Technological Convergence
We all benefit to some degree from technological convergence such as phones that take pictures, GPS technology in our cars, etc. These technologies are not without controversy as was noted in your textbook. What are some potential social and ethical concerns that might arise because of technological convergence? How might technological convergence jeopardize a company’s code of conduct? Do we need to account for those possibilities when we create or update the code of conduct?
Technological convergence describes the evolvement of technologies that were originally distant, to become closely unified as they advance and develop (Arenaza, S. 2015). It is combining two or more entities in regards to technology in a single device. For example, the telephone used to be a mode of communication only. Now smartphones have emerged which combine the functions of a camera, maps, music player, and other applications into one.
Technological convergence poses a future threat to human dignity (van Est, 2018). This is through the creation of robots which lead to unemployment. The services and care given by robots are dehumanized. More information about us is entered in the technology and sometimes we don’t have control over who gets to see or handle it. There is a future threat of breaching privacy which can ruin somebody’s reputation. There is a potential threat to security. With the availability of the internet in our gadgets, our systems are vulnerable to hacking. These could lead to psychological harm to the victims.
A company’s code of conduct may be jeopardized through malicious attacks such as hacking (Sohn, 2015). A focused denial of service attack on the IP-based infrastructure could disable the access controls and cameras. This allows attackers to get easy access to the facility. When the facility is prone to hackers, the company loses its data and information through breaching privacy. Relationships are then lost leading to a loss. The company should be ready for such scenarios through risk management.
When a company is creating or updating its code of conduct, possibilities of malicious attacks should be considered. When these attacks happen, the company is not usually aware of it. New ways of cybercrimes emerge daily. Companies should educate all employees and stakeholders on risk management and create awareness to ensure that they are up to date with the ever-emerging ways of cybercrimes. This will help to prevent jeopardizing its code of conduct.
Generally, technological convergence involves the combination of different programs into a single device such as the smartphone and tablets. These devices can multitask. Despite technological convergence having so many positive impacts from the social to economic and development perspective, it also has social and ethical concerns. It poses a threat to human dignity by replacing human services with robots. The company’s code of conduct is also jeopardized through cyber threats such as hacking which leads to the breaching of privacy.
References
Arenaza, S. (2015). Technological Convergence.
Royakkers, L., Timmer, J., Kool, L., & van Est, R. (2018). Societal and ethical issues of digitization. Ethics and Information Technology, 20(2), 127-142.
Suh, J., & Sohn, S. Y. (2015). Analyzing technological convergence trends in a business ecosystem. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 115(4), 718-739.
