Thesis Statement
Assessing the impact of new technologies is hard. There are gains and there are also risks. Even when the benefits are clear, their side effects and costs may not be obvious. While convenience is their number one utility, there are many social drawbacks and disadvantages as well, to our society at large. For instance, the introduction of the automated teller machines (ATM) led to online banking.
At the onset, this change brought a lot of convenience to most of us. Yet, in hindsight, there were negative consequences to it. Automated machines have brought about unemployment in the banking sector, loss of human contact and customer service as people were firstly alienated to the machine interfaces. Crimes have also flourished with ATMs. Loss of privacy occurs, especially when the bank codes are stolen or retrieved by a third party or a legal organization. Lastly, there are also technological glitches or errors that come with the convenient process of money transactions. (Baase, 2007) In general, ethical dilemmas surface in the use of these technologies.
With mobile technologies, the Internet and automated machines and similar devices come serious choices as to various ethical decisions. Among the major issues open for individual choice are the following: freedom of speech, intellectual property, assessing and managing technology, professional ethics, among others. (Ibid.) The greater problem is that people adopt technologies but they do not completely conform to the adaptive changes these technologies entail.
Changes in technology often need adaptations in laws, social agencies, commercial laws, and personal attitudes, skills and behavior. (Ibid.) The solutions do not lie in creating more sophisticated technologies. It depends on how people will adjust to the trade offs between the technologies’ utility against its negative impact. Ethical considerations are paramount and it must be a main criteria for making individual choices. However, this is a very difficult situation because there are varied differences between personal choices, business policies and social and political laws that all together govern our social lives.
Societal ethical changes led by the changes in technologies cannot be made overnight. People make all the decisions and they take all the actions. Patterns of decisions, in organizations, may or may not have ethical content. (Spinello, 2000) What some companies may consider regulated internet use may be a violation in other organizations. As such, it is very difficult to draw out the ethical guidelines with the ethical concerns such as those mentioned above. Hence, dilemmas exist.
Since ethical issues in the use of technologies seem remote, it necessitates certain codes of ethical practice. (DeLorme, Zinkhan, & French, 2001) This code of ethics lays the foundation for more legal and moral sanctions for abusers of these technologies. Such a code, with all its pertinent penalties, will address users in an appropriate manner. Of these, the more important elements can be protected such as issues such as intellectual properties, piracy, and plagiarism and professional conduct, aside from the broad issues of privacy. It will also distinguish between the concept of information sharing and its integrity, confidentiality and availability or non availability. Authorization in information technology can also be addressed with the said code. (Brooks, 2010)
The users’ rights and duties can be outlined and mainly considered relative to the ethical issues in the use of technologies. However the fundamental rights such as the “right to know,” the “right to privacy” and the “right to property” (i.e. intellectual property) are very contextual. For instance, the extent by which a person has the right to know varies in various contexts and purposes. (Ibid.) The right to privacy also interferes with the extent by which an individual can control the information that is solely addressed to his needs. Propriety or the right to property is also very hard since computers are hacked and are prone to various viruses. (Spinello, 2000)
There are various contentions in enforcing these “rights” and “duties” in actual practice. However, a code of ethics is still practical in providing some functional guidelines for the community of Internet and technology users. (Brooks, 2010) Undeniably, there are unique problems of ethics in the use of technologies. However, ethics is intermarried with the evolution of technology. It still depends on the human beings who will direct the technologies to further the general good in society. A basic code will be a starting point by which all the controversial issues and debates can be further accomodated and finally settled.
Conclusion
Technologies have been commonly embraced as integral part of our daily existence. Its use is sometimes taken for granted. We do not often think about what is right and wrong when we inherently utilize technologies in our daily functions. However, the many ethical issues are ought to be significantly considered and developed.
The inherent problem with new innovations and technologies is that it has subsequent impact which is not always identified. As human beings with intelligence and conscience, we must always be at the side of prudence. Even when we often consider the instant and long term benefits of a new technology, we also need to value both the human and environmental aspects of technological use. We still need to emphasize the greater good.
There are so many ethical problems in the world today and the use of technology is a pervading ethical concern because technology per se has been an essential part of the lives of all people around the world. If we do not take a strong position against its abuses and misuse, then this will redound to greater harm in the future. The ethical dimensions of the use of technologies also coincide as well with its legal, social and political impact. Hence, the collective approach in solving the problems associated with the use of technologies must be comprehensive and integrated.
References:
Baase, S. (2007). A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethicl Issues for Computing and the Internet, 3rd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
Brooks, Rochelle. (2010). The development of a Code of Ethics: An online classroom approach to making connections between ethical foundations and the challenges presented by Information Technology. American Journal of Business Education, 3(10),1-13.
DeLorme, D. E., Zinkhan, G. M. and French, W. (2001) Ethics and the internet: Issues associated with qualitative research, Journal of Business Ethics, 33, 271-286.
Spinello, R. (2000). CyberEthics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
