1. Describe four ethical issues that arise when storing electronic information about individuals.
One ethical issue that may arise when storing information about an individual is being responsible if that information gets leaked. The person(s) or organization or system storing that information may be compromised and in turn the information may be seen by other people who are not supposed to be. This infringes on the individual’s privacy. For example, let’s say a phone company stores it’s customers address and billing information. Private data that should stay secure. A leak breaks that code of keeping information secure. This adds problems to the company as they are not only breached, but also now are to be held responsible for the leak.
Another issue about holding information about individuals electronically, is holding possibly private information. Depending on how the information is gathered, that information may possible be private or not wanting to be floating about by the person. Lets say some information is gathered through observation in a public area without the person’s knowledge. Lets say a study on what car people have, and recording the make, style, color, and license plate. Something while can be seen to people walking along the street or by other driver’s, it feels iffy on holding on to that information. Especially since this information may be tracked back to the person.
Does it infringe on individuals privacy is the next ethical issue. This ties back in with my last point. Holding information that may be public or can be found through observation or social media and then storing it may hold ethical and moral issues. For example, finding out what pets a person has, or where they live and storing it can infringe on personal privacy. If a person posts on social media the name of their dog and storing and remembering it raises eyebrows and questions towards the person who is storing it as it may potentially become or be stalking.
Who owns the information stored is another ethical issue. Lets say some public information was collected by an organization, system, or algorithm. Is that information available for sale? Selling data stored raises ethical issues. What if that person didn’t give consent to that information being sold and being sold anyways, or if they were collected without any consent. Does the information belong to the person or the people who stored it? Who should get paid for it?