Ethical and Social Implications of Information and Communication Technology - Essay Example

Ethical and Social Implications of Information and Communication Technology on the Growth of Developing Countries Introduction Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has a major role to play in the economies of the developing nations. ICT can help these countries address a wide range of issues in the areas of health and socio economic considerations. Growth of ICT in developing countries leads to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals like the eradication of poverty, fighting against serious diseases, attaining equality in gender and promoting universal primary education to all the people in the world. But still the fact remains that the full benefits of ICT could not be realized by many developing nations. This is due to the reason that ICT is found to be out of reach of the poor masses and those reside in rural areas of the developing nations. This paper discusses the ethical and social implications of the information and communication technology on the growth of the developing countries. Background Information and communication technology can be defined as "any technology that enables communication and the electronic capture, processing and transmission of information". Radio, television, and print media like newspapers and magazines were the main source of information and communication in the earlier days in the developing countries. However the recent decades witness the increased use of mobile phones, internet, and other new technological applications like VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol - implying the transmission of telephonic conversation over the internet) being the advanced utility of ICT. The usage of such improved applications has been found to exist in large numbers in the developing countries. The mobile phone usage can be identified as the most rapid and voluminous in the ICT growth in the developing countries. For examples the total access to telephone connection including the fixed land line and mobile connections in the developing countries has shown an increase from 2 percent in the year 1991 to about 31 percent in the year 2004. Similarly the internet usage in the developing countries has increased from a meager 0.03 percent in the year 1994 to over 6.7 percent in the year 2004. (Parliamentary POST Note) Examples of the Contribution of ICT to the Economies of Developing Countries There are certain ICT projects undertaken in the developing countries that involve the role and contribution of international community, the Non-Government Organizations, education department, rural governments, and the industry. These projects have the objective of extending the benefits of ICT to a wide range of sectors like health, education, trade and commerce, scientific research and development capabilities, human right awareness and empowerment of women - all are closely related to the social causes of the community in general in the developing countries. However it must be noted that the benefits of ICT are not fully utilized by the developing countries for the growth and development of their economies due to inadequate infrastructural facilities and also due to lack of required human capital to support the growth of ICT. Some of the examples of ICT projects in the developing countries towards social causes are: Health Sector: The telemedicine project in Kenya has the objective of providing an online network of medical consultations for all the hospitals and health centers in Mali. The website is being used solely by the physicians while the other health care staff is also encouraged to contribute to the functioning of the telemedicine project. Women Empowerment: The Grameen Bank a non-government project in Bangladesh provides low cost loans to the ladies to set up mobile phone exchanges. With the income from the mobile exchanges the ladies are able to improve the standards of their living and educate their children. (Parliamentary POST Note) Development in Human Rights: In Zimbabwe the Kubatana Trust using Email and internet provides the human rights and civic education information to the general public from an electronic source. This has become the main source of passing on the information about the political circumstances to the public in general. Trade and Commerce: In the country of Senegal a French Telecommunications company makes use of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) enabled mobile phones to gather information on the prices of fruits and vegetables and provide them to the producers in the market to enable them to get better prices for their produce. (Parliamentary POST Note) Disparities in the ICT Growth in Developing Countries The extent to which the developing countries and different socio-economic groups within the developing nations that make use of the ICT has wide disparities. This disparity or the gap between the community who has access to the benefits of ICT and those who do not have access is referred to as 'the digital divide'. There are several factors other than the physical availability contributes to this 'digital divide'. (Parliamentary POST Note) Some of these factors within the developing countries that make this gap are: Unavailability of Products to meet the requirements of ICT - for example electricity - widens the digital divide. Most of the population in the developing nations are economically not in a position to afford to any form of benefits from ICT Even in those cases where there is the availability of ICT, due to lack of education most of the common people are unable to derive the benefits of ICT Since the internet is completely English language oriented, the majority of the people in the developing nations who are literate only in their local language would not be able to derive the benefits from ICT The large scale migration of skilled professionals from developing to developed nations result in the lack of human resources required for supporting the ICT growth The developing nations do not have a strong regulatory framework for supporting the development of ICT Ethical Implications of ICT in Developing Countries There are several ethical implications that may emanate from the growth of ICT in any nation including developing nations. Some of the ethical implications of ICT are detailed below: (1) There are chances that the concept of equal protection can be hindered by the use of sophisticated technology which will enable the identification of the members of specific groups. There may be discrimination against these groups identified by the technology. (2) Data and information gathered using ICT is increasingly being admitted in the courts as evidences. This presents a dilemma as to the reliability either on the manual evidence or the evidence produced by the machines. When there are mistakes in the information produced by computers there are chances of info-ethics nuances in the use of technology to consider the evidence as proof.(Mary Rundle and Chris Conley, 2007) (3) ICT strives to protect the privacy of the individuals by encryption of the user name and password etc. However there are chances that external interests like government or other agencies may intrude in this right of privacy. Similarly the surveillance technologies developed over the period though meant to guard privacy, may some times be used as tools to infringe on the privacy of other people. (Mary Rundle and Chris Conley, 2007) (4) ICT has its own impact on the education. The greatest threat that ITC is the possibility that it will provide for an enhanced stratification based on the status of income and access to technology. (5) ICT poses a big threat to intellectual property rights and hampers the protection of the IP rights of different holders of such rights. For instance file sharing networks like peer to peer downloading have made the infringement of the copyrights much easier and it has become difficult to protect such rights by any means. (Mary Rundle and Chris Conley, 2007) (6) ICT has its impact on the diversity of content of the networks. This happens in the case of broadcast media such as television it is allowed to serve the population with most economic power rather than to the weaker section of the community. Social Implications of ICT in the Developing Countries Despite the issues including the cost of making the ICT available to the community, the use of ICT in developing countries has larger ramifications with respect to the provision of knowledge and information, access to the information and the economic and social welfare of the communities. Marker et al (2002) have established a strong correlation between the access to the knowledge and information and factors like infant mortality, size of the family and health of women that indicate the levels of poverty. There are several other studies which have established a close association between the poverty standards and the knowledge gap of the poor (Burch and Grudnitski, 1986; Humphrey, 2006). Normally ICT projects which have the objective of make use of models which ensure access to improved technology, skills, and infrastructural facilities. These models are expected to generate economic growth and enhanced efficiency of production. ICT and the Development of Human Capital The rationale behind the deployment of ICT is to facilitate the development of human and social capital through enhanced information flow and thereby improving the human capacity for reduction of the poverty levels. McNamara (2003) opines that in the process of poverty alleviation the inclusion of ICT dimensions such as access to information plays a dominant role. Schuman (2003) views the development of social capital from the stand points of individual actors as well as from a collective view point. According to Coleman (1988) instilling skills and capabilities in persons to enable them to act in novel ways represent the creation of human capital. Human capital is considered as a necessary ingredient for accessing ICT interventions. Warschauer (2003) is of the opinion that mass education correlates with a large volume of internet access and in any industrial economy the role of mass education is of primary importance. The role of ICT in the business organizations in the developing economies has captured the attention of a number of social scientists and researchers over the years. Preece et al (1994) have embarked upon the theoretical approaches of 'technological determinist' and 'social action' models. Another model which is known as 'Integrationist Impact' model has also been developed which takes into account the relationship between context, process, and human action. This sociological framework introduced by Kimble and McLoughlin (1995) discusses the inclusion of the factor of 'human input' on the impact of ICT on the functioning of the business organizations especially in the small and medium sector enterprises. ICT and Poverty Reduction It is not quite possible to implement all the ICT projects in remote areas or areas which are inhabited by poorer section of the people. This is due to the technical and operational constraints (Dymond and Oestmann, 2002). According to Kayani and Dymond (1997) more access to information and the realization of the benefits of ICT by the economically weaker section of the community is an important prerequisite for the alleviation of poverty. The reduction in poverty level can be achieves by a direct government intervention on the creation of infrastructural facilities and creation of wealth. Therefore it follows that the presence of good governance is also of paramount importance for poverty alleviation. Here ICT has a very important role to play by disseminating the vital information on the level of poverty existing in the impoverished areas. Another social factor that influences the reduction of poverty is the education and empowerment of women. However the fact remains women in developing nations still have lesser access to ICT Huyer and Mitter, (2003) identifies that with the proper setting of a conducive environment, ICT would be able to provide the base for economic empowerment of women. Other Social Impact of ICT It can not be affirmed that an increased access to ICT will have a positive impact on the development of the economy and the society as a whole. Though there are evidences to prove that in the case of developed countries it is rather too early in time to assess the developmental impact in the case of developing countries. (Parliamentary POST Note) ICT has several other social, environmental, and economic impacts: Cultural Impact In many situations it has become the case that the culture prevalent in the developing nations adopts itself to go inline with the technological development. In no instance the ICT growth has to adjust itself to the existing culture in the country. (Parliamentary POST Note) Employment It has been observed in several cases ICT has had a negative impact on the employment in certain specialist areas by removing the existing jobs. For instance the development of ICT has removed the jobs from the people who have specialized knowledge like the agricultural middlemen who could predict market prices accurately. ICT of course is instrumental in the creation of new jobs but quite different from those it removes. (Parliamentary POST Note) Health and Environment The increased manufacture and use of ICT devices increases the presence of toxic substances, particularly those gadgets and appliances which are reconditioned and donated to the developing nations by the developed countries. It may be noted most of these devices in the form of ICT hardware have already become obsolete in the developed countries and they are dumped in the developing nations. Increased exposure to ICT results in the challenges relating to the management of mounting E waste, and dealing with enhanced energy consumption by the developing countries. (Parliamentary POST Note) ICT and Freedom of Speech It has been a matter of debate to decide on the extent to which ICT can provide opportunity for freedom of speech, especially in the countries where censorship to the traditional print media was the order of the day. Though there are several devices like filters, blocks, and tracking devices that can be employed to control the information being disseminated through ICT, still in he long-run there is the possibility that the censorship of the information may become impracticable. Exploitation of Intellectual Property Rights ICT is particularly helpful in disseminating information on the indigenous knowledge like that of herbal medicine. Once this kind of information is published in the internet the knowledge of the economically poorer people may be made use of without properly compensating them. Conclusion Information and communication technology has increasingly been recognized as the means of inducing the development in other sectors rather than an end by itself to grow and develop. However there are wide disparities that prevent the access to ICT by economically weaker section of the society in the developing countries which makes many improved technologies unavailable to the poor. Such a situation is caused by many reasons including cost, non-availability of infrastructural facilities, lack of education, the large scale of migration of professionals, and the inadequate support from the government. The growth and development in the ICT sector has several ethical implications on the community. ICT development also has its own impact on the sociological issues relating to the society. References Burch, J., and Grudnitski, G. (1986). Information Systems: Theory and Practice, 4th edn, New York: Wiley Coleman, J.S. (1988). Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital, The American Journal of Sociology 94(Supplement): S95-S120 Dymond, A. and Oestmann, S. (2002). ICTs, Poverty Alleviation and Universal Access: Review of Status and Issues, ATPS Special Paper Series No. 9, African Technology Policy Studies Network, Nairobi, Kenya, Humphrey, J. (2006). Prospects and Challenges for Growth and Poverty Reduction in Asia, Development Policy Review 24(s1): s29-s49 Huyer, S. and Mitter, S. (2003). ICTs, Globalisation and Poverty Reduction: Gender Dimensions f the Knowledge Society Part I, Poverty Reduction, Gender Equality and the Knowledge Society: Digital Exclusion or Digital Opportunity < http://gab.wigsat.org/partI.pdf> Kayani, R. and Dymond, A. (1997). Options for Rural Telecommunications Development, World Bank Technical Paper No. 359 Kimble, C., & McLoughlin, K. 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(2003) Social Inclusion and Technology, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press Read More