Jaana Porra, M.Sc., MBA, Ph.D.
jaana@bau.cba.uh.edu

Ethical and Social Impact of Information Systems
Lecture 8

Ethics
•	Ethics refers to the principles of right and wrong that can be used by individuals acting as free moral agents to make choices to guide their behavior.
•	to choose = to assume responsibility = blame inapplicable
•	Information technology and information systems raise new ethical questions for both individuals and societies because they create opportunities for intense social change, and thus threaten the existing distributions of power, money, rights, and obligations.
What is Ethical?
•	Society is a delicate system of balances between individuals and social and political institutions
•	System means that changing one part of the equation affects the other in search for a new delicate balance 
•	Ethics is acted out in
	 individual behavior.
•	 What is ethical is defined over time by the individuals and institutions (family, schools, churches, political parties, businesses etc.)
•	The laws and regulations of the society reflect the society’s ethical qualities
What is Ethical?
•	Ethical standards are supported by etiquettes, expectations, quality standards, and examples of leaders
•	The premise of ethics is  universal kindness
•	Universal kindness is defined by individual’s obligations on one hand and rights on the other.
•	Another way of saying ethical society is “There is no free lunch.”
•	Ethical behavior stems from respect, dignity, integrity and honor.
•	The all time all situation advice: “Take the high road.”
•	==> being ethical at all times requires courage
Five Moral Dimensions of the Information Age 
•	1. Information Rights and Obligations: What information rights do individuals and organizations possess with respect to information about themselves? What can they protect? What obligations do individuals and organizations have concerning this information?
•	2. Property Rights How will traditional intellectual
	property rights be protected in a digital society in which tracing and accounting for ownership is difficult, and ignoring such property rights is so easy?
•	3. Accountability and Control: Who can and will be held accountable and liable for the harm done to individual and collective information and property rights?
Five Moral Dimensions of the Information Age
•	4. System Quality: What standards of data and system quality should we demand to protect individual rights and the safety of society?
•	5. The Quality of Life: What values should be preserved in an information- and knowledge-based society? What institutions should we protect from violation? What cultural values and practices are
•	supported by the new information technology?
Key Technology Trends that Raise Ethical Issues
•	The doubling of computing power every 18 months
•	Advances in Data Storage
•	Advances in Data Mining Techniques
•	Advances in Telecommunications Infrastructure
•	Open Questions:
•	Who will account for the flow of information over global networks?
•	Will you be able to trace information collected about you?
•	What will global networks do to the traditional relationships between family, work, and leisure?
•	....
Basic Concepts of Ethics 
•	Ethics is about freedom of choice
•	Ethical decisions are made by individuals who are responsible for the consequences of their actions
•	1. Responsibility is a feature of individuals and is a key element of ethical action
•	Responsibility means that you accept the potential costs, duties, and obligations for the decisions you make
Basic Concepts of Ethics
•	2. Accountability is a feature of systems and social institutions: It means that mechanisms are in place  to determine who took responsible action, who is responsible.
•	Systems and institutions in which it is impossible to find out who took what action are inherently incapable of ethical analysis or ethical action
Basic Concepts of Ethics
•	3. Liability is a feature of political systems in which a body of law is in place which permits individuals to recover the damages done to them by other actors, systems or organizations
•	4. Due process is a related feature of law-governed societies, and is a process in which laws are known and understood and there is ability to appeal higher authorities to ensure that the laws were applied correctly
Ethical Analysis
•	Identify and describe clearly the facts
•	Define the conflict or dilemma and identify the higher-order values involved (e.g., freedom of speech, privacy, protection of property)
•	Identify the stakeholders
•	Identify the option you can reasonably take
•	Identify the potential consequences of your options.

•	“With information comes responsibility.”
Candidate Ethical Principles
•	1. The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
•	2. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative: If an action is not right for everyone to take, then it is not right for anyone. (If everyone did this could the organization, society survive?)
•	3. Descartes' rule of change: If an action cannot be taken repeatedly, then it is not right to be taken at any time. (The slippery slope rule: Once started down a slippery path you may not be able to stop.)
Candidate Ethical Principles (continued...)
•	4. The utilitarian principle: Take the action that achieves the higher or greater value .
•	5. Aversion Principle: Take the action that produces the least harm, or the least potential cost.
•	6. the “no free lunch rule”: Assume that virtually all intangible and tangible objects are owned by someone else unless there is a specific declaration otherwise.

•	Appearance of unethical behavior can do as much harm as actual unethical behavior
Professional Codes of Conduct
•	When groups of people claim to be professionals, they enter into special, even more constraining relationship with  employers, customers, and society given their special claims to knowledge, wisdom and respect.
•	Association of Computing Machinery:
–	Contribute to society and human well-being
–	Avoid harm to others
–	Be honest and trustworthy
–	Honor property rights including copyrights and patents
–	Give proper credit for intellectual property
–	Access computing resources only when authorized
–	Respect the privacy of others
Information Rights
•	Privacy is the claim of individuals to be left alone, free from surveillance or interference from other individuals, organizations, or the state.
•	Today, millions of employees are subject to electronic surveillance
•	Because of information technology, invasion of privacy is cheap, profitable and effective.
•	In U.S. privacy is protected mainly by the 
•	First Amendment (Freedom of speech and association) and 
•	Fourth Amendment (protection against unreasonable search and seizure of one’s personal documents or home and the guarantee of due process).
Information Rights
•	Most American and European Privacy law is based on a regime called fair information practices (FIP) first set forth in 1973 by the federal government advisory committee.
•	(see Fair Information Practices Principles p. 158)
Information Rights
•	The Privacy Act of 1974 regulates the federal government’s collection, use, and disclosure of information. 
•	Most federal privacy laws apply only to the federal government.
•	Only credit, banking, cable, and video rental industries have been 
	regulated by federal privacy law
Internet Challenges to Privacy
•	Information sent over the Internet passes through many different computer systems before it reaches its final destination
•	Each of these systems is capable of monitoring, capturing, and storing communications that pass through it.
•	For example, an ISP can collect information about which files you have accessed and which WEB sites you have visited.
•	Also the sites you visit may collect information about you
•	Cookies
•	Who has the right to eavesdrop?
Intellectual Property
•	Intellectual property is tangible property created by individuals or corporations which is subject to protections under trade secret, copyright and patent law
•	Trade secret: Any intellectual work or product used for a business purpose that 
	can be classified as belonging to that business provided it is not based on information in the public domain.
•	Copyright is a statutory grant that protects creators of intellectual property against copying by others for any purpose for a period of 28 years.
Intellectual Property
•	Patent is a legal document that grants the owner an exclusive monopoly on the ideas behind an invention for 17 years.
  
System Quality
•	The software industry has not yet arrived at testing standards for producing software of acceptable but not perfect performance (Collins, e.al., 1994). 
•	A total of 70 % of IS executives in a recent survey reported data corruption as a source of
	business delay, 
•	69 % said their corporate data accuracy was unacceptable, and
•	44 % said no systems were in place to check data base information quality
End of Lecture 8!
©	 1997 Jaana Porra University of Houston