Analysis of Ethical Dilemmas and ACS Code of Professional Conduct

This report examines an ethical dilemma arising from the early launch of a software product without encryption, violating ICT and ACS ethics. The scenario involves a company pressuring its project leader to deliver a project ahead of schedule by skipping the encryption phase. The report identifies and analyzes ethical issues such as privacy, public interest primacy, integrity, professionalism, honesty, and competence, as defined by the ACS Code of Professional Conduct. It highlights the risks associated with unencrypted launches, including potential data breaches and violations of stakeholder trust. Recommendations are provided for practitioners and IT organizations to promote ethical conduct and professionalism, emphasizing the importance of adhering to the ACS and ICT codes, making informed decisions, and staying updated with technological advancements. The report references academic sources to support its analysis and recommendations, providing a comprehensive overview of the ethical considerations in software development.

Running head: ACS CODE OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
ACS CODE OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Identification and Analysis of Ethical Dilemma........................................................................3
Recommendations......................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Now a days, technology is changing every single day and with new technology, new
challenges arise with it. One of the main challenges of today’s software development process
is to keep that secure from unwanted hands. For keeping the data or software private
encryption plays the main role in the development of the software (Singh & Kaur, 2015).
This Report discusses about the ethical issue in early launching of a new software product
(Willis projetct) from its deadline and without any encryption. In this case, a company is
wanting its project leader to deliver a software project one month earlier by skipping the
encryption part so the company can take over new upcoming projects. However the project
leader and his team members strongly believe that the project on which they are working
cannot be completed without encryption. This report also discusses about the violation of the
ICT (information and communication technology) and ACS (Australian Computer Society)
ethics and professional conduct in the following case study (Gotterbarn, 2013).
Identification and Analysis of Ethical Dilemma
Encryption is the methodology of transforming plain or simple information in cipher
texts in a way that no information get reveal by seeing cipher texts. The encryption follows a
particular algorithm for the transformation. From way past, encryption has always been used
for protecting the secrecy of any object or communication. The history of the different
countries has witnessed the era of encryption during the World War II, when the German and
Japanese encryption system were defeated by USA government. Creaser Cipher was the
mostly used encryption method from back then to till now (Deshmukh, Pasha & Qureshi,
2013). The main purpose of encryption is to provide protection to the confidentiality of the
software, integrity, authentication and privacy for software or information.

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ICT is the enhanced term of IT that works with many present technologies like big
data, nanotechnology and biotechnology. The increase in using ICT results in digitization of
the world and better interaction between people (Seo, Ding & Bertino, 2013). In this case
study the company wants to skip the encryption part in a software development and by doing
this the following ICT ethical questions will arise:
 Privacy: Through ICT devices a lot of personal data is got exchanged while using it.
In terms of privacy it only means that the data which you are exchanging is going to
be confidential (Ferguson, Thornley & Gibb, 2016). The Willis project is decided to
launch without encryption. Here any one can hack the codes as the information and
codes will be visible to the hacker which is not only client’s important information. It
will always make company vulnerable in privacy aspects.
 Public Interest Primacy: In this terms of the ACS codes, the interests of the public
and their well ness should takes place over the personal and individual interests of the
company and its project leaders. The public information and their need from the
organization should be safe guarded by the company for their loyalty. Any
intellectual property and their information should be respected (Kuespert, 2017). In
this case, this respect is getting neglected by ignoring the encryption and risking the
company’s stakeholders.
 Integrity: The practitioners should maintain their responsibility and integrity in their
dealings with the client and other stakeholders. They play the key role in maintain the
integrity in the information technology of the company also. In this scenario the
unencrypted launch is unethical and risky in terms of the integrity of the customers’
personal information.
 Professionalism: The technology and the ICT industry and its practices are rapidly
changing. Hence, it is necessary that the each practitioner of the project development

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should maintain the professionalism in their work. On another hand, all people
should treated with dignity and respect (McDermid, 2015). In this case, it was seen at
a point that project manager changed the lead of the project for just being right. The
CEO of the company also suggested the same and the leader of the project was
removed immediately which was against the ethics of the ICT and ACS. It represents
the unprofessionalism by the company towards the project leader.
 Honesty: The trust in profession, specifically between the stakeholders should not be
breached. It states the honesty should be at utmost and integrity must include all the
decision and actions taken by the company. Here the company breaches and breaks
the trust indirectly with the customers of the products which is going to be launch.
Also the news revealed how the system was compromised and hacked. Hence, it
clears the consequences of the dishonesty by a single people are tolerated by the
customers of the company mainly.
 Competence: In one scenario the project manager and leader showed the competence
as they did not hesitate to put the right concerns and steps. They accepted the only
right thing which they believed necessary for the project (Carpenter, 2016). The
project manager also accepted the advice and presented the right thing in front of the
CEO of the company.
 Professional Development: It states that each member of the project leader should
be aware of the new technologies and their practices which are relevant to their
project. The staffs should also need to help each other and encourage to do the same
updating of the knowledge where the project leader explained the risks and threats by
unencrypted product to the project manager.

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Recommendations
The recommendation for the practitioners and IT organizations is that they should
promote the ACS and ICT codes of conducts and professionalism and encourage everyone to
follow the ethics. It is also necessary to remind the person of the ethical and professionalism
for their work time to time. The right path should always be followed instead of the shortcuts
for making more benefits. If someone feels that the decided path is not right then they must
show competence to their seniors for the correct decisions. At last, the speed of change in
technology is known by all, hence everyone should be updated with the new techniques and
technology.

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References
Carpenter, L. (2016). The development of cultural competence in social work practice and
education.
Deshmukh, D., Pasha, A., & Qureshi, D. (2013). Transparent Data Encryption--Solution for
Security of Database Contents. arXiv preprint arXiv:1303.0418.
Ferguson, S., Thornley, C., & Gibb, F. (2016). Beyond codes of ethics: how library and
information professionals navigate ethical dilemmas in a complex and dynamic
information environment. International Journal of Information Management, 36(4),
543-556.
Gotterbarn, D. (2013). 13. ICT governance and what to do about the toothless tiger (s):
Professional organisations and codes of ethics1. Professionalism in the Information
and Communication Technology Industry, 3, 267.
Kuespert, D. R. (2017). Safety and ethics in ACS and major scientific and engineering
societies: A gap analysis. Journal of Chemical Health and Safety, 24(6), 2-5.
McDermid, D. (2015). Ethics in ICT: an Australian perspective. Pearson Higher Education
AU.
Seo, S. H., Ding, X., & Bertino, E. (2013, October). Encryption key management for secure
communication in smart advanced metering infrastructures. In 2013 IEEE
International Conference on Smart Grid Communications (SmartGridComm) (pp.
498-503). IEEE.
Singh, P., & Kaur, K. (2015, February). Database security using encryption. In 2015
International Conference on Futuristic Trends on Computational Analysis and
Knowledge Management (ABLAZE) (pp. 353-358). IEEE.