Ethics of Emerging Tech
Emerging technologies is a new way of improving tech that is expected to have impact on your daily lives and economy. However, new technologies or emerging needs to be inspected before being released; complying to a complex and lengthy process. Additionally, ethics is a huge concern with what is good for an individual and for the society.
For example the most recent coronavirus tracking app. This app is designed to trace “Australians’ phones to help detect who they have been in close proximity with,” which assist the government in slowing down the spread of the virus. With an app like this, it has been taken into account of the ethical considerations which falls under: informed consent, do no harm, voluntary participation, confidentiality and anonymity.
Informed consent: informing an individual for permission.
Do no harm: isn’t harmful to put someone or thing in danger.
Voluntary participation: not being forced to participate in an event or cause.
Confidentiality: keeping something a secret or private.
Anonymity: being anonymous (unknown)
The tracking app has put all of these into consideration. You can choose whether to “sign up to the app” or not; when signing up, you will provide the app permission to track your phone. Therefore, you are giving consent. The app however, “is not designed to collect [the specific] location information,” as it should not harm or put an individual in danger. “The tracing app will be a tool to augment traditional manual contact tracing, by using Australians’ phones…” This suggest the government does not track just your phone but a whole range of Australians.
People may view that the tracking app is a good cause in helping the spread of the coronavirus, by providing the government with information when “two people are within 1.5 metres of each other for a period of more than 15 minutes.” However, some people may find this app to be uncomfortable, as governments are tracking you every step via your device.
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