Ethical Analysis of Telstra Case Study: Privacy and Security Concerns in Digital Technologies

Ethics and Professional Practice
Case Study Analysis

Executive Summary
The aim of this report is to conduct an ethical analysis of the case study of Telstra in order to
find different ethical issues in the case. Doing ethics technique is used in the report for
evaluating the ethical issues and providing different solutions. The ethical issues raised in the
assignment include privacy and security concerns of customers’ data due to use of digital
technologies. In the second part, the role of IT governance is discussed along with the
technologies used by Telstra for gaining a competitive advantage in the industry. The
advantages of such technologies and the tools used by the company for improving its security
and data control are included in the report as well. Various recommendations are given which
can assist the company in sustaining its competitive advantage in the industry by protecting
the privacy of customers and increasing the security of the data of the company.
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Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations and Assumptions made...........................................................................3
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the situation – Doing Ethics Technique..................................................................4
Assessment of the ethical consequences....................................................................................8
IT governance.........................................................................................................................8
IT governance and Issues.......................................................................................................8
Technologies..........................................................................................................................9
Advantages...........................................................................................................................10
Security and Data Control....................................................................................................10
Recommendations....................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................13
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List of Abbreviations and Assumptions made
IT: Information Technology
ICT: Information and Communication Technology
Introduction
In today’s competitive business world, organisations generate competitive advantage by
relying on the latest technologies in order to perform their operations. Effective use of the
latest technologies enables the organisations to improve their existing operations while at the
same time provide their customers with high-quality services. The use of ICT technologies in
the companies has proliferated in the past few years, and they enable enterprises in improving
their customer services and overall efficiency. The primary advantages include reducing
overall costs, improvement in efficiency, flexibility in operations, and ubiquitous data
(Kritzinger and Von Solms, 2010). However, along with advantages, there are many issues
relating to these technologies as well which resulted in negatively affecting the companies.
There are many ethical issues which occurred due to digital disruptions. One of the key
disadvantages of these technologies is the vulnerability to the cybercrimes. It is easier for
cybercriminals to hack into a system of organisations when they rely on technologies to
perform their task. There are many other ethical issues relating to the use of modern
technologies as well. Organisations are required to comply with these information ethics
principles while facing an ethical dilemma. The information ethics provides a relationship
between ethical and moral principles along with use, collection, access and maintenance of
data (Bulgurcu, Cavusoglu and Benbasat, 2010). The corporations also required implement
policies of IT governance to ensure that they are able to avoid related issues effectively. In
this report, the case study of Telstra will be evaluated by using ‘doing ethics technique’ or
DET in order to analyse the ethical issues in the case. This report will also evaluate the role
of IT governance and related issues and what technologies can be used by Telstra to avoid
these issues. Furthermore, recommendations will be given in the report for Telstra in order to
address the issues faced by the company.
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