Introduction

                                                              Introduction

Hi, I name is Raju, I recently begun to work as an IT trainer for smarter training limited company based in Northampton. My blog is for students with a range of technical abilities and for other people that are interested in IT, in my blog I will talk about how IT affected the world and use Individuals. I will be discussing on the following things; social, Economic, Legal and Ethical. I hope you find this blog helpful to you.

Social

                                        Social

 

How Facebook, MSN, Twitter, etc have affected our friendships

Nowadays social websites such as Facebook, twitter and MSN has become more famous than any other way of communicating and it has affected people in good and a bad way because most people use social websites to make friends, meet new people so that they got someone to talk too and they also might use social websites to share multimedia files such as pictures, videos and tunes and also tell other people about themselves such as what they would do tomorrow, when’s their birthday and get to know something about other people. People can also share the same information with their existing friends and one of the biggest advantage of using social websites is that if you don’t see your friend for one or more days then you could still be in touch via facebook, so would not need to go to their place.  People are so into Facebook that they don’t know what’s going on around them, they would just sit there for hours and hours doing nothing. Facebook also can be bad for people because people that are on Facebook are not really what they are real life or what they look like, so it could be bad for people that tell them their personal details. 

On-line communities

On line communities helps people to join together and find out more things about each other, with the help of software and technology such as micro phones, webcams, Skype, MSN live massager ... more and more people are joining, not just from one part but from all the world, they can make calls, send messages and make video calls which is the biggest advantages for those people that don’t see their friends or family often, for some reason. Local people also can share same interests between them such, their hobbies, what they like doing outside and talk about what is going on in their local community. The bad thing could be that if one person doesn’t have enough time to talk or respond to the one that sent the messages then that would affect the relationship or friendship between those two people.  

Effect of computer games   

Although computer games are not played as much as PS3 or Xbox games but it is still popular and played by young children’s and teenagers because of the improved graphics and performs of the computers. Playing games on computer could have positive and negative effect on young children because firstly it would affect the user because they would set there for hours and hours playing games and it would affect their body posture the way they would sit there for long time and because of staring at the screen for long time it would affect their eyesight.  The other negative effect would be that playing violent games would affect young children behaviour because it will make them angrier and aggressive towards others, they might also do staff in really life that they need in the games. The positive or the advantages could be that it will improve their computer skills and there are also educational games that are played by the same age group (young children) it could be played for fun but it will have a positive effect in them, online computer games could also make new friends.

Internet addiction

I think most of the age group between 13years to 30 cannot live or stayed without internet or computer, internet addiction is identified as an illness which is hard for people to get out of it, internet addiction could be many things for example using social websites, playing games and for entertainment but most of those people are addicted to social websites such as Face book, twitter and MSN etc.. People that use internet wouldn’t have much knowledge of what is going on in real life and might not get on with people (face to face) very well when they are in working environment or anywhere else because would not be used to talking with people in person and meeting new people.

No need to leave house

In this day and age, people use internet for many things or reason and the most common reason it’s used for, is for online shopping, people find it much easier to do online shopping rather than going to the store and buying their goods from there. On line shopping could be a positive thing for those who don’t like walking around for long time and going to the shop or to the store, not only that people can also compare the price of the same product from two or more websites and can chose or get the best value of product, you could also compare different website to see which one got the best offer or gives best deals which will it be easier and quick for people to shop. It is bad for other supermarkets or small stores that are not providing online shopping service so there for fewer products would be sold but those that do provide online service will create new jobs for unemployed people; one of the jobs could be a van driver for delivery products.     

Economic

                                                             Economic

People expected to be available 24/7 with blackberries.

People expected to be available with blackberry 24/7, is an advantages for owner of the company because they can be in touch with their colleagues or customer if there is any problem. The boss/owner can provide service from work or home by using text messages, by calling on phone and using instant messaging which quick and fast. There is also a disadvantage for the owner because he/she could be connected anywhere and anytime which is not good because they would not be able take rest or share time with their family for long before someone calls or messages them.    

Flexibility of working patterns, today there are many computer jobs or other jobs that you could do or work from your home which will always be good thing about a job because firstly you would not need to travel and it would save you money from spending on petrol/diesel or from spending on public transport. You would also have more time to the work since you will not be travelling. Also an advantage will be that the business owner would no t need a big building to work in it because most of their staff will be working from their home so it will save the company some money too. There is also shift working IT jobs that may have effect on your lifestyle for example shift working is where you go to work on morning for one week and the next go at night and then changing shifts each week, by doing this people might find it hard to keep up with their lifestyle.

Easier to source products from all over the world

With the help of IT and internet, it’s much easier for people to source products from all over the world; IT has improved many small and big countries such as china and India, the growth of economics in those countries and more IT  is being developed to help business in those countries to become more popular and big. The good thing about sourcing product is that if you order something from china, it will benefit the customer and the china’s retailers because you will pay less for same item in pound then buying it from U.K and also retailers in china would make profit because more people from aboard will buy product from them. 

   

Machines taking place of number of workers

 IT and technology have played and will play a huge role in our lives because nowadays in every job or work, there are machines or some form of technology being used so it means that there is less need of people in those jobs but in other hand IT has created new jobs for those who are educated because almost every IT job there is, it requires IT or machine skills or some knowledge about them, for example if there is a fault or a problem in a machine there the work need to know how to repair it. Those business who use machines it will be a advantages for them because their will pay the workers regularly whereas they would only pay once for the machine and it would last for a long period of time and also they would get work done faster using IT and Technology.

Easier to set up small businesses

Someone who want to start or set up a small business, it is every easy for them to do that by making use of web and IT because it will be the most quicker and faster way to spread your business across the world. Today billions and billions of people use internet or the web every today, for commentating, for entertainment and mostly for online shopping so  setting up business using web will be much easier and will expand business because of more online shopping is being made by people. Setting up business on web is an advantage because you do not need to go around handing out leaflets and posters which could take lot of time for your business to grow and to be popular.

Easier to track consumer spending – marketing

It’s easy to track consumer spending through IT and it helps any business not just EBay, Amazon and Go Compare etc, to keep records of their consumer, on how much they spent on one particular item and how many customers brought that item or product and based on results the owner can decide whether to increase number of the same product or less if there not sold that much. The owner can also see which product made them the most money and benefit for business.

How have eBay, Amazon, Last Minute, iTunes, Go Compare affected the market

Business like eBay, Amazon, last minute etc has a huge impact on the market, on eBay people can buy and sell their items, which is good for those people who want to sell because they won’t need to set up their own shop or business just to sell one item, they could sell it through or using eBay which will save money and time. Also it could affect other business owners that have/has store or shop because now day’s lot of people like do to their shopping online and by doing online shopping people can look at each websites that l listed above and get the best deal or the best price of the product.   

Legal

                                                  Legal

Data Protection Act (1998)

Data protection Act first come out in 1998 and was passed by the United Kingdom Act of Parliament it is a law that is designed to keep your data and your personal information safe and secure that is stored on your computer or in a paper based system.

The purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 is to control the way information is handled and to give legal rights to people who have information stored about them. Other European Union countries have passed similar laws as often information is held in more than one country.

References:        

   http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/legal/0dataprotectionactrev1.shtml

Copyright, Designs & Patents Act (1988)

Copyright, Designs & Patents Act (1988) is to protect peoples work or their first created original work or document for being copied by others. Copyright has affect markets and IT because once a song or a movie has come out then people will make copies of them and will give to their friends or sell it for less money than on markets but this Copyright, Designs & Patents Act law will stop people from copying which people have to buy it from markets.

The following things could be covered by copyright law books, movies, music/song and created document.

Limitations imposed by copyright

When you buy software, for example, copyright law forbids you from:

·         giving a copy to a friend

·         making a copy and then selling it

·         using the software on a network (unless the licence allows it)

·         renting the software without the permission of the copyright holder

References:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/legal/2copyrightrev1.shtml

Computer Misuse Act (1990)

The computer misuse act first come out or was passed in 1990 and its used to stop hackers breaking in to the computer system and to stop people using internet or computer for creating viruses and for doing bad things or staff on the computer or in internet.

This was passed by Parliament and made three new offences:

·         Accessing computer material without permission, e.g. looking at someone else's files.

·         Accessing computer material without permission with intent to commit further criminal offences, e.g. hacking into the bank's computer and wanting to increase the amount in your account.

·         Altering computer data without permission, e.g. writing a virus to destroy someone else's data, or actually changing the money in an account.

References:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/legal/1dataandcomputermisuserev2.shtml

Ethical

                                       Ethical

Recent “leaks” of information via Twitter/facebook – how do they affect society?

Leaks of information could be good and bad for people and the society, leaks of information that spread through websites such as facebook/twitter could have huge affect on the society because people could put anything about someone or thing and that could be true or false information but in some way it will cause affect on that person or in society which could disturb people even if they are not involved and also people could put off using such website that causes people to believe about something that might not be true.
Recent leak example is that in London riots, two man were jailed for four months after telling friends "Let's start Bangor riots" on Facebook
Reference http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14657456

Do we always know when people are tracking our activities on the web?

We are not always sure who is and who it’s tracking us on the web, so it is important to keep your personal information to yourself and not to use it too much on web for example when you do online shopping or on online banking, you would need to use your credit card and hackers could track or see what is your credit card number, or bank details and can use it to take all your money out and they can put you in some trouble, that you did not do, so it’s important not to use credit card too much on the web. You could also use firewalls and anti viruses software to stop people tracking your actives web and to stop hackers breaking into your computer

Is it fair that some older people or young children can’t afford access to the internet and so miss out on vital services?

My point of view is that it’s not fair on old people or young children that can't afford internet and so they miss out on vital services. Young children might need the internet the most because they will have work or assignments to do so there for they would need to have access to internet in order to do their school/college work. They might need internet to watch movies and to be in contact with their friends, so it’s not fair that they can’t do their work or talk to their friends because they can’t afford internet and also young children will miss out vital information such as important news of their interest, any events where they live. The same go with old people that can’t afford internet, they would need internet for news, talk to family or friends using social websites and they will miss out vital services for old people that might be provided online, also they wouldn’t know much about things going on in their local area. So it’s not fair on young children and on old people that miss out all the things for not being able to afford internet and imagine what would you miss out if you couldn’t afford access to internet?

what is blog?

Blogs is a website but more of a social website and is used for communicating with each other and posting your information, work or your personal feels/ideas on the web for other people to read and might comment on it or about it, it is on the web forever until you don’t decide to take it off, you are in control of your blog for example you could edit your blog whenever you want to or update it. The good thing about a blog is that people don’t need to add you as friend to view your blog, they just type the topic name that you wrote about and view it where as on facebook if wanted to share information with someone then you and that person would need a facebook account to communicate and share information. Blogs can also be used for advertising and selling products which you will make money but the disadvantages is that people don’t much to share interesting things very day, could take time to write and upload blog and you would never know what people are looking for so your blog might be viewed or not by people.

Potential Treats

Potential Treats

Cyber bullying could be a big problem for young people that use internet and social websites too much and they are the people that are likely to be bullied or one of the people that bullies someone through use of social websites such as hotmail and Facebook and other forms of cyber bullying could be through emails, text messages and online chartrooms. Cyber bulling is sending email to someone that knows you or don’t know you and emails could be about treating, swearing and talking about bad thing of that person, cyber bulling have affected young children’s so much that they afraid of telling their parents or to anyone else, to avoid cyber bulling you could report online or show the message to the police so that they can do something and will try to stop cyber bulling, also parents need to be aware of what is happening to their children, what websites they go on and help them to overcome cyber bulling.  

Spam is about sending electronic junk mail that the user did not ask for it, most of the spam emails is sent to you to advertise a product and making you buy it, if you open spam emails it will not certain virus or anything like that. To stop or avoid spam emails use two email address and there is a thing called ISP  email packages which filters spam emails and tries to stop or tries s to prevent those spam emails being sent to your email account and also avoid opening spam emails.

Phishing is used by fraud people or criminals to steal people’s valuable details or data by using internet or computer. They basically create fake website that looks like it’s from a bank but it’s not and people use that website and put in their valuable details such as their credit card number and account details and that way they will get your details and use it for other things. To avoid phishing make of the website is not fake and make sure that website is secure and safe to use.  

Denial of service attacks is illegal and is done mostly by criminals, denial of service is a web server overwhelming with useless requesting too many times which then the network unable to cope and stops providing service, this might be attempt for fun or to blackmail an online websites owner for money and sometimes they could do it for revenge. I think to stop denial of service attacks you could set up a filter on the network which identifies a pattren that is sent by the harcker and blocks them and I don’t think there is any more way of blocking denial of service.