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`S' Indicator Flat
Ethics For Information Age
Get More Than Once-Over
KIMBERLY UFTON STAFF WRITER
fry Oz thinks the infor-
mation highway needs a
conscience.
"You don't have to break
into a house to seize informa-
tion," says Dr. Oz, a professor
and coordinator of
the management in-
formation systems
program at Wayne
State University's
school of business.
"You can steal some-
one's diskette, or you
can pick up private
conversations
through the cellular
phone network.
"Technology can
be abused," says Dr.
Oz, who recently
published a book,
Ethics For The Infor-
mation Age, now be-
ing used at Wayne
and 14 other colleges
and universities with
business and com-
puter programs. "I
want to get people
enough information
to participate in pub-
lic and private de-
bate."
In his book, Dr. Oz
explains implications
for ethics, including
the dangers of soft-
ware piracy, comput-
er fraud, data
alteration and data Effy Oz .
destruction, hacking,
state laws against computer
crime and how to increase eth-
ical awareness in the work
place.
E
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The Jewish News.
"Information technology rev-
olutionized the way in which we
conduct many aspects of our
lives," Dr. Oz writes in the book.
`The tremendous technological
advancement in the area of
computers and related devices
created unforeseen situations
that necessitate new ethical
consideration. Important issues
like privacy, free speech, and
protection of intellectual prop-
erty have new meanings in the
information age."
Published last fall by Busi-
ness and Educational Tech-
nologies, a division of William
Brown Communications, Ethics
has broken many barriers as-
sociated with releasing a new
title for a developing course
area, says Paul Ducham, an ed-
itor for the publishing house.
Usually, Mr. Ducham says,
new titles are not accepted by
the academic community for a
year after marketing begins.
Among the schools using Dr.
Oz's book are some well-known
institutions with strong busi-
ness and computer programs
like Indiana University/Purdue
at Fort Wayne, Ind., Johns Hop-
kins University in Baltimore,
Texas A & M and Polytechnic
University.
Dr. Oz, 43, of Farm-
ington Hills, was born
in Israel. He moved to
the United States in
1985 to work on a doc-
torate at Boston Uni-
versity. He taught for
three years at Boston
College before accept-
ing the position at
WSU.
At Wayne, Dr. Oz
developed a course in
ethics, an area he says
is rapidly growing but
not well understood.
War Games, the
movie with Matthew
Broderick in which a
computer hacker
breaks into a govern-
ment computer sys-
tem, nearly creating a
nuclear war, really
could happen, Dr. Oz
warns.
"Some behaviors
are not such clear-cut
crimes," Dr. Oz says.
"Most employees don't
know the difference.
Using E-Mail is ethi-
cal. But is picking into
someone's file ethi-
cal?"
Dr. Oz says that 60 percent
of companies in America have
no ethics policies over comput-
er use. Should employees be al-
lowed to use equipment for
personal use, he asks?
"I wanted to write the book
so professionals could learn
more," he says. "There is a lit-
tle debate going on with infor-
mation -technology. But there is
no code of ethics for this pro-
fession. I would like a code of
ethics to be put in place for
those who use computers.
"My goal is to educate," Dr.
Oz says.
Dr. Oz gives seminars on in-
formation systems, and he is
writing another book on the
principles of management in-
formation systems. ❑
The Bank of Israel's "S" (state
of the economy) indicator was
flat in December, as econom-
ic activity in Israel stabilized
at the high levels reached in
October.
The preliminary figures fol-
; low a flat index last Novem-
I ber. According to the central
bank, economic activity has
stabilized in the past two
months.
In the last quarter of 1993,
the index, on average, was 1.8
percent higher than in the pre-
vious quarter and 7.2 percent
higher than in the fourth
quarter of 1992.
Based on the "S" index, the
economy picked up steam last
year over the previous year —
the index grew last year by 7.2
percent compared to 5.9 per-
cent in 1992.
Retail sales continued con-
tracting, falling 2.7 percent
last month, while imports
dropped 4.2 percent. Indus-
trial production dropped 2.5
percent in November after
jumping 4.2 percent in the pre-
vious month.
Tadiran Goes to So. Korea
Tadiran Information Sys-
tems reported it will be in-
stalling an EDI (electronics
data interchange) system in
an unnamed South Korean
electronics firm, and will be
helping the firm get it up and
running.
An EDI system links a
company with all of its sup-
pliers and facilities electroni-
cally.
Tadiran officials said they
expect to complete the project
within six months.
Government Hires Batelle
r.
Batelle, a large U.S. con-
sulting firm specializing in the
industrial application of re-
search and development and
high technology, has been
hired by the Israel Ministry of
Industry and Trade to find
American strategic partners
for Israeli firms.
Last week, Battelle repre-
sentatives visited and inter-
viewed 35 Israeli firms looking
for U.S. partners. The firms
were identified from the min-
istry's data base of over 800
companies either looking for
strategic partners or investors
from abroad.
The visiting representa-
tives focused on firms special-
izing in the areas of metal
coatings and alloys, advanced
materials, glues, plastics, elec-
tric engines, electro-optics,
quality control, and water and
sewage recycling and treat-
ment.
Haifa Chemicals Go Public
Haifa Chemicals an-
nounced last week it will sub-
mit a draft prospectus for a
new public offering on the Tel
Aviv Stock Exchange.
The firm planned to make
the offering last summer, but
workers expressed dissatis-
faction and prepared to dis-
rupt the company's operations.
As a result, management
withdrew its offer, and the
firm has remained fully-
owned by expatriate Arie
Genger's U.S.-based Trans Re-
sources Inc.
Supersol Plans Supply Chain
Supersol, a leading Israeli
supermarket chain, in part-
nership with American in-
vestors plans to open the first
chain of discount office supply
stores in Israel, sources close
to the company confirmed last
week.
The chain will be called Su-
per Office and will be modeled
on and supplied by the Boston-
based Staples, a warehouse-
style office supply store that
offers everything for the office,
from furniture and file cabi-
nets to fax machines and pa-
per clips, at substantial
discounts.
Supersol will have a 62.8
percent share in the company
and make an initial invest-
ment of $2 million. The U.S.
investors group includes Mor- r,
ris Smith, a past manager of
the Magellan fund, the U.S.'s
largest mutual fund.
The other U.S. investors
are two Boston residents heav-
ily involved in the Jewish com-
munity: Leo Kahn, the
founder of Purity Supreme,
one of the largest supermar-
ket chains in Massachusetts,
and Robert Kraft, chairman of
International Forest Products
and Rand Whitney Group.
The first store is to open in
Ra'anana next month.