Unequal Access Around The World

As ICT has came along way and made an dramatic impact on our country other countries have not had such luxuries, there are still many countries that are in the dark ages of the world of technology. Even though due to satellite based internet virtually any country is available to access internet some just simply cannot afford to such as third world countries (e.g. Somalia, Burundi), others can but are restricted by their governments, North Korea only have a few hundred thousand citizens that have access to the internet (this means only 4% of the population have internet access) everything is government controlled which means social networking and sites such as blogs are not allowed. In Latin America, Cuba has the lowest ratio of computers and the lowest internet access, if citizens wanted to use PC's they would have to go to government controlled internet cafe's where all their activity is monitored and only government are allowed to upload to the internet.

Privacy of information

As technology has progressed so has the ways organisations store data containing peoples personal information, such organisations may include police stations, doctors, dentist, hospitals, schools, colleges, workplaces & your bank. All of these hold different pieces of your personal information depending on the specific organisation, for example police stations will hold information regarding to any criminal convictions you may have gained are within legal rights to pass that information onto third parties such as workplaces, this is usually through the process of an CBR check, however organisations such as your bank can not pass your information to any other company regarding to your bank details or personal details such as your name, address and contact information. To ensure that data is stored securely and the people have legal rights the data protection act 1998 states the organisations that hold such data cannot pass this on to any other company or organisation without your knowledge and in doing so will be breaking the law, you could also receive compensation if the data stored on you was lost or damaged.

Sustainability

Sustainability when involving IT has made major impacts for the earth and environment in tackling pollution and is improving every day, the main source of power before IT was involved was coal and oils which caused a lot of workers serious health problems and oil has often polluted the sea, however electricity is helping the world to go green is now heavily associated with “saving the planet”. An example would be the world now trying to use petrol less and less by using technology to make cars that are powered fully by electricity, also using solar powered panels and wind turbines as a natural resources, however the issue occurs as in the future the world will contain a lot more technology meaning a lot radio waves caused by wireless and phone signals, there has been reports of some people being hypersensitive to the electromagnetic radiation with symptoms such as nausea, exhaustion, headaches and even short-term memory loss.. could fewer generations be at risk?

Copyright & Legal Implications

With technology now being used to share media online there are many risk of the creators or the original owner products, designs etc. being taken and passed off as their own or for personal use without the owner’s permission, to protect us from that happening there is a law known as Copyright. When these laws have been breached you are then committing piracy, examples of piracy can be when you download songs from YouTube illegally, get products such as Microsoft office from torrent sites or download films that you have not paid for, there is a lot of piracy cases in the movie industry as people often bring a video camera to the cinema then illegally record the film and then sell copies, to prevent Copyright laws being breached and piracy being committed websites now are developing new ways to secure their products such as serial keys as now when you purchase products online such as adobe Photoshop CS4 you are required to enter a unique license code or when buying the cd version the license code is inside the CD case and can’t be used for any other version of the products other than that CD, there was also to other laws similar to Copyright but would tackle piracy more effectively known as SOPA & PIPA, however many websites fought back and the two laws caused to much controversy resulting in the laws being dismissed.

E-Commerce

The impact of ICT has also changed the way we buy and sell, the act of purchasing, selling and handling goods using electronic equipment & systems is known as E-commerce. This now means there had to imply new laws to ensure you are protected and have your rights, also try safe guard your money this is the Data Protection Act and the computer Misuses Act. Ecommerce have also affected businesses, there are massive savings to be made as the business does not need to worry about having an expensive shop premises which include the cost of insurance and electricity, also less staff are needed when it is an online business and customers from any part of the world can access and purchase your products. However online businesses can also be difficult to manage as you would need staff with certain expertise to be able to keep the website functioning and opens the door for online fraud to occur. But now you are relying fully on the internet you have to be aware the website may go down which would mean customers are unable to purchase that could potentially lose the company a lot of money. There are many pros and cons for the businesses in the world of ecommerce but you also have to take the customers themselves into consideration, now you don’t have a store which has to open and close the online business is open to shop at any time of the day, any day of the year. They also save money by not having to buy petrol to travel which tackles the rising cost of petrol itself, this means you get shop from the comfort of your own home and have access to shops that might not necessarily be within your area. Although you are restricted in some areas such as being able to physically check the quality of the product before purchasing but simply rely on pictures which could cause problems as receiving what you order, as the colour may be different to what you expected  or it may be slightly bigger or smaller then what you thought you ordered. It also adds to how ICT impacts society as this removes the social opportunities such as when friends go out for a shopping day.

Ebay is a site that wouldn't have been so successfully if it was not for the ability to Ecommerce.

How ICT has changed the world

Mobile Phones have changed the world on a wide spread scale,  74% of the world now own a mobile phone, being so popular you would think there is nothing but advantages and couldn’t possibly have a negative effect on changing the world. As they are now a essential part of life and being wireless and able to fit in your pocket you now never have to worry about missing important phone calls, but as this is true they are expensive and can be easily lost or damaged, as opposed to telephones that stay in one place. As technology has grown most mobiles now have a built-in camera allowing you to make video calls with friends and family, as this may seem like a good point it has effected the way we socialise, as we’d rather video call then meet up face to face.

Game Consoles have changed the way the world entertains themselves and is becoming the most time consuming piece of equipment used by youth (8 years old – 17 year old) it allows you to escape to a virtual world where anything becomes possible, when 20 years ago board games where the only entertainment available which needed a lot more imagination to enjoy,  so in terms of entertainment the visual graphics and performance of today’s game consoles give the ultimate experience allowing to escape reality and be virtually anything or anyone, however it has single handily ended socialising as we know it, as rather than going to the valley to play football the youth now prefer to stay in their rooms and play football on the games console.

Credit/Debit Cards have changed the way the world the way handles and stores money, in the early 1900's the thought of walking around with every penny you owned seemed preposterous, now thanks to technology that is possible and you only have to carry a plastic card that is able to fit into your pocket, each credit/debit card has its own 4 digit security pin that only the owner knows of which decreases the chance of money being stolen, however wherever there is a positive there is a negative, paying with credit/debit cards it is said you don't actually feel like your spending money which then can lead to buying more and more until you are in debt, also if someone learns of your security pin you can easily become a victim of fraud and even identity theft.

Potential Threats

There are many potential threats that lie within technology that come in many different forms, one of the most common threats are mostly found within e-mails that are made to look a legitimate companies in hopes to gain access to your personal information such as bank details, this is known as Phishing. Recently there was an article on the BBC news website on which two men were remanded for masquerading as a major bank company urging students on government loans to provide their banking details through e-mails, in result gaining £1m in total. It is not only career criminals who are potential threats in the world of technology, if you own a mobile phone that is compatible with blue-tooth and it is enabled anyone around you is able to hack into your files and freely browse, edit and gain possession them, such mobile applications such as Super Bluetooth 3.0 & Blue Sniffer are free to download and make hacking as easy as pressing a button, this is however illegal and known as Phone Hacking.  Phone Hacking has recently shot to fame and has made many appearances in the media, as increasingly more celebrities are phone hacked surprisingly by newspapers and gossip columnist where they obtained text messages, phone calls, photos & videos.