Applying Ethics in Information System

Applying Ethics in Information System
The new technologies have resulted to the development of new ethical
dilemmas categories. Besides, it has provided the ability to collect data from several
sources to develop people’s profile. What took weeks to be done now takes seconds.
This will allow Bookbarn to learn more about their customers and employees. Data
is valuable; however, it weakens consumers’ privacy.
The project team questioned the information system experts on the various
ethical problems in information systems in order to explore the field of ethics in
information systems. The team identified two major ethical concerns: one ethical
concern was security and secondly, privacy. The two ethical issues are interrelated.
Moreover, surveillance was another worry that the project team identified that is of
concern. It was not surprising that the proposed system raised these three issues from
the stakeholder regarding how the project team will raise awareness of the issues,
how the users will be informed, and how they will be educated.
The project team could not ignore the ethical concerns and the only option
available was to address them in the most acceptable and rightful way and be aware
of the possible impacts. One way for directing new waters of ethics in Bookbarn is
developing a code of ethics. A code of ethics is a file that defines a set of tolerable
behaviours for a social or professional group. The file illustrates various actions that
are deemed inappropriate and appropriate. Code of Ethics and professional Conduct
of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) is a good example of a code of
ethics (Mancini, Vaassen and Dameri, 2013). There are many simple ethical
instructions in the ACM’s code such as warning to be trustworthy and honest.
Nevertheless, since this is also a firm of professionals that concentrates on
computing, there are other precise warnings that connect directly to computerized
system that can be applied by Bookbarn company. They include (Spinello, 2012):
 Each person in Bookbarn should not use or enter another person’s software, computer
system, or data files without authorization. One must seek the proper approval before
utilizing system resources such as system peripherals, computer time, communication
ports, and file space.