Chapter 4 -- Ethical and Social Impact of Information Systems

(This page last modified June 11, 1997. Please send comments to H.E. Dunsmore)

Teaching Objectives

To aid students in exploring and understanding the relationship between information systems and the ethical, social and political needs of society.
To identify the main moral dimensions of an information society, and to give students experience in applying them to specific situations.
To introduce students to a method for analyzing the ethical issues involved in any situation.
To give students the opportunity to explore specific ethical principles for conduct.
To aid students in developing skills for developing corporate ethical conduct policies as they relate to information systems.

Key Terms

Ethics
Information rights
Responsibility
Accountability
Liability
Due process
Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative
Descartes' rule of change
Utilitarian Principle
Risk Aversion Principle
Ethical "no free lunch" rule
Privacy
Fair Information Practices (FIP)
Intellectual property
Trade secret
Copyright
Patent
Computer crime
Computer abuse
Repetitive stress injury (RSI)
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS)
Computer vision syndrome (CVS)
Technostress

Chapter Outline

4.1 Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems

A Model for Thinking About Ethical, Social, and Political Issues

Five Moral Dimensions of the Information Age

Key Technology Trends That Raise Ethical Issues

4.2 Ethics in an Information Society

Basic Concepts: Responsibility, Accountability, and Liability

Ethical Analysis

Candidate Ethical Principles

Professional Codes of Conduct

Some Real-World Ethical Dilemmas

4.3 The Moral Dimension of Information Systems

Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in an Information Society

Property Rights: Intellectual Property

Accountability, Liability, and Control

System Quality: Data Quality and System Errors

Quality of Life: Equity, Access, Boundaries

Management Actions: A Corporate Code of Ethics

Internet Resources

EMASS Data Storage Solutions of Garland, Texas, is discussed in the textbook on page 97.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center is a research center in Washington, D.C. established in 1994 "to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values".

Ethical and Professional Issues in Computing Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Papers and workshop materials available.

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. Look at the "Privacy and Civil Liberties" link.

Computer Operations, Audit, and Security Technology (COAST) is a laboratory concerning computer security research in the Computer Science Department at Purdue University.

Walter Mossberg in the Personal Technology column of the Wall Street Journal (October 24, 1996, B1) suggests that readers check out the "Stalker" site to see examples of kinds of private information available on the World-Wide Web.

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