Why Ethics The exercise of power always raises ethical issues Power stems from position knowledge credentials “information is power” Ethical issues arise

Why EthicsThe exercise of power always raises

ethical issuesPower stems from

position knowledge credentials “information is power”

Ethical issues arise for IS professionals because of their role in the production and distribution of information

Perspectives on Ethical IssuesEthical issues need to be considered on 2 levels

the context - how the information system and its products fit, and are used, in the organisation and/or the broader community

the object - how the information system is designed and constructed

These two levels are interdependent and both need to be addressed.

Ethics and MoralityMorality - human conduct and values

Ethics - the study of conduct and values

Common usage is that the terms are interchangable

Ethics as Standards

Etiquette Laws ProfessionalCodes

Ethics

The continuum of standards:

Moral Standards Independent of religion Societal differences are not significant when

considered at a meta-level Apply to both individuals and society in the

sense that of how individuals perceives that society or their ideals, values and aspirations for that society.

The central issue is whether an ethical principle can be justified rather than concern with where and how the principle was formed.

Characteristics of Moral Standards

Behaviour can have serious consequences for human welfare, either to profundly injure or benefit people

Takes priority over other standards

Dependent on the adequacy of the reasons that support or justify the standard

Etiquette Social code of behaviour

Generally non-moral

transgression results in social isolation ( a person is considered uncivilised, ill-mannered)

can have moral implications eg sexism, racism

Law Codifies customs, ideals, beliefs and

society’s moral values conformity with the law is not sufficient

for moral conduct but the law provides some minimum standards of moral conduct and social behaviour

non-conformity is not necessarily immoral

Types of Law Statutes - legislation passed by

legislative bodies Regulations - administrative rules

formulated by statutory bodies Common law- accumulated legal

decisions which form a body of legal principles (only in English speaking countries

Constitutional - compatibility of any law with the relevant constitution

Professional Codes Rules that govern the conduct of members Members assume a moral obligation to

conform Conformity is a condition of membership Violation can result in exclusion Are incomplete and inadequate as a guide for

individual ethical behaviour

Structure of Ethical Theories

Universalism Relativism

Consequentialism Deontologism

Utilitarianism Non-Utilitarianism

Egoism

Kant Prima Facia

Ethical Theories

Relativism • no absolute or universal right and wrong• moral standards as a function of societal believes• undermines criticism both within and between societies• negates the possibility of (ethical) progress

Universalism • what is right/wrong applies to all

Consequentialism • considers the outcome of behaviour

Deontologism • considers the behaviour itself

Ethical Theories (cont)

Utilitarianism • outcome is the greatest good over

bad for all affected by the action• linked to cost/benefits and risk

management

Egoism - everyone should act out of self interestAdam Smith argued that egoism is utilitarianism because it is through self interest that society benefits; the idea of the “hidden hand”

Influences on ethical judgement

Environment influenceIndividual family, peer censureSociety social norms, etiquetteBelief system religious, “living with oneself”Legal environment lawsProfessional environment code of conduct - enforced or

guideline

(Kreie & Cronan, 1998)

Element of Ethical BehaviourAccountability - to onself and to

ones idealsObligations - to act morally in

relation to others affected by that act

Responsibility - both social and moral

Intentionality - to act consistently with moral standards

Role of Ethical Training To make defensible moral judgement

To reflect critically on the moral principles and ideals involved in a particular situation

To have a framework for critical analysis

Making Ethical Judgement Judgements need to be:

logical based on facts based on acceptable principles

Presumes rational actors good will mutual desire for judgement ability to communicate clearly

Ethical Decision Making Evaluate the factual claim and determine

what are the relevant facts Challenge the moral standard and identify

what ethical principles are involved Defend the moral standard and determine

which principle has primacy Revise and modify the moral standard to

determine if there is another way see the situation

My interpretation of the Ethical Decision Making process

Determine the relevant factsIdentify the ethical principles involved

Which standards are at risk?What are the “consequences” of the action?

Determine which principle is most importantCheck whether there are other ways see the situation

employer’s view (as a society as well as power)profession’s view, society’s view

The Professional Dilema Professional duties and responsibilities

(sometimes) conflict with organisational goals and outcomes.

Ethical behaviour can conflict with legal statutes and/or contractual obligations

The professional needs knowledge and skills to resolve these conflicts by themselves as the situations arise in particular contexts.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde The organisational dilema is:“... the structure and function of organisations in

general, and corporate organisations in particular, require that members adhere to the organisational norms and, in fact, force commitment and conformity to them.” (Shaw, 1991; p22)

Raises the discrepancy between individual and corporate ethics and the resolution of the conflict between the two.

A Practical Ethical Test

“Before you act, be sure you will be comfortable with an [The Australian / The Age ] story, tomorrow morning, reporting what you did.”

(Oz, 1994; p11)

Survey of Ethics

Many surveys of ethical viewpoints have been conducted. A recent one is:

Kreie, J & Cronan, T.P. (1998). “How men and women view ethics”, Communications of the ACM, vol 41, no 9, pp70-76 (Sept).

Scenario 1: Making unauthorised program modifications

A programmer modifies a bank’s accounting system to hide his overdrawn account and avoid the overdraft charge. After making a deposit, the programmer corrects his modification.

Q1. Is this behaviour acceptable or unacceptable?Q2. What factors influence your decision?


Scenario 1: the survey results

A programmer modifies a bank’s accounting system to hide his overdrawn account and avoid the overdraft charge.

Unacceptable Acceptable

Men

82% 18%

93% 7%

Women


Scenario 2: Is it OK to keep something you didn’t pay for?

A person received software ordered from a mail-order company but also finds another software package sent in error. The extra software was not listed on the invoice. The person keeps the program and does not pay for it.




A person received software ordered from a mail-order company but also finds another software package sent in error.


Men

55% 45%

68% 32%

Women


Scenario 3: Can I use company resources on my own time?

A programmer uses company equipment to write programs for his friends on his own time on weekends.




A programmer uses company equipment to write programs for his friends on his own time.


Men

11% 89%

16% 84%

WomenNote: the survey respondents felt the company should have a clear policy. A policy forbidding this use would change their judgement.

Note: the survey respondents felt the company should have a clear policy. A policy forbidding this use would change their judgement. (Kreie & Cronan, 1998)

Scenario 4: Do I have to pay for programs I use?

A person who was inadvertently given access free of charge to a proprietary program uses it without paying the fee.




A person who was inadvertently given access free of charge to a proprietary program uses it without paying the fee.


Men

66% 34%

71% 29%

Women


Scenario 5: I have a copy of the data, can’t I use it as I wish?

A company employee contracts with a government agency to process data involving information about children and their parents. The employee copies the data at the boss’s request. The job contract does not prohibit this.




The employee copies the data at the boss’s request. The job contract does not prohibit this.


Men

51% 49%

72% 28%

Women


Levels of Control

Control

SocialControls

Technical Controls

Professional behaviour is guided by: social controls technical controls

Ethical Issues in the Design of Information Systems

Privacy What information about one’s self or one’s associations must a

person reveal to others, under what conditions and with what safeguards?

What things can people keep to themselves and not be forced to reveal to others?

Accuracy Who is responsible for the authenticity, fidelity and accuracy of

information? Who is held accountable for errors in information?

How is the injured party to be made whole? (Mason, 1986)

Ethical Issues in the Design of Information Systems

Property Who owns information? What are the just and fair prices for its exchange? Who owns the channels, especially the airways, through

which the information is transmitted? How should access to this scarce resource be allocated?

Accessibility What information does a person or an organisation have a

right or privilege to obtain, under what conditions and with what safeguards?

(Mason, 1986)

Role of Computers in Ethical Issues

repositories and processors of information• unauthorised use of otherwise unused computer services• unauthorised use of information stores in computers

producers of new forms and types of assets• computer programs are new types of assets, subject to the same

concepts of ownership as other assets;

instruments of acts• to what degree must computer services and users of computers,

data and programs be responsible for the integrity and appropriateness of computer output?

• symbols of intimidation and deception• computers are often seen as thinking machines, absolute truth

products, infallible, replacements for human errors, anthropomorphic.

from Couger (1989)

Design for Privacy

Ensure controls are in place to restrict access to the data to those who need to know. • How do you determine who needs to know? • How do you ensure that only those who need to

know are given access in future?• How do you ensure that programs won’t be written

in future that invade privacy of a database? Include only the data that is necessary - don’t include

data just because you think it might be needed.

Control

SocialControls

Technical Controls

Use passwords to limit access to authorised people;

Design different levels of access for different user groups;

Identify a position of responsibility for ensuring privacy, allocating new passwords, checking logs for unauthorised access (e.g. data administrator - non-technical role)

Design for PrivacyControl

SocialControls

Technical Controls

Design for Accuracy

Ensure that data entered in to the system is accurate:

• use appropriate verification and validation;• where possible give the task of collecting the data

to those who will use it later;• where possible, ensure that the subject of the data

checks the validity of the data. data is stored securely and cannot be changed without

authorisation; data is processed correctly (include cross-checking

routines); data is reported in the correct context;

Control

SocialControls

Technical Controls

Validation and Input Controls

monitor the number of input transactions;• log all transactions to an audit file;• reconcile numbers of transactions at different stages of

processing. validate data:

• check transactions are complete (i.e. all required fields entered - but you may choose to process transactions with missing fields);

• apply limit, range and picture checks to individual fields (but make sure you know what those limits etc really are!);

• apply checks on combinations of fields known to be related;• use check digits as part of primary key fields to identify

transcription errors;• use meaningful data to identify people and objects to avoid

error.

Control

SocialControls

Technical Controls

Database Integrity Controls

simultaneous processing• if two users access the same record at the same time and one

updates before the other, the database may become corrupt - usual to lock files to avoid this.

• controls over maintenance• provide a daily update report to ensure that all updates were

properly performed and that there were no unauthorised updates.

redundancy in the database• redundancy may be a useful technique for ensuring that data

is not lost, e.g., a data item storing the total cost of an order is redundant if the cost of each line of the order is stored, however, it can act as a check that an order line has not been lost.

Control

SocialControls

Technical Controls

Design for Property Rights

Property rights that may be significant: ownership of data you may wish to include; ownership of software you may wish to use; ownership of ideas you may wish to apply; ownership of knowledge you may wish to

incorporate (particularly in intelligent software).

Control

SocialControls

Technical Controls

Remember that data, programs, ideas and knowledge are all valuable assets to the owner. Unauthorised access, loss or corruption may cause significant loss.

Example: The tax file number is owned by the Commonwealth and its use as a primary key is forbidden by law.

Design for Property RightsControl

SocialControls

Technical Controls

Backup and Recovery

... a standard system of controls that should be built into all systems (including private ones!)

Principles: data can be reconstructed in the event of loss or corruption; application and system software can be reinstated in the

event of loss or corruption.

Loss or corruption may be deliberate or accidental - controls are essentially the same.

Control

SocialControls

Technical Controls

Design for Access

While this is more of a social economics issue ... who needs access to the data provided by the system how may they be able to access the data.

That is, when planning the system architecture and the data design, consider all the possible users and include their needs in the design, ensuring that they have both physical and logical access to the data they require.

Control

SocialControls

Technical Controls

The Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics

1. Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.

2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people’s computer work.

3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people’s computer files.

4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.

5. Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.

6. Thou shalt not copy or use proprietary software for which you have not paid.

7. Thou shalt not use other people’s computer resources without authorisation or proper compensation.

8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people’s intellectual output.

9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you are writing or the system you are designing.

10. Thou shalt always use a computer in ways that ensure consideration and respect for your fellow humans.

(http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~cs3604/spring.95/10.commandment.htm)

Topic References

Couger, J.D. (1989). “Preparing IS Students to Deal with Ethical Issues”. MIS Quarterly, vol.13, no.2 (June).

Dejoie, R., Fowler, G. and Paradice, D. (eds.) (1991).Ethical Issues in Information Systems, Boyd and Fraser, Boston, MA.

Mason, R.O. (1986). “Four Ethical Issues of the Information Age”, MIS Quarterly, vol.10, no.1 (March) reprinted in Dejoie, Fowler and Paradice (eds.) (1991).

Documents

Why Ethics The exercise of power always raises ethical issues Power stems from position knowledge credentials “information is power” Ethical issues arise