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Ethics: Principles of right and wrong that can be usedby individuals acting as free moral agents to makechoicesto guide their behavior

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1. Ethical, social, and political issues are raised by informationsystems.

2. There are specific principles for conduct that can be used to guide

decisions about ethical dilemmas.

3. Information systems affected everyday life.

4. Organizations can develop corporate policies for ethical

conduct.

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1. Understanding the moral risks of new technology

2. Establishing corporate ethics policies that includeinformation systems issues

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Accountability and control

System quality

Quality of life

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C

omputing power doubles every month

Data analysis advances

Networking advances and the internet

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1. Information technologies are filtered throughsocial institutions, organizations, individuals

2. Responsibility falls on institutions,organizations, and individuals who choose touse the technology

3. In an ethical, political society, individuals andothers can recover damages done to themthrough a set of laws

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Five-step Process forAnalysis

1. Identify and describe clearly the facts.

2. Define the conflict and identify the higher-order values

involved.

3. Identify the stakeholders.

4. Identify reasonable options.

5. Identify potential consequences of these options.

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Candidate Ethical Principles

1. The Golden Rule

2. Kants Categorical Imperative.

3. Descartes rule of change.

4. The Utilitarian Principle.

5. The Risk Aversion Principle.

6. Ethical no free lunch rule

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Competing values: one set of interests pitted against another

E-mail monitoring at the workplace

Use of new technology to reduce workforce and lower costs

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Federal Privacy Laws in the United States

General Federal Privacy Laws

Freedom ofInformation Act, 1966

PrivacyAct of1974

Electronic Communications PrivacyAct of1986

Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of1988

Computer SecurityAct of1987

Federal Managers Financial IntegrityAct of1982

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Social Issues

Expectations of privacy, privacy norms.

Should people have expectations of privacy while using e-mail, cellularphones, bulletin boards, postal system, etc.?

Do expectations of privacy extend to criminal conspirators?

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Political Issues

Statutes to govern relationship between record keepers and individuals

Should FBI monitor e-mail?

Should e-commerce sites maintain personal data about individuals

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Intellectual Property

Intangible property created by individuals or corporations

Protected under three different legal traditions: trade secret, copyright,and patent law

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Computer crime: Commission of illegal acts through the useof a computer or against a computer system

Computer abuse: Commission of acts involving a computerthat may not be illegal but are considered unethical, i.e.spamming

Computer forensics: scientific collection and analysis ofdata held on or retrieved from computer storage media to be

used as evidence in court of law

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Spamming

Hacking

Jamming

Malicious software

Sniffing

Spoofing

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Information rights and obligations

Property rights and obligations

System quality

Quality of life

Accountability and control

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