Ethical and Legal issues in ICT

Ethical and Legal issues in ICT
• Introduction
The consistent use of information and communication technology (ICT) in modern world enables us for countless opportunities for individuals, institutions, business organisations and scientists, but it also raises difficult ethical and legal problems. In particular, ICT helped to make societies more complex and thus even harder to understand. The use of ICT has led to changes in concepts: ownership, buying and selling, right to possession, theft, justice in the distribution of resources and access rights. During the nineties, the internet has grown into all business segments resulting in a large number of questions running. It has been noted that during those time period there has been merging of computers, telecommunications, and media which is further emphasized by the emergence of new issues and strengthening old ones.
• ICT and legal, ethical issues
The key issues of problems surrounding the application of ICT are: privacy, ownership, the responsibility, professionalism, social implications and values. It is beyond doubt that there are benefits of new technologies such as industry development, going to the moon, e- learning systems and improved diagnosis in various fields. Technology is advancing inevitable and with new advancement it creates a vacuum in the new legislation which is not always easy to deal with. The British Computer Society (BCS) and other professional computer organisations such as the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) recognise the need for today’s graduates to be aware of the issues surrounding the use of computers in all aspects of society. The BCS is committed to raising the awareness of future computing professionals and requires that the social, legal...

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...times developers may not carry out quality assurance test (which make sure that the software is in pristine condition), and as a result of this, there could be problem with the software. Testing software before it’s rolled out for clients is really important, because it could cause huge losses both for the developer and the client who are going to make use of it. Even though a developer cannot be charged (as long as he is not liable) for bugs that causes damage, but the reputation of the developer comes to stake.

References
• Duquenoy, P., Jones, S., & Blundell, B. (2008). Ethical, legal and professional issues in computing. London: Thomson.
• Novakovic, J. (2012). Responsibility in Application of ICT as Legal, Moral and Ethical Issues. Retrieved from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.libaccess.hud.ac.uk/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6419151
*Also used Olla’s part.