
systems and the Internet on the protection of
individual privacy and intellectual property.
Assess how information systems have affected
everyday life.
2007 by Prentice Hall 43
Management Information Systems
Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
Does Location Tracking Threaten Privacy?
Problem: New opportunities from new technology and
need for greater security.
Solutions: Redesigning business processes and
products to support location monitoring increases sales
and security.
Deploying GPS and RFID tracking devices with a location
tracking database enables location monitoring.
Demonstrates IT's role in creating new opportunities for
improved business performance
Illustrates how technology can be a double-edged sword
by providing benefits such as increased sales and
security while compromising privacy.
geese Management Information Systems
Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems
ms
+ Ethics
+ Principles of right and wrong that individuals, acting as
free moral agents, use to make choices to guide their
behavior
+ Information systems and ethics
+ Information systems raise new ethical questions.
because they create opportunities for:
+ Intense social change, threatening existing
distributions of power, money, rights, and obligations
+ New kinds of crime
Cet Management Information Systems
Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems
+ Five moral dimensions of information age
+ Major issues raised by information systems
include:
+ Information rights and obligations
* Property rights and obligations
+ Accountability and control
+ System quality
* Quality of life
cs Soar Management Information Systems
Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems
+ Four key technology trends that raise ethical
issues
+ Computing power doubles every 18 months
+ Increased reliance on, and vulnerability to, computer systems
+ Data storage costs rapidly declining
+ Multiplying databases on individuals
+ Data analysis advances
+ Greater ability to find detailed personal information on individuals
+ Profiling and nonobvious relationship awareness (NORA)
+ Networking advances and the Internet
+ Enables moving and accessing large quantities of personal data
4. 107 by Prentice Hall Management Information Systems
Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems
Data for Sale
+ Read the Interactive Session: Management, and then
discuss the following questions:
+ Do data brokers pose an ethical dilemma? Explain your
answer.
+ What are the problems caused by the proliferation of data
brokers? What management, organization, and technology
factors are responsible for these problems?
+ How effective are existing solutions to these problems?
+ Should the U.S. federal government regulate private data
brokers? Why or why not? What are the advantages and
disadvantages?
Pe aU EL Management Information Systems
Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
Ethics in an Information Society
Basic concepts form the underpinning of an ethical
analysis of information systems and those who
manage them
Responsibility: Accepting the potential costs, duties, and
obligations for decisions
Accountability: Mechanisms for identifying responsible parties
Liability: Permits individuals (and firms) to recover damages done
to them
Due process: Laws are well known and understood, with an ability
‘to appeal to higher authorities Management Information Systems
Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
Ethics in an Information Society
* Candidate Ethical Principles
* Golden Rule
+ Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
+ Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative
+ — If an action is not right for everyone to take, it is not right for
anyone
+ Descartes’ rule of change
+ If an action cannot be taken repeatedly, it is not right to take
at all
SPA Ras
Per Management Information Systems.
Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
Ethics in an Information Society
- Candidate Ethical Principles (cont.)
* Utilitarian Principle
+ Take the action that achieves the higher or greater value
* Risk Aversion Principle
+ Take the action that produces the least harm or least potential
cost
+ Ethical “no free lunch” rule
+ Assume that virtually all tangible and intangible objects are
owned by someone unless there is a specific declaration
otherwise
ry Ee CU Che Management Information Systems
Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
Ethics in an Information Society
+ Professional codes of conduct
+ Promulgated by associations of professionals
+ Eg. AMA, ABA, AITP, ACM
+ Promises by professions to regulate themselves in the
general interest of society
* Real-world ethical dilemmas
+ One set of interests pitted against another
+ E.g. Right of company to maximize productivity of
workers vs. workers right to use Internet for short
personal tasks
ce PAA aL Management Information Systems
Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems
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