ICT Ethics: Cambridge Analytica, Deontology, and Ethics Codes Analysis

This assignment addresses key ethical issues in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), focusing on the 2018 Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal. It analyzes the ethical concerns raised by the scandal using philosophical ethics perspectives. The assignment then compares and contrasts the Australian Computer Society (ACS) Code of Ethics and the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, providing relevant examples to illustrate the differences. Finally, it critiques the concepts of Act Deontology and Rule Deontology, offering specific examples to clarify these ethical frameworks. The essay demonstrates an understanding of ethical theories and their application to real-world ICT challenges, including data privacy, professional conduct, and the responsibilities of ICT professionals. It also explores the implications of these ethical considerations for individuals, organizations, and society as a whole.

Running head: ICT ISSUES AND ACONCERNS
1
Issues and concerns ICT
Name
Institution
Course
Date

ICT ISSUES AND CONCERNS 2
Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
Question one....................................................................................................................................3
6.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................3
6.2 Facts about this scandal.............................................................................................................3
6.3 Issues aroused............................................................................................................................4
6.4 Affected parties..........................................................................................................................4
6.5 Ethical issues.............................................................................................................................4
Consequence-based theory..............................................................................................................4
Duty based theory............................................................................................................................4
Contract-based theory......................................................................................................................5
Character-based theory....................................................................................................................5
6.6 Resolutions................................................................................................................................5
6.7 Options.......................................................................................................................................6
6.8 Best option.................................................................................................................................6
4. Question 2....................................................................................................................................6
Definition.........................................................................................................................................6
Differences.......................................................................................................................................6
Examples..........................................................................................................................................8
5. Question 3....................................................................................................................................8
Definition.........................................................................................................................................8
Differences.......................................................................................................................................8
Examples..........................................................................................................................................9
6 References...................................................................................................................................11

ICT ISSUES AND CONCERNS 3
ICT Issues and concerns
Question one
6.1 Introduction
Social media in the 21st century is the key communication medium for most people.
However, the number of users has increased rapidly leading to a concentration of data to one
company like Facebook.
For instance, Cambridge Analytica (CA) scandal which happened on 17th March, 2018
became hotly debated topic up to date. Cambridge Analytica was a British political organization
that wanted to offer services during the election. The services included communication-based on
the acquisition of data, brokerage of data and analysis technique. Their role is a subject to
criminal investigation, although they have an effective way of targeting the voters (Merediths,
2018). The political scientist also questioned the method in the country.
The company collected information of about 87 million Facebook users in the country
from the year 2014 which later led to the outrage. It instilled fear among Facebook users due to
CA actions. Individuals feared that their data would get into unauthorized users (Zunger, 2018).
6.2 Facts about this scandal
It was a major scandal in early 2018; Cambridge Analytica had fetched personal data in
Facebook profile without their owner's consent and used it for political purposes. This illegal
harvesting was noticed and reported in December 2015 by Harry Davies, a journalist working for
The Guardian. He said that Cambridge Analytic was working for the United States of America
senator using the information they got from Facebook users accounts. Also, other reporters such
Hannes Gresseger and Mikael Krogerus in Swiss publication reported a similar story. However,
Facebook did not comment on anything regarding the claims (Merediths, 2018).

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Moreover, another scandal erupted in March 2018 by an ex-employee Christopher. He
based his information on 2017 article. The company was involved in using Facebook users’
information for Brexit campaign and Donald Trump's campaign purposes without maintaining
the users’ privacy.
6.3 Issues aroused
Some of major concerns in Facebook scandals were the usage of people’s info, therefore,
generating disbelief in the social media, more particularly the users (Merediths, 2018).
6.4 Affected parties
Facebook Company was the first party affected by the scandal because they were fined
€500,000 for being part in the Cambridge Analytic scandal. The reason was that it was the owner
of the media used and was responsible for maintaining the user's privacy at all cost, and so, it
was a breach of duty on their side.
6.5 Ethical issues
Consequence-based theory
It is also called utilitarianism; it means that the morally correct actions are the ones that
produce the best and least amount of suffering for most people. The moral worth of an effort
determined by its potential consequence and not by written laws (Zunger, 2018). Cambridge
Analytica did consider the harm their action will do to the nations and thus, resulted in damaging
the political states of the USA and Britain.
Duty based theory
The concept considers what actions are right and which ones are wrong. Rules bind a
person to his commitment; function is also an obligation (Dunne, Kurki & Smith, 2013). It was
the duty of Facebook to keep the user's information safe and not leading to unauthorized user and
since they failed to do so, it led to a breach of their commitment to clients (Common, 2018).

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Contract-based theory
It is the study of the way people and organization develop legal agreements. It analyses
how parties with conflicting interest build formal and informal contracts. Individual consented
to surrender some of their freedom and submit to the authority or the ruler in exchange for
remaining rights. Facebook clients, for instance, believed that by abandoning their information to
the company they would be safeguarded (Zunger, 2018).
Character-based theory
Character-based concept is also referred to as virtues. The focus of righteousness is what
makes the personal character, functional rather than what makes an action right. The theory
argues that a reasonable person will perform good acts and vice versa. Therefore, virtue
determines proper or most desirable goals of procedures undertaken for those whom one is
associated (Common, 2018). Cambridge Analytica shows a lousy character busing data from
Facebook account for their political interest; this is a weak character for the company since they
should respect the users
6.6 Resolutions
There are solutions to this Cambridge Analytica scandal first; users should employ
privacy setting to try to limit access as much as possible by these companies. Also, they should
limit the people who view their post and even by disabling third-party apps from having access
to your data (Kalajtzidis, 2013).
Facebook should change their term of service to be stricter to reduce frauds that come in and
manipulate clients’ data. Also, putting punitive penalties to the company found guilty of
mishandling the data.

ICT ISSUES AND CONCERNS 6
6.7 Options
Cambridge Analytica should report to the committee concerned on how they handle the
information after a given period says four times a year. It will be simple to analyze their doings
with the data and information they receive and process.
Creating an independent body to investigate the behaviors and actions of ICT companies
to closely monitor them and tightening rules and regulation of social media users’ private
information and ban the company when finding guilty.
6.8 Best option
The best option is the creation of an independent body to monitor the actions of the ICT
companies closely; for instance, Facebook Analytica so that they submit their reports to the
commission.
4. Question 2
An essential characteristic of the profession is the need for its members to abide by the
code of ethics. This question will tackle the Australian system of ethics and the ACM code of
ethics.
Definition
ACM founded on 1947, is an Association of Computing Machinery and oldest
international scientific and industrial computer society and is designed to inspire and guide the
ethical conduct of all computing professionals. ACS is Australian Computer Society founded in
1966 and also requires its members to subscribe to a set of values and ideals which uphold and
advance the dignity and effectiveness of the profession and IT (Leicester, 2016).
Differences
The first ACS code of ethics contributes to the society and human wellbeing,
acknowledging that all people are stakeholders. They should promote fundamental human rights

ICT ISSUES AND CONCERNS 7
and protecting each right. Finally, they should minimize the negative consequence of computing
to human. In the other hand, ACM is to uphold and advance the honor, dignity, and effectiveness
of the profession of information technology and in keeping with high standards of competence
and conduct by being loyal to serve the community, honest and to strive to increase the
proficiency of profession (Kurespert, 2017).
Secondly, ACS Professions should avoid harm; this means a negative consequence good
action include those that lead to duties accomplishment and leading to no damage. They should
be careful so as their decisions do not impact negatively on people. They should report any signs
of system risk that might result in damage. ACM also deals with a social implication to promote
the health and safety of the clients they are dealing with them. Also, they should respect people’s
privacy, respecting the employees and not mistreating them.
Similarly, ACS professional should be trustworthy and honest in their endeavors. They
should be transparent and disclose system capabilities, limitation and any problem to the
appropriate department. They should not take bribes, false claims and fabricate data. Finally,
they should be honest about their qualification. ACM professions should also be frank by not
misleading clients by misrepresenting skills and knowledge. They should not give biased
objectives and information and giving fair credit for an excellent job done (Kurespert, 2017).
ACS professions should respect privacy. Since technology involves collecting personal
information sometimes without the consent of the owner, a professional should safeguard the
data and make sure that they do not violate the individual rights of privacy of his/her data. ACM
also here prioritize data to preserve the continuity of information and also by maintaining the
integrity and security of other people data (Thomas, 2017).

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Finally, ACS professions should respect work requires to produce new ideas, invention,
creative works, and computing artifacts. They should credit the creators of ideas by giving them
the license, copyrights, and patents. ACM professionals should encourage development by
upgrading skills and knowledge, being aware of any issues affecting the community in terms of
technology and helping students and IT workers to develop the industry by continuous
innovations.
Examples
For example, you are recruited by a web design company to interview staffs to view their
current knowledge and skills to see where to train their staff on weakened areas. You have
collected data to identify crews of individual weakness. The manager of the company approaches
you to give him the information you have received. He needs to know who has more skills and
who has less. As a profession, the information is secret and telling the manager is the breach of
confidentiality ethic (Thomas, 2017).
An internal website development team wants to test how effective is the website using
both internal and external participants. The argument behind is whether external information
applies for domestic purposes. The ethical consideration here is to inform the users why the data
is collected, what will happen with the data and how will it be used and the free barrier to entry
or exit from the interview (Ugazio, Majdandžić & Lamm, 2014).
A manager of an ICT firm wants to employ a worker who happens to be his brother and
has not done an ICT related course. He tried to engage him since he is not holding the required
skills orders other staffs to be helping him perform some tasks. They are thereby breaking the
ACS and ACM code of ethics by hiring an unqualified staff member.

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5. Question 3
Definition
Rule deontology is a normative ethical theory that states that the morality of action
should base on whether the move is right or wrong based on the rules rather than consequences
(Hurka, 2014). It depends on the laws and policies of a given system. Some rules must be
followed when performing a given task; It mostly states “that do not lie” (Rusch, 2015). Act
deontology accords logical priority to a particular moral judgment as compared to rules or
principles, its particularism and bases on do the right thing (Sacco et al., 2017).
Differences
Rule deontology focuses on the behaviors which are either wrong or right in that you
should do, what is considered right in the face of the society and abstain from doing wrong and
lying. In every organization, there are rules which guide code of conduct and rule deontology
based on these rules (Jackson, 2016). On the other hand, act deontology focuses on behaviors
and acts of individuals in the firm. It does not base on the rules in the organization but rather the
right thing a person should do.
In rule deontology, they do not consider the motives of an individual carrying out a task
but set out rules in the institution but the later consequences. In act deontology, they base on the
purposes of the person if he/she was willing to act in good faith or not but not the consequence of
the action they have done (Mihailov, 2016).
Also, rule deontology considers that for one to act on a right way he/she must follow the
set out rules and guidelines in the institution and work purely in line of their duty as compared to
act deontology which digs into personal traits and character to judge a right thing and a wrong
one (Quong, 2018).

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Act deontology established on human reason alone that human will tend to do what is
right, based on their intrinsic motive compared to act deontology which brings in the human
reasoning with a set of codes to govern him/her too.
Act deontology builds self-confidence in people since being given a chance to exercise
their desires whereas rule deontology keeps people dull and very careful not to interfere with the
rules in the organization (Chen & Schonger, 2017).
Act deontology enhances creativity and innovation because people are free to interact and
use resources for the betterment of organization while rule deontology people have a fear of
breaking given set of rules hence it is not creativity oriented (LaFollette & Persson, 2013).
Finally, act deontology enhances the excellent relationship, association, and harmony in a
firm. It is because they emphasize only on personal traits compared to rule deontology where
people will not relate well due to more rule in the firms (Frecknall-Hughes, Moizer, Doyle &
Summers, 2017).
Examples
For instance, you are in an ICT institution, and you are required to design a website, you
should follow the required procedure as laid out in the institution. The example clearly illustrates
rule deontology.
James is an ICT manager a telecommunication organization, and he wants to upgrade the
system to suit the customers need, and he wants to use other company’s data in the institution.
These destroy the reputation of the company by using external data; he is not acting according to
act deontology.

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Linda, worker in an organization want to install new software. The act of deontology
states that she should do what is right and consequences of the action are independent of the
behavior. If she will succeed the better and also a failure does not mean that she did not do what
is right.
Richard considers bringing his friend pursuing an ICT course in a university to come and
use the organization's computer for installation of software without departments consent.
According to deontology, this is not right since he is doing something wrong.
Elizabeth has entered more data in her computer than the capacity and unfortunately the
computer crashes, she wants to lie to her boss. She is not practicing deontological ethics since
she is planning to lie to her boss.
Finally, an ICT firm wants to sell software to a company, Knell who is in charge of
tendering realizes that there are some malfunctions and reported it to the manager. This action
shows knell has proper application of act deontology.

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6 References
Chen, D. L., & Schonger, M. (2017). Social preferences or sacred values? theory and evidence of
deontological motivations, pp. 12-17.
Common, M.F. (2018). Facebook and Cambridge Analytica: let this be the high-water mark for
impunity. LSE Business review, pp. 6-9.
Dunne, T., Kurki, M., & Smith, S. (Eds.). (2013). International relations theories. Oxford
University Press, pp.56-78
Frecknall-Hughes, J., Moizer, P., Doyle, E., & Summers, B. (2017). An examination of ethical
influences on the work of tax practitioners. Journal of Business Ethics, 146(4), 729-745.
Hurka, T. (2014). British ethical theorists from Sidgwick to Ewing. Oxford University Press,
USA, pp.56-59.
Jackson, F., & Smith, M. (2016). The implementation problem of for deontology. Weighing
reasons, 279-291.
Kalajtzidis, J. (2013). Ethics of social consequences as a contemporary consequentialist
theory. Ethics & Bioethics (in Central Europe), 3(3-4), 159-171.
Kurespert, D.R. (2017). Safety and ethics in ACS and major scientific and engineering societies:
A gap analysis. Journal of Chemical Health and Safety, 24(6), 2-5.
LaFollette, H., & Persson, I. (Eds.). (2013). The Blackwell guide to ethical theory. John Wiley &
Sons, pp. 22-27.
Leicester, N. (2016). Ethics and he IT Profession: Does a Code of Ethics have an Effect on
Professional Behavior?, pp.19-27

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Merediths, S. (2018). Facebook-Cambridge Analytica: A timeline of the data hijacking scandal,
pp.77-82.
Mihailov, E. (2016). Is deontology a moral confabulation? Neuroethics, 9(1), pp.1-3.
Quong, J. (2018). Consequentialism, Deontology, Contractualism, and Equality. The Oxford
Handbook of Distributive Justice, pp.306
Rusch, H. (2015). Do bankers have deviant moral attitudes? Negative results from a tentative
survey. Rationality, Markets and Morals, 6(92).
Sacco, D.F., Brown, Lustgraaf, C.J., &Hugenberg, K. (2017). The adaptive utility of deontology:
Deontological moral decision making fosters perception of trust and likeability.
Evolutionary Psychological Science, 3(2), pp. 125-132
Thomas, G., Duessel, P., & Meier, M. (2017). Ethical Issues of User Behaviour Analysis
Through Machine Learning. Journal of information System Security, 13(1).
Ugazio, G., Majdandžić, J., & Lamm, C. (2014). Are empathy and morality linked? Insights
from moral psychology, social and decision neuroscience, and philosophy. Empathy in
morality, pp. 155-171.
Zunger, J. (2018). Computer faces an ethics crisis. The Cambridge Analytica Scandal proves it.
Boston Globe, pp. 22.