Digital Ethics

Lesson 1: Lesson Plan

Why Digital Ethics?

• Start with ethics example of Yelp and “scrubbing”
• Third party review sites and reputation management as a function of public relations
• Define scrubbing
• Yelp’s crisis of public trust
• Fixing the problem through campaigns to regain trust (YouTube, website, and social media)

Unethical v. Illegal

• Challenges to scrubbing in court—Yelp wins the case and is legally allowed to scrub profiles, but is this ethical?
• Ethics in digital media
• Apply ethics definition from Module 1 to digital environment
• Define digital media—Digital media is defined as a platform, site or space of multi-directional, instantaneous communication (Edwards & Pieczka, 2013)
• Provide examples of digital media—Social, mobile and electronic forms of communication common to student lives
• Explain why digital media is critical to public relations
• Examples of companies who must manage a digital brand or presence

Ethical Guidelines for Digital Public Relations

• 1-800-Flowers example of using digital media to avoid a crisis and facilitate communication with their customers
• Reinforce the difference between illegal and unethical

15 Ethical Guidelines for Digital Public Relations

• Introduce the 15 ethical principles from Bowen (2013)
• Define and provide an example of each of the 15: be fair and prudent, avoid deception, maintain dignity and respect, eschew secrecy, is it reversible(?), be transparent, clearly identify, rational analysis, emphasize clarity, disclose, verify sources and data, establish responsibility, examine intention, encourage the good, and consistency builds trust.
• Ex: the principle of “maintain dignity and respect” will be first defined as “ensuring communication respects public expectations of privacy, security and fairness.” This definition will be also expanded upon, by reflecting on what privacy may mean (including a basic overview IP addresses, cookies, and other tracking software- which will be expanded upon next lesson). The concept will then be related to one of the case studies already presented, such as discussing how Yelp failed to respect the privacy of users by revealing their identity to retailers who paid.

Cyberethics Statements

• Why companies publish statements on digital ethics (aka: cyberethics statements)
• Ex: Microsoft—Microsoft's extensive “cyberethics statement” tells the public the types of tracking software it uses while visitors search its site. In addition, it recommends that the public is mindful of the personal data shared while online.
• Ex: Facebook—Vague, two-sentence statement from Facebook, which encourages Facebook personnel to practice “extreme sensitivity and caution” when accessing personal information of users.
• Compare the details of Microsoft to vagueness of Facebook
• Encourage students to look at the cyberethics statements of their own favorite brands or organizations

Lesson 2: Lesson Plan

Digital Public Relations Tools and Ethics

• Overview what tools are available to public relations campaigns and plans
• i.e. cookies and tracking software, personalized integrated marketing campaigns and big-data databases

Public Anxiety

1. the public was most concerned with its diminished privacy and the targeting of campaigns based on personal information (obtained through tracking software).
2. the public was concerned about the hidden messages within complex end-user license agreements that may result in unfair corporate advantages over individual rights.
3. the public was concerned with the perceived lack of legal policies that regulated digital campaigns and corporate actions.

Tracking Software

• Define tracking software—Tools that allow practitioners to gain insight into details of the public’s life without direct communication with those members of public
• Ex: Amazon advertising products a user recently looked at on Facebook
• Reinforce public concern of this tool
• Buying big-datasets of information on the public from tracking software
• Define big data and big-data warehouses
• Ex: Target advertising pregnancy items to a teen who had not told her family she was pregnant (the retailer learned of her condition from tracking software)
• Ex: FitBit identifying a woman is pregnant before she knew herself—Is it ethical for FitBit to collect and sell this data to retailers who may want to advertise to this member of the public?

End-User License Agreements

• Define end-user license agreements: long, legal contracts that users “agree” to before entering a platform or creating a profile.
• Many users never read them, and it is unclear how legally enforceable they are
• Balance between legal and ethical practices within the document
• Ex: Gamestation, UK based gaming store—In 2013, the e-retailer added a clause to their agreement that stated users would agree to give Gamestation, “their immortal souls.” While intended as a joke, once users found out, they protested the retailer and petitioned government for stronger regulations of these agreements.
• Public anxiety over the items/clauses of end-user license agreements
• The end-user license agreement promotes the ideology of transparency, as such agreements are viewed as sneaky and opaque policy stances.

Legal Regulations of Digital Ethics

Explain each of the following:

• Requirements that the public must know whom you represent
• Statements regarding how digital user information will be stored, protected and used
• An “opt-out” capability for digital communication including promotional emails, native advertising, and pop-ups

Resources

• Lesson Plan, Lessons 1 and 2
• Lesson 1 PowerPoint
• Lesson 2 PowerPoint

Module Overview

As strategic communicators and practitioners continually use digital tools and technologies to build campaigns and develop messages, they must also be well versed in the frameworks and guidelines that help make informed and ethical decision making. This module introduces 15 ethical guidelines that students can apply to digital campaigns and projects as well as overviews some of the key tools used by practitioners in the field. This module contains two lessons: 1) Why digital ethics? and 2) Digital tools and ethics. ​

Module Developer

Dr. Alison Novak

Assistant Professor, Rowan University

Alison N. Novak is Assistant Professor at Rowan University in the Department of Public Relations and Advertising. She received her Ph.D. from Drexel University in Communication, Culture, and Media. Her work explores civic engagement, youth culture, and digital media. She is the author of Media, Millennials, and Politics: The Coming of Age of the Next Political Generation and the editor of Defining Identity and the Changing Scope of Culture in the Digital Age. Her work has been featured in Review of Communication, First Monday, and The Electronic Journal of Communication.