Deck 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems

Question 1

Which of the following best describes how new information systems can result in legal gray areas?

A) They work with networked, digital data, which are more difficult to control than information stored manually.
B) They result in new situations that are not covered by old laws.
C) They are implemented by technicians rather than managers.
D) They are created from sets of logical and technological rules rather than social or organizational mores.
E) They are so complex that they cannot be covered by existing laws.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

NORA is:

A) a profiling technology used by the EU.
B) a federal privacy law protecting networked data.
C) a data analysis technology that finds hidden connections between data in disparate sources.
D) a sentencing guideline adopted in 1987 mandating stiff sentences on business executives.
E) an ethical principle.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The introduction of new information technology has:

A) a dampening effect on the discourse of business ethics.
B) a ripple effect, raising new ethical, social, and political issues.
C) a beneficial effect for society as a whole, while raising dilemmas for consumers.
D) a waterfall effect in raising ever more complex ethical issues.
E) no impact.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

List and describe the five moral dimensions that are involved in political, social, and ethical issues. Which do you think will be the most difficult for society to deal with? Support your opinion.

Question 5

In the information age, the obligations that individuals and organizations have regarding the preservation of existing values and institutions fall within the moral dimension of:

A) family and home.
B) property rights and obligations.
C) system quality.
D) quality of life.
E) accountability and control.

Question 6

A classic ethical dilemma is the hypothetical case of a man stealing from a grocery store in order to feed his starving family. If you used the utilitarian principle to evaluate this situation, you might argue that stealing the food is:

A) acceptable, because the grocer suffers the least harm.
B) acceptable, because the higher value is the survival of the family.
C) wrong, because the man would not want the grocer to steal from him.
D) wrong, because if everyone were to do this, the concept of personal property is defeated.
E) wrong, because society could not survive if everyone did this.

Question 7

Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative states that:

A) if an action cannot be taken repeatedly, then it is not right to be taken at any time.
B) one should take the action that produces the least harm or incurs the least cost.
C) one can put values in rank order and understand the consequences of various courses of action.
D) if an action is not right for everyone to take, it is not right for anyone to take.
E) if something someone else has created is useful to you, it has value, and you should assume the creator wants compensation for this work.

Question 8

In today's legal climate, there is little incentive for firms to cooperate with prosecutors investigating financial crimes at their firm.

Question 9

Ethics refers to the principles of right and wrong that can be used by individuals to make choices to guide their behavior.

Question 10

The practice in law-governed societies in which laws are known and understood, and there is an ability to appeal to higher authorities to ensure that the laws are applied correctly is called:

A) liability.
B) due process.
C) the courts of appeal.
D) accountability.
E) responsibility.

Question 11

A colleague of yours frequently takes small amounts of office supplies for his own personal use, noting that the loss to the company is minimal. You counter that if everyone were to take office supplies the loss would no longer be minimal. Your rationale expresses which of the following ethical principles?

A) Kant's categorical imperative
B) The Golden Rule
C) The risk aversion principle
D) The ethical "no free lunch" rule
E) The utilitarian principle

Question 12

The feature of social institutions that means mechanisms are in place to determine responsibility for an action is called:

A) due process.
B) accountability.
C) the courts of appeal.
D) the judicial system.
E) responsibility.

Question 13

All of the following are current key technology trends raising ethical issues except:

A) data storage improvements.
B) data analysis advancements.
C) increase in data quality.
D) increase in use of mobile devices.
E) advances in networking technology.

Question 14

Which of the five moral dimensions of the information age do the central business activities of DoubleClick raise?

A) Property rights and obligations
B) System quality
C) Accountability and control
D) Information rights and obligations
E) Quality of life

Question 15

Accepting the potential costs, duties, and obligations for the decisions you make is referred to as:

A) responsibility.
B) accountability.
C) liability.
D) due process.
E) ethics.

Question 16

Advances in data storage have made routine violation of individual privacy more difficult.

Question 17

In the information age, the obligations that individuals and organizations have concerning rights to intellectual property fall within the moral dimension of:

A) property rights and obligations.
B) system quality.
C) accountability and control.
D) information rights and obligations.
E) quality of life.

Question 18

Which of the following is not one of the five steps discussed in the chapter as a process for analyzing an ethical issue?

A) Assign responsibility.
B) Identify the stakeholders.
C) Identify the options you can reasonably take.
D) Identify and clearly describe the facts.
E) Identify the potential consequences of your options.

Question 19

The use of computers to combine data from multiple sources and create digital dossiers of detailed information on individuals is called:

A) profiling.
B) phishing.
C) spamming.
D) targeting.
E) spyware.

Question 20

Discuss at least three key technology trends that raise ethical issues. Give an example of an ethical or moral impact connected to each one.

Question 21

List and define the six ethical principles discussed in your text.

Question 22

The last step in analyzing an ethical issue should be to identify the stakeholders.

Question 23

What is NORA and how does it work?

Question 24

When a cookie is created during a website visit, it is stored:

A) on the website computer.
B) on the hard drive of the visitor's computer.
C) on the ISP's computer.
D) in a web directory.
E) in the cloud.

Question 25

FIP principles are based on the notion of the:

A) accountability of the record holder.
B) responsibility of the record holder.
C) mutuality of interest between the record holder and the individual.
D) privacy of the individual.
E) due process.

Question 26

The utilitarian principle asks you to put yourself in the place of others, and think of yourself as the object of the decision.

Question 27

Which of the following is not one of the practices added in 2010 by the FTC to its framework for privacy?

A) Firms should build products and services that protect privacy.
B) Firms should increase the transparency of their data collection.
C) Firms should require consumer consent and provide clear options to opt out of data collection.
D) Firms should limit the length of time that any personal data is stored to six months or less.
E) Firms should adopt privacy by design.

Question 28

The ethical "no free lunch" rule states that:

A) if an action cannot be taken repeatedly, then it is not right to be taken at any time.
B) one should take the action that produces the least harm or incurs the least cost.
C) one can put values in rank order and understand the consequences of various courses of action.
D) if something someone else has created is useful to you, it has value, and you should assume the creator wants compensation for this work.
E) if an action is not right for everyone to take, it is not right for anyone to take.

Question 29

Which of the following gives patients access to personal medical records and the right to authorize how this information can be used or disclosed?

A) HIPAA
B) Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
C) Privacy Protection Act
D) Freedom of Information Act
E) Fair Information Practices Act

Question 30

The U.S. Department of Commerce developed a(n) ________ framework in order to enable U.S. businesses to legally use personal data from EU countries.

A) COPPA
B) P3P
C) PGP
D) safe harbor
E) FIP

Question 31

The FIP principle of Notice/Awareness states that:

A) customers must be allowed to choose how their information will be used for secondary purposes other than the supporting transaction.
B) data collectors must take responsible steps to assure that consumer information is accurate and secure from unauthorized use.
C) there must be a mechanism in place to enforce FIP principles.
D) Websites must disclose their information practices before collecting data.
E) consumers should be able to review the data collected about them.

Question 32

Professionals have special rights and obligations because of their claims to knowledge, wisdom, and respect.

Question 33

Which of the following restricts the information the U.S. federal government can collect and regulates what it can do with the information?

A) Privacy Act of 1974
B) Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999
C) Freedom of Information Act
D) HIPAA of 1996
E) Fair Information Practices Act of 1973

Question 34

Liability refers to the existence of laws that permit individuals to recover damages done to them by other actors, systems, or organizations.

Question 35

According to the ________ rule, if an action cannot be taken repeatedly, it is not right to take at all.

A) slippery-slope
B) risk aversion
C) categorical imperative
D) utilitarian principle
E) Golden Rule

Question 36

According to the ________, you should take the action that produces the least harm.

A) categorical imperative
B) risk aversion principle
C) utilitarian principle
D) Golden Rule
E) slippery slope rule

Question 37

All of the following laws apply to actions by the federal government except:

A) the Freedom of Information Act.
B) the Privacy Act.
C) the Computer Security Act.
D) the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
E) the E-Government Act.

Question 38

Define the basic concepts of responsibility, accountability, and liability as applied to ethical decisions. How are these concepts related?

Question 39

What are the steps in conducting an ethical analysis?

Question 40

Which of the following is not a U.S. federal law affecting private institutions?

A) COPPA
B) HIPAA
C) Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
D) Video Privacy Protection Act
E) Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act

Question 41

Which of the following is not a file-sharing service?

A) The Pirate Bay
B) Megaupload
C) Morpheus
D) Pandora
E) Grokster

Question 42

Which of the following is not protected by copyright law?

A) Musical compositions
B) Motion pictures
C) Maps
D) Artwork
E) Machines

Question 43

All of the following are technical solutions to protecting user privacy except:

A) email encryption.
B) anonymous surfing.
C) anonymous email.
D) preventing client computers from accepting cookies.
E) data use policies.

Question 44

The Online Privacy Alliance:

A) encourages self-regulation to develop a set of privacy guidelines for its members.
B) protects user privacy during interactions with websites.
C) has established technical guidelines for ensuring privacy.
D) is a government agency regulating the use of customer information.
E) is a safe harbor program established by the U.S. government.

Question 45

Which of the following forms of protection of intellectual property requires that the property be the subject of a nondisclosure agreement?

A) Copyright
B) Patent
C) All forms of intellectual property protection
D) Trademark
E) Trade secret

Question 46

Digital media differs from a physical book in all of the following ways except:

A) ease of replication.
B) ease of alteration.
C) ease of transmission.
D) ease of global distribution.
E) ease of establishing uniqueness.

Question 47

TRUSTe is an example of which of the following?

A) Web beacon
B) Behavioral targeting program
C) Opt-out program
D) Spyware
E) Online seal program

Question 48

________ are not held liable for the messages they transmit.

A) Regulated common carriers
B) Private individuals
C) Organizations and businesses
D) Elected officials
E) European ISPs

Question 49

________ grants the owner an exclusive monopoly on the ideas behind an invention for 20 years.

A) Copyright law
B) Trademark law
C) Patent law
D) Trade secret law
E) Intellectual property law

Question 50

What percent of global Internet users use Google Search and other Google services?

A) Less than 10 percent
B) Around 25 percent
C) About 50 percent
D) Nearly 80 percent
E) Over 90 percent

Question 51

A(n) ________ model of informed consent permits the collection of personal information until the consumer specifically requests that the data not be collected.

A) opt-in
B) opt-out
C) P3P
D) PGP
E) safe harbor

Question 52

_________ prohibits an organization from collecting any personal information unless the individual specifically takes action to approve information collection and use.

A) A safe harbor
B) The opt-in model
C) FIP principles
D) P3P
E) The opt-out model

Question 53

The NAI is an industry association formed to help with which of the following?

A) Copyright protection
B) Online privacy issues
C) Patent protection
D) Trademark protection
E) Trade secret protection

Question 54

"Look and feel" copyright infringement lawsuits are concerned with:

A) the distinction between tangible and intangible ideas.
B) the distinction between an idea and its expression.
C) using the graphical elements of another product.
D) using the creative elements of another product.
E) violation of a monopoly on the ideas behind a product.

Question 55

Which of the following protects the authors of a book from having their work copied by others?

A) Patent protection
B) Due process
C) Copyright law
D) Fair Use Doctrine
E) Trade secrets

Question 56

Which of the following were involved in what has been called the patent trial of the century?

A) Apple and Microsoft
B) Apple and Hewlett-Packard
C) Microsoft and Symantec
D) Microsoft and Facebook
E) Apple and Samsung

Question 57

Which of the following statements about Flash cookies is not true?

A) Flash cookies are installed only at the user's request.
B) Flash cookies are stored on the user's computer.
C) Flash cookies cannot be easily detected or deleted.
D) Flash cookies are sometimes called super cookies.
E) Flash cookies can be installed whenever a person clicks a Flash video.

Question 58

Advertisers use ________ in order to display more relevant ads based on a user's search and browsing history.

A) behavioral targeting
B) web bugs
C) NORA
D) intelligent agents
E) FIP principles

Question 59

Which of the following is not a difficulty in establishing patent protection?

A) Length of time required to receive protection
B) The requirement that the work reflect some special understanding and contibution
C) The requirement that the work must be original
D) The requirement that the work must be novel
E) The requirement that the work must be a secret

Question 60

Which of the following adjusts copyright laws to the Internet age by making it illegal to circumvent technology-based protections of copyrighted materials?

A) Digital Millennium Copyright Act
B) Privacy Act
C) Freedom of Information Act
D) Electronic Communications Privacy Act
E) Fair Information Practices Act

Question 61

Most Internet businesses do very little to protect the privacy of their customers.

Question 62

According to a Wall Street Journal study, all of the following websites installed tracking files on visitor computers except:

A) Google
B) Comcast
C) Wikipedia
D) Dictionary.com
E) MSN

Question 63

Protections for trade secrets vary from state to state.

Question 64

The Copyright Office began registering software programs in the 1990s.

Question 65

One of the capabilities of Internet communication is the ability of the individual to appear essentially anonymous by using made-up user names. Is anonymity the same thing as privacy, and should it be a right? What ethical issues are raised by increased anonymity?

Question 66

A web beacon is a tiny object embedded in email messages and web pages that is designed to monitor online Internet user behavior.

Question 67

How does a cookie work?

Question 68

Which of the following is not true about the changes to EU data protection rules proposed in 2012?

A) The new rules would require Internet companies to obtain explicit consent from consumers for the use of their personal data.
B) The new rules would require Internet companies to delete information at the user's request.
C) The new rules would require Internet companies to retain information only as long as absolutely necessary.
D) The new rules would reject the right to be forgotten.
E) The new rules would apply only to all companies providing services in Europe.

Question 69

Privacy is the right to be left alone when you want to be, without surveillance or interference from other individuals or organizations.

Question 70

The key concepts in patent law are originality, novelty, and value.

Question 71

How does protection of privacy in Europe differ from the United States?

Question 72

A safe harbor is informal permission to reuse data, given with knowledge of all the facts needed to make a rational decision.

Question 73

Discuss the history of Apple's and Samsung's patent battle against each other.

Question 74

A drawback to copyright protection is that the ideas underlying the work are not protected, only their manifestation in the work.

Question 75

Spyware is software that comes hidden in downloaded applications and can track your online movements.

Question 76

Do you believe the need for homeland security should overrule some of the personal privacy and information rights we have previously taken for granted? Why or why not?

Question 77

European countries do not allow businesses to use personally identifiable information without consumers' prior consent.

Question 78

Copyright is the legal protection afforded intellectual property such as a song, book, or video game.

Question 79

The rate of global piracy is approximately 20%.

Question 80

Most American and European privacy law is based on a set of five principles called COPPA.