Telecommunications and Society

The societal importance of telecommunications is well accepted and broadly understood, reflected in its near-ubiquitous penetration and use. Noted below are some of the key areas of impact:

Telecommunications provides a technological foundation for societal communications. Communication plays a central role in the fundamental operations of a society—from business to government to families. In fact, communication among people is the essence of what distinguishes an organization, community, or society from a collection of individuals. Communication – from Web browsing to cell phone calling to instant messaging – has become increasingly integrated into how we work, play, and live.

Telecommunications enables participation and development. Telecommunications plays an increasingly vital role in enabling the participation and development of people in communities and nations disadvantaged by geography, whether in rural areas in the United States or in developing nations in the global society and economy.

Telecommunications provides vital infrastructure for national security. From natural disaster recovery, to homeland security, to communication of vital intelligence, to continued military superiority, telecommunications plays a pivotal role. When the issue is countering an adversary, it is essential not only to preserve telecommunications capability, but also to have a superior capability. There are potential risks associated with a reliance on overseas sources for innovation, technologies, applications, and services.

It is difficult to predict the future impact of telecommunications technologies, services, and applications that have not yet been invented. For example, in the early days of research and development into the Internet in the late 1960s, who could have foreseen the full impact of the Internet’s widespread use today?

TEXT 5 COMPUTING ETHNICS AND LAW

The ethics of computing

So what exactly do “computer ethics” refer to? At its heart, computer ethics refers to the values that humans place on the right and wrong uses of a computer. A lot of harm can come from the misuse of a computer. Some people lose their jobs, some people get their identities and bank numbers stolen, some people become victims of fraud, and some people have their intellectual property stolen. Improper computer use can truly be devastating. There have always been laws in place to protect people from these things in the “real” world, so extending these same laws into the cyber-world is just a natural progression.

Computer ethics encompasses business, speech privacy, criminality, privacy, and intellectual property issues. Many businesses have their own guidelines for acceptable computer use so what’s acceptable at one company may not be condoned elsewhere. Some companies only allow email to be used for work, and there should be no surfing the web aimlessly. There is usually no downloading of anything, especially pornography, and to enforce these rules, the companies monitor computer use. Some argue that this is an invasion of privacy, which adds another facet to the ethics of computer use. In many cases, school computers are used to commit plagiarism or download music and software, which leads to strict rules from school districts. Illegal file sharing is one of the most scrutinized ethics issues surrounding computer use in today’s world.

The four ethical questions that need to be answered are: how to make sure that computer information is accurate, how accessible it is, who owns the information, and what can be done to ensure the information is private. With more and more sophisticated identity stealing programs, how safe is it to reveal certain information online? Should someone be able to force you to reveal said information? If something is created on the Internet, who owns it as intellectual property? Where is the line between a privilege and a right when it comes to computers? The answers to these questions often changes as quickly as the technology, which is why the law has such a hard time keeping up. Until the law catches up with the technology, many users feel free to interpret their own computer ethics, sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worst.

What is Computer Crime Law?

Computer crime law deals with the broad range of criminal offenses committed using a computer or similar electronic device. Nearly all of these crimes are perpetrated online. The internet provides a degree of anonymity to offenders, as well as potential access to personal, business, and government data. Many computer crimes are committed as a means of stealing money or valuable information, although financial gain is not always the objective. In fact, some of the most notorious incidents of computer crime involved hackers seeking “bragging rights” by overcoming government or corporate cyber security measures.