UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2018/2019
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/ BUSSINESS IT/ APPLIED COMPUTING
BIT 2109/ BAC 2104: PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN IT
BCT 3104: COMPUTER LAW AND ETHICS
BUSS 207: BUSINESS ETHICS IN IT
FULL TIME/PART TIME/DISTANCE LEARNING
DATE: AUGUST, 2019 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question One & ANY OTHER TWO questions.
QUESTION ONE (Compulsory)
a) When working with IT systems it is important that an organisation’s management has both
legal and ethical policies in place. Explain BOTH the terms ‘Legal’ and ‘Ethical’.
(6 Marks)
b) What action would you take if you suspected that software being developed by your company
might be harmful because it had not been rigorously tested for reasons of minimising cost?
(4 Marks)
c) Briefly discuss whether technology determines society or if society determines technology
(4 Marks)
d) Describe the essential elements relating to conduct that identify a professional activity
(4 Marks).
e) Using relevant examples describe two ethical theories (4 Marks)
f) How can information and information systems be used to gain power and , thereby create
additional ethical issues? (4 Marks)
g) Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works,
and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. Identify the key forms of
intellectual property (4 Marks)
QUESTION TWO
a) In your view is software piracy a morality issues or legal issue. Justify your answer
(6 Marks)
b) The IT industry is increasingly aware of its own environmental impact. Describe at least
three environmental problems to which the industry contributes and how, as an IT
professional, you can help to solve this problem. (8 Marks)
c) Discuss why internet addiction has become a major concern to psychologists
(6 Marks)
QUESTION THREE
a) “Honest, upright, law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear from the distribution of their
personal data.” Do you agree or not? Give at least three reasons for your position and one
reasonable objection to it (8Marks)
b) As an ethical business you need to look at different areas social of responsibility. Using the
areas identify below explain examples unethical practices that may arise for each and how
an ethical organization would deal with the issues (12 Marks)
i. Responsibility towards Environment
ii. Responsibility towards Customers
iii. Responsibility towards Employees
iv. Responsibility towards Investors
QUESTION FOUR
a) The local council issue a questionnaire to all residents asking their opinions on replacing the
existing waste disposal system with wheeley bins. As part of the questionnaire, they in
addition ask questions about age, occupation, whether you are home owner or not and your
sexuality. Comment on whether such a questionnaire might breach the DPA and discuss the
appropriateness of each question listed above. (10 Marks)
b) The “magical” experience of browsing the World Wide Web often lulls users into a false
sense of security. The Web seems like a “virtual” space, where neither personal identities nor
consequences for behavior exist. Discuss with reference to ethical and morality issues raised
by anonymity (10 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE
a) The manager of one of the best-known and most successful English football clubs writes a
blog in which he regularly comments on the club’s recent matches. One week, after the club
has lost a critical match through a controversial goal, he writes in the blog that the referee
was obviously corrupt or incompetent. The referee threatens legal action for defamation
against the internet service provider (ISP) that hosts the blog. What laws relate to the ISP’s
liability in this situation and what should it do inorder to avoid being successfully sued?
(10 Marks)
b) Godan Games is a company that develops and markets high quality computer games set in
the mythical past. It markets the games through the internet and has customers all over the
world. It is becoming concerned at the possibility that competitors will try to pass off their
low quality games as coming from Godan. What legal and technical mechanism would you
advise Godan to use in order to protect itself and how, briefly, should it go about doing so.
(10 Marks)
