Information Security and Ethics: Social and Organizational Issues : 9781591402862

Information Security and Ethics: Social and Organizational Issues brings together examples of the latest research from a number of international scholars addressing a wide range of issues significant to this important and growing field of study. These issues are relevant to the wider society, as well as to the individual, citizen, educator, student and industry professional. With individual chapters focusing on areas including: web accessibility, the digital divide, youth protection and surveillance, this book provides an invaluable resource for students, scholars and professionals currently working in Information Technology related areas.

Drawing on the earlier writings of Joseph Weizenbaum (1976), Stacey L. Edgar, in the introduction to his excellent book, Morality and Machines, emphasises the need to “examine the dangers of being too mesmerised by the ‘computational theory of mind,’ which can, with its deterministic and materialistic implications, lead to losing sight of what is of moral (and aesthetic) value” (2003, p. 7). Similarly, the renowned communications theorist Raymond Williams reminds us that “a technology is always, in a full sense, social. It is necessarily in complex and variable connection with other social relations and institutions … ” (1981, p. 227). It is in a timely manner, therefore, that Information Security and Ethics: Social and Organizational Issues brings together a collection of recent work by international scholars addressing a number of significant and current social and moral issues associated with the development and use of new information and communication technologies.

The interrelated areas of information security and information ethics are rapidly gaining importance in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the USA on September 11, 2001 and at the same time as academics, computer professionals, government agencies, business organisations and the general public are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers associated with our growing reliance on computer technologies — particularly with regard to the ubiquitous and unregulated nature of the Internet. Today, all members of society are affected by computers - even if they themselves do not own one. The computer has changed our home and workplace environments, how we communicate, how we do business, how we shop and how our children are educated and entertained. As parents, we may be becoming more and more concerned about our inability to protect our children from what we perceive as the harmful effects of technology. As citizens, we may be growing increasingly anxious about the external threats to our national security posed by cyber-terrorists and the internal threat to us as individuals of government control and the related invasion of our rights to privacy and free speech. Business organisations, meanwhile, need to be constantly alert to the increasing dangers to their information security and intellectual property posed by hackers and white-collar criminals. The responsibility lies not just with managers. Kevin Day suggests that had all employees been educated in security then the majority of recent successful security attacks could have been avoided. “Security is not a technology; it is a thought process and a methodology” (Day, 2003, p. 4).