Ethics in Information Technology, Privacy and Legal Issues - Assignment Example

Running Header:  Ethics in Information Technology, privacy and legal issues Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Name & Code: Date of Submission: Executive summary Ethics involves morality and opinions, decisions and actions used by people to express what is good and what is right. This study shows that ethics should however ensure that all the rights of customers are fulfilled such as privacy. The decisions of people should also be respected according to the ethical principle of autonomy. Legal capacity should also be considered as consumers have the power of choice therefore can purchase any product they are able and willing to buy. The decision made by the company should not cause pain or suffering to others or incapacitate them. They should also not deprive then of the goods of life but instead provide benefits and balance. Table of contents Introduction....................................................................................................................................3 Task 1 Main body.......................................................................................................................................3 Ethical principles and theory..........................................................................................................5 Ethical IT issues..............................................................................................................................6 Recommendations...........................................................................................................................8 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9 Task 2 Personal views.................................................................................................................................9 References......................................................................................................................................11 Introduction Most companies believe that people are motivated through development and rewarding though this is not usually the case as extrinsic motivators are both ineffective and positively counterproductive. Managers may therefore be described as fundamentalists since one may not overstate believes in power of rewards. Agre and Rotenberg (1997) describes that most companies therefore use various programs to motivate employees by combining employees pay to another index of performance. The more closely pay is tied to performance the more are the motivational effects on employees. Employers therefore aim at getting the incentives right in order to achieve productivity. The above study shows a business report discussing the viability of the proposal on ethics, privacy and legal issues. Task 1 Main body Some of the concepts used in developing people and rewarding them include the use of Theories stating that people normally do not like to work and therefore have to be controlled and coerced for example through material rewards. Alterman (2003) shows motivation is therefore said to be a function of external reinforcements. Various systems of motivation have been implemented such as systems to promote teamwork, use of participative management and responsive methods of supervision. Managers have also put more emphasis on continuous improvement. In the above proposal, the company aims at reducing obesity related issues among its customers as well as its staff members. This is to be performed through the introduction of centralised data mining and analysis. The proposal states that this will reduce the greater risk of suffering major diseases such as cancer, heart disease, hypertension, stroke or diabetes. This introduction comes after the government made noises about the increasing Medicare levy and extra taxes. The proposal is therefore to encourage people to eat healthier foods and exercise more. The proposal which involves an extensive processing power and a team of data mining experts is meant for giving the popular reward cards. This system requires the activation of the e-mail address which will also consists all their customers records. These records will involve patterns of excess food, fatty food, and large size clothes. The records also include how customers purchase sporting goods, their membership and attendance and also the purchase of excess alcohol. These records are to be followed using the installation of security cameras which will be able to recognise overweight using a particular soft ware. It will also be able to count people for example family members and distinguish singles. The company realises that all the information collected will not be 100 percent accurate though data mining experts believes that 80 percent of the information regarding obesity issues will be accurate. The company will then be capable of e-mailing reward cards to their customers for example by targeting their buying habits and including warnings and recommendations to encourage healthy living. Customers who will not be rewarded will be provided with various recommendations that they will be encouraged to follow to observe their health. This proposal will not involve any advertising as no specific product or outlet will be mentioned. According to Elliott and Turnbull (2005) ethical theories and principles include the foundations that analyse ethical issues and act as viewpoints which guidance can be obtained in order to make a decision. In this, every theory emphasises different points for example which predict an outcome. The decision has to follow one’s duties so as to reach an ethically correct decision. For the ethical theory to be useful in any particular way, it must be directed towards a common goal. It must also be in line with the ethical principles which are goals that the theory aims at achieving for example privacy issues in business (Murphy 2002). Ethical principles and theory One of the ethical principles includes beneficence. Hasnas (2005) puts it that this principle tends to guide the ethical theory in doing what is good it is related to utility which shows that people should generate the largest ration of good over evil. According to the above proposal, the company tries to do what is good by helping the entire public to watch their health. It therefore aims at achieving the greatest amount of good and to benefit people. The other principle is least harm which is similar to doing well though it deals with situations where choice is not beneficial. In this principle, one chooses to do the least harm to the fewest people. If applied to the proposal, this principle shows that the introduction of data mining analysis is meant for doing no harm to the customers but to help them and to encourage them for them to avoid diseases brought about by obesity. According to Ridley (1998) respect of autonomy is also an important ethical principle applicable. It states that ethical theory should tolerate people to control themselves and be capable of making their own decisions that apply to their lives. People should therefore have control over their lives as they better understand their lifestyle. It also shows that every person deserves respect as he is the only one who understands his emotions, motivations and body in an intimate manner. The proposal for performing a public service in order to encourage people to observe their health such as through reduction of excess food and excess fatty food the final decision should be left to the customer since they better understand their body structures. Justice is the final principle to be observed and it shows that ethical theories should show actions that are fair to the people involved. This shows that ethical decisions should be consistent with ethical theory. In the proposal the installation of security cameras to check customers’ consumption is not justifiable as they have the right to eat what they want (Weiss 2009). Ethical IT issues These include some of the issues raised by IT capabilities which should be considered by technology professionals as they go about their duties. This is observed since advanced technology generates societal changes. Pinnington et al. (2007) describes that one of the issues identified according to ACS is privacy. Information identified in this case should be able to justify its use for example governments collect massive amount of data on individuals and organisations to be used for various purposes such as national security, tax collection, demographics and strategic analysis. Other companies also collect information for commercial reasons such as to increase business, control expense, enhance profitability and in order to gain market share. The scope of information that can be processed has significantly changed as a result of technological advances in both hardware and software (Weiss 2009). These advances have made it easy for massive quantities of data to be stored and retrieved easily and quickly. O'Neill (1998) shows that apparently, different sources of data can be used to collect new meanings when one data set is viewed within the context of another. Organisations ability to collect data on increasing scales should therefore be observed and limited since some information is more confidential for example information on singles and the number of family members of customers. The fact that information can be architected to be used for a particular purpose, individuals’ privacy rights should not be violated. This therefore shows that data meant for one use should not be diverted to another process which is socially abiding or which can result to a financial gain as this may mitigate ethical dilemma. According to Machan (2007) the other ethical IT issue in relation to ACS involves asking how much effort and expense managers incur in considering data access and privacy. The proposal involves collecting personal data on employees and if this data is not properly safeguarded it may result to significant negative implications to customers. Information involving compensation, personal identification for example giving the social security number should be properly maintained and should be assessed by authorised personnel. The IT systems used in tracking this kind of information should also be secured. This can be maintained by the use of operational policies and procedures that address proper handling of data. If these procedures are not followed or enforced, there is no point of having them in place. They should be applied for example in cases where organisations share data with each other, merging databases which contain various identifiers. It is therefore important to expect a higher extent of responsibility from the stewards of the provided data as there is no perfect solution to ensure that data is accessed by those authorised to do so (Brin 1998). The third ethical IT issue is ownership which reveals what employers expect from employees regarding the nondisclosure of information when they go to work for another firm. Solove (2006) shows in this issue, managers should ensure that employees sign non disclosure agreements (NDAs) and other non-complete clauses found in the employment contracts. There are also legal documents that restrict people from sharing information with other future employers or those that do not allow employees to join certain companies or discontinue them from participating in a particular industry. In ownership, it is also important to ask what part of information asset belongs to a particular organisation and what part is employee’s general knowledge. This is because information and skills used in projects can be intertwined for example a project manager who needs to reengineer his company’s marketing operations system and have access to confidential information on major strategic and procedural activities of the firm have to be technically trained in order to build the new system. These systems need to be covered by patent law in some situations for example having legitimate claim to any part of the system being an asset to the company. Other situations include taking part of the knowledge involved to other employers or starting one’s company. Other situations guided by law include if one decides to sell the system. This shows that ethical dilemma is not mitigated by the fact that the original company is not in software business (Jones and Parker et al. 2005). The other ethical IT issue is control which shows that employees should know the degree to which behaviour is monitored. This shows that organisations should have the right to monitor their employees and technology systems. It is important to notify employees that when using networks and internet access, they should observe privacy. It is also important to check whether data gathered violate employee privacy right. Duska (2007) describe that accuracy is the other issue in IT as effective decision making is driven by accurate information. Accuracy also determines whether the implications of a potential error have been anticipated. Security is also important as networks can be breached and personal information compromised (Nagel 2002). Recommendations In this case, the company should aim at investing in valuable resources for example employing people who have the right skills to lead and make the right decisions for the entire company. The other recommendation is to influence workers to maintain the demands for privacy. The proposal should also be effectively be discussed with the employees and project managers to ensure that the codes of ethics, privacy and legal issues are sorted out. They should also take decisions from some of their customers to ensure they are on the safe track. Confidential corporate information should therefore be kept under tight security. Frederic (2002) argues research has shown that 80 percent of stolen data is due to low technology and inside job. In the above case, for management to be capable of determining the security risks inherent in the systems, they should ensure they implement keystroke loggers. They should also use internal policies in order to deal with security bleaches such as demolition, transfer or termination. Conclusion All approaches of business ethics have conceptual problems which show that ethics is a complex subject. Individuals should therefore expect controversies while practicing business ethics. However, the approaches bring us closer to the importance of practicing moral behaviour in business. Paying attention to business profit motives and the moral interests of consumers generates moral and responsible business decisions. Business ethics involves the need and value of doing right in place procedures that allows for compliance and relevant regulatory and legal requirements. Companies should therefore ensure that procedures are in place to maintain adequate historical archives. Task 2 Personal views I think that privacy is possible and necessary when it comes to collecting personal information about individuals. The costs of data loss are huge and it is estimated that over 50 million people have had information about them exposed in a period of the last 18 months. This cost has increased as businesses have lost billions as a result of security bleaches and consumer lawsuits. This therefore increases the infrastructure costs for managing customer, employee and company data. It is therefore important to train employees and inform them on the importance of maintaining data security especially for confidential information such as what is stipulated in the above proposal. I therefore think that privacy is important in dealing with confidential information about customers and therefore the company should be more careful on how it handles the information I am personally not comfortable with the proposal because I feel that it is more concerned about what customers purchase, whether the products purchased will make them become overweight. I feel that purchasing decisions should be left as confidential to the customers because it is not ethically correct to get involved in their private lives. I would change the purchasing behaviour by introducing a program that encourages overweight individuals to reduce their weight by making it as a competition. The one who loses the least weight is disqualified from the program. References Agre, P & Rotenberg, M 1997, Technology and Privacy, The New Landscape, Cambridge: MIT Press. Alterman, A 2003, A piece of yourself, Ethical issues in biometric identification, Ethics and Information Technology, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 139-150. Brin, D 1998, The Transparent Society, Will technology force us to choose between privacy and freedom? Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Duska, R 2007, Contemporary reflections on business ethics. Boston: Springer. Elliott, C & Turnbull, S 2005, Critical thinking in human resource development. London: Routledge. Frederic, R 2002, A companion to business ethics. Massachusetts: Blackwell. Hasnas, J 2005, Trapped: When acting ethically is against the law. Washington DC: Cato Institute. Jones, C & Parker, M et al. 2005, For business ethics: A critical text. London: Routledge.  Machan, T 2007, The morality of business, A profession for human wealthcare. Boston: Springer.  Murphy, P 2002, Marketing ethics at the millennium, Review, reflections and recommendations. Blackwell Guide to Business Ethics. Oxford: Blackwell. Nagel, T 2002, Concealment and Exposure: And other essays, Oxford: Oxford University Press. O'Neill, 1998, The market: Ethics, knowledge and politics. London: Routledge. Pinnington, A, Macklin, R, & Campbell, T 2007, Human resource management: Ethics and employment. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ridley, A 1998, Beginning Bioethics, New York: St. Martin's Press, Solove, D., 2006, “A Taxonomy of Privacy”, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, vol. 154, pp. 477-564. Weiss, J 2009, Business ethics, A stakeholder and issues management approach with cases (5 ed.) Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Read More