Information Technology Ethics: Early Project Delivery Dilemma Report

This report analyzes an ethical dilemma in IT, where a software company faces pressure to deliver a project early, potentially compromising data encryption and security. The scenario involves a developer, Graig, pressured by the program director and CEO to meet a deadline one month earlier, risking the loss of a significant contract. The report highlights the ethical issues arising from skipping encryption, including client data security risks and potential privacy breaches. It explores the affected entities (clients and the software company), ethical implications, and the impact on user experience and project quality. The report suggests steps to address the issue, such as discussing requirements with the client and implementing encryption, while also offering options like discussing terms and conditions with the client to ensure ethical practices and maintain trust. The report also references relevant literature on computer security, marketing practice, and ethical leadership.

Running head: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ETHICS
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ETHICS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
About the Scenario.....................................................................................................................2
Facts related to the scenario.......................................................................................................2
Issues regarding the scenario.....................................................................................................2
Affected entities.........................................................................................................................3
Ethical issues and implications..................................................................................................3
Implication of the issue..............................................................................................................4
Steps regarding the issue............................................................................................................4
Options regarding issue..............................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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About the Scenario
In the scenario Graig is asked by the program director to deliver project before the
deadline. He is asked to produce the project without encryption. The company’s CEO is
under pressure regarding the step that will be taken by the client if they don’t deliver the
project a month early. Thus they forced the developer to deliver the product early otherwise
there is a high chances of losing the contract that is worth three million. However the senior
developer Janson thinks that delivering the project without encryption is a difficult work to
do and will have major drawbacks. Graig seems to be confused in the situation as he was
convinced by the program director that an early delivery will bring benefits towards the
company and will give huge bonus to him. In addition to this the program director also
suggest that Graig has the opportunity to work on encryption once the project is delivered.
Facts related to the scenario
The developers are asked to deliver the project one month earlier and this became a
difficult thing for the developer. The early delivery is only possible if the developer skips the
data encryption part. However it becomes important to ensure that proper encryption is done
within the project otherwise there are chances of security issues. The program head has
suggested to deliver the project one month early and can include encryption after few weeks
and will declare it as a software update. As per the CEO of the company delay in the project
will affect the business and will hamper the future projects. Thus it is important to ensure that
proper steps are taken so that continuation of business can be done.
Issues regarding the scenario
The major issues associated with the early delivery is that avoiding the
implementation of encryption. This will have major negative implications on the security

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regarding the project. Without encryption there is a high chance that the data of clients will
be at huge risks. The main purpose of data encryption is that it helps in converting the data
into a form that can be accessed by only authorized person having the encryption key. Thus it
is important to ensure proper encryption is done within the project. This will ensure proper
security is provided towards the data stored regarding the client. With the early release of the
project the chances of testing the project will get reduced (Van den Hoven, 2017). Thus there
will be high possibility to have bugs and the developed software will be with low quality.
Apart from this the lack of security will also affect the user experience. Thus less time has the
ability to impact the complete working of the project. In addition to this the chances of errors
will increase with time (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2016). Thus it will be tough to maintain the
project with such a low quality. Thus it can be stated that the issues associated with early
launch are regarding the client data at risk and the project will offer a bad user experience.
Affected entities
The people who is going to be affected the most is the client. The reason is that early
delivery without encryption is a threat towards the data stored within the software. The
chances of data breach will increase and lack of security will also develop a privacy risks
towards the client. This will become a barrier for the client and will not be able to meet the
requirements. Apart from this the software company will also be at huge risk as before
implementing the encryption within the software it gets executed than there is a chance of
bug interruption and data getting hacked (Mistry, Bignante & Berardi, 2016). This will
hamper the reputation of the software company. In addition to this it will become the
responsibility of Software Company to fix the bugs and will have to provide future
maintenance.

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Ethical issues and implications
There are several issues regarding the early delivery will be faced by the client while
using the software. Encryption will impact the client data security and privacy. Moreover the
ethical issues that are going to be generated in this situation are regarding the privacy
maintained by the client. As per the computer ethics it is important to deliver a software that
will not harm anyone’s personal details. However in this scenario the software that is going to
be delivered is without encryption (Mannay & Morgan, 2015). Hence there are high chances
that the information will be at risk. Moreover the program director asks the developer to
deliver the product by ensuring him that proper bonuses will provide to them.
Implication of the issue
The main reason behind forcing the developer to deliver the product before timeline
as they fear that the client would not continue work with organization if the software is not
delivered to them one month early. However the client will become happy at initial stage but
with time the loophole will eventually lead them to dissatisfaction. Thus in order to overcome
this situation it is important to ensure that proper time management is performed so that they
can deliver the project with encryption (Conklin et al., 2019). Apart from this proper legal
background needs to be implemented so that they can have a better way of monitoring the
standard set at the time of agreement. In addition to this implementation of proper security
and quality test will ensure that the software is being released after determining the security
measures and will ensure proper quality of product is delivered towards the client.
Steps regarding the issue
 Step 1: continuation of developments and deliver the project once the encryption is
implemented.

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 Step 2: the company needs to discuss with the client regarding the requirements and
needs to implement them accordingly. This will ensure that the software is developed
as per the clients demand. The first delivery will include high priority requirements
and net delivery will include the low priority requirements.
Options regarding issue
The main options regarding the issues are either to deliver the project along with all
the necessary encryption techniques or by producing delivery one month early. However
based on the case study it can be stated that the organization needs to discuss with the client
regarding the requirements. They can deliver the product one month early by discussing the
terms with the client (Foxman & Kilcoyne, 2014). This will not hamper the trust issues and
will also ensure that organization is maintaining better ethics to work with the client.
Moreover client will be able to share their valuable feedback before release of the completed
software.

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References
Conklin, W. A., White, G., Cothren, C., Davis, R., & Williams, D. (2015). Principles of
computer security. McGraw-Hill Education Group.
Foxman, E. R., & Kilcoyne, P. (2014). Information technology, marketing practice, and
consumer privacy: Ethical issues. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 12(1), 106-
119.
Mannay, D., & Morgan, M. (2015). Doing ethnography or applying a qualitative technique?
Reflections from the ‘waiting field’. Qualitative Research, 15(2), 166-182.
Mistry, J., Bignante, E., & Berardi, A. (2016). Why are we doing it? Exploring participant
motivations within a participatory video project. Area, 48(4), 412-418.
Scenario 3: Early Launch. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=v5M7ohdZ6qA
Shapiro, J. P., & Stefkovich, J. A. (2016). Ethical leadership and decision making in
education: Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas. Routledge.
Van den Hoven, J. (2017). Privacy and the varieties of informational wrongdoing.
In Computer Ethics (pp. 317-330). Routledge.