Societal Issues Related to the Software Industry
Societal Issues Related to the Software Industry
The software industry contributes to the world’s information driven society. The sharing of information worldwide created a need for security in software and technology to protect businesses and customers. Every time a company conducts business with another business or customer and information is shared or traded, it is assumed information is kept private. It is the ethical responsibility of a company to ensure the security of personal information, just as it is ethical for an employee to protect the trade secrets of their employer. Society has come to expect certain protection and securities in software. The control of personal information is of great importance not only for businesses but also for consumers who employ the same software at home. When software first made an appearance in the 1950’s, internet was not of the global use seen today (Kubie, 1994). The rise of internet changed how the world communicated and how companies did business. Companies find that monitoring employee’ computers, external, and internal traffic necessary to ensure a secure network. Intrusions through the internet affect software and when a business grows more computers and software is deployed for use. The software industry because of the demand for security is continuously updating program codes through patches, while also seeing opportunity and creating a secondary industry for the monitoring of software through networks and creation of security software. Businesses have also added to the organizational structure Information Technology (IT) managers and departments for the handling of internal and external software, hardware, and network business needs. IT managers and department heads form policies and contingency plans to handle and instruct employees on proper usage of software in a business. According to the Pew Research Center, more than 50% of employees surf the internet for personal usage at work (Pew,
The software industry contributes to the world’s information driven society. The sharing of information worldwide created a need for security in software and technology to protect businesses and customers. Every time a company conducts business with another business or customer and information is shared or traded, it is assumed information is kept private. It is the ethical responsibility of a company to ensure the security of personal information, just as it is ethical for an employee to protect the trade secrets of their employer. Society has come to expect certain protection and securities in software. The control of personal information is of great importance not only for businesses but also for consumers who employ the same software at home. When software first made an appearance in the 1950’s, internet was not of the global use seen today (Kubie, 1994). The rise of internet changed how the world communicated and how companies did business. Companies find that monitoring employee’ computers, external, and internal traffic necessary to ensure a secure network. Intrusions through the internet affect software and when a business grows more computers and software is deployed for use. The software industry because of the demand for security is continuously updating program codes through patches, while also seeing opportunity and creating a secondary industry for the monitoring of software through networks and creation of security software. Businesses have also added to the organizational structure Information Technology (IT) managers and departments for the handling of internal and external software, hardware, and network business needs. IT managers and department heads form policies and contingency plans to handle and instruct employees on proper usage of software in a business. According to the Pew Research Center, more than 50% of employees surf the internet for personal usage at work (Pew,
References: Kubie, Elmer C. (1994). "Recollections of the first software company". Annals of the History of Computing (IEEE Computer Society) 16 (2): pp. 65–71. Research Center. (2008, April 1). Pew Research Center 's Internet & American Life Project . Networked Workers. Retrieved August 12, 2010, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/Networked-Workers.aspx?r=1