Chapter 3: Ethics and Privacy Issues

Which three highly publicized fiascos occured in 2001 & 2002 that led to the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002?

Fiascos at Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco

Which of the following data is NOT currently collected by usage-based car insurance companies? ----- Speed Time of day GPS Mileage

GPS

Which fundamental tenet of ethics brought Volkswagen's "Diesel Dupe" into the light?

Responsibility

Major scandals at Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco led to the passage of which law in 2002?

Sarbanes Oxley Act

obstruction of transborder data flows

The absence of consistent or uniform standards for privacy and security obstructs the flow of information among countries

Which of the following is a privacy issue? ---- What information does a person or an organization have a right to obtain, under what conditions, and with what safeguards? What information about oneself should an individual be required to reveal to others? How should we handle illegally copying copyrighted software? How can we ensure that the information will be processed properly and presented accurately to users?

What information about oneself should an individual be required to reveal to others?

Liability is...

a legal concept that gives individuals the right to recover the damages done to them by other individuals, organizations, or systems

Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P)

a protocol that automatically communicates privacy policies between an electronic commerce website and visitors to that site

You can check your credit report annually for free through TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. This allows you to catch signs of identity theft early and note any problems in your credit reports. This is an example of an ethical issue that falls into the category of ________.

accuracy

Accountability refers to...

determining who is responsible for actions that were taken

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires publicly held companies to implement _________ controls; it was passed to address the _________ crisis.

financial; Enron

Common good approach

highlights the interlocking relationships that underlie all societies. This approach argues that respect and compassion for all others is the basis for ethical actions.

Rights approach

maintains that an ethical action is the one that best protects and respects the moral rights of the affected parties

Fairness Approach

posits that ethical actions treat all human beings equally, or, if unequally, then fairly, based on some defensible standard.

Deontology approach

states that the morality of an action is based on whether the action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules, rather than based on the consequences of the action

Responsibility means...

that you accept the consequences of your decisions and actions

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), _______ has become a major privacy-related problem.

tracking people's activities with the aid of information technology

Minimizing the organization's carbon footprint and otherwise striving for "green IT" is an example of a _________ approach.

utilitarian

T or F: Tagging your friends' pictures on Facebook will not compromise their privacy as long as you obtain their permission.

False

T or F: The law basically does not support an employer's right to read electronic mail and other electronic documents.

False

T or F: Using apps on your smart phones that broadcast your location to others is a harmless act.

False

General framework for ethical decision-making

1. recognize an ethical issue 2. get the facts 3. evaluate alternative actions 4. make a decision and test it 5. act and reflect on the outcome of your decision

Privacy can be interpreted quite broadly. However, court decisions in many countries have followed what 2 rules fairly closely?

1.The right of privacy is not absolute. Privacy must be balanced against the needs of society. 2.The public's right to know supersedes the individual's right of privacy.

T or F: If your employer clearly states in the employee handbook that work email addresses should be used for official business only and then proceeds to read all the emails you send and receive, he or she is guilty of a legal violation.

False

_________ is the tenet of ethics that refers to determining who is responsible for actions that were taken.

Accountability

Utilitarian Approach

An ethical action is the one that provides the most good or does the least harm.

T or F: Ethics deals strictly with legal interpretations of what is right and wrong.

False

What is the purpose of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?

It requires publicly held companies to implement financial controls and company executives to personally certify financial reports.

Companies prefer the _________ model of informed consent.

Opt-out

T or F: Content that is illegal in one country can still be legal in other countries.

True

T or F: Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with what is considered to be right and wrong.

True

T or F: India purchased The StingRay to monitor the calls of opposition-party politicians.

True

T or F: The Impact Team claimed it hacked Ashley Madison because the company charged for deleting profiles that it never deleted.

True

T or F: The legal concept that gives individuals the right to recover damages done to them by other individuals, organizations, or systems is known as liability.

True

T or F: The right to privacy is recognized today in all the US states and by the federal government, either by statute or in common law.

True