HS2121 Professional Issues in IS, Ethics and Practice Assignment

Question 1.(20 marks)

In this question, you need to identify the main ethical dilemmas involved in each of the following cases. Analyse the ethical dilemma, considering the different actions which these stakeholders should be taken. You must consider the perspective of the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct when analyzing these cases.

a. Case 1 (ACS, 2014)

Three years ago, Diane started her own consulting business. She has been so successful that she now has several people working for her and many clients. Their consulting work included advising on how to set up corporate intranets, designing database management systems, and advising about security. Presently she is designing a database management system for the personnel office of a medium-sized company. Diane has involved the client in the design process, informing the CEO, the director of computing, and the director of personnel about the progress of the system. It is now time to make decisions about the kind and degree of security to build into the system. Diane has described several options to the client. Because the system is going to cost more than they planned, the client has decided to opt for a less secure system. She believes the information they will be storing is extremely sensitive. It will include performance evaluations, medical records for filing insurance claims, salaries, and so forth. With weak security, employees working on client machines may be able to figure out ways to get access to this data, not to mention the possibility of on-line access from hackers. Diane feels strongly that the system should be much more secure. She has tried to explain the risks, but the CEO, director of computing and director of personnel all agree that less security will do.

Required:

What should Diane do? Should she refuse to build the system as they request? (5 Marks)

b. Case 2 (ACS, 2014)

Nirmal is the IT manager in a government department with more than 500 staff members and six branches across Australia. His department has decided to acquire an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. An RFT for the procurement of the software was advertised in a number of Australian newspapers. Two local companies responded to the advertisement and sent their offers to the department. When Nirmal opened the envelopes and examined the offers he found that company A’s offer is slightly better than company B’s offer. To his surprise, company B’s offer was made by his best friend Devraj, who is the general manager of company B. Company A’s software appeared to be easier to use and easier to modify compared to company B’s software. Although the initial cost of company B’ software appeared to be less than that of company’s A, the former may require some ‘tools-consultants’ to modify it and some ‘business-consultants’ to assist in running it, which might eventually raise the total cost. To complicate matters more, Nirmal received a phone call from Devraj, who urged him to favour his offer, as he is quite desperate to get this deal. He also reminded him that the ‘tools and business consultants’ who might be needed in the project will be recruited from his home country which means more jobs for his countrymen and in turn more money sent home. Nirmal is indeed in a difficult position.

Required:

What should Nirmal do?(5 Marks)

c. Case 3 (ACS, 2014)

A small software company is working on an integrated inventory control system for a very large national shoe manufacturer. The system will gather sales information daily from shoe stores nationwide. This information will be used by the accounting, shipping, and ordering departments to control all of the functions of this large corporation. The inventory functions are critical to the smooth operation of the system. Jane, a quality assurance engineer with the software company, suspects that the inventory functions of the system are not sufficiently tested, although they have passed all their contracted tests. She is pressured by her employers to sign off on the software. Legally she is only required to perform those tests which have been agreed to in the original contract. However, her considerable experience in software testing has led her to be concerned over risks of the system. Her employers say that they will go out of business if they do not deliver the software on time. Jane contends if the Inventory sub-system fails, it will significantly harm their client and its employees. If the potential failure were to threaten lives, it would be clear to Jane that she should refuse to sign off. But since the degree of threatened harm is less, Jane is faced with a difficult moral decision.

Required:

What should Jane do? (5 Marks)

d. Case 4 (ACS, 2014)

Consider an HCI consultant with extensive experience in evaluating web sites and graphical user interfaces (GUI). She has just received an evaluation contract for a new accounting product made by Company A due to her prior experience with e-commerce site evaluation. The work involves assessing the training requirements and the usability of the system. During the initial configuration of her usability laboratory she becomes aware that that software she is to evaluate contains a GUI already patented by a rival Company B, which she evaluated several weeks before. Under her contractual arrangements she is not allowed to discuss the evaluation of a product with anyone outside the contract. She therefore has an obligation to Company B not to provide information regarding their product to anyone else without their permission. She has a similar obligation to Company A.

Required:

Can she continue with the evaluation? If she cannot continue with the evaluation how does she inform Company A of the patent violation? Does she have an obligation to let company B know Company A has copied their GUI? (5 Marks)

Question 2(10 marks)

1. What is Resume inflation? Critically analyse the negative impacts that may occur if you engage in Resume inflation. Provide at least 3 points to elaborate your answer taking examples from your current/future job applications.(5 Marks)
2. What does the term intellectual property encompass? Briefly explain what measures an educational institution should do to protect its intellectual property.(5 Marks)

Question 3(10 marks)

1. What is CIA triad? You and a few of your friends want to start a small food delivery business. You take online orders and deliver food to the client’s houses. Your computers record your client’s personal records and transaction records. Discuss 5 strategies your team would implement to adhere to the CIA triad.(5 marks)
2. The term 'surveillance technology' encompasses any digital device, software or system that gathers information on an individual’s activities or communications. What ethical issues do they raise?(5 marks)

Question 4(10 marks)

Use the five-step decision-making process to analyse the following situations and recommend a course of action.

1. Do you believe that software manufacturers should be tolerant of the practice of software piracy in third-world countries to allow these countries an opportunity to move more quickly into the information age? Why or why not?(5 marks)
2. Some IT security personnel believe that their organization should employ former computer criminals who now claim to be white hat hackers to identify weaknesses in their organization security defences. Do you agree? Why or why not?(5 marks)

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