Chapter 10 Ethics of IT Organizations - Case Study

VIGNETTE “Problems with Suppliers”

1. How can an organization ensure that all the members of its supply chain will behave ethically?

Answer:

1. Create guidelines for your suppliers

While the jargon-tastic term 'ethical supply chain management policy' makes us shudder, the idea behind term is very sound: create a list of guidelines for those involved in your supply chain to ensure at every point, suppliers are observing best practice.

2. Look out for suppliers' credentials

Your suppliers may say their practices are squeaky clean, but if they can't prove it, how can you trust them? Instead, find out if they have any certification: bodies such as the Fairtrade Foundation, the Soil Association, the Forest Stewardship Council, the Marine Stewardship Council and the Product Authentication Inspectorate (PAI) all have the power to determine whether a company's products can be deemed ethical or not.

3. Waste

Making your supply chain ethical isn't all fair wages and eliminating child labour - how the chain deals with its waste is equally important. Ask your suppliers to cut down on unnecessary packaging - particularly if it's plastic - or look at more sustainable alternatives. The government's Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has made a voluntary agreement, called the Courtauld Commitment, with a range of British retailers, to cut down on waste. Its website lists targets and timescales supply chains should be aiming for.

http://www.smarta.com/advice/suppliers-and-trade/business-suppliers/three-ideas-make-your-supply-chain-more-ethical

2. What responsibility does an organization have to ensure that its suppliers and business partners behave ethically?

Answer:

Suppliers and customers need to be viewed as a partnership. The benefits of cooperation rather than conflict in buyer-supplier relationships include on-going cost reductions, quality improvements, increased operating flexibility and more powerful competitive strategies. Customers who work more closely with suppliers will also be able to create a more responsive supply chain that can meet final demand in a timely manner.

Manufacturers Compete on Green Computing

1. How have green computing efforts lowered the total cost of computer ownership?

Answer:

In recent years, companies in the computer industry have come to realize that going green is in their best interest, both in terms of public relations and reduced costs. This article will take a look at several green initiatives currently under way in the computer industry, as well as issues that have been raised regarding these initiatives.

2. Which approach can yield greater benefits-building greener computers or implementing programs that change users’ behavior so they operate their computers in a more responsible manner?  Explain your response.

Answer:

For me i think it is the same because they operate their computers in a more responsible manner is the best approach that can yield greater benefits. In resulting with that to responsibility education to manpower and it will turn the greenhouse effect to whole world itself.

3. Do research at the EPEAT Web site and determine which computer manufacturer currently has the best green computing ratings.

Answer:

For me its SONY..based on my research in their perspective website they have an EUP Create EUP for hardware

Can be obtained from manufacturers’ Web sites and Web sites that perform independent hardware research.

Create EUP for app.

Build a set of load tests that reflect both the 

average and peak loads for your application.

What is high priority in terms of performance 

improvement may not always be high priority for 

energy usage reduction.

Create EUP for OP

Disable unnecessary services

Virtualization

Green Computing

Saves World!

Saves Money!

Saves Your Family!

Saves YOU!

http://123seminarsonly.com/Seminar-Reports/021/39312358-GreenComputing-2.pdf

Chapter 9 Social Networking - Case Study

Twitter Emerges as News Source for Iran protesters

1. Many people question the value of Twitter’s goal of helping people stay connected in real time. Do the events in Iran illustrate the potential value to society of social networking tools such as Twitter? Are there other ways that Twitter and other social networks could be used by people and organizations to add real value?

Answer:

Powerful new technologies provide great benefits, but they also change the way we live, and not always in ways that everyone likes. An example is the spread of air conditioning, which makes us more comfortable, but those who grew up before its invention speak fondly of a time when everyone sat on the front porch and talked to their neighbors rather than going indoors to stay cool and watch TV. The declining cost of information processing and communication represents a powerful new technology, with social networking as the most recent service to be provided at modest cost. It can be expected to bring pluses and minuses.

2. How trustworthy is the information one gleans from social networks such as Twitter?

Answer:

Twitter is owned by the company called Obvious. They don't have many products, just Twitter. They operate a blog. It was opened publicly in July 2006 and its their only international product currently.

Social Networking Disasters for Dominos

1. Some observers believe that if an organization does not respond to an attack on its brand within the first 24 hours, then the damage has been done—lack of management response is judged as an admission of guilt. Others feel that some time is required to gather facts and figure out what happened before responding. With the advantage of 20/20 hindsight, how might Domino’s have reacted more effectively?

Answer:

Customers who viewed the posted video eventually alarm and decided not to eat pizza at Domino’s. As the issues have been on air their response and apology are already too late and with regards to the social media there were not updated.

2. Do you find it unusual that Domino’s response was primarily through the online media rather than the usual printed press releases? Does this seem an effective and appropriate way to respond under these circumstances? Why or why not? Does Domino’s use of the online media set a precedent for others to follow in the future?

Answer:

Yes it is effective and appropriate way to responds like were this thing started. Nowadays, people are updated through the response of powerful use of online media.

3. Identify three lessons that other companies could learn from Domino’s experience.

Answer:

I’ve described before how the social era has changed consumers expectations about how brands interact with them. Consumers want to see and hear the company’s responses from trustworthy employees. Crises like this are no different. In fact, it matters even more. Of course the corporate communications group will be involved in responding (and they should be), but what about the affected store manager? the individual franchise owner? the other employees that work there? Dominos is missing the opportunity to make consumers BELIEVE their side of the story because it isn’t human enough. The work that Scott Monty did last last year during the Ford Ranger Station controversy is a prime example. If consumers were to hear the message from some of the others Dominos employees I mentioned above, it could can help make a real connection, reasonate, and build trust. So make it personal. Make it believable. Make it REAL.

http://www.kenburbary.com/2009/04/dominos-learning-painful-lessons-about-the-social-era/

Chapter 8 THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE - Case Study

VIGNETTE “Western Cape Striving To Eliminate the Digital Divide”

1. How important is access to ICT in children’s education?

Answer:

ICT is playing an increasing role in people's lives, and the Government has set a target of providing 'universal access' to the Internet by 2006. It is now a fundamental feature of compulsory and post-16 education, and all schools had access by 2002. ICT is also becoming an important aspect in the employment sector and a tool for enabling citizen participation and social inclusion as more services, products and information becomes accessible by electronic means.

http://www.dorset.rmplc.co.uk/tanvq/Why%20is%20ICT%20important%20for%20children_files/frame.htm

2. What are the barriers that stand in the way of universal access to ICT for everyone who wants it?

Answer:

Gain more knowledge to the children, to make them good, to practiced their skills and easier to find and organize some information’s. and practiced well.

Technological Advances Create Digital Divide in Health Care

1. Can you provide examples that either refute or confirm the idea that a gap exists between the kinds of healthcare services available to the wealthy and the poor in the United States?

Answer:

Given the vast inequities in disease burden between developed and developing countries, donors, advocates, and researchers are marshalling resources to accelerate the production of new health technologies that may help to bridge this gap.

“Improving the health of the poorest people in the developing world depends on the development of many varieties of health innovations, such as new drugs, vaccines, devices, and diagnostic tools, as well as new techniques in process engineering and manufacturing, management approaches, software, and policies in health systems and services.”(1)

However, developing countries are able to undertake health innovation to different degrees.  In developing countries, researchers and innovators face tremendous challenges, including the lack of technical training, research tools, financial resources, and up-to-date scientific information.  These barriers impede activists from developing and implementing innovative and low cost technologies.
One such health technology that has the potential to save and improve lives is the disposable needle.  Increasing numbers of people in developing countries are getting the vaccinations that they need to protect their health, but clean needle practices have not caught up.  At least 50 percent of injections in developing countries are unsafe, and in some places that number is as high as 70 percent.(2)

Reused needles can increase the risk of HIV, hepatitis B, and other infections.  “In addition, when dirty needles are not safely disposed of, people harvest them from the garbage and resell them, and children even play with them in garbage dumps.”(3) Vaccinations are meant as a preventive measure to ensure good health, yet when they are administered with unsanitary syringes, patients may actually be harmed.  The nonprofit organization PATH has developed technologies for safe needle disposal and worked with countries to get the supplies they need to make injections safe. They have invented “auto-disposable,” one-time-use syringes and helped pioneer needle removal devices that isolate dirty needles in secure containers.  Simple low-cost technology such as this has the potential to disseminate rapidly across the developing world, saving millions of lives.

http://www.uniteforsight.org/global-health-university/technology

2. Should healthcare organizations make major investments in telemedicine to provide improved services that only the wealthy can afford?

Answer:

They should be if they can handle various issues regards to developing telemedicine, and somehow only few certain people can afford it that may lead to closure of investment. not only for the wealthy or rich people can afford the telemedicine, also for the poor people can benefits so that it’s not fair to others.

3. What are the drawbacks of telemedicine? What situations might not lend themselves to telemedicine solutions?

Answer:

As a result, objective information about the benefits and drawbacks of telemedicine is limited. This review is therefore based mainly on preliminary results, opinions and predictions. Many potential benefits of telemedicine can be envisaged, including: improved access to information; provision of care not previously deliverable; improved access to services and increasing care delivery; improved professional education; quality control of screening programmes; and reduced health-care costs. Although telemedicine clearly has a wide range of potential benefits, it also has some disadvantages. The main ones that can be envisaged are: a breakdown in the relationship between health professional and patient; a breakdown in the relationship between health professionals; issues concerning the quality of health information; and organizational and bureaucratic difficulties. On balance, the benefits of telemedicine are substantial, assuming that more research will reduce or eliminate the obvious drawbacks.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15829049

Chapter 7 Software Development - Case Study

VIGNETTE “Boeing Dreamliner Faces A Few Bumps in the Road”

1. Is this example of software problems holding up the introduction of a major new product and impacting a firm’s customers and suppliers unusual, or is it a common occurrence?

Answer:

Yes, because not all software products are partially damage or have some defect. There are not 100% not damage.

2. What can organizations do to reduce the negative consequences of software development problems in the production of their products and the operation of their business processes and facilities?

Answer:

It's better to insure all that the quality is high and good performance and meet the needs of the users. These are important factors on which customers make purchasing decisions.

Patriot Missile Failure

1. With the benefit of hindsight, what steps could have been taken during development of the Patriot software to avoid the problems that led to the loss of life?  Do you think these steps would have improved the Patriot’s effectiveness enough to make it obvious that the missile was a strong deterrent against the Seud?  Why or why not?

Answer:

For me it's Yes by this part of overall effective testing and totally sealed to be as standard as compare top other missile.

2. What ethical decisions do you think the U.S. military made in choosing to deploy the Patriot missile to Israel and Saudi Arabia and in reporting the effectiveness of the Patriot system?

Answer:

I think ethically they do process and testing to avoid another incident happened that will kill another U.S armies. Through deploying their missiles is much effective like a radar that they use.

3. What key lessons from this example of safety-critical software development could be applied to the development of business information system software?

Answer:

Safety-critical software must review as soon as possible. It's because is often used to implement the functionality of safety systems because it can be designed to handle complex functionality, is accurate and repeatable, and can be cheaper than hardware solutions.

Chapter 6 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY-Case Study

VIGNETTE “RIAA Fights Music Piracy”

1. Is the RIAA’s strong stand on copyright infringement helping or hurting the music recording industry?

Answer:

For me it helps the music industry. To prevent any copyright it is better not to buy a pirated CD's/DVD's to prevent this kind of action. The RIAA works to protect the intellectual property and First Amendment rights of artists and music industry.

2. Could an ISP’s implementation and enforcement of the RIAA’s multitier strategy have a negative impact on the ISP?

Answer:

RIAA says that the music industry has fully embraced the Internet as a major channel for distribution to consumers. The group has called on the Federal Communications Commission. It endorse efforts to curb illegal downloads of copyrighted works and any illegal activities through internet.

Lotus v. Borland

1. Go to your school’s computer lab or a PC software store and experiment with current versions of any two of the Quattro, Excel, or Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet programs.  Write a brief paragraph summarizing the similarities and differences in the “look and feel” of these two programs.

Answer:

The interface of Excel and Lotus are almost the same the function of the input type in keyboard and mouse are the same. But on the insert bar of lotus are different compare to excel which is intact and lot of functions found on Menu bar to be use.

2. The courts took several years to reverse their initial decision and rule in favor of Borland.  What impact did this delay have on the software industry?  How might things have been different if Borland had received an initial favorable ruling?

Answer:

In court of Borland products has affect its sales due to unnecessary things that happened. This kind of issues have a bigger impact to software industry, producer, and etc.Due to lawsuit happened between Borland and Lotus. Borland quit in producing spreadsheet and do other business programming software.

3. Assume that you are the manager of Borland’s software development.  With the benefit of hindsight, what different decisions would you have made about Quattro?

Answer:

If I'm the manager of that company I'll just make sure that I will make a unique software that can help in our company and avoid some anything that suing in our company.

Chapter 5 Freedom of Expression - Case Study

VIGNETTE “Sexting”

1. Does sexting represent a form of expression that is protected by the First Amendment?

Answer:

For me sexting is just another form of expression which should be protected under the First Amendment. It is, moreover, beginning to result in criminal prosecutions, and the statutory penalties are severe.Some prosecutors are using child pornography and other felony charges against teenagers.

2. What can be done to protect people from the dangers of sexting while still safeguarding our First Amendment rights?

Answer:

For us people will able to be protected from the danger of this sexting is to avoid from texting to those people who you do not know and ignore them.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

1. Visit the EFF Web site at www.eff.org and develop a list of its current “hot” issues.  Research one EFF issue that interests you, and write a brief paper summarizing EFF’s position.  Discuss whether you support this position and why.

Answer:

EFF issues Google Desktop warning

Google has released a revamped version of its desktop search tool which introduces the ability to search the contents of one computer from another. Previous versions of the tool indexed files on user's PCs, but using the optional "Search Across Computers" facility in Google Desktop 3 temporarily stores text copies of searchable items on Google's ownservers for up to 30 days.

Search Across Computers makes a range of files - including web histories, Microsoft Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, power point presentations as well as PDF files and text files in the My Documents folder - searchable from other computers. The contents of secure web pages are excluded from the list. Users would log on using their Google password can find data on files they've worked on regardless of which PC they used to produce them. Users can also exclude certain file types or locations from indexing.

Even so, privacy activists such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have said the feature "greatly increases the risk to consumer privacy". It describes the facility as a gift to government snoops and a convenient "one-stop-shop for hackers" who've obtained a user's Google password. Users should avoid using Google Desktop 3, it advises.

Google argues that the growing use of multiple computers by users makes the feature useful. "Too many people are working across multiple computers now," Google vice president Marissa Mayer told USA Today. "This makes their lives easier."

In fairness, Google does acknowledge that the tool involves a trade off between functionality and security. That's a compromise Windows users ha3ve been stuck with for years, you might think. But even before the search engine behemoth was subpoenaed for search information by the Department of Justice, Google's latest desktop revamp would have raised eyebrows. The EFF, for one, is adamant users shouldn't trust Google with the contents of their personal computers.

"Unless you configure Google Desktop very carefully, and few people will, Google will have copies of your tax returns, love letters, business records, financial and medical files, and whatever other text-based documents the desktop software can index," EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston said. "The government could then demand these personal files with only a subpoena rather than the search warrant it would need to seize the same things from your home or business, and in many cases you wouldn't even be notified in time to challenge it." 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/10/google_desktop_privacy_kerfuffle/

I support this because Google does acknowledge that the tool involves a trade off between functionality and security. and this makes our or their lives easier.

2. What reasons might a firm give for joining and supporting EFF?

Answer:

I've been supporting it in a minor way for many years, joining early on and making small contributions of news services and money. It's been doing very good work, and you should examine the resume of that work on the EFF web site. It's my firm belief that there is no greater catalyst for the success of a society than liberty. History tells that story again and again around the world. As new aspects of society -- and whole new societies -- are built online, the EFF's mission is to protect that liberty. The payoff, if it succeeds, is tremendous, a huge increase in economic prosperity and an incalculable dividend of personal freedom
      

Link: http://www.templetons.com/brad/eff.html/

3. The vice president of public affairs for your midsized telecommunications equipment company has suggested that the firm donate $10,000 in equipment and services to EFF and become a corporate sponsor.  The CFO has asked if you, the CIO, support this action.  What would you say?

Answer:

Yes, i support this to make easy to manage. and it is also a marketing strategy for the company to be a part of being a subject welfare corporate sponsor of this advocacy.