This module provide an overview of Ethical Theories and how these are used when making decisions. There is an Information Technology focus in the slides.

1. Overview of Ethics and
Information Technology
AN OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCE
DEVELOPED TO ENCOURAGE
STUDENTS TO THINK, DISCUSS AND LEARN
ABOUT ETHICAL CONCERNS IN COMPUTING
MODULE ONE
SUSAN BENNETT

2. Contents
2
 Objectives
 What are Ethics?
 Historical Determinants
 Contemporary Views
 General Ideas
 Legality
 Guidelines
 Codes of Ethics
 Computing Issues

3. Objectives of this resource
3
 To provide a foundational understanding of ethical
theory
 To provide a process for analysing ethical situations
and for making decisions in response to them
 To provide the opportunity for students to consider
some ethical circumstances involving Information
Technology that have the potential to harm
individuals, organisations, or society

4. Introduction: What are “Ethics”?
4
 “The study of what it means to „do the right thing”
 (A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology, (4th ed) Sara Baase
p.333)
 “Making a principle-based choice between
competing alternatives”
 (Ethical decision making and information technology : an introduction with cases. E A Kallman &
J P Grillo, p.3)
 Ethics comes from a Greek word meaning “usual” or
“the instituted order”
 Making principled decisions
 Making defensible decisions

5. What are ethics?
5
 Principles based on our understanding of what is
good, right, proper, moral, or ethical.
 Ideas of behaviour that are commonly acceptable to
society
 We are influenced by a variety of sources such as
family, religious institutions, educational
institutions, professional organisations, government,
etc.

6. Why care about ethics?
6
 Self-interest:
 Some unethical actions are also illegal
 Some can effect our careers and reputation
 For the interest of the others
 Some unethical decisions can hurt other individuals, the
organisation we work for, or society
 Ethical decision making impacts on the type of society that is
created
 Ethical practices are a reflection of the factors that the
members of a particular society place value on

7. What is Ethical Decision Making?
7
 When faced with an ethical dilemma the objective is
to make a judgment based on well-reasoned,
defensible ethical principles
 The risk is poor judgment i.e. a low-quality decision
 A low-quality decision can have a wide range of
negative consequences

8. Historical Determination of Ethics
8
 Religious ethical Ten Commandments
standards–
Judaism,
Christianity and
Islam
 Divine Command
Theory
 Good actions are
those aligned with
the will of God
and bad actions
are contrary to the
will of God.
Further Information on Christian Religion Beliefs

9. Historical Determination of Ethics
9
 Community ethical standards. Usually a consensus
interpretation of religious ethics but added to or
modified where necessary
 Moral philosophers – Socrates and Plato – mused
on the nature of men and of explanations for their
actions
 More information about Socrates
 More information about Plato

10. Immanuel Kant
10
Philosopher.
1724 - 1804
Deontology
Absolutism
Kantian Ethics
Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy - Deontology

11. Deontology
11
From the Greek word deon meaning “Duty”
Etymology
De (to disestablish connection).
Ontos (Greek ontoV
Meaning “being).
Immanuel Kant‟s use of the word essentially means that we should “separate
ourselves” and our own needs and preferences from our ethical decisions. Thus
we do right as a matter of “duty”
Our ethical methods and values should arise outside ourselves. They do not
depend on humans for their existence.

12. Kant‟s Principles
12
 Kantian Ethics – also known as Absolutism
 Based on the idea that the only consideration is
the “Act” itself
 Actions are either intrinsically moral or not
moral
 Decisions should be based on whether or not the
action is a moral one

13. Kant‟s principles
13
1. The principle of CONSISTENCY: Judge your actions
by considering the outcome should your action be made a
universal law. (i.e. What if it was compulsory for everyone
to do what you are doing?)
2. The principle of RESPECT: Always consider human
beings as ends in themselves, never as means to an end.
(i.e. Treat others as valued people. Never just use them for
your purposes.) This is Kant‟s principle of “respect”.
3. The principle of DUTY: Actions performed out of a
sense of duty (that also conform to 1 & 2 above) are
morally praiseworthy actions.

14. Kant would say…
14
 We have responsibilities and duties.
 Some things are “right” and some are “wrong”
regardless of whether we agree or not.
 Doing “right” will not necessarily be to our
advantage. In fact, whether an action is or is not
to our advantage is a very poor way of judging its
merits.

15. Strengths of Kantian ethics
15
 In Theory it is based on “pure reason”:-
 Provides a much needed challenge to moral
relativism.
 Facilitates ethics based on the big picture.
 What is seen as “hypothetical” is really a “logical
extension” of consequences.
 Takes moral consequences seriously.
 Avoids problems caused by the complexity and
diversity of human opinion, culture and need.

16. Challenges to Kantian ethics
16
 “Pure reason”:-
 Lacks compassion.
 Leaves no flexibility to take human frailty and
diversity into account.
 Offers a single moral solution to what is really a
complex and diverse problem.
 Can be challenged as “essentially hypothetical”.
 Can be challenged as being simplistic.

17. Contemporary Ethical Theory
17
 Emphasis on the individual rather than the
community.
 Rights rather than duties or responsibilities.
 Harm minimisation.
 Relativism (rejection of external authority
sources).
 Egoism
 Consequentialism. (Teleology = telos = goal)

18. Societal changes
18
 A move from Absolutism to Relativism
 Similar shift in Ethics towards the
consequentialist approach , where the
focus is on the results or the consequences
of the “Act”

19. Relativism
19
 Relativism – No real distinction between truth and
opinion. Right and wrong are relative to
individual or community opinion.
Subjective and Cultural
 No standards or rules of behaviour can be
reasonably applied at all times and all places.
 Actions must be judged as moral depending on
the time and culture in which they take place.
 What is considered moral can change
considerably over time within a culture.

20. Utilitarianism
20
Act and Rule
 Consequentialist theory
 Attempts to determine whether an action is
moral by considering the consequences.
 Actions are moral if they create the greatest
happiness (utility) for the greatest number of
people.
 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Utilitarianism

21. The Morality of Murder?
 Whats the right thing to do? Professor Michael
Sandel at Harvard Law

22. Two Types of Ethical Choices
22
 Right vs wrong: choosing right from wrong is the
easiest
 Right vs right
 Situation contains shades of gray i.e. all alternatives have
desirable and undesirable results
 Choosing “the lesser of two evils”
 Objective: make a defensible decision

23. Choosing Right from Wrong
23
 Examples:
 Stealing
 Lying
 Murdering
 Society prohibits these acts
 Does the scale of the situation change things?
 Finders Keepers?

24. Scale
 Scale: Murder is murder.
 However, what about stealing? If you receive $100 in
error in your bank account that you know is not
yours, what do you do? What if it‟s $1,000? What if
$100,000? What if $1?
 Finding things: Wallet with lots of money? Coins left
in a phone box?
 Is Wrong a continuum from “badly wrong” to “not
very wrong”? White lies? Telling the police you
weren‟t speeding?

25. Choosing Right from Right
 Is it wrong to steal if your child is starving?
 It is right not to steal. It is right not to allow your child to
starve.
 Is it wrong to lie to an ill friend?
 It is right to tell the truth. It is right to be optimistic when
talking to a sick friend
 Ethical choice is often complex

26. Making Defensible Decisions
26
 First step in ethical decision making is to recognise
that an ethical dilemma exists
 “defensible decision”
 Two well-meaning individuals can examine the same situation
and arrive at different courses of action
 High-quality ethical decision: based on reason and
can be defended according to ethical concepts
 Ethical decision making is not a science. It is
however a skill -- a survival skill

27. Behavioural model for ethical decision making
Govt/Legal
Environment
Work Legislation Social
environment Administrative environment
Corporate goals agencies
Religious values
Stated policy Judicial system
Humanistic values
Corporate culture Cultural values
Societal values
Professional Decision Process
environment Information acquisition Ethical behaviour
Codes of conduct Information processing Decision
Licensing requirements Cognitive process
Unethical behaviour
Professional relationships Percieved rewards
Percieved losses
Individual attributes
Moral level
Personal goals
Motivation mechanism
Position/status
Personal
Self concept
environment
Life experiances
Peer group Personallity
Family
27 Demographics

28. Ethics vs Legality
28
 Actions can be
 Ethical and legal
 Ethical but Illegal
 Not ethical but legal
 Not ethical and Illegal
 If case in 1 or 4, decision is obvious
 If case in 2 or 3, or if law is not clear then further
analysis is needed.
 If law provides answer, no further investigation is
needed

29. Actions can be…
29
 Ethical and Legal  Not Ethical and Not Legal
 Using licensed s/w  Murder
 Obeying speed limit  Sexual harassment
 Buying s/w online, buying cd  Child porn
 Not Ethical and Legal  Downloading music
 Gambling  Hacking any sites
 Having an affair  Ethical and Not Legal
 Prostitution  Vigilante stuff
 Visiting adult porn web site  Political activism
 strip clubs  Smacking

30. What is the Law‟s Place in Morality?
30
Law is basically legislated morality. The purpose is to
enforce penalties and sanctions upon those who do not
act morally.
Laws are usually enacted when either
1. There is a need to restrain some morally harmful activity.
2. There is a risk that people may do something morally
harmful.
3. When voluntary and professional restraints on morality
either aren‟t working or the potential outcomes of
immoral actions are sufficiently serious as to concern the
whole community.

31. Progression from Morals to Law
31
Accepted Moral
No legal force. However, these
constraints
behavioural constraints are agreed by
“Community Consensus” and enforced by
relational sanctions.
Quasi legal authority. Enforced outside
Professional Codes of
of the legal system. These behavioural
Ethics & “Good
constraints are agreed by the individual‟s
Practice
“Professional Body” and enforced by
professional sanctions.
Legal authority. Codified and enacted
by Parliament. Enforced by the justice Legislative
system. These moral constraints are Constraints on
agreed by the whole community and business practice
given “teeth” by the Law.

32. How is legislation developed?
32
 Exercise:
 Investigate the mechanisms in your society for the
development of new Law. Discuss with friends and colleagues
what opportunities you have to participate in this process.
 Investigate the mechanisms in your society for the revision of
existing Law. Discuss with friends and colleagues what
opportunities you have to participate in this process.
 Develop a plan for participation based on the mechanisms
used locally.

33. What is the New Zealand Parliament?
33
 The supreme legislative power
 The Sovereign (Governor-General)
 The House of Representatives
 Four main functions
 Provide representation for the people
 Pass the legislation
 Scrutinise the activities of the Government
 Approve the supply of public funds to the Government
 Parliament makes the Law
 The Government administers the Law
 The judiciary (the courts) interprets the Law
 New Zealand Parliament

34. Legislative Process in New Zealand
34
 The law is the framework within which citizens
consent to be governed
 Legitimacy given by citizens to lawmakers by virtue
of their election
 Citizens consent to abide by these laws
 Bills are proposed
 Government Bills – Policy platform
 Members Bills – Introduced by Ballot
 Local Bills – Promoted by Local Authorities
 Private Bills – Relate to exemptions from general law for an
individual or group

35. How a Bill becomes an Act of Parliament
Bill Introduced
1st Reading – Initial Debate
Select Committee – Public submissions, Amendments, Reports to house
2nd Reading – Main Debate on the principles after amendments from Select Committee
Committee of the whole house – Detailed consideration of each clause
3rd Reading – Final Debate on whether bill should be passed
Royal Assent – Governor General assents to the bill becoming an Act of Parliament
(Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives 2006)

36. Guidelines to Ethical Decision Making
36
Informal Guidelines
to recognise if facing an ethical problem
Is there something you or others prefer to keep quiet?
 The shushers test: Who wants to keep things quiet?
 The Mum test: Would you be ashamed to tell your mother?
 The TV test: Would you be happy if your actions we on national
TV
 The market test: Would your company be able to use the
behaviour as a marketing tool?
 The smell test: does your instinct tells you something is
wrong?

37. Informal Guidelines
37
 Does the behaviour violate the “Golden Rule”?
 treat others the way you wish them to treat you.
 This is the rule that most rational people use when
making decisions about how to behave. It is very
easy to determine whether we would like a
particular thing to happen to us – so we are able to
use the “other persons shoes test” in order to
determine the appropriate action.

38. Informal Guidelines
38
 Exercise:
 Discuss with friends if you have used any of the informal
guidelines in the last seven days?
 Write a list of those you used and for what reason.
 How helpful were these in deciding what the best behaviour
should be.

39. Guidelines to Ethical Decision Making
39
Formal Guidelines
 Is the act illegal?
 Does the act violate corporate policy?
 Does it violate corporate or professional code of
conduct or ethics?
 What if all above guidelines not helpful?
 Look at ethical principles

40. Professional Codes of Ethics
40
 What characteristics mark a profession?
 Must have:
 Extensive training
 Intellectual skills
 Ability to provide an important service in society
 Might have:
 Certification or licensing requirement
 Organisation of members
 Autonomy
 Code of Ethics

41. Professional Codes of Ethics
41
 Professional groups often adopt particular standards
and enshrine these is Codes of Conduct or Codes of
Ethics
 In New Zealand computing professionals can be
members of the Institute of Information Technology
Professionals
 This group – IITP have a Code of Professional
Conduct that guides members in their ethical
decision making

42. Professional Codes of Ethics
42
 Exercise: IITP Code of Professional Conduct
 Read the IITP Code of Professional Conduct
 In particular, consider the Tenets of the Code (Pg 5)
 What ethical theories do you think underlie the tenets of the
Code?
 Are they historical determinants, or more contemporary
models?
 Are informal guidelines obvious in the tenets?
 Discuss your thoughts with others
 What are the sanctions for breaching the Code?

43. Computer Ethics vs Regular Ethics
43
 Is there an ethical difference between browsing
through someone‟s computer files and browsing
through her desk drawer?
 No difference
 New technologies can make them seem different
 Technology makes some unethical actions easier to take and
easier to conceal
 Technology makes it easier for people to be emotionally and
physically distant from the consequences of their actions

44. Are “computer” ethics different?
44
 Computers may provide more opportunities to
breach ethics
 Opportunities: much more information is stored electronically
now. Payroll data might be available more easily in a business,
for example, whereas in the past it would have been locked
away.
 Physical distance means you don‟t have to open any doors
marked Private. “I only looked at the file, I didn‟t take it.”
 The volume of computer data also links to privacy issues.

45. Difficulties posed by computers
45
 Altered relationship
 Personal contact reduced and the speed of the communication
 Electronic information is more fragile
 Easily changed
 More vulnerable to unauthorised access
 Easily reproduced without affect the original
 Protection of information needs conflict with the
benefits of information sharing.
 Order of magnitude effect
 Effort effect

46. Order of Magnitude effect
46
 Many unethical activities that are possible without
computers are not done because
 Their limited scope also limits the rewards (e.g. Scam
letters)
 Computer use greatly increases the “effect” of some
activities (e.g. SPAM) thus even a very small hit
rate is worthwhile due to the vast (order of
magnitude) of distribution.

47. The effort effect
47
 In any group of people some will do unethical
things provided
 There is a reasonable chance of getting away with it.
 It is “worth the effort” (rewards greater than costs)
 Computers
 Reduce the effort for unethical users
 Offer anonymity
 Appear to provide barriers that make detection
difficult

48. Why should we care?
48
 Live an authentic life
 integrity
 Increase success
 Well suited to the kinds of interactions needed for a thriving business
 Cultivate inner peace
 Calmer and more focused
 Creates a stable society
 Ethical people working together in coordinated ways.
 May help in afterlife
 Religious traditions believe ethics is the key to something greater

49. Summary
49
 Ethical decisions impact on the quality of our lives
 Ethical expectations are all around us and influence
our behaviour
 Ethical decisions are complex and may well differ
over time
 Ethical decision making has been studied for
centuries
 Computing provides a space for poor behaviour