answer completely and thoroughly

How does the increase in technological innovation affect individual privacy and free speech? Discuss the related ethical issues around this topic.

250 Part Five Business and Technology Ethical Challenges involving Technology With each new technological innovation comes the important ethical question: Should we develop and offer the new application? At present, many inventors, computer program mers, and business managers appear only to be asking: Can we develop and offer the new application? Both questions are paramount as technology continues to influence individ- uals, businesses, and society interactions in the world in which we live. Some of the mos profound ethical issues involve privacy and free speech. The Loss of Privacy Jeffrey Hancock, a Cornell University professor, warned of the increased potential for privacy invasion due to technology: "This is a new era. I like it a little to when chem- istry got the microscope. Individuals are indeed under a technology microscope with vast amounts of data collected cach minute and available to be analyzed in great detail, sometimes by people with the individuals interests in mind, such as marketers, job recruit- ers, and loan grantors, but also by others who have criminal motives. Others warn that individuals, especially the newest generation, are willing to give up this expectation of privacy. According to Richard Clarke, former senior White House cybersecurity adviser. "Over time there will be few people who recall pre-Information Age privacy, more people who will have grown up with few expectations of privacy. While a backlash against the crosion of privacy is possible, it is more likely that people acting on their fear of big government and big corporate data will be a minority." Invasions of individual privacy come from many different directions. Automobiles are becoming smarter, with global positioning systems, Internet connections, data recorders, and high-definition cameras. While automakers say they are only responding to consumer demands for more technology, the new technologies increase the number of people with access to this data. In 2014 a law was introduced in the United States that would require car owners to control the data collected on the in-car device called the event data recorder, commonly known as a black box. The legislation was spurred by the clash over the use of personal data by law enforcement agencies and insurance companies. seeking to use the information against the car owners. Smartphones are another common device that can capture vast amounts of informa tion. Who should have access to this information? In 2014. Apple and Google announced that they were creating a new operating system for smartphones that would prevent les enforcement agencies from retrieving the data stored on a locked phone, such as photos data to law enforcement agencies if their users had backed it up on the company's iCloud videos, and contacts. Apple acknowledged that it could still be required to hand over such servers. In addition, the police can access some iPhone data without Apple's help, because phone companies keep call logs, and Apple does not control data collected by third-party apps. But, can this information be accessed to better serve people?" Fan Zhang, the owner of Happy Child, a trendy Asian restaurant in downtown Toronto, knows that 170 of his customers went clubbing last month, 250 went to the Chapter 11 The Role of Technology 251 gym, and 216 came into town from nearby Yorkville, an upscale neighborhood. He accessed this information without his customers' knowledge or permission. As a cli- ent of Turnstyle Solutions, a Toronto company that has placed sensors in about 200 businesses within a one-mile radius of downtown Toronto, Zhang can track individ- uals as they move about in the city. These sensors can track individuals anywhere as long as their Wi-Fi is turned on. Zhang said that he wants the information to better serve his customers, with special promotions or changes in his restaurant's menu. Ethical challenges on how this information is collected and analyzed are becoming increasingly salient. Free Speech Issues Another important ethical issue arising through the advances in technology involves free speech. As discussed in Chapter 5. individuals have certain ethical rights, including the right to free speech. However, this right is not absolute and must be weighed against its consequences for the community. For example, an individual is not permitted to yell "fire" in a crowded movie theater, even though some might see this as an expression of free speech, since the potential harms caused by panicked moviegoers outweighs the right of free expression. The issue of free speech was at the core of Elonis v. United States, a case scheduled to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015. Anthony Elonis was accused of threatening his estranged wife based on a series of Facebook posts. Elonis likened the posts to Eminem's Grammy-winning songs "Kim" and "Kill You," which included threats of violence. He argued that he was only venting frustration after a run of personal setbacks, including the collapse of his marriage and loss of his job. He thought, like the artist Eminem, that he was just expressing his thoughts to a crowd, those accessing his Facebook page, as the singer had to his concert audience. The Justice Department argued that Elonis's posts indi- cated a "clearly sinister meaning of a threat" and were meant as expressions of his intent to harm his wife. The Supreme Court overturned Elonis' earlier conviction arguing that criminal threats cannot be based solely on whether a reasonable person would regard communications posted on social media or elsewhere as threatening." Other free speech issues have appeared recently, such as the Yelp, Inc. v. Hadeed Carpet Cleaning, Inc. case. Joe Hadeed, owner of a carpet cleaning company, argued that his busi- ness dropped 30 percent after two negative posts appeared on Yelp, a social media site where individuals can post reviews about businesses or read reviews posted by others. According to the Federal Trade Commission, they received more than 2,000 complaints about Yelp from 2008 through 2014. Most of the complaints were from small businesses, like Hadeed's, that claimed to have received unfair or fraudulent reviews. Others argued that Yelp had attempted to intimidate owners. "I was contacted by a Yelp salesperson to advertise, which I declined, and since have only had negative posts in their site," said a business owner from New Jersey." These issues raised the ethical and legal question whether anyone can post anything they want on a social media site, even if untrue or unsubstantiated and negative consequences occur due to the posting. In some cases it appears acceptable, but not in other situations. - th d se ty 1