Recently the topic of "Business" and "Employment" have been brought up recently; and on the Guardian theres an interesting story about how an employee stole and sold personal account details to rival firms. Now, this is major as some person just working in a company immediately takes your information and decides to sell it without permission! This has actually effected the business as a result of many angry customers losing their trust in what they thought was a secure firm. However, this would be no ITGS Blogpost without the triangle of doom death evil involved. So, lets have  a look shall we?

Main Article:

"Personal details of thousands of mobile phone customers have been stolen and sold to rival firms in the biggest data breach of its kind, the government's privacy watchdog said today. An employee of phone operator T-Mobile sold the customer records, including details of when contracts expired. The millions of items of information were sold on for "substantial sums", the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said. Rival networks and mobile phone retailers then tried to lure away T-Mobile customers by "cold calling"."

For more, click here!

Social Ethical Schtuff:

Privacy- This employee has taken the accounts of thousands of people who use phones for their own personal lives, how is their privacy invaded.
Security: How good is the security of T-Mobile?
People and Machines: How has this employee used this data base to his advantage?
Reliability: How reliable is T-Mobile at protecting its information?
Control: How do we choose who is in charge of our information? How do we know they may control the information wisely?
Policies & Standards: Are standards good enough at T-Mobile to stop other employees from behaving like this?

AOI (Areas Of Impact):

Socially, people will be paranoid about protecting their phone as well as their information.
Business wise, this effects T-Mobiles reputation as a telecoms company.

Stakeholders:

T-Mobile
T-Mobile Users
Spam Companies.

Visit our Diggo space because you know you want to. and it may improve your internet skills. and you know you want to =D

I'll be bock.

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The writer of a worm that can enter jailbroken iPhones has accepted a job to be a hacker full time. Although he will be doing his work for good, are iPhone owners so happy about the situation? For more information, visit this link. I believe that this article will be a good choice for my portfolio, so let the wonderful ITGS triangle explain!

News Event

Well, I already explained this part. No need to repeat myself. Next!

Social and Ethical Aspects

Control: If the hacker and his company are allowed to control worms, will they still use them for good?

Intellectual property: Should somebody's iPhone be hacked by somebody, even if they know the risks of jailbreaking?

Privacy: How much information can the hacker collect from targeted iPhones?

Reliability: Will the hacker remain a reliable employee?

Security: Is it ethical to breach past the security of an iPhone, no matter how weak it is?

Business and Employment: Of course, somebody is getting employed here.

Information Technology Systems

Jailbroken iPhones and the worms that can hack into them.

Specific Areas of Impact

The privacy of many iPhone users, along with the consequences of jailbreaking an iPhone in the first place.

Stakeholders

The hacker, his new employers and iPhone users. Apple might also be involved.

To view more bookmarks about technology and business & employment, visit our Diigo space, because that is totally where you want to be. Or where Dr Tech wants you to be, but...

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There has been plenty of news about the link between employment and having a Social Networking account. If a person is applying for a job, many businesses will search for that person's MySpace or Facebook page, giving them an insight into their personal life. Depending on the content of your pictures, this can make the final decision for many companies before they accept or decline your application. If your account is filled with pictures of you having a lovely time in peaceful settings, you should be fine. If your photos often show you getting drunk on the weekend, you have lowered your chances of employment. Even if you are employed, you still have to be careful about what you type. Is this a good procedure for businesses to take? For the companies, it is an effective way to view applicants without suspicion, making sure their workers will actually work. In terms of privacy, problems then begin.

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The article I have carefully chosen to use in my Itgs Portfolio has to do with the "digital dark age". This is when, in the near future, society will lose exobytes of data due to rapidly advancing platforms and formats.

This article invokes several social and ethical issues. The first and most obvious issue is reliablility. As more information is being digitalized everyday, we need to bring into question whether this is a good idea or not. Is it really more effective to have a digital copy of something rather than a physical one? Data can be corrupted causeing, in most cases, permanent loss in that information. While the most that can be done to a physical copy is physical damage. Should we really put our trust into digital storage that can be manipulated so easily?

An area of impact that this issue can affect is Business. If we were to suffer a digital blackout lots of things would be affected including economic and business records. This could cause many economic problems, as economists require previous records of economic history in order to predict future economic outcomes.

This case could open eyes to the effects of new technology. New technology can be innovative and more advanced than its predecessors. But what problems can it create for a society already relying on older technology?

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For my article in ITGS, I am looking at the impacts of Social Networking websites in the workplace. There are a few social and ethical issues relating to this topic

Firstly, I can relate this to Privacy & Anonymity. This is because Employees' internet usage is being monitored constantly. Facebook is perceived as a distraction rather than a business tool; but in the view of employees, Social networking enables easy communication and the sharing of ideas. While most offices ban facebook, some can see it's advantage. This also interlinks with Policies & Standards; as it raises ethical questions over what counts as productivity, as well as how offices plan to use the technology itself.

Secondly, I can relate this to Globalization. The globalization of the technology is allowing colleagues to work together and communicate abroad; boosting productivity. 30 years ago, it was difficult to work abroad. But now with the new technology in computers, such as social networking; business conferences are one click away.

But the big question is whether companies can successfully embrace social networking as a business tool rather than a distraction. Will we become too dependent? Could it impair human communication? There are many issues lying within this article; which is why I am writing on it for my first Portfolio.

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Businesses these days are troubled not only by the marketplace but also more devastating things like database infiltrations. It's similar to a house burglary, most don't account for them with the concept of "it won't happen to me." Well, this is exactly how businesses see it.

Database infiltrations can prove destructive for a business. They are not common, however, and advanced measures against them are costly. The true gold to a hacker is a credit/debit card database. With a decently sized company, a hacker can access and exploit millions of credit card numbers and relative details. With the rising usage of bank cards, these databases are everywhere; minor retail outlets hold access to an entire company network with this information. A small slip in one of these stores could result in devastating effects.

Wireless internet is one of these vulnerabilities. An unsecured network of a retail outlet can be quickly accessed by a third party. An experienced hacker could quickly tie in with the network locating system information (passwords, IP addresses, etc.). With this the hacker could then locate numerous related databases with valuable bank and personal details of recorded customers - simple as that. A simple WPA Key can be placed on wireless access points to secure it and is the most common to protect from these attacks. Even these, however, are becoming vulnerable - related article¹.

A recent event, considered the largest ID Theft attack in the US, was caused this way. In 2003, Albert "Segvec" Gonzalez (Miami), part of a global identity theft ring, located an unsecured wireless access point at a BJ's Wholesale Club store. Databases linked to this access point were then breached but the breach was not identified until almost a year later in early 2004. The identity theft ring then located another unsecured access point at an OfficeMax retail outlet in Miami later that year. These findings seemed to have encouraged the group to plunder additional locations as a member in 2005 named Christopher Scott compromised two additional access points run by a massive retailer known as TJX (owner of TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods). Bank account information was then stored by the group and simple access to millions of dollars was available to them. The data breaches were only fully identified in 2007 and several members were prosecuted in 2008.

Based on my portfolio article². Bibliography following.

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In a mere thirty years, technology has changed dramatically. We have  gone from computers the size of rooms to ones that will fit on our laps and run incomparably faster. My father feels that his life would be significantly different had he grown up with the technology we have today...

Image from Chilton-Computing.org.uk

More information on the GEC-2050 Minicomputer

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The issue presented in this long article, “The Real Threat to Google” is the widespread use of cell phones to access the Internet. The article talks about the increasing threat Google faces everyday as phone technology develops and people start to use their mobile phones to go on Internet. As we all know, or at least should know, Google’s major income is through ads displayed on the pages. However, compared to a standardised page containing about 10 ads, the tiny screens of phones can handle one or two paid ads. This means that if this increase in people using mobile internet access continues, Google will have to face a huge amount of money loss. So, going back to the core of this threat: why do people use their cell phones to go on Internet? Because it is accessible to them wherever and whenever they want. One of the catalysts in this situation is the release of the iPhone in 2007 where accessing the Internet was made easier and more popular among customers. This does not mean that everybody will stop using their computers to access Internet as the article also mentions, however there are still a few solutions considered to minimise the money loss. One of these solutions is the use of Android interface which enables users to flick through multiple layers or pages just like iPhone album-art menu. This will create more room for displaying the ads. So whatever happens in the future, Google needs to come up with ways to find solutions that would suit the newer technologies because in this case only one thing is guaranteed: people will not stop using the new technology and go back to the old one. As the article suggests, “This is the future, because people take their media habits with them as they age” it is only up to Google to keep up with the new technologies.

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Reliability, integrity, security, honesty, ambiguity. What kind of description can we give to Internet safety? After interviewing my parents concerning their views of technology in the past, present, and future, I found that they both more than agreed upon the invasion of Internet privacy as being their greatest fear. Both trust in the Internet and can never get enough of it but feel that much of the information they are giving up is becoming more and more insecure. It is true that one can never be completely sure of the reliability of the World Wide Web. We live in a society today where our lives are becoming increasingly more digital. As we make this transition we begin to question: Where does our information go anyway? Is there anything anybody can do about it? How can we be sure that our information is not being violated? A discussion with my parents warranted these questions along with many others concerning how safe our information really is online. “Online privacy fears are real”, an article written by Bob Sullivan of MSNBC outlines the “murky, complicated issue” of Internet privacy.

Sullivan states that “websites want to know all they can about you” and consumers often give in to this peer pressure of sorts even if they are unwilling. This article draws a clear picture about how easy it is for our personal information to be violated. The purpose of the Internet is to allow people the freedom to enter another realm of information, to learn and to teach. Email, one of the many Internet perks, connects family, friends, and co-workers all over the world. With the invention of the Internet, distance was replaced with the click of a mouse. Internet also heralded new ways of storing information and the selling of consumer goods. A new generation of business, employment, leisure, and government was born. This generation of hope also brought a generation of piracy and crime. One may assume that information posted on a chat room is safe based on policies failing to read the fine print. Sullivan uses the example of a health support group “shocked to discover their supposedly private discussions about prostate cancer are now full-text searchable from a Web Site.” The article poses the question “How did you find me?” just as many Internet users do. The answer is not complex. Personal information is never completely personal. To quote an excerpt from novel Salem Falls by Jodi Piccoult:

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Title: Intro

Excuse the dodgy video introduction above...but hopefully it will have intoduced you to your one-stop-shop, of information for your Information Technology in a Global Society course. Whether you are in the first or second year of your course I will be posting news stories, homework items, research help, video resources and much more to help with the course. Hopefully you will also be able to post to this weblog, upload podcasts and most definitely comment on posts to enable interesting discussion around your studies. Make sure you place this as a bookmark in your web-browser of choice(hopefully Firefox) and if you are a little lazy at checking websites for the latest information then you can  sign up to have every post emailed to you. Until August the 23rd, enjoy your summer.

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