What you’ll learn to do: identify the ethical and social issues associated with network security, privacy, and data collection that businesses must address

As you’ll recall, the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century gave rise to a number of unforeseen ethical and social issues—for instance, concerns about workplace safety, wages, discrimination, and child labor—which led to real changes in worker protections, labor practices, and law. Similarly, the technology revolution of the twentieth century—starting with the widespread use of the Internet and home computers—has spawned a new set of ethical and social concerns that people a hundred years ago couldn’t have imagined: for example, how should personal information and online privacy be protected? Who gets to own the information about our habits and “likes”? Before the advent of the Internet, people thought about and controlled their personal information in very different ways. Today, many of us lead complex online lives, and we may not even realize how our personal information is being collected and used. Companies like Caesars can collect data on the purchasing patterns, personal preferences, and professional/social affiliations of their customers without their even knowing about it. In this section we’ll explore some of the ethical and social issues related to network security, privacy, and data collection that businesses must address.

The specific things you’ll learn in this section include:

• Discuss ethical issues in information technology