Legal and Ethical Issues of New Technologies - Post 3

Being a data-driven organization, Karabati relies on information integrity and security.  Assessing privacy risks as well as threats to the security of data should be followed with suitable measures to protect user data (Anandarajan and Simmers, 2002).  It’s important to note that measures for safeguarding data apply to both physical and electronic versions of information (Bott, 2014).

          Privacy risks would come from illegal and unauthorized access to their management information system (MIS), which could compromise the confidentiality, integrity plus availability of data.  Physical security like guards, security cameras and access badges help ensure there is no illegal access to component services.  Illegal access to the system itself is addressed by network intrusion detection systems, malware detection and correction software and firewall log monitoring.  To stop unauthorized use by organization workers, inspection logs are kept and tested at fixed intervals. 

In a world where technological advancements are rapid, ethical issues are increasing that demand attention and resolution.  The issues include corporate, intellectual property rights, individual and societal rights and Cyberbullying (Dion, Weisstub and Richet, 2016). 

People do value their privacy and protection of their personal space.  Application users expect control over who they get to interact with, who know them, and what information they are willing to share (New Research and Technology Development: Some Legal and Ethical Issues, 2017). It is because they do not want their personal information being accessible to just anyone and everyone at any time. Recently, advances in information technology have threatened personal privacy and have reduced one control over personal information. 

Cyberbullying is a form of harassment using electronic means. Currently, the use of information technology allows for text, voice, and picture to be digitized. Cybercrime is a major concern to the global community. Transnational organized criminals increasingly use the internet as a tool. Cyberbullying, especially amongst teenagers is also increasingly becoming a global issue that needs addressing.

To resolve ethical, legal and social issues in an organization the management has a sole responsibility to how individuals are utilizing information technology so that it yields positive results. The management must ensure that a resource is used in doing ethical activities, therefore, ensuring that no fraudulent activities are carried out in the organization. As a result, an organization should follow some code of conduct to ensure that all employers are aware of the organization's policies.

As mentioned earlier, ethical, legal and social issues have presented challenges mainly in the information technology field. However, not much progress has been made in addressing the ethical issues related as it is hard to trace back to the criminals who use various applications and pseudo names to mask their identity. Ethical issues also have a lot to do with the culture which is hard to institutionalize in such a ubiquitous space (Acquisti, 2008). Information technology is of much importance to organizations so it’s necessary to focus on securing information assets if the organizational goals are to be achieved (Salehnia, 2002). Individuals should also be cautious and observe basic principles of securing one’s data and privacy in the online environment.

References

Anandarajan, M. and Simmers, C. (2002). Managing web usage in the workplace. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Pub.

Acquisti, A. (2008). Digital privacy. New York: Auerbach Publications.

Bott, F. (2014). Professional issues in information technology, second edition. Swindon, U.K.: BCS Learning and Development Ltd.

Salehnia, A. (2002). Ethical issues of information systems. Hershey, PA: IRM Press.O’Driscoll, K. (2016). The agile data modelling & design thinking approach to information system requirements analysis. Journal of Decision Systems, 25(sup1), pp.632-638.

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