The impact of IT

Over the years, IT has had huge impact on daily lives.

Effects on small communities

Small communities benefit from in many ways.

The use of I.T. by smaller communities can reach out to a wider community. For example the use of social networking can link communities together, by allowing people to interact with others

IT can bring more community involvement through advertising e.g. Email contacts or websites.

Charities, in particular, can use targeted emails and the use of online fundraising pages, such as fundraizer.com, to highlight their cause and encourage people to either join in events or donate directly.

Group pages e.g. Facebook can create communities where members have common ideas or interests. They can share information, tips and ideas, support each other, and plan events. Some groups are local in nature, others national or even global.

Economic

IT has created many new jobs, due to new technology creating new manufacturing opportunities. Use of the technology has led to an expansion in the service sector e.g. call centres.

The way that jobs are advertised has changed, with many more companies choosing to advertise with online recruitment specialists. Even job centres use a website to list available employment. This means a wider range of people can see the details of advertised jobs. Once new jobs have been advertised, companies can use text messages or emails to keep in touch with candidates.

The use of IT has had a huge impact on work practices. Offices are now more efficient due to the new technology being used to carry out tasks that can become tedious and time consuming.

Many employees now work from home.  This has allowed may people who have families, disabilities or anything else that could restrict them from working, to be able to work with the right flexibility and with ease. As long as the employee has access to the internet and the business’ network then the job can be done easily.  There are some bad points to working from home.  If an employee is working from home, then they will never meet their colleagues. This is a bad thing because if the employee was to be called into work for a meeting then they would most likely find it difficult to interact with their colleagues.

Although the advancement of IT is had a good effect on businesses, Jobs have been lost.  This is down to the fact that fewer people are now needed to do tasks that would have involved a workforce of about 20 employees, over a decade ago.  This has saved companies and businesses a vast amount of money as they have less staff to pay. 

Tasks such as composing multiple letters and sorting through files can be completed by one or two people at a time.

Another downside to IT is that employees may need to learn a whole new skill set.  Re-training may be required every time a new piece of technology is introduced into an office environment; businesses will have to put aside money for all employees who will be using the technology.

When an employee is working from home, they may get distracted by other things such as family members or watching television, this may lead to procrastination. This would not be good for the company as tasks maybe not be completed until after the deadline, or they may not be completed at all.

IT can save an employee time due to the fact that most tasks are computerised.

Interacting with other businesses globally has never been easier, thanks to electronic devices and applications. Skype is an example of an application that could be used to hold a conference on-line. This is called E-conferencing.

Electronic conferencing can be very useful for a business, especially if they have other offices spread throughout the country or even the world.  This method of communication can reduce the need of travelling to other offices and countries.

More teamwork depending on job role

Working practices

All employees that use IT are required to follow certain work policies set by the business and the law.

Confidentiality is important especially if a company holds the personal information of customers or other companies.  If secret information is not kept securely, then it can be stolen and misused e.g. sold on, or used to steal money from others.

Some companies require their employees to sign certain secret acts to protect the customer’s personal data.

Information should be kept safe by following these procedures:

·         Making sure appropriate and secure usernames and passwords are used

·         Security e.g. anti-virus software, is up-to-date

·         Regular backup of information

·         Make sure information is encrypted

·         Only let authorised users  have access to it

The use of firewalls will block certain websites and protect you from hackers or viruses, by filtering the data that is sent to your system.  This will prevent employees accessing certain websites and data that maybe inappropriate, offensive or irrelevant.

Most employers would not tolerate the use of social media in the workplace. This is because it can cause the company networks to run slowly and It may also lead to employees getting distracted from their work. 

Every company needs their employees work to be kept surely, so everyone must have their own username and password.  Each user is responsible for the safekeeping of their username and password.

Certain companies have their own policies towards Email size. If an employee were to send out emails that did not comply with the company policy then, this may result in next works running slowly.

An employer may feel the need to monitor an employee’s system usage, so that they can keep an eye on them, to see whether they are abiding by the company’s policy. This may lead to instant dismissal.

Certain security procedures may be required in the workplace. For example, things like installing electronic security e.g. antivirus, setting up firewalls and disabling disk drive and usb ports are some typical methods of keeping data safe.

The use of mobile phones is forbidden in some companies due to the fact that employees maybe become distracted, and also private information may be stored or shared via mobile phones.

Sustainability

It is important to dispose of old equipment properly, because if it not disposed of it properly , then things like the toxic substances found in the components can leak into the earth’s atmosphere, and this can have a terrible affect on the environment.

Things that you could do to save the environment whilst using IT can include, saving paper, recycling components/paper and making sure that equipment is energy efficient.

Local councils offer refurbishment opportunities. This is where components can be refurbished and sent to other countries to be re-used.

Turning off equipment when not in use, doesn’t only save the environment, it can save money too. If businesses turned off all their equipment when not in use, then it would save a lot of energy.

If you reuse and recycle paper, then the amount of trees being cut down will decrease dramatically.

Things like printed documents double sided, converting to electronic storage facilities, and even just recycling paper can help reduce the amount of trees being destroyed which results in more oxygen and animals being saved.

The legal Aspects of IT

Pictures/photos on the internet owned by the photographer can be lost control of automatically. This is due to theft and unfair use of images. To avoid theft, content can be copyrighted by the owner.

Copyright is the law that was put in place to protect the owners of content like music and images.

A person can register to have their work copyrighted to avoid theft. Copyright will last the owner’s life time and 70 years after the owner has died. Copyright can also be sold to another party which will then last up to 70 years.

Content that is shared via internet has same copyright as another type of content, although it is hard to enforce copyright via the World Wide Web, due its size.

Plagiarism is when content is stolen from other people and it is claimed to be their own.

If a person puts something online and someone steals it and claims it as their own then this would be classed as plagiarism. This may lead to legal action being taken against the user.

To avoid plagiarism, copyright should be placed on to content that you wish to be shared. This can also include computer programs. Most programs require a license before the use of software.  This insures that the user has authorised usage.

Ethical

When online Information can be stolen and misused e.g. bank details can be stolen.

If you would like to protect your private information, it would not be ideal to use social networking sites such facebook, twitter and bebo.

To prevent theft when online, then the following things should be considered:

·         don’t share too information online

·         Regularly changing your password

·         don’t leave your computer unattended and logged in

·         Always make sure that people are not watching whilst you enter sensitive information

·         use only secure websites

·         Opt for banks that use safeguarding methods like bank authorisation.

Every user of ICT and business is required to comply with the data protection act.

The data protection act is a law that was introduced in 1998. It was put in place to make sure that data is used fairly and kept securely.

The Eight principles of the data protection act

Data must be:

• used fairly and lawfully

• used for limited, specifically stated purposes

• used in a way that is adequate, relevant and not excessive

• accurate

• kept for no longer than is absolutely necessary

• handled according to people’s data protection rights

• kept safe and secure

• not transferred outside the UK without adequate protection

Unequal access

Some people have unequal access to the internet.

Some people in rural areas have limited access to broadband, telephone lines, and dial up services can be slow and unreliable.

Some areas have no electricity or nowhere to buy technology, and income and employment status may limit options because of financial issues.

People who study, may need more regular access than those who don’t, and some age groups e.g. 16 – 40 years, are more likely to have access to the internet, than those younger or older. 

Not every country allows full access to the World Wide Web to its people. Eritrea, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Equatorial Guinea are the 5 most internet censored in the world. This is because of certain governments want to restrict contact with the outside world.

All these factors play apart in equality of access:

·         Employment status – someone with a job is more likely to have disposable income to buy technology, however some low income jobs allow employees regular access to the internet.

·         Income – The higher your income the more technology you can afford.

·         Education – people who have been to college are more likely to own and use a computer

·         Race/ethnicity – some religions don’t agree with technology e.g. Amish 

·         Age – younger persons are more likely to use IT than older age groups

·         Gender – up to the age of 40 more woman use the internet than men, after the age of 40 this swaps. The use of games consoles plays a part in this figure.

·         Family – families with children of school age are more likely to own a computer than those who haven’t

Abuse of IT

There are many threats of using ICT.

Cyberbullying is the bullying or abuse of people online. It can take place on many different websites such as facebook or twitter.

It can affect some venerable people by causing them stress or to become depressed.

Common things that cyber bullies do are:

·         Make people lose confidence about themselves

·         Call them  inappropriate names e.g. fat, stupid or ugly

·         Spread lies and rumours

·         Share embarrassing photos of other’s without their permission

Although the internet is a hard thing to monitor, there are things that can be done to prevent cyberbullying. For example, a person could block contact with certain people, and they can also abuse via the internet to the police or they can use privacy settings.

Spam is the method of sending the same thing to multiple people at one time, in order to annoy or con people. These emails usually are irrelevant and fraudulent. Spam emails can be a threat as they can contain viruses which can infect your system if opened.

These emails can be reduced by using spam filters. This cannot get rid of them completely, but it can reduce the amount of spam you receive.

They can also be to steal information or to spy on your computer.  This is a threat to a system as it can destroy files and the whole system.

Threats to a computer system

There are many different threats to computer system; some can be more fatal than others.

Viruses

Viruses are programmes or files that install themselves onto a system without you knowing.

Every computer virus has been made by man, and can be transmitted to anyone no matter how secure a system is.

These could get them from downloading files, browsing the internet or opening attachments infected with the files.

An example is, a file infector virus, with this type of virus replaces or overrides a file, and the user will think that it is was the original file.

Hacking

Hacking is the act of “breaking into a computer system” and accessing personal information.

This is could also be the act of changing or deleting personal information on sites such as Facebook.

There have been many cases which have been reported recently.

An example would be the hacking of the social networking site Twitter.

Not every form of hacking is bad.

For example, there are jobs that have been created in which you are asked to hack a webpage to test out the security.

Phishing

Phishing is an attempt to obtain or steal personal information by posing as genuine companies and luring their victims to fraudulent websites, so they will hand over their personal information.

An example of this type of attack is from 2003, where eBay users were sent emails linking to the fraudulent site and then fooled into thinking that they had to update their account details.

General Breakdowns

Computer breakdowns are one of the most common threats to a system.

Computers will generally break down after time; this is due to things such as power problems and hardware failures.

When the hard disk fails, it is not always possible to recover or restore data. The hard disk stores a vast amount of the data on a system.

Trojans

Trojans are similar to viruses, as they can infect your system without you knowing.

The only difference between a Trojan and a virus is that a Trojan cannot duplicate itself.

One of the most popular examples is fake antivirus software that can claim to remove viruses but they actually release them on to your computer.

Malware

Malware is the name given to malicious software that can be found on a computer.

Malware could anything like a virus or a Trojan.

Impact

The impact that these factors leave is big.

If you lose data then it could lead to; malicious use such as identity theft.

Prevention

Although sometimes we cannot stop the threats completely, we can reduce the amount of damage that we can do.

Installing anti-virus software can reduce the risk of getting a virus and can get rid of the virus completely.  Norton security is an example of an anti-virus.

Although anti-virus can be expensive, there are cheaper or free versions available.

You can prevent hacking by only give your email address to trusted persons or companies and by keeping your security details in a safe place.

Using stronger passwords is a good way of preventing hacking because they are harder for people to guess which reduces the amount of someone getting into your system.

While creating a password you should make sure that you use symbols and numbers.

An example of a good password would be something like J3lly22Fish.

Installing updates and patches are good because they can fix error and recognise the latest viruses and scams.

Firewall

Installing a firewall reduces the risk of viruses or malware, because you can monitor what enters your system.

Maintenance

Standard maintenance routines can help protect your computer’s system.

Simple tasks such as installing antivirus software and updating windows can minimize the threat of your system failing.

Physical Security

Physical security is important, because it can prevent data loss and theft.

Physical security can be anything from locking your computer when not in use, to using physical locks on cables.

Companies and organisations use different security methods to protect their data.

For example, they would limit the use of unauthorised users, in order to prevent malicious use.