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Situation : In the United States right now, we are in the process of choosing a new president. For those who do not know, the election process in the US consists of two conflicting opinions of two different parties (Democrats and Republicans.) The Republicans basically believe in lower taxes and less government intervention, while the Democrats believe in raising taxes and more government action. Based on the article, the current state of the US electoral process shows that electronic voting machines guarantee a Republican victory in 2016. Social / Ethical Concerns : Influence on Politiicans - The article claims (this article is VERY pro democratic and VERY pro Hilary Clinton) that the candidate who has the most votes won't in fact win. Rather, the article claims that unless Hilary wins each major swing state by 10% more than the Republican or the corruption of politics with online voting does not end, she will not win. Security issues - The machines may be easy to hack into with the right knowledge and tools, and a hacker could easily sway the country's votes. Influence on People - The best candidate with the most votes from the electoral college should win, so this is a major social and ethical concern because of the idea that America is all about the people deciding the future of the country, and if the right candidate isn't chosen, it could affect our future for generations to come. IT systems flaws: -sometimes the voters don't click on the right candidate and they are mad because the computer won't let them click on the candidate they actually want -machines can malfunction and freeze -some of the voting places are in major favor of one candidate and they may sway the votes after the tallied online -electronic voting machine may not even be present and paper ballots may be used (it's not fair to have some people with paper ballots and some with online voting ballots) -electricity dependency may cause a computer to shut down if there is a loss of power

Situation: This article pertains to the United States' Presidential Elections of 2008 that was won by Barack Obama and his usage of the Internet as well as Social Media. The reason he won the 2008 elections was not just because of his presidential policies, but however due to his personal reach and trust that the Internet will help fund and run a primary part of his campaign. Social and Ethical Significance: This article talks about how online campaigning is the key to 90%+ of political campaigns of the future and how they function. The article takes the (obvious) example of Barack Obama's presidential campaign of 2008 that was a historic campaign for multiple reasons. The article [published in 2008], claims that the primary reason that Obama succeeded because he "understood the potential of social media to communicate and raise funds - leaving his 72-year old opponent floundering." This campaign is the first election where all candidates utilised online social networks like Facebook [and still popular then, MySpace] to send forward their messages. This article also talks about personal knowledge of a person can be gained by reading a candidate's personal details such as favourite musicians and pastimes. Obama was successful on Facebook, rather than other competition, because he was engaging to people younger to him on his online campaigns, who appreciate casual behaviour, online and offline[while his competition kept it overly professional online]. "At 47, he may be older than the average user there, but Obama is a natural Facebook politician. On his personal profile there - which featured his "Our Moment is Now" motto - Obama named his favourite musicians as Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, and Bob Dylan, and listed his pastimes as basketball, writing, and "loafing w/kids" " Stakeholders: Candidates - They are the people relying on the Internet and their campaigns, that he can get the kind of reach he needs to move forward in his own elections. Voters - They

Situation : Lots of other popular musicians are trying to make it harder to pirate music online because they believe that the The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a law that governs intellectual property on the Internet, is too lose and needs to be reformed. Social and Ethical Significance: Influence on regular people who are law abiding citizens: This does not have that much of an impact to these people although it is important to consider that they are law abiding most likely because they believe that the musicians deserve to make money from the music they produce, so they are happy that people are speaking out. On the contrary, some people just follow the law and will not be affected by this article. Influence on regular people who are not law abiding citizens with pirating: This is important to these people because as the issue and pressure on the government is brought up more and more by popular musicians, laws may have to be passed and these people will not be able to pirate music any more. Then again, there are always loopholes to this, but at least big musicians are speaking out to raise awareness. Musicians : This is an important step for musicians trying to protect their industry. As technology increases more and more, so does the rising threat of pirating and the many loopholes people are finding with new apps. So, if enough musicians put more and more pressure on the government to change laws, then they may see action in the future with laws preventing piracy. Stakeholders: Musicians - They are trying to make as much money as possible, as they rightfully should, so their finances and career depend on their popularity and music being bought abiding by the law. Non-law abiding citizens - If these people can't buy music illegally, then they will have to follow the law and buy music/support the musician the right way.

Situation: With countries such as the UK and India already implementing e-voting as their main method of voting for their desired candidates, it is hard not to see that e-Voting is slowly taking the concept of voting for elections, to a new front. Social and Ethical Significance: The article brings to us the example of the 2003 elections in the UK and how e-Voting "failed to make an impact to the people." That was moreover, because there were many people who didn't own a smart device/laptop, and a few didn't even know what the internet was, yet. The Issue with e-Voting then was that it hadn't made the impact because it wasn't the primary method of communication yet. Online voting has been trialled all over the world now, in hopes that it may be implemented in the future. However, developers have claimed that they see major amounts of issues with the softwares and networks/servers that are online. They claim that the reliability and security standards are very hard to meet, when it comes to e-voting systems. Furthermore, they have stated that th requirements are very tough and too high to be met, unlike other transactions. "Online banking suffers problems but refunds are possible after checking your bank statement. You can't 'refund' a vote and 'vote statements' can't be provided to check your vote was correctly recorded as that would enable vote selling and coercion." Stakeholders: Candidates - If the servers are mendled with by a virus or hacker, the results of the ballot could potentially be rigged and the candidate would lose his/her chances of winning the elections. Voters - If the servers are mendled with by a virus or hacker, the voter's vote can potentially be changed, and as a result, the voter feels a loss of security.

Scenario: Many disabled people are making an income by streaming their video game experiences over the Internet and forming support communities among their fans. Social and ethical significance: Privacy and anonymity - If careless, some streamers may inadvertently reveal their identity on the internet, leaving them exposed to people with ill intentions who might wish to cause them harm. However, this issue can mostly be dealt with simply by being responsible and taking appropriate measures to protect one's privacy. Digital citizenship - Many people refuse to engage in polite and respectful discourse during their time spent on the internet, and it is not unexpected for streamers to be targeted with verbal abuse. Heavy moderation must be exerted to prevent cyberbulling, threats, and harassment to become pervasive. Globalization and cultural diversity - Services like this one allow people from all over the world to join together and learn about one another. Both the streamer and his/her viewers have an opportunity to meet people with whom they would otherwise never come into contact. IT systems: Video software, streaming software, networks, databases, online chat services, video game applications, etc. Applications to specified scenarios: This applies mostly to home and leisure, given that it is a system involving entertainment and social networking. However, it also applies to business by virtue of the commercial opportunities it offers, as well as education by serving as a potential pedagogic tool in the future. Stakeholders: Streamers, viewers, families of each (given the time investment made to create and/or follow Twitch channels), employees and executives of Twitch, other corporations that might wish to get involved, etc.

IBM made a very wise comment regarding businesses in the age of technology, and how things are changing radically for all businesses, and in the long term, for all consumers as well. The IT system and issue at stake here is the future of businesses who choose to not adapt to new technologies, and transform their businesses in the world of technology in our day. Specifically, the article refers to "digital transformation," but does not touch upon an important topic we have discussed in ITGS, being the ethical implications involved in making such a transition. Beginning from the positive aspects of such a transformation, and specifically in the long term, these include: - more buyers - no data loss - better data management/analysis - improved business models through online systems - better quality marketing -- more effective So, in terms of these factors, one could say that such a "digital transformation" would definitely be worth the effort in the long term. However, ethical implications must also be considered, which include potential spreading of data to the wrong people, "filtering" the minds of consumers through online marketing, but also violating the consumer's privacy by noting down what they purchase each time and exchange a list of the consumer's interests to other businesses. In conclusion, we can see that such a digital transformation in terms of technology in relation to businesses can be both good and bad; this entirely depends on the effort that is put in the creation of this system, how well the system is maintained, and to what extent the system is targeted for attacking.

Hello! I liked how you incorporated that one of the biggest technology companies in the world has the same changes as some smaller companies; and the one thing that they have in common is the change of technology. I also think that your article choice was linked nicely to ITGS because it develops on the idea of Information technology changes throughout many societies.

Technology has always been at the heart of business growth. Technology develops at an exponential rate and businesses have to keep up. Remember the days when a

Will Michael