Ethical Decision Making &
Information Technology
from
Ethical Decision Making &
Information Technology
E. Kallman & J. Grillo
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Objectives
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Raise sensitivity to ethical circumstances
involving IT that have the potential to harm
individuals, organizations, or society
Provide a process for analyzing ethical
situations and for making decisions in
response to them
Instill readiness and willingness to accept
responsibility for the ethicality of one’s
actions
What are ethics?
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Principles based on our understanding of
what is good, right, proper, moral, or ethical.
Ideas of behavior that are commonly
acceptable to society
Influenced by a variety of sources such as
family, religious institutions, educational
institutions, professional organizations,
government, etc.
Why care about ethics?
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Self-interest:
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Some unethical actions are also illegal
Some can effect our careers and reputation
For the interest of the others
Some unethical decisions can hurt other
individuals, the organization we work for, or
society
 ethical decision making is vital to creating a
world in which we want to live.
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Computer Ethics vs Regular Ethics
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Is there an ethical difference between browsing through
someone’s computer files and browsing through her desk
drawer?
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No difference
New technologies can make them seem
different
Technology makes some unethical actions
easier to take and easier to conceal.
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What is Ethical Decision Making?
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When faced with an ethical dilemma the
objective is to make a judgment based on
well-reasoned, defensible ethical principles.
The risk is poor judgment i.e. a low-quality
decision
A low-quality decision can have a wide range
of negative consequences
Two Types of Ethical Choices
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Right vs wrong: choosing right from wrong is
the easiest
Right vs right
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Situation contains shades of gray i.e. all
alternative have desirable and undesirable results
Choosing “the lesser of two evils”
Objective: make a defensible decision
Making Defensible Decisions
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First step in ethical decision making is to
recognize that an ethical dilemma exists
“defensible decision”
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Two well-meaning individuals can examine the
same situation and arrive at different courses of
action
High-quality ethical decision: based on
reason and can be defended according to
ethical concepts
Ethical decision making is not a science. It is
however a skill -- a survival skill
Law and Ethics
An act can be:
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2.
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4.
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Ethical and legal
Ethical but not legal
Not ethical but legal
Not ethical and not legal
If case in 1 or 4, decision is obvious
If case in 2 or 3, or if law is not clear then further
analysis is needed.
If law provides answer, no further investigation is
needed
Guidelines to Ethical Decision Making
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Informal Guidelines
to recognize an ethical problem exist
Is there something you or others prefer to keep
quiet?
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The shushers test: who wants to keep things quiet?
The Mom test:
The TV test
The market test
The smell test: does your instinct tells you
something is wrong?
Guidelines to Ethical Decision Making
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Formal Guidelines
Does the act violate corporate policy?
Does it violate corporate or professional
code of conduct or ethics?
Does it violate the “Golden Rule”?
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treat others the way you wish them to treat you.
What if all above guidelines not helpful?
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Look at ethical principles
Ethical Principles
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Rights and Duties (deontology)
Consequentialism (teleology)
Kant’s Categorical Imperative
Rights and Duties (deontology)
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Individuals have certain rights but they
always come with duties and vice versa
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E.g. based on your job contract you have the duty
to work 40h/weeks and the right to get
compensated with a weekly salary + benefits etc.
Your employer has the duty to pay you the agreed
wage/salary + benefits and the right to the
product of your work for 40h/week
Rights and Duties (deontology)
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In the field of IT questions often arise about
three rights:
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The right to know: e.g. to what extent do we have
the right to know and have access to information
that relates to us?
The right to privacy: to what extent do we have
the right to control information that relates to us?
The right to property: to what extent do we have a
right to protect our computer resources from
misuse and abuse?
Rights and Duties (deontology)
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Each person has the personal duty:
– To foster trust: other should be able to have confidence that
our work is competent, timely, and will not cause harm
– To act with integrity
– To be truthful: other should be able to expect us to be
truthful.
– To do justice: our dealings with others are fair e.g. those
who perform service are rightfully paid
– To practice beneficence and nonmaleficence-- beneficence:
help others improve themselves. Nonmaleficence: cause no
harm to others
– To act with appropriate gratitude and make appropriate
reparation-- gratitude: thankful for the kind acts of others.
Reparation: the act of providing fair recompense for
wrongful acts to others
– To work toward self-improvement : improve our mental and
moral faculties
Consequentialism (teleology)
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Judge the rightness or wrongness of an
action by the outcomes
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Minimize harm
Maximizing benefits
Consequentialism (teleology)
Can be based on
 Egoism: how the act effects me/my organization?
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Utilitarianism: how the act effects me and others?
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Our actions benefit others as well as ourselves
Action is justified if it max. benefits over costs for all
involved.
Altruism: how the act effects others?
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Egoism can be justified in certain circumstances (e.g. a
company trying to increase its profit. Counter e.g. some
takes action that harms others to protect his jobs)
Egoism is limited by other ethical principles
Our actions benefit others even at a cost to us/our
organization
Can be misapplied: an employee gives company sw
products for free??
Kant’s Categorical Imperative
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Principle of consistency
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Principle of respect:
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Would everyone benefit (or would no one be
harmed)- if everyone were to take the same
action being considered?
Requires that we treat people with dignity
People are ends in themselves not means
E.g. slavery violates the categorical imperative.
A Four-Step Process for Ethical
Analysis and Decision Making
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Step 1: Understanding the situation
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List and number the relevant facts
Which of these raises an ethical issue?
Why? What is the potential harm?
List the stakeholders involved
Step 2: Isolating the major ethical
dilemma
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What is the ethical dilemma to be solved?
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State it using the form: Should someone do
or not do something.
Step 3: Analyzing the ethicality of both
alternatives in Step 2.
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Consequentialism
Rights & duties
Kant’s categorial imperqtive
Step 4: Making a decision and planning
the implementation
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Make a defensible decision
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Based on the analysis of step3, respond to question in Step
2.
List the specific steps needed to implement your
defensible decision
Show how the major stakeholders are effected by
these actions
What other long-term changes would help such
probs in future
What should have been done or not done in the first
place to avoid this dilemma.
SAMPLE CASE
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Please see textbook pp 35-56.
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For your ethics presentation, you may
choose one of the case in your textbook, do
the 4-step analysis, and present it.
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Need to turn-in all worksheet with you
presentation.
Let me know ahead of time (by 10/13/05) which
case you want to work on.