Do You Own Your Data? - Information Technology Ethics

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Do You Own Your Data?
Topics in Information Technology Ethics

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Introduction
The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the article posted by Santa Clara University
titled ‘Do You Own Your Data?’ in order to identify the ICT-related ethical issue raised in the
article. This article is written by Irina Raicu who discussed the ethical issue of privacy which
has become prominent due to popularity of free online services (Raicu, 2018). This article
argues that personal data of individuals is used as a commodity by internet companies who
offer their services “free” to their users. The personal data of people make them who they
are, and it is considered as an organ of the person. It is considered that the so-called ‘free’
services are not free and users pay for those services by sharing their personal data.
However, since personal data is considered as an organ of people, then it makes those
transactions more akin to organ donation. Moreover, some people wanted to share their
private data (organ) for specific purposes such as medical research rather than targeted
advertising (Mundie, 2014). Due to lack of regulations, these transactions have imposed
significant threat on the breach of private data of users. In this essay, four ethical theories
will be evaluated to analyse this article which includes utilitarianism, deontology, virtue and
contract. Lastly, recommendations will be given to address the major ethical issues raised in
this article.
Utilitarianism Theory
The Utilitarianism ethical theory is a part of normative ethical theories which
primarily concern regarding the consequences of ethical decisions; therefore, it is also called
consequentialist theory (Hayry, 2013). As per this theory, the consequences of an action are
evaluated to assess whether such action is considered ethical or not. This theory focuses on
achieving the greater good for a greater number of people. The actions of modern
corporations in relation to collecting the private data of users are considered as unethical
practices as per utilitarianism ethical theory. The negative consequences of these actions
resulted in adversely affecting the interest of a large number of people. A good example is
the recent ‘Cambridge Analytica scandal’ in which hackers collected and misused private
data of 87 million Facebook users (Chang, 2018).

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These hackers collected the private data of users due to Facebook’s policies which
allowed developed to collect private data of users’ and their friends without their consent.
This data was used for finding potential voters to support the Presidential Campaign of
Donald Trump. Moreover, Raicu (2018) argued in the article that using personal data as
commodity which can be exchanged to access services of companies is not a viable way to
conduct business. Therefore, these practices are unethical as per the principles of
utilitarianism ethical theory.
Deontology Theory
The deontological ethical theory is opposite of the utilitarianism theory since it
focuses on duty rather than consequences of a situation. This theory argues that a moral
society requires that people should comply with their basic duties. As per this theory, the
actions which are taken by an individual or entity by breaching the duties are considered as
unethical even if the consequences of such breach leads to achieving the happiness of a
greater number of people (Paquette, Sommerfeldt & Kent, 2015). The actions of large and
small internet companies that advertise their services as “free” for their users and in return
they collect their private data and sell it to third parties are unethical.
A study conducted by Rainie and Duggan (2016) finds that most Americans are
unaware about the type of data which the share their online companies and the potential
threat of sharing such data. It shows that these companies are taking unfair advantage of
lack of understanding of people to collect and harvest their data. Recently, a fine of €50
million is imposed on Google for its failure to comply with GDPR guidelines (Fox, 2019). As
per these regulations, the companies have to collect genuine consent of their users while
collecting their private data; however, the CNIL found that Google’s data consent policies
are not easily accessible or transparent. It shows that companies are violating their duties to
collect private data of users which is unethical.
Virtue Theory
The Virtue ethical theory focuses on moral character and virtues of a person to
determine whether the actions taken are considered as ethical or not. The character of the
person taking the decision is evaluated in this theory rather than analyse of consequences