An Analysis Of A Book On Ethics By Michael J
Chiderah Onyeukwu
Mr. James Jones
CPSC 2910 001
30 March 2014
Ethics Book Report The text that is the basis for this class and report is “Ethics for the Information Age” by Michael J. Quinn. The book covers a variety of topics, including but not limited to Networked Communication, Intellectual Property, Informational Privacy, and Professional Ethics. Quinn discusses various pros and cons associated with each topic along with laws and ideas that either helped advance them in society or bring them to an end. The topic I have chosen to go further in depth with is the issue of Privacy and the Government. Quinn resorts to using Daniel Solove’s taxonomy of privacy idea to help organize his argument as to whether or not the government oversteps its bounds when it comes to privacy. Solove groups these privacy activities into four categories: information collection, information processing, information dissemination, and invasion. Information collection refers to any activity that gathers personal information while information processing refers to activities that store, manipulate, and use information that has been collected. Information dissemination has to do with activities that help spread personal information and invasion is any activity that interrupts a person’s daily life or messes with their decision-making. Using these categories, one can break down and analyze the different aspects in which government abuses their power to disregard privacy. In case it has been unclear until this point, my view on this matter is that government does indeed intrude on our personal space and privacy in ways that are usually illegal. However, the government usually imposes legislation that restricts these same activities when it comes to private entities. Some of these pieces of legislation involve Solove’s first category, information collection. For example, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (EPPA) prohibits most private employers from using lie detector tests to
Mr. James Jones
CPSC 2910 001
30 March 2014
Ethics Book Report The text that is the basis for this class and report is “Ethics for the Information Age” by Michael J. Quinn. The book covers a variety of topics, including but not limited to Networked Communication, Intellectual Property, Informational Privacy, and Professional Ethics. Quinn discusses various pros and cons associated with each topic along with laws and ideas that either helped advance them in society or bring them to an end. The topic I have chosen to go further in depth with is the issue of Privacy and the Government. Quinn resorts to using Daniel Solove’s taxonomy of privacy idea to help organize his argument as to whether or not the government oversteps its bounds when it comes to privacy. Solove groups these privacy activities into four categories: information collection, information processing, information dissemination, and invasion. Information collection refers to any activity that gathers personal information while information processing refers to activities that store, manipulate, and use information that has been collected. Information dissemination has to do with activities that help spread personal information and invasion is any activity that interrupts a person’s daily life or messes with their decision-making. Using these categories, one can break down and analyze the different aspects in which government abuses their power to disregard privacy. In case it has been unclear until this point, my view on this matter is that government does indeed intrude on our personal space and privacy in ways that are usually illegal. However, the government usually imposes legislation that restricts these same activities when it comes to private entities. Some of these pieces of legislation involve Solove’s first category, information collection. For example, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (EPPA) prohibits most private employers from using lie detector tests to