Computer Ethics the Internet\'s Rapid

Computer Ethics

The Internet's rapid evolution as a publishing and commerce platform further extends its ability to serve as another marketing, selling, and service channel for companies globally, yet with this potential for revenue growth comes the ethical responsibility of managing customers' data vigilantly. The issue of benevolent or benign surveillance or the providing of personal information by the public to complete transactions at ATM machines, automated pay terminals in shops or restaurants, or the online purchase of products or services is considered by many to be one of the characteristics of living in a highly developed technological society. Included in this papers' discussion of benign surveillance are technologies including personalization, cookies (small files that capture a website visitors' specific information items), and use of continual recording of click stream data through a site is being captured, organized and analyzed through data warehouses and data marts.. The ethics of capturing so much customer data and creating a data warehouse and data marts and then analyzing it to find new strategies to get customer to buy more, and the unethical practice of reselling the information captured from Internet-based marketing campaigns puts ethical dilemmas in the forefront of many companies. In addition the collection of customer data from website visits and responses to e-mail campaigns create the risk of potential identity theft due to having so much information in one place on prospects and customers in one series of databases. The collection and analysis of customer data captured without consent raises many ethical dilemmas for companies, and also creates dilemmas and potential conflicts of interest relating to the capture, analysis, or sales of customer information without their knowledge

The ethical issues of whether benign surveillance is a commentary of a modern high-tech society or a precedent for ethical misconduct and harm to others is discussed in this paper. There are also the considerations of how data captured and stored in data warehouse is used by programmers and management analysts in the devising of selling and loyalty program strategies (Albrechtslund, 63). The ethical considerations of using data warehouses and data marts constructed from data accumulated through benign surveillance requires an entirely different set of standards, practices and processes (Danna & Gandy, p. 374, 5). The ethics of strategies based on data obtained through benign surveillance have conflicting assessments (Ess, p. 220, 221) that highlight the polarity of the use of online data and enterprise-class predictive analytics software applications to ascertain customer segments and understand their preferences. Harrah's Casinos and Entertainment practices this pervasively with their customer base, sending the least profitable customers to competitors and giving the most profitable ones an opportunity to gain free stays at their hotel and casino locations globally for their loyalty, relying on the insights gained from predictive analytics applications to define and execute this strategy.

The use of data obtained through benign surveillance to specifically "fire" unprofitable customers and segment them based on profitability is considered unethical by ethicists studying information technologies (Lacey & Sneath, pp. 459, 460). Floridi (pp. 109, 110) discusses in detail the ethical considerations of data privacy and the need to ensure there is "opt in" or specific approval from consumers for their data to be analyzed and used for the creation of strategies (Peeples, pp. 27, 28) (Tavani, 268, 269).

The Ethics of Analyzing Data Obtained Through Benign Surveillance

Websites and other forms of electronic initiatives that companies use to capture customer data are increasingly being seen a untrustworthy by consumers as a result of the reported unethical use of their data (Vedder, pp. 276, 277) (Triplett, p. 79) (Phukan, pp. 235, 236, 237). The erosion of trust in many forms of electronic payment systems is one of the largest inhibitors of their global adoption (Peterson, p. 347). The ethics of using consumers' data without their permissions have actually brought greater scrutiny than ever to loyalty programs (Lacey & Sneath, et.al) and abandonment (Ingram, Skinner & Taylor, pp. 238, 240, 241). From this perspective of trust as defined through the empirical studies presented (Weckert, p. 93), a dichotomy emerges from the impact of benign surveillance-based data having the implied warranty of staying private (Soraker) and the development of loyalty programs with it without the knowledge of consumers (We & Royakkers, et.al.). Ethicists may argue the points of implied warranties of privacy, yet the public, through the use of social media including blogs, Wikis and other forms of social networking, is quick to condemn a violation of this trust. In many respects the role of a more communicative and collaborative Web as defined as Web 2.0 (Bernoff & Li) is forcing a high level of transparency into how data collected through benign surveillance is used. While there are a multitude of standards being deployed to force transparency, including those from the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) (Peslak, et.al), the immediacy and level of transparency of social networking is redefining and clarifying what level of use is considered part of modern living and which is considered clearly a violation of ethics leading to a deterioration of public trust (G rniak-Kocikowska. p. 48). There is no specific benchmark or ethical standard as defined that is applicable globally across the spectrum of data analyses, marketing and sales plans based on data collected through benign surveillance; there is however a significant increase in the volume and intensity of consumers' concerns as voiced through social media and social networking sites. The collection of technologies Bernoff and Li (pp. 36, 37) discuss and analyze are forming the foundation that quickly redefines what is acceptable vs. unacceptable in the use of data sets. Social networking and Web 2.0 define what specific uses of benign surveillance-based data is part of living in a technologically advanced society vs. being taken advantage of through unauthorized data mining and unethical use of the data (Phukan, pp. 234, 235). This is not to say that "the wisdom of the crowds" pervades the definition of ethical behavior through social networking; it does say however that those consumers whose data is being used for analysis have the right to say how that data will be used, regardless of the prevailing and often imprecise standards of ethics that vary significantly between those who seek the advantage of the data in marketing vs. those whose data it is (Johnstone, et.al).

The Ethics of Creating Strategies Using Data Derived From Benign Surveillance

The ethics of capturing data through benign surveillance is one factor in the debate of the ethicacy of this activity, yet the synchronization of strategies based on its use, including the use of the data in programming contexts and environments is another (Himma, p. 226, 227). For example the development of an entirely new service offering from a bank or credit union that capitalizes on trends found in data obtained through benign surveillance is a case in point, requiring the participating and cooperation of several different groups of employees. As a result of these projects, confidential purchasing data and trending by consumer is easily accessible to any member of the team, accelerating concerns over benign surveillance being a liability to consumers (Bynum, 2006, pp. 157, 158).

From the initial uses of data obtained through benign surveillance in financial services throughout the last seven years the extent of potential breaches to data obtained through benign surveillance is exponentially increasing (Bynum, 2001, et.al.). The examples of this and the perils of it from a personal privacy perspective include the extensive capture of personal loan and financial information on the part of prospective lenders through voluntary mass surveillance, capture of loan and financial information on consumers to other firms, and the theft of this data as well from breaches during the development process (Bynum, 2001, et.al.). Globalization is forcing the distribution of development teams globally, further complicating governance and control of the use of confidential data.

These examples underscore the critical need for defining ethics standards for financial professionals including financial services developers who work with data obtained through voluntary mass surveillance. The ethics of working with data not specifically created from opt-in data present ethical dilemmas for developers (Pemberton, pp. 77, 78) (Tavani, p. 37). Ethical governance is critical during the development phases of new financial services applications as there are many examples of data being either stolen or resold without the consumers; consent. Examples abound of this practice of reselling financial data on consumers, and worse, the theft of the data from companies who have purchased it. Certegy Financial Services' data breach of 8.5 million checking account customers is a case in point, where a systems administrator in the it Department stole backup tapes of account names, social security numbers, and checking account and routing numbers for resale to an undercover FBI agent. Luckily only the last four digits of the account numbers were only shown and best of all the FBI captured the administrator and the data sets before they could enter the black market and be resold to criminals who use this data to both in turn re-sell identities and in the end cause billions of dollars in losses. Clearly from this case and others there is a critical need for the development of safeguards on consumer data captured over the Internet, both of the opt-in (where the customer approves the data being captured) and the non-opt-in variety.

An Explicit Requirement for Transparency and Ethical Use of Data

Consumers have become increasingly concerned that their data, however acquired, will eventually be sold without their knowledge, eventually leading to the potential for identity theft at the worst and continual junk e-mail and bulk mail at the least. Due to the pervasive lack of trust regarding the use of their data, consumers are increasingly calling for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs that will protect their rights and data despite any pre-existing claims made by the companies who captured it through benign surveillance techniques (Pirsch, Gupta, Grau. pp. 126, 127).

Facebook, one of the emerging companies that is defining social networking, has gone through its own ethical crisis already on the issue of transforming how customer data is acquired and fueling the debate of where benign surveillance ends and spying on customers begins (Tsai, p. 17). The Beacon fiasco sends a cautionary message to those companies who have data acquired through benign surveillance. Facebooks' decision to launch their Beacon initiative that tracked all activity of their users including sites they visited off of Facebook generated a user- and industry-led backlash resulting in a major fiasco for the company in late 2007 and early 2008. Not informing their customers that the data was being tracked and then presented to their friends in the context of guided selling sessions online not only violated the privacy of each user, they also ended up creating situations online between friends that strained relationships. One example of a man purchasing an engagement ring for his fiancee online to surprise her during the holidays of 2007 turned into a disaster as she was shown an advertisement of rings when she accessed her fiancees' page. The result was a spoiled wedding proposal. There were many more examples of how Facebook's complete lack of ethical forethought and execution caused pain for thousands of its users. Ethically, Facebook had the responsibility to inform all their subscribers, several times over to make sure they saw it, that a Beacon was being introduced and it would track their movements both on and off Facebook. Giving them the opportunity to opt-in or opt out would have also been the ethically correct decision to make. Instead, Facebook forged ahead and kept the program stealth until discovered by bloggers Charlene Li (Bernoff & Li, et.al) of Forrester. The beacon fiasco shows how delicate trust that is implicit in the use of data acquired through benign surveillance can quickly be violated. Social networking is the new means by which critical transparency is formed between companies collecting data and those that the data represents. Facebook considered one of the catalysts of social networking, ironically finds its future hanging in the balance of an online culture it helped create.

Benign Surveillance and Consumers Rights: Interpretations of the 4th Amendment

The U.S. has become a litigious society with the number of lawsuits over the use of data escalating rapidly. Often the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is used as a means of setting precedence in that nation in addition to defining ethical practices of using data obtained through benign surveillance in other nations where American-based companies operate. While the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives the government the right to search for evidence, there is no legal precedence for marketers capturing data using any means including through benign surveillance, specifically those items regarding the tracking of online search behavior. Online marketers install cookies, or small text files that record what websites are visited by PC users and what they click on. The ability of online marketers to interpret then build patterns of online advertisements that pop up on users' screens has reached such proportions that one of the most popular downloads on the entire Internet is a Pop-Ad Blocker that roots out and destroys the programs that read cookies and send information back to advertisers. Lavasoft (www.lavasoft.de) hassince become one of the most popular downloads for other privacy software applications for Internet users. The use of these Pop-Up Blockers have been ruled constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Count, preserving the right to privacy of citizens from being monitored through benign surveillance when they don't trust the organization during the monitoring. The bottom line of all this is that the 4th Amendment will be strengthened over time to ward off security threats including terrorism, yet the "snooping" of marketers to get online surfing information will become even more rigorously punished.

Opt-Out Options Needed from Data Collected Through Benign Surveillance

The backlash and lack of trust in capturing data through benign surveillance all types is leading to a series of strategies on the part of consumers globally to protect their identities and also create a greater level of security for themselves online as well. Table 1, Data Elements Captured Through Benign Surveillance provides a comprehensive overview of sixteen different areas of personal data captured. The interpolation of specific fields and values, if not immediately provided by the online consumer or customer can often be interpolated and filled in by using other values in the data warehouses and data marts that also have powerful data analytics and statistical analysis applications associated with them.

Table 1: Data Elements Captured Through Benign Surveillance