The Ethical Issues We Face in the Information Age

The Ethical Issues We Face In the Information Age

By: Richard J America

Instructor: Laurant Jolly

CIS 109 – Management Information Systems

January 27, 2014

First let me define ethical. According to Merriam-Webster ethical involves questions of wright and wrong. There are quite a few ethical issues facing the information age and information systems. Three of the biggest are privacy and the protection of personal information, copyright infringement, and accuracy. Large amounts of information is being gathered, manipulated, and stored every day. The question becomes just because I use your website should the information I input into your database be shared with a third party? If I didn’t get the music or other media through legal conditions should I be able to possess it? Should I be allowed to write or post anything I want about a person or organization regardless of its authenticity? The correct answer would be no to each of these questions. In the next few paragraphs I will summarize these issues, give you my opinion, and give you possible solutions to the problems.

Everyone is entitled to their privacy and the protection of personal information, unless you pose a threat to public safety. I asked the question should my personal information be shared with a third party without my specific consent. Although privacy is constitutionally protected, the laws pertaining to privacy and the sharing of personal information are kind of gray when it comes to the internet. When you use a website and they ask if you agree with terms and conditions, in order to continue you must agree. If you read the fine print you will see that by agreeing you give your consent for that company or website to take ownership and share your personal information. To me that’s a shady practice, but it is standard practice in the information age. Even if someone were to take a photo, make an audio or video recording of you and post it on the internet without your...