Chapter 12: Digital Society, Ethics, and Globalization

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Chapter 12Digital Society, Ethics, and
Globalization
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Objectives

• Describe how technology is affecting the
  definition of community, and list some physical
  and mental health dangers associated with
  excessive computer use
• Describe the negative and positive impact of
  technology on freedom of speech, and list forms
  of speech and expression that are censored on the
  Web

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Objectives

• Explain the ways in which technology is used to
  invade personal privacy, and provide examples of
  laws that protect citizens from privacy invasion
• List ethical issues related to digital technology
  that confront individuals in personal and
  professional life, businesses, and governments
• Explain what globalization is, what forces are
  behind it, and how it is affecting the United
  States and other nations

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Chapter Content

• Living Online
• Freedom of Speech
• Privacy Issues
• Ethics and Social Responsibility
• Globalization

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Introduction

• Digital technologies have changed our lives
• Communication
• Access to information
• Commerce
• Work environments
• Leisure
• These changes have benefits, but they also have
  costs

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Living Online

• Virtual space
• An environment that exists in the mind rather
  than in physical space
• People find virtual space
• In a daydream
• In a book
• In a movie
• On a cell phone
• On the Internet

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Computers and Community

• Flash mob
• Group of people who assemble suddenly in a public
  place, do something unusual, and then disperse
• Participants are given precise instructions on
  where to meet, how to act, and what to say if
  questioned
• Anywhere, anytime communications
• Spontaneous social mechanism
• Courtesy and etiquette
• Social Web sites

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Computers and Community
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Computers and Community
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Health Issues Keeping a Balance

• Physical health concerns
• Repetitive stress injury (RSI)
• Injury such as tendonitis and tennis elbow,
  caused by a repetitive motion
• Blackberry thumb
• Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS)
• Aggravation of the pathway for nerves that travel
  through the wrist (the carpal tunnel)
• Typically caused by long hours at the computer
  keyboard
• Vision problems

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Health Issues Keeping a Balance
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Health Issues Keeping a Balance

• Mental health and related problems
• E-shopping addiction
• Compulsive gambling
• Gambling is one of the Internets biggest
  businesses
• Internet is easier than getting to the casino
• Information overload and stress
• Working with computers can lead to fears
• Job insecurity, loss of control, incompetence,
  demotion
• Internet addiction
• May exist if people are online for long periods
  of time
• Cannot control their online usage
• Jeopardize their career or family life from
  excessive Internet usage
• Lie to family, friends, and coworkers about
  Internet usage

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Health Issues Keeping a Balance
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Health Issues Keeping a Balance

• Avoiding Health Problems
• Ergonomics
• Study of designing and positioning work
  environment and computer equipment in a healthy
  manner
• Live a balanced life

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Freedom of Speech

• First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
• Guarantees citizens the right to free speech
• Internet
• Used to espouse the views and beliefs of every
  religious and political group
• Web sites
• May include points of view that many find
  offensive and even dangerous

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Challenging the Establishment and Traditional
Institutions

• Bloggers
• Are becoming an increasingly important component
  in journalism
• Proliferation of digital cameras and camera
  phones
• Has led to many amateur photographers having
  their photos published
• Consumer-generated media (CGM)
• User Generated Content (UGC)
• Role of the public in capturing and reporting
  news

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Challenging the Establishment and Traditional
Institutions
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Laws and Censorship

• Libel
• The deliberate act of defamation of character by
  making false statements of fact
• Censorship
• Occurs when a government or authority controls
  speech and other forms of expression
• Political freedom, pornography and issues of
  decency, dangerous information
• Content-filtering software
• Works with Web browser to check each Web site for
  indecent materials

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Laws and Censorship
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Privacy Issues

• Being free from intrusion
• The right to be left alone
• Freedom from surveillance
• Control over the information collected and kept
  about ones self

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Personal Information Privacy

• Much of the information gathered about
  individuals is done without their knowledge
• Internet
• Acts as a supercharged tool for invisible
  information gathering
• ChoicePoint collects and combines information
  from
• The three big credit bureaus
• Public records of numerous local, state, and
  federal government agencies
• Telephone records, liens, deeds, and other
  sources

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Personal Information Privacy
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Privacy and Government

• Privacy Act of 1974
• Primary law controlling what many government
  agencies can and cannot do with information they
  hold
• USA PATRIOT Act
• Gave federal government certain liberties
  regarding access to private information and the
  treatment of suspected terrorists
• Total Information Awareness

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Privacy and Government
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Privacy and Government
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Surveillance Technologies

• Surveillance
• The close monitoring of behavior
• Wiretapping
• Major law-enforcement tool
• Big concern for those interested in personal
  privacy
• FBI surveillance
• With cooperation from ISPs, the Carnivore system
  has been used to monitor e-mail
• Recently the FBI has switched to a different
  system, about which little is known

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Surveillance Technologies

• Video cameras in public places
• Are assisting in capturing criminals who may
  otherwise escape
• Chicago
• Has the most advanced video surveillance system
• ACLU has cautioned against video surveillance
• Very few public spaces are unmonitored
• High-resolution cameras attached to satellites
  and trained on the earth
• Are providing us with amazing new mapping
  technologies
• Individuals have been given the tools to practice
  surveillance
• Some cell phones can be used as bugs

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Surveillance Technologies
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Surveillance Technologies

• GPS and RFID surveillance
• Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Radio
  Frequency Identification (RFID) are
• Useful, but can be used to invade privacy
• Being used to track ex-cons and students
• US privacy laws control who can be monitored
• Lack of funding limits ability to monitor
• Three scenarios
• Full privacy
• Full trust
• Full transparency

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Ethics and Social Responsibility

• Ethics
• Deals with what is generally considered right or
  wrong
• Computer ethics
• Issues that deal with computer use

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Personal Ethical Considerations

• Personal computer ethics
• The responsible use of computers outside of
  professional environments
• Feeling of social responsibility
• May guide a computer user to treat others online
  with respect
• A persons own sense of morality
• May keep him/her from becoming involved with Web
  content that has a negative impact

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Professional Ethical Considerations

• Associations that have developed a code of
  ethical conduct
• Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
  (CPSR)
• Association of Information Technology
  Professionals (AITP)
• The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
• The Institute of Electrical and Electronics
  Engineers (IEEE)
• The British Computer Society (BCS)

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Governmental Ethical Considerations

• The digital divide
• The social and economic gap between those who
  have access to computers and the Internet and
  those who do not
• Accessible computing for the disabled and elderly
• SimPC
• Socioeconomic digital divide in the United States
  
• Has been shrinking since the turn of the
  millennium
• Efforts to get computers into schools and
  libraries
• Global digital divide
• Provides a greater social and ethical challenge

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Governmental Ethical Considerations
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Governmental Ethical Considerations
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Globalization

• Changes in societies and the world economy
  resulting from dramatically increased
  international trade and cultural exchange
• Largest contributors to globalization
• Computers
• A global telecommunication infrastructure
• The Internet
• Technology bubble of the 90s funded
  transcontinental fiber-optic cables to connect
  the world in high-speed networks

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Outsourcing

• Use of an outside company to take over portions
  of the business workload
• Bangalore
• Has become known as the Silicon Valley of India
• Major presence
• Microsoft, IBM, Texas Instruments, HP, GE, and
  many others

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Outsourcing
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Offshoring

• Business practice that relocates an entire
  production line to another location, typically in
  another country
• Beijing (China)
• The global center of offshoring
• China joined the World Trade Organization and
  agreed to follow international trade laws
• Opened a floodgate for trade and innovation
• Companies take advantage of the cost savings of
  low-cost manufacturing

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Offshoring
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Business Challenges in Globalization

• Culture
• Language
• Time and distance
• Infrastructure
• Currency
• State, regional, and national laws
• NAFTA, CAFTA

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Globalization Approaches
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Conclusion

• Positive effects of technology on society
• Finding cures for deadly diseases
• Eroding the power of totalitarian governments and
  dictators
• Developing alternate environmentally friendly
  energy sources
• Widespread access to information is building a
  more transparent society
• Empowerment
• Increases in social responsibility
• Overall, technology has had a more positive than
  negative effect

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Summary

• The Internet
• Provides an entire virtual world of information,
  people, and groups in which you can literally
  lose yourself
• The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
• Guarantees citizens the right to free speech
• Libel and direct, specific threats
• Not protected under the First Amendment

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Summary

• Privacy issues that concern most people
• Being free from intrusion
• Computer profiling
• Primary service provided by private information
  service companies such as ChoicePoint
• The field of ethics
• Deals with what is generally considered right or
  wrong

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Summary

• Professional computer ethics
• Involve the ethical issues faced by professionals
  in their use of computer systems as part of their
  jobs
• Globalization
• Changes in societies and the world economy
  resulting from dramatically increased
  international trade and cultural exchange