An Ethical Duty To Protect One's Own Information Privacy Case Study

“Information privacy is the privacy of personal information and usually relates to personal data stored on computer systems” (Techopedia, n.d.). It is the responsibility of the individual to protect their own privacy. Therefore, this essay will discuss the classifications of privacy rights by Durlak and linking it to the Utilitarian and Deontological ethics theories by referring to the An Ethical Duty to Protect One’s Own Information Privacy article.

Privacy rights refer to legal rights for a person to “be left alone” but also their personal information to be kept private. Unfortunately, in this technological era, it has become more and more difficult to keep personal information private. Durlak has identified privacy rights in two classifications.
It would be ethically wrong to monitor a person without their consent because it would be a violation of their right of privacy. An example from the article An Ethical Duty to Protect One’s Own Information Privacy was that a university student violated the privacy of his roommate by filming him being intimate with another man, which led to him committing suicide (Allen, 2013). The deontological theory can be applied here because it makes use rules to distinguish right from wrong and it is safe to say that the action by the university student was wrong because the rights of his roommate were violated. The utilitarian theory may also applied where the consequence of the action had led to pain, where the roommate committed suicide because of the
People do have obligations when it comes to protecting their private information and practical precautions are taken protect one’s reputation and feelings (Allen, 2013). This includes protecting usernames and passwords to your bank account, not sharing your location online, and changing passwords on emails frequently so you do not get hacked. With dissemination of information one would need to limit to whom they share information to and should not share private information with strangers even when asked such as their address, medical information and financials. Both the deontological and utilitarian theory can be applied to this right. In the deontological theory, “Kant believed that ethical actions follow universal moral laws, such as “Don’t lie. Don’t steal. Don’t cheat.” (Ethics Unwrapped - McCombs School of Business, n.d.). In the utilitarian theory the consequences of actions can lead to happiness or suffering. Therefore, when sharing information, especially if it is to strangers you may not know their intentions when they acquire your information. The information may be used unethically or for your benefit. For example, if you share your phone number, someone could hack into your phone and track your location and steal private information contained in your phone