PRIVACY DEBATE: IS THERE A MORAL BACKBONE TO DATA COLLECTION?

A couple of days ago in a workshop session, while asked to check out some applications that help to monitor our fitness, most iPhone users discovered some shocking findings. An application (Health) that usually comes installed with the latest iPhone seems to have been gathering data of each user without their knowledge.

So the big question pops up? Is this ethical? Is it a moral act? Should we take Apple to court?

While some were excited that their records of how many steps they take daily since they had the phone had been recorded, others were taken aback by this act of Apple stating that there could probably be more to this than meets the eye. Where does all this information go? Who saves them? What’s the data used for? Am I really safe using an iPhone?

The battle between right and wrong began to kick in.

Damon Horowitz in a TEDx conference stated how hard it is for such moral questions to be answered. Whoever determines the moral operating system also needs to be scrutinized, do they have the legal backing to say such?

It is almost impossible to install a new app on your phone without getting a prompt for you to agree to the terms that data from some social media platforms you’re on can be used within this new app. So we get stuck? For some, we just hit the “Yes” button just to get it over with and because we need the app, yet for others who are more skeptical and probably have alternatives, “No” comes easy. Privacy is one of the most significant ethical issues in digital media (Charles Ess, 2014).

From my perspective, I think it takes two to tangle. While I do not necessarily agree that applications should request for our information from existing social media platforms due to the fact that I will not want them linked, I also believe that most times we give permission that authorizes these apps to pull our data. So I see individuals and technology as parties both responsible for data privacy.

On the other hand, Fletcher et al(2011) argues that individuals knowingly and willingly allow individual pieces of personal data to be collected called their Personal Identifying Information (PII). That’s a fair statement to make considering the fact that most applications and social media platforms begin with us agreeing to some terms and conditions.

So the next time you want to install a new application, remember   “Terms and Conditions….APPLY”.

References

Ess, C. (2014). Central Issues in the Ethics of Digital Media. Digital Media Ethics. USA: Polity Press

Fletcher, G., Griffiths, M., Kutar, M. (2011). A Day in the Digital Life: A Preliminary Sousveillance Study. Retrieved 6th March, 2015 from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1923629

Horowitz, D. (2011). We need a “moral operating system”. TEDxSilicon Valley. Retrieved 10th March 2015 from http://www.ted.com/talks/damon_horowitz#t-354652

 

 

JUST GOT BITTEN BY THE SOCIAL BUG

When was the last time you came across a company with a very good brand and profit margin that had no online presence? Can’t recall the last time, must have been ages…

Recently, its become a norm. In order to stay ahead, you’ve got to be bitten by the social bug which means you’ve got to identify the social media platform suitable for your business and secure an online presence. Social media is becoming a strategic tool for many organizations to reach out to the mass users (Rauniar et al. 2013).

Statistics shows that 9 out of 10 users visit a social networking site each month; 1 out of 3 online minutes is spent on Facebook; 90million tweets are generated daily on Twitter The fact that users can actually feel free to interact with companies real time is amazing. For instance, customers of a bank might not need to even call customer care when they need assistance as most banks have taken their business solutions to social media platforms.

Companies need to see social media platforms as strategic actors as they play an important role in network effects, consumer demands and competition (Aral et al, 2013).

There are quite a lot of social bugs you can get bitten by like Twitter (which is one of my favorites by the way), Facebook, Instagram, Blogs etc.

Hurry and get your own fair share of the social bug bite!!!

Bugs

References

Aral,S.,Dellarocas, C. & Godes, D. (2013). Social Media and Business Transformation. Information Systems Research 24(1):3-13. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.1120.0470

Rauniar, R., Johnson,B., Rawski, G. & Yang, J. (2013). Social Media User Satisfaction – Theory Development and Research Findings. Journal of Internet Commerce, 12(2), 195-224, Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15332861.2013.817864

WEB ACCESSIBILITY TRANSFORMATION

In one of our sessions, we explored several case studies that explained the importance of considering people with certain disabilities.

Prior to this moment, I must admit that I had never thought of considering those categories of people. It just never occurred to me that there is a possibility that others might be physically challenged in a way that will not enable them to use the web as comfortably as some of us will.

Imagine a physically challenged person trying to access a website that was not designed to fit his disability, or a person on a wheel chair who cannot enter a building due to the fact that the door of the building was not designed to cater for his/her needs. A job applicant irrespective of how brilliant he/she is might not be stand a chance to show their value if applications are only done on a website which was not designed for them. All these is what the UK government has considered with the introduction of the Disabled Discrimination Act and Equalities Act that ensures that different range of people are being catered for (Adam & Kreps , 2009)

Salford Business School is not left out of the accessibility act, as buildings in schools consider people on wheel chairs, buses also have platforms wheel chairs and baby trolleys, lifts are designed with voice overs to help the visually impaired identify what floor they are and Apple as well as other phones are designed in ways that convert speech to text and vice-versa, enabling even the blind a chance to use social media.

 

References

Adam, A. & Kreps, D. (2009). Disability and Discourses of Web Accessibility. Information, Communication & Society. Salford: Routledge.