Adigrat University

College of Engineering and Technology

Department of Computing

Course Title: Introduction to Emerging Technologies

Chapter Six : Ethics and Professionalism of

Emerging Technologies
 Outlines
• Technology and Ethics
• New Ethical Questions
• General Ethical Principles
• Professional Responsibilities
• Professional Leadership Principles
• Digital Privacy
• Some digital privacy principles
• Accountability and trust
• Threats and Challenges
• Ethical and regulatory challenges

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 Technology and Ethics
• The Internet boom has many benefits for society, allowing creation of
new tools and new ways for people to interact.
• With technological advances, however, the Internet has some negative
aspects. Example, it has created new concerns about privacy, and has
been hampered by spam and viruses.
• Technology can serve to promote or restrict human rights. use of
emerging technologies in such a way can maximize the benefits and
minimizing the harms.
• Ethics is particularly important for the accountancy profession based
on five basic principles:
• Integrity, objectivity, competence and
• Due care, confidentiality, and professional behavior
• However, emergence of new technologies raises some new challenges
for the profession to address.

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 New Ethical Questions

• The increasing use of big data and AI can enable more consistent,
evidence-based and accurate decisions, often more quickly and
efficiently.

• However, these strengths can throwing up questions around the ethical

use of these fairly new technologies.
• For example, outputs can be based on biased data, which could
lead to discriminatory outcomes and outcomes can again seem
unfair or unethical.

• Questions are being asked regarding the interaction b/n computers and
humans. Whatever the power of the machine, humans will still need to
be involved.
• So that people can be held accountable
4 • Explain the reasons behind a decision
 New Ethical Questions..

• Ethics of technology has a problem that it tends to arrive too late.

• In many cases, ethical issues are only recognized when the technology
is:
• Already on the market
• Problems arise during its widespread use

• Ethics can then become a tool to clean up a mess that might have been
avoidable.

• Indeed, there are ethical theories and approaches that explicitly aim at
an early integration of ethics into the technology life cycle.
• Problem of this approach is that the future is unknown(we do not
know with certainty what will happen in the future).
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 New Ethical Questions..

General Ethical Principles

• Most common ethical rules that must be applied in all technologies

are:
1. Avoid harm
2. Be honest and trustworthy
3. Respect privacy
4. Be fair and take action not to discriminate
5. Honor confidentiality
6. Acknowledging that all people are stakeholders in computing
7. Respect the work required to produce new ideas, inventions,
creative works and computing artifacts.

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 New Ethical Questions..

Professional Responsibilities

• Ethical principles related to professional responsibilities

1. Maintain high standards of professional competence, conduct,
and ethical practice.
2. Access computing and communication resources only when
authorized by the public good.
3. Strive to achieve high quality in both the processes and
products of professional work.
4. Know and respect existing rules pertaining to professional work
5. Maintain high standards of professional competence, conduct,
and ethical practice
6. Accept and provide appropriate professional review.

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 New Ethical Questions..
Professional Leadership Principles

• Ethical principles related to professional leadership

1. Manage personnel and resources to enhance the quality of
working life.
2. Ensure that the public good is the central concern during all
professional computing work
3. Create opportunities for members of the organization or group
to grow as professionals
4. Use care when modifying or retiring systems
5. Recognize and take special care of systems that become
integrated into the infrastructure of society
6. Articulate, apply, and support policies and processes that reflect
the principles of the Code

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 Digital Privacy

• Digital Privacy is the protection of personally or business identifiable

information that is collected from respondents through information
collection activities.

• It is a collective definition that encompasses three sub related

categories:
A. Information privacy
B. Communication privacy
C. Individual privacy
Information Privacy
• It is the notion that individuals should have the freedom to
determine how their digital information is collected and used.

• Example, some legislation allows companies to self-regulate their

9 collection and dissemination practices of consumer information
 Digital Privacy..
Communication Privacy
• It is the notion that individuals should have the freedom to
communicate information digitally with the expectation that their
communications are secure.
• Meaning that messages and communications will only be
accessible to the sender's original intended recipient.
• Communications can be intercepted directly through various hacking
methods.
• Communication privacy necessarily requires consideration of
technological methods of protecting communication in digital
mediums.

Individual Privacy: is the notion that individuals have a right to exist

freely on the internet, in that they can choose what types of information
they are exposed to. Example: unwanted ads
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 Digital Privacy..
Some Digital Privacy Principles
• Data Minimization- collect the minimal amount of information
necessary from individuals and businesses consistent with the
Department’s legal requirements .
• Transparency-use information in clear manner.
• Information collected will not be used for any other purpose
unless authorized or mandated by law.
• Accuracy-information collected will be maintained in a sufficiently
accurate, timely, and complete manner to ensure that the interests of the
individuals are protected.
• Security-IT security measures will be implemented to ensure that the
collection, use, and maintenance of identifiable information are
properly safeguarded.

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 Accountability and Trust
• Accountability and trust are important in using emerging technologies
(ET).

• ET create rapid change and can also bring new risks.

• Understanding and mitigating them will help to build confidence.

• ET can provide improved accuracy, better quality and cost efficiencies

for businesses in every sector.

• They can enhance trust in the organization’s operations and financial

processes, which is crucial for sustainable success.

• The obligation of an individual or organization to account for its

activities:
• Accept responsibility for them and
12• To disclose the results in a transparent manner.
 Threats and Challenges
Ethical and Regulatory Challenges

• With Technology moving at a fast pace it is always been a challenge

for Security.

• Emerging technologies are already impacting how we live, work and

changing how we approach, plan, and integrate security operations.

• Emerging technologies are making an impact include:

1. Counter-terrorism and law enforcement informatics via
predictive analytics and artificial intelligence
2. Real-time horizon scanning and data mining for threats and
information sharing
3. Automated cyber-security and information assurance
4. Robotic Policing (already happening in Dubai!)
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 Threats and Challenges..
Ethical and Regulatory Challenges..

5. Enhanced Surveillance (sensors, cameras, drones, facial

recognition, license plate readers)
6. Simulation and augmented reality technologies for training and
modeling
7. Safety and security equipment (including bullet and bomb proof)
made with lighter and stronger materials
8. Situational awareness capabilities via GPS for disaster response
and crisis response scenarios
9. Biometrics: assured identity security screening solutions by bio-
signature
10. Advanced forensics enabled by enhanced computing capabilities
.
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 Threats and Challenges..
Challenges in using Artificial Intelligence
• AI is only as good as the data it is exposed to, which is where certain
challenges may present themselves.
• How a business teaches and develops its AI will be the major factor in
its usefulness.
• Another dilemma with AI is its potential to replace human workers.
As machines become more “intelligent” they could begin to replace
experts in higher-level jobs.
• AI also has the potential to take the burden of laborious and time-
consuming tasks from these people, freeing up their time. e.g. doctors
using diagnostic AI to help them diagnose.
• Managing the challenges posed by AI will require careful planning to
ensure that the full benefits are realized and risks are mitigated.

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 Threats and Challenges..
Challenges in using Robotics in manufacturing

• As automation and robotics technologies become more advanced:

• There will be a greater capability for automation to take over more
complex jobs.
• The potential for humans losing jobs is great here too
• As robots learn to teach each other and themselves, there is the
potential for much greater productivity
• But this also raises ethical and cyber security concerns
Challenges in using the Internet of Things

• As more and more connected devices join the IOT the amount of data
being generated is increasing.
• There are severe security implications of mass connectivity that need
to be addressed.
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 Threats and Challenges..

• Companies have to plan carefully how this will affect the customer
facing application and how to best utilize the masses of data being
produced.

Challenges in Big Data

• The huge amount of data being generated on a daily basis has the
potential:
• To provide businesses with better insight into their customers as
well as their own business operations.

• Although data can be incredibly useful for spotting trends and

analyzing impacts, surfacing all this data to humans in a way that they
can understand can be challenging.
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 Threats and Challenges..
Treats
• Planning for how to deal with ET while assessing potential risks
before they become a fully-fledged reality is essential for businesses
that want to thrive in the world of AI and IOT.
• Some risks of emerging technology are:
• Driverless car: companies could crash and burn from claims
related to bodily injury and property damage.
• Wearables: Google glass and Fitbit can expose companies to the
invasion of privacy claims that may not be covered by general
liability.
• Drones: Turbulence is in the offing for manufacturers that fail to
protect themselves for property damage.
• IOT: sensor creates potential exposure from privacy invasion, may
connect an organization to huge liabilities

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