MIS 2000 Ethical and Legal Aspects of Information Systems Updated: June 2015

Outline Law & Ethics Impacts of IT & IS Privacy Intellectual Property & Copyright Discussion cases Ethical & Legal AspectsMIS 2000 Information Systems for Management2

Ethical & Legal AspectsMIS 2000 Information Systems for Management3 Ethics Ethics: Principles of right and wrong acquired through socialization. Also called morale (ethical=moral) Unwritten norms, more stable over time – part of culture There are different ethics, we usually talk about norms shared by a majority Violation of ethics leads to social condemnation (sanctioning)

Law Law: Legislated rules to be followed in society Defined by judicial system and approved ultimately by legislators Written in law code and cases; change over time Violation of law leads to financial and physical liability (prison) Ethical & Legal AspectsMIS 2000 Information Systems for Management4

Ethical & Legal AspectsMIS 2000 Information Systems for Management5 Ideally, the ethical and legal are in sync: what is right is protected by law; or legal rules are morally right. Example: hardware/software & data theft (stealing) – both illegal and immoral BUT, this may not be the case, especially in dynamic social domains like electronic IT/IS and their various deployments. New IS and digital data crate a tension or dilemmas between ethics and law (see discussion cases in this lecture). Example: Computer Abuse (e.g., using firm’s computer for private business - “cyberslacking” – not sentenced by law but may feel wrong) Ethics vs. Law

Ethical & Legal AspectsMIS 2000 Information Systems for Management6 In new segments of social relationships it often happens that ethics precedes law. This applies to information systems; examples: hackers damaging IS of others first were condemned as bad behavior, but then hacking become illegal (1980s) selling data about customers was sometimes criticized as ethically inappropriate, but then it became illegal (1990s) spamming (unsolicited massive ing of ads) went unchecked for awhile, and became illegal in 2000s Global context magnifies the ethics/law dilemmas Ethics Turns to Law

Ethical & Legal AspectsMIS 2000 Information Systems for Management7 Privacy A cultural (ethical) belief that individuals are to be left alone, free from surveillance or interference from other individuals, organizations, or government Backed by law Canada’s Privacy Legislation Bill C-6 (PIPEDA), Privacy Commissioner; Businesses must also comply since 2004 (Note) Compliant with Fair Information Practices (Note) Every province has its own laws too

Ethical & Legal AspectsMIS 2000 Information Systems for Management88 Intellectual Property A sort of private property. Protected by law and mostly supported by ethics. Exceptions: free sharing on the Internet; cyclical trend. Intangible property created by individuals or organizations. Three main kinds: Trade Secret – Any content communicated in confidence (biz report, idea on product, planning data) Copyright - Law protecting artistic products and software in Canada from being copied for 50 years (literature, music, software in Canada) Patent – Law guaranteeing monopoly on the ideas behind an invention for 20 years (machines, medical drugs, software in U.S.)

Ethical & Legal AspectsMIS 2000 Information Systems for Management9 Discussion Questions for the Ethical & Legal Dilemmas 1. A company monitors communications of employees. Is company’s action ethical? Legal? Explain your assumptions and reasoning. 2. A social media uses member-generated data to profile members and thus improve its proposition value toward advertisers. Is this legal? Ethical? 3. The government monitors Internet traffic to detect “dangerous content.” Is this ethical? Legal?

4. Company A sues company B for copying user interface design (the look of web pages). Who is right? Who has ethics on their side? 5. A flash drive with business data is found in a new employee’s bag by a security guard, and the company sues. The employee claims extra work was going to be done at home. Is the employee’s act ethical/legal? What about the company’s action? Ethical & Legal AspectsMIS 2000 Information Systems for Management10 Discussion Questions for the Ethical & Legal Dilemmas

6. Google offers free Google Education Apps ( , calendar, a dropbox) in exchange for the opportunity to advance its data mining software. A school’s stakeholders are pressed to cut budgets but worry that data privacy may be compromised sooner or later. What would you do? Ethical & Legal Aspects MIS 2000 Information Systems for Management 11 Discussion Questions for the Ethical & Legal Dilemmas