Ethics and Genetics: Susceptibility Testing in the Workplace

Genetic testing in the workplace is a technology both full of promise and fraught with ethical peril. Though not yet common, it is likely to become increasingly so. We survey the key arguments in favour of such testing, along with the most significant ethical worries. We further propose a set of pragmatic criteria, which, if met, would make it permissible for employers to offer (but not to require) workplace genetic testing.     

Ontological Security, Existential Anxiety and Workplace Privacy

The relationship of workers to management has traditionally been one of control. However, the introduction of increasingly sophisticated technology as a means of supervision in the modern workplace has dramatically altered the contours of this relationship, giving workers much less privacy and making workers much more visible than previously possible. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state of technological control of workers and how it has altered the relationship of worker to organization, through the impact upon self as perceived by the worker.     

Design and operation of an Internet realtime conference

This paper outlines the design of an Internet Realtime Conference (IRC) and reports on the experiences gained in running it. The GISSIC95 is believed to be the first ever fullscale technical conference conducted over the Internet in real time, including planning, call for papers, paper submission and interactive access to the conference papers. The system architecture, software design and real-time conference procedure are illustrated. The first-hand experience of running the conference and the conference attendees' feedback are reported and analyzed. The technology issues and extensibility of IRC are discussed in view of encouraging results. Other possible applications based on the concept and system solution developed are pointed out.     

网络用户隐私关心问题研究

网络的出现在给人们的生活带来极大便利的同时也引起了网络用户对自身隐私信息的关心。为此采用问卷调查的方式,利用统计分析和关联分类技术,对网络用户所关心的隐私信息及其关心程度进行研究。由调查结果发现,虽然中国网络用户对自身隐私信息的关心程度不断提高,但整体来说仍然较低,用户对自身各类隐私信息的关心程度存在较大差异,且用户对各类隐私信息中的各项具体信息的关心程度随着用户年龄、性别、学历的差异而有所不同。调查结果为电子商务网站更好地保护用户的隐私信息提供了依据。     

浅议电子商务时代隐私权的法律保护

电子商务的发展日新月异,但因为种种原因致使越来越多网络用户的个人信息被窃取、泄露、传播,个人生活安宁被扰乱,隐私权遭受侵害。就我国目前的立法情况来看,保护隐私权采取的是间接方式,保护力度很弱,保护范围很窄,与电子商务时代个人隐私权遭到频繁侵害的现状显得极不协调,受害人很难依据现行法律法规维护合法权益。本文通过剖析我国现行法律对隐私权保护的缺陷,提出从法律层面完善电子商务环境下隐私权保护制度的基本思路,以更好地促进电子商务行业的蓬勃发展。     

Characteristics of Internet Users and Their Privacy Concerns

Abstract

Concern about the privacy of online consumers is a global issue. Given the global nature of the Internet, companies planning and implementing e-commerce must understand the differences in privacy concerns of consumers in different cultures with different social/economic contexts to become effective in business. Motivated by this need, this study analyzes and compares the privacy concerns of online consumers in China and the United States, identifies major factors related to these concerns, and discusses the cultural/social/economic backgrounds of the related phenomena found in the study.     

Thinking and feeling on the World Wide Web: the impact of product type and time on World Wide Web advertising effectiveness

This article focuses on the effectiveness of banner advertisements.Drawing from theory on functional versus expressive products and wear in versus wear out it argues that product type and time are important factors in World Wide Web (WWW) advertising. The results from a large empirical study are reported and show that responses to banner advertisements differ between functional and expressive products and over time. Functional product banner advertisements have higher initial click-throughs that quickly deteriorate and they have no effect through advertisement impressions. Expressive products need time to wear in as both click-through rates and positive brand attitudes from advertisement impressions increase with repeated exposures. These differences in consumer response are conceptualized as thinking and feeling on the WWW,thereby providing important implications for advertisers.     

The Workplace on the Verge of the 21st Century

Almost exactly ten years ago, the now extinct U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) released a major report -- The Electronic Supervisor: New Technology, New Tensions. This report describes a number of new technologies available to management in its ongoing search to ensure that labour performs its required job to management's rigid specifications. Social issues raised with respect to electronic monitoring included privacy, fairness, quality of working life, and stress-related illnesses. The study was also concerned with drug testing, genetic screening, polygraph testing, as well as a variety of technologies for eavesdropping and monitoring. It seems to be appropriate to evaluate the analyses and recommendations made in the report and to extend the evaluation to current technologies.     

Profiling Cyber-Slackers in the Workplace: Demographic,Cultural, and Workplace Factors

ABSTRACT

Internet abuse in the workplace (a.k.a. cyber-slacking) has become a pervasive problem for employers. When employees abuse the Internet through activities like online gaming, online shopping, personal investment managing, personal emailing, chatting, media watching and viewing pornography, they waste work time and reduce available bandwidth. Existing research has failed to build consensus about who is most likely to cyber-slack. This study examines individuals from the United States, Asia, and India and develops clusters of typical patterns of cyber-slacking and examines the impact of demographic and work related factors on predicting individual cluster membership. The results reveal that young executives are the most likely to cyber-slack and a further qualitative analysis reveals that the pressure of their jobs are compelling them to look for stress relievers and the Internet is an easy resource. In addition, young executive's high degree of autonomy also appears to perpetuate their propensity to cyber-slack.     

Promotional strategies on the World Wide Web

Business managers that use the Internet as a major component of their marketing communications strategy face great challenges. The popularity of the Internet with consumers and businesses drives thousands of firms to promote their products and services using World Wide Web (known hereinafter as the Web) sites. Technology has created a competitive arena that enables exposure to consumers worldwide, who can now easily communicate with each other. This potential for exposure has dramatic implications for any business considering the Internet as a promotional vehicle. The growing popularity of Internet sites, where users may discuss their feelings about companies and products, allows an increased scrutiny of all aspects of business. If companies do not deal effectively with this scrutiny, brand equity is vulnerable to erosion. Therefore, all contingencies inherent in promotional efforts on the Internet must be weighed carefully. Businesses which examine the ramifications of on-line exposure are better able to create and maintain a positive Internet presence which facilitates effective Web site promotion. Planning, implementation and control must be integrated into the on-line marketing communications of businesses, regardless of business size.     

Workplace Values and Outcomes: Exploring Personal,Organizational, and Interactive Workplace Spirituality

Spiritual values in the workplace, increasingly discussed and applied in the business ethics literature, can be viewed from an individual, organizational, or interactive perspective. The following study examined previously unexplored workplace spirituality outcomes. Using data collected from five samples consisting of full-time workers taking graduate coursework, results indicated that perceptions of organizational-level spirituality (“organizational spirituality”) appear to matter most to attitudinal and attachment-related outcomes. Specifically, organizational spirituality was found to be positively related to job involvement, organizational identification, and work rewards satisfaction, and negatively related to organizational frustration. Personal spirituality was positively related to intrinsic, extrinsic, and total work rewards satisfaction. The interaction of personal spirituality and organizational spirituality was found related to total work rewards satisfaction. Future workplace spirituality research directions are discussed.     

A New Kind of Marketing: Creating Micro-Niches Using Resonance Marketing

ABSTRACT

Marketing has been dramatically changed by the Internet, the old rules do not apply. The Web allows companies to create products using micro-segmentation for target markets that are extremely small. Firms that want to be successful have to learn about resonance marketing. Resonance marketing used in conjunction with cause marketing and/or multicultural marketing can help a company find new market niches, charge premium prices. It can also be of great value to those interested in starting a small business.     

Electronic Monitoring and Privacy Issues in Business-Marketing: The Ethics of the DoubleClick Experience

The paper examines the ethics of electronic monitoring for advertising purposes and the implications for Internet user privacy using as a backdrop DoubleClick Incs recent controversy over matching previously anonymous user profiles with personally identifiable information. It explores various ethical theories that are applicable to understand privacy issues in electronic monitoring. It is argued that, despite the fact that electronic monitoring always constitutes an invasion of privacy, it can still be ethically justified on both Utilitarian and Kantian grounds. From a Utilitarian perspective the emphasis must be on minimizing potential harms. From a Kantian perspective the emphasis must be on giving users complete information so that they can make informed decisions as to whether they are willing to be monitored. Considering the Internet advertising industrys current actions, computer users and government regulators would be well advised, both practically and ethically, to move to a user control model in electronic monitoring.     

Privacy at Work – Ethical Criteria

New technologies and practices, such as drug testing, genetic testing, and electronic surveillance infringe upon the privacy of workers on workplaces. We argue that employees have a prima facie right to privacy, but this right can be overridden by competing moral principles that follow, explicitly or implicitly, from the contract of employment. We propose a set of criteria for when intrusions into an employee's privacy are justified. Three types of justification are specified, namely those that refer to the employer's interests, to the interests of the employee her- or himself, and to the interests of third parties such as customers and fellow workers. For each of these three types, sub-criteria are proposed that can be used to determine whether a particular infringement into an employee's privacy is morally justified or not.     

Attention,indifference, dislike,action: Web advertising involving users

Since advertising banners in Web pages usually do not relate to the users' interests, banners are often rejected. Much effort has been spent on trying to adapt banners to users. While the usual approach is to try to accomplish that by gathering data about the user, we propose a different approach. Using user‐configurable advertising profiles and direct feedback we give full control to the users themselves. This approach is currently being implemented and evaluated in the context of an Internet TV program guide. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

RFID技术、保护隐私权与公共政策

本文分析了RFID无线射频识别技术在流通领域的应用前景和预期效益，论述了RFID技术与保护消费者隐私权的关系，以及相关公共政策。应用RFID技术，应注重保护消费者隐私权，制定相关公共政策。公共政策应包括多方参与的技术评估、公正信息原理、界限范围和行业自律等方面内容。     

我国工作场所中负面行为调查及分析

组织中的行为有些在本质上对组织起着正面作用,但是也有一些产生了负面影响。各类负面行为的频繁发生已经成为组织的常态,但国内研究者和管理者尚未给予全面、系统的关注。通过对近20家企业的员工进行问卷调查,结果发现,我国工作场所中存在着数十种负面行为。相关分析表明,各种负面行为之间具有相关性。了解组织中各种负面行为的种类和性质,有助于管理者进行针对性的监控、预防或处理。     

International Web Development

Abstract

Throughout the world, use of the Internet is growing exponentially and bringing mankind closer together. The Internet has become a powerful force in people's lives bringing information from around the globe to the tip of one's fingertips, changing the way the world purchases products and services, and creating new means of communication and media. The possibilities created by the Internet would seem limitless. Unique to each region of the world though is the degree to which the Internet has been adopted and is being utilized. The progression of Internet development has been shown to occur in three stages: acquisition of Web literacy, Web use as an information medium, and Web use for purchasing goods and services. In each of the following geographical regions, North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Oceania, countries can be described as existing in one of these stages. A sampling of the countries within each region analyzes how and to what degree the people of that nation utilize the Internet and who provides the services offered, what services are offered, and obstacles presented in offering those services. Furthermore, the role the Internet plays in commerce, and the extent to which the government of that country has taken in regards to its polices in either regulating and/or promoting the Internet is examined. The factors have been shown to be important in Web development. Today the United States is at the forefront of Internet use and technology; however, it will not be long before that position is challenged by Japan and other countries in Europe and Asia as the Internet becomes more pervasive across the globe.     

浅谈电子商务的安全隐私保护

随着电子商务各种安全技术的发展,网络交易安全成为电子商务发展的核心和关键因素,个人信息保护虽然已是电子商务中早已受到关注的话题,不过到目前为止,电子商务网站对消费者个人因素保护特别是网络隐私权的保护仍存在种种问题,这种状况已经成为电子商务发展的制约因素之一,为此在电子商务环境下如何对网络隐私权实施安全的有效保护,成为电子商务顺利发展的重要因素。     

我国网络银行监管问题研究

网络银行风险问题日益突出,对我国网络银行实施必要监管非常重要.我国目前的网络银行监管制度中存在诸多不足之处,需要借鉴发达国家先进经验,从监管体系的构建、市场准入条件的完备、银行内部监控制度的强化等方面完善网络银行监管法律制度.