AUTHOR
Lucas D. Introna

ABSTRACT

For more than thirty years, an extensive and significant philosophical debate around the notion of privacy has been going on. Therefore it seems puzzling that most current authors on information technology and privacy, assume that all individuals intuitively know why privacy is important. This assumption exposes the issue of privacy to be seen as liberal ‘nice to have’ value: something that can easily be discarded in the face of other, really important matters, like national security, the doing of justice and the effective administration of the state and the corporation. In this paper I want to argue that there is something fundamental in the notion of privacy, and that due to the profoundness of the notion it merits extraordinary measures of protection and overt support. I will also argue that the notion of transparency (as advocated by Wasserstrom) is a useless concept without privacy, and that accountability and transparency can only be meaningful if encapsulated in the concept of privacy. From philosophical and legal literature I will discuss and argue the value of privacy as the essential context and foundation of human autonomy in social relationships. In the conclusion of the paper I will discuss, as I see it, the implication of this notion of privacy to the information society in general, and to the discipline of information systems in particular.

AUTHOR
Melius Weideman

ABSTRACT

The ethical issues surrounding computer viruses and the computer user are considered. Two basic types of computer viruses exist: file and boot sector viruses. File viruses attach themselves to executable files, while boot sector viruses hide themselves in the system areas of disks. The names, motives and other detail of three virus authors are discussed, as well as the motives of virus authors in general.

There is a difference in the value program and data files respectively have to the user. Actual results of virus infections, as determined by the research, and implications for the computer user are inspected. Research has proven that some viruses can do damage to stored data, while others do no more than annoy the user. A definite level of technical expertise and insight is required to successfully remove a virus from an infected disk.

A very common method of spreading a virus is through the copying of files and disks. The ethical issues surrounding the copying of commercial programs is noted. The future of viruses in the computer world is uncertain: in the absence of DOS most current viruses will probably cease to exist.

AUTHOR
Gurpreet Dhillon, Leiser Silva and J Backhouse

ABSTRACT

This paper assesses the problems related with managing computer related crime. It argues that organisations that focus exclusively on technical and formal control measures in their systems, fall short of protecting their resources. The argument is conducted by analysing the pre and post computer related crime situation at CEFORMA. The case illustrates how inappropriate control measures can adversely affect integrity of an organisation.

AUTHOR
John Weckert

ABSTRACT

The unauthorised copying of computer software is generally considered to be theft and therefore morally wrong. Even just a casual browse through the literature on computer ethics shows that this is the presumption of most discussions of the issue. These discussions tend to focus on the damage caused by this activity and on ways, either legal or technical, to make it more difficult. Rarely is the claim that it is wrong examined, although it is questioned by some not in the mainstream of the computer industry. In this paper it will be argued that it is not at all as obvious as it is commonly assumed, that unauthorised software copying is morally wrong (except insofar as it is morally wrong to act illegally).

That we have a moral right to own things is a generally unquestioned assumption. It is taken for granted that cars, houses, televisions sets, computers and so on can be owned. In order to set the scene for an examination of computer software, we will begin by briefly considering the arguments for ownership of this tangible property, and then move on to the more intangible intellectual variety, of which software is one type.

AUTHOR
Athanasia Pouloudi and Edgar A. Whitley

ABSTRACT

The privacy of medical data has become a major concern for the medical profession in the United Kingdom since the proposal and launch of the NHSnet, the national electronic network through which the National Health Service (NHS) organisations can exchange information. The national professional representative organization of doctors, the British Medical Association (BMA), fear that the initial security policy for NHSnet is inadequate whereas the Information Management Group of the NHS Executive, the top management tier of the NHS, insist that the security of NHSnet has always been a primary consideration. It is apparent, however, that the stakeholders who are involved in exchanging healthcare data and who are concerned with the privacy of medical records are more than the two obvious, currently conflicting parties and each have their own beliefs and concerns. In this paper we suggest a stakeholder analysis approach to help identify these wider stakeholders and understand their multiple concerns. This, we believe, is an important contribution because it helps to understand the broader context within which technological developments take place and ethical concerns rise. In particular, the discussion and analysis of different stakeholders’ perspectives and attitudes, as well as the investigation of the factors that led them to their current position, allow for a better understanding of the way in which they are likely to move in the future.

AUTHOR
Ernest A. Kallman and H. Jeff Smith

ABSTRACT

An ethical issue of increasing importance in the age of computerization, information privacy (limits on access to identifiable information about individuals), is receiving much attention in both the press and in legislative agendas throughout the world. Unfortunately, however, research on the topic has been rather spotty in the past.

Computers and telecommunication networks are at once efficient expediters, sources of storage for vast amounts of information, and bases for significant strategic benefits in commercial enterprise. With these benefits, of course, come some societal issues–most notably, the effects of these vast amounts of information on institutions and individuals. With the new applications come significant policy questions at both corporate and public levels. Increasingly, executives are being forced to ask not “what can we do technically?” with information technologies but, rather, “what should we do ethically?”

One of the important “ethical issues of the information age” [Mason, 1986], information privacy is growing in prominence in the U.S. in both media coverage and in legislative reactions at the state and federal levels. But concerns are not limited to the U.S. International differences in cultural privacy perceptions [Westin, 1967] as well as in regulatory approaches to privacy problems [Bennett, 1992, Flaherty, 1989] are beginning to create real concerns for corporations that deal in global exchanges of personal information [Markoff, 1991]. The European Union’s plans for a consolidated set of privacy laws [DM News, 1992], as well as new laws in Japan [Srinivasan, 1992], are forcing corporations to consider their approaches to privacy in a new light.

But the research community has been somewhat slow in responding to the need for valid and objective studies on information privacy. Certainly, some attempts have been undertaken but they have been, for the most part, of an exploratory nature, relying more on anecdotal field studies and public opinion surveys of relatively uninformed respondents than on validated instrumentation and quantitatively tested assertions. This paper reports on an empirical study performed by the authors which surveyed the membership of four professional organizations to ascertain attitudes toward general information privacy concepts as well as their perceptions of actual corporate policies and practices. Though the professions were diverse, all had a common focus on information gathering and use: health care records professionals, information systems auditors, human resource systems professionals and telemarketers.

The results from the 3026 respondents provide an insight into worldwide practices in terms of the existence of privacy policies, policy adequacy, match between policy and practice, the causes of privacy problems, the importance of information privacy to senior management and the level and function of those responsible for information privacy in the organization. Methods of improving information privacy management were also explored.