1	Information Systems Ethics IS 460 Notes by Thomas Hilton
2	Definition of Ethics “Business” Ethics “Gaming” Ethics Rules of right conduct in business IS Ethics: Rules of right conduct in IS
3	Business Ethics Role of Business in Society Ethical Decision-Making Ethical Leadership Corporate Governance
4	Misconceptions About IS Ethics Not different from other business ethics Not relative to the individual (consensual) Not the same as getting caught Not security Not law Not conscience Not common sense
5	Basic Duties of IS Ethics Order: filling agreed-upon role(s) Cooperation: helping (or not hindering) others to fulfill their proper role Improvement: continually improving goods, services, or their production Trust: Giving one's best efforts to achieving agreed-upon goals
6	The Domain of IS Ethics Information Systems Components Information, hardware, software, procedures, people, data Information Systems Actions Access Use Creation Destruction
7	When Duties Conflict Bentham's Law (legitimized by John Stuart Mill) “Seek the Greatest Good for the Greatest Number” What’s “good”? Who counts in the “greatest number”? Subject to abuse Use only in context of the Four Duties
8	How Computers Remove Barriers to Unethical Behavior Location Time Power Separation
9	How to Make an Ethical Decision Is it an IS issue? What are feasible responses? Which duties does each response fulfill/neglect? Resolve conflicts among duties? Carry out the most ethical response Although doing nothing is a legitimate alternative, don’t succumb to “Analysis Paralysis”
10	The Other Half of the Story Knowing ethics rules isn’t enough. We must choose to behave ethically.
11	How to Develop a Good Attitude Toward Ethical Behavior? Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory… Introduce a credible model Have the model demonstrate the desired behavior Show the model being rewarded for engaging in the behavior Repeat steps 1-3 often
12	Is Such Manipulation Ethical? Very good question… We can do this consciously/deliberately to ourselves Our actions very likely contribute to others’ attitudes
13	Ethics Issues in IS Honesty Competence End User Issues Professional Issues Other Stakeholder Issues
14	End User Issues A la Mason, 1986… Privacy Accuracy Property Access
15	Professional Issues Developer (errors, controls, etc.) Team (interpersonal relations, overtime, resources, etc.) Managerial (vendor relations, management relations, project management)
16	Other Stakeholder Issues Regulation Legislation Professional Society Participation