Understanding Social Responsibility Issues in the Information Age

Abstract

So, you are taking a trip and have booked your flight, paid your bills, bought a travel insurance and made hotel bookings–all without talking to a single person. Of course, you used the Internet to accomplish your tasks. But how can you be sure that your personal information used to book flights, buy a travel insurance and make hotel bookings would not be used by the concerned companies to send you junk email or it is not sold to some direct marketers without your consent? How can you be sure that your personal information and credit card details were transmitted in a secure mode? How can you be sure that online businesses have proper high integrity business processes to handle your private information with due care? You may also have worries that if something does go wrong, i.e., your personal information is stolen, misused or abused, what recourse would you have. These are all legitimate social responsibility concerns which have surfaced more so in the information age because of technological advances and our growing reliance on information and communication technologies to carry out our daily work.