Ethical Considerations: IT and International Business Practices

This report delves into the critical areas of ethics within information technology and international business. It examines the ethical implications of unrestricted access to personal data by law enforcement agencies, the importance of data privacy, and the potential for misuse of personal information. The report further addresses ethical issues in international business, including fair trade practices and the exploitation of garment workers by major fashion brands. It analyzes research methods used in these contexts, such as interviews and secondary research, and highlights key messages related to worker rights and the role of ICT companies in addressing forced labor. The report concludes by emphasizing the significance of ethics in fostering organizational success and growth across both sectors.

Ethics in information
technology and
Ethical issues in
international business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1 : Ethics in Information Technology...................................................................................4
Should law enforcement agencies be allowed to access unrestricted data on people lives....4
Worst-case scenario which can be imagine in context of unrestricted access to digital
communication ......................................................................................................................4
Should data stored in private email accounts and should law enforcement agencies would
need warrant to access and reviews documents.....................................................................5
Ethical principles which are related to information technology.............................................5
Why closing the digital divide is important...........................................................................6
TASK 2 Ethical issues in international business.............................................................................6
Ethics in international business and its importance................................................................6
About top fashion brands business practices are undermining progress on ending garment worker
exploitation......................................................................................................................................7
Research methods and effectiveness of methods...................................................................7
Key messages.........................................................................................................................7
Information and communication technology benchmark findings report........................................7
Research methods and effectiveness of methods..................................................................7
Key messages.........................................................................................................................8
Common observations from both reports...............................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
This report focuses on the ethics in information technology and ethical issues in
international business. This report help in understanding importance of information technology
in this era of digitalisation and how ethics play vital role in privacy of information related to
individual. Information technology is related with storage of data and it is also explained as use
of hardware, software and services in order to deliver information and manage it through several
modes. Ethics in information technology makes sure that privacy of user doesn't exploited and it
help in understanding issues related to ethics in information technology (Bonnemains, Saurel and
Tessier, 2018).
TASK 1 : Ethics in Information Technology
Should law enforcement agencies be allowed to access unrestricted data on people lives
Issues and dispute among individual privacy and law enforcement agencies have been
rising and creating a tension in individuals life. In this era of digitalisation this tension have
intensified as enforcement agencies in USA are allowed to trace digital communication of
individual and this issue is intensifying tension among people and law enforcement agencies.
Government of USA have allowed and given access to NSA to trace digital communication of
the individual. Government have taken this step for safety of people as digital communication
used to commit crime and surveillance of digital communication help in detecting the crime.
This issue also hacks the privacy of people as law enforcement agencies can see their personal
information and it can be misused by any individual for their own use. Access to unrestricted
data of individual does help in reducing crime and solving crime but it also raises the issue of
privacy of users and raises a question mark what if personal information of user is exploited by
law enforcement agencies (de Reuver and et. al., 2020).
Worst-case scenario which can be imagine in context of unrestricted access to digital
communication
Issue of surveillance of digital communication and access of unrestricted data by law
enforcement agencies have created chaos situation among individuals. Individual thinks
unrestricted access to their data and surveillance of digital communication can be used in wrong
way and it can be manipulated by anyone in terms of privacy. Worst-case scenario which can be
possible in context of unrestricted access to digital communication is hacking of someone

personal data or private chats which can be used to access their credit card, bank accounts etc.
This data can be utilised for hacking personal information of individual and can be used to
commit online fraud or can be used to mislead someone by using name of that individual. Digital
communication surveillance have raised issue of hijacking private space of people and delivering
their personal information for wrong use and misused their personal information. These days
online fraud is very common and personal information of any individual can be used for
purposes (Glass, 2020).
Should data stored in private email accounts and should law enforcement agencies would need
warrant to access and reviews documents
Data stored in private email accounts is not considered much safe as in this era of
digitalisation online fraud have increased and personal information of individual is not
considered safe. Data stored in personal email accounts can be manipulated by hackers or by
other individual if it is not used properly or safely by individual. In order to access and review
documents law enforcement agencies should need warrant as it is important to access personal
data of individual on by their permission and it also help in maintaining transparency among
individuals. Accessing and reviewing documents with permission of individual would help in
maintaining relationship among individual and law enforcement agencies. Accessing data
without their permission is considered as hijacking of private information of individual and
personal information of individual can be used for wrong purposes and which can directly affect
life of individual and individual can face several problem in order to restore their personal
information.
Ethical principles which are related to information technology
There are several ethical principles which are related to information technology as
information technology is explained as components which includes storage of data and using that
data in various sector such as education, health, business etc. There are some major ethical issue
which should be followed by information technology are mentioned below:
Personal Privacy
Privacy is considered as important aspect of information technology and it is considered as
important principle in information technology. Information technology focuses on using several
tools and software to store information and have to make sure that data of every individual
should be kept securely (Kusuma and Muafi, 2020). High distribution of data have enabled more

risk of violating privacy of users and in order to keep their data safe IT sector focuses on using
effective software and tools to keep users data safe.
Access Rights
Access to information is major part of information technology as experts have to make sure that
every user should able to access their information and no other party or individual should be able
to access their personal information without their permission. This is possible by safe and secure
network to access information.
Why closing the digital divide is important
Digital divide is important to be closed as information technology is considered as one of
the effective way of recording and storing the data for long-term and it also help in making it
reliable and authentic. Information technology have made the information storage effective and it
help user in accessing their information from anywhere across the globe with the help of secured
internet network. Experts focuses on closing the digital divide as it can help in storing
information effectively and also help in keeping data of users safe and secure (Lester and Dalat-
Ward, 2019).
TASK 2 Ethical issues in international business
Ethics in international business and its importance
Ethics is considered as important part in every organisation because without ethics there
is no success and in every individual life there is need of ethics which help in achieving
individual desired goals and objectives. Ethics in international business is explained in same way
as trade between two countries or nations should be done within ethics. Ethics in international
business helps in bringing effectiveness in trade among countries and also helps in implementing
fair and legal trade practices. Globalisation have diminished barrier between countries on the
globe and it is also known for universalization of values which help in doing smooth trade.
Universal values are also considered as ethical issues in international business. Other ethical
issues in international business includes diversity of business as comparison made on the basis of
corruption in economy. In the international business another ethical issues which arises is related
with international business transactions (Phukan, 2020). Fair trade practices, trade movements,
pricing of products etc. are points which fall under international business ethics. Dumping is also
considered as ethical issues in international business as domestic business getting killed by

players of foreign market. Foreign organisation focuses on selling their goods and services on
low prices which is affecting domestic organisation and affecting competition among foreign and
domestic organisation.
About top fashion brands business practices are undermining progress on
ending garment worker exploitation
Research methods and effectiveness of methods
This report focuses on the exploitation of the worker and exploitation of their rights by
not providing healthy and safe environment for their labours and which is affecting workers
mindset and its safety. This report shows that famous brands focuses on implementing short
production windows, cost pressure and order fluctuations. In this report, researchers focuses on
gathering the data by doing interviews which is considered as primary research method for
collection of data. Research focused on gathering data from business leaders, workers, NGOs,
government agencies etc. which helped researcher in understanding this issue and this method is
also effective as it help in collecting data which help in gathering effective and useful data
(Price, 2020).
Key messages
Key messages in the report is to understand the issue of worker exploitation in garment sector
and how workers right are exploited by major garment brand. This report help in understanding
unfavourable working conditions for workers and other issues which are faced by organisation.
Researchers focused on three major issues such as freedom of movement, health and safety and
worker driven social responsibility as these issues can help in achieving economic and work
growth.
Information and communication technology benchmark findings report
Research methods and effectiveness of methods
This report focuses on importance of information and communication technology in this
digital era and how this is used by organisation to understand need of consumer and help in
achieving organisation goals and objectives. This report focused on forced labour and it
evaluated 49 ICT companies which are putting their efforts to address human trafficking and
forced labour on their supply chains (Rogerson and et. al., 2019). This report focused on

secondary research methods and collected information from several other reports and other
sources which includes information from different report and websites. These methods
considered as effective due to its effective results and it helped in analysing situation of these
issues.
Key messages
This report addresses about the issues related to forced labour and human trafficking.
This report focuses on nature of risk included in forced labour and how it can affect ICT sector
and help in exploring role of industry associations. It also focuses on how companies focuses on
addressing forced labour risk and in their supply chains (Vakkuri and Abrahamsson, 2018).
Common observations from both reports
Both reports focuses on the issues related to workers and exploitation of their rights. Both
reports help in understanding nature of issues such as forced labour, unhealthy environment etc.
as these issues are considered as issues in many major brands of garments and in top ICT
companies.
CONCLUSION
This report help in concludes about the ethics in information technology and addresses
ethical issues in international business as ethics are important in every sector and ethics plays
vital role in organisation success and growth. This report concludes about the unauthorized
access of data by law enforcement agencies and impact of this on individual privacy and how
major garments brands exploiting the workers right.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bonnemains, V., Saurel, C. and Tessier, C., 2018. Embedded ethics: some technical and ethical
challenges. Ethics and Information Technology. 20(1). pp.41-58.
de Reuver, M., and et. al., 2020. Digital platforms and responsible innovation: expanding value
sensitive design to overcome ontological uncertainty. Ethics and Information
Technology. 22. pp.257-267.
Glass, R., 2020. Integrating ethics into Information systems Courses: A Multi-method Approach
based on Role playing. Journal of Information Systems Education. 6(4). p.2.
Kusuma, H. and Muafi, H. M. A., 2020. Information Technology Governance and Islamic
Business Ethics as Factors Influencing Information Technology Adoption. Journal of
Southwest Jiaotong University, 55(4).
Lester, L. J. Y. and Dalat-Ward, Y., 2019. Teaching Professionalism and Ethics in Information
Technology by Deliberative Dialogue. Information Systems Education Journal. 17(1).
p.4.
Phukan, S., 2020. Ethics in Information Systems: A Framework for Evaluation. Journal of
Information Systems Education. 7(2). p.1.
Price, M. S., 2020. Internet privacy, technology, and personal information. Ethics and
Information Technology. 22(2). pp.163-173.
Rogerson, S., and et.a l., 2019. Information systems ethics–challenges and opportunities. Journal
of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society.
Vakkuri, V. and Abrahamsson, P., 2018, June. The key concepts of ethics of artificial
intelligence. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology and
Innovation (ICE/ITMC) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.