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The Unethical Side of Technology

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Submitted By ashleyrove
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Pages 3
Ashley Williams

Professor Philemon

English 108

August 18th, 2011

The Unethical Side of Technology

The debate over whether technology is beneficial or harmful to society is questionable. Those who are avid supporters of the advancement of technology will speak praises of the benefits of technology until they are blue in the face. People who feel that technology is dangerous towards the progress of our society can go on and on about why technology is evil. But there is one side of this debate that is not discussed very often: There are quite a few major ethical issues related to the usage of technology. What are some of the situations in which this occurs?

One of the largest ethical issues that results from using technology is lack of privacy and confidentiality. All web communications are subject to eavesdropping. When surfing the web, browsers record your activities in history files. Cookies deposited by websites collect information about you and your browsing. Many online e-commerce sites use cookies to track buying habits. New computer technology is making it increasingly easier to hack into computers and websites. A lot more crimes are being committed over and because of the internet. For example, people can hack into bank accounts and steal money or manipulate systems to cause destruction. Smith (2001) reported that “an Australian man was…sent to prison for two years after he was found guilty of hacking into the…computerized waste management system and caused millions of liters of raw sewage to spill out into local parks, rivers and even the grounds of a Hyatt Regency Hotel”.

There is an ethical issue that use of technology encroaches on that is perhaps more damaging than internet security. Technology tends to draw us away from the people in our lives that we are close to. Technology makes it is easy for us to become

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