Code Analysis: Technology and Privacy - Facebook's Ethical Code

This assignment, a code analysis on technology and privacy, delves into the ethical considerations surrounding technology use, focusing on the context of Facebook. It outlines the process of building a code of ethics, addressing critical issues such as data privacy, online harassment, misuse of technology, and the spread of misinformation. The assignment is structured in three parts: building the base of the code by identifying key ethical issues, forming and writing the code with specific guidelines and examples of ethical scenarios, and finally, implementing the code, which includes obtaining feedback and reviewing the code's effectiveness. The code is designed to protect user privacy, prevent harassment, and ensure responsible use of technology within the organization. The assignment references relevant ethical codes and laws, emphasizing the importance of training and accessibility to ensure the code's effective implementation within Facebook. Feedback mechanisms and an action plan are proposed to facilitate the code's adoption and ongoing evaluation.

Running head: CODE ANALYSIS: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY
CODE ANALYSIS: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CODE ANALYSIS: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY
Part A- Building base of Code:
The code that would be formed would address the ethical issues related to Technology and
Privacy. This part is in regards to the stage one of the process which becomes much important
while forming an effective code. Building the base becomes much important as the essential
aspects related to the code would be guided by some specific identified issues. All codes should
be based on the consideration that the interests of an individual is equal to the interests of all
others. Hence, the wellbeing of all people are as important as the wellbeing of an individual
person (Taylor, Floridi and Van der Sloot 2016). The ECI refers to the equal consideration of
interests. In accordance with this approach the code needs to be formed. The code to control the
ethical utilization of technology would be formed to uphold the equal interests of both the people
in the higher positions and the subordinates. Concerning technology and privacy there can be
many significant issues that might be identified. Four such issues will form the main factors that
the code will focus on addressing.
 The privacy of the people using technology need to be maintained as their confidential
data are stored in digital databases
 Harassment, bullying or other forms of unethical activities can be done against people
through the use of IT devices
 Technology can be misused to gain confidential organizational data and financial
information
 Information technology devices can be used to spread maleficent information about
individuals or organizations

2CODE ANALYSIS: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY
These topics are chosen on the basis of their relevance in the context of technology usage and
privacy. Most people in the contemporary world are exposed to technology. Technology usage
has increased manifold. Technology has even made it easier to access, store and use information.
It is important to understand that that foundations of the code would be the need for protecting
the rights of privacy of those that use technology. It is important to also remind the users of their
duties in regards to the code to ensure the equality of all users (Pullen and Rhodes 2015).
One organization that can greatly benefit from this code is social networking website
Facebook. As a social networking site that deals with much customer information and internet
interactions of people. Moreover, as of now Facebook is also being used to promote products and
also provides premium services to some of the advertisers. It is also being used for various types
of online purchases. Facebook needs to protect the privacy of the information that is provided by
the users. Additionally, it also needs to make secure its own confidential documents and financial
information. The company also needs to stop the harassment or online bullying of its users.
Added to this there is strong requirement for stopping maleficent users from spreading false
news against individuals or organizations. The code would be very beneficial for the
organization as both the internal and external organizational security would be addressed through
the code. The organization would be able to provide a safer space for interactions of its
customers. The company would also be able to provide the workers with a strong code to follow
and use accordingly.
Part B- Formation and writing of Code:
This part concerns the stage two and three of writing the code of ethics. The focus of this
part is transforming the identified values into ethical behaviors and organizing the code

3CODE ANALYSIS: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY
document for being easily viewed and understood. The code that would be formed would focus
on addressing the identified areas. The code would be formed to provide an ethical framework of
conduct for Facebook. The code would be based on values and principles that need to be
recognized by the users of technology to ensure that a conflict-free and mutually beneficial
environment is present in the organization of Facebook. The employees of Facebook would need
to understand the code of ethics in the context of values and principles that need to be
maintained. The code will focus on improving the ethical outlooks of employees.
Directions and general guidelines
Firstly, the directions would be given to set significant ethical standards related to privacy
of the technology users. The values that need to be maintained are:
 Respect for each individuals privacy and confidentiality
 Employees would need to ensure the safety of their own information as well as the
information of their peers or subordinates
 Employees will not access the systems of others without prior approval from the
authorities
 Employees would not share their passwords, usernames and other security credentials
with others under any circumstances
 Employees need to treat client files with utmost confidentiality and cannot expose any
information without necessary approval
Secondly, the ethical code will address the harassment and bullying issues.
 Employees are to strictly not engage in any acts of harassment or bullying of colleagues
through either online or offline channels

4CODE ANALYSIS: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY
 Employees are to strictly consider the right to dignity and individuality of a person
 Employees are to never engage in sending any form of messages to other employees that
consists of violent, sexually explicit, hateful, demeaning content or any such virtual
content that amount to insult of an individual or group
 Employees should adhere to the principles of individual liberty, freedom and human
rights
Thirdly, the codes will be focused on misuse of technology
 Individuals should not engage in any act that compromises the confidential information
of the organization
 Employees should adhere to the principles of integrity and confidentiality of
organizational information
 Employees should by no means try to access information that they are unauthorized to
view
 Employees should immediately report if any organizational information is being accessed
through unfair IT means
 Financial information can only be accessed by authorized personnel in the organization
Fourthly, the codes will be focused towards addressing the spreading of maleficent and false
information about individuals or the organization.
 Employees are to strictly adhere to the principles of integrity and not engage in any
activity that tends to defame the organization or individuals

5CODE ANALYSIS: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY
 Employees should strictly not engage in any activities on social media or any other online
forums that tends to defame, demean and spread false information about the organization,
any other organizations, individuals or groups
 Employees should not engage in social media or other forms of non-work related online
activities during working hours
 Employees should first report all forms of grievances directly to the organization and not
engage in expressing the grievance through online mediums without going through the
grievance addresses systems
 Employees should always uphold the principles of unity, integrity and respect for the
organization and all people that are part of it
 The values and principles of maintenance of peace and conflict avoidance should be
uphold
 Responsibility and credibility of all provided information should be maintained
 Manipulation of data should not take place under any circumstances
Examples of ethical scenarios
Some essential scenarios that can occur in workplace environments are personal conflicts
between employees, conflict with the higher management, conflict with other organization
having different political, social or economic outlook or conflict with a person of higher rank for
work related issues. These are the scenarios that can cause an employee to engage in unethical IT
related behaviors (Benn 2017). Scenarios may also include deliberate and maleficent attempts to
access confidential files of the organization for personal or financial gains. Many people may try
to negatively influence others by spreading false news about the organization. Conflicts within
the organization can also be made public by employees through their social media posts or online

6CODE ANALYSIS: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY
blogs. This can result in the loss of goodwill for the organization. Employees can try to harass
other employees through the IT communications devices provided for official use (Mason 2017).
Sexually explicit content can be sent to employees of the opposite sexes. The code has been
formed in order to stop these activities that can eventually contribute towards major security
threats for the organization. The code is made to imbibe within the employees the ethical
standards that need to be maintained for ensuring safe and effective use of technology.
Laws and policies that govern the standards
The CIPS code of ethics and conduct standards govern the IT and technology oriented
conduct of individuals and organizations in Canada (Code Of Ethics 2019). It is focused towards
protecting public interest concerning information privacy, avoiding conflicting interests, taking
professional responsibilities and contributing to IT oriented professions. The law is used as the
guideline on which the codes are formed. The Global code of ethics has been used as another
significant influence towards determining the code (Global Code Of Ethics 2019).
Accessibility of the Code
All the employees of the organization would be given special training by the organization
to imbibe the ethical standards among them. The code will be organized within a single
document to facilitate the easy accessibility of the code. The code would be made easily
available through the website of the organization. The code would be sent to the official mails of
the employees from time to time. The ethical codes would be presented within the organizational
premises as posters at important places. The code would be presented in simple language for the
employees to read. Moreover, it would be translated in many languages to ensure good
comprehension by the international employees. The code would be reviewed from time to time

7CODE ANALYSIS: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY
to ensure that it is amended according to the requirements. The code will be reiterated through
special session from time to time.
Part C- Code implementation:
This part concerns the stages four and five of the code formation. Hence, the focus will
be on obtaining feedback and reviewing the code. Obtaining feedback may be used as employees
can perceive that the code is being implemented to keep them in check or control their freedoms
within the organizations. Moreover, there might arise miscommunication between the
management and the employees as the employees might opine that the management thinks they
are working unethically. Feedback should be gathered in relation to the code due to this.
Employees can be provided with feedback forms or can be given the opportunity to ask questions
in the official forums.
An action plan needs to be formed to implement the code of ethics.
 The employees and the leadership would be made responsible for the effective and
smooth comprehension and implementation of the ethical code of conduct
 The code would be presented in various ways, online, offline and through audio visual
means
 The timeline for the complete implementation of the code will be 1 month

8CODE ANALYSIS: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY
 The training would be held through specific sessions, online quizzes would need to be
completed by employees subsequently
 The follow up of the implementation would be done through special face to face sessions
with the employees

9CODE ANALYSIS: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY
References
"Code Of Ethics | Canada's Association Of Information Technology Professionals". 2019.
Cips.Ca. http://www.cips.ca/ethics.
"Global Code Of Ethics — Global Alliance". 2019. Global Alliance.
https://www.globalalliancepr.org/code-of-ethics.
Benn, Stanley I. "Egalitarianism and the equal consideration of interests." In Equality, pp. 61-78.
Routledge, 2017.
Kennedy, Evan T., Claude E. Welch, and Mahmood Monshipouri. "Multinational corporations
and the ethics of global responsibility: Problems and possibilities." In Human Rights and
Corporations, pp. 123-147. Routledge, 2017.
Luke, Allan. "Digital ethics now." Language and Literacy 20, no. 3 (2018): 185-198.
Mason, Richard O. "Four ethical issues of the information age." In Computer Ethics, pp. 41-48.
Routledge, 2017.
Pullen, Alison, and Carl Rhodes. "Ethics, embodiment and organizations." Organization 22, no.
2 (2015): 159-165.
Taylor, Linnet, Luciano Floridi, and Bart Van der Sloot, eds. Group privacy: New challenges of
data technologies. Vol. 126. Springer, 2016.
Trevino, Linda K., and Katherine A. Nelson. Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how
to do it right. John Wiley & Sons, 2016.