7- ethics in it

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Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 7-1

Chapter 7

Computer, Ethics and Business

Technology




Information Technology Ethical

Issues

• Importance can be seen through an

AMA/ePolicy Institute survey:

– 26% of firms reported they had fired workers

due to misusing the Internet

– 25% reported they had fired employees for

misuse of their corporate email accounts

– 6% of the respondents reported that they hadfired employees for misuse of the corporate

telephone





Issues



– 76% reported they had monitored employees’

computers to determine which Web sites had

been selected

– 65% of the firms stated they used software to

block connections to inappropriate websites – 36% monitored keystrokes, amount of time

spent on the computer and the content





Issues



– 50% saved and reviewed computer files of

their employees

– 55% retained and reviewed email messages

sent and received by their employees

– 80% notified their employees they weremonitoring these things





Issues



– 82% told the employees they were saving and

receiving their computer files

– 86% told employees that their email was

being monitored

– 89% told their employees that access tocertain Web sites was blocked





Issues• Importance can be seen through an

AMA/ePolicy Institute survey: – 84% of the firms had a formal email policy in place

– 81% had a personal Internet use policy

– 42% had a personal instant messenger use policy – 34% had a policy that explained when employees

could access the Internet for personal use duringcompany time

– 23% of the firms had a policy pertaining to the use of

personal postings on corporate blogs – 20% had a policy pertaining to the use of personal

blogs during company time





Issues



– 20% have had email subpoenaed for legal

cases

– 13% had to address workplace lawsuits that

were the result of employee email




Management Issues for Information

Technology

• Agent for stockholders – utilize technology

to enhance level of competitiveness

• Ensure rights and needs of other

stakeholders are not sacrificed to

maximize the firm’s level of profitability • Privacy, ownership, control, accuracy, security




Policy Areas to Address

Technology Management Issues• Data Policy

– A declaration to the stakeholders of their commitment to beinggood stewards of the data

– Privacy, control, accuracy, security

• Intellectual Rights Policy – Clearly spell out what intellectual property is owned by the

employee and what is owned by the firm

– Standard to say that since the employee is using assets of thefirm, any intellectual property developed in the workplacebelongs to the firm

• Workers’ Rights Policy – Explain what conditions the employees may be subject to duringtheir employment with the firm – type of monitoring, type of information collected pertaining to the employee, identification of private and public information




Privacy of Employees

• Email

– Consider that most email messages are not private

– 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act:

employers can consider email messages as corporateproperty

– www.enronemail.com – 515,000 emails have become

public documents

– Many users are inexperienced or lack understanding – Vague or nonexistent policies exist

http://www.enronemail.com/

http://www.enronemail.com/




Costs and Benefits of Using Email

• Benefits

– Cost benefits

– Efficiency

– Documentation – Access to resources

– Monitoring

• Costs

– Offensive

communications

– Frivolous use – Information overload




Types of Computer Monitoring

• Software

– Allows the employer to see what is on the

computer screen in an employee’s office or

allows the employer to view the informationstored on the hard drive

– Allows the employer to determine how long a

computer has been idle – Suggests that the employee is not doing his

job




Is an invasion of privacy justifiable

by an employer?• Criteria to consider:

1. For what purpose is the undocumented personalknowledge sought?

2. Is this purpose a legitimate and important one?

3. Is the knowledge sought through invasion of privacyrelevant to its justifying purpose?

4. Is invasion of privacy the only or the least offensivemeans of obtaining the knowledge?

5. What restrictions or procedural restraints have been

placed on the privacy-invading techniques?6. How will the personal knowledge be protected once

it has been acquired?




Telephone Monitoring

• 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy

Act – allows monitoring of business related

phone calls

• If the phone call is personal in nature, the

monitoring must cease, but if told that

personal calls are prohibited, the calls can

be monitored

• Cell phones create even further issues




Privacy of Customers

• Companies employ technology that allows

them to make inferences about customers

that many may not even know the

company is making

• Companies use business intelligence

systems: monitor what kinds of products

are ordered, how much is being spent andhow often the customer makes purchases




The Challenge of Technology - Ethical

Issues Facing Internet Usage

• Security transactions

• Illegal activity (fraud,

hacking, etc)

• Privacy

• Honesty/truthfulness

• Judged by same

standards as other mediums

• Pornography

• Product warranty

• Plagiarism

• Targeting children

• Unsolicited email

• False advertising




Government Regulations Being

Considered by Congress

• Consumer Privacy Protection Act

• Electronic Privacy Protection Act

• The Privacy and Identity Protection Act

• The Notice of Electronic Monitoring Act• The Consumer Internet Privacy Enhancement

Act

• The Secure Online Communication Enforcement

Act

• Children’s Privacy Protection and ParentalEmpowerment Act




Types of Internet Fraud

• Auction and Retail Schemes

• Business opportunity or ‘work at home’

schemes

• Identity theft and fraud - Phishing

• Market manipulation schemes

• Credit card schemes




Phishing

• Use of email to try to mimic a legal,

legitimate company to ‘fish’ for personal or

financial information from individuals

• May even contain computer viruses in the

emails

• Could be committing: identity theft, wire

fraud, credit card fraud, bank fraud,

computer fraud




Operation Web Snare

• June 1, 2004 until August 26, 2004

• FBI tried to target and convict cyber criminals

– Criminal spam, phishing, spoofed or hijackedaccounts, international reshipping schemes,cyber extortion, auction fraud, credit cardfraud, intellectual property rights fraud,

computer intrusions or hacking, economicespionage or theft or trade secrets,international money laundering, identity theft




Types of Fraud Targeted in

Operation Web Snare

• Criminal spam

• Phishing

• Spoofed or hijacked

accounts• International reshipping

schemes

• Cyber extortion

• Auction fraud• Credit card fraud

• Intellectual property rights

fraud

• Computer intrusions or

hacking

• Economic espionage or

theft of trade secrets

• International money

laundering

• Identity theft

• More ‘traditional’ online

crimes




Internet Attacks

• Cyber terrorism: the use of computer

technology to commit terrorism crimes

• Vulnerable industries: defense contractors,

medical and health care companies,pharmaceutical companies, financial institutions

• Spyware: software that can be loaded onto a

computer so the computer operations can be

monitored by an outside party without the

consent of the computer user




The USA Patriot Act

• Uniting and Strengthening America byProviding Appropriate Tools Required toIntercept and obstruct Terrorism Act

• Provides expanded government authorityover electronic communications and the

use of compute and monetary transactions• Designed to monitor the activities of

financial institutions – broadly defined

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