Transcript tia5e_tif02_ppt

© 2009 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
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Technology in Action
Technology in Focus:
Information Technology Ethics
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Ethics Defined
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Study of morals and moral choices
Match established ideas of right and wrong
Fairness
Equity
Guidelines for decision making
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Ethics Defined
• Systems of ethical conduct
– Moral relativism
– Situational ethics
– Religious traditions
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Ethics Defined
• Unethical behavior
– Not conforming to a set of approved standards
– Social or professional
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Personal Ethics
• Checklist of personal decisions
• May be well-defined
• May be applied inconsistently
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Personal Ethics
• How do they develop?
– Family and cultural bias
– Religious affiliation
– Life experiences
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Define Your Personal Ethics
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Describe yourself
List your beliefs
Identify external influences
Consider “why”
Prepare a statement of values
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Personal Ethics
• Benefits of ethical living
– Obeying laws
– Less stress and anger
– Increased happiness
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Personal Ethics in the
World View
• Do your ethics match the workplace?
• Are you ethics away from work a concern
for your employer?
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Technology and Ethics
• Technology is all around us
• Technology moves quickly
• Rules governing technology move more
slowly
• Use of technology left to personal ethics
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Social Justice: Can Technology
Be Used to Benefit Everyone?
• Can we use technology to achieve social
justice?
• Can we apply these technologies to poor
areas?
– Solar energy
– Genetic engineering
– Internet access
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Social Justice: Can Technology
Be Used to Benefit Everyone?
• Point: Technology Provides Economic
Opportunity for All
– Could be used to eliminate poverty
– Could improve quality of life in poor countries
– Could be an ethical force
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Social Justice: Can Technology
Be Used to Benefit Everyone?
• Counterpoint: Technology Doesn’t Provide
Economic Opportunity for All
• No one can solve the problem of poverty
– Should not be addressed by technologists
• Potential risks of new technologies
• Threats to existing world economies
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Intellectual Property: What Is
Fair About Fair Use?
• Copyright laws protect intellectual property
• Fair use
– Allows for exceptions to copyright laws
• Fair use criteria
– What is the purpose of the work?
– What is the nature of the proposed work?
– How much copyrighted material is being
used?
– What is the effect on the original material?
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Intellectual Property: What Is
Fair About Fair Use?
• Point: Liberal Fair Use Standards Are
Beneficial
– Encourages wide dissemination of information
– Allows the most democratic, free society
– Existing laws not up-to-date with technology
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Intellectual Property: What Is
Fair About Fair Use?
• Counterpoint: Strict Fair Use Standards Are
Beneficial
– Existing laws should not be changed because
technology has changed
– Copyright holders should control their own work
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Privacy: Is Personal Privacy
a Casualty of the Modern Age?
• Privacy is a basic human right
• Many of our transactions are recorded
– Debit cards
– Loyalty cards
– Electronic toll passes
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Privacy: Is Personal Privacy
a Casualty of the Modern Age?
• Point: Protect Personal Privacy
– No reason to watch me
– Government misuse of data
– Government control of population
– National ID cards remind people of Nazis
– Privacy controls are expensive
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Privacy: Is Personal Privacy
a Casualty of the Modern Age?
• Counterpoint: Reduced Privacy Is a
Fact of Modern Life
– Should have nothing to hide
– Help enhance the detection of terrorists
– Protect citizens from being abused
– National ID card worth the cost
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Commerce: Should Online Gambling
Be Banned or Regulated?
• Multi-billion dollar industry
• Already illegal in U.S.
• Facilitates addictive gambling
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Commerce: Should Online Gambling
Be Banned or Regulated?
• Point: Ban Online Gambling
– Easy access for minors and compulsive
gamblers
– Could support criminal activities
– No regulation: who keeps the house honest?
– Allows gamblers to hide their addiction
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Commerce: Should Online Gambling
Be Banned or Regulated?
• Counterpoint: Legalize Online Gambling
– Protect consumers
– Allow for scrutiny of all transactions
– Standardize the industry
– Generate tax revenues
– Regulated in other countries
– Easier to regulate than prohibit
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Communication: When Does
Big Business Limit Free Speech?
• Google concedes to demands from
Beijing to self-censor its search engine
– Helps suppress dissent in return for
access to the Chinese market
– Cost of doing business in Chinese market
– Potential Chinese market is huge
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Communication: When Does
Big Business Limit Free Speech?
• Point: Google Acted Unethically
– Sacrificed free speech for business
– Violated human rights
– No incentive for China to change
– Other rights hang in the balance
– How far is too far?
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Communication: When Does
Big Business Limit Free Speech?
• Counterpoint: Google’s Actions Were
Justified
– Companies should pursue profits
– Withdrawing from China would further
restrict free speech
– Advances the slow progress toward
democracy
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Computer Abuse: Does
Restricting Online Information
Protect Children?
• Internet allows
– Sexual predators to contact potential victims
– Distribution of pornography
– Cyberbullying
– Phishing
– Dissemination of hate speech
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Computer Abuse: Does
Restricting Online Information
Protect Children?
• Children are especially vulnerable
– Use technology more than adults
– More trusting than some adults
– May not recognize malicious intent
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Computer Abuse: Does
Restricting Online Information
Protect Children?
• Point: Monitoring Software Protects
Children
– Laws have proved ineffective
– Make sure libraries and schools are safe
– Uphold moral standards of the public
– Logical extension of the library screening
process
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Computer Abuse: Does
Restricting Online Information
Protect Children?
• Counterpoint: Monitoring Software
Restricts Access to Information
– Blocks informational content
– Amounts to censorship
– Is not 100% reliable
– Widens the “digital divide”
– Education is a better alternative
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Using Computers to Support
Ethical Conduct
• Charitable organizations use the Internet
for fund raising
• Companies must provide mechanisms to
report unethical behavior anonymously
• Intranets and e-mail are used to inform
employees of ethics policies
• Your personal ethics must guide your
decisions concerning technology
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