Analysis of Social, Ethical, and Professional Issues in IT Industries

This report delves into the multifaceted social, ethical, professional, and legal issues arising from the pervasive use of Information Technology (IT) across various industries. It begins by defining ethics and exploring ethical dilemmas such as job displacement, intellectual property violations, privacy breaches, and cyberbullying. The report then examines professional challenges including the need for continuous professional development, intellectual property law, misuse of computers, and data protection. Social issues, such as cybercrime, software theft, and privacy violations, are also discussed. Legal issues including privacy, digital ownership, data gathering, liability of security, and access costs are analyzed. Furthermore, the report addresses dilemmas faced by IT practitioners, such as balancing loyalty, security, and cost considerations. Finally, it highlights debates and controversies pertinent to IT, focusing on the social consequences of technological advancements. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of ethical standards and responsible IT practices.

Running head: SOCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES
Social and Professional Issues in IT Industries
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Major Ethical, Professional, Social and Legal issues arising from the use of IT..................2
Dilemmas faced by IT Practitioners.......................................................................................7
Debates and Controversies pertinent to IT.............................................................................8
Social consequences through the use of examples.................................................................8
Internalised ethical standards developed overtime................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Digital Computing has become the latest trend in every aspect of the human life and
this has made business organizations to implement the utility of computer systems in almost
all aspects of the business operations. The technology oriented societies that people live in
today make use of computers in every aspect of their lives. The computer systems are now
regarded as the solution to all the technological problems in the modern lives and are used for
solving the problems all for the social, personal and professional problems. The ways by
which decisions are made while designing a computer system is thought for bringing about
the benefits that there is to offer for the enhancement of human lives and operations.
However, the technological advancements are often found to be causing problems in the
human lives rather than exerting the expected benefits that it would provide. Before
implementing the idea for the development process of a computer system as well, there are
various considerations to be made so that there is a provision of proper equilibrium to be
maintained to handle all the issues and benefits at the same time. The common issues that can
arise because of the IT system development within the organizations and user prospects
would thus be described in this particular report.
Major Ethical, Professional, Social and Legal issues arising from the use of IT
Ethical issues arising from the use of IT: Ethics can be defined as the regular
behaviours being conducted under a similar and expected pattern and behaviour according to
the set standards. The concept of ethics is however varied and has been viewed through
different perspectives. In some perspectives, the ethics has been described as synonymous to
morals as well. This can also be described as the way that a person behaves. On the other
hand, how the use of IT can cause ethical issues also has been researched on. This has been

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identified that in the times when IT was not used, businesses still used to depend on the
ability of delivering manufactured products and services in the least amount of time.
Information Technology has now moved forward to propel this business initiative and make
the business move towards success. The more Information Technology was implemented
within the business operations, there has been various issues creeping up besides the benefits
offered by the technology. The major identified ethical issues that IT implementation has
initiated can be listed as follows:
 Replacing the human jobs because of the technological advancements and
their implementations.
 Violation of intellectual properties by violating trademarks, patents, trade
secrets and copyrights.
 Opportunity of violating personal privacy through hacking.
 Plagiarising the original works without providing proper credibility to the
original work.
 Cyber bullying and identity theft.
Professional issues arising from the use of IT: Right at the point of time when IT
was initiated to be used in the professional service areas, it was implemented to makes sure
that the professionals within a particular organization is benefitted by the technological
advancements and reduce the daily workload. It is a true fact that the manual work load has
been reduced at a huge amount at the point of time when Information Technology was
introduced in the organizational contexts. At the same time, it is not just the appropriate
technical knowledge, experience and skills that an IT professional needs to gain to make sure
that they understand the broader context of their modes of operation in the organization.
Since the world of Information Technology keeps on changing, the professionals in the IT

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business also needs to keep up with the changing environment as well. They need to establish
a solid grounding between all the aspects of IT implementation, including the changes in the
technological grounds, the laws regarding the use of IT and the societal changes as well. The
latest IT additions in the organizations are thus, also susceptible to issues from the
professional aspects as well. These professional issues in the Information Technology address
all the aspects of the IT industry and the use of IT stating all the aspects of the IT uses in the
professional contexts. These can be described as follows:
 CPD or Continuing Professional Development: This is one of the issues in
the professional aspects with the use of IT in the organizations that makes it
difficult for the IT professionals in keeping up with the change in the
professionalism and professional bodies as well as the changing scenario in
the codes of conducts that also keeps on changing. The IT professionals need
to continuously update them and their codes of conduct within the
organization to keep up with the changing technological conducts.
 Software related Intellectual Property Law: Software Development is the
area of action that encapsulates when a software development process goes on.
The idea behind software development can either be original or if the idea is
derived then the original idea falls under the Intellectual Property Law which
then needs to be given proper credibility for the original idea behind the
development.
 Misuse of the computers and internet: The ethical issues also lay in the
misuse of the computers and internet that IT professionals make use of. There
are certain legalities that lie for the proper use of communications devices like
computers and internet as well that the IT professionals need to take care of.

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 Data Protection: IT professional needs to treat the data and information
generated within the organizations to treat as priority. The privacy and
protection of data and the laws regulating the non-violation of the integral and
confidential data must be followed to avoid any issues later.
Social issues arising from the use of IT: As the IT industries have transformed and
have been under continuous transformation, it has also been found that the issues regarding
the IT use has also increased. This has also been due to the heightened cybercriminal
activities that have been regarded as one of the major social issue behind the use of IT. The
social issues that reside in the IT usage can be listed as follows:
 New opportunities in the technological fields have opened up new
opportunities for crime and have opened several doors for the cybercriminals
to enter.
 Different computer crimes that utilized the stealing of doctoral data, and
threatens organizations for extracting money, makes the ATMs, EFTs, EDIs
and cell phones vulnerable.
 Desktop publishing has made it much easier for the act of forgery to be much
easier than before because of the technology hike.
 Software thefts have been raised in the latest times given the advancements in
the technological advancements.
 Privacy and netiquette laws are violated to barge into the personal lives of
users and organizations now and often.
Legal issues arising from the use of IT: The legal issues that IT professionals face
every now and then are characterized by the oversight on how the people manage their IT
activities. Since, in the latest times, the influence of technology has become much larger, the

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legislative bodies have made certain laws that could not be broken while using the
information technology, be it by an IT professional or a general user. However, legal issues
are often faced by the users during the usage, which can be listed as follows:
 Privacy issues: The digital world is all about sharing personal and
professional data over the internet through emails and private accounts that
has the potential of being accessed by unintended sources. In every
organisation there is a habit that the employers check the activities of every
particular employee within an organisation although it has a legal implication
of privacy and ethical considerations. This is a very common issue that it
professionals face every day where employers check their online activities,
made by professional or personal requirements.
 Digital ownership: The digital mediums are allowing the flow of information
to be much freer than before. Horrible it comes with a legal and ethical
backlash where exchange of ideas need to be e considered through an
established ownership in the digital world. This is to make sure that original
works having digital ownership can no longer be copied and pasted online
without adding credibility to the original creator.
 Gathering of data: Every person in the internet knows that somewhere out
the other they are being monitored by some entity. In the United States of
America, it has been passed as legislation that the government can actively
monitor the internet usage of the citizens in the private way for national
security. However this law has been revived data gathering and monitoring
personal internet usage is an ethical implication of privacy rights. It is also
about a question of consent of the users and there is an ongoing debate

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whether or not to you who monitor the private internet usage of every user in
the country.
 Liability of security: Digital security is a very complicated issue where
digital networks remain to be computerized to protect the vital information
and important assets. However the security system can also come with an
increased surveillance which cannot understand the level of freedom that
needs to be fortified. This issue reside within the IT professional through the
usage of internet.
 Accessing cost: There are many e issues raised against net neutrality and the
legislative efforts taken against businesses to help them create a tired excess of
the internet for those who are willing to pay has become an ongoing debate.
However for this comma various issues arise where the people who do not
have the access to free internet are falling behind in being technological is
synchronised to the world.
Dilemmas faced by IT Practitioners
Every IT professional faces a lot of dilemmas even while working within an
organisation and also while trying to leave and work in another. The IT professionals who are
mostly dealing with the development of a software system have many more ethical issues for
dealing. The ethical dilemmas remain within the matter of loyalty issues the organisation and
the clients they serve. There are even monetary issues and the proliferation of hacks, viruses
and network attacks including the threats to the IT infrastructure that makes an organisation
vulnerable to hackers. As a system developer and security consultant, convincing companies
to spend money on Security system then they usually need to who puts any IT professional in
a dilemma to actually ask the organisation to invest more money or let the computer systems

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be developed as usual with low security. Another ethical issue for the IT professional involve
the promising of more than one person can deliver for the manipulation of the data for
obtaining higher activity levels. When a client or a customer asks for suggestions over a
computer system, they also ask for the value for money suggestions on the computer systems
even by making cut out the security measures. At that point of time in it professional also
becomes trapped in a dilemma to actually work ok to the appropriate requirement of the
clients or suggest them a way that would make their system secure but also make them spend
a lot of money.
Debates and Controversies pertinent to IT
One of the biggest debate and controversy that can be placed as an example for the
zone of Information Technology would be the increasing development of Intelligence of an
artificial intelligent system during a computer system development mode. AI, still fascinating
technology advancement, helps in capturing the imagination as well as controversies. From
the philosophical considerations, artificial intelligence has becoming so dangerous that it
even has the potential of replacing the human race. The existing systems are way more
advanced in General Intelligence, and it can also occur that artificial intelligence is capable of
having controversies of their own. There are even examples about artificial intelligence
systems learning things of their own. the latest issue regarding the organisation of Facebook,
a social media mammoth, where the organisation had to who discovered their artificial
intelligence system as it was learning things within itself and the computer system had the
capability of figuring out data and information, sorting them on their own.

9SOCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES
Social consequences through the use of examples
In the new business and cyber world, the influence of Information Technology has
impacted the society in such a way that right now every decision made has a long lasting
consequence along with their social and economic impacts. The world has been changing,
and so is the way by which customers are now buying products for the general needs. The
phenomenon of e-business with the organisations like Amazon, eBay, aliexpress, the
common customers visiting a physical store has changed completely and now most of the
people are found to be buying their general means from the website and mobile applications
of the e-business systems.
Internalised ethical standards developed overtime
According to all the study done above, regarding the social and professional issues
that information technology and computer system development has, it can be said that the
ethical standards needs to be developed and modified a bit more to who make the
professional lives for the IT professionals a bit more easy.
 Moral values and ethical considerations should be given much more
importance when any person is displaying their professional prowess. We
should always make the customer be aware of all the consequences that their
requirements are making especially when it comes to computer systems with
security systems.
 The professionals also needs to understand that we need to utilise the internet
in the most ethical way possible so that their activities does not need to be
monitored by their employers as a level of trust would be built between the
two.

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Any discrepancies or mismanagement or wrongdoing within the organisations should
be shared immediately with the managerial body without having the fear of being treated
coldly by the other employees who are directly involved in the wrong doings.
Conclusion
Therefore in conclusion it can be said that the information technology has influenced
the lives of human being in such a way that in every aspect of the human lives, be it
professional or personal, information technology is needed. Through the study above we
understand that there is not just benefits applied to the human lives with the implementation
of Information Technology but there are also various social and professional issues associated
with it as well. The study done above identifies how the utilisation of information technology
in the lives of people affects ethically, professionally, socially and legally with the regular use
of the internet. The report also identifies how these issues can affect any IT professional or an
individual user. The report then addresses the dilemmas that it practitioners face every now
and then in their profession and all the debates and controversies that a relevant to the
information technology. The report then identify the social consequences and the internal
eyes ethical standards that the study as made to develop according to the data together
through the analysis process. This report has thus included the major ethical, professional,
social and legal issues arising from the use of IT, the dilemmas that normally IT practitioners
face, the debates and controversies pertinent to IT, the social consequences described through
the use of examples and the internalised ethical standards that need to be developed over
time.

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