Ethical and Social Dimensions of Information Technology:
The transformation factor implies that IT has transformed the ways in which things are done. It has made things simpler and improved the quality of life. For example, with the advent of e-mail, communication acquired a whole new meaning in terms of speed and ease of operation. But e-mail is also used for sending unsolicited information, which receivers consider as nonsense and an irritation (spam). Further, some hackers send even harmful viruses, which could cause the entire system to crash, through email.
The invisibility factor implies all those operations which are invisible to the user of the system. Between giving a command to the computer and getting the required output, a lot of operations take place inside the computer. A whole host of calculations are made and a lot of complex processing is done. Many programs are written to manage and manipulate these operations. This leads to invisible programming values, invisible calculations, and invisible abuse. Invisible programming values are those routines and sub-routines that the programmer feeds into the program to accomplish certain purposes. Such routines may or may not give the desired results and could lead to serious problems. The programmer may not do it intentionally, but if he/she lacks a proper understanding of the program, it could lead to mistakes and malfunctioning of the system. Such programs are also designed to do complex calculations and analysis which the users may find tiresome and grueling to perform manually. Thus, users at large do not know about these invisible calculations that help them in simplifying their tasks. Finally, invisible abuse includes all those acts that are done intentionally and that is illegal and cross ethical boundaries. Hacking into other systems, intruding on others' privacy, manipulating organizational data for personal gains, and all such acts fall under this category.
Privacy:
Privacy refers to personal privacy and its intrusion has been on the rise with the growth in IT. According to Mason, two factors severely threaten the personal privacy of users of information systems. While one is the increasing ability to use information systems for surveillance, the other is the increasing value of information in decision-making. Information is given such prominence that the decision-makers do not bother about the fact that they are intruding on others' privacy. For instance, one of the good ways of putting IT into use is to track automobiles to reduce traffic violations and traffic congestions. But the same IT can be used as surveillance and tracking systems to keep a close watch on the citizens.
Accuracy:
Accuracy of information plays an important role in making highly effective decisions. Inaccurate information can lead to ineffective decisions and damage to the image of the decision-maker as well as that of the organization. Computers are known to produce quick and accurate results/information, which are quite difficult for humans to produce. But this picture perfect situation is not always true as inaccuracy in information is also seen in many cases. There can be many reasons for inaccuracy in information. It can be either due to human errors or computer malfunctions or poor systems designs.
Property:
Property here means intellectual property rights of the software developers. This software is used in the development of information systems. The property related to software development (intellectual property rights) is different from traditional forms of property. Protecting the intellectual property is more difficult than protecting other forms of property because it is easier to copy or reproduce intellectual property like software in this case. Illegal copying or reproduction of software leads to a huge loss to the creator of the software. There are laws in many countries to protect this property but they have not been able to stop illegal copying and piracy. Software vendors use patents, copyrights, and license agreements to stop piracy and illegal copying. These provide protection up to a certain degree.
Accessibility:
Access to information was in the form of printed documents prior to implementation of information systems. IT has changed the means of accessing information. Electronic access of information has become the norm of the day. But ethical issues arise when the issue of affordability to access the information comes into the picture. Everyone does not have equal rights to access the information. Access to information is provided at a fee that is not affordable by all the people who desire to access it. Computers can search for and bring out the required information from huge databases in a very short time. The price for accessing this information varies depending upon the nature and type of information required.
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