CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

Ethics and Privacy

  CHAPTER OUTLINE

v 3.1   Ethical Issues

v 3.2   Privacy

      3.1  Ethical Issues

Ethical Frameworks: - 

    Utilitarian approach: an ethical action is the one that provides the most good or does the least harm.

    Rights approach: ethical action is the one that best protects and respects the moral rights of the affected parties.

    Fairness approach: ethical actions treat all humans equally, or if unequally, then fairly, based on some defensible standard.

    Common good approach: highlights the interlocking relationships that underlie all societies.

General Framework for Ethics:- 

v Recognize an ethical issue

v Get the facts

v Evaluate alternative actions

v Make a decision and test it

v Act and reflect on the outcome of your decision

Fundamental tenets of ethics:- 

    A Code of Ethics is a collection of principles that are intended to guide decision making by members of an organization.

    Responsibility means that you accept the consequences of your decisions and actions.

    Accountability means a determination of who is responsible for actions that were taken.

    Liability is a legal concept meaning that individuals have the right to recover the damages done to them by other individuals, organizations, or systems.

Four categories of ethical issues involving IT applications:

    Privacy Issues involve collecting, storing and disseminating information about individuals.

    Accuracy Issues involve the authenticity, fidelity and accuracy of information that is collected and processed.

    Property Issues involve the ownership and value of information.

    Accessibility Issues revolve around who should have access to information and whether they should have to pay for this access.

See video about ethical issues 

  

3.2    Privacy

Privacy is the right to be left alone and to be free of unreasonable personal intrusions.

     Threats to Privacy

v Data aggregators, digital dossiers, and profiling

v Electronic Surveillance

The tracking of people‘s activities, online or offline, with the aid of computers.

v Personal Information in Databases

Information about individuals is being kept in many databases: banks, utilities co., govt. agencies, …etc.; the most visible locations are credit-reporting agencies

v Information on Internet Bulletin Boards, Newsgroups, and Social Networking Sites

Protecting Privacy

    Privacy Codes and Policies. An organization’s guidelines with respect to protecting the privacy of customers, clients, and employees.

    Opt-out model of informed consent permits the company to collect personal information until the customer specifically requests that the data not be collected.

    Opt-in model of informed consent means that organizations are prohibited from collecting any personal information unless the customer specifically authorizes it.  (Preferred by privacy advocates.)

See video about  How to protect the privacy ?