Part 1
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ICT sometimes challenges our belief of what
is right and wrong.
In groups, brainstorm a list of legal issues
having to do with ICT.
◦ Think about concerns you have, as well as those
you may have heard friends, parents, or
acquaintances talk about.
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Table of Contents
◦ Part 1
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What Are Ethics?
Solving Ethical Dilemmas
Corporate Social Responsibility
How Do Ethics Apply to ICT?
◦ Part 2
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Legal and Ethical Issues in ICT
Access to Information
Ownership of Information
Company Resources and Company Time
Unauthorized Use of Computers and Information
Fraud
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People face ethical choices—choices
between right and wrong actions—in their
personal, school, and business lives.
However….
◦ Computers and ICT have forced people to make
ethical decisions in new areas.
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Ethics is defied as a set of principles or rules
that determine the rightness or wrongness of
particular acts or activities.
◦ Ethical has to do with choosing a right action over a
wrong action.
◦ Unethical has to do with intentionally acting in a
bad or wrong way.
However, what determines
what is
right or wrong?
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Each person sees the world differently, and
therefore have different individual ethics.
Our individual value systems (sets of personal
beliefs about right and wrong) are the result
of many factors.
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Where might your ethics come from?
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The most common factors that form a
person’s individual ethics (value system) are
as follows:
◦ Family influences-You can learn about right and
wrong from watching how your family members
act and/or receiving punishment for doing things
family sees as unethical.
◦ Friends influences- You can learn about right and
wrong by watching what your friends do and
learning what they think is right. (e.g. peer
pressure)
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Common factors that form a person’s
individual ethics (value system):
◦ Past experiences-You decide what is right or
wrong because of what happened to you in the
past.
 what were the consequences of what you did before
 e.g. Sales person lies to a customer, will the
manager reprimand or reward the sales person?
◦ Religion-Your religion teaches you what is right
and wrong.
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Common factors that form a person’s
individual ethics (value system):
◦ Situations-Some people do different things in
different situations. You may think something is
wrong in one situation, but right in another.
 e.g. is it considered stealing to take pens, paper
clips, etc. from your work?
◦ Laws/Government-The government of a country
makes laws that protect the people. You learn
about right and wrong from laws.
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All these factors help to shape what we, as
individuals, believe is right or wrong.
◦ Ethics are highly personal, so the influences may
vary from one person to another.
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Sometimes, the choice
between right and
wrong is
straightforward.
◦ For example, most
people agree that it is
wrong to steal, and few
of us would resort to
shoplifting.
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However, there are
many times when
choosing to do the
right thing is not as
easy.
◦ For example, you may
believe it is wrong to copy
a piece of software that
you have not purchased.
However, a friend gives
you a program with all the
required information that
you desperately want.
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You are faced with an ethical dilemma
◦ a situation in which you have to make a decision about
what action to take based on right and wrong.
 Your friend is offering you something you really want, yet
you believe that copying software you have not purchased is
wrong.
◦ Things like this happen often in many organizations—
schools, governments, and businesses.
 For example, an individuals within an organization may feel
conflicted if they are asked to perform acts on behalf of their
employer that are not consistent with their own value
systems.
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People use an ethical framework to solve
ethical dilemmas
◦ to decide what to do or what action to take.
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An ethical framework is a system that a
person can use to help to make a decision
when faces with a dilemma.
Two main frameworks to solving ethical
dilemmas:
◦ utilitarianism and
◦ deontology
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Utilitarianism is the political belief that an
action is good if it helps the largest number
of people.
 the greatest good for the greatest number can seem to
be the right answer.
 based on the consequences of an action on the people
involved.
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The result or outcome is the key factor in
deciding what to do.
For example: burning CDs for a wedding.
 Is it worth having a guilty conscience in order to
benefit everybody?
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Deontology is an framework based on
following personal or societal values, rules, or
duties.
◦ You believe that there are some things that a
person should do (right) and others a person
should not do (wrong)
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This approach sometimes draws on religious
beliefs, personal beliefs, and things that we
accept as part of our civil society.
◦ For example, it is wrong to steal or it is wrong to
break the law?
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Deontology continues
Issues with this approach
◦ Problem #1: The framework states that people
should do the things they believe are right, and
refrain from doing the wrong things, regardless of
the consequences.
 For example: provide the whereabouts of a innocent
person that is accused of a crime.
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Deontology continues
Issues with this approach
◦ Problem #2: There is no clear method exists by
which to classify behavior and actions as absolutely
right and absolutely wrong.
 This framework’s arguments are based on adhering to
sets of rules.
◦ Are values, rules, and duties always the best
approach?
 Wedding Example: deontology approach = no music at
wedding.
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Most people think through and use both utilitarian
and deontological approaches when they are faced
with an ethical dilemma.
They weigh the consequences of various actions, and
they think about their own values and beliefs.
◦ The solution that is “right” for one person may not be
“right” for another.
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This is what makes ethics so interesting.
◦ There is rarely a single “right” answer to an ethical
dilemma.
However, you can assess how strong an ethical choice
is based on the reasons behind it.
The important thing to remember is that ethics is
rarely about clear-cut “right and wrong.”
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People face
ethical
dilemmas all
the time.
For example,
suppose you
have a 10page report
due for your
history class
tomorrow,
which you
haven't even
started yet.
There are
several
alternatives to
this problem.
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
In a group, work through the following ethical dilemmas using
the deontological and utilitarian approaches. Come to a
conclusion with your group; then pair up with another group,
and discuss your responses. Summarize the similarities and
differences in groups’ responses to each dilemma.
Follow these steps to solve an ethical dilemma:
In one sentence, describe the dilemma. Who or what is
affected (people, animals, the environment, your community)?
Restate the issue in the form of a question that starts with
Should I/he/she …?
List the possible courses of action (utilitarianism and
deontology) for the person identified in step 2.
Analyze each course of action you identified in step 3. What
are the consequences for all affected? What rights, values, or
duties relate to each course of action?
Select the best course of action based on your analysis in step
4.
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You have been looking for full-time work for
a year, but the best you can come up with is a
series of short-term, dead-end contract jobs.
A friend says it is because you are too honest.
He says you should exaggerate your
experience and skills on your resumé and tell
a few white lies, if necessary, in job
interviews. He says that everyone does it, and
the chances of anyone catching you are
remote. Should you take his advice?
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Scenario 1
You are in charge of operations at a company
that contracts work to factories in developing
countries. A human-rights organization has
informed you about sweatshop labour practices
at one of these factories. Afraid of bad
publicity, the chief executive officer just wants
to shut down the factory. You want to try to
help the workers keep their jobs, but the CEO
has made it clear that if you do not back off,
your job will be in jeopardy. What do you do?
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Video:
CORPORATE WHISTLEBLOWERS: HONESTY HAS ITS PRICE
http://www.cbclearning.ca/CBCEDS/shopping/product.aspx?Catalog
Name=CBCEDSBase&CategoryName=business_and_economics_busin
ess&Product_ID=Y8V-02-11&Variant_ID=Y8V-02-11-010101
In 2002, Time Magazine named three women as Persons of the Year
because they decided to blow the whistle on their employers. Two of
these whistleblowers were accountants, one from Enron and the
other from WorldCom. Each decided to draw public attention to the
bad behaviour of their bosses — at their own personal peril. This
program looks at the risks whistleblowers take. The story follows the
lives of two Canadian whistleblowers and their struggle to be heard.
After viewing the clip, discuss what prevents people from "blowing
the whistle" when they know something unethical or illegal is going
on.
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Scenario 2
Your company has set up
incentive competitions that
reward top performers with
hefty monthly bonuses. You
have noticed that this has
caused people to start doing
underhanded things, such as
taking credit for work you
know others have done. You
need the money, but you do
not want to engage in
underhanded practices, even
though you have seen proof
that this is the way people are
winning. What do you do?
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Scenario 3
You are part of a fun-loving group
whose desks are close together at
work. For a number of years now,
this gang has been going out for
dinner and drinks one night a week.
Recently, a new employee was
seated in your area. She is quiet and
a bit boring, but you think it would
be unkind not to ask her to join
your weekly nights out. The others
say she would be a drag, and there
is no obligation to socialize with
someone you work with. Who is
right?
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Scenario 4
You are in charge of the company exhibit for a
coming trade show. Management would like
music played in the company booth for
background atmosphere. You are known to have
a personal collection of popular CDs, and your
boss asks that you use these in the exhibit. You
fear this constitutes unauthorized use of
copyrighted music in a commercial manner, but
your boss insists that everybody does it. Do you
do as you are told or go over his head and tell
senior management about your legal concerns?
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Scenario 5
You have been looking for full-time work for
a year, but the best you can come up with is a
series of short-term, dead-end contract jobs.
A friend says it is because you are too honest.
He says you should exaggerate your
experience and skills on your resumé and tell
a few white lies, if necessary, in job
interviews. He says that everyone does it, and
the chances of anyone catching you are
remote. Should you take his advice?
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Most Canadians believe that people in
business have a responsibility to act in a
manner that is in the best interest of society,
and the company.
To do this, people in business need to make
ethical decisions.
◦ This is called corporate social responsibility (CSR).
◦ Consumers, governments, and other stakeholders
have spent years pressuring companies to improve
their ethical performance.
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The following are some areas of CSR:
◦ selling products that do not harm people or the
environment
◦ conducting business in a way that has a positive
impact
 Example: finding alternative energy sources to reduce
pollution
◦ treating employees in a fair manner
◦ not engaging in practices that are meant to deceive
or steal from others
 Example: manufacturing counterfeit designer
handbags and selling them to customers as though
they were authentic
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Many organizations hire ethicists to help
them do business more responsibly, make
ethical decisions, and develop codes of ethics
for employees to follow.
An ethicist is a person who is trained in
reasoning, critical thinking, and ethics.
Ethicists provide advice on business
decisions.
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Examples of tasks that an ethicist would do:
◦ help a volunteer organization decide if it should use
donations made to help the needy for other things,
such as marketing
◦ help an organization decide if it should monitor
employees’ Internet activities and how to draft a
policy for that
◦ provide advice on how to balance low-cost
manufacturing procedures (outsourcing) with
ethical practice (treating those employees fairly)

Read the article
◦ “REACTING TO READING—DRAWING
CONCLUSIONS”
◦ “ ARE BUSINESS ETHICS THE ENEMY OF ETHICS?”
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Answer question #2-3
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ICT raises a number of unique ethical issues.
◦ Should your employer make sure the workplace is
designed to minimize ergonomic health risks, such
as carpal tunnel syndrome, for those who work on
computers?
◦ Should your employer be able to stop you from
sending personal memos via electronic mail to a
friend at the other side of the bank, hospital,
newsroom, or business office?
◦ Should your employer be allowed to monitor your
computer activities at work? If so, should you be
warned beforehand? If warned, does that make the
practice acceptable?
◦ What if computer research found that people of
your ethnic background had a higher-than-average
chance of getting a specific disease? Should
insurance companies be allowed to use that
information to charge you more?
◦ Can all products be advertised ethically on the
Internet? If not, which sorts of product
advertisements are not ethical?
◦ Should individuals or companies be allowed to copy
and distribute information or artistic works, such as
music produced by others? If so, under what
circumstances should they be allowed to do this?
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Guidelines
for ethical
computing
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
In your own words, explain what ethics are.
There are different approaches to solving an ethical
dilemma. Describe each, and give an example of
how you could use one to solve an ethical dilemma.
As a child, you were raised to believe that certain
actions were wrong or bad. List five things that you
were raised to believe were wrong or bad (e.g., it is
wrong to lie).
Come up with an example of an ethical dilemma
that a student at your school might face. Use the
steps in this section to devise a solution to that
dilemma.
What is an ethicist? Describe the work that an
ethicist might do.