The ICT industry and the professionals are always faced with a different ethical dilemma. The need to do what is considered good for the public good always makes them always have to question their actions with regards to maintaining a balance between privacy and security of information which is entitled to them (Shields, 2008). The creation and administration of databases which store the client data are one of the sensitive roles played by ICT professionals as it not only gives them access to client confidential data but also put them in a difficult ethical dilemma in maintaining the integrity of the data in those database systems. One of the critical industry that relies on ICT in the storage, dissemination, and analysis of information is the health sector. This sector has in the past raised several ethical dilemmas for the ICT professionals ranging from the programmers who are tasked with creating systems that are not only secure but also respects the privacy of the individuals using the system (LI and ZHANG, 2008). The database administrator is also put in great ethical situations by ensuring the data they have access to do not get into the wrong hands or used in unethical situations.
This report analyses a case study of client database ethical issues using the two widely used techniques i.e. The Doing ethics technique(DET) and the analysis using the Australian Computer Society code of ethics which is used widely by the ICT fraternity in the wider Australia community to make ethical decisions in their day to day work (Uhl, 2012). The first analysis is using the doing good technique as explained below
The Doing Ethics technique is key to the identification of some key ethical and non-ethical issues that (Verbeek, 2011) may surround a particular situation. The technique can be used by a wide range of researcher to find answers to some of the social issues in the ICT domain (Ong and Collier, 2008). The technique shall be applied here to understand the ethical issues in the client database for the alcohol and drug abuse case study (Tavani, 2011). The key ethical issues dilemma that the scenario presents shall be analyzed using the matrix highlighted by the DET technique. This will give the true nature of the issues after a thorough analysis of the same and the findings attributed to the DEV analysis is discussed subsequently (Shrader-Frechette, 2012).
The department Maks work for is responsible for the overall maintenance of records of a patient with drug and alcohol abuse problems. To ensure the efficient and effective method of data storage, the department adopted the use of the database system to further push their mandate. This approach of data storage has raised critical ethical issues as described in the client database case study. To clearly point out issues in the case study, it is important to highlight the facts we have so far from the case study. Those facts are discussed below,
From the case study, it is a fact that the Department has collected big data on patients with alcohol and drug abuse problems. Critical metadata including but not limited to name and physical address in which the client lives. The database of clients can be stored for up to five years in this database system. During this period, critical data such of the clients related to their activities such as criminal records, clients programme status i.e whether or not the client finished the programme which he/she was enrolled in. The data that Max complied is currently stored in secondary storage device i.e a CD and currently, anyone who has access to the CD at Max personal home has access to a potentially all the client’s data and information which can be directly linked to a particular client since the names were used to file each client.
The anonymity of the clients is highly compromised as the data about them is linked with their names and the address they live in. This presents an ethical issue since the employee has access to the names of this clients under the programme (Smith, Dinev and Xu, 2011a). The company is using the client’s data for purposes without the client’s consent. This possesses an ethical question since this violates their privacy. Information such as the criminal record is not justifiable to be stored by the organization and it is insignificant for usage in the programme (McKee, 2013). Max action of copying the organization data which is under copyright without seeking permission posses an ethical issue. The primary custodian of the data is the department and only authorized employees are supposed to copy the data. Max action of duplicating the data on personal CD and not destroying the CD after its usage posses an ethical issue as Max has exposed the privacy of clients by keeping a massive five years data of clients in his home, This is the highest form of irresponsibility and unethical behavior on Max part (Mason, 2017). Max action of downloading the file to office computer is unethical as the department computer has authentication and authorization for access hence it was more ideal to analyze the data from the office computer (Coughlin, Beauchamp and Weed, 2009).
From the case study, all the clients of the state department of alcoholism and drug use are exposed to serious privacy issues as their personal data are kept in the department database which does not have proper control in terms of access rights.
The critical data about the clients of the department are exposed by the unethical actions of Max, the employee. The action of keeping a duplicate of the client’s data risk being in the wrong hands which can cause serious legal and ethical issues for the department as it violates the laws on privacy and security. Max decision to copy organization data into a CD without prior permission from the department posses a serious copyright violation (Slade and Prinsloo, 2013). This unethical decision by Max can potentially cause him his employment with the department as the action violates the copyright laws. The anonymity of the client is compromised by the decision of the department to store the names and addresses of the clients in their database. This poses a serious ethical issue as to the anonymity and the privacy of clients seeking the department services, This can make them lose clients when the data is exposed to the public since new clients will be wary to seek services from the department (Kerridge, Lowe and Stewart, 2009). This can negatively affect the department in terms of reducing budget allocation.
The department must make strict copyright policies to deter employees from illegally and irregularly complying the department data for their personal use. The department should put anonymity on the data they collect about the clients using new technology like blockchain which enhances the privacy of data stored through the use of hashing algorithms, this will be a great deal as the metadata about clients won’t be used to uniquely identify the clientele (Yue et al., 2016). The department should implement files based access control to have permission level for accessing the department’s data and files. This should be based on mandatory access control which reduces incidences where the employee misuse their rights and privileges accrued to them from the department
The department must take clear steps in respecting the privacy of user data by implementing the following viable mechanism;
The best option in this situation is for Mak to complete destroy the CD and any other client data he is in possession of to reduce the damage already done which has exposed the clientele data to access by unauthorized persons. This can seriously affect the privacy of the clients when such enormous information is exposed to the third party, it will be chaos with a feeling of resentment and negative public opinion towards the department (Smith, Dinev and Xu, 2011b).
Conclusion:
In conclusion, it is clear that the DEV technique can be used to reveal some of the hidden ethical issues in the activities of the ICT professionals and organization that handle the client’s data. From the case study, it is clear the privacy of all the clients over the past five years of the department is compromised as discussed above. The analysis proposes the use of blockchain technology to enhance the anonymity of the client’s data making them freely seek the services of the department with a lot of confidence.
The client database can also be analyzed using the Australian Computer Society code of ethics which focuses on putting the public interest first in ethical decision making, the need to improve the quality of life of its people, insisting on honesty as the best policy, being competent in whatever task one does, ensuring continual professional development and finally ensuring professionalism in whatever one does. This core code of ethics can help in the analysis of the client database case study in the following manner,
It a fact that the client’s data are exposed to the threat of unauthorized access by a third party since it is kept in a CD which is not securely disposed of. The data of all the clients who visited the department to seek its services is totally exposed and since there is no anonymity guaranteed in the data, the clients can easily be profiled and uniquely identified, thanks to the name and address attributes collected by the department.
It is also factual that the organization don’t have a proper way to restrict access to the department files and no information classification is done to protect some aspects of the client data. This has enabled employees like Mak has a full-scale access to the department files which some are not required to compile the report.
The key stakeholders in this case study are the citizens suffering from alcohol and drug abuse and seek the services of the department in mitigating this addiction. Their data is at stake in the present arrangement as depicted by the case study (Low, 2009). The various ethical issues are outlined below
Maks made a wrong ethical decision of negligently leaving the sensitive data about the public exposed to confidentiality and privacy breach as the data can be accessed by anyone who has access to the CD. The action of allowing employees to take corporate data to their personal homes is seen to raise ethical issues on part of the department. This is one department who have direct contact with the people in attempting to reduce their addiction level hence should be more concerned with the public well being. Of the public. They however negligently set up profile systems which seek to identify a member of the public who has suffered due to alcohol abuse. This is quite unethical behavior (Bailey, 2018)
The department most ethical conduct would be to strive on a better way to make the addicted individuals who abuse drugs and alcohol have a change in lifestyle by enacting policies and procedure to ensure the persons are put in programs that help in counseling. This has the overall effect of improving the quality of life of the individuals addicted to the drugs. The department however set up a profiling system to store whatever the addicted individuals have done in their past including the criminal records. Such records when exposed can potentially lead to depressions as the individuals see themselves as not a big part of the society. The department should have set up programs to effect the same.
There is an ethical issue by the actions of Maks in his decision to keep a copy of the client’s data on a CD which he knows could land into the wrong hands. This showed a high level of incompetent on his side. The most ethical decision Maks could have done is to permanently destroy the data by destroying the CD. Ethical questions are raised whether the employee was competent enough in handling the sensitive data. The department is also seen to have acted unethically by incompetently not setting up controls and mechanism to ensure the employee data is safe and anonymous hence can’t be identifiable to a particular client (Columbia, 2008).
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the two ethical dilemma analysis presents serious ethical issues that the department needs to handle to improve their public trust. The action of Maks of copying the private data of clients onto his PC and subsequently burning it on a CD possess serious ethical issues. The privacy of the individuals linked to the department is exposed. The department has not made efforts to reduce profiling and increasing anonymity. The data kept by the department is so big that an individual name and address can be used to uniquely identify the individual. This is a serious ethical issue as the individual anonymity which should be guaranteed by the department when keeping their metadata has not been guaranteed. The two techniques clearly issue an analysis of the situation and both agree that maks did not act in the public interest but majorly acted for himself and the department, this explains why he recklessly left a sensitive data on a CD in his personal residential (Bynum, 2008).
To fully reduce the damages of the ethical issues raised from the analysis of the two techniques, the following recommendation is put forward
It is recommended that the following actions should be taken
References:
Bailey, S.K., 2018. Ethics and the public service. In: Classics of Administrative Ethics. Routledge, pp.63–78.
Bynum, T., 2008. Computer and information ethics.
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Kerridge, I., Lowe, M. and Stewart, C., 2009. Ethics and law for the health professions. Federation Press Sydney.
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