Chapter 6 - Ethics and Privacy

Ethics

Involves making choices;
what to do, what to say, and even
what to think.

morals

refers to being virtuous,
while ethics can provide a
framework that can lead to a
virtuous life.

Information Privacy Rights

this category of ethical dilemmas involves the rights of individuals and
organizations to privacy

Intellectual Privacy Rights

refers to creative works such as artwork, literary works, inventions, music,
and images using patents, trademarks, and copyrights to protect intellectual
property

Control and Accountability

examines how individuals or corporations can be held accountable in case
of violations of privacy or intellectual property rights

Establishing Quality Standards

refers to determining what constitutes proper levels of protection of digital
information

Quality of Life

as it relates to the digital age refers to ensuring that technological
advancements do not detract from one’s quality of life

Computer Theft

physical theft of computer or network equipment

Copyright Infringement

occurs when the perpetrator uses materials that another person holds
exclusive rights to

Software Piracy

similar to copyright infringement, software piracy refers to using
licensed computer software without permission

Basic Ethical Principles

• the principle of moral rights
• the principle of virtue
• the principle of distributive justice
• the universalist principle
• the utilitarian principle

The Principle of Moral Rights

states that some decisions are either
morally right or morally wrong. In other words, there exist certain moral
values that should always be upheld or never be violated

The Principle of Virtue

asks the decision maker to consider what a
highly moral person would do when faced with this question.

The Principle of Distributive Justice

attempts to distribute
rewards equitable to individuals based on their level of effort or productivity
level.

The Universalist Principle

sounds simple, but often has significant
ethical consequences for managers. Simply stated, this principle states that
a manager must attempt to determine if this decision is fair for all involved.

The Utilitarian Principle

states that when faced with an ethical
dilemma the manager should choose the option that does the greatest good
for the most involved. Does the end justify the means?

An Ethical Analysis

1. Getting all the pertinent facts
2. Determining who is affected
3. Searching for precedents
4. Listing and researching options
5. Deciding, defending, and preparing for unintended consequences

Getting the facts

starting to make any decision, or even
determining that a decision should be made, get all the facts.

Determining the affected-

determine who will be impacted by
the decision.

Searching for precedents

does the organization provide any
guidelines such as policies, a code of ethics, a previous example, or a
mission statement that might provide guidance?

Listing options

make a physical list of all the options and the
potential outcomes.

Deciding and Preparing for the consequences

make the
decision and prepare for the consequences.

Privacy

your right to control
what happens with personal
information about you.

Internet privacy

the right of
personal privacy concerning the
storing, distributing and displaying
information concerning oneself via
the Internet.

The US PATRIOT (Providing Appropriate Tools Required
to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism)

was enacted to monitor terrorist activities and communications
following the 9/11 attacks and the 2001 Anthrax attack on Congress

The Federal Information Security Management (FISMA)

outlines a plan to protect government information and assets against
cyber threats

The Wiretap Act

protects person-to-person wire, oral, and electronic communications

The Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA)

implements two World
Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) treaties.

Title 1 of the Digital Millennium Copyright

The World Intellectual
Property Organization Copyright and Phonograms Treaties and
Implementation Act:
• requires that measures be taken to make it difficult to copy analog
video recordings

Title 2 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The Online Copyright
Infringement Liability Limitation
• protects Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from being sued for
copyright infringement when the ISP’s user wrongfully copies items
from the Internet

Title 4 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

This title contains
miscellaneous provisions for digital copyrights
• facilitates distance learning by allowing educational institutions
latitude with regard to the use of copyrighted material.

The Cybersecurity Information
Sharing Act (CISA)

allows
private companies to share
threat warnings with the Federal
government.
The bill include provisions that
allow businesses to prevent
irrelevant personal data.

cookie

small text file of
information created by websites
you visit that your web browser
stores on your hard disk.

First-Party Cookies

First-party cookies are created by
a website you visit and keep track
of your personal preferences and
the current web browsing session.

Third-Party Cookies

Third-party cookies are created by
a website other than the one you
are currently visiting and are used
to track your surfing habits.
Third-party cookies are
considered an invasion of privacy.

Session cookies

small text files that are stored in
temporary memory such as random access memory (RAM)
or a cache.
• are lost with the web browser is close

Persistent cookies

stored on the hard drive and are not
lost when the web browser is closed.
• are only lost if they are designed with an expiration date

Keystroke Loggers

a form of spyware that records all
actions typed on a keyboard.

Packet analyzers

called packet sniffers, refers to
specialized hardware or software that captures packets
transmitted over a network.

opt-out
mechanism

if the box is already checked by
default

opt-in feature

you must check
the box in order to agree

Intellectual property

human knowledge and ideas that
the law protects against
unauthorized use by others.

Intellectual property consists of
four categories:

1. Patents
2. Trademarks
3. Copyrights
4. Trade secrets

Copyright

form of protection provided by the laws of the United
States for “original works of authorship,” including literary,
dramatic, musical, architectural, cartographic,
choreographic, pantomimic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural,
and audiovisual creations.

To qualify for a patent

• the invention must be novel, or different, from other similar inventions
• it must also be non-obvious, meaning that a skilled artisan would find
the invention surprising or unexpected
• additionally, a patent will only be granted for something that is useful

Data

the raw facts that describe the characteristics of an
event, object, or set of information that can be entered into a
computer.

Structured data

a defined length, type, and format and
include numbers, dates, or strings such as a customer profile

Big data

refer to methodologies that attempt to deal with the
vast amount of complex information that accumulates at high,
and accelerating, velocity.

The Internet of Things (IoT)

has caused data sets to grow
exponentially. IoT includes:
• wearables, such as the iWatch and FitBit
• smart appliances
• radiofrequency identifiers (RFID readers)
• networked security and traffic cameras
• Wi-Fi user tracking stations, and thousands of other types of smart
devices transmit data over the Internet

Direct Inquiry

directly asking the individual remains the primary method of gathering
data

Indirect Tracking

cookies and web beacons allow companies to track website visitors’
browsing habits

Third Party Data Purchase

several large corporations purchase and sell consumer data

Antivirus software

used scan files to identify and remove
computer viruses and other malicious programs.

private browsing mode

• when private browsing has been activated, your browser will not store
cookies
• private browsing doesn’t securely hide your identity beyond the device
because your IP address can still be tracked

HTTPS

is the secure version of the HTTP protocol

Credit monitoring

is where lenders look to your credit
report to determine the interest rate or amount of money you
can borrow