Ethical Issues Facing Information Technology

Question: Write about theEthical Issues Facing Information Technology. Answer: The revolution of technology has paved way to the development and initiatives that improve the information and communication sector. The increase of usage of the internet and the entire World Wide Web has led to the vulnerability of the privacy and data security. In today society e-banking and e-commerce has made our lives easier since we can shop and transact at any location at any time. This has led to the threat of consumer privacy and data by suppliers and marketers. The marketers collect information from the consumers transaction in order to study his buying patterns. The information can also fall in the wrong hand and risk the consumer life and his assets. Due to the vast knowledge the Internet users are cautioned to use the information for good deeds but instead there have been numerous reports of internet security such as hacking of private information or personal documents and theft of unauthorized data. This report will concentrate on the ethical matters of the risk of cons umers information and data by hackers and marketers as they try to get different information from the consumers. Hacking is the act of retrieving unauthorized data .It has been a major problem to the Government due to the increase cases of hacking of government websites and social media accounts. This risks the government information and private data. This cases have increased in the recent years due to the availability of unrestricted internet and availability of hacking information in the click of a button. The internet has opened up doors to scammers, illegal sales of illegal substances, human trafficking, money laundering. The Government has received numerous cases concerning social media scams and hacking of personal and private websites (Koops, 2015). The internet has been used to incite hatred toward the government especially in the social media which has led fear and unrest. Some groups of hackers have ganged up and committed several hacks in big corporate firms where they steal information and blackmail them for cash. The internet has led to the increased demonstration and protest in the street due to the incitement of people from the social media. The Web 2.0 has paved the way to some of the ethical cases of internet use due to the increase social interaction which has been enhanced by the increased social media applications. The Government is researching on how they can control the internet to reduce such cases (Adomi, 2010). The internet has led to the growth of cult through the social media where the cults attract young people including teenagers and build a relationship with them. They end up brainwashing them with insightful information against the government and other people. This is done through the social media which is free to download and access. The Increased relationship has led to the recruitment of young people into the groups some of which use the internet to hack companys websites. The cases were seen in London in the United Kingdom where young people were protesting and rioting in the street with an aim to loot the stores and create unnecessary unrest. The investigation indicated that the protest and the riots were initiated through the social media like Facebook and twitter. This led to the House of Common led By Ivan Lewis the secretary of culture to support the government in reviewing measures to prevent criminal activities organised through the social media. The United Kingdom governme nt has scheduled meeting through the media to inform the youth about the abuse of the internet. The government went ahead and banned all the known sites of the rioters and suspected group and shutting down their social media networks without the regarding the individual freedoms. This action was done to try and apprehend the bad guys (Luppicini, 2009). The former Prime Minister David Cameron said they are working on measures with the police to stop the communication of the people who are using the social media to influence other to commit crimes. In 2011 a vigilante group called Anonymous caused unrest in the government when they hacked the government website to stop the government from blocking their sites. This led to the Malaysian government to increase the monitoring of their websites and also increase awareness in the public. The hackers had also crippled the online payment companies like PayPal and MasterCard as a way to send a message to the world about their prominence.When the Malaysian government was hacked almost 41 of its websites were attacked overnight. The group disrupted communication but no personal data was lost. This led to many countries increasing their firewalls and security in their websites to prevent such incidences (Gasson et al, 2012). The hacking has led to the increase of teenagers been attacked due to their internet activity like posting pictures and location through the social media. Criminals have gone digital where they attack the victims following their social media activities. The internet can give the perpetrators your location which they can track and harm you. The have also been a rise of cases where teenager falling in love with strangers over the internet. The teenagers are brainwashed in the name of love and are exploited in committing crimes (Plomp, 2009). Research has shown that, despite the advantages that the internet presents to us, the internet has led to the ethical usage of the internet where it has been used to fuel protest and riots, hacking of the government and private websites and brainwashing and affecting personal relationship especially the young people through the internet. This has led to discussion and research on how we can make the internet a better place. This is how to prevent the internet from abuse and misuse for other people interest. The main challenge facing the government and the people is how to control the internet to make it safe for the young people and how to educate them about the ethical use of the internet. The government call for monitoring and checking for usages especial to the known groups who use the internet to gather a following to cause unrest and other criminal activities (Kobayashi, 2008). The main challenge is educating the young people on the negative sides of the media since the internet has vast information on almost everything. The young people tend to believe in it since it is what they are good at. The internet can cause damage to the economy where the government cannot control the riots and incitement from the internet sources especially the social media. The rise in the criminal activities orchestrated from the internet has led to the government calling for control of the internet. This means the ethical usage of the internet has been viewed as a serious issue in different states. Some government like the Malaysian government have gone ahead and proposed a legal enforcement of internet by amending the Evidence Act of 1950 which increased control of the internet use in the country In (Ceccato, 2015). The government should educate the young people of the ethical usage of the internet. This should be incorporated in the school modules and programs. This will educate the young people of the illegal use of the internet and the effects. The government should enact laws wand restriction on the use of the social media in terms of inciting other people to commit crimes. Such sites should be banned and blocked. The government enacted laws to punish the hackers and other illegal users of the internet. This will teach a lesson to other who are committing the same crime (Mohamed, 2015). The Government should advise the parents to monitor their children internet activities to reduce the cases of internet relationship which have hidden agendas. The government should hire a special specialist to build strong firewalls on their websites and also advise other private companies to increase their security on their sites. The privacy policy of the internet should be revised to give the government control to monitor any criminal activity in the social media and the entire internet. The government should hold a meeting in the social media to educate the people about the ethical usage of the internet to reduce the cases of incitation of people through the internet (Goh, 2010). References In Koops, B.-J. (2015). Responsible innovation 2: Concepts, approaches, and applications. Adomi, E. E. (2010). Frameworks for ICT policy: Government, social and legal issues. Hershey: Information Science Reference. Luppicini, R., Adell, R. (2009). Handbook of research on techno ethics. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Gasson, M. N., Kosta, E., Bowman, D. (2012). Human ICT implants: Technical, legal and ethical considerations. Hague, the Netherlands: T.M.C. Asser Press. Plomp, T. (2009). Cross-national information and communication technology policies and practices in education. Charlotte, NC: IAP-Information Age Pub. Kobayashi, R. (2008). New educational technology. New York: Nova Science Publishers. In Ceccato, V., In Newton, A. (2015). Safety and security in transit environments: An interdisciplinary approach. Mohamed, N. S. (2015). Information and communication technology in Sudan: An economic analysis of impact and use in universities. Goh, T. T. (2010). Multiplatform E-learning systems and technologies: Mobile devices for ubiquitous ICT-based education. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. In Mhiripiri, N. A., In Chari, T. (2017). Media law, ethics, and policy in the digital age.