How Wireless Communication Has Affected Societies - Term Paper Example

Introduction Wireless communication is a vital mode of communication in the modern world powered by rapid technological changes. This mode of communication is an umbrella name for various communication forms including broadcasting, mobile communication of voice and data and fixed services. Wireless communication has enhanced portability, accessibility, convergence and selectivity. Convergence allows multiple uses of a singer device. The technology has brought ease and efficiency in communication both for individuals, governments and corporations and with it new ethical challenges. Wireless communication has revolutionalized societies in diverse ways, both negative and positive. The negative consequences of wireless communication are largely blamed on unethical use of the technology. The ethical requirements apply to all stakeholders in wireless communication be it the sender, the recipient of the message or even the facilitating person or organisation. This paper will discuss how wireless communication has affected societies and the ethical requirements that apply to its usage. Discussion The mobile phone has marked the greatest advancement in wireless communication in the 21st century. The use and penetration of mobile phones has increased tremendously. Introduction of mobile phone applications has also created a new level of mobile communication. The world has become a smaller village and communication and the way people interact has changed overnight (Du & Swamy 2010; Gans, King & Wright 2005) Individuals can conduct online transactions via mobile phones. Kenya as a country has developed a new use of mobile phones for remitting money and making payments. This service has been extended to the UK in conjunction with Western Union (Graham 2010). With such potential, one could ask, can mobile phones replace credit cards and debit cards? Only time will tell. So how has wireless mobile phone technology impacted land line telephone usage? Research in the UK by OFTEL concluded that fixed-line and mobile phones were complimentary in nature. The researchers argued that mobile phones were used for short calls while fixed-lines were used for long calls. They argued that the diffusion of mobile phones in the society increased the demand for fixed lines. The findings were backed by the fact that countries with a large network of fixed-line telephone adopt mobile phones faster than the rest (Castells et al 2004). However, these finding were opposed by findings from another research by Horvath and Maldoom (in Castells et al 2004). This research argued that the OFTEL research completely ignored the substitution impact of mobile phones. They argue that in developed countries, mobile phones to some degree act as substitutes to fixed lines while in developing and underdeveloped countries, mobile phones are gradually phasing out fixed-line telephones (Castells et al 2004). As such, the society has to deal with these portable devices that have personalised communication even further. The invention of wireless communication started in the early 1900’s with the discovery of radio transmissions. The first use was in the Anglo-Boer war in South Africa where British ships used wireless technology to communicate between ships (Gans, King & Wright 2005). This required perfect coordination in order to ensure that the signals were not interfered with and they reached the intended target. This marked the beginning of ethical requirements in wireless communication. There was need for coordination to ensure that the transmission reached the intended target in the original form. Poor coordination could mean that the message could be interfered with along the way. The new technology in wireless communication has opened a new platform for addressing communication ethics. First and foremost, developers and facilitators of wireless communication must ensure that there is a way of monitoring the content of messages to ensure that the message is legal and ethical. Various countries have different laws that provide a framework for players in wireless communication to abide by to ensure they are ethical (Gans, King & Wright 2005). However, not all requirements can be enforced by laws. Different societies have different ethical and moral requirements mainly guided by their culture. This implies that players operating in such a society must abide by the general and specific ethical requirements and the law (Mcclean 2011). Again, organisations also develop their own code of ethics. Players in wireless communication such as the BBC, Vodafone have well stated code of ethics that the firms and their employees abide by in enforcing ethical behaviour. Governments have responded to increased use of wireless communication technology in various ways. As aforementioned, there are laws that have been enacted to regulate the use of wireless communication. Egypt is the world’s first country to enact a code of ethics for mobile phone use (BBC, 2009). The UK and other countries have not enacted such but have strong cyber ethics law. The UK government prohibits illegal sharing of music files over the internet as it denies musicians income. Hacking of websites is another issue that has been termed illegal. The recent case Wikileaks’ founder, Julian Assange, accessing US government websites and email accounts of government official has pointed to the need of clearer code of ethics supported by law (Naughton 2011). Another case that pertains to mobile phone use is the one relating to news reporters from News of the World magazine. The reporters were accused of illegally accessing voicemail messages of celebrities in the UK (BBC 2011). While such acts are defined by the society as morally and ethically wrong, they must be clearly supported by strong laws apart from the law on privacy (Mclean 2011). Other laws that can be applied to enforce ethical behaviour in this age of wireless communication are the public disturbance/nuisance and intellectual property rights. However both are perpetually challenged by the law on freedom of expression. Use of mobile telephones and other wireless devices as key facilitators of freedom of expression should not be a nuisance to other people and the public at large. Conclusion One thing that is for sure is that wireless communication is here to stay. As such, societies must embrace it wholly and establish ways in which they can accommodate the changes brought by it without disturbing social ethical balances. The government and municipal governments should play a role by enacting supportive laws that enforce ethical conduct in suing wireless communication. However, with time societies will evolve ways of embracing wireless communication ethically as more wireless platforms continue to be discovered. References BBC, 2009, Egypt seeks ethical mobile users. Available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8331614.stm BBC 2011, “News of the World to close amid hacking scandal” BBC News. Available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14070733 Castells, M, Fernandez-Ardevol, M, Qiu, J & Sey, A 2004, The mobile communication society: A cross-cultural analysis of available evidence on the social uses of wireless communication technology, University of Southern California. Available from, http://hack.tion.free.fr/textes/MobileCommunicationSociety.pdf Du, K & Swamy, M 2010, Wireless communication systems: from RF subsystems to 4G enabling technologies, London, Cambridge University Press. Graham, F 2010, “Kenya’s mobile wallet revolution”, BBC News. Available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11793290 Maclean, W 2011, “UK seeks stronger cyber laws to fight attacks”, Reuters. Available from http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/05/us-britain-cybersecurity-idUSTRE7645O820110705 Naughton, J 2011, “If Assange were a print man, would he be called a terrorist?” The Guardian. Available from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/13/assange-wikileaks-misreporting-old-media Read More