The Central Problem in Cyber Ethics and How Stories Can Be Used to Address It

The central problem in Cyber Ethics is: how do you establish ethical standards in a professional field that is defined by a rapidly evolving technology where the consequences of the technology and the impact of any ethical standards cannot be known in the time frame in which the standards must be established? Stories play a very important role in addressing this issue. This chapter explores the role of stories in Cyber Ethics.

A Contrarian's View

While the view that new technology, new ways of doing business and new avenues of communication require new ethical standards is a commonly accepted one, a closer look at the nature of these new developments in juxtaposition with history demonstrates that the notion of new ethics for new eras has been tried in other social and cultural revolutions. History teaches that old standards are easily applied to new technologies. While the expediency of evolving ethics is tempting, adherence to such a fluid standard limits progress because the activity of change is not grounded in values. We have been here before and can simply put this new technology into an old framework of values and still enjoy progress, but with the peace of virtue.

Virtual Harms and Real Responsibility

In traditional communities, some actions are widely regarded as bad and unethical. But in online “communities,” the virtual analog of those actions may not be regarded with the same clarity. Since “virtual” behaviors are distinct from ordinary acts, they require further analysis to determine whether they are right or wrong. In this chapter we consider an incident on the Internet that illustrates this confusion. The incident centered on a virtual act of sexual violence. This “rape in cyberspace,” reported by Julian Dibbell in 1993, has generated questions about the significance of behaviors in virtual reality environments. We use the case to explore the moral nature of actions in virtual environments, emphasizing the themes of harm and responsibility. We then offer some tentative lessons to be learned and, finally, apply the lessons to virtual sex and to first-person shooter computer games.

Managing Workplace Privacy Responsibility

This chapter presents an ethical case for strong workplace privacy rights, which have been jeopardized by the proliferation of monitoring systems and surveillance architectures. After explicating the functionality of those technologies and tracing the history of workplace privacy concerns, we analyze key statutory frameworks and provide some grounding for the ethical imperative to protect workplace privacy rights. But privacy rights must be balanced with the corporation’s legitimate need for employee information. To achieve this balance, privacy-related issues must be diligently managed, and we recommend reliance on the Total Responsibility Management model. With the aid of that model, we identify and defend five operative principles for ensuring that monitoring technologies are deployed in a fair and responsible manner. In addition to underscoring the importance of privacy rights, our objective is to demonstrate that workplace privacy is an organizational issue that must be prudentially managed by corporations aspiring to be good corporate citizens.

Compliance with Data Management Laws

This chapter exposes professionals to laws dealing with data management. Both positive and negative aspects of legislation are highlighted. The purpose of this chapter is to expose the reader to some of the more interesting legal issues and provide insight into how information systems professionals and businesses may protect themselves from the negative ramifications of not complying with current legislation and the related negative publicity from such non-compliance. The increased ubiquitous nature of computing, coupled with the vast quantities of data gathered, increases the need for legislation to force companies and governmental agencies to take privacy seriously.

Copyright Law in the Digital Age

This chapter discusses the current state of copyright law with respect to works contained on different media. It traces the history and purpose of the law, while focusing on how digital technology has shaped its evolution. It describes how recent legislation and court cases have created a patchwork of law whose protection often varies depending upon the medium on which the work lies. The author questions whether some of the recent legislation has lost sight of the main purpose behind the copyright law, the promotion of learning and public knowledge.

Living Within Glass Houses

This chapter discusses the influence of technological systems on managing stakeholder relationships in the global environment. The information, immediacy and intimacy—the transparency—afforded by technological networks have transformed the nature and the strategic vantage point of these key relationships. Transparency is created and enhanced because of the public’s capacity to know and its ability to navigate the technological terrain. The author argues that the modern prism of transparency can illuminate and enhance the sharing and disseminating of salient knowledge of communities of interest. Thus, the technological imperative and organizational transparency are complements in understanding and effectively responding to stakeholder environments.

The Perils of Access and Immediacy

What are the potential issues created by the increased access and immediacy offered by information technology? The following chapter suggests how to anticipate these “perils” by applying a conceptual framework, as well as by understanding specific examples and by anticipating future trends. Implications for developers and users of information technology are discussed with suggestions for leveraging access and immediacy while mitigating their perils.

Software Engineering as a Profession

This chapter makes the argument that software engineers, as part of a program of moving toward more formal professionalization, should be licensed. It outlines the nature of the profession and the arguments that justify licensing in professions other than software engineering. It then traces the initial steps the software industry has already taken towards professionalization, including codes of ethics and educational standards. There are morally and practically compelling arguments, rooted in the professional’s obligations to society, to do more: licensing, or some other sort of formal, binding and revocable certification, is also necessary. The chapter considers but rejects a number of reasons one might resist this as a goal.

Ethical Challenges of Information Systems

This chapter reviews the historical, technological and economic factors driving IT organizational design and resulting staffing patterns within the IT organization as a backdrop to reviewing the ethical aspects of outsourcing and other technology-enabled organizational imperatives. It examines the effect of developing a business model based on core competency analysis and examines IT sourcing alternatives from the viewpoint of three groups of stakeholders: individuals, the corporation and society. The chapter demonstrates that sourcing choices an IT manager makes result in ethical dilemmas, delineates various aspects of the dilemmas and provides some simple but effective resolution principles. The author hopes that the IT manager reading the chapter will be better prepared to apply ethical decision principles when choosing how to staff their organization and be aware of the possible negative and positive results of their decision-making.