Current IT-Related Ethical Issue: Data Privacy
The exponential growth of information technology has raised several ethical issues related to user privacy, such as inappropriate use of data. In the current technological age, information has become the highly valued asset that most companies seek. The development of the IT infrastructure, reduced storage space, and increased computer processing speeds have enabled corporations such as Google and Facebook to collect large amounts of users' data (Altshuler, 2019). The major ethical concern about digital privacy is unauthorized access of users' information and misuse of the data once acquired.
Scenario
Social Share is a social media application managed by Share Inc. In the new era of digital transformation, social media is the rising revolution of mass communication and journalism. Social Share is a popular platform that has attracted a large number of users across all generations (Singh, 2019). The application requires the user to provide information that is used to create a profile. The information includes pictures, full name, email address, likes, and date of birth. Social Share allows its users to set their profiles either public or private. The application also allows users to share posts on their profiles with their followers.
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Despite the large implementation of its privacy policy, Social Share has some privacy flaws. Some of the profiles set as private can be accessed on the application's search bar. This issue is not the first occurrence, as three months ago, users' posts were also visible to the public. The company has had a rough time dealing with users' data privacy. A research firm scrutinized their systems and found out the amount of information collected from users' devices is more than stipulated in the privacy policy. The firm also uncovered that Share Inc. sells its data to a third-party advertisement company without the users' consent. Since Social Share is free to use platform, Share Inc. makes money by selling their users' data. An ethical dilemma arises due to how Share Inc. is handling its users' data for operational costs.
Problem Statement
Social Share provides its users with their privacy policy when signing up on the platform. The policy clearly outlines what data they are collecting from their users and devices such as email. However, the company is collecting more of their customer information, including their live location and browsing history, contrary to the privacy policy. In addition, the company is selling its users' data to advertisement companies without the users' consent to cater for operational costs.
Analysis
Ethical dilemmas need high-stake decision-making frameworks to produce the best solutions. Data privacy is a crucial policy that each organization should have clear guidelines on collecting, managing, and disposing of their users’ data (Chang et al., 2018). Share Inc. is caught up in an ethical dilemma of handling their users' data for profits and affecting the stakeholders. Several structured decision-making frameworks have been developed to help improve outcomes in an ethical decision-making scenario. The decision-making framework chosen for this scenario is Reynolds' Seven-Step Approach, and its steps are discussed below.
Gathering facts
This step is critical to the entire decision-making process. The relevant facts regarding the ethical issue that is being addressed are carefully collected. Information on what contributes to the ethical dilemma at Share Inc. is gathered. The information includes privacy policy documents, system audit reports that will elaborate on how data is collected and managed by the company.
Identifying Stakeholders
The ethical dilemma affects several people in the company and will positively impact them if the dilemma is resolved. The stakeholders of Share Inc. are clients or users, employees, and investors. Users have a major role in the company, as they are the source of information aggregated by the Social Share application. Resolving this dilemma will help the users understand the extent to which Share Inc. is collecting and managing their data and promote confidentiality. Employees also play an important role in maintaining the business processes and the social media platforms. Therefore, resolving the dilemma will increase transparency in the organization, which will rebuild users' trust. In addition, investors provide financial support to Share Inc., and thus, resolving the dilemma will improve the organization's image and profits.
Consider the Consequences
Every decision that is taken has an impact on the entire company. Developing a solution to the ethical issue will provide several benefits to the stakeholders. The first benefit, the solution will increase user participation in collecting and managing their data. The second consequence is improved transparency in the organization.
Evaluate Various Guidelines, Policies, and Principles
Several policies govern Share Inc., and the major one is the privacy policy, which entails how the company collects and manages data. The privacy policy states what data the company collects from the users, how they collect, and how they manage it. In addition, US laws require information technology companies to disclose fully to their users the type of information they collect. Also, Share Inc. has developed policies regarding the information sold to advertising companies.
Develop and Evaluate Options
There are several solutions that Share Inc. should consider. The first possible solution is following the current data privacy policy and eliminating the collection of more information, and ceasing data sales to advertisement companies. The next solution is incorporating the new information being collected and the advertisement companies in the data privacy policy. Also, users should be prompted if they should wish to share their information with advertisement companies.
Review of Decision
The decision to change the data privacy policy is viable. Incorporating new changes would help Share Inc. adapt to the market needs and sustenance itself. The data collected would be used to improve the functionality of the application while at the same time respecting users' choice of sharing their information with third-party companies for advertisements.
Evaluate the Results
It is an important step that helps improve decision-making skills. The decision made has a positive outcome, as the stakeholders are satisfied. This decision will help improve the image of the company and offer users top-quality services.
Impact of the Decision Made
Incorporating the new changes in the company's data privacy policy has an impact on the stakeholders. The decision improves the company image, as the privacy flaws will be eliminated. In addition, it increases transparency in the company, as users are now aware of what data is collected and how it is used once they give their consent for data sharing. Also, the users will have increased trust in the company to keep their information confidential (Lee, 2016). Sharing user data with advertisement companies will help Share Inc. generate the required capital.
Applicable Ethical Theory
The ethical theory that supports this decision is the deontological theory. The theory focuses on the right actions as opposed to good consequences. It also makes rules as to what actions are permissible and impermissible in various scenarios. In this theory, what matters is whether the rules are followed. In deontological theory, some actions are forbidden no matter how good the consequences (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2020). In the Share Inc. scenario, the company has data privacy policies that they must obey regardless of the profit they gain through the sale of data, which is a good consequence. Therefore, arriving at a decision is based on redefining the set of rules to conform to the changing market needs making the new processes in the company right.
References
Altshuler, T. S. (2019, September 26). Privacy in a digital world . TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/26/privacy-queen-of-human-rights-in-a-digital-world/
Chang, Y., Wong, S. F., & Libaque-Saenz, C. F. (2018). The role of privacy policy on consumers’ perceived privacy. Government Information Quarterly , 35 (2), 445-459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2018.04.002
Lee, W. W. (2016, December 24). An ethical approach to data privacy protection . ISACA. https://www.isaca.org/resources/isaca-journal/issues/2016/volume-6/an-ethical-approach-to-data-privacy-protection
Singh, D. (2019). Ethical dilemmas on data privacy and security for social media’s users. SSRN Electronic Journal . https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3395616
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2020, October 30). Deontological ethics . https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-deontological/
