STEP IV CASE STUDY & FINAL PAPERA. Based on the analysis in Ste.docx
- 1. STEP IV: CASE STUDY & FINAL PAPER A. Based on the analysis in Step III, choose which theory best applies to this situation. Add any arguments justifying your choice of these ethical principles to support your decision. Consequentialism (Utilitarian) Theory Deontology Theory Kant’s Categorical Imperative Principle Social Contract Theory Virtue Ethics Theory NAME THE THEORY HERE: Deontology Theory B. Explain your choice above: THIS AREA SHOULD BE 4-7 sentences or roughly 100-200 words. Deontology is an approach to Ethics that focuses on the rightness or wrongness of actions themselves I choose this because ethical actions based on normative theories can be effective in developing better privacy practices for organizations. A business should be able to admit to making a mistake. This is especially important to shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders.It is important for businesses to operate with transparency. Consumers need to be able to trust what businesses present to them. C. Your decision: What would you do? Why? List the specific steps needed to implement your defensible ethical decision. THIS AREA SHOULD BE 2 OR MORE PARAGRAPHS (250- 350 words). Deontology is a theory of ethics that suggests that actions can either be bad or good when judged based on a clear set of rules. So what I would do is set these rules in place. Businesses/companies should uphold the ethical standard of respect. People personal data shouldn’t be treated as ends rather than means. Companies should keep personal data about their customers/users and should be expected to keep this information
- 2. private out of respect for these individual’s privacy. Another rule, Businesses/companies should uphold complete transparency. This builds not only trust, but help builds a relationship with the users/customers. And if they don’t enclosed information the company’s actions would be considered unethical and wrong. Another rule is that there should always be accountability. A business/company should always be able to admit to making a mistake. This is especially important to shareholders, and stakeholders. They should be able to own up to missteps even when this could have serious consequences. With these rules emplaced it would be more ethical. D. What longer-term changes (i.e., political, legal, societal, organizational) would help prevent your defined dilemma in the future? THIS AREA SHOULD BE 2 OR MORE PARAGRAPHS (250-350 words). My dilemma is the misuse of personal information and data. Not just in social media but, also companies and business. One of the obvious ways to stop this dilemma is to make it that companies aren’t allowed to collect and store our personal data. User data can legally be sold as long as legal conditions for its collection and sale have been met and there isn’t any regulation against it. Our data is being sold for profit. This shouldn’t be allowed. There should be laws and regulations against that. They are the only ones benefiting and it goes against our privacy. Sometimes data is stolen and puts the consumers/users at risk. If we can’t make laws and regulations against it then. We should always be informed if a company is storing our data and always be informed what they plan on doing with it. So us the people know whether we want to use a website or service. Clearly explaining to website visitors, app users, customers, and others what a company is requesting consent for, and how collected data will be used and secured, shows that the company is investing resources in these consumers and values their privacy.Obtaining user consent should be looked at as
- 3. relationship building, not strip mining. Companies should view transparency about consent requests and user choice as a key part of their marketing and branding, not to mention customer experience Procurement Outsourcing (PO) Strategies: PO strategies at the highest level involve either materials or traditional business processes such as HR, IT, Finance, Accounting, Travel/Entertainment services, Marketing/Print/Advertising, or Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Your task here is to choose a public business organization and report on what direct materials are being outsourced. Direct materials are categorized as strategic (high-impact), bottleneck items (low-profit impact and high- supply risk), leverage items (high-profit items and low-supply risk), or non-critical (low-profit impact and low-supply risk). Describe the outsource process in detail, who provided the outsourced services, and what direct materials were involved. You are to prepare a PowerPoint presentation, with a minimum of twelve (12) slides, to include inline citations, a cover slide, and a slide of references. Your citations and references should be APA-compliant. STEP III: CASE STUDY AND FINAL PAPER STEPS This step involves assessing the ethical frameworks studied at the start of the term in relation to your chosen ethical issue for the case study and final paper. Be sure to go through each thoroughly; scroll down to cover each of the following sections: A. Consequentialism (Utilitarian) Theory B. Deontology Theory C. Kant’s Categorical Imperative Principle D. Social Contract Theory E. Virtue Ethics Theory A. UTILITARIAN THEORY --- good for the group or majority,
- 4. least harm for the group or majority. Major ethical dilemma question: Should we be okay with our personal information be collected and stored? Interpretation of the above analysis: 1. Which alternative results in the least harm in answering the dilemma yes or no? Why? (There is no right or wrong choice. Interpret the outcome of the analysis.) For example: the answer to the question would result in the least harm would be … because …. . The answer to the question would be NO because it produces harm to consumers/users 2. Which alternative results in the maximum benefit in answering the dilemma yes or no? (There is no right or wrong choice. Interpret the outcome of the analysis.) For example: The answer to the question that would result in the maximum benefit would be … because …. The answer to the question that would result in the maximum benefit would be No, because the majority isn’t benefiting, only the minority. Conclusion of analysis: the results from #1 and #2. 3. Therefore, based on the above analysis, the utilitarian’s position on this dilemma would be …. The Utilitarian theory on this dilemma would be a no B. DEONTOLOGY THEORY – Rights Violated/Duties
- 5. Neglected Major ethical dilemma question : Should we be okay with our personal information be collected and stored? Interpretation of the above analysis: In deontology analysis, do the following the above chart: 1. Identify which stakeholders’ rights have been or may be violated/abridged. Consumers/Users 2. Identify what duties have been or may be neglected. Privacy 3. Remember: When listing a right, show its corresponding duty and vice versa. Final outcome of interpretation: How would you interpret the outcome of the deontologist’s position on your dilemma? No C. KANT’S CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE – Respect and consistency towards all The principle of consistency: what if everyone acted this way?
- 6. Would be chaos The principle of respect: Are people treated as ends rather than means? Yes, viewed as a gold mine Major ethical dilemma question: Should we be okay with our personal information be collected and stored? Interpretation of the above outcome: 1. If a stakeholder is being treated differently, they are also being treated disrespectfully. 2. If identified stakeholder is a criminal or participating in criminal behavior, they cannot be treated disrespectfully. Final outcome of above analysis: Which alternative is preferable? What would be Kant’s position to your dilemma? No, no he wouldn’t not everybody is being treated the same way, so he would be against it. D. SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY – Negative and Positive Rights Major ethical dilemma question: Should we be okay with our personal information be collected and stored? Interpretation of above analysis: 1.
- 7. Does the ethical question results in negative rights being identified? Yes or Now? How? No 2. Does the ethical question results in positive rights being identified? Yes or Now? How? No Final outcome of analysis: Is the social contract theory applicable to your ethical question? How? Why? Yes it is, social contract theory could be a solution to the problem. E. VIRTUE ETHICS THEORY – Morality through Character
- 8. Major ethical dilemma question: Should we be okay with our personal information be collected and stored? Interpretation of above analysis: 1. Does answering the ethical question “yes” results in a virtuous action by a stakeholder? If that is the case, list the stakeholder and state how their actions are virtuous. no 2. Does answering the ethical question ‘no” result in a virtuous action by a stakeholder? If that is the cse, list the stakeholder and state how their actions are virtuous. Yes Final outcome of analysis: 3. Explain the results (yes or no) to the ethical dilemma question that identifies stakeholders acting virtuous in this issue/situation. None would result in a virtuous action by a stakeholder. STEP I: CASE STUDY AND FINAL PAPER TITLE OF ARTICLE/ISSUE (list it here – 50-150 words):Misuse of Personal Information and Data A. LIST THE RELEVANT FACTS. State facts in complete sentences. List more than five facts (add rows below as needed). At the end of your list, reference your source(s); you should have at least seven, three of which should be scholarly secondary sources. 1. One of the primary ethical dilemmas in our technologically empowered age revolves around how businesses use personal information 2. Companies often gather information to hyper-personalize our
- 9. online experiences, 3. As we browse internet sites, make online purchases, enter our information on websites, engage with different businesses online and participate in social media, we are constantly providing personal details. 4. Data misuse for personal benefit occurs when someone with access to personal data abuses that power for their own gain. 5. Ambiguity occurs when organizations fail to explicitly disclose how user data is collected and what that data will be used for in a concise and accessible manner 6. Advances in technology provide a number of useful products and services that can either enhance or threaten personal privacy, 7. Data misuse is the use of information in ways it wasn’t intended for. User agreements, corporate policies, data privacy laws, and industry regulations all set conditions for how data can be collected and used. Data misuse violates these requirements. 8. 81% of Americans think the potential risks of data collection by companies about them outweigh the benefits 9. The ‘terms of use’ are often dense and challenging to process. 10. Misuse of personal data can inflict harm on another person REFERENCES(S): Abuse and misuse of - alec.org. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2022, from https://alec.org/wp- content/uploads/2015/11/Abuse-and-Misuse-of-Personal-Info- Final-03202013.pdf Atske, S. (2020, August 17). Americans and privacy: Concerned, confused and feeling lack of control over their
- 10. personal information. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Retrieved November 23, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/11/15/americans- and-privacy-concerned-confused-and-feeling-lack-of-control- over-their-personal-information/ Bermuda, P. C. (2021, December 2). What's the harm if personal information is misused? PrivComBermuda. Retrieved November 23, 2022, from https://www.privacy.bm/post/what-s-the-harm- if-personal-information-is-misused Black Hat Briefings. (2021, July 20). Retrieved November 24, 2022, from https://i.blackhat.com/USA21/Wednesday- Handouts/us-21-Michaels-Use-And-Abuse-Of-Personal- Information-wp.pdf How can personal data be misused? - The World Financial Review. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2022, from https://worldfinancialreview.com/how-can-personal-data-be- misused/ Sham, S. (2022, March 10). What is data misuse? Okta. Retrieved November 23, 2022, from https://www.okta.com/blog/2020/06/data-misuse/ Warby, S. M., Strong, C., & Garrick, A. (2016, January). 2115 Misuse of Private Information. Academic.oup.com. Retrieved November 23, 2022, from https://academic.oup.com/book/41317/chapter- abstract/352233478?redirectedFrom=fulltext Watters, A. (2021, July 1). 5 ethical issues in technology to watch for in 2021. Default. Retrieved November 23, 2022, from https://connect.comptia.org/blog/ethical-issues-in-technology Welcome to Lexisnexis - Choose Your Path. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2022, from https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/ip/document/393989/5D S5-S4G1-F18C-X077-00000- 00/Privacy+and+misuse+of+private+information%E2%80%94ov erview What are the most common breaches of the right to personal data protection (Personal Data Misuse)? (n.d.). Retrieved
- 11. November 23, 2022, from https://gov.hr/en/what-are-the-most- common-breaches-of-the-right-to-personal-data-protection- personal-data-misuse/1882 What constitutes misuse of data? Higgs Newton Kenyon Solicitors. (2022, March 17). Retrieved November 23, 2022, from https://hnksolicitors.com/news/what-constitutes-misuse-of- data/ B. What ethics/values are in question from the above facts/ (list as many as apply, but there should be at least 3). 1. Privacy 2. Integrity 3. accountability 4. Social contract theory 5. C. LIST STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED. List the individuals/groups who are/may be affected by this issue and how. Be specific. Who are affected/Who may be affected? (i.e., users, platforms, government(s), nonprofits, institutions, others – be specific about roles, situations, titles, when relevant) How are they affected by the dilemma/OR could be affected? Users Users information are being misused Companies Wrong move could result in a data leak and loss in trust with the company
- 12. STEP II: CASE STUDY AND FINAL PAPER A. Write several statements or questions that are ethical dilemmas from this situation. Include as many as apply and that will help you sort out issues to be analyzed and discussed further. 1. Misusing personal information for profit 2. Leaking of personal data 3. Should companies be allowed to sell personal data to third parties? 4. Should our personal information be collected and stored? 5. 6. 7. 8.
- 13. B. What is the ethical dilemma to be resolved NOW? State it using the form: should someone/something do or not do something? Keep this statement simple but explanatory. For example: should people buy pirated software? Should our personal information be collected and stored? C. YOUR MAJOR ETHICAL DILEMMA QUESTION IS (this should be not only the question but an explanation of why it matters to the topic discussed, should be 100-250 words): Should our personal information be collected and stored? Personal information has become a gold mine. It’s basically a valuable currency. Data has been commoditized because of the value it provides to businesses attempting to reach their consumer base. For businesses, it’s extremely valuable to know what kind of products are being searched for and what type of content people are consuming the most. For political figures, it’s important to know what kind of social or legal issues are getting the most attention. These valuable data points are often exploited so that businesses or entities can make money or advance their goals. Facebook in particular has come under fire several times over the years for selling personal data it gathers on its platform. Most people don’t bat a second eye about this but they don’t realize their rights of privacy is being impeded on.
- 14. COSC 418: FINAL PAPER THE ASSIGNMENT Write a 7-10 pp. paper (or 1750 to 2500 words, not counting works cited) that takes a position informed by research on the ethical dilemma(s) associated with the case study you explored in steps 1-4. Include a Works Cited page (done in MLA format) with at least ten sources consulted to learn more about not only the case but any associated issues; at least five of your sources should be secondary critical resources in a peer-reviewed journal or scholarly study of some kind (many academic publishers have removed their paywalls in light of COVID-19 circumstances, so it might oddly enough be easier to download relevant research articles and that alone would be an interesting topic of its own). When directly quoting or summarizing a source, you can then use in-text citations, given the bibliographic information will be in the concluding works cited page. MLA STYLE (in a nutshell) + OTHER SOURCING TIPS Go to a wonderfully clear website sponsored by the online writing and learning (OWL) center at Purdue
- 15. University: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01 . This link will take you directly to the MLA Handbook. In the menu on the left side, click first on "MLA Formatting Quotations," and look at how quotations should be integrated into your prose (these rules apply for any essay you will write). Next, click on "MLA In- Text citations: The Basics," and review it carefully, taking special note of where the punctuation goes when you are dealing with parenthetical notes. And finally, click on the types of citation you need to format for your Works Cited. Do also note that any MS Word processing program has a “REFERENCES” tab in the menu ribbon at top of page that can also guide you through the logistics of citing sources (no matter the format or style guide). The TU Cook library can also help you access resources, as they do have subscriptions to databases and services, which means your netlogin ID will enable you to download and see items that might not otherwise be possible to access: https://libraries.towson.edu/ . Additionally, I on occasion discover students are not aware of the google scholar search engine, which is a good shorthand way to find peer-reviewed articles (the regular google search engine
- 16. has no consistent way to prioritize quality scholarly sources in their search ranking results pages): https://scholar.google.com/ . If you now in retrospect understand the case takes up topics relevant to specific textbook chapters, you have key terms and existing debates and perspectives to factor in how you go about explaining your position and researching the case further, too. HOW CASE STUDY STEPS 1-4 ENABLES A WORKING DRAFT TO TAKE SHAPE Case study steps 1-4 enabled us to lay the groundwork for researching a topic in greater depth after focusing on a particular case and the various associated issues it raises; we also considered how the philosophical frameworks covered at start of term bear ongoing relevance to how one would analyze and reason through broader consequences and impacts. For the final paper, you will now be attempting to formulate an argumentative thesis statement that serves as a kind of answer to the ethical dilemma question you posed in the second step of the case study process and that you further refined into conclusions drawn in step four. If you have rethought
- 17. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01 https://libraries.towson.edu/ https://scholar.google.com/ the question or shifted focus after additional research and reflection as the semester proceeded, that’s fine and should be expected to be an integral part of any process of critical inquiry and learning. Step three prompted us to sort out how the ethical dilemma question shifted in emphasis, depending on the philosophical framework at stake, and it could be that further research and ongoing things learned in the class or through the scholarship of others prompted you to reconsider your thinking. A virtue of an education is that you can and may adapt and reconsider your thinking when discovering additional evidence that enables a deeper understanding of a topic. What matters most for writing an effective paper would be that you are able to explain your reasoning with sufficient evidence and examples that demonstrate the points made. However, it’s also important to be open-minded about how a “fact” can be framed or reframed to misdirect attention or to focus on something that does not capture in fuller complexity how or why a situation has resulted in other ethical
- 18. considerations. As the tech sector too frequently takes the position of “move fast and break things!” this kind of deeper, holistic thinking will be a skill highly valued moving forward in your career and life, no matter what new-fangled technology comes onto the scene and no matter whatever short-sighted justifications might be used to limit opportunities to rethink the issues and situations at stake. CONSIDER THE SOURCE You listen to a heated discussion on the issues. You hear politicians, celebrities, and pundits bandying opinions in the media. You explore the tech reviews or opinion pages in a magazine. You browse a blog. In all of these experiences, you probably do not accept opinions, or even what’s presented as fact, without some discrimination, some sense of considering the source. By the same token, when asked to collect research for a paper, you can’t enter the library or use a search engine with the idea that every source is equally respectable and authoritative. Even assuming that you’ve narrowed down your topic and are exploring articles that seem relevant, which ones make
- 19. the best sources? With so much information available, how do you judge? STARTING POINTS FOR EVALUATION Timeliness: Use the most recent statistics you can find. If your source isn’t recent, then consider whether the ideas/opinions/facts need to be understood differently based on the time that’s passed. Author: What’s the educational and work experience of the author that lends authority to the argument? What else has this person published, and was it well reviewed? Is there any personal experience that affects this person’s point of view, making them a more immediate and useful source or which contributes to potential partiality in views? Institutional endorsement, publication, so forth: What connection does the author/publication/webpage have to universities, hospitals, businesses (including tech companies), government agencies, museums, or other well-recognized institutions that carry weight or which might affect the point of view expressed? THE WILD WEST OF WEB RESOURCES The Modern Language Association’s (MLA) eighth edition
- 20. (2016) recommends that modern-day citation practices follow a few principles rather than inventing new rules for each web portal or other emergent technologies. MLA recommends that you cite basic traits shared by most works; the following template identifies the core elements generally included -- though all may not always apply, it depends on other source context factors: Author Title of Source Title of Container Other Contributors Version Number Publisher Publication date Location
- 21. ASSESSING SOURCES ON WEBSITES A starting point for evaluating websites can be understanding how general top-level domain names (or gTLDs) work. Here’s a shortlist, by no means comprehensive: you need to assess whether it’s a random student’s website, something backed by the university or a scholar’s own academic page). reliable for data and information about an issue. Some, however, of course support the agency that supports them or might have tacit political assumptions that determine what is or isn’t publicly shared. The county commission’s website won’t criticize the county government, for example. -profit status, which may make it an advocacy group of some kind. Information is intended to support a point of view, so just make sure that you’re aware of what that is and the reputation of the group. Their arguments may or may not be non-partisan and
- 22. useful, but check their data sources no matter what! resses are usually selling something. They might still have useful information, but be wary and understand these are not scholarly sources. If you wish to learn more about how that internet naming system continues to evolve in purpose and use, you may take with a grain of salt another source, the Wikipedia entry for gTLDs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_top-level_domain BOTTOM LINE: be careful, precise and thoughtful whenever and wherever you engage sources. DOCUMENTATION & LINKS • Does the source cite its own sources or are these varied and evenly engaged? Do you detect any lack of credibility or bias? • Are there critical reviews or links that lend credibility? LOOKING MORE CLOSELY https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_top-level_domain Purpose: What’s the agenda? Look at the title, headlines, table of contents and preface. Find a thesis
- 23. statement, skim the text, and read the conclusion. Is it informative, persuasive, propaganda? Is there an inherent bias that makes the source unreasonable or that must be considered when you present this source? Audience: You might reject a source because it’s too simple or too complex in its language or meaning, which might mean that you and your audience don’t match its intended audience. Also, understanding the intended audience can often help you understand the purpose of the piece. Basic Quality: Does the writing itself seem intelligent? Is this a well-balanced, well-researched source which, whether it remains objective or not, seems willing to discuss all sides of the issue? Is it clear enough that you feel confident you fully understand it and won’t misunderstand it or take something out of context? Any Deceptive Practices?: A source might appear factual while actually camouflaging the truth. Read carefully for logical fallacies, and for outright deception. For example, you see a graph that at a glance seems to show no disparity, but when you look more closely, the unit of measurement is unreasonably
- 24. large. Likewise, a graph might seem to show a marked upward trend, but actually, the Y axis measures only between 30% and 40%, so that vertical only shows a 7% increase! Or, you check an endnote to learn that the vague accusation you nearly believed has no valid evidence, or that the test group had a minute sampling. So many ways to manipulate evidence! THE POINT IS: you’re not only looking for what will carry authority, you’re also making sure that you are aware of any bias or perspective that might be relevant to the argument. Ideally, your statistical sources will be based in data or measured facts of some kind, but these and other sources can be used for some agenda. So, before you utilize a source, you have to understand it. For example, your argument promoting holistic medicine might rely heavily upon interviews with practitioners and patients who have experience. However, you don’t want your source to be the flyer promoting a new “remedy”. Choose, if possible, someone whose lengthy experience is touted, whose practices and writings have some support from a well-recognized medical facility. Recognize also that statistics published by a major mainstream
- 25. drug company might serve that company’s purposes. Write Well! When in doubt, feel free to ask questions!