Ethics And Implications Of Computer Virus Information Technology Essay

Ethics And Implications Of Computer Virus Information Technology Essay Introduction A computer virus is a program that executes when an infected program is executed. It is capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of causing great harm to files or other programs on the same computer. Like biological viruses, computer viruses can spread quickly and are often difficult to eradicate. They can attach themselves to just about any type of file, and are spread by replicating and being sent from one individual to another. These are one of the few harmless viruses, simply replicating and spreading to new systems. There are a couple of different types of computer viruses: Boot-sector viruses Parasitic viruses Multi-partite viruses Macro viruses These classifications take into account the different ways in which the virus can infect different parts of a system. The manner in which each of these types operates has one thing in common: any virus has to be executed in order to operate (Lammer V., 1993) How in different ways those computer viruses can affect the IT industry and the society. What kind of implications they might cause? What kind of motivation motivates them to develop these computer viruses? Are they aware of the ethical matter surrounding their development? These are the issues that will be discussing in this report. History Many claims have been made for the existence of viruses prior to the 1980s, but so far these claims have not been accompanied by proof. The Core Wars programming contests did involve self-replicating code, but usually within a structured and artificial environment. It was not until the end of the decade (and 1987 in particular) that knowledge of real viruses became widespread, even among security experts. For many years boot sector infectors and file infectors were the only types of common viruses. The boot sector virus, dubbed the cBrain, was first incarnated written back in January 1986, considered to be the first computer virus for MS-DOS. It was programmed to infect the boot sector of storage media formatted with the DOS File Allocation Table (FAT) file system (Mary Landesman, 2000). In the early 1990s, virus writers started experimenting with various functions intended to defeat detection, among these were polymorphism. Polymorphic viruses are more difficult to detect by scanning as each copy of the virus looks different than other copies. Basically, polymorphic code mutates while keeping the original algorithm intact. Another introduction in the 1990s was the macro and script viruses, they were initially confined to word processing files, particularly files associated with the Microsoft Office Suite. However, the inclusion of programming capabilities eventually led to script viruses in many objects that would normally be considered to contain data only, such as Excel spreadsheets, Power Point presentation files, and email messages. This fact led to greatly increased demands for computer resources among antiviral systems. Email viruses became the major new form in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and while it is very visible and so tend to be indentified within a short space of time, but many are macros or scripts and so generate many variants (John Wiley, 2004). Computer ethics and computer viruses What impact did computer viruses have on ethics in the computer community? With the explosion of the number of computer viruses, this remains an unanswered question. In the years since viruses first appeared in the MS/PC-DOS computing environment, they have grown in both numbers and complexity at an alarming rate. They have become not only commonplace, but also extremely difficult to defend against. The virus creators have designed, compiled and released encrypting viruses, multipartite viruses, stealth viruses and viruses employing encryption techniques so bizarre that it warrants immediate concern. The scope of the problem has grown to the point where computer users are desperate for answers to their questions sand solutions to the computer virus dilemma (Ferguson, 1992). The  computer  ethics situation at present is as distorted and convoluted as it could have ever been imagined. Some of the more disturbing activities in the virus information channels recently, have been irresponsible postings of  source code, DEBUG scripts of live viruses and overall disregard of  computer  ethics and morals. To complicate matters, virus exchange Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) have cropped up where viruses and virus  source code  are freely exchanged. The people who engage in these activities have successfully shown their disregard for the remainder of the computing public. Perhaps these individuals have not given ample thought to the consequences of their actions. By allowing live  computer  viruses to freely filter into the public domain, they are ultimately responsible for any damage inflicted, either directly or indirectly, due to their negligence or disregard (Ferguson, 1992). According to the study of (Gordon, 1994) in which she has examined the ethics of virus writers using Kohlbergs ethical model, the observation shows that the virus writers are not a homogenous group, since they vary in age, education level, economical level, background, manner of communication, perspective of their society, and have different preferences. All of the foregoing will lead to different modes of thinking and different motivations behind their behavior. The adolescent and college virus writers are within the norms of their age group of the ethical development model, the reason for their behavior in writing and releasing viruses were unclear according to the collected information (Gordon, 1994, p15). While adult virus writers seem to be under the norm for their age group of the ethical development model and The Enemy seem to be Society (Gordon, 1994, p.15). It seems that virus writers desire to accomplish their goal conceals their vision from viewing the ethical issues, anot her reason could be their dissatisfaction with the society, since the ethics belong to it, and they want revenge against everything in their society including the ethics (Ahmad, 2005, p. 41). Implications may be for IT industry Computer virus implications on the IT industry may cause some company to upgrade their security to higher security level. The growing need for computer security specialists is predictable. Consultants may earn enviable income by telling corporate computer users how to protect their machines from catastrophic failure and how to use antidote and vaccine products. The computer specialists will be in a never ending game with each other. As they develop preventive vaccines and administer the viral antidotes, the viral breeders will also be developing new viruses to overcome the new security measures. (Lin Chang, 1989) The implications of the computer virus growth are especially important for Management Information Systems (MIS) as well. Management is becoming aware of the security considerations and internal policies of the firm. In order to prevent system contamination, employees should be warned not to use any unchecked programs. The MIS management should set more straightforward policies and the repercussions of not abiding by them. Similarly, any software used in the office should remain there and no place else. This is to safeguard against possible infections that could occur outside of the office environment. The focus of most policies will be on preventing external intrusions rather than internal threats simply for the sake of reducing external dangers (Lin Chang, 1989). Implications may be for society In early May of year 2000, the message I Love You appeared among emails of computer users worldwide. The attached virus since dubbed the Love Bug, infected up to 45 million computers, paralyzed bodies ranging from the World Health Organization to the Pentagon and is said to have cost business tens of billions of pounds in the UK alone. The Love Bug affected only software created by Microsoft, taking advantage of recent changes designed to improve performance, unfortunately over 90% of desktop computers were using Microsoft software. This software monoculture creates a system with an intrinsically high risk of catastrophic failure. Conclusion There are millions of computer virus developers out there in this world, creating the right virus all the time trying to expose the security of many kinds of system. As you can see, the number of computer viruses found in the world is increasing each year. Every time software and antivirus software developers invent new technology to prevent virus infection, computer virus writers thrilled the world with their ability to go around the new technology and develop the right virus for each age. There are hundreds of thousands of viruses out there (if not millions) and they often designed for different objectives, the writers of computer virus are not a homogenous group, their motivations could be the need to express their dissatisfaction with their social level, to achieve their revenge or to prove their technical ability, drawing attention, becoming famous and well known. It seems that computer virus writers determination to accomplish their goal may conceal their vision from viewing the ethical and legal issues (or they might not even care). Another reason could be their dissatisfaction with their society, since the ethics and legal codes belongs to it, and they want revenge for everything in their society including the ethics and legal codes (Ahmad, 2005, p. 43). The battle between the securities specialists against virus creators will never come to an end, as virus creators will always trying to overcome the security measures, antidotes and vaccines. These are just few of the impacts that can be expected on the computer industry. As for the computer society, the computer virus has become a fact of life. (Word Count: 1553) Bibliography Mary Landesman (2000) Boot Sector Virus Repair http://antivirus.about.com/od/securitytips/a/bootsectorvirus.htm, online (Accessed 3/11/10)

Henri Cartier-Bresson :: History

Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson has been called "equivocal, ambivalent and accidental"1 since his debut as a photojournalist. Amplified and enriched, the work of the photographer is revealed in all its grandeur. While he may appear to "be a hurried man or a traveler without luggage"2, to quote a few of his titles, he is a poet, attentive to the act of love made with each photograph, and this is where the genius is revealed. From a desired distance, we discover simultaneously the geographer, who analyses the permanence or vulnerability of cultures; the ethnographer, who captures gestures of work and rituals of religion; the anthropologist, who reflects the spectrum of emotions; and the sociologist, who reveals the development of destinies and histories.3 Cartier-Bresson's dependence and uncompromising view of photography; to rely solely on the moment in time, is why he will always be remembered. Born in 1908, Cartier-Bresson studied painting with Andre Lhote in Paris, then painting and literature at Cambridge University in 1928 and developed a serious interest in photography in 1931. His work was first exhibited at the Julien Levy Gallery, New York, and first published in Vu magazine in 1932. He has been involved in numerous films, such as La Vie est a nous (1936), Le Regle du jeu (1939), his documentary film on the hospitals of Republican Spain in 1937 and his film on the liberation of the concentration camps with Richard Banks called Le Retour (1945). His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1946, and in 1947 he became co-founder of The Magnum photographic agency. He has published over a dozen books and has had his photographs printed in hundreds of magazines. Cartier-Bresson traveled the world so that he may document and present to others the human condition. His photographs transcend any particular time or place. Instead, they capture the very essence of life, be it Harlem, Madrid, Shanghai or the Paris rue Mouffetard (Ill. 2)4. In rural Europe, silent in the absence of the engine, and where everything was still done by animals and human beings, he portrays, unaltered, a society's captivating traits. At times his poetic intention towards subject matter is inadvertently socially charged, which makes his work all the more intriguing5. Each of Cartier-Bresson's photographs presents itself not as part of a series, an archive selected among others, but as a singular work of art which, with its own formal qualities and unique meanings, exists in itself. Henri Cartier-Bresson :: History Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson has been called "equivocal, ambivalent and accidental"1 since his debut as a photojournalist. Amplified and enriched, the work of the photographer is revealed in all its grandeur. While he may appear to "be a hurried man or a traveler without luggage"2, to quote a few of his titles, he is a poet, attentive to the act of love made with each photograph, and this is where the genius is revealed. From a desired distance, we discover simultaneously the geographer, who analyses the permanence or vulnerability of cultures; the ethnographer, who captures gestures of work and rituals of religion; the anthropologist, who reflects the spectrum of emotions; and the sociologist, who reveals the development of destinies and histories.3 Cartier-Bresson's dependence and uncompromising view of photography; to rely solely on the moment in time, is why he will always be remembered. Born in 1908, Cartier-Bresson studied painting with Andre Lhote in Paris, then painting and literature at Cambridge University in 1928 and developed a serious interest in photography in 1931. His work was first exhibited at the Julien Levy Gallery, New York, and first published in Vu magazine in 1932. He has been involved in numerous films, such as La Vie est a nous (1936), Le Regle du jeu (1939), his documentary film on the hospitals of Republican Spain in 1937 and his film on the liberation of the concentration camps with Richard Banks called Le Retour (1945). His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1946, and in 1947 he became co-founder of The Magnum photographic agency. He has published over a dozen books and has had his photographs printed in hundreds of magazines. Cartier-Bresson traveled the world so that he may document and present to others the human condition. His photographs transcend any particular time or place. Instead, they capture the very essence of life, be it Harlem, Madrid, Shanghai or the Paris rue Mouffetard (Ill. 2)4. In rural Europe, silent in the absence of the engine, and where everything was still done by animals and human beings, he portrays, unaltered, a society's captivating traits. At times his poetic intention towards subject matter is inadvertently socially charged, which makes his work all the more intriguing5. Each of Cartier-Bresson's photographs presents itself not as part of a series, an archive selected among others, but as a singular work of art which, with its own formal qualities and unique meanings, exists in itself.

Made Up Myth Character Essay

Strength: Sharp teeth, muscular body, strong, good eyesight, excellent sense of smell, and giant feet. Weaknesses: Low self esteem, ability to get influenced, unattractive, not social, and obese. Sizzina, a transformed monster, was once a normal human being like all of us. The halls in the school were filled with praises about Sizzina. She had sharp features, beautiful eyes, blonde curly hair, an amazing skinny figure. She was the girl everyone wanted to know and to socialize with. However, the admiration got to her head. Sizzina was now conceited. Students, friends, and teachers were treated like servants. They did her homework, followed her around everywhere, took orders from her, and also did her chores. They didn’t have status or value in the eyes of Sizzina. The halls that were once filled with praises and commandments were now turned into hearts filled with hatred. The god of beauty, Sonia, noticing all the injustice occurring to other students made a ever changing decision. Sizzina had to learn her lesson! Sonia decided to turn Sizzina into an unattractive monster. A monster that would not receive any appreciation. Sooner nor later, her high self esteem turned into an ocean filled with tears. Sizzina, could not handle the embarrassment which led to the encounter of â€Å"weird† friends. One day, Sonia noticed the drastic changes occurring in Sizzina. Sizzina was now more aware of true friendship that she had never known before. Also, she became so close to her friends that she couldn’t imagine her life without them. They gossiped, chatted, shopped, ate food, and did all their daily activities together. She was no longer lonely. She appreciated her friends more than her family. Material items did not have any value for her anymore. Love and friendship was the only thing that had a position an space for in her life and heart. However, she didn’t know that one day she would have a difficult decision between her old beautiful self life or this current life in which she was a monster, but with wonderful friends. After a long night of sleep, she woke up in the morning not in her cozy bed. She was in the clouds between an unknown stranger. Sonia said â€Å"Hello Sizzina! I know everything about you. I know you have a lot of questions in your mind right now but this isn’t the right time for them. Today is a really important day for you because it’s going to change your life completely. You have to make the decision between choosing your old life where everyone admired you or the life that you have as a monster. But don’t forget, chose the life that has more value and meaning to you. A life that you would never regret.† This was one of the hardest choice Sizzina had to ever make. She was flip flopping between her old life and her current. However, in the end, she without a doubt chooses her current life due to her amazing friends that were there for her in her rough times. They’re people who she would never want to lose. Beauty has no importance in front of friendship. Friends truly love you for who you are and not for your physical appearance.

The Mass Media

Bizhigitov Dauletbek CSSE-122K TECHNOLOGY MAKES COMMUNICATION EASIER IN TODAY'S WORLD In this day and age, no one can deny that technology make human’s communication easier. However, many people are of the opinion that spending on computer screens rather than face-to-face contact has dangers for society. Therefore, this essay will examine the dangers that probably impact on society at present day. Firstly, it is true that when people select to work at home by doing their job on computer, their inter action with their collegues in socity will decline in importance.This change results in becoming shallow and isolated feeling among these individuals because greeting conversations by typing on screen can not convey emotions, feelings, touchings to another side while face-to-face meeting can. A case that illustrates this is if you want to confide in your best friend in serious cases, you can not share or feel in with her by posting messeges via computer. Thus, they better take indi rect way conversation.Furthermore, the most important threat for society by lacking participation in communication is the lack of creativitys in humanity. It is inevitable that humanity is a social animal, so people have to socialise with others surrounding them. Clearly, the communication skills pay important roles in our race. If humans detract this communication skills which should continuously been developed, those could rarely progress in art, science, technology, innovation and so on.I believe this is likely the result from the fact that those innovations rely much on team work combining variety of skills among people. On the other hand, working on screen alone at home destroys all chance to construct these developments in society. All in all, I personally agree that obsession in spending time on greeting people on computer screen is dangerous for society in two perspectives, namely being shallow and lonely in individuals, and lacking of continuous development of communication skills which play a significant role in creativity of humanity.

Introductory paragraph and online worksheet Essay

I am number three of four children in the family line up, the first and only to go to college. My parents always have been supportive of my going back to school because they did not even finish elementary school. My career plan is to become an Elementary School Teacher or a Marriage and Family Therapist. I am currently working on getting my bachelor’s degree in psychology, possibly a master’s degree in education or counseling. University of Phoenix was one of my first school choices, I loved that I could focus on one class at a time and be able to work full time. The tools available to a University of Phoenix student are amazing; build a career plan, do job market research, online library, personality tests, and much more. My competencies helped me to see what my strengths and weaknesses are such as innovating, writing, adapting to change, and coping with pressure. Once I completed the career interest profiler, I was not surprised to see that my results encouraged me to be a teacher or a therapist because I am interested in that.

Media Freedom in Pakistan Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Media Freedom in Pakistan - Term Paper Example The focus of the study is given to how the media helped to restore the judiciary besides other benefits of the media freedom. The downside of this freedom and its limitations are also discussed in order to give a balanced picture of the impact and relate how free the media really is at this stage. Finally, an examination is made of how the media can help to make democratisation succeed. Officially, democracy began in Pakistan with the 1973 constitution after General Yahya Khan allowed the conduction of a free and fair election in Pakistan for the first time in 1970. It was a parliamentary democracy that allowed for democratically elected representatives to rule. Prior to that, his predecessor General Ayub Khan did allow the country to experience a ‘basic democracy’ under the 1962 constitution after usurping power, but it was rightly called a ‘constitutional autocracy’. Democratic institutions were still suppressed and a mass movement arose to guarantee the p rinciple of one-man-one-vote would be applied. However, the quality of the democracy in Pakistan during the last quarter of the 20th century has been questionable, and arguably it still is. It was again largely absent during Zia-ul-Haqq’s military rule from 1977 to 1988. Political parties were then allowed to participate in proper elections this time in 1988 but the transition to democracy has been a continuous struggle between the military and civilian organisations. In short, where some democratic practices have been permitted, they have usually been partial, controlled and incomplete under the rule of the military or else manipulated under the occasional civilian rule. The pattern that emerges from this brief historical overview is that the degree of democracy has been generally (though not steadily) increasing in Pakistan over the past few decades.

Hormonal Therapy after Menopause Medications Research Paper

Hormonal Therapy after Menopause Medications - Research Paper Example Synthetic estrogen and progesterone (or sometimes just the estrogen) are administered in small doses in order to relieve or alleviate symptoms, especially hot flushes (Pathy et al., 2012). However, sufficient medical history is needed before administering HT to menopausal women. A complete physical exam, pap smear, mammography, examination of hormonal levels, cholesterol levels, vitamin D levels and bone density scans, as well as the presence or absence of sexually-transmitted diseases are measured before giving it out to those who suffer from menopausal symptoms (Hawkins, Roberto-Nichols, & Stanley-Haney, 2012). Symptoms of menopause include loss of elasticity of the vagina and the decrease in blood circulation as well as fatty tissue which results in dryness and itchiness, pain around the urethra, hot flushes and night sweats, as well as decrease in bone density that leads to osteoporosis for some women (Hawkins et al., 2012). Other observed symptoms include dementia and cognitive impairment among older women, as well as cardiovascular diseases due to the loss of elasticity of the blood vessels due to the decrease in the release of estrogen and progesterone in the bloodstream (Pathy et al., 2012). Another likely symptom of menopause is depression, which is also due to the low estrogen levels that circulate in the blood. Alongside HT, anti-depressant drugs are also administered routinely to women by physicians not only to women who naturally entered menopause but also to women who had a hysterectomy, or â€Å"surgical menopause† (Stoppard, 2000). For this report, a study by Zanardi, Rossini, Magri, Malaguti, Colombo and Smeraldi in 2006 about assessing the response to anti-depressants of post-menopausal women undergoing HT as well as those who are not, as well as the possible effects and influence of these anti-depressants to the hormonal levels of these women. Background of the Study The study by Zanardi et al. (2006) aims to evaluate the response of p ost-menopausal women to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) and documenting the interactions of SSRI’s with sexual hormones in women undergoing and not undergoing HT. Due to few documentations of post-menopausal women under risk of undergoing depressive episodes, the scant amount of studies concerning the influence of HT in reaction to anti-depressants which end up in ambiguous and bias results, few or incomplete basal assessment of hormonal levels before HT, as well as a lack of studies with a considerable sample size, this study was conceptualized in order to find out if the use of HT would be able to improve the effects of SSRI’s in post-menopausal women. Also, proving the synergistic action between anti-depressants and hormonal therapy could give hope for women who suffer menopause and depression, as well as their healthcare providers in managing their symptoms. This study is also significant especially to people who specialize in geriatrics, in order for them to be able to assess as well as address the needs of their female patients undergoing menopause, depression or both. Methods of the Study Roughly 200 patients of the Research Center for Mood Disorders in San Raffaele Hospital, Milan were chosen for this study. Women above 40 years of age, has amenorrhea for least 12 months and were suffering from a major depressive episode were chosen for this study. Those who were excluded were women who had a history of drug or alcohol abuse, anorexia, other