Ethics and Privacy (Chapter 3)

 

 Ethics and Privacy

1.      Define ethics

Ethics refers to the principles of right and wronge that individuals use make choices that guide their behavior.

2.      Ethical Frameworks

There are many sources for ethical standards. The book has considered four widely used standards which are:

                               I.            Utilitarian approach: an ethical action is the one that provides the most good or does the least harm.

                            II.            Rights approach: ethical action is the one that best protects and respects the moral rights of the affected parties.

                         III.            Fairness approach: ethical actions treat all humans equally, or if unequally, then fairly, based on some defensible standard.

                         IV.            Common good approach: highlights the interlocking relationships that underlie all societies. 

 

3.      Code of ethics

A Code of Ethics is a collection of principles that are intended to guide decision making by members of an organization.

4.      Fundamental tenets of ethics

Fundamental tenets of ethics include responsibility, accountability and liability.

Responsibility means that you accept the consequences of your decisions and actions.

Accountability means a determination of who is responsible for actions that were taken.

Liability is a legal concept meaning that individuals have the right to recover the damages done to them by other individuals, organizations, or systems.

5.      · The Four Categories of Ethical Issues:

·         Privacy Issues involve collecting, storing and disseminating information about individuals.

·         Accuracy Issues involve the authenticity, fidelity and accuracy of information that is collected and processed.

·         Property Issues involve the ownership and value of information.

·         Accessibility Issues revolve around who should have access to information and whether they should have to pay for this access.

6.      Define privacy

Privacy is the right to be left alone and to be free of unreasonable personal intrusions.

7.      Threats to Privacy:

A.            Data aggregators, digital dossiers, and profiling

Data aggregators are companies that collect public data (e.g., real estate records, telephone numbers) andnonpublic data (e.g., social security numbers, financial data, police records, motor vehicle records) and integrate them to produce digital dossiers.

Digital dossier is an electronic description of you and your habits.

Profiling is the process of creating a digital dossier.

B.            Electronic Surveillance

Electronic Surveillance. The tracking of people‘s activities, online or offline, with the aid of computers.

C.            Personal Information in Databases

Personal Information in Databases. Information about individuals is being kept in many databases: banks, utilities co., govt. agencies, …etc.; the most visible locations are credit-reporting agencies.

D.            Information on Internet Bulletin Boards, Newsgroups, and Social Networking Sites

Social Networking Sites often include electronic discussions such as chat rooms. These sites appear on the Internet, within corporate intranets, and on blogs.

8.       Protecting Privacy:

Privacy Codes and Policies. An organization’s guidelines with respect to protecting the privacy of customers, clients, and employees.

Opt-out model of informed consent permits the company to collect personal information until the customer specifically requests that the data not be collected.

Opt-in model of informed consent means that organizations are prohibited from collecting any personal information unless the customer specifically authorizes it.  (Preferred by privacy advocates.)

International Aspects of Privacy. Privacy issues that international organizations and governments face when information spans countries and jurisdictions.