Privacy (2)

1. Privacy (2) Computers and society

2. Statistics vs. Spying • Target learned that a girl was pregnant before her parents knew – simply by monitoring shopping habits • It was not technically breaking the law, but privacy was infringed upon • Should retailers have the ability/right to do this?

3. Kantianism Positive Negative Privacy infringement – e.g. can guess that a customer is pregnant, before they have told anyone elseOR make false assumptions Can potentially find out a lot of private information about the consumer • Better deals/access to needs/wants for individual consumers • Can help company make sales Conclusion? Slightly ethical – Seeing as the goal is simply to improve targeted advertising, making more sales and providing better service to the customer

4. Act Utilitarianism Positive Negative Manipulative? Privacy infringement – e.g. can guess that a customer is pregnant, before they have told anyone elseOR make false assumptions Can potentially find out a lot of private information about the consumer • Better deals/access to needs/wants for individual consumers • Can help company make sales Conclusion? Slightly unethical – invades on people’s privacy, even with the positives that may come out of it, consumers may feel unprotected with the amount of information collected on them

5. Rule Utilitarianism Positive Negative Manipulative? Privacy infringement – e.g. can guess that a customer is pregnant, before they have told anyone elseOR make false assumptions Can potentially find out a lot of private information about the consumer • Better deals/access to needs/wants for individual consumers • Can help company make sales Conclusion? Slightly ethical – it is not strictly against the law, nor can companies collect this information unless they have opted in to some system

6. Social Contract Theory Positive Negative Manipulative? Privacy infringement – e.g. can guess that a customer is pregnant, before they have told anyone elseOR make false assumptions Can potentially find out a lot of private information about the consumer • Better deals/access to needs/wants for individual consumers • Can help company make sales Conclusion? Slightly ethical – provided the companies’ use of the information is strictly for improving consumer relations, and the information is otherwise secure

7. Social Media and Free Speech People have been fired for comments on: • Their boss • Co-workers • Conditions of the workplace Is it acceptable for a boss to demand certain topics be kept physically in the workplace, and remain undiscussed elsewhere, especially in social media? Do/should they have a right to demand access to potential/current employees’ social networking accounts?

8. Social Media and Free Speech Can information posted on social media sites be used against the original poster? What if a user posts a status suggesting violent behaviour? Discriminative beliefs? What about private correspondence?

9. Kantianism Positive Negative Restriction/elimination of free speech rights Conversely, employer can address issues negatively by firing someone, or not hiring someone Unjust access to otherwise private information (albeit not immediately to everyone) Inconvenience caused on incorrect assessment of threats • Keeps work issues IN the workplace – can allow boss to address issues positively • Can prevent violent (or other illegal) acts Conclusion? Unethical - restricts on free speech & forced release of private information

10. Act Utilitarianism Positive Negative Restriction/elimination of free speech rights Conversely, employer can address issues negatively by firing someone, or not hiring someone Unjust access to otherwise private information (albeit not immediately to everyone) Inconvenience caused on incorrect assessment of threats • Keeps work issues IN the workplace – can allow employer to address issues positively • Can prevent violent (or other illegal) acts Conclusion? Unethical – the idea that someone has access to, or is legally allowed to scrutinize something as trivial as a social media post can be disconcerting

11. Rule Utilitarianism Positive Negative Restriction/elimination of free speech rights Conversely, employer can address issues negatively by firing someone, or not hiring someone Unjust access to otherwise private information (albeit not immediately to everyone) Inconvenience caused on incorrect assessment of threats • Keeps work issues IN the workplace – can allow employer to address issues positively • Can prevent violent (or other illegal) acts Conclusion? Balanced – access to private information is a problem, however if there is sufficient evidence that someone may be engaged in illegal/dangerous activities it can be useful

12. Social Contract Theory Positive Negative Restriction/elimination of free speech rights Conversely, employer can address issues negatively by firing someone, or not hiring someone Unjust access to otherwise private information (albeit not immediately to everyone) Inconvenience caused on incorrect assessment of threats • Keeps work issues IN the workplace – can allow employer to address issues positively • Can prevent violent (or other illegal) acts Conclusion? Slightly ethical/balanced – we give up our free speech rights (or not), in the hope that it is beneficial to us