Ethical Issues related to Information System Design and Use

BS( Hons.) IT Morning
Group no.13
Student 1. Maria manzoor (1061)
Student 2. Noreeha atique (1062)
Student 3. Faisal zulfiqar (1063)
Student 4. Abdur Rehman (1064)., Student 5. Hafsa (1068)
Submiteed to :
Inam-ul- Haq.
University of Education Renala campus.
Ethical Issues Related to IS Design and Use 1

 Contents :
Introduction.
Motivation.
Importance & Scope
Comparison
Findings
Summary
Conclusion
References
University of Education renala campus.Ethical Issues Related to IS Design and Use 2

 Introduction:
Information ethics has been defined as “the branch of ethics” that focuses on the
Relationship between the creation, organization, dissemination, and use of information,
And the ethical standards and moral codes governing human conduct in society.
It provides a critical frameworks for considering moral issues concerning information
Privacy, moral agency (e.g whether artificial agents may be moral), new
Environmental issues (especially how agents should behave in the infosphre),
Problems arising from the life cycle (creation, collection, recording , distribution,
Processing etc.
Some use off IS can be considered unethical violations of privacy or corrupt use
Of network systems. For example, access to bank account information can lead to
Theft, access to private demographics can lead to unfair targeted marketing
Campaigns and access to medical information can lead to discrimination based on
medical issues. For some kind of IS , specially medical and financial systems, accuracy
Is an ethical issue. Holders of these types of IS have duty to ensure that the data
In the system is up to data and accurate. Inaccurate financial information can lead
to loss of capital while inaccurate medical information can lead to injury or death.
University of Education Renala campus.Ethical Issues Related to IS Design and Use 3

 Motivation :
Social ethics are the philosophical or moral principles that,
in one way or another, represent the collective experience
of people and cultures. Within a society, the focus is usually
more on what may be considered appropriate behavior of
People as a whole.
In most places, companies also abide by guiding social ethics
Principles. Part of the problem with universally defining social
ethics is that there are many different elements that contribute
to them. Language, race, gender and culture all come into the
equation; religion and education also play a role. In order for
Societal standards to work in the face of such differences, most
Societies operate under a “majority rule” system where what is
best for the most people becomes standard. The rights and
Interests of the majority can only be enforced to the extent that
Others are not harmed.

 Importance & Scope
Information is a source of power and increasingly, the key to
prosperity among those with access to it. Consequently
developments in information systems also involved social and
Political relationship and so make ethical considerations in how
Information is used all the more important. Electronic systems
now reach into all levels of government, into the work place,
and into private lives to such an extent that even people
without access to these systems are affected in significant ways
by them. New ethical and legal decisions are necessary to
Balance the needs and rights of every one.

Meanings of ethics:
Ethics are moral choices made by
individuals in relation to the rest of the community, standards of
acceptable behavior and rules governing members of a profession.
Ethics are principles and rules concerning duty to society,
Profession and business. Ethics is about how we ought to live. The
Purpose of ethics in information system is not philosophical or
academic, it can mean the survival of a business or industry. The
Issues relating to electronic information systems include control of
and access to information, privacy and misuse of data. Issues of
the ethics and privacy always been there even when computerized
Environments were in there natal phase. However with the
advancement in technology, the issues have grown sophisticated
and so are the remedies.

Ethical challenges:
Information system security association
of USA has listed down following ethical challenges:-
1. Misrepresentation of certifications, skills
2. Abuse of privileges
3. Inappropriate monitoring.
4. Withholding information.
5. Divulging information inappropriately.
6. Overstating issues.
7. Conflicts of interest.
8. Management/employee/client issues.
Privacy and Ethics: Whenever one has to talk of privacy,
Ethics is the second half of it. It won’t be wrong to say that privacy may not
have been an issue had it on been linked with the ethical view a society
has. There are certain aspects which we put together formulate a set of
ethical Issues. These are ;

1. Privacy issues
2. Accuracy issues
3. Property issues
4. Accessibility issues.
Privacy issues:
Following aspects should be covered when privacy is dealt with.
• What kind of surveillance should be used by an employer on an employee?
• What things can be keep to themselves and not be forced to reveals to others?
• What information about individuals should be kept in database and how secure is
the Information there – issues of Data Protection.
oWhat can be revealed to others about oneself if one is required to do so?
Accuracy issues: Following are the some accuracy issues.
•How can we ensure that information will be processed and presented properly?
•Is there any track of errors, omissions made in the database and who has made
them at what time.
•Who is to be held accountable for the changes made in database, whether
authorized
University of Education Renala Campus.Ethical Issues Related to IS Design and Use 9

Or unauthorized, intentional or unintentional.

COMPARISION:
In Europe, privacy protection is much more stringent than in
the united states. Unlike the united state, Europeans countries do not allow business
To use personally identifiable information without consumers’ prior consent. The
directive require companies to inform people when they collect information about
them and disclose how it will be stored and use. EU member nations must translate
these principals into their own laws and cannot transfer personal data to countries,
Such as the united states, that do not have similar privacy protections regulations.
U.S business doing business with Europeans are allowed to use personal data
from EU countries if they develop privacy protection policies that meet EU standards.
The laws regarding protection of software in the U.S are to great degree in a state
Of flux. In this country copyrights and patents exit side-by-side as protection methods
for software; copyright of software has been accepted since the 1970s, while software
Patents become possible early. A lot of debate has taken place (and continues to) over
how software should be protected, since it doesn’t fall neatly into the category either
Of writings or of discoveries, protected under U.S.
In the U.K software protection in the united kingdom is the bit simpler than in
the U.S., but that could change in the near future. Currently software can only be
Copyrighted in the U.K , and the patenting of software is explicitly disallowed;
however there’s a proposal in the works- to extend patent protection to software
which has raised a storm of controversy from both sides.

•ETHICAL Issues in KMS
There are many aspects of KM which include KM Strategy, KM system , and KM culture
etc. But
, all of these constituents of KM, one important and essential ingredient is Ethical issue.
•Ethical Decision cycle:
When we make the ethical decisions we got to consider many elements like: the nature
essence of the act, The consequences of the action or in the action parties involved,
The fair-reaching consequences of the action or inaction of the organization, community
, community, and society. The ethical decision cycle consist of different stages they are
act, evaluation of alternatives, action (decision), outcome and organizational and
societal feedback, all this link in a cycle.
•Knowledge Management ethical issue in business environment:
The knowledge management plays a important role in business environment. In
organization gathering and sharing of knowledge plays a vital role and in doing that
ethical issues are raised. In concern to business perspective the ethical issue
that has to be considered in managing knowledge are firstly the failure in
identifying the knowledge with evident that could be helpful for the individuals or
organization or to the society.

•Threats to ethical issues:
In knowledge management ethical issues plays a major role, ethical means attaining
benefits by maintaining standards. Knowledge management involves many ethical issues;
however here is the main four ethical issues in a business environment. Those are privacy,
accuracy, property and accessibility.
Privacy:
Maintaining the information safe and securely and only belong to themselves.
That information
should not reveals to other. Are they maintaining the safeguards to protect the
information?
What information is very important to our business to keep as secret and they
want reveal to others? Privacy has the right of control individual to control information
themselves.
Accuracy:
Business organization must check out the information accuracy; fidelity and authentication
responsibilities. If there are any errors they have check out to those ones. Accuracy is an
issue which has to maintain the quality of data in terms of reducing errors. Mean while
we have to know how the errors occurred and how we can minimize the problem.

Property:
The term property resembles the assets of an individual or an organization.
The information owner has to reveal the fair prices of exchange of data. Who
has the ownership of knowledge is a as a valued asset. Both the employer and
employees faces a lot of questions regarding ethical
behavior of property issue.
Accessibility:
It mainly concerns about the knowledge employees and managers. This issue
includes access privileges. Who is going to access this and what type
of access is being allowed.
University of Education Renala Campus.

Findings:
Information is a source of power. Consequently development in
Information systems also involve social and political relationships- and so make ethical
Considerations in how information is used all the more important. Electronic system
now reach into all levels of government, into the workplace, and into private lives to
Such an extent that even people without excess to these systems are affected in
Significant ways by them. Now ethical and legal decisions are necessary to balance
the needs and rights of everyone.
Information system IS, is a blanket term for human manage electronic data
Collection, kind of like the computer version of a filling cabinet. The types and uses
Of IS very greatly. Employers might use IS to keep information on employees, doctors
To manage their patients records, marketers to track product or client trends, even
The information stored on social networks is a form of IS. The vast amount of
personal and public information kept in various IS can pose some ethical issues.
University Of Education Renala Campus.Ethical Issues Related to IS Design and Use 16

 Summary :
Analyze the relationships among ethical, social, and political issues that are raised
by information system. Identify the moral dimensions of an information society
and specific principles for conduct that can be used to guide ethical decisions.
Evaluate the impact of contemporary information systems and the internet on the
Protection of individuals privacy and intellectual property.
 Assess how information systems have affected everyday life.
 Copyright laws.
Health and safety .
Changing nature of work.
Accuracy of data and information.
Ergonomic issues for participants entering large volumes of data into an
Information System.
Data incorrectly analyzed.
Privacy principles.
The freedom of information act.
Access to data, owner ship and control of data.

Conclusion:
New computers technologies for gathering, storing, manipulating , and
Communicating data are revolutionizing the use and spread of information.
Along the way, they are also creating ethical dilemmas. The speed and efficiency
of Electronic information systems, which include local and global networks, data
bases and programs for processing information, force people to confront entirely
new Rights and responsibilities in their use of information and to reconsider
standards Of conduct shaped before the advent of computers. IS users who hold
private Information have the ethical obligation to keep their private
information, like name, Address, E-mail and phone numbers safe from criminals
or others who may misuse that information. IS users must use both logics and
ethics to determine who can Access what information on the IS. Then the
access to information is controlled
Through passwords or only through certain computers terminals.

 References :
www.ehow.com/info-7557468_ethical-issues-information-systems.htm
www.ethical-issues/importance of ethics in IS << ckbooks online-free online
http://www.colorao.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/ethics/ethics-f.html.
http://www.teachrepublic.com/article/10-ethical issues-confronting-it-managers/#
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/information-ethics

Ethical Issues related to Information System Design and Use

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to Ethical Issues related to Information System Design and Use

More from university of education,Lahore

Recently uploaded

In this document

Ethical Issues related to Information System Design and Use