Topic
It is imperative to mention that the development of new technologies has had an enormous impact on many businesses (Patrignani & Whitehouse, 2015). Moreover, it has led to the introduction of numerous ethical issues (George, 2006). Most companies have gained access to enormous amounts of data, and the problem is that some of the personal information can be collected (Luciano, 2009).
Ethical Issues
Privacy. It is one of the most significant issues that modern companies have to deal with at the moment. It is understandable that some of the technologies can be used to monitor the performance of workers. However, the issue is that it may conflict with privacy in some cases (Seppanen, Pajarre, & Kuparinen, 2015).
Security. It needs to be viewed as a critical problem because every single employee has to deal with several challenges. It is not an easy task to keep track of all the passwords and confidential information, and it would be hard to justify the level of responsibility (Matwyshyn, Cui, Keromytis, & Stolfo, 2010).
Copyright protection. The issue is that some companies may participate in activities that are not legal, but are incredibly profitable because some content may be illegally downloaded and reproduced (Kouatli, 2014).
Ethical Theories
Deontology. According to this theory, businesses should base their decisions on their obligations and duties. A company should have an understanding of its responsibilities and use particular technologies only if it is acceptable from the perspective of morality.
Utilitarianism. It should be regarded as one of the most reasonable theories in this case because it is focused on the achievement of the best possible utility in a particular situation. The fact that possible positive consequences of decisions are examined is vital because it leads to the development of many new technologies (McCarthy, Halawi, & Aronson, 2005).
Resources
George, R. D. (2006). Information technology, globalization and ethics. Ethics and Information Technology, 8(1), 29-40.
Kouatli, I. (2014). The impact of unethical IT behaviors to cloudy businesses. International Journal of Trade and Global Markets, 7(3), 205-213.
Luciano, F. (2009). Network Ethics: Information and Business Ethics in a Networked Society. Journal of Business Ethics, 90(4), 649-659.
Matwyshyn, A., Cui, A., Keromytis, A. D., & Stolfo, S. J. (2010). Ethics in Security Vulnerability Research. IEEE Security & Privacy, 8(2), 67-72.
McCarthy, R. V., Halawi, L., & Aronson, J. E. (2005). Information technology ethics: A research framework. Issues in Information Systems, 6(2), 64-69.
Patrignani, N., & Whitehouse, D. (2015). Slow tech: bridging computer ethics and business ethics. Information Technology & People, 28(4), 775-789.
Seppanen, M., Pajarre, E., & Kuparinen, P. (2015). The effects of performance-monitoring technology on privacy and job autonomy. International Journal of Business Information Systems, 20(2), 139-156.