Ethics

Professor Nancy C. Shaw

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 Introduction
 Ethics – the principles and standards that guide
our behavior toward other people

 Important ethical concepts stemming from IT:

 Intellectual property
 Copyright
 Fair use doctrine
 Pirated software
 Counterfeit software

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 Introduction

 ePolicies address information privacy and

confidentiality issues
 ePolicies – policies and procedures that address the
ethical use of computers and Internet usage
 Privacy – the right to be left alone when you want
to be, to have control over your own personal
possessions, and not to be observed without your
consent
 Confidentiality – the assurance that messages and
data are available only to those who are authorized
to view them

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 Ethics
 Individuals form the only ethical component of
an IT systems

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 Ethics

 Acting ethically and legally are not always

the same

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 Information Has No Ethics
 Information has no ethics

 Information does not care how it is used

 Information will not stop itself from sending

spam, viruses, or highly-sensitive information

 Information cannot delete or preserve itself

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 Developing Information
Management Policies
 Organizations strive to build a corporate culture based on
ethical principles that employees can understand and
implement

 ePolicies typically include:

 Ethical computer use policy
 Information privacy policy
 Acceptable use policy
 E-mail privacy policy
 Internet use policy
 Anti-spam policy

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 Ethical Computer Use Policy

 Ethical computer use policy – contains

general principles to guide computer user
behavior

 The ethical computer user policy ensures

all users are informed of the rules and,
by agreeing to use the system on that
basis, consent to abide by the rules
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 Ethical Computer Use Policy
 Six principles for ethical information
management

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 Information Privacy Policy
 The unethical use of information typically occurs
“unintentionally” when it is used for new
purposes
 For example, social security numbers started as a
way to identify government retirement benefits and
are now used as a sort of universal personal ID

 Information privacy policy - contains general

principles regarding information privacy

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 Information Privacy Policy

 Information privacy policy guidelines:

1. Adoption and implementation of a privacy
policy
2. Notice and disclosure
3. Choice and consent
4. Information security
5. Information quality and access

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 Acceptable Use Policy
 Acceptable use policy (AUP) – a policy that a
user must agree to follow in order to be
provided access to a network or to the Internet

 An AUP usually contains a nonrepudiation clause

 Nonrepudiation – a contractual stipulation to
ensure that e-business participants do not deny
(repudiate) their online actions

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Acceptable Use Policy

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 E-mail Privacy Policy

 Organizations can mitigate the risks of e-

mail and instant messaging
communication tools by implementing and
adhering to an e-mail privacy policy

 E-mail privacy policy – details the

extent to which e-mail message may be
read by others
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E-MAIL PRIVACY POLICY

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E-mail Privacy Policy

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 Internet Use Policy
 Internet use policy – contains general
principles to guide the proper use of the
Internet

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 Anti-spam Policy
 Spam – unsolicited e-mail

 Spam accounts for 40% to 60% of most

organizations’ e-mail and cost U.S. businesses
over $14 billion in 2005

 Anti-spam policy – simply states that e-mail

users will not send unsolicited e-mails (or spam)

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 Ethics in the Workplace

 Workplace monitoring is a concern for many employees

 Organizations can be held financially responsible for

their employees’ actions

 The dilemma surrounding employee monitoring in the

workplace is that an organization is placing itself at risk
if it fails to monitor its employees, however, some
people feel that monitoring employees is unethical

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Effects of Monitoring Employees

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 Monitoring Technologies
 Monitoring – tracking people’s activities by
such measures as number of keystrokes, error
rate, and number of transactions processed
 Key logger or key trapper software
 Hardware key logger
 Cookie
 Adware
 Spyware
 Web log
 Clickstream
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 Employee Monitoring Policies
 Employee monitoring policies – explicitly state
how, when, and where the company monitors its
employees

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 Closing Case
Spying on Employees

 Many organizations have taken the Big Brother

approach to Web monitoring and track
Internet usage and read employees’ e-mail to
help prevent lost productivity

 Current research indicates that the effects of

such employee monitoring are even worse
than the lost productivity from employee Web
surfing

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 Questions

1. What are the ethical issues involved in

employee monitoring?

2. What are the adverse effects of employee

monitoring on the employees? Summarize the
potential issues an organization can face if it
does not monitor its employees. If you were
the CEO of an organization, would you choose
to monitor your employees? Why or why not?

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