Professional Ethics in Information Systems: A Personal Perspective

In the Information Systems discipline, increasing attention is being paid to the issue of professional ethics. In this article, a personal perspective on the topic is offered. The academic philosophies of ethical theory are introduced, followed by detailed treatment of four fundamental issues: codes of ethics, intellectual property rights, professional accountability and data protection. The intention of the article is to arouse the interest of IS professionals and to stimulate debate. Through a discussion, future developments in the professionalism of information systems are explored, and questions are raised concerning the way in which information systems is regulated, and the role it may play in the future

Ethics and Deontology in Information Systems – Evolution of Professional Codes

Information Systems professionals deal daily with ethical dilemmas, which are most notorious when making decisions. Due to the importance of ethical behavior and to prevent unethical situations without full awareness of them, the development of codes of ethics and conduct for companies and communities of professionals has been fundamental. Since the creation of the first code of ethics in computing in 1972, many codes of ethics and conduct have emerged from the initiative of various societies, organizations, and associations all over the world. This article identifies and describes the structural evolution of the main codes in the Information Systems area, from the original to the most recent versions. From analyzing the codes, the following results were obtained: (1) codes of ethics and codes of conduct are the most common code types; (2) the codes are directed mainly at all members of the entities (without differentiation); (3) the evolution of codes is related to the changing of descriptions of conducts, the changing of the structure of documents, and in many cases there is an increase of the number of conducts of ethical behavior in the newer versions of the codes

Moral Philosophy and Ethical Decision Making in an Information Technology Dilemma

This study explores the fundamental philosophical differences found in the ethical decision making approaches of studentsenrolled in a Management Information Systems (MIS) course required at an accredited university in New England. Thedecision choices of the students were classified according to five widely accepted theories of ethics: (a) Axiological, (b)Deontological, (c) Perfectionist, (d) Utilitarian, and (e) Relativistic. Based on their major areas of study, students wereclassified into three categories: (1) Arts & Sciences majors, (2) Business majors, and (3) Information Technology majors.The analysis of 103 decisions confirms the existence of statistically significant differences among students in their ethicalapproaches to resolving an information technology dilemma based on their major areas of study. While the Arts & Sciencesmajors prefer Utilitarian ethics, Business majors prefer Axiological, and Information Technology majors favor Relativisticapproach. Some possible reasons behind these differences are discussed in the paper

Digital Ethics : A UKeiG White Paper

This white paper discusses the topic of digital ethics and considers the topic within the background of theories on ethics and how they apply within the digital realm. It explores the issues of internet governance, net neutrality, freedom of expression, and privacy and considers how they impact on the work of the information profession and wider society. Issues around internet governance challenge us from the point of view of net neutrality and the tensions between the original ethos of the Internet pioneers and the enhanced role of governemnts and corporations in Interent governance. The concept of “code” as law, introduced by Lawrence Lessig, is explored in terms of how it challenges ethical behaviour. Freedom of expression is a constant challenge as we are presented with calls to limit acess to certain information types, and are increasingly charged with considering filtering systems to do so. The increasing emergence of online trolls also challenges freedom of expression rights. Privacy is under challenge via both government and corporate interests in our activities and our data. Overall the need to be aware of fundamental rights versus how those rights may impact on wider society is the primary concern around digital ethics

現代社会と倫理的問題状況を解釈する為の試論 : 倫理・道徳概念の再吟味を通して

　Since the second half of the 20th century, especially for the past 10 years,the field so-called “applied ethics” has been widely studied. The reason whythis field began to draw more attention is probably because of the issuesrelated to the four topics, that is, “environment”, “life”, “information”, as wellas “corporate enterprises”. However, the name “applied ethics” is, franklyspeaking, somewhat vague to define what is really studied in the field.Ethics and morality are “events” with fundamental meanings associatedwith the actuality of human life. Thus, while we must admit its “practicalaspects or areas”, the issues pertaining to “environment”, “life”, “information”and “corporate enterprises” are more like “material aspects or areas” inwhich we think about ethics or morality. In this sense, this area of studyshould be called “new ethics” rather than “applied ethics”.　In the contemporary society, ethical issues pertaining to these aspectsare mutually affecting each other to a great extent. Environmental ethics,bioethics and information ethics should be discussed from the perspectiveof how they are related to ethical issues in corporate enterprises, althoughtalking about these areas outside of such context may not be alwaysmeaningless. On the other hand, discussions about corporate enterpriseethics, or business ethics would always have to include ethical issuespertaining to environment, life and information. Ethical issues pertainingto corporate enterprises, which is my main focus of study, need to bestudied by focusing on science, technology and organizations, becausewhile companies manage businesses to meet the needs in the society, suchbusinesses are the application of science and technology and managementis an organizational activity. Values toward businesses establish positionsregarding science and technology, and vice versa. Those values andpositions will take on organizational nature rather than personal nature.Ethical issues pertaining to corporate enterprises, or corporate enterprisesmanaging businesses take on organizational nature in this sense. However,as management, an organizational activity by the concerned corporateenterprise, consists of multiple individual activities, we must also consider“possible conflicts between an individual and his organization” which isinevitable in discussing these ethical issues.　As a preliminary study for the research to re-structure issues of businessethics and management ethics as organizational ethics, this article aims toexamine moral and ethical concepts and clarify how morality and ethics aredifferent from each other as well as how they are related to each other（ III.Moral and ethical challenges in the organizational society and conceptualexamination of the distinction and relationship of morality and ethics）,by considering the aforementioned points as well as possible “conflictsbetween an individual and his organization”. The following two points arediscussed in this article: as managing a business by a corporate enterpriseis one of the social complements which are done within the organizationalrelationship or network with other systems or entities to improve humanlife, I first discuss （ 1 ） “complementary relationships in society”, and then,（ 2 ） examine how morality and ethics are positioned in the context asthe “topology of moral and ethical issues in the organizational society”.Discussing these two points will lead us to the discussion of “moral andethical challenged in the organizational society” and set up a backgroundfor the purpose of this article

Towards a Code of Cyberethics for a Municipality in South Africa

Cybertechnology has had a significant impact on our social and moral systems. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with what is considered to be right and wrong. One of the ways in which ethical standards in the public service in South Africa can be promoted is by developing Codes of Conduct that set a standard of behaviour to be followed within specific occupational categories. One occupational category is Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The diversity of ICT applications (such as supply chain management) and the increased use of ICT (such as e-Business) have created a variety of ethical issues. Kantian Ethics is based on the idea that duty is fundamental and ‘principle based’. The authors suggest that principle based theory should serve as backdrop to a Code of Cyberethics for a public service entity (a metropolitan municipality) in South Africa. In this paper the concepts of cybertechnology and cyberethics are introduced. eThekwini Municipality, the most populous municipality in South Africa, is selected as the environment for the formulation of a Code of Cyberethics. The methodology for the formulation of a Code of Cyberethics for eThekwini Municipality is described

Lessons from Archives: Strategies for Collecting Sociocultural Data in Machine Learning

A growing body of work shows that many problems in fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics in machine learning systems are rooted in decisions surrounding the data collection and annotation process. In spite of its fundamental nature however, data collection remains an overlooked part of the machine learning (ML) pipeline. In this paper, we argue that a new specialization should be formed within ML that is focused on methodologies for data collection and annotation: efforts that require institutional frameworks and procedures. Specifically for sociocultural data, parallels can be drawn from archives and libraries. Archives are the longest standing communal effort to gather human information and archive scholars have already developed the language and procedures to address and discuss many challenges pertaining to data collection such as consent, power, inclusivity, transparency, and ethics & privacy. We discuss these five key approaches in document collection practices in archives that can inform data collection in sociocultural ML. By showing data collection practices from another field, we encourage ML research to be more cognizant and systematic in data collection and draw from interdisciplinary expertise.Comment: To be published in Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency FAT* '20, January 27-30, 2020, Barcelona, Spain. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 11 page

Too Early for Global Ethics

C1 - Journal Articles Refereed© 2005 Cambridge University Press. Online edition of the journal is available at http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=CQ

Human Values as the Basis for Sustainable Information System Design

Information systems (IS) play an increasing role for individual well-being [3], for the environment [4], and for society at large [5]. Considering sustainability in IS development is therefore becoming paramount. However, companies today associate sustainability with extra cost and burden on their operations. As a result, many view sustainability more as a demand and a challenge rather than an opportunity. In this article, we argue that companies should rethink this attitude, as both sustainability and a business model can be understood as deeply rooted in human values