The ability to collect and store information about individuals and their actions and habits is easier than ever before. Advances in information technology make the storage, cataloging, and use of such information trivial. Many educational institutions have stored both paper and electronic data about individuals, either through the direct collection of such data for organizational purposes or data stored as a result of the provision of services to individuals. Due to privacy concerns, oftentimes such data must be de-identified or anonymized before it is used or studied.
Educational institutions may have a number of reasons for using de-identified data for business, academic, or operational functions. For instance, data can be made available for institutional use, without identifying the underlying data subjects, for research purposes, institutional effectiveness studies, performance and operational studies, information technology security and operational reviews, and for public health purposes. Other uses of de-identified data may require the ability to retain unique identifiers for individuals in the data set, without identifying the actual identity of the individuals. For example, a researcher may need to know that certain actions were all taken by the same individual, in order to form conclusions about how individuals use the data or service. A web site designer may want to determine how long individuals stay on the site, or how individuals traverse the site in order to find the information sought. Systems development, test, and training environments may require the use of data that simulates real production data, while not actually consisting of real data elements such as Social Security numbers. In such cases, de-identification processes are complicated by the need to replace unique identifiers such as Social Security numbers or IP numbers with alternate unique identifiers that cannot be used to identify the actual individual.
Special challenges with logs, network traffic, web traffic, etc.
The challenge in assuring that data is fully de-identified or anonymized is compounded when attempting to de-identify huge sets of systems operations data in unstructured formats. There are no search terms that can be reliably used to find and remove all potential instances of personally identifiable data (for example, names and addresses). Anonymizing tcpdump packet captures is extremely difficult to do because the packet contents reveal a great deal of information about the users. In flow dumps, even if address information is anonymized, traffic and pattern analysis would allow analysis that may be personally identifiable. In addition, there is currently a debate as to whether the IP Address, when it appears in log or traffic data, constitutes personally identifiable data. Some have chosen to truncate the last one or two octets of the IP address in order to avoid that debate; however, others believe this truncation is still not de-identified enough.
“Consumers will be most shocked to learn that companies are instantaneously combining the details of their online lives with information from previously unconnected offline databases without their knowledge, let alone consent,” said Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG consumer program director. “In just the last few years, a growing and barely regulated network of sellers and marketers has gained massive information advantages over consumers.”
Internet2, Interim IPv6 Netflow Anonymization Policy, Version 1.0
The Top 10 Online Privacy Threats
http://www.mywot.com/en/blogs
The Internet and other digital media have transformed global communications, commerce and communities. We have always-on, always-everywhere connectivity via computers, cell phones and other devices. But concerns over how accountable and responsive this new media society will be to its ‘netizens’ are constantly being raised. We take a look at ten of the hot issues in online privacy today and give you some tools to protect your privacy.
Behavioral targeting
Learning about your purchase patterns and activities on the Web is essentially what behavioral marketing is about. Your Internet service provider (ISP) has access to where you go online and combined with third party cookies gathering information about your behavior, marketers have effective means to serve you targeted.
Whether real or imaginary, the loss of privacy disturbs people. If the advertising industry would give its customers choice, control and transparency into its tracking and profiling practices they would go a long way in gaining consumer trust.
Cloud computing
Cloud computing refers to the concept of huge data centers operating in a networked infrastructure collectively known as “the cloud.” In other words, stuff is stored on someone else’s server accessed via the Internet. When you store your data with programs hosted on someone else's hardware, for instance your email and calendar on Gmail; your photos on Flickr; your online computer backup on Mozy; your health records on Microsoft’s HealthVault, the responsibility for protecting that information from hackers and internal data breaches falls into the hands of the hosting company rather than the individual user.
Cookies
Cookies are online files that can be used for authenticating, session tracking and to set your preferences or shopping cart contents. For example, the information in a cookie might be a login ID for your online email account so you don't have to login to each page. Some cookies are temporary and some may stay on the hard drive and be used when visiting the site again. What people object to are third party cookies used to gather consumer behavior for marketing analysis. The purpose is to profile users as they move around on various sites and deliver precise, personalized advertising as they surf the Internet. Even if anonymous, these profiles have been the subject of privacy concerns.
Privacy advocates suggest that consumers be alerted to how they are profiled and targeted with a full and fair description of all marketing practices, so they can control what their consumer experience will be. Browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera block third party cookies if requested by the user.
Online Shopping
Many consumers are reluctant to make purchases on the Internet out of fear that the personal information they provide will be misused or compromised. Well written privacy policies are essential to inform the consumer, in plain language, what will be done with their information and whether any information provided will be disclosed to third parties. Another way for a website to convey integrity and trust to users is to have the site certified by an organization that provides a seal of approval.
Phishing
Cybercriminals use “phishing,” or e-mail scams, to bait people with legitimate looking requests from what appear to be reliable sources. Banks and other financial institutions, news outlets and stores are the most usual organizations to be used in this deceit. Bad guys use sneaky social engineering with the aim to collect personal information - social security numbers, passwords and pin numbers - that can be used to access bank and credit card accounts, resulting in stolen funds and identity theft.
Besides the risks of spam, phishing doesn't necessarily harm your computer, but it can do a lot of damage if it results in identity theft. Do not give sensitive information to anyone—on the phone, in person or through email—unless you are sure that they are who they claim to be and that they should have access to the information. Phishing cases should be handled seriously and reported to local police. You can also file a report with the Anti-Phishing Working Group
Photo and video sharing
Digital cameras and camera phone applications that can upload photos or video content directly to the web, make publishing of personal content increasingly easy. Privacy advocates are concerned because much of a user’s personal life and social environment are revealed in these multimedia collections. Integrating photo sharing within social networking communities has also provided the opportunity for tagging, annotating and linking images to the identities of the people in them. The persistence of multimedia can be problematic. Researchers found that nearly half of the social networking sites don't immediately delete pictures
when a user requests they be removed. Even after you think you have deleted a photo you can still find it in Google's caching system which is remarkably efficient at archiving copies of web content, long after it's removed from the web.
Social networking
Participation in social networking sites has increased dramatically recently. Services such as Facebook, Twitter or Friendster have millions of members with online profiles sharing personal and sensitive information freely and publicly with vast networks of friends – and an unknown number of strangers. Risks range from identity theft, online or physical stalking to embarrassment and blackmailing.
Spyware and adware
Applications which alter your computer’s settings, such as your browser's home page, cause annoying pop-ups and insert advertisements into web pages are known as spyware or adware. These apps can be programs, cookies or registry entries that secretly gather information about your online activity. This class of advertising methods is considered unethical and perhaps even illegal. Often these applications are disguised as a simple service like a search bar, and some of them can be malicious, open dangerous security holes and lead to frequent crashes or hangs.
Web bugs
A web bug is a tiny graphic on a webpage or email message that monitors the user who is reading the page or email. Advertising networks use web bugs to collect information enabling them to build a profile around your tendencies and interests. This profile is then identified by ad network cookies which track your movements and behavior across sites.
Web browsing history
Search engines gather detailed information including your entire search history and browsing habits, as well as the time, date and location of the computer submitting the search, known as the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. This data can be personally identifiable or can be made personally identifiable. Information collected is used for marketing and consumer profiling purposes to achieve precise targeted advertising: to get the proper advertisements to the proper users. It is also used by search engines to carry out research and generate statistical usage data.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Re-identification mean? Give an example
Re-identification is the process by which anonymized personal data is matched with its true owner. In order to protect the privacy interests of consumers, personal identifiers, such as name and social security number, are often removed from databases containing sensitive information. Through the use of data trails an adversary can independently reconstruct the trails of locations that identified entities and their un-identified data visited, which can then employed for re-identification via trail matching. The attack strategy is based on the premise that data collecting institutions partition and release a dataset as multiple subsets, such that one release contains identifying attributes (e.g. name, social security number, phone number) and a second is devoid of these attributes (e.g. DNA sequences). The trail attack is dependent on whether the identified data is always collected with the un-identified data, termed complete, or whether one of the attributes is under-collected, termed incomplete. Both the complete and incomplete trail problems are formalized and several novel algorithms for re-identification are introduced. Examples are drawn from the areas of clickstream, DNA sequence, health, and video data.
This anonymized, or de-identified, data safeguards the privacy of consumers while still making useful information available to marketers or datamining companies. Recently, however, computer scientists have revealed that this "anonymized" data can easily be re-identified, such that the sensitive information may be linked back to an individual. The re-identification process implicates privacy rights, because organizations will say that privacy obligations do not apply to information that is anonymized, but if the data is in fact personally identifiable, then privacy obligations should apply.
.( T. Hinke. Inference aggregation detection in database management systems. In Proc of IEEE Symp. on Research in Security and Privacy. Oakland, California, 96-107, 1988.)
Unique Identification Through Zip Code, Sex, Birthdate
Latanya Sweeney, a computer science professor, conducted a study in 1990 using census data, and found that zip code, birth date, and sex could be combined to uniquely identify 87% of the United States population. To illustrate this threat, Sweeney gathered data from a government agency called Group Insurance Commission (GIC) in order to reveal the identity of a Massachusetts governor. GIC, a purchaser of health insurance for employees, released records of state employees to researchers. GIC, with the support of Governor Weld of Massachusetts, removed names, addresses, social security numbers, and other identifying information, in order to protect the privacy of these employees. Governor Weld assured Massachusetts residents that the release information would remain private.
Sweeney purchased voter rolls, which included name, zip code, address, sex, and birth date of voters in Cambridge, where Governor Weld resided, and combined the information with GIC’s data and easily found the governor. From GIC’s databases, only six people in Cambridge were born on the same day as the governor, half of them were men, and the governor was the only one who lived in the zip code provided by the voter rolls. The information in the GIC database on the Massachusetts governor included prescriptions and diagnoses.
Predicting SSNs by Birth date and State
In their 2009 study, Carnegie Mellon professor Alessandro Acquisti and researcher Ralph Gross demonstrate through a two-step process how SSN is easily predicted by knowing an individual’s birth date and geographic location. First, the researchers analyzed public records in the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File (DMF) to examine statistical trends in the assignment of SSN for those whose deaths were reported to the Social Security Administration. Second, combining these patterns derived from DMF analysis with an alive individual’s state and birth date (which can be found on various offline sources, such as voter registration lists, or online sources, such as social networking sites), Acquisti and Gross identified the first 5 digits for 44% of DMF records from 1989 to 2003 and complete SSNs in less than 1000 attempts for 8.5% of the records. Acquisti and Gross found a strong correlation between birth date and all nine digits of an SSN, a correlation that increases for individuals in less populous states. These results have important consequences for the living population in the United States, as they imply that millions of SSNs for individuals whose birthdates are known can be identified.
How Data is Re-identified
In each of the above cases, data was re-identified by combining two datasets with different types of information about an individual. One of the datasets contained anonymized information; the other contained outside information - generally available to the public - collected on a daily or routine basis (such as voter registration information), and which includes identifying information (e.g., name). The two datasets will usually have at least one type of information that is the same (e.g., birthdate), which links the anonymized information to an individual. By combining information from each of these datasets, researchers can uniquely identify individuals in the population. While companies tend to focus on the removal of personally-identifiable information (PII), the studies above show that re-identification can occur even by combining non-PII, such as movie ratings in the Netflix study or search engine queries in the AOL example.
This anonymized, or de-identified, data safeguards the privacy of consumers while still making useful information available to marketers or datamining companies. Recently, however, computer scientists have revealed that this "anonymized" data can easily be re-identified, such that the sensitive information may be linked back to an individual. The re-identification process implicates privacy rights, because organizations will say that privacy obligations do not apply to information that is anonymized, but if the data is in fact personally identifiable, then privacy obligations should apply.
.( T. Hinke. Inference aggregation detection in database management systems. In Proc of IEEE Symp. on Research in Security and Privacy. Oakland, California, 96-107, 1988.)
Unique Identification Through Zip Code, Sex, Birthdate
Latanya Sweeney, a computer science professor, conducted a study in 1990 using census data, and found that zip code, birth date, and sex could be combined to uniquely identify 87% of the United States population. To illustrate this threat, Sweeney gathered data from a government agency called Group Insurance Commission (GIC) in order to reveal the identity of a Massachusetts governor. GIC, a purchaser of health insurance for employees, released records of state employees to researchers. GIC, with the support of Governor Weld of Massachusetts, removed names, addresses, social security numbers, and other identifying information, in order to protect the privacy of these employees. Governor Weld assured Massachusetts residents that the release information would remain private.
Sweeney purchased voter rolls, which included name, zip code, address, sex, and birth date of voters in Cambridge, where Governor Weld resided, and combined the information with GIC’s data and easily found the governor. From GIC’s databases, only six people in Cambridge were born on the same day as the governor, half of them were men, and the governor was the only one who lived in the zip code provided by the voter rolls. The information in the GIC database on the Massachusetts governor included prescriptions and diagnoses.
Predicting SSNs by Birth date and State
In their 2009 study, Carnegie Mellon professor Alessandro Acquisti and researcher Ralph Gross demonstrate through a two-step process how SSN is easily predicted by knowing an individual’s birth date and geographic location. First, the researchers analyzed public records in the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File (DMF) to examine statistical trends in the assignment of SSN for those whose deaths were reported to the Social Security Administration. Second, combining these patterns derived from DMF analysis with an alive individual’s state and birth date (which can be found on various offline sources, such as voter registration lists, or online sources, such as social networking sites), Acquisti and Gross identified the first 5 digits for 44% of DMF records from 1989 to 2003 and complete SSNs in less than 1000 attempts for 8.5% of the records. Acquisti and Gross found a strong correlation between birth date and all nine digits of an SSN, a correlation that increases for individuals in less populous states. These results have important consequences for the living population in the United States, as they imply that millions of SSNs for individuals whose birthdates are known can be identified.
How Data is Re-identified
In each of the above cases, data was re-identified by combining two datasets with different types of information about an individual. One of the datasets contained anonymized information; the other contained outside information - generally available to the public - collected on a daily or routine basis (such as voter registration information), and which includes identifying information (e.g., name). The two datasets will usually have at least one type of information that is the same (e.g., birthdate), which links the anonymized information to an individual. By combining information from each of these datasets, researchers can uniquely identify individuals in the population. While companies tend to focus on the removal of personally-identifiable information (PII), the studies above show that re-identification can occur even by combining non-PII, such as movie ratings in the Netflix study or search engine queries in the AOL example.
What does the term secondary use mean? Give an example.
Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the user, for purposes other than those of our particular research study. For example, if a government department has conducted a survey of, say, family food expenditures, then a food manufacturer might use this data in the organisation's evaluations of the total potential market for a new product. Similarly, statistics prepared by a ministry on agricultural production will prove useful to a whole host of people and organisations, including those marketing agricultural supplies.
Common sources of secondary data for social science include censuses, surveys, organizational records and data collected through qualitative methodologies or qualitative research. Primary data, by contrast, are collected by the investigator conducting the research.
Secondary data analysis saves time that would otherwise be spent collecting data and, particularly in the case of quantitative data, provides larger and higher-quality databases than would be unfeasible for any individual researcher to collect on their own. In addition to that, analysts of social and economic change consider secondary data essential, since it is impossible to conduct a new survey that can adequately capture past change and/or developments.
No marketing research study should be undertaken without a prior search of secondary sources (also termed desk research). There are several grounds for making such a bold statement.
· Secondary data may be available which is entirely appropriate and wholly adequate to draw conclusions and answer the question or solve the problem. Sometimes primary data collection simply is not necessary.
· It is far cheaper to collect secondary data than to obtain primary data. For the same level of research budget a thorough examination of secondary sources can yield a great deal more information than can be had through a primary data collection exercise.
· The time involved in searching secondary sources is much less than that needed to complete primary data collection.
· Secondary sources of information can yield more accurate data than that obtained through primary research. This is not always true but where a government or international agency has undertaken a large scale survey, or even a census, this is likely to yield far more accurate results than custom designed and executed surveys when these are based on relatively small sample sizes.
· It should not be forgotten that secondary data can play a substantial role in the exploratory phase of the research when the task at hand is to define the research problem and to generate hypotheses. The assembly and analysis of secondary data almost invariably improves the researcher's understanding of the marketing problem, the various lines of inquiry that could or should be followed and the alternative courses of action which might be pursued.
· Secondary sources help define the population. Secondary data can be extremely useful both in defining the population and in structuring the sample to be taken. For instance, government statistics on a country's agriculture will help decide how to stratify a sample and, once sample estimates have been calculated, these can be used to project those estimates to the population.(http://www.fao.org/docrep)
A clear benefit of using secondary data is that much of the background work needed has been already been carried out, for example: literature reviews, case studies might have been carried out, published texts and statistic could have been already used elsewhere, media promotion and personal contacts have also been utilized.
This wealth of background work means that secondary data generally have a pre-established degree of validity and reliability which need not be re-examined by the researcher who is re-using such data.
Furthermore, secondary data can also be helpful in the research design of subsequent primary research and can provide a baseline with which the collected primary data results can be compared to. Therefore, it is always wise to begin any research activity with a review of the secondary data (http://en.wikipedia.org).
Common sources of secondary data for social science include censuses, surveys, organizational records and data collected through qualitative methodologies or qualitative research. Primary data, by contrast, are collected by the investigator conducting the research.
Secondary data analysis saves time that would otherwise be spent collecting data and, particularly in the case of quantitative data, provides larger and higher-quality databases than would be unfeasible for any individual researcher to collect on their own. In addition to that, analysts of social and economic change consider secondary data essential, since it is impossible to conduct a new survey that can adequately capture past change and/or developments.
No marketing research study should be undertaken without a prior search of secondary sources (also termed desk research). There are several grounds for making such a bold statement.
· Secondary data may be available which is entirely appropriate and wholly adequate to draw conclusions and answer the question or solve the problem. Sometimes primary data collection simply is not necessary.
· It is far cheaper to collect secondary data than to obtain primary data. For the same level of research budget a thorough examination of secondary sources can yield a great deal more information than can be had through a primary data collection exercise.
· The time involved in searching secondary sources is much less than that needed to complete primary data collection.
· Secondary sources of information can yield more accurate data than that obtained through primary research. This is not always true but where a government or international agency has undertaken a large scale survey, or even a census, this is likely to yield far more accurate results than custom designed and executed surveys when these are based on relatively small sample sizes.
· It should not be forgotten that secondary data can play a substantial role in the exploratory phase of the research when the task at hand is to define the research problem and to generate hypotheses. The assembly and analysis of secondary data almost invariably improves the researcher's understanding of the marketing problem, the various lines of inquiry that could or should be followed and the alternative courses of action which might be pursued.
· Secondary sources help define the population. Secondary data can be extremely useful both in defining the population and in structuring the sample to be taken. For instance, government statistics on a country's agriculture will help decide how to stratify a sample and, once sample estimates have been calculated, these can be used to project those estimates to the population.(http://www.fao.org/docrep)
A clear benefit of using secondary data is that much of the background work needed has been already been carried out, for example: literature reviews, case studies might have been carried out, published texts and statistic could have been already used elsewhere, media promotion and personal contacts have also been utilized.
This wealth of background work means that secondary data generally have a pre-established degree of validity and reliability which need not be re-examined by the researcher who is re-using such data.
Furthermore, secondary data can also be helpful in the research design of subsequent primary research and can provide a baseline with which the collected primary data results can be compared to. Therefore, it is always wise to begin any research activity with a review of the secondary data (http://en.wikipedia.org).
Briefly list and explain….
(a) Right, wrong, and okay: A knowledge of right and wrong is not something that schools can simply pass on. The term ‘develop’ recognises that people do not acquire principles of right and wrong just by being told them. To be aware of principles, to really appreciate what they mean, to take them seriously, internalise them – all this comes gradually. It needs to be developed in individuals.
The current wording does not actually say that the principles developed will be the same principles for every person. It leaves open the possibility that in different people different principles will be developed for distinguishing between right and wrong. The leader writers may assume that there is just one correct set of principles, but that is something that teachers – and surely their students too – should be able to think about, not take for granted.
Thus, it is misleading to divide all acts into two categories, ethically right and ethically wrong. Rather, it is better to think of acts as either ethically obligatory, ethically prohibited or ethically acceptable.
(b) Distinguish wrong and harm: the basic core of the notion of `harm’, insofar as it is of interest to the law, seems to be that of a `harmed condition’; someone is in the condition of being harmed: a setback to interests has occurred. But clearly there are `harms’ so understood in which the law’s interest will rapidly vanish. A person whose heart failure results from the natural course of disease is in the same harmed condition (in this sense of `harmed condition’) as one whose heart failure results from the ingestion of deliberately administered poison. This point leads to the thought that the notion required for jurisprudential purposes is not so much `harm’ as `wrong’ or unjustified violation of right. Not all harms are wrongs (suppose I put the poison into your drink by accident). So the focus has to be on that subset of harms that are also wrongs.
This train of thought leads to what has been called by Duff the `conduct-cause-harm’ or `consequentialist’ model of wrongdoing (Duff 1990, 105–11; Duff 2002, 58). The coercive force of the law is properly used only against those whose conduct causes (or threatens or makes more likely) harm to another — in short, the law should proceed according to the Harm Principle. This model in terms of the Harm Principle raises two different kinds of questions. The first set of questions has to do with the scope of the Principle, and the second set has to do with the model itself.
Conclusion. These are large and complex issues, and are not settled here. But this much is clear. Within the liberal democratic tradition, the concept of harm can have a valid use at a high level of generality and abstraction to gesture towards a large area of the law’s concern with the control of human action. To encapsulate this concern in the Harm Principle is permissible. But to do that is not the same as using the Harm Principle mechanically as a concrete guide to the design of the law. It is much too inexact for that. If one is coming from a long way outside the liberal democratic tradition, then to arrive at the point where the Harm Principle seems to get everything right is hard, but worthwhile, work. However, within the liberal democratic tradition, to arrive at the Harm Principle is easy. The hard work lies ahead.
(Duff, R. 2001. `Harms and Wrongs’. Buffalo Criminal Law Review 5:13–45; Duff, R. 2002. `Rule-Violations and Wrong-Doing’. In Criminal Law Theory: Doctrines of the General Part, eds S. Shute and A. Simester, 47–74. Oxford: Oxford University Press.)
(c) Separating goals from constraints: Most problems in management involve multiple goals and two approaches to solving managerial problems have been suggested: optimizing and satisfying. The first covers methods of trade-offs, optimizing in tandem, conversion of goals into constraints and goal programming. The second mainly centers on norm setting and on interval programming. It is argued that cost-benefit analysis essentially belongs to the first group and that, contrary to some suggestions, the differences between the industrial and public sectors (as far as O.R. is concerned) are not related to differences between the optimizing and satisficing philosophies. (http://www.jstor.org/pss)
(d) Personal preference and ethics: Ethics, or morality, is a system of principles that helps us tell right from wrong, good from bad.
This definition, by itself, tells us nothing about the standard by which we establish or measure right and wrong. The centuries have seen many different approaches to ethics; none seem to be satisfactory. The terms 'ethics', and even more so, 'morality' carry heavy emotional baggage. Traditional approaches to morality are confused and contradictory. While supposedly telling us what is 'right' or 'good' for us, they variously imply sacrificing our lives to some Greater Good, restrict beneficial sexual conduct, oppose our legitimate desire for personal happiness or offer supposedly ideal, but impractical solutions.
Ethics is about the choices that we make - or fail to make. We are aware of our conscious thoughts and of our ability to make informed, intelligent choices - that is what we call free will We are aware that the choices that we make have consequences, both for ourselves and for others. We are aware of the responsibility that we have for our actions. But, we do not have reliable inherent knowledge or instincts that will automatically promote our survival and flourishing. We may have an inherent emotional desire to survive and avoid pain, but we do not have innate knowledge about how to achieve those objectives. A rational, non-contradictory ethic can help us make better choices regarding our lives and well-being. Issues not subject to our choice - unknown to us or outside of our control - are not moral issues. (http://www.optimal.org/peter/rational_ethics)
(e) Law and ethics: Information ethics are the rules that define right and wrong behavior in the computing professions. They are the basis for trust and cooperation among workers and organizations. For this reason, and because of some much-publicized ethics problems in the computer field, ethical computing has gotten a lot of attention lately. This means that now more than ever all people who use a computer, including you, need to know what's expected of them – what's OK to do with a computer and what's not OK. In most cases the owner of a given computer defines the ethics and/or rules required to use that computer. It is important to realize ethics and laws are not the same. Laws are established to protect software developers (copyright and licensing) and users (privacy issues). Laws have penalties associated with them. If you don’t obey the law, you are punished. Ethics, however, are based on principles and values. In reality, there is no global punishment for ethics violation, although individual companies, schools, etc. may have rules that, if violated, have punishments associated with them.
The current wording does not actually say that the principles developed will be the same principles for every person. It leaves open the possibility that in different people different principles will be developed for distinguishing between right and wrong. The leader writers may assume that there is just one correct set of principles, but that is something that teachers – and surely their students too – should be able to think about, not take for granted.
Thus, it is misleading to divide all acts into two categories, ethically right and ethically wrong. Rather, it is better to think of acts as either ethically obligatory, ethically prohibited or ethically acceptable.
(b) Distinguish wrong and harm: the basic core of the notion of `harm’, insofar as it is of interest to the law, seems to be that of a `harmed condition’; someone is in the condition of being harmed: a setback to interests has occurred. But clearly there are `harms’ so understood in which the law’s interest will rapidly vanish. A person whose heart failure results from the natural course of disease is in the same harmed condition (in this sense of `harmed condition’) as one whose heart failure results from the ingestion of deliberately administered poison. This point leads to the thought that the notion required for jurisprudential purposes is not so much `harm’ as `wrong’ or unjustified violation of right. Not all harms are wrongs (suppose I put the poison into your drink by accident). So the focus has to be on that subset of harms that are also wrongs.
This train of thought leads to what has been called by Duff the `conduct-cause-harm’ or `consequentialist’ model of wrongdoing (Duff 1990, 105–11; Duff 2002, 58). The coercive force of the law is properly used only against those whose conduct causes (or threatens or makes more likely) harm to another — in short, the law should proceed according to the Harm Principle. This model in terms of the Harm Principle raises two different kinds of questions. The first set of questions has to do with the scope of the Principle, and the second set has to do with the model itself.
Conclusion. These are large and complex issues, and are not settled here. But this much is clear. Within the liberal democratic tradition, the concept of harm can have a valid use at a high level of generality and abstraction to gesture towards a large area of the law’s concern with the control of human action. To encapsulate this concern in the Harm Principle is permissible. But to do that is not the same as using the Harm Principle mechanically as a concrete guide to the design of the law. It is much too inexact for that. If one is coming from a long way outside the liberal democratic tradition, then to arrive at the point where the Harm Principle seems to get everything right is hard, but worthwhile, work. However, within the liberal democratic tradition, to arrive at the Harm Principle is easy. The hard work lies ahead.
(Duff, R. 2001. `Harms and Wrongs’. Buffalo Criminal Law Review 5:13–45; Duff, R. 2002. `Rule-Violations and Wrong-Doing’. In Criminal Law Theory: Doctrines of the General Part, eds S. Shute and A. Simester, 47–74. Oxford: Oxford University Press.)
(c) Separating goals from constraints: Most problems in management involve multiple goals and two approaches to solving managerial problems have been suggested: optimizing and satisfying. The first covers methods of trade-offs, optimizing in tandem, conversion of goals into constraints and goal programming. The second mainly centers on norm setting and on interval programming. It is argued that cost-benefit analysis essentially belongs to the first group and that, contrary to some suggestions, the differences between the industrial and public sectors (as far as O.R. is concerned) are not related to differences between the optimizing and satisficing philosophies. (http://www.jstor.org/pss)
(d) Personal preference and ethics: Ethics, or morality, is a system of principles that helps us tell right from wrong, good from bad.
This definition, by itself, tells us nothing about the standard by which we establish or measure right and wrong. The centuries have seen many different approaches to ethics; none seem to be satisfactory. The terms 'ethics', and even more so, 'morality' carry heavy emotional baggage. Traditional approaches to morality are confused and contradictory. While supposedly telling us what is 'right' or 'good' for us, they variously imply sacrificing our lives to some Greater Good, restrict beneficial sexual conduct, oppose our legitimate desire for personal happiness or offer supposedly ideal, but impractical solutions.
Ethics is about the choices that we make - or fail to make. We are aware of our conscious thoughts and of our ability to make informed, intelligent choices - that is what we call free will We are aware that the choices that we make have consequences, both for ourselves and for others. We are aware of the responsibility that we have for our actions. But, we do not have reliable inherent knowledge or instincts that will automatically promote our survival and flourishing. We may have an inherent emotional desire to survive and avoid pain, but we do not have innate knowledge about how to achieve those objectives. A rational, non-contradictory ethic can help us make better choices regarding our lives and well-being. Issues not subject to our choice - unknown to us or outside of our control - are not moral issues. (http://www.optimal.org/peter/rational_ethics)
(e) Law and ethics: Information ethics are the rules that define right and wrong behavior in the computing professions. They are the basis for trust and cooperation among workers and organizations. For this reason, and because of some much-publicized ethics problems in the computer field, ethical computing has gotten a lot of attention lately. This means that now more than ever all people who use a computer, including you, need to know what's expected of them – what's OK to do with a computer and what's not OK. In most cases the owner of a given computer defines the ethics and/or rules required to use that computer. It is important to realize ethics and laws are not the same. Laws are established to protect software developers (copyright and licensing) and users (privacy issues). Laws have penalties associated with them. If you don’t obey the law, you are punished. Ethics, however, are based on principles and values. In reality, there is no global punishment for ethics violation, although individual companies, schools, etc. may have rules that, if violated, have punishments associated with them.
Which kind of ethical theory, deontologist or consequentialist, works better for arguing that it is wrong to drive one's car on the left side of the r
The deontological theory states that people should adhere to their obligations and duties when analyzing an ethical dilemma. This means that a person will follow his or her
obligations to another individual or society because upholding one's duty is what is considered ethically correct (1,2). For instance, a deontologist will always keep driving on the right side of the road assuming that this is the normal practice for everyone driving in that country, and will follow the law. A person who follows this theory will produce very consistent decisions since they will be based on the individual's set duties.
This theory also praises those deontologists who exceed their duties and obligations, which is called "supererogation" (1). For example, if a person hijacked a train full of students and stated that one person would have to die in order for the rest to live, the person who volunteers to die is exceeding his or her duty to the other students and performs an act of supererogation.
Although deontology contains many positive attributes, it also contains its fair number of flaws. One weakness of this theory is that there is no rationale or logical basis for deciding an individual's duties. The other fault of deontology including the fact that sometimes a person's duties conflict, and that deontology is not concerned with the welfare of others. For instance, if the deontologist who must be on time to meetings is running late, how is he supposed to drive? Is the deontologist supposed to speed, breaking his duty to society to uphold the law, or is the deontologist supposed to arrive at his meeting late, breaking his duty to be on time? This scenario of conflicting obligations does not lead us to a clear ethically correct resolution nor does it protect the welfare of others from the deontologist's decision. Since deontology is not based on the context of each situation, it does not provide any guidance when one enters a complex situation in which there are conflicting obligations (1,2).
Consequentialism refers to those moral theories which hold that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgment about that action (or create a structure for judgment, see rule consequentialism). Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right action is one that produces a good outcome, or consequence. This view is often expressed as the aphorism "The ends justify the means".
Consequentialism is usually understood as distinct from deontology, in that deontology derives the rightness or wrongness of an act from the character of the act itself rather than the outcomes of the action, and from virtue ethics, which focuses on the character of the agent rather than on the nature or consequences of the action itself. The difference between these three approaches to morality tends to lie more in the way moral dilemmas are approached than in the moral conclusions reached. For example, a consequentialist may argue that lying is wrong because of the negative consequences produced by lying—though a consequentialist may allow that certain foreseeable consequences might make lying acceptable. A deontologist might argue that lying is always wrong, regardless of any potential "good" that might come from lying. A virtue ethicist, however, would focus less on lying in any particular instance and instead consider what a decision to tell a lie or not tell a lie said about one's character and moral behavior.
Thus, I would argue that a deontologist theory is the best way to handle issues that involves customary practices that is morally accepted by the majority. Achieving your in whatever means necessary does not always justify the end results.
obligations to another individual or society because upholding one's duty is what is considered ethically correct (1,2). For instance, a deontologist will always keep driving on the right side of the road assuming that this is the normal practice for everyone driving in that country, and will follow the law. A person who follows this theory will produce very consistent decisions since they will be based on the individual's set duties.
This theory also praises those deontologists who exceed their duties and obligations, which is called "supererogation" (1). For example, if a person hijacked a train full of students and stated that one person would have to die in order for the rest to live, the person who volunteers to die is exceeding his or her duty to the other students and performs an act of supererogation.
Although deontology contains many positive attributes, it also contains its fair number of flaws. One weakness of this theory is that there is no rationale or logical basis for deciding an individual's duties. The other fault of deontology including the fact that sometimes a person's duties conflict, and that deontology is not concerned with the welfare of others. For instance, if the deontologist who must be on time to meetings is running late, how is he supposed to drive? Is the deontologist supposed to speed, breaking his duty to society to uphold the law, or is the deontologist supposed to arrive at his meeting late, breaking his duty to be on time? This scenario of conflicting obligations does not lead us to a clear ethically correct resolution nor does it protect the welfare of others from the deontologist's decision. Since deontology is not based on the context of each situation, it does not provide any guidance when one enters a complex situation in which there are conflicting obligations (1,2).
Consequentialism refers to those moral theories which hold that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgment about that action (or create a structure for judgment, see rule consequentialism). Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right action is one that produces a good outcome, or consequence. This view is often expressed as the aphorism "The ends justify the means".
Consequentialism is usually understood as distinct from deontology, in that deontology derives the rightness or wrongness of an act from the character of the act itself rather than the outcomes of the action, and from virtue ethics, which focuses on the character of the agent rather than on the nature or consequences of the action itself. The difference between these three approaches to morality tends to lie more in the way moral dilemmas are approached than in the moral conclusions reached. For example, a consequentialist may argue that lying is wrong because of the negative consequences produced by lying—though a consequentialist may allow that certain foreseeable consequences might make lying acceptable. A deontologist might argue that lying is always wrong, regardless of any potential "good" that might come from lying. A virtue ethicist, however, would focus less on lying in any particular instance and instead consider what a decision to tell a lie or not tell a lie said about one's character and moral behavior.
Thus, I would argue that a deontologist theory is the best way to handle issues that involves customary practices that is morally accepted by the majority. Achieving your in whatever means necessary does not always justify the end results.
Give an example of a law that implements an ethical principle. Give an example of a law that enforces a particular group's idea of how people should b
A relationship exists between law and ethics. In some instances, law and ethics overlap and what is perceived as unethical is also illegal. In other situations, they do not overlap. In some cases, what is perceived as unethical is still legal, and in others, what is illegal is perceived as ethical. A behavior may be perceived as ethical to one person or group but might not be perceived as ethical by another. Further complicating this dichotomy of behavior, laws may have been legislated, effectively stating the government’s position, and presumably the majority opinion, on the behavior. As a result, in today’s diverse business environment, one must consider that law and ethics are not necessarily the same thing.
(Ethics: An Overview; Legal Information Institute; Online; Available at http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/ethics; 1999)
Law can be defined as a consistent set of universal rules that are widely published, generally accepted, and usually enforced. These rules describe the ways in which people are required to act in their relationships with others in a society. They are requirements to act in a given way, not just expectations or suggestions to act in that way. Since the government establishes law, the government can use police powers to enforce laws. The following chart defines the terms in the definition of law above.
• Consistent – If two requirements contradict each other, both cannot be termed a law, because people cannot obey both.
• Universal – The requirements must be applicable to every one with similar characteristics facing the same set of circumstances.
• Published – The requirements have to be published, in written form, so that they are accessible to everyone within the society.
• Accepted – The requirements have to be generally obeyed.
• Enforced – Members of society must be compelled to obey the law if they do not choose to do so voluntarily.
Ethics usually fall into three categories – professional, social and individual. An employer or company usually defines professional ethics and employees are required to follow them. The general principles underlying most of the ethical dilemmas you will confront in your career are addressed in the professional code of ethics defined by the company. Professional codes of ethics may not provide detailed guidance in all possible situations. You must have an inner sense of what is moral to be able to apply ethics in specific situations. This is where social and individual ethics play an important role. Social ethics are usually defined by society or a group and the primary values existing in that group. Individual ethics are usually defined by personal heritage and integral family values.
Many professional organizations have developed codes of ethics, which have been widely adopted as the basic code for many companies and universities. While the professional codes of ethics have slight differences in emphasis, they are in agreement on general principles.
It is important to note that not only professional organizations have Code of Ethics. Many higher institutions of learning also maintain a code of ethics. Usually, one of the sections deals specifically to plagiarism of Intellectual Property at the college or university. (http://cil.usu.edu/htm/et/law-ethics/).
(Ethics: An Overview; Legal Information Institute; Online; Available at http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/ethics; 1999)
Law can be defined as a consistent set of universal rules that are widely published, generally accepted, and usually enforced. These rules describe the ways in which people are required to act in their relationships with others in a society. They are requirements to act in a given way, not just expectations or suggestions to act in that way. Since the government establishes law, the government can use police powers to enforce laws. The following chart defines the terms in the definition of law above.
• Consistent – If two requirements contradict each other, both cannot be termed a law, because people cannot obey both.
• Universal – The requirements must be applicable to every one with similar characteristics facing the same set of circumstances.
• Published – The requirements have to be published, in written form, so that they are accessible to everyone within the society.
• Accepted – The requirements have to be generally obeyed.
• Enforced – Members of society must be compelled to obey the law if they do not choose to do so voluntarily.
Ethics usually fall into three categories – professional, social and individual. An employer or company usually defines professional ethics and employees are required to follow them. The general principles underlying most of the ethical dilemmas you will confront in your career are addressed in the professional code of ethics defined by the company. Professional codes of ethics may not provide detailed guidance in all possible situations. You must have an inner sense of what is moral to be able to apply ethics in specific situations. This is where social and individual ethics play an important role. Social ethics are usually defined by society or a group and the primary values existing in that group. Individual ethics are usually defined by personal heritage and integral family values.
Many professional organizations have developed codes of ethics, which have been widely adopted as the basic code for many companies and universities. While the professional codes of ethics have slight differences in emphasis, they are in agreement on general principles.
It is important to note that not only professional organizations have Code of Ethics. Many higher institutions of learning also maintain a code of ethics. Usually, one of the sections deals specifically to plagiarism of Intellectual Property at the college or university. (http://cil.usu.edu/htm/et/law-ethics/).
1. Explain the difference between act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism?
Rule utilitarianism is a form of utilitarianism that says actions are moral when they conform to the rules that lead to the greatest good, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule of which it is an instance." For rule utilitarians, the correctness of a rule is determined by the amount of good it brings about when followed.
Rule utilitarianism measures the amount of 'good' an individual action does in reference to a rule or law.
In contrast, act utalitarian judge actions in terms of the goodness of their consequences without reference to rules of action. Another variation of rule utilitarianism stresses the greater utility of following a given rule in general, arguing that the practice of following some rule in all instances (always stopping at red lights, for example) will have better consequences overall than allowing exceptions to be made in individual instances, even if better consequences can be demonstrated in those instances. Rule utilitarianism can also be seen as practice rule, which states that—even though in some or most cases the rule wouldn't cause the greatest good—never following it would not cause the greatest good for the greatest number of people. For example the fifth amendment states, "No person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." Even though that rule protects many criminals from conviction, in its absence people could be tortured or threatened into confessing crimes they didn't commit. So, if there were no fifth amendment, it would not cause the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
Act Utilitarianism doesn't judge the value of an action in terms of laws. Rather it states that actions are moral when they benefit the most people. Whether or not there is a law or rule associated with the action in question is irrelevant to an AU.
A quick way to remember the difference is to think of mob rule: RU sees justice as a state function, because the law says it is a state function. AU sees justice as everyone's responsibility, individual and states'.
Rule utilitarianism measures the amount of 'good' an individual action does in reference to a rule or law.
In contrast, act utalitarian judge actions in terms of the goodness of their consequences without reference to rules of action. Another variation of rule utilitarianism stresses the greater utility of following a given rule in general, arguing that the practice of following some rule in all instances (always stopping at red lights, for example) will have better consequences overall than allowing exceptions to be made in individual instances, even if better consequences can be demonstrated in those instances. Rule utilitarianism can also be seen as practice rule, which states that—even though in some or most cases the rule wouldn't cause the greatest good—never following it would not cause the greatest good for the greatest number of people. For example the fifth amendment states, "No person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." Even though that rule protects many criminals from conviction, in its absence people could be tortured or threatened into confessing crimes they didn't commit. So, if there were no fifth amendment, it would not cause the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
Act Utilitarianism doesn't judge the value of an action in terms of laws. Rather it states that actions are moral when they benefit the most people. Whether or not there is a law or rule associated with the action in question is irrelevant to an AU.
A quick way to remember the difference is to think of mob rule: RU sees justice as a state function, because the law says it is a state function. AU sees justice as everyone's responsibility, individual and states'.
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