MD 703: Primer On Ethical Reasoning with Information Technology
Note: Some of this primer is based on material available in Zwass, "Ethical and Societal Issues",
Foundations of Information Systems, 1998.
Ethical reasoning is a process that ensures that our actions and decisions can be justified
according to some general standard or code, rather than being driven by the exigencies of the
moment.
In any given situation a wide range of actions might be viewed as ethical, depending on the code
that is used. Therefore, what makes an action ethical is not that it can be justified after the fact by
any of the many ethical codes that are available, but rather, that it can be justified according to
the code a person has committed to following prior to the time they were confronted with the
ethical situation.
As a result, truly ethical reasoning is not a simple matter. It requires people to use a three step
process as follows.
First, a person must be aware of the differing ethical codes that might apply to a particular class
of decisions, and must choose from among these ethical codes the one that will be used to guide
their decisions within that class. Some ethical codes apply to very broad classes of decisions, and
others to narrow classes.
Second, a person must be able to identify the key facts that pertain to a particular decision
situation.
Third, a person must logically apply the rules of the chosen ethical code to the facts of the
particular situation, draw the correct logical conclusion about the suggested ethical course of
action, and then choose that course of action.
Ethical codes fall into two broad categories, consequentialist and obligational.
Consequentialist ethical codes tell you to choose the action with the best overall consequences.
The idea that an action can be right or wrong regardless of it's consequences, or that individual
people have in inherent right to be treated in a certain way is not present in this kind of ethical
code. Obligational codes, by contrast, hold that certain actions are inherently right or wrong and
we don't have to balance out the consequences to determine this. In the table on the following
page the first code, utilitarianism, is a consequentialist code and the rest are obligational codes.
Three properties of information technology today complicate the task of ethical reasoning. First
is the pervasiveness of information technology. IT systems for collecting, storing and accessing
information about individuals have become so extensive that new kinds of opportunities to
invade privacy or misuse information or computers constantly arise for which there are no well
established precedents to follow. The Dominion-Swann and the "Web Lining" articles assigned
for next time illustrate these new kinds of opportunities quite well.
The second property of IT today is the complexity of IT systems. This complexity ensures that
inaccuracies will exist in the data collected about people, potentially to their disadvantage. The
complexity of IT also makes it difficult for people to anticipate the full consequences of their
actions. For example, the first ever internet "worm" was released by a computer science
graduate student, Robert Morris, as the culmination of a term project on security gaps on the
internet. He thought the effect would be minimal and local, when in fact the worm replicated all
over the world and brought down thousands of computers causing millions of dollars in damage.
The third property of information technology is the intangibility of information and software.
Many people that would never think of digging around in another person's desk or swiping a
software title from a store find it much easier to snoop around another person's computer or to
use pirated software. This arises, in part, from the intangibility element.
Example Ethical Codes
Description
Ethical Code
Example
Utilitarianism
Choose the action that creates the
greatest good for the greatest
number of people.
I will not litter because the benefit of
convenience to me is outweighed by
the inconvenience to whoever must
pick it up and the eyesore this
creates for passers-by.
Universal
Application
Principle
The action is right if we would
like everyone to accept the moral
rule presupposed by the action.
I will not litter because if everyone
did we'd be up to our eyeballs in
litter.
Golden Rule
Do unto others as you would have I will not litter because I wouldn't
them do unto you.
like people to dump trash in my
yard.
Human Rights
You must respect the rights of
others, i.e., the right to life,
safety, privacy, property, free
speech, due process, fair
treatment.
I will not litter because this infringes
the property rights of the person who
owns the land my litter falls upon.
Natural Law
What’s right is whatever a
legitimate authority (your
religion, your government, your
professional society) says is right.
I will not litter because it is against
the law.
Computer
Ethics Institute
(does not apply
to littering!)
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
Don’t use a computer to harm other people.
Don’t interfere with other people’s computer work.
Don’t snoop around in other people’s computer files.
Don’t use a computer to steal.
Don’t use a computer to bear false witness.
Don’t copy or use proprietary software for which you have not paid.
Don’t use other people’s computer resources without authorization or
proper compensation.
8) Don’t appropriate other people’s intellectual output.
9) Think about the social consequences of the program you are writing
or the system you are designing.
10) Always use a computer in ways that insure consideration and respect
for your fellow humans.