Ethical issues in information systems essay

Privacy is a matter that is of great concern in the development and the use of different information system. This is because there is a need to ensure that all individuals’ information that is provided in different databases is protected. This is evident from the need to maintain privacy and to keep certain information away from individuals who may try to intrude into a person’s private life through using information that might have been made available. The need to protect people’s privacy should not be put to debate since it is a matter that does not require dialogue. This is because it would be unethical if the provision of certain information was made legal. This is because there are different reasons as to why an individual might require having access to a person’s private information. It will, therefore, be appropriate if the disclosure of certain information is restricted to limited people only. This would ensure that individuals who genuinely want to acquire certain information are granted access by the relevant people. Such measures would be effective in securing people’s privacy. Privacy has been continuously been violated in different information systems. The social media, for instance, have become a source of people’s private life information (Salehnia, 2002). This is especially due to the few limitations that exist which make it almost impossible to try and secure people’s private information. The information that is disclosed in such sites has been used to facilitate numerous crimes. This is because the information disclosed is enough to know about an individual’s daily lifestyle. It is evident that information that people disclose about their lives on a daily basis can be harmful (Azari, 2003).
In order to stop this constant violation of privacy by stalkers who may mean harm to different individuals, there is a need to put certain restrictions while trying to acquire certain information. It is important that people are educated against disclosing details about their personal lives online. These is due to the dangers that exist where there could be people who want to do them harm. There is also a need to make sure that there are technological protective measures that are established to ensure that personal information that is disclosed about an individual requires clearance from the concerned person (Xu, & Quaddus, 2013). This would help in regulating the amount of people who have access to certain information that may be considered private and which might be used against someone. This would be quite an effective manner of ensuring that there are limitations towards the disclosure of personal information.
There are a numerous management issues that may arise out of the disclosure of certain information. There is a possibility that disclosure of private information may be useful to hackers who may be interested in hacking accounts. This is because the information leaked may be useful to hackers who might hack bank accounts. There is also a possibility that such information that is disclosed may be used to interfere with individuals private lives through theft of property in instances where thieves may acquire access to a person’s house or other properties. There also exists an instance where it is possible for abduction to be facilitated through the disclosure of too much private information. This is because certain individuals disclose too much information that could be used against them. A possible solution to these instances of privacy violation is the establishment of clear guidelines against disclosing certain information to strangers. This is efficient in making sure that there are no crimes that take place due to information that is found on information systems (IRMA & Khosrow-Pour, 2004).

References

Azari, R. (2003). Current security management & ethical issues of information technology. Harrisburg, PA: Idea Group Inc.
Information Resources Management Association (IRMA) & Khosrow-Pour, M. (2004). Innovations through information technology. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing.
Salehnia, A. (2002). Ethical issues of information systems. Hershey, Pa. ; London: IRM Press.
Xu, J., & Quaddus, M. A. (2013). Managing information systems: Ten essential topics. Amsterdam: Atlantis Press.