Ethical Issues in Client Database: Doing Ethics Technique and Australian Computer Society Code of Ethics

ICT351 1
ICT351
By Name
Course
Instructor
Institution
Location
Date

ICT351 2
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Doing Ethics Technique..................................................................................................................2
Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
Performing DET on Client Database Case study........................................................................3
What are the Facts?......................................................................................................................3
Ethical and Non-Ethical Issues Related with The Client Database.............................................3
Who is Affected...........................................................................................................................4
What are the Ethical Issues and Its Implications?.......................................................................4
What Can be Done About It?.......................................................................................................4
What are the Options?.................................................................................................................5
Which Option is the Best and Why?............................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
Analysis using the Australian Computer Society Code Of Ethics..................................................6
Facts.............................................................................................................................................6
Stakeholders.................................................................................................................................6
Ethical Issues...............................................................................................................................6
Not putting public interest first................................................................................................6
Need to Improve Quality Of Life............................................................................................7
Non Competent........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

ICT351 3
Client database
Introduction
The ICT industry and the professionals are always faced with a different ethical dilemma.
The need to do what is considered good for the public good always makes them always have to
question their actions with regards to maintaining a balance between privacy and security of
information which is entitled to them (Shields, 2008). The creation and administration of
databases which store the client data are one of the sensitive roles played by ICT professionals as
it not only gives them access to client confidential data but also put them in a difficult ethical
dilemma in maintaining the integrity of the data in those database systems. One of the critical
industry that relies on ICT in the storage, dissemination, and analysis of information is the health
sector. This sector has in the past raised several ethical dilemmas for the ICT professionals
ranging from the programmers who are tasked with creating systems that are not only secure but
also respects the privacy of the individuals using the system (LI and ZHANG, 2008). The
database administrator is also put in great ethical situations by ensuring the data they have access
to do not get into the wrong hands or used in unethical situations.
This report analyses a case study of client database ethical issues using the two widely
used techniques i.e. The Doing ethics technique(DET) and the analysis using the Australian
Computer Society code of ethics which is used widely by the ICT fraternity in the wider
Australia community to make ethical decisions in their day to day work (Uhl, 2012). The first
analysis is using the doing good technique as explained below
Doing Ethics Technique
Introduction
The Doing Ethics technique is key to the identification of some key ethical and non-
ethical issues that (Verbeek, 2011) may surround a particular situation. The technique can be
used by a wide range of researcher to find answers to some of the social issues in the ICT
domain (Ong and Collier, 2008). The technique shall be applied here to understand the ethical
issues in the client database for the alcohol and drug abuse case study (Tavani, 2011). The key
ethical issues dilemma that the scenario presents shall be analyzed using the matrix highlighted

ICT351 4
by the DET technique. This will give the true nature of the issues after a thorough analysis of the
same and the findings attributed to the DEV analysis is discussed subsequently (Shrader-
Frechette, 2012).
Performing DET on Client Database Case study
The department Maks work for is responsible for the overall maintenance of records of a
patient with drug and alcohol abuse problems. To ensure the efficient and effective method of
data storage, the department adopted the use of the database system to further push their
mandate. This approach of data storage has raised critical ethical issues as described in the client
database case study. To clearly point out issues in the case study, it is important to highlight the
facts we have so far from the case study. Those facts are discussed below,
What are the Facts?
From the case study, it is a fact that the Department has collected big data on patients
with alcohol and drug abuse problems. Critical metadata including but not limited to name and
physical address in which the client lives. The database of clients can be stored for up to five
years in this database system. During this period, critical data such of the clients related to their
activities such as criminal records, clients programme status i.e whether or not the client finished
the programme which he/she was enrolled in. The data that Max complied is currently stored in
secondary storage device i.e a CD and currently, anyone who has access to the CD at Max
personal home has access to a potentially all the client's data and information which can be
directly linked to a particular client since the names were used to file each client.
Ethical and Non-Ethical Issues Related with The Client Database
The anonymity of the clients is highly compromised as the data about them is linked with
their names and the address they live in. This presents an ethical issue since the employee has
access to the names of this clients under the programme (Smith, Dinev and Xu, 2011a). The
company is using the client's data for purposes without the client’s consent. This possesses an
ethical question since this violates their privacy. Information such as the criminal record is not
justifiable to be stored by the organization and it is insignificant for usage in the programme
(McKee, 2013). Max action of copying the organization data which is under copyright without
seeking permission posses an ethical issue. The primary custodian of the data is the department
and only authorized employees are supposed to copy the data. Max action of duplicating the data
on personal CD and not destroying the CD after its usage posses an ethical issue as Max has