IT Ethics Assignment 1: Three Perspectives on Facebook Data Breach

This essay examines the ethical implications of the 2018 Facebook data breach, focusing on three distinct perspectives: professional, philosophical, and sociological ethics. The introduction highlights the growing reliance on social media and the importance of data privacy. The professional ethics section analyzes how ICT companies should adhere to ethical principles to maintain customer trust and protect sensitive information, using the Facebook data breach as a case study to illustrate the consequences of unethical behavior. The philosophical ethics section explores virtue, consequentialism, and pragmatic ethics, emphasizing the importance of data security and user privacy. The sociological ethics section discusses the societal impact of data breaches, the need for individual responsibility, and the role of ICT in maintaining confidentiality and reducing social problems like cyberterrorism. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of ethical guidelines and codes of conduct for ICT companies to ensure user satisfaction and maintain trust.

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Assignment 1: Three Distinct Perspectives of Applied Ethics
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Word Count: 1300

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Introduction
In this paper the focus will be given on the present ethical dilemma which is concerned
with the latest information and communication technology. In the present situation, it has
been evaluated that the use of Facebook is enhancing day by day. Facebook is a platform
through which communication between people take place and also, they can view the stories
of the other people easily through their posts. There are many people who are addicted and
post each activity on the social platform. It is one of the most popular social media platforms
through which information can be transferred to large mass of audience. Through Facebook
people can easily share their views and opinions, pictures and also different images related to
the information (Benson, Saridakis & Tennakoon,2015). Therefore, through Facebook
communication can take place easily and also information can transfer in less time.
In this paper the topic which is taken into consideration is concerned with “FACEBOOK
DATA BREACH”. This case took place in April, 2018 and there 87 million customers who
faced the issues (Shah, 2018). In this paper, the case will be evaluated by considering the
three distinct perspective of applied ethics. In this the three distinct perspective are
professional, philosophical and also sociological ethics which will be discussed in context to
the case Facebook data breach.
Professional Ethics Perspectives
It has been analyzed that professional ethics are known by the ICT companies that can
give assistance to employers so that they can complete the activities or the operations by
focusing on the values and principles. Professional Ethics perspectives is considered as
perceptive focuses on considering standards of the individual behavior in context to personal
and business (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2016).
Professional ethics also enhance awareness about requirements and situation of the
customers. If focus is given on the team of ICT it has been analyzed that they have to face
many issues in context to managing entire information. The privacy information can give
negative impact if it is leaked and it can also be a huge loss to the companies if the
information of the customers is leaked. There are many unethical posts that are posted on the
social media sites which can also give negative impact and can lead to loss to the
organizations (Ablon, Heaton, Lavery & Romanosky, 2016). It has been analyzed that
professional ethics plays an important role to protect the information of the customers. If
there is no professional code of conduct then it can be difficult to attain goodwill in the
market. Professional ethics focuses on the personal and business behavior which is important
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for ICT companies so that security can be maintained and also goodwill can be maintained in
the market.
If focus is given on Facebook breach data case it can be evaluated that there are many
individuals who uploaded personal quiz application. In this application the details are asked
from the people which shared with the Cambridge Analytica. Therefore, it can be stated that
the company does not focus on professional ethics. When this incident took place, the
management of Facebook decided to declare that they give information about the misuse of
personal information which is unethical (Murphy, 2017).
This has given negative impact on the goodwill of the company and also affected the
professional morals which are set by Facebook. After this incident the management of the
company make the judgement that they will focus on effective guidelines linked with the
ethics. It will also help to analyze the behavior of the customers in a proper manner (Jordaan
& Van Heerden, 2017). So, it is essential for the company to focus on professional ethics so
that customers can be satisfied and to maintain goodwill in competitive market.
Philosophical Ethics Perspectives
In this perceptive there are various ethics that should be considered like virtue ethics,
consequentialism and pragmatic ethics. In this it has been seen that virtue ethics focuses on
the correct things related to the ethics that should be performed. Consequentialism is related
with the motive that should be good and if it is good then results will also be good. Pragmatic
ethics is related with social growth that should be there so that goodwill can be maintained.
Philosophical ethics perceptive is related with the systemizing, defending and also focus on
the concepts which are correct or incorrect. It has been analyzed to achieve success in the
market it is important for the company to focus on specified rules (Darwall, 2018). In the
present scenario, this perceptive has an essential role in the companies related to information
and communication technology.
By focusing on the case, it has been seen that privacy and security should be maintained
by company so that customers can be satisfied. Customers wants that their private
information should be kept secured so that it can be not misused by anyone. So, if this case is
considered it can be analyzed that Facebook focused on some settings that should be there so
that security can be maintained. The setting that were introduced by the company after the
incident is related with introducing the setting like users can see that to which application
permission is given to view the information. If the information is leaked of the customers
then it can affect the entire operations of the company and can also affect the growth in the
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market. Therefore, it is important that every company should focus on proper safety to the
users so that proper dealing can be made with ethical dilemma in context to technologies.
Proper ICT policies should be taken into consideration by the companies so that privacy of
the individuals can be maintained and satisfaction level of the people can also be maximized.
If the information is not safeguard by the company then it can also give adverse impact on the
activities of employees and goodwill (Spiekermann, Acquisti, Böhme & Hui, 2015).
Sociological/Descriptive Ethics Perspectives
This section is related with the safety of an individual. It is important for the company to
maintain proper confidentiality so that customers can be satisfied. Sociological problems are
enhancing with the use of ICT and also increasing the level of anxiety. In this perceptive it
has been analyzed that main focus is given on the society and also it creates the responsibility
among individuals. It can be stated that people have the capability to evaluate the morals by
emphasizing on right and wrong situation (Hämäläinen, 2016). The responsibility of ICT is
to provide proper storage of information so that privacy cannot be suffered. Same applies
with Facebook, it is important to maintain confidentiality of the data so that people can take
proper decisions which is beneficial for the company.
The information which is leaked by the company should be maintained so that people can
maintain their trust again on the company. It is important to consider social perspective so
that profession integrity, code of conduct can be maintained and it can also to reduce the
social problems like misuse of the information and also cyber terrorism. The guideline on
which Facebook should focus should be secure for the people so that ethical codes can be
developed in the right manner. The company should also focus on giving guidelines to the
employees so that they can operate and manage the operations of the company in the right
manner. Code of ethics should be maintained by the company so that confidence level of the
customers can be boosted and they can again maintain trust in context the operations of the
company ((Jabee & Alam, 2016). It is essential for the company to maximize the satisfaction
level of users so that it can be easy for them to accomplish their objectives and goals. Trust is
also one of the factor on which the company should focus on by maintaining security of the
information of the customers or the users.
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References
Ablon, L., Heaton, P., Lavery, D. C., & Romanosky, S. (2016). Consumer attitudes toward
data breach notifications and loss of personal information. Rand Corporation.
Benson, V., Saridakis, G., & Tennakoon, H. (2015). Information disclosure of social media
users: does control over personal information, user awareness and security notices
matter?. Information Technology & People, 28(3), 426-441.
Darwall, S. (2018). Philosophical Ethics: An Historical and Contemporary Introduction.
Routledge.
Hämäläinen, N. (2016). Descriptive Ethics: What Does Moral Philosophy Know about
Morality?. Springer.
Jabee, R., & Alam, M. A. (2016). Issues and Challenges of Cyber Security for Social
Networking Sites (Facebook). International Journal of Computer Applications, 144(3).
Jordaan, Y., & Van Heerden, G. (2017). Online privacy-related predictors of Facebook usage
intensity. Computers in Human Behavior, 70, 90-96.
Murphy, R. S. (2017). Property rights in personal information: An economic defense of
privacy. In Privacy (pp. 43-79). Routledge.
Shah, S. (2018). Facebook suffers another massive data breach that exposed the details of 120
million users. https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/6654504/facebook-quiz-app-data-leak-
cambridge-analytica-scandal/
Shapiro, J. P., & Stefkovich, J. A. (2016). Ethical leadership and decision making in
education: Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas. Routledge.
Spiekermann, S., Acquisti, A., Böhme, R., & Hui, K. L. (2015). The challenges of personal
data markets and privacy. Electronic Markets, 25(2), 161-167.
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