technology in actionokikeq/documents/technology... · personal ethics and your work life if you...

Technology in Action

Alan Evans • Kendall Martin

Mary Anne Poatsy

Eleventh Edition

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. 1

Technology in Action

Technology in Focus: Information Technology Ethics


Chapter Topics

• What Is Ethics? • Personal Ethics • Personal Ethics and Your Work Life • Technology and Ethics: How One Affects

the Other • Using Computers to Support Ethical

Conduct


Key Issues Related to Technology and Ethics

• Intellectual property rights

• Privacy

• E-commerce

• Free speech

• Computer abuse

4 Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

What Is Ethics?

• Study of general nature of morals and moral choices

• Morals: conforming to established ideas of right and wrong

• Difference between fairness and equity

• Principles are guidelines used to make decisions


What is Ethics? Doesn't Everyone Have the Same Ethical Values?



• Relativism – No universal moral truth

– Dictated by cultural tastes and customs

• Divine Command Theory – All-knowing God sets standards

– Conforming to God’s law is good; breaking it is wrong



• Utilitarianism – Actions judged by consequences

– Greater happiness is better

– Individual happiness is not as important

• Virtue Ethics – Morals are internal

– Strives to behave well spontaneously



• Deontology (Duty-based) – Adherence to moral duties and rights

– Applies to everyone equally


What is Ethics? Doesn't Everyone have the Same Basic Ethics?

• Laws are formal, written standards – Designed to apply to everyone

– Enforced by government agencies

– Interpreted by the courts

• Impossible to pass enough laws

• Ethics is needed to provide a general set of unwritten guidelines


What is Ethics? Is Unethical Behavior the Same as Illegal Behavior?

• Unethical Behavior – Isn’t necessarily illegal

– Not all illegal behavior is unethical

– Not conforming to approved standards

• Amoral Behavior – No sense of right or wrong

– No interest in moral consequences


• No universal agreement • Most societies use a blend • Ethical decision are greatly influenced by

personal ethics


What is Ethics? Which System of Ethics Works Best?

Personal Ethics What are Personal Ethics?

• Set of formal or informal principles – Some are clear, well-

defined

– Others are inconsistent or applied differently

– Can be challenging to adhere to consistently


Personal Ethics How do a Person's Ethics Develop?

• Family

• Cultural bias

• Religious affiliation

• Life experiences


Personal Ethics What if I'm Not Sure What My Personal Ethics Are?

• Describe yourself

• List the key principles you believe

• Identify external influences

• Consider “why”

• Prepare a statement of values


Personal Ethics What are the Benefits to Ethical Living?

• Society has established rules of conduct – Ignoring or being inconsistent can have

immediate impact

• Health benefits to ethical living – Day-to-day decisions conflict with principles

– Stress and anger often develop


Personal Ethics What are the Benefits to Ethical Living?

• Positive psychology – Dr. Martin Seligman – Causes of happiness instead of treating dysfunctions – Identify personal strengths and values – Align your life – Can impact your health and happiness


Personal Ethics and Your Work Life How do Employers Affect Personal Ethics?

• Do your ethics change when you go to work? – Employers expect you to

follow ethics and rules of conduct

– Do not blindly follow unethical practices


Personal Ethics and Your Work Life If You Spot Unethical Behavior at Your Company, What Do You Do?

• Whistle-blowers expose unethical (but still legal) acts – Do not blindly follow unethical practices

– Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 • Requires that companies provide mechanisms for

employees to report complaints

• This is to be done anonymously

– Often now done online


Personal Ethics and Your Work Life

• How does making ethical choices in a business setting differ from making personal ethical choices? – Most personal ethical decisions involve few

people

– Ethical choices in business must give consideration to stakeholders

– Stakeholders are people or entities affected by the operations of a business


Technology and Ethics: How One Affects the Other

• Technology moves faster than rules can be formulated

• Use of technology is often left up to the individual

• Ethical considerations are never clear-cut

• Reasonable people can have different views


Ethics and Technology Issues


Social Justice Brain Technology: Creating Cyborgs?

• A cyborg contains both biological and artificial components

• Current research – Brain-computer

interfaces

– Neurostimulation

– Neural stem cells


Social Justice Brain Technology: Creating Cyborgs?

• Point - Research might alleviate human suffering – Society will dictate what is acceptable

– Governments can put controls in place

• Counterpoint – Cannot be adequately controlled – Might be used for military purposes

– Might destroy what it means to be human


Intellectual Property International Pirates

• Point – Vigorous enforcement allows developers to make a fair profit – Otherwise a disadvantage

in marketplace – Every country needs

common understanding

• Counterpoint – U.S. can’t tell other countries how to conduct internal affairs


Privacy Can Employers Peer Into Your Personal Life?

• Point – Privacy is a basic human right – Employers might misuse data or violate law

– Privacy settings on social media sites should allow user the ultimate control of data

• Counterpoint – Business concerns outweigh privacy concerns – In digital age, loss of privacy is inevitable


E-Commerce Geolocation: Who Knows Where You Are?

• Point – People comfortable sharing personal information – Businesses would lose revenue

– Useful for public safety

• Counterpoint – Society too complacent with privacy issues – Consumers to be educated and

make informed choices


Electronic Communication Does Free Speech Have a Price?

• Point – Companies should not try to change laws in other countries – U.S. company can have no

impact on reform

• Counterpoint – Corporations should consider country’s stand on human rights – Financial and political incentives

put pressure on other countries


Computer Abuse Cyberbullying: Who Should Protect Children From Each Other?

• Point – Individuals are responsible for own behavior – Parents are responsible to

protect children

– Education is key and needs to be controlled by parents

• Counterpoint – Society is affected – Educators have more resources

than parents


Using Computers to Support Ethical Conduct

• Can use technology to support ethical conduct

• Charitable organizations use Internet for fundraising

• Web is a tool for organizing aid to areas in crisis

• Websites and Facebook can locate friends and family members after disaster


All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

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