Implications of an ethic of privacy for human-centred systems engineering

Abstract

Privacy remains an intractable ethical issue for the information society.Given its complicity, there is a moral obligation to redress privacy issues in systems engineering practice itself. This paper investigates the role the concept of privacy plays in contemporary systems engineering practice. Ontologically a nominalist human concept, privacy is considered from an appropriate engineering perspective:human-centred design. Two human-centred design standards are selected as exemplars of best practice, and are analysed using an existing multi-dimensional privacy model. The findings indicate that the human-centred standards are currently inadequate in dealing with privacy issues. Some implications for future practice are subsequently highlighted.

Towards empathy: a human-centred analysis of rationality, ethics and praxis in systems development

“…Carew et al (2011) presented sample evidence that education and training could help induce, promote and sustain the Humanist/Existentialist axis. Interestingly, this position is consistent with calls for an increased role for virtue ethics in systems development (Carew et al, 2008, Grodzinsky, 2000, Gotterbarn, 1999. As previously noted in section 3.4, virtue ethics focuses on the development of personal virtues, that is, characteristics that help induce appropriate moral character and, subsequently, ethical behaviour at the individual level.…”

“…In response, there has been increasing support for "virtue ethics" to inform ethical (or empathy-oriented) systems development (Gotterbarn, 1999, Grodzinsky, 2000, Carew et al, 2008. Instead of relying on strict ethical rules or duties to inform personal action, virtue ethics focuses on developing moral character and disposition (Johnson, 2009 …”