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Ethics in the Digital Age: Balancing Privacy and Productivity

Explore the implications of advanced technology on privacy and productivity in the workplace, with a focus on electronic monitoring, employee consent, and vicarious liability. Learn about the potential risks and benefits associated with the use of technology in modern work environments.

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Ethics in the Digital Age: Balancing Privacy and Productivity

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  1. Chapter 8 Ethics & Technology McGraw-Hill

  2. “Big Brother is Watching You” • George Orwell, ‘1984’, • Part 1, Chapter 1

  3. Ethics & Technology • Advantages of technology in the workplace: • Intranet • Extranet • Telecommuting

  4. Ethics & Technology • Loss of privacy • Companies have ability to send customers’ personal data anywhere in the world • Employee monitoring

  5. The Promise of Increased Worker Productivity The Employer Position: • As an employee of the organization, your allotted shift or normal work period are at the discretion of the company. • Other than lunch and any scheduled breaks, all your activity should be work-related, and any monitoring of that activity should not be regarded as an infringement of your privacy. • If you want to do something in private don’t do it at work. • It is part of the organization’s obligation to its stakeholders to operate as efficiently as possible.3

  6. The Promise of Increased Worker Productivity The Employee Position: • My agreement should not intrude upon my civil rights as an individual – I am an employee, not a servant. • I should be notified of any electronic surveillance and the purpose of that surveillance. • The actions of a small number of employees in breaking company rules should not be used as a justification to take away everyone’s civil rights. • Electronic monitoring implies that we can’t be trusted to do our jobs – and if you can’t trust us, why are you employing us in the first place?

  7. When Are You “at Work”? • Computer technology allows the capability of telecommuting – working from anywhere by logging into your company’s network remotely • Computer and Smartphone (iPhone/Blackberry) • Availability now being defined as accessibility • So, does this flexibility apply to employees “at work”?

  8. Employee Consent THIN CONSENT If an employee receives formal notification that the company will be monitoring all email and web activity – either at the time of hire or during employment – and it is made clear in that notification that his or her continued employment with the company will be dependent on the employee’s agreement to abide by that monitoring, then the employee may be said to have given ‘thin’ consent. In other words, there are two options – agree to the monitoring or ‘pursue other employment opportunities’.

  9. Employee Consent THICK CONSENT If employment conditions are at the other end of the scale – i.e. jobs are plentiful and the employee would have no difficulty in finding another position – then the consent given to the monitoring policy could be classified as ‘thick’ since the employee has a realistic alternative if he or she finds the policy to be unacceptable.

  10. The Dangers of Leaving a Paper Trail • Employees may be able to monitor every keystroke on computers, but the documents written on the machines do the most harm • “Offensive” email postings • Viewing inappropriate Web sites • Internet communication: • Damage from electronic trail of emails

  11. Vicarious Liability • “…a legal concept that means that a party may be held responsible for injury or damage, when in reality they were not actively involved in the incident. Parties that may be charged with vicarious liability are generally in a supervisory role over the person or parties personally responsible for the injury/damage. The implications of vicarious liability are that the party charged is responsible for the actions of their subordinates.” • Cyberliability

  12. Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics

  13. Big Brother is in the House! "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself—anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face… was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime…"  George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Book One,Chapter 5

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