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Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems 155

Ethics refers to the principles of right and wrong that individuals, acting as
free moral agents, use to make choices to guide their behaviors. Information
systems raise new ethical questions for both individuals and societies because
they create opportunities for intense social change, and thus threaten existing
distributions of power, money, rights, and obligations. Like other technolo-
gies, such as steam engines, electricity, the telephone, and the radio, informa-
tion technology can be used to achieve social progress, but it can also be used
to commit crimes and threaten cherished social values. The development of
information technology will produce benefits for many and costs for others.
Ethical issues in information systems have been given new urgency by the rise
of the Internet and electronic commerce. Internet and digital firm technologies
make it easier than ever to assemble, integrate, and distribute information,
unleashing new concerns about the appropriate use of customer information, the
protection of personal privacy, and the protection of intellectual property.
Other pressing ethical issues raised by information systems include estab-
lishing accountability for the consequences of information systems, setting
standards to safeguard system quality that protects the safety of the individual
and society, and preserving values and institutions considered essential to the
quality of life in an information society. When using information systems, it is
essential to ask, “What is the ethical and socially responsible course of action?”

A MODEL FOR THINKING ABOUT ETHICAL, SOCIAL, AND
POLITICAL ISSUES

Ethical, social, and political issues are closely linked. The ethical dilemma you
may face as a manager of information systems typically is reflected in social
and political debate. One way to think about these relationships is shown in
Figure 4.1. Imagine society as a more or less calm pond on a summer day, a
delicate ecosystem in partial equilibrium with individuals and with social and
political institutions. Individuals know how to act in this pond because social
institutions (family, education, organizations) have developed well-honed
rules of behavior, and these are supported by laws developed in the political
sector that prescribe behavior and promise sanctions for violations. Now toss
a rock into the center of the pond. What happens? Ripples, of course.
Imagine instead that the disturbing force is a powerful shock of new informa-
tion technology and systems hitting a society more or less at rest. Suddenly,
individual actors are confronted with new situations often not covered by the
old rules. Social institutions cannot respond overnight to these ripples—it may
take years to develop etiquette, expectations, social responsibility, politically
correct attitudes, or approved rules. Political institutions also require time
before developing new laws and often require the demonstration of real harm
before they act. In the meantime, you may have to act. You may be forced to act
in a legal gray area.
We can use this model to illustrate the dynamics that connect ethical, social,
and political issues. This model is also useful for identifying the main moral
dimensions of the information society, which cut across various levels of
action—individual, social, and political.

FIVE MORAL DIMENSIONS OF THE INFORMATION AGE

The major ethical, social, and political issues raised by information systems
include the following moral dimensions:

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