Management and the Technology Professional – B302

Case study answer 1

What is the most compelling reason why you should not have developed the rootkit software?

The software designed was requested by Sony, the software must have been approved by them after being developed as it was then deployed on many of their released titles, Sony BMG knew what the capabilities of the rootkit software was as the personal information collected from the end user was transmitted to them. Therefore Sony BMG must have an understanding of the Digital rights management (DRM) technologies they were designing and that the rootkit developed for them and distributed on their Disks as part of their product was violating the rights of the end user.
The rootkit software developed was not distributed by First4Internet but by Sony BMG itself but the most compelling reason that the rootkit software should not have been developed by First4Internet is that it infringes the IEEE (institute of electrical and electronic engineers) codes of conduct; these rules of conduct are popular practice of defined personal obligations to both ethical and professional practice.
Two points in the IEEE code of practice are:

• To avoid injuring others, their property, reputation, or employment by false and malicious action
• to accept responsibility in making decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment

These points were very much compromised as the software was designed to be installed and authorised without the users consent and could not be removed using traditional methods of uninstalling software as it does not remove the hidden files. By designing this rootkit software first4internet are responsible of being unethical in their approach by designing software to divulge end users personal information whether it was part of the original proposal of Sony BMG or not.