Ethics, Accountability & Regulation

UOW IACT418/918 Spring 2001

Bob Brown

Overview

As economics continue to move towards the Information Age, issues such as the privacy and security of information for which organisations are responsible emerge as an integral part of the network & telecommunications management role.

A non-legal discussion of the issues as they pertain to Network Management

Ethics

Definitions of Ethics The science of morals (1602) Science of human duty in the widest extent (1690) From Greek, ethos, meaning character & manners

Modern context: Nowadays often seen as the self-regulating

Codes of Conduct of professional bodies Eg: The medical professions’ HYPOCRATIC OATH

Ethics in Telecommunications

Codes of Conducteg: from the West Australian Internet Association:

(1) I, as an internet provider shall not: (b) knowingly permit a user to engage in criminal activity

using access to my system, provided that such activity is identified by competent law enforcement authorities.

(2) I, as an internet provider shall: (a) attempt to establish the name and age of all users with

accounts on my system by reference to proof of name and address on application

(c) attempt to safeguard the privacy of my users and their data in all respects subject to reasonable actions necessary to ensure proper operation of my system and compliance with this Code.

Problems with ethical codes

knowingly permit a user to engage in criminal activity using access to my system …

attempt to establish the name and age of all users …

And also …

Attempt to safeguard the privacy of my users and their data …

A German court found the CEO of CompuServe (Germany) guilty of distributing child pornography

Are these conflicting goals?

Sometimes it is impossible to achieve all the aims of a Code of Conduct equally without making compromises

Problems with ethical codes

All rules, such as ethical codes, are systems

ALL structured systems lend themselves to maximisation … eg: basketball attracts tall people Lawyers are trained and paid to influence the

interpretation of rules systems, to find the most convenient meanings for their clients

Most industry codes are self-regulating

Issues

Privacy

Security

Responsibility - Accountability

These are inter-related and must NOT be considered in isolation from each other.

Privacy I

Personal PrivacyWe believe we have a right to privacyWe expect governments, institutions, corporations and individuals to respect our privacyWe expect that we have a right to examine any information held about ourselves – medical records, credit references etc.

Privacy II

Who holds what sort of data about you?Australian Federal Government debate over regulating corporate access to private details- will it destroy the telemarketing industry?Government bodies are not allowed to collate their databases, but private organisations may, there is no law against it.Governments are outsourcing their administrative functions to private groups

Privacy III

Do Governments need access to private data to enforce the law? National security Organised crime Drug trafficking Child pornography etc.

Is that why governments don’t like people using the best encryption systems?

The Corporate Scenario

Corporations vs. Customers Market surveys Demographics Telemarketing databases Leaving your digiprints behind “Intelligent Agents” on websites

Eg: Amazon & buying trends

Would the level & quality of service, suffer if corporations could NOT collect customer data and follow trends?

The Corporate Scenario

Employers vs. Employees Several court cases (esp. in USA) upheld the

right of the employer to invade the privacy of the employee … Searching employee cars, desks Enforcing “lifestyle rules”

Trade Unions & employee rights: good or bad? Video surveillance, phone recording Loss prevention, OH&S, training purposes

Are ‘management softwares’ that monitor & track employee computer use an invasion of privacy or a necessary tool?

Contradictions

From the AOL Privacy Policy: Section B (iii) …“[AOL] do not release Members’

telephone numbers, credit card numbers, or checking account numbers (or other Individual Information, such as navigational or transactional information…”

Section C (i) …“We may collect and store certain navigational and transactional information, such as data on the choices you make from the range of available services or merchandise, and the times and ways you use AOL and the internet…”

Security I

Increase in use of public domain networks within organisations intranets, extranets, VPN

Moves towards end-user services, such as Provision of government information Full scale e-commerce & I-commerce

B2B is the biggest growth area in the Internet

Security II

Physical Security Ensure that the physical elements of the network are

protected. Includes routers, switches, servers, computer rooms etc.

Network Security Ensure that access to the network is controlled and the

network protected from unauthorised access.

Content Security Ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the contents

on the network, both stored and message traffic.

Security III - Phyiscal

Most network violations come from insider attackA substantial proportion of enterprises’ information assets reside on users desktop computersAfter their initial creation, networks often evolve outside the knowledge of network management

Security IV - Network

Most network violations come from insider attackA substantial proportion of enterprises’ information assets reside on users desktop computersMost users leave their computers ‘logged-in’ all dayProcedures which involve users changing passwords every n days are unpopular (especially among senior management) and often result in simplistic passwords

Security V – Contents

Many network traffic monitoring tools permit access to the content of messagesEncryption makes many problems Needs universal adoption Governments do not encourage top-end

encryption systems in private hands Data encryption by individuals is actually illegal in

some countries

Security/privacy/ethics are interlinked

Network Management Responsibilities I

Ensuring the information assets of the organisation are protected from unlawful activityEnsuring that the integrity of the recorded data are maintainedCompliance with governmental regulationProtection of intellectual property rightsProtection of individual privacy

Network Management Responsibilities II

Password administrationMonitor network/internet usageTraining & mentoring (skills assessment)Email monitoring Offensive or illegal language, material Protection of corporate secrets

Pressure from senior managementDocumentation vs. Privacy Eg: fault reporting & operator identification

Responsibility vs. Accountability

Self Regulation, can it work?

Responsibility: A trust or obligation or duty

Accountability Being answerable or liable

BUT, are those held accountable always the same as those who are responsible? Beware of scapegoating

Hypotheticals

A User asks you to suggest a good password?

Emergency access to a Users files whilst they are away on leave and cannot be contacted

Management asks you to identify “problem users” – with highest error rates or lowest skills

The employees union decides that server-side virus checking of incoming emails invades their privacy

Marketing section requests full User details for their database

A User refuses to clear low-priority emails from their inbox but the system is becoming congested

ReferencesCopyright & Convergence group (1994) Highways to change: Copyright in the New Communications Environment, Commonwealth of AustraliaGraham, S. & Marvin, S. (1996) Telecommunications and the City, Routledge, LondonGrant, A. (ed) (1997) Australian Telecommunications regulation, Communications Law Centre, SydneyJackson, D. (1998) ‘Thugs on the Web’ in The Weekend Australian Living IT, May 30-31, p16Miller, S.E. (1996) Civilising Cyberspace, ACM Press, New YorkMurphy, K. (1998) ‘No Secrets’ in Weekend Australian Living IT, may 9-10, pp4-5Rowe, S.H. (1995) Telecommunications for Managers – 4th Ed, Prentice Hall, Enmglewood Cliffs, NJ