Friday, 9 January 2015

Which Social, Ethical and Legal Issues are most important to particular employers in the IT industry, and what strategies and plans do they propose to address these


“Which Social, Ethical and Legal Issues are most important to particular employers in the IT industry, and what strategies and plans do they propose to address these”

By: Matthew Maslanka, Hamesh Rambaran, Hassan Jillani, Humaiun Miah


Word Count: 2107



Introduction



In this blog post we will be looking at how different organisations handle their legal, ethical and social issues. We will be focusing on two different organisations, Sony and Apple, and find issues previously faced and how they were overcome. We’ll be looking at social, ethical and legal aspects of the PSN hacking in 2011 which affected Sony. With Apple we will look at the social, ethical and legal aspects of the Benzene incident in 2013 and also how Apple was awarded “A” rank in energy transparency and “B” rank in energy efficiency. Next we will look at how these were addressed, our own thoughts on their process and finally look at how different organisations implemented their own strategies and how these differ.



Sony



On the 20th of April 2011 the PSN (Playstation network) service went down and was not available until the 14th of May. This was due to a breach in their security which reported by Pulter (2011) led to 77 million users having their personal and payment details stolen.

The downtime lasted for 23 days which may have upset users possibly making them switch platforms. However the bigger issue is the impact on other games publishers which relies on the PSN network as a distribution platform as reported by Lee (2011). IGN (IGN, 2011) reports that Sony will try and help these developers. However It is unknown exactly what measures were taken but in our opinion some of the actions Sony could’ve taken is to give free promotional space on their website or on the home screen PSN. Another possibility is to be featured on the the weekly Playstation newsletter e-mail; both of these would help encourage sales and restore faith in that the PSN is a viable way to make money.

Another interesting ethical decision Sony made was to take all the PSN services down. By doing this it ensured that more personal data was not taken and potentially being able to fix the problems faster. Sony could have possibly kept some services running for instance, the online gaming and payment because the details were already stolen. Subsequently this would’ve meant that Sony would still be able to generate income from their PSN services.

In our opinion we agree with Sony’s decision to take down all PSN services; the damage had already been done although keeping up some services would’ve been good for the temporary improvement of public image but it would not outweigh the fact that personal and credit card details had been stolen.

Interestingly in Kuchera (2011) article some users have reported that they have became a victim of credit card fraud however from Sony’s official blog post by Seybold (2011) and Rashid (2011) the credit card data was encrypted which means it is highly unlikely. With 77 million users being affected and only 24 reports, it is likely that these reports are just a coincidence which means Sony’s encryption may have saved it from hackers.

However the personal details database was not encrypted which could easily mean identity theft could potentially affect a large amount of the 77 million users of PSN.

Sony’s business activities are subject to various governmental regulations in different countries in which it operates, including regulations relating to personal information protection requirements. In the UK the legal impact of this situation meant that Sony was fined £250,000 by the ICO as reported by Warman (2014). This is due to to the breach of the Data Protection Act 1998. Our thoughts on Sony's fine is that the ICO did not ‘charge’ enough considering the amount of damage done to those users affected in the leak. An article by Rashid (2011) reported that Sony failed to use firewalls to protect its network and was using obsolete web applications which invited hackers to go ahead and attack PSN. These obsolete web applications was tested by a purdue University professor to a Congressional committee which investigated the big data breach. In our opinion if Sony had followed the guidelines for security then all the PSN users personal details such as name, address and email could have been kept secure and free from the hands of the public.

The social impact of this could mean millions lost to identity theft and scaring users to ever using a Sony service again or any online service. In response to this problem Sony launched a free ID protection for US users affected by the PSN breach. This shows how serious Sony was at trying to protect their users and to restore faith in its damaged relationship. In our opinion there was not much else Sony can do in this situation, the only problem we thought that should be addressed is that it took another 13 days to reach the UK and Europe as reported by Trenholm (2011) which meant those users were at risk.

Sony also offered a selection of free games to users affected by the PSN outage, which in our opinion feel that this was a very good incentive to keep users happy and start to rebuild relationships. Evidence of this can be seen on the playstation blog where the news was announced by Sebold (2011) received a 4.31/5 rating.  Interestingly Microsoft have also offered a free game in the past when its online service, Xbox live, was unavailable over the holidays as reported by Cohen (2008) from PCWorld.



Apple



In recent years there has been a significantly growing green movement, urging the IT industry to rectify and reduce its environmental impact. We have seen many major companies tackle green issues such as Apple after scrutiny from the ICO (Information Commissioners Office). The ICO take green energy and environmental awareness very seriously and thus began to survey companies’ environmental and carbon footprint.

With regards to the ICO legislations, Apple was first formerly notorious for their poor environmental standards. Greenpeace (Greenpeace International, 2011) reported that Apple was the ‘Least green tech company. Which was then publicised by The Guardian (Felicity Carus. (2011). From that, Apple’s reputation had taken a huge blow and now Apple in the recent years have taken their green issue very seriously and have now recognised green energy and the environmental aspect is highly valued by the public and now have taken huge steps to reduce their environmental and ethical impact.

Since the report, Apple have reduced their environmental impact and began with several strategies and plans to solve these green issues. Lisa Jackson, Vice president of environmental initiatives at Apple and her team have begun finding ways to use energy and materials more efficiently in their facilities. They also looked at getting energy from cleaner sources which allows them to make some of the world's most energy-efficient electronic products. From there on Apple began working on creating compact products that are more material efficient and last longer before needing replacement. Also with technology ever changing and the demand from customers of new devices, Apple had to keep up with designing their products with cleaner, safer materials to reduce and eliminate electronic toxins. We can see this with today’s iMac using 0.9 watts of electricity in sleep mode, that’s 97 per cent less than the first iMac produced.

Apple have also launched a ‘Reuse and Recycling Programme’ which helps stop their devices ending up on a landfill by offering money back if it has monetary value for the devices or a 10% discount off a new device. In our opinion by having such a programme in place, Apple users don’t need to worry about how to dispose of their old devices correctly and they also have the incentive to do so with a reward.

Since making all of these improvements to the companies green issues, in 2014, Greenpeace praised Apple for its use of renewable energy and was awarded “A” ranks in energy transparency, deployment and advocacy, and commitment, scoring a "B" rank in its energy efficiency. From being the least, to now the greenest company, you can see Apple’s plans and strategies have worked by Lisa Jackson’s actions.

Although we think feel Apple still have a long way to go, however there efforts are working and proved by the article from Gary Cook, (Greenpeace 2014). In our opinion however, Apple should have started tackling green issues before the Greenpeace report came out and should have had a more active approach as this is their ethical responsibility. Apple did however invest a huge sum of money into reforming the company’s environmental responsibility and have succeeded so by becoming the only company in the industry whose data centres are powered by 100 per cent renewable energy and whose entire product line not only meets but far exceeds strict Energy Star guidelines.

Apple has been using chemicals such as n-hexane and benzene in their manufacturing process for their products. These chemicals are extremely dangerous and if someone is exposed due to lack of training or the necessary gear then it puts them at risk of paralysis, cancer and/or nerve damage. The purpose of using these chemicals is to clean smudges and production marks from the screens and to coat certain electronic components of the product before packing.

There was this recent incident of benzene exposure to a worker named Ming Kunpeng of ASM Pacific Technology a longtime chip supplier for Apple. Good Electronics (2013) and White (2012) at the Huffington Post reports Ming Kunpeng started working at ASM Pacific Technology in 2009 at the age of 19. His work was to handle benzene everyday and that too without proper training and protective gear. In 2009 when he was 22, Ming Kunpeng was diagnosed with leukemia; tests results suggested the cause by his occupation. On December 28th 2013, after struggling for three years Ming Kunpeng committed suicide by jumping from the roof of his building.

This took the eco-friendly groups and labour watch by a big surprise. Gibbs (2014) at The Guardian and Williams (2014) at PC World report that after this incident many NGOs, labour watch, non-profit groups and ECO groups throughout the world launched ‘ban benzene’ campaigns and to boycott Apple Products till the company stops the use of these chemicals. Sparkes (2014) at The Telegraph reports at first Apple rejected the claim by saying that it’s been leading in reducing the toxic chemicals from its production. But after some time Apple found that 4 of its 22 factories were using these chemicals said that they will ban them completely. They also admitted that staff were not always given proper training about handling these chemicals. Gibbs (2014) at The Guardian reports an Apple spokesperson told that they have told all of their suppliers to meet and try to exceed the standards for the hazardous handling of chemicals set by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The Standards set by US OSHA are 500 parts per million (ppm) for n-hexane in general industry and 1 Part per million (ppm) for benzene.

Apple is not the only one that needs to stop the use of these hazardous chemicals. There are others such as Samsung, Dell and HP who are using these chemicals and are breaching the labour conditions. As Samsung, Dell and HP are manufacturers of devices that need cleaning of smudges and marks from the glass screens so they also used benzene just like Apple. Apple as a result of “ban benzene” campaign totally banned the use of benzene from its factories but Samsung (Samsung. 2014) is still using a small quantity.

However in our opinion, Apple should have checked its use of hazardous chemicals long before this incident and banned the use of these chemicals or if not then at least should have reduced the quantity that they have been using and also by proper training and production gears as well.


Conclusion



Organisations face many difficult ethical, legal and social issues and they need to have strategies and plans prepared  to quickly find a solution. If they do not then a smaller issue may snowball into a much larger issue . If Sony had updated their firewall and not used obsolete web applications then it’s a great possibility that they would not have been hacked.

Interestly different organisations may have in place different strategies and plans to combat these different issues as can been seen with the benzene amount used in products; Apple has a zero tolerance on the amount used compared to Samsung which lets suppliers use a small amount. The reason for this is because different organisations address different problems with different ethics.

We believe that organisations can learn from their past mistakes and implement better strategies and plans in order to solve their future problems.



References



Cohen, P (2008)  Microsoft Offers Free Game for Xbox Live Holiday problems
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[Accessed 12th December 2014]

Felicity, C. (2011) Apple named 'least green' tech company
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[Accessed 6th November 2014]

Good Electronics. (2014) Benzene poisoned ASM worker commits suicide in despair
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[Accessed: 10th December 2014]

Greenpeace. (2014) Clicking Clean: How Companies are Creating the Green Internet
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[Accessed 27th October 2014]

Gibbs, S. (2014) Apple urged to stop using harmful chemicals in factories
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[Accessed: 10th December 2014]

IGN (2011) Sony Networks Lacked Firewall, Ran Obsolete Software: Testimony
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[Accessed: 8th December 2014]

Kuchera, B. (2011) Ars readers report credit card fraud, blame Sony
[Accessed: 8th December 2014]

Pulter, S. (2011) Credit card alert as hackers target 77 million Playstation users
[Accessed: 8th December 2014]

Rashid, F. (2011) Sony Networks Lacked Firewall, Ran Obsolete Software: Testimony
[Accessed: 8th December 2014]

Rich, M. (2014) Greenpeace praises Apple for its use of renewable energy
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[Accessed 6th November 2014]

Samsung. (2014) Evidence of benzene at samsung’s semiconductor facilities in Korea
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[Accessed: 16th December 2014]

Seybold, P. (2011) Q&A #1 for PlayStation Network and Qriocity Services
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Seybold, P (2011) Details for PlayStation Network and Qriocity Customer Appreciation Program in North America
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Simon, S. (2014) Apple scores 100% clean energy score in Greenpeace cloud report
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[Accessed 9th November 2014]

Smith, C. (2011) Sony offers free ID theft protection
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Sparkes, M. (2014) Apple bans to dangerous toxins used in your iPhone
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[Accessed: 10th December 2014]

Trenholm, R (2011) Sony offers free identity theft protection for UK PlayStation gamers
[Accessed 9th  December 2014]

Warman, M (2014) Sony pay £250,000 PSN hack fine
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[Accessed 16th December 2014]

White, H. (2014) You won’t believe what’s in your cell phone
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[Accessed: 10th December 2014]

Williams, M. (2014) Green Group, Magazine call for boycott on Apple products
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Bibliography






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