Describe four ethical issues that arise when storing electronic information about individuals.

When examining the ethics behind storing people’s information, there is a lot to consider. Four major issues that arise are: personal privacy issues, access right issues, different harmful actions, and liability. 

Personal Privacy

As one can expect, one of the main concerns that people have when storing their information electronically is “will my data remain safe?” When an individual stores their information, whether its financial information, personal pictures, or work documents, they expect that information to have some privacy. Due to the internet being as widely connected as it is, there are many chances for an individual’s information to be compromised. Accidentally giving information out to individuals that shouldn’t be seeing it violates the privacy of the individual. It is crucial for IT/security professionals to keep this in mind and to make sure that the individual has a sense of privacy. 

Access Rights

Another ethical issue that must be addressed is access rights. Access rights is essentially making sure that authorized users have access to their information and no more than what they need. This holds a high priority In IT and cyberspace with all the technological advancements we see every day. Something that must be considered is how is a situation handled once someone that is unauthorized receives very sensitive information? An individual’s information can’t be secure if there are no access rights considered in the storing and accessing of their information.

Harmful Actions

Harmful actions refer to all the negative consequences to IT including loss of information, loss of property, or any substantial impact that affected the information being stored. Any professional should not do anything to compromise losing or harming another individual’s information. Harmful actions occur most commonly from malicious attacks and intentionally trying to lose or corrupt some set of data. This ethical issue must be considered in maintaining the integrity of the individual’s electronic information. 

Liability

Liability plays a huge role in the ethical decision making of an individual’s information. Different developers that allow individuals to use their software make some promises to the user when they initially use their platform. Making sure that they can warranty the right number of things and not make an agreement that they can’t keep is hugely considered when talking about storing people’s information. This presents a problem in many cases where people are not quite sure who is liable for what. Agreements are usually written to try and fix this issue but there will always be a liability issue when talking about the storage of electronic information, as nothing is one hundred percent secure.

References:

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/ethical-issues-in-information-technology-it/