- Should a line be drawn on further invasions of privacy?
The Internet has given people many new opportunities for communication, development, and carrying out of financial operations. It is impossible to imagine modern life without access to the world net, even taking into consideration numerous threats to the media privacy and security. Recent whistle blowing of information about the scope of governmental access to private data bases by Edward Snowden has made Americans alert on revealing their personal details on the net and using state-of-the-art mobile devices. Moreover, the concept of sharing information has undergone some reconsideration. People understand that the price of expressing themselves in the vast informational space is the possibility for IT specialists to use personal data for their profit. Secrets and problems revealed by Edward Snowden have showed the imperfect ethic side of high digital literacy of IT specialists and state officials (Gallagher, 2013).
The Internet has empowered hackers with sophisticated tools for new types of fraud and crime, which increasingly happen on the web. The fact that the ethics can be violated in official state institutions has shaken the social consciousness. On the one hand, Edward Snowden is a criminal who has revealed the state secrets and, consequently, he is subject to a severe punishment. On the other hand, the former secret agent has showed the world the example of strong opposition to an evil system of mass defrauds. He has made Americans reconsider their trust in ethics of officials at power. There has appeared the necessity to regulate legally the line of further government invasion on the social media privacy and security.
- How can freedom of expression and intellectual property rights ethically conflict?
Freedom has always been the question of broad social discussion and personal concern for many individuals. The Internet has given the opportunity to get, share, and interpret facts. It has greatly contributed to the patterns of social justice and development of critical thinking of citizens. However, the naïve readiness to present unique texts, spiritual items, and other intellectual property has showed the imperfection of tools for their protection from net offenders. For example, texts become the intellectual property when special Internet resources, such as Copyscape, fix and personify them. Before caring out such an operation officially, texts belong to nobody and can be easily stolen without any consent of the genuine author. Such violations are difficult to detect and track because machines and search engines on the Internet seem to use and apply their own language and rules. It turns out that competent IT specialists become the most powerful professionals because of their knowledge of that new computer system of signs and options. Nowadays, there are many brand personalities who do not create anything, but present a conglomeration of other people’s successes in creativity.
- What ethical issues do IT companies face today? Have you been personally affected by an IT ethical issue?
Nowadays, IT companies face a very serious problem of trust preservation of their current and potential customers. People look for the ways to protect their personal data and financial details. They do not want any interference with their privacy and need reasonable guarantees for online social media privacy. At the same time, effective tools for such protection have not been invented yet and a human ethical factor remains an important aspect for achieving at least partial security. Companies have to hire morally firm and adequate specialists who understand the importance of personal data issues. Responsibility of such employees becomes the purpose and object of detailed assessment in the process of hiring. There are too many temptations for people engaged in the industry and their readiness to meet and correspond with customers’ demands for security can be the crucial point of the company’s success. Modern IT companies should create decent working conditions and provide their competent professionals with high salary and social security benefits in order to make them interested in high quality performance of their responsibilities and protective measures.
As for me, I remember that once I was not refunded for the law quality product bought on the Internet; however, the case was stated in the on-line agreement. I failed to detect the seller as the site was not creditable and it made me alert and selective in further choice of platforms. Another case happened when one of my original semester final papers did not come through the plagiarism control. I suppose someone has stolen it. I failed to detect the offender, but I remember that my mail access was broken and blocked two days before the submission of the file.
- What are four ethical topics pertinent to organizations in the IT industry?
1) Use of nontraditional workers leads to creation of new competition terms and conditions. Fighting traditional temptations to steal and cheat needs new approaches. Only leaders with highly sound and firm spiritual values and non-traditional critical thinking and approach to theft detection can contribute to some essential changes in the privacy preservation.
2) Whistle-blowing is a part of the employees’ reflection on the ethics of the company. It is necessary to take into consideration employees’ critical assessment of methods and strategies of the company. The management should be grateful for competent prompts and detection on the issues of legacy and customers’ personal data security. Top managers should be aware of and concerned with on-line offences and look for the ways of protecting their company’s reputation.
3) Green computing implies the usage of modern devices that help to protect undesirable leakages of information. It helps to control the social media privacy by means of specially constructed technologies and schemes. Competitive IT companies need to improve their hardware and software tools in order to remain protected and competitive.
4) ICT codes of ethics include mechanisms of detecting information leakage cases and social media privacy violations. Some IT companies concerned with the fact that digitization has widely entered the storage of personal and operational data include legally fixed rules for computer crime persecution and punishment of employees. They can also include stimulation and encouragement means for highly competent specialists.