Thelma P. Eldridge
Information Ethics
The area of ethics that relates to the creation and use of information that is managed by ethical standards and moral codes of our conduct in society is information ethics. “Ethics and security are two fundamental blocks for all organizations”, (Baltzan, 2017, Page 71). The failure of following standard information ethics and simple morality in the business world can destroy any business, whether large or small. The use of information by someone without permission or approval could allow sensitive information to fall into the hands of a person that might have ill intent.
All actions we take today leave a footprint of information that is there for the future of business, like a GPS tracking our every move through our travels. “All those apps on your phone that make things so convenient are also virtual spies, and most of us are giving them permission to track our every move”, (Gerrish, 2017).
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A business owner must be concerned with copyright laws to adequately protect a business legally. Privacy is also an important concern that a business owner must face to assure all concerned are protected and that all data pertaining to that individual is kept secure and only available to those who are authorized to view them. “Information ethics govern the ethical and moral issues arising from the development and use of information technologies as well as the creation, collection, duplication, distribution, and processing of information itself”, (Baltzan, 2017, Page 71). The goal of most businesses is to run a business both legally and ethically. Many businesses sometimes find themselves in a precarious position wondering whether the decisions they are making are legally and ethical, but it all comes down to the morality of the person making the decision – is it the right thing to do for all
Did you know that almost everything you do on the internet is being tracked and recorded in some way? In the Article, George Orwell… Meet Mark Zuckerberg, by Lori Andrews, Andrews talks about how behavioral advertising, which is the tracking of consumer’s online activities in order to bring custom-made advertisements, is a topic that is concealed to many people and can cause damage. Search engines like Google store the searches you have made and in 2006 there were search logs released which had personal information that people were judged by (Andrews 716-717). Data aggregation is the main way Facebook makes its money. Andrews believes that it’s an invasion of privacy and is not known well enough by the public. This article is aimed at young and new internet users that are ignorant of the possible dangers on the web. Lori Andrews is successful at informing novice users about the dangers of behavioral
In the Engineering and Technology Journal, two engineers, Gareth Mitchell and Guy Clapperton, gave their thoughts on both sides of the privacy issue. Is gathering information violating personal privacy? They made their arguments using currency as a metaphor for personal information and online services a product. Mitchell argues the case that giving out personal information is “too high a price to pay” (Mitchell, 2013, p. 26). He says that despite the option to opt out of cookies and certain information, many sites are more covert and make their opt out option less accessible than a pop up asking to opt out. The site makes it hard for the Internet user to say no to being tracked. Mitchell warns the reader to take more consideration into what information they are giving away and that “privacy is not to be taken for granted” (Mitchell, 2013, p. 26). Getting information from the Internet would mean tra...
Privacy is becoming rare as our society continues to become more industrialized and move towards a society hyper-focused on technology. Nicholas Carr explains this obsession with technology in his essay “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty.” He identifies three dangers that are present in today’s internet society that are: personal data can fall into the wrong hands easily, personal information may be used to influence our behavior, and personal privacy is eroding and may lead us as a society to devalue the concept of privacy. These dangers are not only possible but they are seen in our world today.
We now accept the sharing and digital storage of our personal information as a necessary evil. We continue to incorporate, into our lives, technology that uses this data. Microsoft and Google are envisioning and developing ways to commercialize the use of even more of our stored personal information.
Whitman, M., & Mattord, H. (2011). Reading & cases in information security: law & ethics. (2011 custom ed., p. 264). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
The personal connection Americans have with their phones, tablets, and computers; and the rising popularity of online shopping and social websites due to the massive influence the social media has on Americans, it is clear why this generation is called the Information Age, also known as Digital Age. With the Internet being a huge part of our lives, more and more personal data is being made available, because of our ever-increasing dependence and use of the Internet on our phones, tablets, and computers. Some corporations such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook; governments, and other third parties have been tracking our internet use and acquiring data in order to provide personalized services and advertisements for consumers. Many American such as Nicholas Carr who wrote the article “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty, With Real Dangers,” Anil Dagar who wrote the article “Internet, Economy and Privacy,” and Grace Nasri who wrote the article “Why Consumers are Increasingly Willing to Trade Data for Personalization,” believe that the continuing loss of personal privacy may lead us as a society to devalue the concept of privacy and see privacy as outdated and unimportant. Privacy is dead and corporations, governments, and third parties murdered it for their personal gain not for the interest of the public as they claim. There are more disadvantages than advantages on letting corporations, governments, and third parties track and acquire data to personalized services and advertisements for us.
“Human beings are not meant to lose their anonymity and privacy,” Sarah Chalke. When using the web, web users’ information tend to be easily accessible to government officials or hackers. In Nicholas Carr’s “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty,” Jim Harpers’ “Web Users Get As Much As They Give,” and Lori Andrews “Facebook is Using You” the topic of internet tracking stirred up many mixed views; however, some form of compromise can be reached on this issue, laws that enforces companies to inform the public on what personal information is being taken, creating advisements on social media about how web users can be more cautious to what kind of information they give out online, enabling your privacy settings and programs, eliminating weblining,
Swartz and Allen both offer valuable perspectives on expectation of privacy and legal limitation of cell phone data tracking use. As consumers of technology, Americans use cells phone not always by choice, sometimes by necessity. Both authors advise us to question our stand on the government’s unwarranted involvement in our lives. I would encourage us all to be aware of all technology around us. Albeit convenient, we must be willing to accept our part in its use.
Part of the allure of the Internet has always been the anonymity it offers its users. As the Internet has grown however, causing capitalists and governments to enter the picture, the old rules are changing fast. E-commerce firms employ the latest technologies to track minute details on customer behavior. The FBI's Carnivore email-tracking system is being increasingly used to infringe on the privacy of netizens. Corporations now monitor their employees' web and email usage. In addition to these privacy infringements, Internet users are also having their use censored, as governments, corporations, and other institutions block access to certain sites. However, as technology can be used to wage war on personal freedoms, it can also be employed in the fight against censorship and invasion of privacy.
ates another's privacy. Violation of ones personal privacy, via computers, may in part be due to the incomplete understanding of responsibility on the part of those involved. Is it a management or a technical concern?
In a world where people have become dependent on technology, we can access any type of information as well as provide information to the Internet. This causes a great amount of knowledge for anyone to use to their content, whether it be for malicious or benign purposes. However, whether the reasons are behind this, there is always a trace of something left behind in an electronic devices history. By tapping into a person’s history, one can found out exactly what a person does when they are online. In Singer’s essay, he stated that it is possible to create a ‘Panopticon’ where the government has a visual observation on its citi...
Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person: The most common non-fatal offence that is committed against the person is common assault. This is a summary offence which carries a six month prison sentence. It is made up of two seperate offences, assault, and battery. It it traditionally thought of as a common law offence, however it is recognised in statute, in the Criminal Law Act 1967.
In this new era of the Internet, most people use the Internet to acquire information of one kind or other. But what these people are not aware of is that the Internet is collecting information about them. Every time we get onto the Internet there might be a compromise of privacy of our personal information. The information flows both ways. With every clock of the mouse on a hyperlink, or an addition to the mailing list, someone out there might be gathering information about us. This raises the seriousness of privacy of our information on the Internet.
Reynolds, G. (2012). Ethics in information technology ( 4th ed.). Boston, MA: Course Technology, Cengage.
...puter technology are rooted in the general ethical issues that people in society deal with. For example, the ethical issues such as invasion of privacy, theft, and fraud have been around since human beings began interacting with each other. The fact is that elements of these ethical issues are not unique to the computer field or computer technology. These current technologies raise the same ethical dilemmas with conditions that are unique to computer and cyber technology. This explains why we general ethical issue are such as privacy, theft and fraud are reexamined as informational privacy, identity theft and computer fraud in computer technology.