This essay will discuss some of the Social, Ethical and Legal issues that an IT (Information Technology) Professional will likely face during their career in the Information Technology Sector. Furthermore, I will talk about how these issues affect professionals and how they could approach these challenges to try finding feasible solutions for them.
When every IT professional starts their journey into the IT Sector, they are bound to come across social issues which will have to be dealt with professionally. One important Issue is being green in Information Technology. The earth’s resources are continuously becoming scarce whilst the demand for them increases sharply. Every IT professional should understand that power consumption does not cover the whole green IT spectrum. Recycling dangerous electronic waste, optimising/virtualising servers to distribute workloads, having a long term green policy, reducing your workplace carbon foot print such as the paperless desk and an efficient data centre-business continuity model; these are a few examples of issues that professional must consider as these issues all occur in the green IT world.
Another issue that an IT professional should take into account is the generations in the workplace. (Klobucher 2011) talks about how Generation 2020 is approaching, how these professionals will be connected, concerned, careful and collaborative. Generation 2020 is the time when there will be five generations in the workplace. The IT professional will face challenges such as communication and collaboration thus he/she should be able take into account these issues, be able to work effectively with the generation and become part of their network.
The IT professional should consider promoting equality, inspire women to be part of the IT revolution and become influential leaders. In addition, finding better solution to assist people with any disabilities will be another important issue. We continue to become a global workforce as each day passes and this calls for high dependency on communication skills. With recent trends in translation software and other mediums, this will create unintentional synergies that will constantly change the way we work in the IT Sector.
Secondly, ethical issues are another important topic that the IT professional must understand. One view is that ethical behaviour cannot be coerced or mandated. M. van Swaay believes ‘because ethical behaviour implies free choice, it cannot be captured in rule. The standard of reference for what is ethical has to exist ‘outside human definition’, and therefore cannot be open to human negotiation.’ IT is usually looked at as the provider of tools to meet the goals of the business, not the business itself. Further, ‘IT practitioners rarely work in a stand-alone manner…and therefore their individual responsibility from an ethical perspective is very much diluted.’ (Andronache) But when the number of professionals employed in the IT arena is taken into account, not to mention the vast amount of personal data and other information it controls, it shows that the need of for a comprehensive ethical standard important, else the consequences can dire.
For an example of how poorly the IT community handles responsibility, one only needs to look at the Y2K scare. The developers failed to use the technology present at the time to its potential by only using two digits for the year in dates instead of four digits. It was known even then that this could be a problem, but it was ignored. The developers were not the only ones who may have acted unethically. Many managers also added to the problem. They refused to pay attention to the claims of the IT personnel. The Y2K scare is a good example of the impact that the unethical performance of one’s job duties can affect the security of an IT system. It is important to note that what is unethical is not necessarily illegal. In our everyday life, many individuals and organizations faced with common ethical problems. Another example, the issue of a company legally monitoring employees’ e-mail is very controversial issues. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, tens of millions of computer users are monitored, most without their knowledge, by their employers. Employees have limited protection against employers’ electronic surveillance. Although several legal challenges are now underway, the law appears to support employers’ rights to read electronic mail and other electronic documents of their employees. In this matter, the definitions of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ are not clear. Also, the distinction between what is illegal and what is unethical is not always obvious (Stephan, 2002). With the advanced computer technology, it is important to understand computer ethics related to security, privacy issues, and major negative impacts of IT (Information Technology). Strategies must be developed which address a growing number of global ethical questions resulting from these negative impacts of IT in Cyberspace and IT society. Here are some of the questions that need to be addressed:
” Is it ok for IT professional to read the e-mail of network user ? Is it ok to read the employees email to check that the companies rule aren’t violated?
” Is it ok to view the website used by the network user?
” Is it ok to read the documents and personal information stored in the users computer or the files stored in the server?
The above question shows the ethical aspects of employee having ability to do so. Network administrator has rights to access the all data in system under a network. The decision is made based on the job position and other ethical issues of doing it. For example: The information gained by reading another employee e-mail can be used to blackmail or to get him/her fired. IT also has problematic implications, and some negative impacts on our society. The real world ethical dilemmas are
What if you leave this company and later work for another company and use the knowledge in that company? Would it make a difference if you signed a non-disclosure agreement when you accepted the job? IT consultants who work multiple companies have more ethical issue to deal with. The money issues, the propagation of network attacks, hacks, and viruses are threats to IT infrastructure have made many companies to think about the problem. Another ethical issue is that promising more than you can deliver to the client and getting high fees. You can install technologies and make client network be secure but cant promise that to be completely secure. According to BSC code of conduct
-Sets out the professional standards required by BCS as a condition of membership
-Applies to all members, irrespective of their membership grade, the role they fulfill, or the jurisdiction where they are employed or discharge their contractual obligations.
-Governs the conduct of the individual, not the nature of the business or ethics of any Relevant Authority.
Professional associations such as the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) have developed their own codes of ethics and professional conduct, which can serve as a guideline for individuals and other organizations. As IT professional is our duty to answer the ethical questions and act accordingly.
In legal issues The ‘right to privacy’ is a right we all expect. We do not expect personal details such as our age, medical records, personal family details and, political and religious beliefs to be freely available to everybody. With the growth of information and communication technology, large databases are able to hold huge quantities of information and global networks are able to share and distribute this information around the world in seconds. To protect people and their personal information, the Data Protection Act was formed. The first Act was made law in 1984 but was replaced by a new Act in 1998 to include the European Union law. he latest news by Yahoo is hackers stolen data about 500 million users that could be largest cyber slit in history.The breach included swathes of personal information, including names and emails, as well as ‘unencrypted security questions and answers’.The hack took place in 2014 but has only now been made public.In the UK it is believed data on about eight million user accounts was taken in the hack. (BBC news online). This been admitted by the FBI as investigation claims.
The days of CCTV being limited to a video camera on a pole are long gone. Our new code reflects the latest advances in surveillance technologies and their implementation, while explaining the key data protection issues that those operating the equipment need to understand. People need to be informed about that their information being collected and stored in safely as long it is destroyed. The technological change of CCTV guidance was recently updated in 2008.These new technology need to be used in compliance with Data Protection Act. Just last month the Civil Aviation Authority released figures showing that over 300 companies have now been given permission to operate UAS (unmanned aerial vehicles) in the UK.(Blog By Jonathan Bamford, Head of Strategic Liason. online)
Here and Now there is quite a wide-range offence and covers not just systematic hacking (for example, using software to try multiple passwords), but also the unauthorised use of someone’s log-in details (where the hacker knows the user’s password) or an employee’s attempt to access systems to which he has not been given access. The Computer Misuse Act (CMA) was passed in 1990, following a long-running, but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to prosecute two people that hacked into BT’s systems in the early 1980s.(brodies.com ).
This act included three crimes, they are ( Computer Misuse Act)
‘ The crime of unauthorized access
‘ The crime with hidden intents of disruptions.
‘ The crime of unauthorized modifications
Take for example Daniel Cuthbert, a security consultant who in 2005 was prosecuted for trying to test the security of a website that he had previously used to donate money to in order to help Tsunami victims. While he tested the site with two probes and did not achieve anything, he was detected, identified, arrested and indicted, though it was clear he had no malicious intent.
But the fact is that any act or law cannot stop the manufacturing and distribution of the tools and information that is offensive. Activities of this kind are performed in a hidden technique somewhere underground locations. The only way to help the computer misuse act is to mainly concentrate on the prosecution team, that is prosecute should have the ability to prove the crime those who are arrested for performing the crime and should be severely punished so that other individuals do not dare of performing any crime.
I conclude that technologies may change but as IT professional I will follow the principles of DPA and develop softwares based on it. I will not use the personalised data with out the aid of permission given to me as agreed contract. I will consult with conscientious committee whenever I am unsure of taking decision about given data to be shared or used.As IT professional I develop a software tool and made applicable in market it should be informed with notice to people that the tool is legal or illegal for use. Who is permitted to use? and who is not permitted to use it? also to be mentioned that people should not break the Computer Misuse Act . Software will be developed with out breaking the laws and useful to the society as well. I will never try to misuse the authority of access given to me .
According to the company side, if employee addict to do unnecessary thing in office time it is not acceptable because it is not ethical and simply it is not good for employee, organization and also to the society. So, to avoid these kinds of thing companies may be pointed to monitoring people. Monitoring people is not good without their awareness. Though there are some laws about these factor most of the people don’t aware about this. Therefore the best solution for this before monitor the people organization should aware the employees with their own favor. Further according to my point of view legislation should be improved and it should be acceptable with both employees and employers. And there should be a common and lawful rules regulation procedure when recruiting employee.