Information Technology Ethics: Students and Sensors

Information Technology Ethics
Students and Sensors: Data, education, privacy, and research

IT ETHICS 1
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.

IT ETHICS 2
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