Chapter 7                               Software Development

1.       Should Apple conduct extensive screening of Apps before they are allowed to be sold to the App Sore? Why or why not?

Answer:

Yes, in order to be sure that the apps available in the Apple Store are reliable and can be trusted, in terms of the customer’s information especially those information that are personal. In today’s generation, the more the industry uses “high-tech” technologies the more the ways of those who wants to harm other people becomes “high-tech” also, especially to gain financially.

2.       Do research to determine the current status of the FCC investigation of Apple for banning the use of the Adobe Flash software on devices that use the iOS operating system.

Answer:

In 2010, Steve Jobs had the courage to question the applicability of the Flash technology going forward.  Jobs made waves and enemies when he banned Flash from use on all iOS devices.  iOS is the operating system from Apple.  Jobs was almost unanimously criticized by the industry.

Jobs took a big risk banning Flash, which also precluded users of Apple devices from seeing video and animation on most sites.

Steve Jobs championed an alternate technology called HTML5.  Revisiting an open memo that Jobs wrote is instructive.  Here is the memo.

“Thoughts on Flash:”

Apple has a long relationship with Adobe. In fact, we met Adobe’s founders when they were in their proverbial garage. Apple was their first big customer, adopting their Postscript language for our new Laser writer printer. Apple invested in Adobe and owned around 20% of the company for many years. The two companies worked closely together to pioneer desktop publishing and there were many good times. Since that golden era, the companies have grown apart. Apple went through its near death experience, and Adobe was drawn to the corporate market with their Acrobat products. Today the two companies still work together to serve their joint creative customers – Mac users buy around half of Adobe’s Creative Suite products – but beyond that there are few joint interests.

I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on Adobe’s Flash products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. Adobe has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven – they say we want to protect our App Store – but in reality it is based on technology issues. Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true. Let me explain.

First, there’s “Open”.

Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system.

Apple has many proprietary products too. Though the operating system for the iPhone, iPod and iPad is proprietary, we strongly believe that all standards pertaining to the web should be open. Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript – all open standards. Apple’s mobile devices all ship with high performance, low power implementations of these open standards. HTML5, the new web standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins (like Flash). HTML5 is completely open and controlled by a standards committee, of which Apple is a member.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2011/11/09/adobes-flash-   surrender-proves-steve-jobs-and-apple-were-right-all-along-with-html5/

3.       What do you think of Apple’s guideline that says it will reject an app for any content or behavior that they believe is over the line? Could such a statement be constructed as a violation of the developer’s freedom of speech? Why or why not?

Answer:

        For me, maybe not. There company has guidelines to be follow by the developers. So, if I the developer, why not develop an app that follow their guidelines rather making my own guidelines? It really depends on the side of the developer if it violates his/her freedom of speech. But for me, it doesn’t.

Chapter 6                                             INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1.       You have procrastinated too long and now your final paper for your Junior English course is due in just five days – right in the middle of final exam week! The paper counts for half your grade for the term and would probably take you at least 20 hours to research and write. Your roommate, an English major with a 3.8 GPA, has suggested two options (1) He will write an original paper for you for $ 100, or (2) he will show you two of three “paper mills” Web sites, from which you can download a paper for less than $35. You want to do the right thing, but writing the paper will take away from the time you have available to study for your final exam in three other courses. What would you do?

Answer:

                When I’m in that case, I’ll go for option number 2 rather than asking my roommate to do my papers. I’m choosing no. 2 because my paper is important because it counts for half of my grade for the term. If I let my roommate to make it, probability will be: I will be graded a low score for my paper which will lead to a failure grade for the term. So, even if it is wrong in the other side but I have no other choice but to download papers from websites but anyways, I will not stick to the papers overall idea, I can add it some of my ideas and I’ll make sure I’ll site a source for it.

2.       You are beginning to feel very uncomfortable in your new position as a computer hardware salesperson for a firm that is the major competitor of your previous employer. Today for the second time, someone has mentioned to you how valuable it would be to know what the marketing and new product development plans were of your ex-employer. You stated that you are unable to discuss such information under the nondisclosure contract signed with your former employer, but you know your response did not satisfy your new coworkers. You fear that the pressure to reveal information about the plans of your former company is only going to increase over the next few weeks. What do you do?

Answer:

                Whatever happens, I will not discuss anything about the marketing and product development of my former employer because it’s what we called “trade secrets”. I will just suggest new ideas about marketing to satisfy my current employer and I will explain to him/her that it is an unethical thing if I share it to him/her. And it’s my responsibility as an employee to keep confidential information in whatever company where I work and I will explain to her/him that sooner or someday, the same thing I will do if I will work to another company, that I will keep every information confidential to their company.

3.       You have been asked to lead your company’s new competitive, intelligence organization. What would you do to ensure that members of the new organization obey applicable law and the company’s own ethical policies?

Answer:

                To ensure that they obeys applicable law and ethical policies, there should be penalties for every disobeyed policies and the penalties will be based on what kind of policy they disobeyed. There should be penalties because if there’s isn’t, the develop policies of the company will be useless. Some will follow and some will not.

               

4.       You are the vice president for software development at a small, private firm. Sales of your firm’s products have been strong, but you recently detected a patent infringement by one of your larger competitors. Your in-house legal staff has identified three options: 1) ignore the infringement out of fear that your larger competitor will file numerous countersuits: (2) threaten to file suit, but try to negotiate an out-of-court settlement for an amount of money.

Answer:

                In that case, I’ll choose option no. 2. To solve the problem, I should try to negotiate with them since we are the true owner and I’ll try to threaten them of filing them a case for patent infringement rather than ignoring the problem then it go to the point that they will us a case for patent infringement where in the first place, we have the original. 

Chapter 5

1.       A former high school classmates of yours who has returned to China emails you that he has been offered a part-time job monitoring a Chinese Web site and posting comments favorable to the government. How would you respond?

Answer:

                First, I will ask him if there are other jobs that is offered to him but in a nice way. Though I don’t know the ways on how the government of China holds their country but as a Filipino I have already insights and I have although not all but I have an enough knowledge about government. So, what if, the people of China really has a point of commenting their complaints in the website where my friend plan to take a job? It will be unfair for the people of China. For me, none of the existing government in the world is perfect, the people who works in government though they said and look innocent will soon be part of those people in the government who does anomalies. For my friend, I will also ask him/her if it’s okay to him/her.

2.       Your 15-year-old nephew exclaims “Oh wow!” and proceeds to tell you about a very revealing photo attachment he just received in a text message from his 14-year-old girlfriend of three months. He can’t wait to forward the message to others in his school. What would you say to your nephew? Are further steps needed besides a discussion on sexting?

Answer:

                For their age, I will be disappointed for what his doing, especially of having girlfriend the very young age because there is nothing good with having such thing at young age. I will said to him that it is not good and there will be a possibility of having conflict not just between him and her girlfriend but also with his family especially his reputation in the school. I will explain to my nephew that it’s not good and I will also explain to him the possible effects.

               

3.       A college friend of yours approaches you about an idea to start a PR firm that would specialize in monitoring the internet for “bad PR” about a company and “fixing” it. One tactic the firm would use is to threaten negative posters with a libel lawsuit unless they remove their posting. Should that fail, the PR firm will generate dozens of positive postings to outweigh the negative posting. What would you say to your friend about her idea?

Answer:

                The idea is really great and good but I think it would not be enough. People all around the world are different, in actions, attitudes and even their beliefs in life. Speaking of threatening those negative posters in some other way or shall I say in the other side, only few people can be threaten and I guess as few as few because what if those people who posted negative in the internet are wise and in our current generation most of people uses internet are more than a professional that can hack or even crack software. Those people cannot be threaten easily. But the idea of generating dozens of positive postings to outweigh those negative postings are somehow okay.

4.       You are the computer technical resource for country’s public library system. The library is making plans to install Internet filtering software so that it will conform to the Children’s Internet Protection Act and be eligible for federal funding. What sort of objections can you expect regarding implementation of Internet filters? How might you deal with such objections?

Answer:

                In the situation, there will really objections especially with the students. To deal with such objection, I will request the president of the school to call for a forum to inform the students about the internet filtering in the library. And I will explains its importance and reliability and it’s for their own good and protection. Then at the end of the discussion, I will look for their suggestions or maybe comment and objections. It is already expected that many students will objects to implement this but it is important.

               

5.       Imagine that you receive a hate email at your school or job. What would you do? Does your school or workplace have a policy that covers such issues?

Answer:

                For me, it really depends on what hate email is sent to me, if it is not that important then I will just ignore it but if it is too personal and it really threatens me then that would be the time that I will do such actions. I don’t really know if our school has a policy that cover such issue.

               

6.       A coworker confides to you that he is going to begin sending emails to your employer’s internal corporate blog site, which serves as a suggestion box. He plans to use an anonymous remailer and sign the messages “Anonymous,” Your friend is afraid of retribution from superiors but wishes to call attention to instances of racial and sexual discrimination observed during his five years as an employee with the firm. What would you say to your friend?

Answer:

I will said to her/him that it’s okay as long as he/she doesn’t have a bad intention of doing such thing. And I’ll tell her that I do understand that it is a part of anonymous expression, because he/she is afraid of retribution. Anonymous expression is part of Freedom of Expression and everyone has the right to express what they want in any ways but they should know their limitations.

Chapter 4

1. As the information systems manager for a small manufacturing plant, you are responsible for anything relating to the use of information technology. A new inventory control system is being implemented to track the quantity and movement of all finished products store in a local warehouse. Each time a forklift operator moves a case of product, he or she must first scan the product identifier code on the case. The product information is captured, as is the day, time, and forklift operator identification number. This data is transmitted over a local area network (LAN) to the inventory control computer, which then display information about the case and where it should be placed in the warehouse.

The warehouse manager is excited about using case movement data to monitor worker productivity. He will be able to tell how many cases per shift each operator move and he plans to use this data to provide performance feedback that could result in pay increases or termination. He has asked you if there are any potential problems with using the data in this manner and, if so, what should be done to avoid them. How would you respond?

   Answer: 

As the information system manager, since there is an upcoming new inventory system to control and monitor the productivity of our worker, as part of the job I will be the in-charged and it will be my responsibility to follow up the development of the system. Addition, I I’m also responsible for analyzing the potential problems that the new system will encounter. So, if there is, I will just explain to our manager the possible problems that will occur when using the system and to avoid them, when the system is already developed and ready to use, I will recommend to have workers who will maintain the system, so that its usability and reliability will last longer.       

               

2.  You have been asked to help develop a company policy on what should be done in the event on a data breach, such as unauthorized access to your firm’s customer database which contains some 1.5 million records. What sort of process would you use to develop such a policy? What resources would you call on?

Answer:

        For me, the first step that I will make in order to develop a company policy is to first know the business of the company, what are their ways of having such an operations in order for me to develop such policy.  And when I completely understand their problem, then I will next go to an IT professional to help me develop the policy for their problem of data breach. The only thing that I can recommend is that they should develop a system that will block the access from an unauthorized person.

       

3. You are new manager for a product line of Coach Purses. You are considering purchasing customer data from a company that sells a large variety of women’s products online. In addition to providing a list of names, mailing addresses, and email addresses, the data includes an approximate estimate of customer’s annual income based on the zip code in which they live, census data, and highest level of education achieved. You could use the estimate of annual income to identify likely purchases of your high-end purses and use email addresses to send emails announcing the new product line and routing its many features. List the advantages and disadvantages of such a marketing strategy. Would you recommend this means of promotion in this instance? Why or why not?

Answer:

        For me, the strategy is good. The aim of every business, especially, in marketing business is to have as many customers as they have every day. So, the advantage will be, it will be easy for the manager of such product line to endorse or announce their new product to many customers, especially to those who have enough money or high income customers because they have already the data of the possible buyers, so the effort of spreading their product will be lessen and also with the cost for having advertisement of the product, because there is already a basis of possible buyers. And I think the only possible disadvantage is, it depends to the customers if they will buy or not.

4.Your company is rolling out a training program to ensure that everyone is familiar with the company’s IT usage policy. As a member of the Human Resources department, you have been asked to develop a key piece of training relating to why this policy is needed. What kind of concerns can you expect your audience to raise? How can you deal with anticipated resistance to policy?

Answer:

        In a company, there are different kinds of employee and their responsibility depends on their position in the company. The expected concern of every audience to raise maybe, some people will ask if it is really necessary especially to those whose responsibility is not concern with the usage of IT. But the training is good not only for those who is IT workers but also for those who are not because it will serve as an advantage for them.

        

  QUESTIONS:

1.  There are many ethical issues about which people hold very strong opinions—abortion, gun

control, and the death penalty, to name a few. If you were a team member on a project with someone whom you knew held an opinion different from yours on one of these issues would it affect your ability to work effectively with this person? Why or why not?

Ans:

Honestly, it depends on how things going on between me and the other person, since I don’t want to judge a person especially in first sight, when I don’t know her/him so much. For me, it’s okay to have different opinions in some ethical issues like abortion, gun control and etc. as long as she/he knows the limitation of what he/she will going to say. It doesn’t affect my ability to work effectively because I understand that work is work and if you don’t like your co-worker or you have misunderstanding every time you talk to each other then, that is out of the job itself. Maybe our argue will become a problem to me but instead of pressuring myself on having conflict and understanding her/him, I should probably focus on my job, with what I work.

2.   Identify two important life experiences that helped you define your own personal code of

ethics.

Ans:

                The two important life experiences that helped me define my own personal code of ethics are: first: when I met someone that is friend of my friend, I don’t know her totally! But since I become fc to her, FC meaning “Feeling Close”, I joke her and she becomes angry. She is not a fan of jokes and I apologize for what I did. The lesson there is if you don’t know or you don’t have idea of a person’s personality or even attitudes, likes and dislike then, you should not be “FC”. And the code of ethics there is, observe and know a person and respect them at first met. The second is: when I met my teacher outside the school. The statement reminds me of one of my teacher in high school were I did not greet. In our class, she said to me that she is upset for what I did. So the personal code of ethics that reminds me in that experience is be polite, inside and outside of any institution you become part with.

3.   Do you think that the importance of ethical behavior in business is increasing or decreasing?

Defend your position.

Ans:

                For me, I think it’s decreasing because as what I have observed, in some businesses although not all, they treat customers in accordance to its life status which is unethical because it should be fair. It is also decreasing because even the employee of some businesses shows unethical behavior like they says rumors against each other to get a higher position in other words, even them, themselves create conflict, and disrespect each other which is unethical just to be in the highest position. The importance of ethical behavior in businesses is decreasing even though many have the knowledge of what it is.

4.   Do you believe that an organization should be able to escape criminal liability for the acts of its employees if it has acted as a responsible corporate citizen, making strong efforts to prevent and detect misconduct in the workplace? Why or why not?

Ans:

                Yes, because if all of the employees in an organization knows their responsibility and they try  their best to avoid and prevent conflict then, criminal liability in an organization will be escape. The main reason why there is conflict is the misunderstanding because everyone is acting as an irresponsible citizen. Bottom-line, misunderstanding creates conflicts and that conflict leads to criminality. As irresponsible people increases then the probability of a higher criminal liability also increases. In other words they are directly proportional to each other.

5.    Is it possible for an employee to be successful in the workplace without acting ethically?

Ans:

                Of course a big NO! Ethics is important in everyone’s life; it teaches us what is right and what is wrong. It serves as bases of our every action and it is very impossible for an employee to be successful in his/her workplace without acting ethically. If

6.    Should software piracy within the boundaries of third-world countries be tolerated to allow those countries an opportunity to move into the information age?

Ans:

                Actually no, but software piracy is rampant whether we admit it or not. Yes, it is a big help to the country who are not that rich enough to create and produce software’s that will satisfies the needs of every people. But, on the other hand, it is wrong to copy software’s because we should purchase it. But I just have a question, if they don’t want others to copy there software then why they didn’t make it secure and to make sure that it can’t be copied? Anyways, it is not my problem, it’s them and I just want to express ideas here.

7.     Is ethics training really just a waste of time that will not change the behavior of employees?

Ans:

                Ethics training is not a waste of time; it’s the trainee that waste time. Why did I say this? It’s because people are different and it depends on them whether they want to learn and be a responsible person with ethical values within their works. It is not really a waste of time, because you will learn something new, something that you thought is right, when it seems to be so wrong. Ethics training can help a person to improve his/her attitudes and behavior towards minggling with the people they met in their everyday life, like in work, in school and etc. 

Establish reasons on why there is no Licensure Exam for IT Professional.

IT stands for Information Technology, it refers to the study or use of systems especially computers and telecommunications for storing, retrieving, and sending information. And when we say IT Professional, it simply means that you have graduated the course BSIT and accomplish a degree like bachelors or master’s degree. Actually I can relate to this topic just because I’m also an IT student and soon to graduate. I have also confused at first especially when I was a freshmen of this course, when I heard that the course that I’ve took has no Licensure or board exam. I was happy for the reason that I don’t have to worry anymore about what they called board/licensure exam. But as I witness the journey of being an IT student, I have learned more than what I learned before and then now I’ve understand how it feels to be in course. Now I can say , in accordance to my understanding and my own opinion on why there is no licensure exam for IT Professional it’s because IT course focuses not only in a one field of knowledge. IT is a broad course and since it involves technology, the learning doesn’t stop there. As day’s passes by and the world runs nearer to what the world called “Modernization”, technologies becomes more popular and more high-tech, new versions and new features had been discovered and implemented. That’s why for me there is no licensure exam for IT because the learning changes from a year to another, like if we have learned java, c# and other programming language today , it doesn’t mean java programming or c# remains forever. On the other hand another programming languages will be discover soon in which the IT Professional should learned again in order to be updated. If there is a licensure exam for IT professional then a year ago, it will be useless because one day you’ll wake up, your knowledge yesterday is different from the knowledge that you should present on the other day! As simple as that. Another reason is, there are many opportunities or shall I say works for IT students when they graduate. I mean, not all IT Professional becomes teachers or instructors, not like education students when they took up board exam and passed then they are already certified teachers, which means they have to teach because it’s their profession to teach. But for IT students when they graduate, they can be instructors; some may become web developer, database administrator, software engineer, programmer, system developer and other jobs for IT Professionals. If there is a licensure for IT professional then should it mean that they have to take a licensure exam for each of the said field of jobs? Or they have to take again a licensure exam whenever there are new things to be learned? Like the discovery of other programming languages. Well, it’s just my own idea and opinion of the said topic. There is no licensure for IT Professional because our profession is unique and it will become more unique every year!