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Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems 169

policies changed without our participation and permission.” (The full report
is available at knowprivacy.org.)

Technical Solutions
In addition to legislation, there are a few technologies that can protect user
privacy during interactions with Web sites. Many of these tools are used for
encrypting e-mail, for making e-mail or surfing activities appear anonymous,
for preventing client computers from accepting cookies, or for detecting and
eliminating spyware. For the most part, technical solutions have failed to
protect users from being tracked as they move from one site to another.
Because of growing public criticism of behavioral tracking and targeting of
ads, and the failure of industry to self-regulate, attention has shifted to brows-
ers. Many browsers have Do Not Track options. For users who have selected
the Do Not Track browser option, their browser will send a request to Web
sites requesting the user’s behavior not be tracked. Both Internet Explorer 9
and Mozilla’s Firefox browsers implement this opt-out option. However, these
browsers are shipped with tracking turned on as the default. And most consum-
ers never visit the Options Privacy tab in their browser. The online advertising
industry has bitterly opposed Microsoft’s plans and warns that Web sites are not
obligated to follow users’ requests to Do Not Track. There is no online advertis-
ing industry agreement on how to respond to Do Not Track requests, and cur-
rently no legislation requiring Web sites to stop tracking.
The Interactive Session on Technology, Life on the Grid: iPhone Becomes iTrack,
describes how mobile phones are used to track the location of individuals.

PROPERTY RIGHTS: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Contemporary information systems have severely challenged existing laws
and social practices that protect private intellectual property. Intellectual
property is considered to be intangible property created by individu-
als or corporations. Information technology has made it difficult to protect
intellectual property because computerized information can be so easily
copied or distributed on networks. Intellectual property is subject to a variety
of protections under three different legal traditions: trade secrets, copyright,
and patent law.

Trade Secrets
Any intellectual work product—a formula, device, pattern, or compilation of
data—used for a business purpose can be classified as a trade secret, pro-
vided it is not based on information in the public domain. Protections for
trade secrets vary from state to state. In general, trade secret laws grant a
monopoly on the ideas behind a work product, but it can be a very tenuous
monopoly.
Software that contains novel or unique elements, procedures, or compilations
can be included as a trade secret. Trade secret law protects the actual ideas in
a work product, not only their manifestation. To make this claim, the creator
or owner must take care to bind employees and customers with nondisclosure
agreements and to prevent the secret from falling into the public domain.
The limitation of trade secret protection is that, although virtually all software
programs of any complexity contain unique elements of some sort, it is difficult
to prevent the ideas in the work from falling into the public domain when the
software is widely distributed.

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