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Essentials of MIS, 12e (Laudon)
Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems
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.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
2) 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.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
3) 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.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
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4) 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.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
5) 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.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning; Information Technology
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
6) 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.
AACSB: Information Technology
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
7) 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
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
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8) 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.
AACSB: Information Technology
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
9) Advances in data storage have made routine violation of individual privacy more difficult.
AACSB: Information Technology
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
10) In today’s legal climate, there is little incentive for firms to cooperate with prosecutors
investigating financial crimes at their firm.
AACSB: Information Technology
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
11) Ethics refers to the principles of right and wrong that can be used by individuals to make
choices to guide their behavior.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
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12) 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.
AACSB: Written and Oral Communication; Ethical Understanding and Reasoning; Reflective
Thinking
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
13) Discuss at least three key technology trends that raise ethical issues. Give an example of an
ethical or moral impact connected to each one.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning; Written and Oral Communication; Information
Technology
LO: 4.1: What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information systems?
5
14) 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.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
15) 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.
AACSB: Application of Knowledge
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
16) 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.
AACSB: Application of Knowledge
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
17) 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.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
6
18) 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
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
19) 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.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
20) 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.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
7
21) 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.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
22) 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
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
23) 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
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
24) The last step in analyzing an ethical issue should be to identify the stakeholders.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
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25) Professionals have special rights and obligations because of their claims to knowledge,
wisdom, and respect.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
26) Liability refers to the existence of laws that permit individuals to recover damages done to
them by other actors, systems, or organizations.
AACSB: Application of Knowledge
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
27) The utilitarian principle asks you to put yourself in the place of others, and think of yourself
as the object of the decision.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
28) What are the steps in conducting an ethical analysis?
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning; Written and Oral Communication
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
29) List and define the six ethical principles discussed in your text.
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning; Written and Oral Communication
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
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30) Define the basic concepts of responsibility, accountability, and liability as applied to ethical
decisions. How are these concepts related?
AACSB: Ethical Understanding and Reasoning; Written and Oral Communication
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
31) What is NORA and how does it work?
AACSB: Information Technology; Written and Oral Communication
LO: 4.2: What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions?
32) 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.
AACSB: Application of Knowledge
LO: 4.3: Why do contemporary information systems technology and the Internet pose
challenges to the protection of individual privacy and intellectual property?
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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
AACSB: Application of Knowledge
LO: 4.3: Why do contemporary information systems technology and the Internet pose
challenges to the protection of individual privacy and intellectual property?
34) 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.
AACSB: Application of Knowledge
LO: 4.3: Why do contemporary information systems technology and the Internet pose
challenges to the protection of individual privacy and intellectual property?
35) 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.
AACSB: Application of Knowledge
LO: 4.3: Why do contemporary information systems technology and the Internet pose
challenges to the protection of individual privacy and intellectual property?