Ethical Aspects of Computing - Case Study Example

Background summary of the case Rooney is employed in Staffordshire Police HR department. Her sister’s former partner, P.C Syred and his new partner,Miss Booth are also employed in the same office. Rooney has access to personal records of the office employees for administration purposes. When Syred and his partner move to another city and after accessing the office records, she informs her sister about their transfer to another city, Tunstall. When an audit of the computer system showed that Rooney had accessed the records of Syred and Booth and used the information for her personal use, she was convicted at the Crown Court. Though Rooney appealed that she had accessed the computer for administrative purpose, the court did not believed that and fined her £700 and £1000 respectively. As a result, she had to leave her job in the Police force and also lost the two job offers which were withdrawn after her conviction. Main ethical issues of the case There are several ethical issues of the case. The most important issues are; 1. It is ethically wrong to access official information and pass it outside the office premises. 2. Professional ethics demands that official information is the copyright of the office and cannot be used with the said permission of the office. 3. Maintaining the confidentiality of the personal information of the staff is the professional and ethical duty of the office. Breach of confidence is not only legally wrong but it is also ethically wrong which promotes an environment of general distrust amongst the office staff and lowers the dignity of the department concerned. 4. Taking advantage of the official services like using official phone, computer, stationery etc. for personal use, using office internet for personal gain in office hours etc. are few of the unethical practices. Stakeholders The stakeholders are the individuals and groups affected by the outcome of a decision. There are two main stakeholders. The primary stakeholder is the Office of the Police Force who has the responsibility of ensuring and safeguarding the personal information of its employees. The secondary stakeholders are the employees whose personal and confidential information is stored in the office computer. In this case, Rooney, P.C. Syred and Miss Booth are the stakeholders as bonafide employees of the Police Force. The employees have the right to demand confidentiality of their personal data. Rooney’s sister is not a stakeholder in the organization. Analysis The case is very pertinent with regard to ethical codes of conduct. Moral and ethical dilemmas are becoming frequent in one’s professional life. While it raises questions of professional etiquettes and maintenance of confidentiality of personal data and information of the staff, the case also exposes the vulnerability of the official data at the hands of the unscrupulous employees. Another major point that has come out in the case is the ethical implications of the use of official computers where official data is stored. Consequentialist ethics is defined as the acts or behaviour that is determined by the consequences of that act or behaviour which generally must be beneficial in content. Popularised as act utilitarian theory, the actions, that are designed to benefit or have beneficial cascading effects on others, are morally and ethically right. According to Act Utilitarian of Jeremy Bentham, “when choosing a course of action, one should always pick the one that will maximize happiness and minimize unhappiness for the greatest number of people” (Bentham from Rosenstand p.176). One can claim that the actions of the Rooney were for the detrimental of the people of the people of the office and her intention was to benefit her sister who could have used the information to harm the stakeholders and caused them harm. The utilitarian act also supports the golden rule which implicitly implies that people should act in the manner that they expect others to act. Therefore, Rooney was morally and ethically wrong in her actions by accessing official data for the deliberate intentions of passing the information to her sister. Wallace, an eminent social scientist had also propagated that it is the wisdom that is gained through the practical experiences that decides the right course of action that must be followed in different circumstances, adapting to the changing socio-ethical parameters. Also known as Wallace’s theory of ‘ethical contextualization’, Rosen in his book says that Wallace was of the view that ‘intelligent moral behaviour is always based on the understanding of how ethical principles have been applied in the past and the ends that have been served by those applications’ (Wallace, 1988). He further argues that ‘marvelous plasticity of response… involves the ability to adapt old routines to new circumstances. Intelligence and understanding are exhibited in such adaptation’ (p28). One can therefore, reiterate that Rooney was wrong in not only breaching the professional code of conduct but she had also violated the confidence of the stakeholders, deliberately and with malafide intentions. Theory of Rights or the principles of deontology state that decisions if the individuals must be based on the circumstances and not of the consequences. Farrel and Fraedrich have clearly referred to deontology as ‘ethics of respect for persons’ and ‘non consequentialism’ (F&F, 1997, p58). Under this law, the stakeholders have the right to demand confidentiality of their personal information which was violated when Rooney used her official authority to access private data of the stakeholders, Syred and Booth, and passed them on to an outsider. The case can also be considered under the principle of egoism which is founded on the belief of self interest and allows people to look after their own interest without infringing on the rights of others. Theory of ethical hedonism by Epicurus can also be applied. Ancient philosopher, Epicurus (342-270 B.C.) had a very interesting perception towards ethics also known as hedonistic ethics. He proscribed to the view that anything that gives physical pleasure to a lot of people is ethically right and must be pursued. The concept of ‘physical pleasure’ is open to interpretation but if one goes through his philosophy of life, one can say that he believed that material goods do not guarantee happiness but actions that promote maximization of pleasure through tranquility of mind and body, thereby minimizing pain, are inherently good. According to him, everything that we do, we do so in order to gain pleasure out the act. Even infants like to do things that make them happy. By passing the information to her sister, Rooney’s main considerations were to give pleasure of some form. But again, as Epicurus says that ‘not all pleasures are choice-worthy or all pains to be avoided. Instead, one should calculate what is in ones long-term self-interest, and forgo what will bring pleasure in the short-term if doing so will ultimately lead to greater pleasure in the long-term’ (IET). Both the theories of ethical consideration refute Rooney’s contentions that were wrong as her good intentions were outweighed by the harm that would be unleashed by her actions. Hence, Rooney was ethically and morally not correct. Theory of Justice, which is based on law, would be to follow the framework and guidelines prescribed by appropriate legal system and BCS1 code of conduct. ‘The Code governs your personal conduct as an individual member of the BCS and not the nature of business or ethics of the relevant authority. It will, therefore, be a matter of your exercising your personal judgment in meeting the Code’s requirements’ (BCA regulation schedule, 2006). The huge implications of the regulation schedule are not only important in maintaining high standard of professional excellence but they are also designed to deter people to misuse or exploit the official services for private gains. Rooney had definitely misused her official status that had adversely affected the stakeholders. The recent trends in the ethical parameters have included the various tests like ‘Mother test’, TV test’, ‘Smell test’ etc. that are increasingly used as general guidelines for the ethical actions. Mother test refers to the sharing of the ethical actions. If the person is able to share his or her actions with their mother and mother agrees with it, then the action is not wrong. TV test is conducted when the actions of the persons are debated over the television and the general public agrees with it. In both these tests, one would agree that Rooney would fail as she had breached the official trust. Smell test describes fishy actions which are construed to have hidden agenda as against what may appear to be honest. Rooney had not been honest in her argument that she had accessed the records for official use as she had passed on the information to an outside and so she would fail. One can therefore, conclude that the decision of Rooney was morally and ethically wrong. All the actions and events involving different people were based on the strong ethical considerations that promoted the welfare of the people. Reference British Computer Society. Trustee Board Regulations Schedule 3 v 2 – Code of Conduct for BCS Members. Approved by Trustee Board on 29th November 2006. Available from: [18 October, 2008]. Epicurus. Ethical Hedonism. Available from: [18 October, 2008]. Ferrell O. C. and Fraedrich J. (1997). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. Houghton Mifflin Company Rosenstand, Nina. (2002). The Moral Of the Story with Free Ethics. PowerWeb. McGraw Hill. Rosen, Frederick (2003). Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill. Routledge, pg. 28. Read More