Emerging Technologies for Business Professionals

CHAPTER 2Information Technology and Ethics

The development of technology brings forth additional ethical questions. The following are some recent events that highlight some of the questions companies need to consider.

On January 13, 2021, the Australian Financial Review reported that Google had removed some Australian news content from its search results for some local users. A Google spokesperson told The Conversation that the experiment did not prevent users in the trial group from accessing a news story. Rather, they would not discover the story through the search function and would have to access it another way, such as directly on a publisher's website.^[1]

“A Cambridge report published in October 2022 claims the United Kingdom police's use of facial recognition technology (FRT) has breached numerous ethical and human rights obligations. The report audited the use of facial recognition technology by the Metropolitan Police and the South Wales Police. The report outlined three key issues: privacy, discrimination, and accountability.”^[2]

Ethics

Technology can enhance many aspects of business operations and human conditions. However, as the two opening stories indicate, some uses of technology add complications when trying to maximize profit at the expense of others. Therefore, when introducing new technology, managers should consider how technology would impact society and individuals. In this chapter, we explain information technology ethics and discuss managerial ...