What’s mine is mine; what’s yours is mine: private ownership of ICTs as a threat to transparency

Abstract

In the face of ubiquitous information communication technology, the presence of blogs, personal websites, and public message boards give the illusion of uncensored criticism and discussion of the ethical implications of business activities. However, little attention has been paid to the limitations on free speech posed by the control of access to the Internet by private entities, enabling them to censor content that is deemed critical of corporate or public policy. The premise of this research is that transparency alone will not achieve the desired results if ICT is used in a one way system, controlled by the provider of information. Stakeholders must have an avenue using the same technology to respond to and interact with the information. We propose a model that imposes on corporations a public trust, requiring these gatekeepers of communication technology to preserve individual rights to criticism and review.

Transparency in persuasive technology, immersive technology, and online marketing: Facilitating users’ informed decision making and practical implications

“…More succinctly, transparency is "the extent to which a stakeholder perceives an organization provides learning opportunities about itself" (Parris et al, 2016, p.233). Cohen and Hiller (2009) proposed a two-way collaborative model of corporate transparency and stated that corporate transparency policies should advance the possibility of stakeholders interacting with companies to correct and enrich publicly available information. Another example is the 3T (Timeliness, Transparency and Trust) framework of managing online customer complaints (Stevens et al, 2018).…”

Transparency in Business: The Perspective of Catholic Social Teaching and the “Caritas in Veritate”

“…For example, Turilli and Floridi (2009) argue that transparency is a preethical condition for enabling or impairing other ethical practices or principles; Menéndez Viso 2009 develops a theory of corporate transparency based on the balance between the stakeholders' right to know and potential risks associated with information disclosure. Similarly, Vaccaro and Madsen (2009a) find a justification for corporate transparency based on Rawls' first principle of justice, and Cohen and Hiller (2009) develop a justification for corporate transparency relying on the right to speech as opposed to the right to know proposed by public policy literature (Fung et al 2007).…”