Chapter 5

Ethical and Social Impact of Information Systems

Chapter 52

Ethical and Social Impact of Information Systems

• Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems– Ethics are the principles of right and wrong that can be

used by individuals acting as free moral agents to make choices to guide their behavior.

– Like other technologies, IT can be used to achieve social progress and it also be used to commit crimes.

– A Model for Thinking about Ethical, Social, and Political Issues

• Ethical, social, and political issues are tightly coupled together.• Social institutions cannot respond actively to new situations.

Chapter 53

Ethical and Social Impact of Information Systems

• Political institutions also require time before developing new laws and often require the demonstration of real harm before they act.

– Five Moral Dimensions of the Information Age• Information rights and obligations: The rights that individuals

and org. possess with respect to information about themselves.• Property rights: Intellectual property rights• Accountability and control: Who is accountable and liable for

harm done to the property rights?• System quality: What are the standards needed to protect

individual and society rights?• Quality of life: What values should be preserved in an info and

knowledge based society?

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Ethical and Social Impact of Information Systems

– Key Technology Trends that Raise Ethical Issues

• The ethical issues long preceded IT.• IT has heightened ethical concerns.• There are four key technology trends responsible

for these ethical stresses:1. The doubling of computing power2. Advances in data storage3. Advances in datamining techniques4. Advances in networking