Human Development Report
(2000)
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Two billion people in the world do not
even have electricity.
Nepal has a population of 21 million
people, where 15% of houses have
electricity.
In Nepal, there are 35,000 Internet
users (in a population of 21 million).
Digital Divide
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The term was coined in the mid-1990s.
The expression digital divide is now
commonly used to describe the disparity
between those who have access to the
Internet and those who do not.
The phrase "digital divide" is essentially a
new label for an old concept:

“Information haves and have-nots." In the US,
much of the discussion about “the divide” has
traditionally centered on divisions involving income
and education.
The Digital Divide in the U.S.
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Key concepts and issues:
Universal Service and Telephones;
Universal Access;
E-rates;
Universal Connectivity Fee.
The Analog Divide

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The analog divide refers to the social
inequities involving haves and have-nots that
underlie the digital divide and that exist
independently of digital technology.
Some believe that the lack of access to digital
technology experienced by certain groups will
perpetuate and most likely exacerbate the
broader cultural divide.
Monahan (2001) argues that the current
“divide” that exists in the US is reinforced
through the system of public education.
Global Digital Divide
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As of 2000, it was estimated that 429 million
people were on-line globally.
This number represents approximately 6% of
the world's population.
Of those currently on-line, 68% live in North
America and Europe.
Two billion people in the world don't even
have electricity.
In developing countries there are roughly 69
phones for every 1000 people.
Table 10-1: Global Internet
Usage (as of 2000)
Number of
Internet users
worldwide
Percentage of the Percentage of
world's population global Internet
who are on-line
users residing in
Europe or North
America
429 million
6%
68%
Is the Digital Divide an Ethical
Issue?

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Moss (2002) argues that ethical issues
involving “the global divide” arise because
people in developing countries are unfairly
disadvantaged for three reasons:
(i) they are denied access to knowledge;
(ii) they are unable to participate fully in
democratic decision making processes;
(iii) their prospects for economic growth are
hindered.
Moral Obligations to “Bridge”
the Digital Divide
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(1) Because public education is a positive right, the U.S.
government must provide citizens with an education.
(2) Providing an education means that the government is
required (legally obligated) to supply students with the tools
(free textbooks, etc.) necessary to gain an education.
(3) The Internet is becoming a necessary tool for completing
assignments required in the educational process.
(4) Students who cannot afford Internet access at home are
unfairly advantaged and will not have the same opportunities in
completing their education as students who can afford to pay
for Internet access.
(5) Therefore, the US government should (legally) be required
to provide home Internet access for those students whose
families cannot afford to pay for it.
.
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Cybertechnology and the
Disabled
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Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the
W3C.
Assisting the disabled can improve
access for everyone (analogy with
physical space).
Dangers of using a utilitarian analogy.
Telework and disabled persons.
Race and Cybertechnology
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Internet usage patterns among minority
groups.
Implications of Technology Policies for
African Americans.
The Internet as a medium to spread
racial prejudice.
Table 10-2:
Internet Usage Breakdown by
Racial/Ethnic Groups in the US
Whites
46.1%
Asian
African
Hispanics
Americans Americans
56.8%
23.5%
23.1%
Technology, Race, and Public
Policy
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African American as stakeholders in policy
issues (Robert Johnson).
The impact pf automobility in the U.S.
Breaking up neighborhoods in inner cities to
complete highway systems.
The role of suburban sprawl in post World
War II America.
Health and safety risks to African Americans.
Rhetoric and Racism on the
Internet
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Theismeyer believes that there are two kinds
of racist speech on the Internet:
(a) Hate speech itself, which can include text,
music, on-line broadcast, and images that
exhort users to act against targeted groups;
(b) Persuasive rhetoric that does not directly
enunciate racism and corresponding violence,
but which does ultimately promote or justify
it.
Racism (continued)
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Theisman asks us to consider two questions:
(1) Does information technology make the
reemergence of prejudicial messages and
attitudes swifter and more likely?
(2) Does the Internet's wide range of
distribution make for more followers and
finally more persuasion?
Gender and Cybertechnology
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Three kinds of issues to consider:
1. Access Issues (women and
computing);
2. Gender Bias and Educational
Software;
3. Methodological Frameworks for
Understanding Gender Issues.
Access Issues
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“Pipleine” for women entering the field
of computer science;
A slight increase in the number of
women getting PhDs in CS;
But a decrease in the number of women
getting BS degrees in CS.
Gender Bias in Educational
Software
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Huff and Cooper Study (1987).
Buchanan (2000) argues that software
is biases for two different reasons:
(1) video games tend either to
misrepresent or exclude female
characters;
(2) they tend to perpetuate traditional
sexist stereotypes.
Methodological Frameworks
for Understanding Gender
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Alison Adam (2001) argues for a “gender
informed” approach to ethical issues in
computing.
She argues that most approaches have been
based on access (“pipeline”) issues and on
differences between men and women.
She appeals to a “feminist ethic of care.”
Employment and Work
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The Meaning of Work in the Cyber-era
can be examined in terms of three
different kinds of issues:
1. Quantity of work;
2. Quality of work;
3. Transformation of work.
Job Displacement and
Automation
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Job displacement can be viewed in
terms of the net result of jobs gained
and lost.
Automation began during the Industrial
Revolution.
Neo-Luddites (followers of Ned Ludd).
Informate vs. Automate (Shoshana
Zuboff.
Robotics and Expert Systems
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Robots and Robotic Arms have replaced
factory workers.
Expert Systems (ES) have replaced
professional workers.
ES has raised ethical issues (“expert
administrators” and “expert bankers”).
Virtual Organizations and
Remote Work
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Virtual organizations, virtual offices, virtual
teams, and virtual corporations.
Telework – “organizational work performed
outside the organizational confines.“
Telecommuting - the "use of computer and
communications technologies to transport
work to the worker as a substitute for
physical transportation of the worker to the
workplace“ (Rosenberg, 1997).
Remote Work and disabled persons.
Quality of Work-life
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Some quality-related issues:
Health and Safety Issues;
RSI and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome;
Video Operator’s Distress Syndrome
(VODS);
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Companies like L. L. Bean have developed
ergonomic policies.
Employee Stress and
Workplace Surveillance
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Citing a 1999 American Management Survey,
Lucas Introna (2001) points out:
[F]orty-five percent of major US firms record and
review employee communications and activities on
the job, including their phone calls, e-mail, and
computer files. Additional forms of monitoring and
surveillance, such as review of phone logs or
videotaping for security purposes, bring the overall
figure on electronic oversight to 67.3%.
Workplace Surveillance
(continued)
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Surveillance technology, which has become
less expensive, has also become "less overt
and more diffused."
Introna points out that current technology
has created the potential to build surveillance
features into the "very fabric of organizational
processes."
Surveillance techniques have been built into
processes that measure work flow, keystroke
monitoring, telephone accounting, etc.
Table 10-3: Common Arguments
Used to Support and to Oppose
Monitoring
Some Arguments in Favor of
Monitoring
Some Arguments Against
Monitoring
Helps to reduce employee theft
Increases employee stress
Helps to eliminate waste
Undermines employee trust
Helps employers to train new employees
Reduces individual autonomy
Provides employers with a motivational tool
Invades worker privacy
Improves competitiveness
Focuses on quantity rather than quality of
work
Saves the company money
Creates an "electronic sweatshop"
Guards against industrial espionage
Provides employers with an "electronic whip"
Improves worker productivity and profits
Reduces employee morale and overall
productivity
A Code of Ethics for Employee
Monitoring
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Marx and Sherizen have recommended a code with
five requirements.
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The first three include:
1. Apply to monitoring the same protection that applies to preemployment background checks-that is, permit only information
to be collected that is directly related to the job.
2. Require employers to provide employees with advanced
notice of the introduction of monitoring as well as appropriate
mechanisms for appeal.
3. Require people to verify machine-produced information
before using it to evaluate employees.
Marx and Sherizen’s Code
(continued)
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The last two conditions are:
4. Provide workers with access to the information
themselves and provide mechanisms for monetary
redress for employees whose rights are violated or
who are victims of erroneous information generated
by monitoring systems.
5 Apply a statute of limitations on data from
monitoring. The older the data, the less its potential
relevance and the greater the difficulty employees
have in challenging it.
An Alternative Strategy to
Marx and Sherizen

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Introna suggests that we look at
monitoring from the point of view of
“Asymmetry of Power.”
Introa uses Rawls’s Theory of Justice
(i.e., the “veil of ignorance”).
Behind the “veil,” we would be inclined
to favor the least well off, since we
don’t yet know our place in the system.
Email Privacy and Employer
Policies

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What is the status of Email privacy in
the context of the workplace?
Should employee phone conversations
be allowed to be recorded?

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Merrill Lynch has a formal policy.
Not all corporations have explicit policies.