IT ethics.(14 nädal)

In the most general sense, computer ethics is engaged in researching the behavior of people using a computer, on the basis of which appropriate moral prescriptions and a kind of etiquette norms are developed. The very use of the expression "computer ethics" is very conditional, this discipline is very young, it appeared in the 70-80s of the XX century, and along with it such terms as "information ethics", "cyberethics" are used.The most vivid embodiment of computer ethics was in the development of moral codes. The adoption of the code was dictated by the understanding that engineers, scientists and technologists, by the results of their activities, determine the quality and conditions of life of all people in the information society.The content of individual codes differs from each other, but they are based on some invariant set of moral guidelines that can be conditionally reduced to the following:

1. Do not use the computer to harm others;
2. Do not interfere with and interfere with the work of other users of computer networks;
3. Do not use files that are not intended for free use;
4. Do not use the computer for theft;
5. Do not use the computer to spread false information; 
6. Do not use stolen software;
7. Not to assign someone else's intellectual property;
8. Do not use computer equipment or network resources without permission or appropriate      compensation;
9. Think about the possible social consequences of the programs you write, or the systems that you develop;
10. Use a computer with self-restraints that show your courtesy and respect for other people.

In the framework of computer ethics, a special area is designated, called "hacker ethics", the foundation of which was laid by hackers, pioneers, who were at the source of modern information technologies. And with the development of the Internet, the notion of "network ethics" or "netiquette" (derived from net-network and etiquette-etiquette), which denotes the set of rules that have developed among users of the global network, also comes into use.It's no secret that spending most of your life in front of the monitor - both leisure and working hours - has long become the norm for many. Computerization of society has acquired a grandiose scale. IT professionals - as people who create software and hardware that support the operation of the entire computer infrastructure of society - must be aware of the importance of their activities and their responsibilities. Many people neglect this, not reflecting on the fact that sometimes the welfare of tens, hundreds of thousands of people depends on them.

When you master a new culture - and cyberspace, of course, has its own culture - you can make some mistakes. On the Internet, as in normal life, certain rules of communication are adopted, and very specific. Internet - there is a system, and there is no single unified code of rules (laws) for using the network for it. There are, however, generally accepted standards of work on the Internet, aimed at ensuring that the activities of each user of the network does not interfere with the work of other users.
Remember the main! Do not forget that even through the dead network and computer-stuffed computer you communicate with a living person. And often - with many people at the same time ...
Most of all, the rules of virtual etiquette apply to e-mail. For this you need:

• Regularly check the contents of your mailbox;
• Respond immediately to every letter addressed directly to you. Observe brevity, sometimes quite a few words are enough. Lack of response is equivalent to saying that if you ignored the greeting, you would refuse to shake the outstretched hand or turn your back to your interlocutor;
• In the electronic message always it is necessary to specify its basic theme. This rule did not appear immediately, it was developed gradually, being the result of certain practical requirements. It is necessary to take into account that letters that do not have a clearly formulated theme can be ignored;
• By sending a letter to an unknown addressee, use the usual text code, otherwise it is possible that he simply can not receive it, and communication services will cost less;
• at the end of each electronic message, you must indicate your name, surname, position and place of work, your email number, as well as your phone number and usual mail address, this information should not exceed four lines;
• Do not overload the electronic message with additional materials (photographs, drawings, etc.); Correctly choose the format of the text (the text format will take a hundred times less space than the document of any application); A large number of supplements should be sent only with the consent or at the request of the addressee. Specify whether his mailbox has restrictions on the information received;
• Messages with attached executable files, as well as Microsoft Office documents can carry computer viruses, usually destroying the contents of the destination computer; For a quick response to an e-mail, you just need to use the "Answer" button to get a letter ready for dispatch;
• Answering the letter, you should not repeat all the correspondence entirely, it is enough to reproduce only those fragments that you want to refer to (such citation is not necessary, but it is a certain gesture of politeness to your virtual correspondent who could forget the essence of his Messages or individual arguments in the discussion); Every electronic message from one correspondent to the other is private, that's why each user must follow the rule on the privacy of correspondence, (ie before transferring its contents to other persons, it is necessary to obtain permission from the author); 
• For correspondence not addressed personally to you and not from the author of the message, you should not answer, most often you are being imposed unnecessary commercial information.

Unfortunately, we have to state that in our country there is practically no special research on the problems of computer ethics. Almost all problems of computer ethics are of an "open" nature. The most acute and urgent problems can be regarded as those related to the evaluation of hackers' activities, the protection of copyright and the rights of the individual in the information space. But even in those areas of computer ethics, where a theoretical foundation for the analysis of moral problems has been developed and specific norms, principles and recommendations have been worked out, such as in computer codes, such dilemmas arise that do not have an obvious correct solution.

Andmeturveː tehnoloogia, koolitus ja reeglid. Nädal 13

In today's article, it's about IT risks.

Throughout the world, there is a tendency to underestimate IT risks (only 1% of the surveyed experts estimate this area as the most exposed to risks). In reality, a violation of the functioning of IT systems - caused by hacker attacks or imperfection of internal processes - immediately entails multi-million losses.
Ensuring information security is one of the main tasks of a modern enterprise. The threat can be presented not only by technical failures, but also by the inconsistency of data in various accounting systems that almost every second company meets, as well as unlimited access of employees to information.
IT-risks can be divided into two categories:

• Risks caused by information leakage and use by competitors or employees for purposes that could  damage business;
• Risks of technical failures in the operation of information transmission channels, which can lead to losses.

Work to minimize IT risks is to prevent unauthorized access to data, as well as accidents and equipment failures. The process of minimizing IT-risks should be considered in a complex way: first possible problems are identified, and then it is determined by what methods they can be solved.
So how to minimize IT risks?
As the experience of many companies shows, the most successful strategies for preventing IT-risks are based on three basic rules.

1. The access of employees to the information systems and documents of the company should be different, depending on the importance and confidentiality of the contents of the document.
2. The company must control access to information and protect the vulnerabilities of information systems.
3. Information systems, on which the company's activity directly depends (strategically important communication channels, document archives, computer network), should work smoothly even in case of a crisis situation.

In conclusion, I add that these rules will not do any good if the company's staff is not trained in the basic rules for using the system and do not understand the importance of their work.

The principle and logic of work should be clear to everyone. Every employee must understand their responsibilities and fulfill the basic requirements for the preservation of personal data and data of the organization. If these requirements are not met, then sooner or later an attacker will be able to find a loophole and take advantage of the employee's incompetence.

Peace to all and a minimum of IT risks :)

Suport solution. 3D technology. 12 nädal.

Hello again, my dear friends. This week, let's talk probably on my most favorite topic, the topic of technologies that make life easier for a each person. Although many of us afraid of everything new,but  I of myself an ardent fan of all new technologies. I try to try all possible new things that come to light, for me it's like a drug :)Today I want to talk about a solution like 3d printers and 3d pens. For me, this is truly a unique and unusual technology  of which it is possible to recreate the shape of any objects that exists and which the human imagination can come up with. A 3D printer is a peripheral device that uses the method of layer-by-layer creation of a physical object on a digital 3D model. As a material for creating 3D objects, printers and pens can use different materials, such as metal powder, thermoplastic, photopolymer and other similar materials. Dense ceramic mixtures are also used as a self-curing material for 3D printing of large architectural models. Ie with the help of such printers it is possible to build a house.

By the way, in Moscow this technology of building houses is already being applied. The local craftsman came up with a 3D printer and suggested not to build houses, but to print it. This allows you to erect a concrete box under a small house on a plot with any relief in just a day. You can save money on the brigade with a foreman. Only 2 people work at the site. One watches the computer, the second - for the supply of building materials. Ie, the printed blocks are not brought to the site but are erected directly on the desired plot of land.Along with printers printing physical objects, biological printers have also developed. These are experimental installations in which the 3D structure of the future object (organ for transplantation) is printed with droplets containing living cells. Further division, growth and modification of cells ensures the final formation of the object.Along with serious, complex and large 3D printers ordinary people are also available with 3d handles. These handles also work with different materials, both with thermoplastic and photopolymer curing under ultraviolet light. Incidentally, photopolymers have often been used to glue two transparent surfaces, for example glass (used this technology when replacing the glass on my phone). Back to the pens .. For someone it will be a toy, and for someone a tool for creating real three-dimensional objects with your own hands and not with the help of a machine.

For example, the child who possessed this device can create a toy for himself, which he can only come up with (of course if it's not a mechanized robot, although who knows :)). The adult person will be able to realize his idea not on paper or 3d programs on the computer, but in a real three-dimensional object.

I think that 3d printers have a very promising future: as in the military industry (for example, Defense Distributed company already created a gun and made the drawings public, but the US State Department demanded to remove instructions from the website), both in medicine and the general commodity market. Perhaps in the near future many necessary works will be replaced by this technology, so it will perform the work more accurately than human hands.

I want to believe that this technology will serve the benefit of humanity, I want to believe that it will help people to stand on their feet, but as the saying goes, time will show who is who and what it is =)

Positive and negative examples from the Internet

This week we will talk about the positive and negative usability of various applications on the network.I will not fantasize, think out non-existent things and, as examples, bring the projects that I use daily and I can put my opinion back on my own experience. To begin with, let's start with a negative experience.

It's no secret that at the present time fewer and fewer peoples goes to stores and more and more people buying things onlain. I am such one of those people who make purchases in the Internet. At the moment I have tried out such systems as aliexpress, ebay, amazon and alibaba. Now I want to talk about the latter one. Horrible system :) It is so unfriendly to the user that I did not have a desire to make any orders using the website http://alibaba.com/. Honestly, I repeatedly returned, hoping to discover innovations, but each time left disappointed. This resource does not allow you to make a purchase without the consent of the seller, almost all the goods are sold in batches of several pieces, ie excludes the possibility of buying trial versions of the goods, delay of response from the seller can reach several days. I tried to deal with this system, but the more I used it, the more it disgusted me. Perhaps the most inconvenient global online store.

From the bad to the good, to smooth out all the negative. To the positive aspects of the Internet, I can include an application like WAZE. This application is not only available on the web, but also supported by mobile systems such as android and iOS. This application is a navigator program, the architects of which are the users themselves. The program / site is very simple to use and contains the most necessary information that may be needed on the road. In addition to all the basic functions of the navigator and informer, the system includes game elements. By adding to the map "dangers" or missing roads, passing a certain distance or reporting accidents, the user receives bonus points with which they can change their appearance on the map for other users. This program is so much pleased me and it turned out to be so necessary that I use it constantly ... if not every day, then every other day. I highly recommend to use "waze" if you have not done so yet. 

 Perhaps on this we will finish. From myself I want to wish you more and more positive and less negative emotions from using different kinds of systems and applications in the network.

Software development and business models

In today's article, I want to talk about software development and business models. For the analysis, I chose the Scrum development methodology and the co-financing model.Quite a few companies use the methodology of developing Scrum, one of such companies is Skype, which partly uses this flexible methodology of software development. This methodology focuses on the quality control of the development process.

The term Scrum itself is defined as the methodology of project management, which is built on the principles of time management. Its main feature is involvement in the process of all participants, and each participant has a certain role. The bottom line is that not only the team is working on the solution of the problem, but all those who are interested in the solution of the problem, not just put it and relaxed, but constantly "work" with the team, and this work does not mean only constant monitoring. In addition to managing software development projects, Scrum can also be used in the work of software support teams, or as an approach to managing the development and maintenance of programs.Thus, the development methodology of Scrum is unique in its way, allowing to look at the problem through the eyes of different people and find the golden mean for the project.The second business model for consideration, I chose the model of co-investment in ideas. Fans collect money for what they like. Sharing and sharing technology unites the impulse of one user who wants to donate a particular artist or writer money to create a work, with hundreds of other fans with a similar desire (and it does not take much effort to do this), as a result of which you can collect a considerable amount.

For example, the company ZTE began raising funds by crowdsourcing to the Hawkeye smartphone. Its concept is created by the users themselves and implies, in particular, the ability to control the device with the eyes, which will be very useful for people with disabilities or injured with limbs. The main innovation of the device will be technology i-tracking, which will track the movements of the eyes of users. This will allow, for example, to scroll web pages with the help of moving pupils.On this I will probably finish the article, but in conclusion I want to say, I do not think there are any bad software development or business models, there is not the correct application of them where the model does not work and vice versa, for any model there is always a place, the main thing is to understand how it Works and what to expect of it.

Hackers (9.nädal)

 Hackers. For many, these people are mystical personalities, hacking the system and going against the law. In the majority this opinion has developed due to the many films shot on this topic. Eric S. Raymond is trying to refute this opinion. In his article, Eric S. Raymondi tries to explain to people who actually are hackers in their own opinion and how they differ from crackers (burglars).

Initially, hackers called programmers, who corrected errors in software in any fast or elegant way. According to Raymond, hackers live according to a certain ideology and rules. These are people who can appreciate and understand hacker values. Crackers in his opinion is a completely different group of people having nothing to do with real hackers. Raymond says: hackers - build, crackers - break.Despite all the words of Raymond, I believe that it does not matter who you think yourself and call hackers in their understanding. It so happened that the name of things is given by society and not by a small group of people. If the majority decided that the grass is green, then it will be green, if the majority decided that a person capable of hacking a defense and stealing data - a hacker, then so be it. People do not like to think and analyze much that they do not understand, and therefore it's easiest to call things by the names that most people used to call them.

 I myself, am not a hacker or cracker, but sometimes I use programs to crack any other programs. In my understanding, hackers are people able to bypass the system, look for errors or vice versa to correct them. In turn, hackers are divided into "White Hat", "Black Hat" and "Gray hat". Black hats are called cyber-criminals, while white hats are used by other information security specialists (in particular specialists working in large IT companies) or researchers of IT systems that do not violate the law. In cases, for example, minor violations of the law or absence of violations of the law, but the violation of the internal rules of an Internet service can be used the term Gray Hat. For me, a hacker is a person with certain skills in the IT field, able to find loopholes in the code and can use them to obtain either personal or public benefits.Proceeding from the above, I can say with confidence that hackers are also engines of progress that make information technology develop at an accelerated pace. Hackers do not allow to monopolize various kinds of projects, crack security and transfer materials to society, forcing companies to come up with new product and protection options. Also, I do not consider hackers to be bad people, perhaps because I have never encountered the consequences of their work and have received no moral, physical or financial harm on their part.Maybe someday my opinion will change, or maybe I will become a hacker ... who knows ...

IT juhtimine ja riskihaldus

In this article we will talk about the leaders in the IT field. We know a lot about great people like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, we'll talk about less known but no less significant people.
I would like to talk about people with whom I am personally acquainted and directly related to the project that has received a life in Estonia and is flourishing and for today thanks to these leaders. The names of these people are Hannes Plinte and Madis Sassiad. The name of the company that they created GoSwift OÜ. The company is engaged in queue management services internationally at border checkpoints what was born in starting in 2011.
That types of managers can easily be attributed to leaders, to people who know exactly what their goals are. Know the scope of these goals and how to lead the team to the task. If this were not so, then would success come so soon? Already in the first year the project fully paid for itself, earned a lot of awards in the IT field and entered the international market. Knowing these people personally, I can say that in life they are ordinary cheerful people, able to joke and communicate on any topic, in the working environment they are also friendly and socially developed. When it comes to dealing with work, they are demanding and serious, they understand exactly, the fulfillment of what tasks to demand from their subordinates and at the same time remain "people." Perhaps these qualities in the right balance and brought these, in my eyes great, people to success.
Since by nature from childhood I really like to play games. Then our second candidate for consideration will be Ken Kutaragi, the head of Sony Interactive Entertainment. This manager can be attributed to the type coach. Without his skills, the company would not have achieved such a huge profit in the market. Kutaragi closely followed the financial analytics, tracked the losses and profits of Sony Corporation. This explains the high profit of the PlayStation franchise in Sony reports, it was the main source of profit for the company.

What are the qualities that a given person has and his perception of the world speaks. For example: In the 1980s, he watched his daughter play in Famicom and saw the huge potential of electronic entertainment. At that time, Sony executives showed little interest in video games. When Nintendo announced the need to create an audio chip for the new 16-bit system, Kutaragi's help was accepted.
In conclusion, I would like to express my opinion, it does not matter to which leader the director belongs, most importantly, in order to remain a man in his position, do not lose his skills and grasp, and his case would be of interest to him

IT PROF (7. nädal)

In today's article, I want to talk about IT professionals and what requirements apply to them in Estonia this year.First, let's figure out who the IT specialist is. As we see the name contains 2 words of IT and a specialist ...What is IT? Information technology is a wide class of disciplines and fields of activity related to technologies of management and data processing, including with the use of computer technology.Recently, information technology is most often understood as computer technology. In particular, IT deals with the use of computers and software for storing, converting, protecting, processing, transmitting and receiving information. Specialists in computer technology and programming are often called IT professionals.
A specialist is a person who succeeds in a certain activity. It is generally accepted that, in order to succeed, it is necessary to spend 10,000 hours in the area of ​​work in which a person wants to be succeed (rule 10,000 hours).A curious theory about why geniuses are not born, but become published in his book "genius and outsiders" journalist and sociologist Malcolm Gladwell. Based on the work of psychologist Anders Eriksson, he studied the success stories of many legendary personalities and companies, as a result of which the "Rule of 10,000 hours" was born.From the book: "Regardless of what area we are talking about, in order to achieve the level of mastery commensurate with the status of a world-class expert, 10,000 hours of practice are required. In the studies, the objects of which were composers, basketball players, writers, skaters, pianists, chess players, hardy criminals and so on, this number meets with surprising regularity. 10,000 hours are equivalent to about 3 hours of practice per day, or 20 hours per week for 10 years. This, of course, does not explain why some people are doing more good than others. But so far no one has ever met a case where the highest level of mastery was achieved in less time. It seems that this is the time it takes the brain to learn all the necessary information. "For example:* It takes about ten years to become a grandmaster. Only the legendary Bobby Fisher came to this honorary title faster: it took him nine years.* Bill Gates estimated that he spent about 10,000 hours programming on the computer, after which he managed to make a significant leap forward.* "The Beatles" came to the US in February 1964, launching the "British invasion" on the American music scene and producing a whole series of hits that changed the sound of popular music. Ten years have passed since the band was founded before recording such famous albums.
Based on the above, we can say with confidence that an IT specialist is a committed person who has devoted himself to the study of IT discipline for at least 5 working years.

Copyright Reform (6. nädal)

And so, it's time to talk about piracy and copyright protection. It's probably worth starting from me: ii have no any patents or copyright and to say honestly I'm partly a pirate. Why partially? Because in my hands periodically there is music or films for which I did not payed anything .. Maybe that's why my opinion will be not quite adequate and meaningful.Reduction of the terms of copyright I consider quite reasonable proposal. The real term of copyright at the moment is about four generations, and is constantly growing. It turns out that copyright inflicts eternal protection and completely excludes the use of material. But how much is this reasonable? It seems to me that such an unreasonably long time frame hinders the potential of other people, forcing them to reinvent the wheel once the forces could be directed at developing or improving the already existing result.Freedom in the field of information exchange also sounds good :). At all times, copying verses and rewriting, as well as exchanging the musical records of two people, was quite acceptable action. But recently such people began to be persecuted and impose fines on them. I think this is absurd. Firstly, if a person uses one or another record for non-commercial purposes, and even ate in commercial, what kind of loss to the ablator can he inflict? To the contrary, he will make advertising. Make a "name" to the author, and then this name will begin to work on the very right of the owner. It's another matter if large firms are engaged in copying and distribution of the material, the approach of the other must be ...

It seems to me patents not to be an artificial obstacle to free competition. Especially if patents affect the pharmacological industry. Why do firms patent medicines? Perhaps they are patenting someone's life not allowing to use their experience for more advanced organizations ....

But as I said, I am a little person and everything written above is my opinion, which may well turn out to be erroneous, but I believe that abolishing copyright or reforming them in a softer direction will improve the current situation, but not the other way round.

Btw. This article is patented by ME :)

 

Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life (5. nädal)

Who are you in real life?

In this article I would like to discuss the behavior of a person on the Internet. Should a person behave on the Internet as well as behaving in everyday life? It seems most peoples, if not to say all, in the Internet are completely different personalities than in real life. And it happens most likely because in the soul people have hidden desires that can not be realized in the real life. In this regard, the Internet opens up vast opportunities, allows you to feel yourself who you really are not, gives freedom of speech, gives some certainty of your rightness. Of course, in some cases, this freedom does not bring any benefit, and even vice versa, it turns a person who in real life seems normal, into a sociopath.For a long time I was played online games, also called as MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games) where characters were run by real people. For many participants, these games were a continuation of their real life. A huge amount of time and real money was invested in the characters that were controlled by people, who in life were not like them at all.

A boring, short-lived in real life person in the playing space turned into a bright personality with leadership abilities. And conversely, a cheerful person in real life, turned into a complete boor in the game, going all over the rules, not respecting the law, or the personality of other people or himself ...I wrote all this because I never guess who a person is in real life and whether he is a person at all, just talking to him on the Internet. This gives a colorful, unexpected revitalizes the routine of everyday life.The commandment reads: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life! But do you realy have to follow it? Probably it's still everyone's business. But it seems to me: should not. If on the Internet the person will be the same as in everyday life, the Internet for such a person will become boring and become simply an information channel. A quiet, modest man in real life will not argue with anyone on the Internet or defend his point of view, when it is possible that the dispute would bring clarity into someone's thoughts and reveal the truth in any matter. In this case, the Internet itself will lose its entertainment character and become like a library where people will come for information, life itself in the virtual world will become uninteresting and fresh, as it will look like the real one. And why then we need live two similar lives, when in one of them the graphics are much better :)?
On the other hand, the opportunity to be different from what you are can open up hidden potentials. Let me try myself in the role that it is terrible or awkward to apply in real life. And if everything goes good in a virtual world, maybe a person will be able to revise his behavior in reality and become better.... or worse :) In any case, everyone should decide for himself, by whom and how to be ... there ... and here .. ..

Perfect world!? (4. nädal)

Review of the report of Pekka Himaneni 2004 at the Finnish Parliament

At all times a person has sought to improve the quality of his life. Irrespective of religion or nationality, a person wants to be in more comfortable conditions. In my opinion, Pekka Himanen does not just want, but also tries to bring society closer to this state. The article says that the information society can be defined as a creative society based on interaction, for which the most important aspect is not new technologies, but a new world view of things and use. As I thought Pekka's thoughts are aimed at creating an ideal society that can support each other and help in different fields of science, economics and labor. In his opinion, the information economy relies on the growth of productivity, based on innovation.
With his reasoning, Pekka brings people closer to an ideal model of society that will not only exist well but also flourish. As I thought pekka criticizes the current state of affairs, where society lives by the laws of "every man for himself" and "the strongest survives." Tells that if you want everything can be changed for the better with the help of information technology. In the light of these changes, "the information society can be defined as a society in which the quality of life, as well as the prospects for social change and economic development, increasingly depend on information and its exploitation. In such a society, the standards of life, forms of work and leisure, the education system and the market are significantly influenced by advances in information and knowledge. "
One of the most unpleasant aspects of this type of society is the loss of the sustainability situation of the information society. Due to the increasing role of information, small groups or commonwealths can have a huge impact on all people ...
It seems to me that in his arguments Pekka is very mistaken, since he speaks of people and peoples as a whole, excluding the factor of the individual. He speaks of a herd led by a shepherd, not taking into account the difference in the mentality of different peoples and their values. It seems to me that only a strong and brutal leader can lead to such a state.
Having received freedom and wealth and health, people will begin to be lazy and about no society in which the majority of workers are engaged in production we can not speak. Of course, the effective information interaction of people and their access to global information resources will raise the qualifications and general education of a person, but also increase the risks of sabotage or terror, where certain groups of people will try to take power in their hands. The development of e-democracy and the information economy will only exacerbate this action by making such people elusive.
With huge strides, humanity is approaching the model of the information society by itself and it seems to me that it is not necessary to increase the pace artificially. Technologies are developing and everything will happen by itself. It seems to me that the main task of people at the moment should not be the total immersion of mankind in innovation and information technology, but an increase in the level of protection associated with all kinds of influence on people, both individuals and society as a whole.