Ideally, the law should reflect the best interests of soci-
ety as a whole, but there is always controversy on what best
serves the public interest. Laws, then, are typically compro-
mises between the views of various interest groups. Also, the
issues in regulating technology can be very complex, and
members of legislative bodies and government officials
might have little expertise in dealing with these issues.
Therefore, these decision makers may depend on the expert-
ise and advice of lobbyists who can devote resources to
developing logical positions that reflect the interests of those
who are paying them.
Organizations are increasingly global, and the
Internet covers most of the world. Different countries have
different values and different legal systems. Whose laws
apply when a possible crime has been committed? There
are serious problems in determining who has jurisdiction
when the person who is injured is in one jurisdiction and the
perpetrator of the crime is in another. It might be virtually
impossible to enforce any law in a situation where essen-
tially anonymous people in multiple countries are involved.
The impact of IT law on organizations has been dis-
cussed in Chapter 14. In this chapter, we will discuss the
impact of IT law on individuals and society.
Ethics Frameworks
Why are we discussing ethics in a book on management of
IT? First, IT has a growing impact on our lives, and any-
thing that has such powerful effects on people’s lives gives
rise to ethical issues. Second, managers determine how IT is
used, and therefore managers are responsible for the effects
of the use of IT and the ethical implications of these effects.
To act ethically requires that we take responsibilityfor
our actions. We need to clearly understand that the techno-
logy itself is not to blame for any harm that results from its
use. Too often we hear: “We can’t do that because our com-
puter won’t allow it.” That might be true for the person who
is making the statement, but it does not absolve the organiza-
tion from responsibility—someone designed the system and
programmed the computer to act in that way. And saying
“the computer won’t let me do that” is equivalent to saying
“our organizational policy won’t let me do that.” Likewise,
blaming the computer for a mistake is just an excuse—those
who decided to use the computer and designed and imple-
mented a system without adequate controls are responsible
for any harm, not the computer! People and organizations are
responsible for the results, good or bad, of the use of IT.
Most of us consider ourselves ethical persons. Most
of us have an internal set of ethical standards, and we are
uncomfortable when we violate these standards.
Furthermore, in our careers as managers or professionals,
there are very practical reasons to act ethically according to
the society’s standards. As individuals, if we are perceived
as unethical we are in deep, deep trouble. If we get a repu-
tation for being unethical, our jobs, or even our careers,
might come to an inglorious end. Likewise, if an organiza-
tion is perceived as unethical, it might quickly be out of
business. Whether it belongs to an individual or an organi-
zation, a reputation for integrity is crucial to success.
Consider, for example, what happened to Enron and its
managers when its books were found to be dishonest. Thus,
managers must be concerned with both their individual
ethics and the ethics of their organization. Managers are
involved in determining the organization’s ethical standards
as well as in making sure that these standards are followed.Identifying Ethical Problems
The first step in acting ethically is to recognize that a deci-
sion or action has ethical implications. In our use of IT we
might do harm because we simply did not realize that our
actions might be harmful—we might not consider all the
implications of our actions. Therefore, we need to think
about the ethical issues associated with our decisions
before we take action. One purpose of this chapter is to
sensitize you to the ethical issues that might arise in your use
of IT so that you will not neglect the ethical implications.
How do we identify decisions where ethical problems
might arise? Because our ethical makeup lies deep within us,
the most common way we recognize ethical problems is by
feel—when we don’t feel right about a situation, there might
be an ethical problem. When we suspect that there might be
ethical problems, a number of questions can be of help: Is
this fair to everyone that will be affected? Would I want my
mother to know about this? Would I care if everyone knew
about this? What would be the result if everyone did this?
Identifying ethical problems associated with the use
of IT might be complicated by the fact that its effects can be
so pervasive. The effects of the use of IT might extend to
many stakeholders—managers, workers, stockholders, cus-
tomers, suppliers, communities, and the general public—
and might affect them in ways that are not immediately
obvious. For example, collecting information on customers
for use in serving their needs might be beneficial to both the
customer and the organization, but if this information is not
protected against intrusion, someone might break into the
system, steal personal information, and use it to harm the
individual. Furthermore, if personal information is sold to
outside parties, it might be used to harm the individual.
Therefore, when trying to determine if there are ethical
problems in the use of IT, a good place to start is to care-
fully consider all the potential stakeholders who might be
affected by the system and determine how each one could576 Part IV • The Information Management System