Information Technology Ethics: Students and Sensors

This essay discusses the four principle ethical theories of computer ethics and analyses the article 'Students and sensors: data, education, privacy, and research' in the light of these theories. The four theories are utilitarianism, deontology, social contract and virtue theories. The article is about the collection and analysis of student data at a University in Arizona, through student ID cards. The essay concludes that computer ethics is an integral part of the management and operations of computer technology and related systems and disciplines.

Information
Technology Ethics
STUDENTS AND SENSORS: DATA, EDUCATION, PRIVACY, AND
RESEARCH

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Introduction
Computer ethics refers to the set of the principles, procedures, practices, and
values that govern the overall utilisation and the consumption of the computer
technology. These also includes the related disciplines which guide the entities to
use the computer technology in the best possible manner without damaging or
violating the moral values and beliefs of the organisations and society as a whole.
The fact that computer technologies give the humans a number of choices also
creates a policy vacuum for the efficient manner to use such technologies after due
consideration to the personal and the social policies (Moor, 2017). The essay is
aimed at discussing the four principle ethical theories of the computer ethics and
analysing the article “Students and sensors: data, education, privacy, and research,”
in the light of the above ethical theories. The essay will draw conclusions on the
ethical theories being the critical part of the conduct of the various computer
operations and the decisions.
Background
The four principle computer ethical theories are utilitarianism, deontology,
contract, and virtue theories. The above-mentioned theories aid in the evaluation of
the actions and the issues arising out of the use of the information technology, in a
systematic, comprehensive and a consistent manner (Tavani, 2011). The article
chosen for the analysis is “Students and sensors: data, education, privacy, and
research, by Irina Raicu”. The article is about the collection and analysis of the
student data at a University in Arizona, through the student ID cards (Raicu, 2018).
The analysis eventually became the part of the student retention efforts and the
academic success.

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Utilitarianism Theory
Jeremy Bentham had developed the ethical theory of utilitarianism. The theory
accords the consideration of group interests and the happiness of all, above the
individual interests and the benefits (Kizza, 2016). According to this ethical theory,
actions must be analysed from a perspective of utility and happiness to population as
a whole. Thus, applying the theory to the above actions mentioned in the article, the
analysis of the student data, routines and relationships can be beneficial to both the
students and the universities, if the same aids in the retention of the students and
improve the academics of the students. While the analysis of the data, would be
useful for the university from the overall management point of view, the same would
be useful for the students and the academic advisers to choose the subjects after
their freshman year (Liao, 2018). There are situations when students certain subjects
at the time of the entrance to the colleges, however, the subjects do not go well with
the personalities and the background of the students. In this event, if the research
data can be correlated to the subjects chosen, this would lead the students to
efficiently complete their courses. Thus, from the perspective of the utilitarianism, the
actions of the university to gather, store and analyse the student data would bring
happiness and the utility to everyone and are justified. The utilitarian must however
consider that the data in question is not used for any other purposes, other than for
academic purposes.
Deontology Theory
The theory of deontology is further divided into two parts. The duty based
ethical theory was developed by Immanuel Kant (NC University, 2018). The theory
stresses that loyalty toward one’s own duties and the ethical principles is an
important factor, and the same must be incorporated while using the information

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technology practices and products. Locke and Hobbes further developed the second
part of the deontology and named it as the right based ethical theory (NC University,
2018). According to the said theory, an individual must uphold his or her rights
concerning privacy or the other human and the legal rights. While the duty based
theory focuses on the viability of the action itself and not the consequences, the right
based theory focuses on the upholding of the moral principles such as the truth, just
and fair treatment, equitable approach and such. On application of the above
theories, to the given case study it can be said that harvesting and analysing the
student data from their individual swipe is not morally correct. This is mainly because
of the fact that the usage was not revealed beforehand to the students and their
guardians. Though the university has a wider perspective for the use of the data and
it is for the benefit of the students only, still the disclosure on the university’s part is
must. Thus, it can be said that from a deontological perspective, it is always ethically
wrong to use an individual’s rightful property without prior consent. It does not matter
that the said individual is the student of the university and the consequences of such
an act does them good in the end or not. The researchers of the university are thus
suggested to disclose the fact to the students and their academic advisers that how
the data is being analysed to help them with their academics.
Social Contract Theory
The theory is also simply known as the contract theory. The theory is
focussed towards the relationship between the one’s occupational roles and social
responsibilities pertaining to that occupation (Reynolds, 2015). The theory states that
the entities are equally responsible towards the societies and the communities who
have given them the license to work. Thus, it can be said that the entities owe a

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morally responsible behaviour towards the stakeholders concerned. We are part of
the society that involves a number of laws and legislations and in order to avoid the
negative consequences, the same must be abide by (Martin, 2016). From the
perspective of the contract theory it can be said that if one part of the university’s
contract is the obligation towards students to provide them with the best academic
services and teachings the other obligation is to keep the data in relation to them,
safe and secure. Thus, as also discussed in the theory of deontology, the
consequences are acceptable and justifiable when the acts are disclosed on the
University of Arizona’s part.
Virtue Theory
The ethical theory believes that entities must inculcate the moral habits and
the virtues in their behaviour, no matter the same are expressly mentioned to be
followed or not (Mason, 2017). The play of the virtues and the morals come in the
picture in case of the complex and the unpredictable situations in the field of the
information technology. The universities and the colleges have the main
responsibility of the providing the support to the students as and when needed. On
application of the virtue theory it can be said that University understands its
responsibility and thus had devised a medium to co relate the student behaviour,
moral, habits and the background of each of theme to the academic field. However,
a major problem in the theory is that establishing of the virtues is a difficult and a
crucial concept. This is because of the existence of a number of the cultures,
communities, religion and other diversified measures (Dark, 2010). The virtues can
be of different types such as just behaviour, regard to right and wrong actions and
more. Thus, the same would be different in different scenarios and the regions of the
operations of the entities.

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Conclusion
Thus as per the discussions held in the previous parts it can be concluded
that computer ethics is an integral part of the management and the operations of the
computer technology and the related systems and disciplines. There have been
prescribed the four ethical theories to guide the behaviour of the entities while
making use of such technologies. These technologies in addition, provide a set of
the comprehensive approach to analyse the morality of the actions. On application of
the above theories on the given case study it can be said that though University is
right on its part to support the students in their academics, by analysing the gathered
data from their swipe cards, the approach cannot be said altogether right. This is
because of the existence of the various human and legal rights on the part of the
students and the ethics and virtues on the part of the University of Arizona. The
approach can be improvised by simply disclosing the data and the fact that the same
is being utilised to the students and their guardians. For now, the students are
completely unaware of such data harvesting and pooling, while they have a legal
right on the same. Thus, the university and the researchers are recommended to
protect and use the data in the question only for the academic and support purposes
and disclose the same to students as well.

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References
Dark, M. J. (2010). Information Assurance and Security Ethics in Complex Systems:
Interdisciplinary Perspectives. IGI Global.
Kizza, J. M. (2016) Ethics in Computing. Geneva: Springer International Publishing.
Liao, S. (2018). University of Arizona tracks student ID cards to detect who might
drop out. Retrieved from:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/12/17109224/university-of-arizona-
tracking-smartchips-student-ids-privacy-drop-out
Martin, K. (2016). Understanding privacy online: Development of a social contract
approach to privacy. Journal of Business 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
Raicu, I. (2018). Students and Sensors: Data, education, privacy, and research.
Retrieved from: https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/internet-
ethics/resources/students-and-sensors-data-education-privacy-and-
research/
Reynolds, G. W. (2015). Ethics in Information Technology. (5th Ed.). Boston MA:
Cengage Learning.
Tavani, H. T. (2011). Ethics and technology: Controversies, questions, and
strategies for ethical computing. (3rd ed.). New Jersey: John Wiley &
Sons.

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