Premium Essay

Hacking Into Harvard

In:

Submitted By kay1256300
Words 1029
Pages 5
1) Suppose that you had been one of the MBA applicants who stumbled across an opportunity to learn your results early. What would you have done, and why? Would you have considered it a moral decision? If so, on what basis would you have made it?

If I was one of the MBA applicants who could learn my results early, I would not do the same thing they did (Hacking into Harvard). Although I would be curious, I would weigh it against the outcome. I would also think if it was the right thing to do, even if I could have low risk and high reward. I would not have thought only about myself, but also about the future if many students did the same as I or did not do the same as I. I would have carefully considered this moral decision. There really was nothing I could do if I learned the result, only I would know it early and maybe could apply elsewhere or celebrate sooner. It does not feel right from our moral sense, because we would not like the same to happen to us or our business. I think it is certain that if I was caught, I would not be accepted ever. Also, Harvard might inform other famous business schools. Maybe I would not like to go to a college where some of my classmates had been sneaky, because they would likely be sneaky again.

2) Assess the morality of what curious applicants did from the point of view of egoism, utilitarianism, Kant's ethics, Ross's pluralism, and rule utilitarianism.

From the point of view of egoism, these applicants thought they acted morally since it might promote a person's short- and long-term interests. However, as in most cases, the students would really have put short-term gain ahead of long-tern gain. Correct moral judgment in egoism requires exact assessment of risk and reward, in all time frames. From utilitarianism, these applicants are wrong, because they don't produce the greatest happiness for everyone. The application

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Hacking Into Harvard

...Harvard Business School will reject the 119 applicants who hacked into the school's admissions site last week, the school's dean, Kim B. Clark, said yesterday. ''This behavior is unethical at best -- a serious breach of trust that can not be countered by rationalization," Clark said in a statement. ''Any applicant found to have done so will not be admitted to this school." A half dozen business schools were swamped by a wave of electronic intrusions Wednesday morning, after a computer hacker posted instructions on a BusinessWeek Online message board. Harvard is the second school to say definitively that it will deny the applications of proven hackers. The first was Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, where only one admission file was targeted. Until yesterday, Harvard, which had branded the hacking as unethical from the start, stopped short of explicitly saying the hackers' applications would be rejected. Other victims, such as MIT's Sloan School of Management, Stanford's Graduate School of Business, Duke's Fuqua School of Business, and Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business similarly said they frown upon the hacking and are investigating, but have not said they will reject applications. ''Our mission is to educate principled leaders who make a difference in the world," Clark said in yesterday's Harvard statement. ''To achieve that, a person must have many skills and qualities, including the highest standards of integrity, sound judgment, and a strong moral compass -an intuitive...

Words: 639 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Hacking Into Harvard

...Harvard Business School will reject the 119 applicants who hacked into the school's admissions site last week, the school's dean, Kim B. Clark, said yesterday. ''This behavior is unethical at best -- a serious breach of trust that can not be countered by rationalization," Clark said in a statement. ''Any applicant found to have done so will not be admitted to this school." A half dozen business schools were swamped by a wave of electronic intrusions Wednesday morning, after a computer hacker posted instructions on a BusinessWeek Online message board. Harvard is the second school to say definitively that it will deny the applications of proven hackers. The first was Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, where only one admission file was targeted. Until yesterday, Harvard, which had branded the hacking as unethical from the start, stopped short of explicitly saying the hackers' applications would be rejected. Other victims, such as MIT's Sloan School of Management, Stanford's Graduate School of Business, Duke's Fuqua School of Business, and Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business similarly said they frown upon the hacking and are investigating, but have not said they will reject applications. ''Our mission is to educate principled leaders who make a difference in the world," Clark said in yesterday's Harvard statement. ''To achieve that, a person must have many skills and qualities, including the highest standards of integrity, sound judgment, and a strong moral compass...

Words: 639 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Kwame Anthony Appiah's Racial Identities

...were segregated. Du Bois received a doctoral degree in Social Science at Harvard University. He wanted to stop the poor treatments of blacks living in the States. He told blacks to be "inspired with divine faith of our black mothers, that our blood and the dust of battle will march victorious" (Taylor). He did not bring religion into his arguments about discrimination. Du Bois is one of the founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Color People (NAACP) and the Pan- African Congress. Du Bois assists in the leadership of the Peace Information Center which is an anti- atomic bomb group. He was the first editor of the NAACP journal, the Crisis. In the journal Crisis, Du Bois wrote about his support for black artists, writers and musicians. He also spoke out on the unfair treatments of blacks in the Crisis. W.E.B. Du Bois's journals were misleading according to Appiah in the essay "Racial Identities". Du Bois idea of Badge of Color was a concept of being labeled black or white but Appiah found the Badge of Color faulty. He believes labelling a group of...

Words: 1152 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Dynamic Nominalism

...new opportunity is created for human types to adopt. New types of people start to exist that in some respects did not before. We can see this through the emergence of the emo society. The term emo is short for emotional it was first used as a description for a genre of music named emotional hardcore, with lyrics full of sad and depressed emotions. As the music became more popular adolescents found a sense of belonging within the music, (Gorce 2005) and a new possibility that allowed their emotions to be expressed emerged. As dynamic nominalism explains “new slots were created in which to fit”. (Hacking 2002:100) The emo society was custom made to fit the youth who wanted to express their emotion. The emo society and the emo person were born in unison, in the same way that dynamic nominalism states “a kind of person came into being at the same time as the kind itself was invented”(Hacking 2002:106) The emo person was created and roles, behaviours and mannerisms were adopted to work in with the society which will be discussed next. To understand the view in dynamic nominalism that labels actively influence those labelled, we can look at the behaviours, roles and mannerisms that were constructed around the new...

Words: 835 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Ipad's Security Breach

...IPad’s Security Breach Hacking is one of the things that most people worry about. There is sometimes a need to share personal information to different companies and people for different reasons. Hacking is a way for others to steal, share and use personal information that does not belong to them. It is defined as the use of computer and network resources as a means of obtaining information illegally. Hacking is considered as a felony in the United States (Sabadash, V. 2004). In recent years, people have become more conscious of whom, where and when they provide personal information because they know there is a chance that their information may be taken and used without their permission. When using the internet and other sources, many choose to use secured sites or sites that they trust will protect and keep their personal information private. Although companies usually take all necessary precautions in order to keep their clients information private, there are sometimes flaws in their systems and things may be overlooked. There are many examples of weaknesses with the prevention efforts and some of them are as follows: old software or software that has not been patched, default passwords that are poorly chosen, disabled security controls and web servers with poor configuration, just to name a few (Sabadash, V. 2004). With this assignment, I have reviewed some information regarding the security breach of Apple/AT & T’s IPad. The information has influenced my...

Words: 1664 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

If Fred Were a Deontologist (Kant), What Would He Do?

...1. Suppose that you had been one of the MBA applicants who stumbled across an opportunity to learn your results early. What would you have done, and why? Would you have considered it a moral decision? If so, on what basis would you have made it? If I were in the same situation as the other applicants, I definitely would have checked my status. Getting into Harvard is probably one of the biggest accomplishments one can make in their professional career before completing business school. Upon graduation, a graduate’s door is blown open to exclusive networking mixers, job assistance searches, and invaluable connections made with peers. Therefore, if I had to wait another month, I probably would have made the same mistake the other 119 students did and attempt to check my application status. However, I would (probably like most people) justify my actions by shifting the blame of the unethical behavior to the shoulders of Harvard and ApplyYourself because “it was too easy to check.” With that said, I would consider the action unethical, and when being rejected along with the other 119 students, I then would probably reflect on my actions and accept I had made a mistake. I would have made this decision by weighting the non-Kantian form of non-consequentialist’s first rule – moral decision making involved the weighing of different moral factors and considerations. I would say that it was more immoral to check my status rather than waiting to find out Harvard’s decision. 2....

Words: 2072 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Case 8.3 Speaking Out About Malt

... 2012 Case 2.1 Hacking Into Harvard Seeking unauthorized access to an institution’s website is unethical. However, it is easy to perceive how one might be tempted to do so in the Harvard case. Many students in todays’ “internet” world tend to feel entitled to access any available information by any means. I personally feel that I would not have taken advantage of the opportunity to access my results early even though I am sure the temptation to do so would have been overwhelming. Many factors come into play here and should be heavily evaluated, such as, (1) will the school administrators find out; (2) the consequences of my actions; (3) how will my actions affect the outcome of my application; and (4) the overall long term effect of my actions. After carefully weighing my options I would make the right choice and not access my file. The choice to not “hack” the system can be viewed as a moral and ethical decision. The basis for my decision is quite simple. Institutions incorporate policies and procedures to protect the integrity and privacy of confidential information. Therefore it is wrong to violate the policy by illegally accessing confidential information by unauthorized means. The practice of accessing the unauthorized information was unfair to the other applicants who followed the rules and waited to receive their admission status. Harvard’s response to their breach of policy was reasonable. MTI followed suit by agreeing with Harvard and taking the same...

Words: 448 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Smart Meter Technology

...there are concerns about the privacy of user data and security of the data being transmitted. The security of these wireless meters is a large concern for utilities and customers as well. The security features are not as much of a concern for the vendors however, since the added security increases the cost to manufacture, making the meters more costly and less competitive. (Mills, 2010) In my opinion this responsibility should fall on both the manufacturer and the utility using the meters. There have been reports that hackers can access the meters through their digital nature. This could be devastating as these meters are connected directly to the transmission and distribution systems and are all tied together. In addition to the hacking is the issue of user privacy. One journal reports that devices that use energy such as a refrigerator have their own load signature that can be used to identify the type of device by the utilities, therefore violating privacy of the customers. (McNeil, 2011) This concern for privacy is very...

Words: 639 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Review of Social Network

... or the conflicts that occurred around the creation, until the premiere of the film. Mark Zuckerberg was a relatable character and a dedicated Harvard student who had multiple social issues. He was inspired by his fellow students and an intemperate hacking catastrophe to create perhaps the greatest and most marketable social networking website ever. As the film progressed, the story also showed the dark side including intellectual theft, privacy violation, corporate scandals, and betrayal as it takes you through Mark’s struggle with conflicts over bad choices he made for himself. The climax incorporated the fact that as Mark got ahead of himself in business, he hurt his friends while doing so. The story ended happily and gives the viewer a new vision of Facebook and the years of work that went into it. Facebook was a major part of this average student’s life, however, it gives the viewer a new appreciation of everyday life, for things once considered mundane, and apprehension for hurting people close to you. Characterize Mark Zuckerberg and include/comment on the following (min. 250 words) Physical appearance Mark Zuckerberg’s character was an average looking American college student. He was thin, dressed informally and had shaggy, unkempt hair. Education and work Zuckerberg attended Harvard, therefore he must have been a well educated young man. Level of Intelligence Zuckerberg had a high level of intelligence, perhaps that’s why...

Words: 412 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Google in China

...Google in China Case Study Introduction On January 12, 2010 Google’s Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, posted an online memo that targeted the Chinese government. The company stated that it had detected highly sophisticated cyber-attacks originating from China and that the evidence suggested the primary goal of the hackers was to access Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The memo further disclosed that Google was no longer willing to censor its search results on Google.cn and it would exit China if its conditions on non-censorship were not met. The problem faced by Google is that, the Chinese government has been determined to control the flow of information on the Internet and insists on removing certain information that it considered politically objectionable from search results. Google’s mission as a company is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. However, China’s policies on censorship seemed to conflict with several of Google’s core principles. There is also the question; did Google do its homework to thoroughly analyze the Chinese operating environment as it relates to censorship? By 2005, Chinese search engine company, Baidu, emerged as the leading internet search engine in China. A very important piece of information to consider is that, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are not considered inherent rights in the People’s Republic of China. Therefore, to compete with...

Words: 2536 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Business Harvard

...Hacking Into Harvard Discussion Questions: 1. Suppose that you had been one of the MBA applicants who stumbled across an opportunity to learn your results early. What would you have done, and why? Would you have considered it a moral decision? If so, on what basis would you have made it? I would have not made the decision to learn my results early and honestly it would have been from fear of being caught or someone finding out which could possible ruin my chances at something great. Not checking would have been the moral thing to do. This is because if we were allowed to view early we would not have stumbled across the way to do it, it would have been provided to you, and those are two different things. 2. Assess the morality of what the curious applicants did from the point of view of egoism, utilitarianism, Kant’s ethics, Ross’s pluralism, and rule utilitarianism. Egoism: They were morally right as long as their actions promote their long term interest helps the greater good. Utilitarianism: If the actions balance, good over bad for everyone affected by the actions they were morally correct. Kant’s Ethics: If it was not done in the sense of duty because action out of own desires, inclination or self- interest the actions are morally wrong. Ross’s Pluralism: Moral duty cannot be reduced to the single obligation to make the most of happiness so they were morally wrong. Rule Utilitarianism: There should be standards moral principles so the actions could actually...

Words: 452 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Social Network

...Network By: Amanda de Alwis “The Social Network” is director David Fincher’s fascinating look at the birth of Facebook, and the men responsible for its creation. It is a story of entrepreneurship and theft, and of friendship and betrayal. More than anything else, it is a study of Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook’s creator, and the world’s youngest billionaire. Thrown into the mix are some intriguing concepts of greed, integrity, and property rights, elevating “The Social Network” to a critique of our culture. After being dumped by his girlfriend, Mark, at the time a student at Harvard takes revenge by setting up “Facemash.com”. By hacking into the Harvard student image directories, Mark creates a website enabling guys to rank girls based on their “hotness.” His project is wildly successful. Impressed by his work, the two Winklevoss brothers, Cameron and Tyler contact him with an idea of their own: an elite, Harvard-only online social network. But Mark, along with his friend and roommate Eduardo Saverin are not interested in creating a MySpace imitation. He takes the Winklevosses’ idea and modifies it, creating a similar website but without using any of the brothers’ code. The resulting site TheFacebook.com, instantly becomes a massive success on campus. The fact that the website was created in an university allowed it grow and develop because of the many users. This also made it a popular site in record time. The site was created on February 4, 2004. Progressing in the film, Mark...

Words: 1043 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Bill Gates Accomplishments

...Gates was a very intelligent man and scored a 1590 out of 1600 on his SAT’s (Bill Gates Weebly). He attended Harvard where his parents expected him to study to become a Lawyer like his father. However, after his third year of attending Harvard, he dropped out to pursue the dream of starting a new company with his highschool friend, Paul Allen. One day he sees an ad for a new computer from a company called Altair. Gates and Paul grew interested and called the company to offer a new program that could run the new computer and the company accepted the offer. However, the deadline was three weeks and Gates didn’t even start his program. In the end he didn’t finish until five weeks later but the company still accepted the program. Later in his life, Apple invited Microsoft to help develop a new program for their Macintosh computers. It was through this program that Microsoft started the development of Windows. In 1985...

Words: 970 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Assignment Breif

...Programme Area of Computing BTEC Level 3 90 - Credit Diploma in Information Technology (QCF) Unit no: 8 | Learner group: C0177, C0183, C0184, C0185, C0186 | Unit title: Assignment 1 - e-Commerce | Learner name: | Date issued: Week Commencing - 9th March 2015 | Assessor name: Diane Merryweather | Completion date: Week Commencing - 23rd March 2015 | Written by: Diane Merryweather | Submitted on: | Verified by: Fehmida Kapasi | Assignment title & Ref: Unit 8 –Assignment 1 – Technology and understanding the impact of e-commerce A/601/7313 | In this assessment you will have opportunities to provide evidence against the following criteria. Indicate the page numbers where the evidence can be found also PPD (Personal and Professional Development) and EE | Grading Criteria | Criteria ref | To achieve the criteria the evidence must show that the student is able to: | Task | Evidence | Page | P1 | Describe the technologies required for e-commerce. | 1 | Written | | P2 | Explain the impact of introducing an e-commerce system to an organisation. | 2 | Written | | P3 | Explain the potential risks to an organisation of committing to an e-commerce system. | 3 | Written | | M1 | Recommend methods to promote an e-commerce system. | 4 | Leaflet | | M2 | Discuss how security issues in e-commerce can be overcome. | 5 | Written | | D1 | Evaluate the use of e-commerce in a ‘brick and click’ organisation. | 6 | Written | | This is an official...

Words: 1156 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Protecting Your Network

...Protecting Your Network UMUC CSEC 610 April 16, 2015 David Gianna Introduction According to Beaver (2010), to have a secure operating systems and applications, you need to have a secure network. Devices such as routers, firewalls, and even generic hosts (including servers and workstations) must be assessed as part of the ethical hacking process. There are thousands of possible network vulnerabilities, equally as many tools, and even more testing techniques. You probably don’t have the time or resources available to test your network infrastructure systems for all possible vulnerabilities, using every tool and method imaginable. Instead, you need to focus on tests that will produce a good overall assessment of your network. Beaver (2010), also states that when you assess your company’s network infrastructure security, you need to look at as the following: * Where devices, such as firewalls or IPS, are placed on the network and how they’re configured. * What external attackers see when they perform port scans, and how they can exploit vulnerabilities in your network hosts. * Network design, such as Internet connections, remote access capabilities, layered defenses, and placement of hosts on the network. * Interaction of installed security devices, such as firewalls, IPSes, antivirus, and so on. * What protocols are in use. * Commonly attacked ports that are unprotected. * Network host configurations. * Network monitoring and maintenance...

Words: 2274 - Pages: 10