Management Information Systems, 11E

Laudon & Laudon

Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems

It probably goes without saying that the security and ethical issues raised by the Information Age, and
specifically the Internet, are the most explosive to face our society in decades. It will be many years and many
court battles before socially acceptable policies and practices are in place.

4.1 Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems

You may love the idea that a gardening Web site or a mail order catalog gives you information about what
grows best in your backyard (literally your backyard). You might even love the idea that you can sign on to
Amazon.com, have the Web site greet you by name, and supply you with information about a book or CD by
your favorite author or artist. If you're not especially interested in Stephen King or Frank Sinatra, don't worry;
Amazon.com knows that and won't bother you with products from those artists.

You are 22 years old, drive a Mazda, like hip-hop music, shop at Macy's at least once a month around the 15 th,
wear a size 10 dress, live in a small two-bedroom apartment, have friends or relatives who live in Texas, like
eating at Red Lobster, go on a skiing trip to Colorado every Spring Break, missed one semester of school last
year due to medical problems, and spend lots of time at the ivillage.com Web site chatting with other females
your age. Would it surprise you to know that this information and more can all be gleaned from various
computer records?

On average, each American is listed in about 60 government and 80 private sector databases. On a typical day,
each person's name is passed between computers ten times. A lot of personal information about us has always
been available, just not as easily and as readily as today. Massive databases maintained by commercial
companies and governments at all levels now allow profiling like that above to be accomplished easier and
faster than ever before.

Even though the Internet is about 40 years old and the World Wide Web is close to 15 years old, our society is
just beginning to address the ethical issues and dilemmas raised by these technological advances. It’s difficult
to measure one person’s ethics against another person’s desire to make money or wreak havoc that’s made
much easier by the Internet. The U.S. government is just beginning to pass laws against cybercrimes but it’s
difficult to stay one step ahead of the cybercriminals.

A Model For Thinking About Ethical, Social, and Political Issues

Many of these issues not only touch our society as a whole, but also raise lots of questions for organizations,
companies, and the workplace in general. We hear arguments for free speech, personal responsibility, and
corporate responsibility. There are discussions about the government's role in all this. At the beginning of
Chapter 5, Laudon says: "Suddenly individual actors are confronted with new situations often not covered by
the old rules. Social institutions cannot respond overnight to these ripples... Political institutions also require
time before developing new laws and often require the demonstration of real harm before they act. In the
meantime, you may have to act. You may be forced to act in a legal ‘gray area.’"

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How you act, individually and as groups, in this gray area may well define the future of our society. Though
that may sound a bit dramatic, you must understand that you are part of the development of "acceptable usage"
of this new medium and will help define the direction in which it goes.

Figure 4-1: The relationship between ethical, social, and political issues in an information society

Figure 4-1 shows the relationship between ethical, social, and political issues in an information society. You
could change this diagram somewhat to avoid the impression that the five dimensions are separate. You'd show
significant overlap of each area, and most of the diagram would be in shades of gray.

Five Moral Dimensions of the Information Age

The five dimensions we'll discuss are: information rights and obligations, property rights and obligations,
accountability and control, system quality, and the quality of life. They all apply in today’s business
environment. While these dimensions have existed in some form or another for years, they are made more
important with the technological advances we’ve seen in the last ten years.

Key Technology Trends that Raise Ethical Issues

Information technologies pose problems and threats to established societal rules, and technological advances
pose new situations and possible threats to privacy and ethics.

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In addition to the technologies described in Table 4-2, you need to understand the most recent technological
threats to your privacy in cyberspace:

1. Leading Congressman Pushes for Google Privacy Review. Rep. Joe Barton, Ranking Member of the
House Energy and Commerce Committee, today sent a letter to Google raising 24 questions about the
company's proposed $3.1 billion merger with Doubleclick. Rep. Barton, co-founder of the House
Privacy Caucus, asked Google to detail definitions of “anonymization” of consumer data, “behavioral
targeting,” among other things. He also asked Google to explain “the need to retain collected
information for the length of time [Google retains consumer data]” and “how and why information is
combined or shared across platforms.” A number of Senators and Representatives have called for more
in-depth review of the privacy questions raised by the proposed merger.
2. The American Civil Liberties Union charges that because the suggested chip for the new U.S. Passport
design would be capable of holding as much information as the first personal computers it will be a
significant threat to privacy. The new RFID chip would contain all of the information currently
displayed on a passport, including a template for an automated facial recognition identification system
that has yet to be proven safe and secure. The information on the chip is not protected by encryption and
is reported to be readable from up to 30 feet away. (Passport chips raise privacy concerns, CNN Online,
January 6, 2005)
3. New handheld Web appliances will allow businesses to track your physical whereabouts and offer you
discounts and special offers depending on your geographic location. As you walk down a city street,
you’ll be notified that the restaurant two blocks away has an open table waiting just for you.
4. Facebook Caves to Privacy Demands, Adopts Limited Opt-In. Social networking site Facebook.com
significantly modified the privacy features of its new "Beacon" advertising system. Facebook users
found their purchases on third party sites were being broadcast to their Facebook friends. Users had only
limited options for opting out of the broadcast. In response to complaints from EPIC, the Center for
Digital Democracy, Moveon.org, and thousands of users, Facebook will now ask that users opt-in before
broadcasting their details. Facebook will continue to collect information from third party sites and will
continue to ask for opt-ins until the user consents.

A few of the news items in the list above came from a Web site maintained by the <A
HREF=http://www.epic.org/ target=”new”>Electronic Privacy Information Center </a>, an organization
devoted to privacy issues associated with the use of new technologies tied to networks in general, and the
Internet specifically. It is one of the premier organizations dedicated to preserving the privacy of the American
citizen. If you haven’t visited the Web site you should.

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You say to yourself, "Hey I don't really care. Nobody will ever care about what I do or where I go on the
Internet." Well, you might want to think twice about that. There have been reported instances of companies
accessing databases from various sources as part of the screening process to determine what chatrooms and
Web sites prospective employees have visited. Employers also peruse social networking sites like MySpace and
Facebook to gather information on job applicants. How can that be, you ask? The technological trends
Laudon and Laudon discuss, such as advances in data storage, give you one clue.

The scenario at the beginning of this section about profiling is possible through the technique called
datamining. Add to that the capabilities of nonobvious relationship awareness (NORA) data analysis
technology, as shown in Figure 4-2, and complete strangers might know just as much about you as you do. It
can and has been done. So you should be concerned and you should care.

Figure 4-2: Nonobvious Relationship Awareness (NORA)

Bottom Line: Technological trends are posing new situations and questions we haven't had to deal with
before. As it's your world and your future, you should be concerned and become involved in their
resolution.

4.2 Ethics in an Information Society

Did you ever hear the old warning: "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should?" Well, a lot of things are
possible on the Internet nowadays, but that doesn't mean you should do them.

Ethics is easily managed in small groups because the group itself tends to control the individual's behavior. It's
referred to as "self-policing." The larger the group, the harder it is to manage the actions of individuals. Now
stretch that to a huge number of people with many frames of reference and experiences. Responsibility to the
group becomes harder to police and accountability for an individual's actions is harder to enforce.

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Basic Concepts: Responsibility, Accountability, and Liability

Every action causes a reaction. When you're using the Internet, computers on campus, or your employer's
computer, you should be aware of the following:
 Responsibility: Accepting potential costs, duties, and obligations for your decisions.
 Accountability: Determining who should take responsibility for decisions and actions.
 Liability: Legally placing responsibility with a person or group.
 Due Process: ensuring the laws are applied fairly and correctly.

Responsibility, accountability, and liability are all yours when it comes to your actions in cyberspace. Every
Internet Service Provider has a "usage policy," even the so-called anonymous e-mailers that hide your real
identity. Hotmail is a popular Internet e-mail service that allows you to mask your real identity. You could send
out all the, shall we say unethical, threatening, nasty, aberrant, e-mail you like. You think: “Hey, no one will
really know who I am. This is cool."

And then here comes the message from Hotmail to cease and desist. Your free e-mail account is cancelled
because you violated Hotmail's usage policy. Then your local Internet Service Provider contacts you and tells
you you're terminated, baby! You violated its usage policy by your actions. By now you're really mad, not to
mention embarrassed (at least we hope so). It's true. It happens.

Just because you think you can, doesn't mean you should. Would you stand in the middle of campus and shout
insults? Laudon and Laudon point out, "Using information technology in a socially responsible manner means
that you can and will be held accountable for the consequences of your actions." Just as you are subject to
rules, whether you like them or not, on Main Street, USA, in public, you are subject to societal rules in
cyberspace. Anonymity isn't a license for socially unacceptable behavior.

Some people seem to absolve themselves of responsibility by putting the onus on the computer - "Hey, the
computer screwed up," or "Since it was an anonymous username I didn't think I'd get caught." It just doesn't
work that way in society – face-to-face or on the Internet. No one can hide behind the technology. Humans
control the computers, not the other way around.

And if you have received threatening, aberrant e-mails or flames in chatroom or discussion groups, and haven't
reported them according to the usage policies, you may be as much a part of the problem as the perpetrator!

Ethical Analysis

It's safe to say you'll find yourself in situations where your ethics are continually challenged online and offline.
What should you do? Try the following:
 Separate fact from fiction.
 Remember, no matter how thin you slice it, there's always two sides.
 Determine who's really involved.
 Compromise; it doesn't always have to be an "either-or" outcome.
 Anticipate the outcome; it will help you devise better solutions.

You should study the ethical principles outlined in the text, as we'll be incorporating them into the discussions
throughout the remainder of this chapter.

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Candidate Ethical Principles

In the early days of the Internet, just about anything was acceptable. The phrase "Wild Wild Web" was an
appropriate cliché. But as the technology becomes more mainstream, the less wild it becomes.

The principles listed in the text are deeply rooted in cultures around the world. We seriously doubt the authors
had the Internet in mind when they developed these guidelines. But, when you think about it, they work nicely,
even in cyberspace!

Professional Codes of Conduct

Most professional organizations have a code of conduct by which they expect their members to abide. The <A
HREF= http://www.acm.org/constitution/code.html target=”new”> Association of Computing Machinery
(ACM)</a> has an excellent set of standards that apply to all of us, whether we belong to ACM or not.

Some Real-World Ethical Dilemmas

Individuals, companies, and corporations are being forced to deal with these new ethical and social issues in
ways never before imagined. Employ the ethical analysis we just discussed to the real-world situations
presented here and in the text.

No issue has been harder for organizations to deal with than that of e-mail. Should companies be allowed to
read employees' e-mails, especially if they are personal? Should employees be allowed to send personal e-mails
to begin with? Should e-mails be used against a person or company in a court of law. If so, how? A recent
example of this issue is the Microsoft versus Department of Justice antitrust trial. Many e-mails written by
Microsoft's executives have been used against them. E-mails are not as anonymous as people think – "Sending
an e-mail message is more like sending a postcard than sending a sealed envelope."(CNN Headline News, April
28, 1996)

So in your opinion, what is right? Is it okay for an employee to download the latest picture from Playgirl's
Web site and use it as a screensaver? Is it okay to run a personal commercial Web site from your workplace
computer using the company's computer resources? Is it okay to e-mail discriminatory jokes over the
company’s network that wouldn't be allowed over the water cooler? Is it okay to send e-mail telling everyone
that the boss is a jerk, then get mad when the company fires you?

Is it okay for the company to use technology to monitor your computer usage every minute you're on the job?
Is it okay for the company to use technology to monitor your keystrokes so they can determine how much work
you're doing?

What if Susie is using her computer to surf gardening Web sites three hours a day while you have to do her
work? What if Joe and Sam play the newest Internet game during their coffee break every morning and
afternoon, which bogs down the entire company's network?

What is the best way for companies and employees to handle these situations? What is the right thing to do?

Bottom Line: Ethics in an information society holds each person responsible for his or her actions. Each
person is accountable for everything he or she does, no matter how anonymous the action may seem.
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Each person is liable for the consequences his or her actions may inflict on other people and society as a
whole.

4.3 The Moral Dimensions of Information Systems

This section examines the five moral dimensions (information rights; property rights; accountability, liability,
and control; system quality; and the quality of life) by asking you to examine them from a personal standpoint.

Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the Internet Age

Many of us take our privacy and freedom for granted. You should be aware of how technology is changing
and challenging our basic assumptions about these issues.

Video rental records are more protected from misuse and prying than are some of your financial records. We
all assume that the Constitution guarantees our personal privacy and freedom from surveillance. If someone set
up a video camera inside your dorm room or on your front porch to monitor your every movement, what would
you do? In some cases, that's similar to what happens when you access some Web sites. So how do we protect
our privacy and freedom from surveillance in a high-tech world?

The text provides some information regarding privacy rights protected by law and established practices. But
before you jump up and say, "Hey, the Privacy Act of 1974 says you can't spy on me," remember that law only
applies to the federal government's actions. If Macy's or Playboy or Buy.com wants to collect information
about your surfing habits and sell it to other companies, there is nothing to stop them. Absolutely nothing!

This whole issue doesn't bother some people at all. In fact, they don't even think about it. The issue doesn't
bother others until the intrusions are used against them. Think about this: If information is supposedly
collected for one purpose, is it ethical for that information to be used for a totally different purpose without you
knowing it? Is it fair to require you to provide medical information that is primarily intended to be used to pay
your insurance bills and then have that same information used against you when the insurance company deems
you too expensive and cancels your policy? Is it fair to have that same information used against you in denying
you employment because you're too expensive to hire?

The federal government is taking steps to help protect individual privacy in the United States by passing laws
based on Fair Information Practices (FIP) as you can see in Table 4-3. However, the wheels of government
turn slowly and the first line of defense should be yours.

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The Federal Trade Commission has stepped up their efforts to protect consumers’ personal information on the
Internet. An excerpt from their <A HREF=http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/index.html target=”new”>Web site</a>
explains their mission.
Advances in computer technology have made it possible for detailed information about people to
be compiled and shared more easily and cheaply than ever. That's good for society as a whole
and individual consumers. For example, it is easier for law enforcement to track down criminals,
for banks to prevent fraud, and for consumers to learn about new products and services, allowing
them to make better-informed purchasing decisions. At the same time, as personal information
becomes more accessible, each of us - companies, associations, government agencies, and
consumers - must take precautions to protect against the misuse of that information.
The Federal Trade Commission is educating consumers and businesses about the importance of
personal information privacy. Read more about our efforts, what we've learned, and what you
can do to protect the privacy of your personal information.

The European Directive on Data Protection

European countries have much stricter restrictions on gathering data about private individuals, on the Internet
or elsewhere. European citizens have the right to deny the initial collection of information through informed
consent principles. They have the right to know and deny the use of data for purposes other than its original
intention. They have the right to inspect and correct any data gathered on them. By way of comparison,
Europeans practice opt-in whereas Americans practice opt-out. So far, American citizens have none of these
rights. American businesses physically operating in European countries or transacting business with European
citizens via the Internet must abide by these laws. The U.S. Department of Commerce is helping make it easier
by establishing safe harbor mechanisms rather than passing laws. You have to ask the question, “If it’s good
enough for the Europeans, why isn’t it good enough for the Americans?” Here’s a Web site dealing with global
privacy issues sponsored by the <A HREF=http://www.privacyexchange.org/ target=”new”>Privacy
Exchange</a>.

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Internet Challenges to Privacy

Under pressure from privacy advocates, government agencies, and the general public, many Web sites now post
privacy policies. Some sites make their policies obvious and others don’t. Some sites actually abide by their
policies and others don’t. You need to be careful about the terminology used. Review <A
HREF=http://www.altavista.com/sites/about/privacy target=”new”>Altavista.com’s privacy policy</a> and
note it distinguishes between personally identifiable information and anonymous information. Now review <A
HREF=http://www.doubleclick.com/us/corporate/privacy/ target=”new”>DoubleClick’s privacy policy</a>. It
too distinguishes between personally identifiable information and anonymous information. However, it does
state that it can match the two types of information to further identify you.

How do these organizations gather the information? By using cookies, a part of every browser program. If you
have Internet access and have ever visited a Web site, you can bet you have a cookie file on your computer.

Here’s what a typical cookie file will look like:

Caption: A glimpse of a typical cookie file

Most of the data in the file are unintelligible to you. However, they give information to Web sites about how
you prefer the Web site to be configured, who you are, which Web site you came from, what you do while on a
site, and other information pertinent to the Web site. You can turn off the cookie option in your browser, but
many sites won’t let you access their features if you do.

Because the corporate world is demanding better results for the dollars spent on Internet advertising, some Web
sites have developed Web bugs to help track users and determine what they do and don’t do on the Internet.
Web bugs are tiny, indistinguishable files embedded within a Web page or within an e-mail message. The bug
monitors behavior of those using the page and combines the information with other data collected to get a more
robust picture of how people are using the Web site and how effective the advertising is.

Increasingly, Web sites are using spyware in an attempt to gather marketing information about visitors and
customers. This type of software is installed directly onto your computer and sends data to the company about
your surfing habits. Unfortunately, this software can also cause problems with your computer and send
information that can be used in identity theft. If you haven’t yet installed spyware detection software on your
computer you should consider doing so.

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Most e-commerce merchants are pushing for self-regulation and the practice of requiring individuals to “opt-
out” of data gathering. Opting out allows individuals to tell an organization not to share personal information
with any third party. The government initially agreed with that position, but has since realized it isn’t working
very well for individuals. In mid 2000, the Federal Trade Commission started seeking government regulation
of information gathering and advocates the right of individuals to “opt-in.” Opting in requires individuals to
expressly give an organization the right to gather information before any information can be collected. Visit the
<A HREF=http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/index.html target=”new”>FTC Web site</a> for the latest information
on this subject.

Technical Solutions

According to the law you must inform someone if you are taping a telephone conversation with them. On the
other hand, you can legally record that person’s Internet transmissions without any need to inform them you are
doing so. This type of disparity exists because our laws have not kept up with emerging technologies. There
are some tools that can help you block someone from tracing your Internet activities as the text discusses.
However, if you use your company’s computers for most of your Web-browsing or e-mail activities, you may
want to check with your Information Technology department before you install the tools.

The World Wide Web consortium has developed standards for how privacy policies can be embedded into Web
pages and subsequently be compared to a user’s privacy wishes through the user’s Web browser. The Platform
for Privacy Practices (P3P) allows you to determine what sites can collect information behind the scenes
through your computer’s cookie files. Because the P3P standards are “machine-readable” you don’t have to
search each Web site for its privacy policy. You let the computers do the comparison and automatically block
any site not conforming to your wishes.

Property Rights: Intellectual Property

Intellectual property issues have been around for hundreds of years. Some of the laws and policies in place to
settle disputes about copyrights, patents, and trade secrets, have to be rewritten to apply to the Internet.
Intellectual property is a result of someone's effort at creating a product of value based on their experiences,
knowledge, and education. In short, intellectual property is brain power.

What if you wrote the next great American novel hoping to cash in big time? Maybe you could retire to the
Bahamas and drink lemonade on the beach all day. But then you find out that someone posted your next great
American novel to the Internet and everyone is reading it free of charge. Now you're back in your hometown
drinking lemonade at the local mall while you decide whether to look for a job at McDonald's or Burger King.
The good news is everyone loves your book!

Unfortunately, that sort of thing happens too often in the cyberworld. You're pretty excited to get that free
copy of the newest game software, while the poor guy who spent hours of his time and effort writing it is not so
excited to realize he's not getting any compensation.

Everything on the Web is considered to be protected under copyright and intellectual property laws unless
the Web site specifically states that the content is public domain. The Web site doesn't need to carry the
copyright symbol © in order for it to be protected. President Clinton signed the Digital Millennium

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Copyright Act (DMCA) in January 1998 making it a federal offense to violate copyright laws on the Internet,
punishable with a fine up to $250,000.

Copyright laws and intellectual property rights cannot be violated on the Internet any more than they can in
other mediums. While this isn't a law class, you should be aware of the fine line between acceptable and legal
usage of materials and the illegal theft of materials. When it comes to copyright material, the underlying ideas
are not protected, just the publication of the material. On the other hand, a patent grants a monopoly on the
underlying concepts and ideas. Before you use anything, especially any material on the World Wide Web,
make sure you are using it legally and ethically.

Get past the idea that because everything on the Web is free, easy to access, and available 24-hours a day, it
must therefore be okay to use it however you want. The question you should be asking yourself is, "Is it
ethically right and legal?"

The <A HREF=http://www.bsa.org/ target=”new”>Business Software Alliance</a> is an organization working

to prevent software piracy and the illegal use of copyrighted material around the world. And don’t think the
problem is limited to the 17-year old computer geek locked in his bedroom. This crime can be committed by
anyone, as this newsclip shows:
Seventeen high-tech professionals were indicted on federal charges for participating in an
Internet piracy ring that hijacked software worth more than $1 million. The government said 12
of those indicted are members of an underground organization while the five others are
employees of Intel Corp. The individuals indicted were charged with conspiracy to infringe on
copyrights, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and
restitution. (AP Newswire, May 5, 2000)
Perhaps the most notorious copyright infringement and intellectual property case in 2000 and 2001
involved the music industry. MP3, one of the most popular methods of illegally downloading music
from Web sites, lost a court battle waged by the music industry. MP3 was forced to pay millions of
dollars to the industry for lost revenues. The rock group Metallic sued Napster.com because it allowed
people to trade copyrighted material illegally. Napster.com lost the battle and went on to devise methods
for legally downloading music. So before you copy your favorite sound clip, remember you’re actually
stealing someone else’s property as surely as if you walked into that person’s home and took the CD.
The music industry and the film industry are now suing individuals who continually download copies of
songs and movies from free Web sites.

Accountability, Liability, and Control

Many of our laws and court decisions establishing precedents in the area of accountability, liability, and
control, were firmly in place long before computers were invented. Many of them date back to the early 1900s,
and some simply don't make sense in this day and age. That's what we were referring to in the opening
paragraphs of this lecture when we talked about new questions for organizations, companies, and the workplace
in general. No issue makes this subject more important than the Internet laws our government has tried, and
still tries, to pass.

One tenet of the Communications Decency Act (struck down by the courts) and the Child Online Protection Act
(currently in the courts) is that the Internet Service Providers should somehow be liable for content placed on
the Internet through their users. Ask yourself these questions: "If you receive an obscene phone call, is the
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telephone company responsible and liable for the problem? If you receive a threatening letter in the mail, is the
U.S. Post Office responsible for reading every piece of mail on the chance that there might be a problem in one
of the letters?" The text gives several examples of recent liability problems and the difficulties companies face
as networks, computers, and data increasingly become common strategic tools.

System Quality: Data Quality and System Errors

As we rely on information systems more, data quality issues are gaining importance. These issues affect you as
a consumer and as a user.

When the credit reporting agencies screw up your credit record and you can't get a car loan, who's fault is it?
What if you're driving down the road, the computer chip controlling your brake system fails, and you have a
rather nasty crash. Who's at fault? You, the car company, or the company that made the computer chip? Who
is responsible for system downtime when a popular e-mail program has holes allowing viruses to spread and
multiply; the software manufacturer or the company that licenses the software?

Most of us use software that a manufacturer knows contains bugs. They usually are nothing more than an
aggravation and a frustration. But once in a while, they will affect our use of the computer. Our natural
tendency is to let the marketplace control the balance by letting the customer punish or reward the producer.
But will that be enough, or will the issue end up in the courts?

When a network server crashes and day-traders miss an important trade, who is responsible for the lost income?
The ISP? The financial service company? No one? As more and more companies do business on the Internet,
will Internet Service Providers or the companies doing business on the Internet be held accountable for
equipment outages that render those businesses unable to process transactions?

Quality of Life: Equity, Access, and Boundaries

Invariably, when discussing online technology, some students mention their concern about losing the face-to-
face contact with other human beings. We hear stories about children who haven't developed normal social
skills because they spend all their time in front of a computer. No discussion about the quality of life issues
would be complete without mentioning the tales of "online love affairs." Of course, many people lose their
jobs and their way of life because of technology. These are all very valid concerns.

What, in your opinion, is the impact of all this wired stuff on children? How should we protect them against
the threats, real or perceived? The Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) that went into effect in April
2000 has helped prosecute online predators and others using networks to commit crimes against children.
However, it seems the more we try to protect children’s’ use of the Internet, the more ways people find to harm
them.

Interactive Session: Organizations: What should we do about cyberbullying? (see p. 144 of the
text) discusses how some features of the Internet allow bullies and other types of Internet predators to
more easily find and affect their victims.

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation http://www.eff.org/, an organization dedicated to “protecting rights and
preserving freedom in the electronic frontier,” has lots of information about protecting free speech on the
Internet.

One quality of life issue that affects more and more people personally is the ability to work from home. Most
telecommuters had a "regular day job" 9-5, five days a week, in a typical office setting. If they didn't get their
work done today, they would usually wait until they were back in the office tomorrow or Monday. Now
because of technology they can work seven days a week, all hours of the day, at home. And sometimes they
do. The impact on personal and family life can be considerable. In many regards, this problem extends not just
to telecommuters but to many employees who spend their normal 40-50 hours a week in the office and then
stay “wired” in the evenings, on weekends, and even during vacations.

There is an upside to the jobs issue, though. Many parents like telecommuting because they can stay home
with, or at least be nearer, their children. More and more people are leaving the big cities and moving to small
towns for the quality of life, yet they can still keep their well-paying jobs. Many small companies are able to
expand their customer base because of technology, which in turns helps the employees immensely. Completely
new businesses are born because of technology.

Computer crime is one area that has been extremely hard for our society and our governments to keep up with
the rapid change. Many laws have to be rewritten and many new laws must be implemented to accommodate
the changes. Computer crime and abuse extends to any wrongdoing involving equipment and Internet usage.
We spoke earlier about anonymity not being a license for socially unacceptable behavior. You should
remember that everything you do on a network or the Internet is recorded and can be tracked. Many people
committing computer crimes and abuse have been caught and prosecuted.

Spamming (unsolicited e-mail) has been challenged in the courts by Internet Service Providers (ISP) as an
unfair practice. The ISPs say thousands of these e-mails clog their systems, and no one wants them anyway.
The spammers argue their right to freedom of speech is violated if they can't send e-mails to anyone they want.
Congress passed a new law in late 2003 to clamp down on spamming. While we may not see an immediate
effect by reduced numbers of spam email messages hitting our mailboxes, the law does seem to be producing
some result:

Other issues affecting our society include job losses and career changes caused by technology. You can argue
the positive or negative effects, but one thing is clear: you'll be a part of the evolution of technology for the rest
of your life. You will have to continually update your skills and knowledge in order to remain competitive in
the job market. As companies continue to embrace new technology and new methods of using it, you'll be
responsible for ensuring your skills and education remain current.

Interactive Session: Management: Flexible Scheduling at Wal-Mart: Good or Bad for Employees?
(see p. 148 of the text) provides a real-world example of ethical dilemmas facing both employers and
employees because of technological advancements in the workplace.

Our government recognizes the danger of allowing unequal access to technology to fester. It has enlisted the
help of private individuals and corporations in the effort to install computers and Internet access in public
schools and libraries all across the nation and the world. Most schools are now wired for networks and are
learning to incorporate technology into the curriculum. There’s even a Web site
<http://www.digitaldivide.org/> dedicated to the digital divide situation.
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As managers, you should be acutely aware of the health issues caused by computer usage, especially repetitive
stress injury (RSI). Why? Because these health issues cost businesses huge amounts of money each year in
medical treatment claims and lost productivity. Carpal tunnel syndrome, a subset of RSI, is the most serious
health issue plaguing businesses. Computer vision syndrome is increasing as people continually use computer
screens and handheld devices that strain eyesight.

It doesn't take much to avoid the problems associated with computer usage. Ergonomics, the study of the
relationship between humans and machines, has helped determine that it's cheaper to purchase equipment that
reduces the health risks associated with computers, such as different keyboards, monitors that reduce eye strain,
and desks that allow proper body positions.

Too much of a good thing can be bad. You've heard of road rage, the anger people experience when driving.
We are now experiencing road rage on the Information Superhighway, and it’s called technostress. Managers
should encourage their employees to take frequent breaks from their computers and to recognize and
understand the dangers of isolation from humans. We may be a wired nation, but we still need the human
touch.

How has all this technology affected you? Think about it. Ultimately, there is a positive and a negative side to
everything. How you handle it determines how it affects you.

Bottom Line: If it sounds too good to be true, it is. If it's illegal or immoral or unethical outside the
computing arena, it's probably illegal, immoral, and unethical in the computing arena. If you are aware
of a problem or are a victim of unethical, illegal actions, and you don't do something about it, you're
part of the problem. It's your new world – use it wisely.

Discussion Questions:
1. Write a computer usage policy for your school or workplace incorporating the moral and ethical guidelines
discussed in this chapter.

2. Briefly describe your Internet Service Provider's e-mail usage policy. If you are on campus, your school
should have a usage policy.

3. Describe how your quality of life has improved or declined with the technological advances in the last five
years.

4. How do you think our government should handle the political issue of Internet decency and access
limitations?

5. To what extent should Internet Service Providers be held liable and accountable for the use of their
equipment?

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Answers to Discussion Questions
1. Answers will vary but should include items such as no spamming, no threats, no harassment, no violations
of personal privacy, no downloading and redistributing copyrighted material, and no software copying.

2. Answers will vary according to the ISP and the educational institution.

3. Answers will vary, but improvements should include ease of communication (e-mail, cell phones); ease of
access to information (Internet search); making daily tasks easier (banking online, shopping online).
Declines in quality of life: ability to work anytime, anywhere blurs the boundary between work and family
life; cell phones everywhere can be intrusive and annoying; e-mail can mean too much time spent combing
through messages to determine what is important and requires answering.

4. Answers will vary, but might include: the federal government should be involved in monitoring the
Internet, should pass federal laws to regulate access, but stay out of decency issues because of the First
Amendment; or government should stay away and let the Internet monitor itself.

5. Answers will vary, but might include holding those who choose to use a technology
responsible for the consequences of that technology, not the providers of the technology; OR holding that
ISPs responsible for the harm that follows because of a breakdown of their equipment, on which businesses
and individuals depend; that ISPs should monitor the e-mail sent over their equipment. This is a hard one,
because an ISP provides a service, like the phone company, and the phone company is not responsible for
the phone calls people make unless people use the phone to engage in criminal activities like harassment.

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