Ethical Behaviour in Information Technology:

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Ethical Behaviour in Information Technology: the Case of Sony versus the World. MFT de Oliveira (201139984) We all, humans, as infants, we were educated and disciplined on the norm of ethical behaviour (due to societal evolution perhaps?) which are based on the principles of morality of which regard to the appropriate behaviour towards others, respecting their dignity, beliefs and rights. Only in favour of wanting society to prosper. Sony, one of the “forefathers” in the gaming industry, created The PlaySation, which has revolutionized our gaming experience for more than 17 years. Arguably the console messiah in the gaming world. But, their latest incarnation, The PlayStation 3, was recently in the spotlight (something Sony is accustomed to but, this time in unfamiliar territory) where their PlayStation Network was hacked, resulting over-five-day shutdown. In 2006, Sony released The PlayStation 3’s firmware (combination of hardware and software, which allows programmers/users to upgrade the software occasionally). Last year 2010, December, a group of coders known as FailOverflow voiced out that the Sony PS3’s security system was an epic fail. They had no trouble exploiting their weaknesses in the encryption system, gaining easy access to the public key. Thus, allowing any operating system to run on the infamous machine. Music to the ears of any hacker. FailOverflow “claim” the innocence of their coders to be anti-piracy- they only bypass console security systems as a creative challenge. Confessing to the exploitations of Sony’s security system can’t be seen as an “innocent” event. Fortunately they didn’t release the public key and no legal action was taken by Sony. But, George Hotz (GeoHot) released the firmware encrypter and of course legal action was taken. In an outburst of rage, a hacker group named Anonyms hacked Sony’s website. The hacker group was accused of

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