Protecting Personally Identifiable Information and other ethical issues - Research Paper Example

Ethical issues arise from people’s behavior and established norms offer platforms for determining the issues, whether an act is ethical or not. Utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics are some of the established theories for exploring ethical issues. Brooks and Dunn explains utilitarian theory’s basis as consequences of actions and identify morality with consequences that optimizes good among a majority of involved stakeholders to the action. An act that leads to net harm on a majority of members of the society is therefore considered unethical (2009).

Deontology offers another basis for determining morality through parties’ obligations in actions with rules as its core basis. Issues that arise from deontological ethics relates to “duty, rights, and justice considerations” and therefore definite, unlike arising issues from utilitarianism (Brooks and Dunn, 2009, p. 184). Intentions towards ethical issues, as a factor to morality however rely on virtue ethics whose basis is the actor’s integrity (Landau, 2012). Protection of personally identifiable information is a significant ethical issue and involves such principles as privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity and traverses utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics theories. . Breach of these doctrines, having been established as legal or moral rules and obligations, therefore implies lack of ethics subject to deontology theory.

Many factors however affect the ethical issue and may influence compromise. In research, for example, a research may fear factors such as loss of validity in communicated findings following non-disclosure of participants’ identity and offered personal information but attempt to document such information would compromise autonomy, based on deontology ethics. The medical profession also requires strict protection of patients’ information and applicable information technology should be configured to ensure such protection.

Possible harm that may result from disclosure of such identifiable information such as social isolation into the victim’s depression further identifies utilitarian theory (Runzheimer and Larsen, 2010). The need to promote well being of other members of the society is another significant ethical issue in interactions. Beneficence and non-malfeasance principles establish the issue that can be explored from utilitarian ethics, deontological theory, and virtue ethics. Beneficence requires that actions “maximize benefits” while non-malfeasance requires minimization of harm to other people and their directive scope relates to the rule based deontology theory (Elliot, Aitken and Chaboyer, 2011, p. 79). The issue’s emergence from actions also identifies them as consequences for utilitarian consideration.

Proper planning for safe practices and beneficial acts ensure well being and minimized harm among stakeholders but conflict of interest may compromise the ethical principles to undermine welfare of involved stakeholders. A researcher’s interest in