Right to Privacy — Discussion on Ethics in Software
Ethics are the moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity. The study of ethics as a field is the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles. In modern software development, ethical dilemmas arise frequently and it is critical that developers are able to address and respond to these ethical dilemmas in the correct manner.
One ethical dilemma that arises often in the area of software development is that of the right to privacy. To start off what does “The right to privacy” mean? In the United States, you have a right to privacy in your own home and on your own private property. In the context of software (more specifically user data) what rights do individuals have to their own user-generated data? Should people own the data they create? Is it ethical for companies to use users’ data? The answers to these questions are complicated and are still developing to this day.
In our world today there exists little privacy online. Websites use cookies to track information about their users, many even sell that metadata to third-parties for profit. All of this happens with the average user having little to no knowledge that it is going on. Is this ethical? There are arguments for both opinions. For example, it can be ethical if you view delivering the best customer experience as your top priority. Then all the metadata being collect is used to offer you personalized ads and customization on pages you visit. It can be viewed as unethical as well, examining the fact that most users are unaware of the collection and selling of their data to third parties.
In closing, the right to privacy has many definitions. When examining it in the scope of software it can be shown that there exists little to no privacy in our digital experience today.
