Controversies And Strategies For Ethical Computing

Discuss About The Controversies And Strategies For Ethical Computing.

Utilitarianism Perspective

Computer ethics refers to the analysis of the nature and the social impact of computers and the associated technology (Tavani, 2011). In addition, it includes the justification and the formulation of the policies, in order to guide the actions for the ethical use of such technologies. The wide use of the computers, aids the human capabilities in a number of ways, and thus gives the humans a number of choices for actions. management, there still lies a policy vacuum, as to how to use these technologies must be used in an efficient way after due consideration of the personal and the social policies (Moor, 2017). The essay explores the various facets of the computer ethics on the lines of the various ethical theories. The essay is aimed at critically analysing the article “Data Collection: “Harvesting” Personalities Online,” from the perspective of four classical ethical theories including utilitarianism, deontology, contract, and virtue.

The case study is based on the company Cambridge Analytica, which claims to use the personality traits to help the political candidates design their campaigns. While the questionnaire are run on the promoted advertisements, the results are harvested sometimes my means of extrapolation. This means, even if one has not taken the test actually, the results belonging to that individual will be based on the data of several other profiles, who have already taken the test.

There have been prescribed ethical theories that are meant to guide the analysis of the moral issues in the field of cyber technology. These theories provide a framework of analysis of the moral issues, on the lines of a consistent, systematic and a comprehensive approach (Gotterbarn, 2017). The four chief ethical theories prescribed are theories of utilitarianism, deontology, contract, and virtue. The analysis of the stated article based on the above-mentioned ethical theories is described in the following segment.

Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are regarded as the fathers of the modern theory of utilitarianism. The theory of utilitarianism states that the action is regarded as best when it maximises the utility (Stahl, Eden, Jirotka&Coeckelbergh, 2014). The actions are said to be right in proportion, when they tend to promote happiness; and are said to be wrong when they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. The happiness must be evaluated in terms of the range of the population as a whole, and not just a section of it. On evaluation of the article in the light of the above theory, it can be stated that while individuals were happy to take the personality test, they would not be happy finding that a simple personality test quiz can be used to harvest data for the political purposes. Moreover, a sample of data would be regarded as a measure to examine the traits of the whole of the population. In addition, the theory stresses on the fact that, one should think above an individual happiness and point of view from everyone at general, and not just the ones making the decision. While the data analytics company Cambridge Analytica had political commitments to fulfil, it should have given due regards to the privacy and the security of the data of the data of the public as well, in terms of the disclosure.

Deontology Perspective

The theory of ethics of deontology has two further divisions. Immanuel Kant developed the duty based ethical theory (NC University, 2018). The theory is focussed towards the fact that loyalty towards the principles and ones duties are most important. The rights based ethical theory is based on the tradition of Locke and Hobbes (NC University, 2018). The duty based theory stresses on fact that the consequences of an action do not matter, the action in itself must be right. The theory is based on moral duties such as telling the truth, being just and equitable, improving the acts with respect to intelligence and more. The rights based theory lays the focus on upholding an individual's human or legal rights (Volkman, 2015). The above rights include the rights to privacy and ownership of property and more. Both the theories accord fair and just acts with due regards to respect, liberty and such virtues. Thus, on application of the above theory to the incident stated in the article, it can be stated that collection of the data from a source that was in itself meant for another purpose is a wrong act. While the participants were taking a simple quiz, to gain an insight of the personality traits they possess, they had no idea about the data of the same being stored as well. Further to add, as the quiz was based on some of the personal information such as the kind of pages liked, age, and more, and was taken online, the same would have been analysed and stored for future references. Thus, the storage and the use of information concerning the privacy of individuals is a wrong act on the company’s part. Further, to add, forming the results based on the opinions of the section of a population is unethical too.

Social contract theory popularly known as the Social contract theory takes into consideration the connection between the occupational roles and social responsibilities (Mason, 2017). The theory states that there exists a social contract between the members of an occupational group and the communities or societies. In other words it can be said that organisations must give due regards to the social responsibilities in exchange of the privileges enjoyed by them by being the part of such society (Martin, 2016). While the organisation Cambridge Analytica pays regard to its contact with the politicians, it fails to do the same with the thousands of Americans, which are the part of the society as well. The organisations must be responsible in buying, selling, advertising proprietary data, engaging into competitive practices and more. It would be a mistake on the part of the companies to think that their responsibilities are limited to the contacting parties only. In every contract entered into, the organisation must be responsible towards the society as well.

Contract Perspective

Virtue ethics is ideally suited for the management of the complex, and unpredictable situations in the field of the computer technology. These refer to a systematic framework for the understanding of the morality of the various actions involving the use of information technology (Neher&Sandin, 2017). The theory states that entities must make use of the virtues while making the business decisions and practices (Spiekermann, 2015).On application of the virtue theory, it can be stated that by participating in an arrangement that stimulates the use of a data secured for one purpose, towards some other, is a cultivation of the wrong sort of character on the part of the analytics companies. Particularly, when, the companies’ main job is to analyse the behaviour of individuals and trends in the market. In addition, the analyses cannot be done based on the extrapolation of the behaviour. The kind of data collected by the company through the profile advertising display network, is weak and inaccurate. The use of assumptions interferes with the process of data pooling on behalf of the analytics companies.

Conclusion

As per the discussions conducted in the parts, it can be said that computer ethics is a critical concept in the use of the information technology systems and networks. On examination of the given case study from the point of view of ethics, it can be concluded that the company Cambridge Analytica was unethical in its approach of pooling and the utilisation of the publically available data. The fact has been accorded by the application of the ethical theories of use of the information technology. Just because the companies like Cambridge Analytica have the access to the  publicly available data with respect to the personalities of people, and the capabilities to harvest and pool the same for creating assumptions thereon, to fulfil their other business commitments, does not mean, they should. The companies like above are recommended to take extra care to ensure that the message and the data they generate is relevant and accurate.

References

Gotterbarn, D. (2017). The use and abuse of computer ethics.In Computer Ethics, Oxon: Routledge, 57-62.

Martin, K. (2016). Understanding privacy online: Development of a social contract approach to privacy.Journal of Business management Ethics, 137(3), 551-569.

Mason, R. O. (2017). Four ethical issues of the information age.In Computer Ethics, Oxon: Routledge.41-48.

Moor, J. H. (2017). What is computer ethics?.In Computer Ethics. Oxon: Routledge, 31-40.

NC University.(2018). Ethics in Computing. Retrieved from: https://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/basics/principles/study.php

Neher, W. & Sandin, P. (2017). Communicating ethically: Character, duties, consequences, and relationships. Oxon: Routledge.

Spiekermann, S. (2015).Ethical IT innovation: A value-based system design approach. Florida: Auerbach Publications.

Stahl, B. C., Eden, G., Jirotka, M., &Coeckelbergh, M. (2014). From computer ethics to responsible research and innovation in ICT: The transition of reference discourses informing ethics-related research in information systems. Information & Management, 51(6), 810-818.

Tavani, H. T. (2011). Ethics and technology: Controversies, questions, and strategies for ethical computing.(3^rded.). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Volkman, R. (2015). Computer ethics beyond mere compliance.Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 13(3/4), 176-189.