CHAPTER 12 26/11/11

Technology, Organizations, and Society

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Copyright 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Technology Defined
Technology referring to the practical applications of science and knowledge to commercial and organizational activities

Change and more change is the dominant feature of technology

Potential for future shock, in which change comes so fast and furiously that it approaches the limits of human tolerance and people lose their ability to cope with it successfully

Technology is self-reinforcing Acts as a multiplier to encourage its own faster development

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Fueling Technological Growth

Government:
Government investment has helped launch many new technologies, including the Internet, and these trends continue For 2010 the U.S. federal government pledged $147.6 billion to support technological innovation in the areas of basic sciences, biomedical and health research, and hi-tech safety and security.

Private investment:
Venture capitalists are investors who provide capital to start-up companies that do not have access to public funding They have long targeted technological innovation, with the aim of making outsized returns

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Fueling Technological Growth

Business investment:
Business firms have invested directly in technology through their research and development (R & D) operations. These investments have often benefited the business, as well as produced innovations that have moved their industries forward

The combination of government, private investor, and business investment in technology has continued to drive innovation forward. But, ultimately, technology continues to evolve because of peoples insatiable desire for it.
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Technology as a Powerful Force in Business

The Internet
One of the most visible and widely used technological innovations over the past decade. Global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels linking individuals and organizations In 2008, China surpassed the United States with the most Internet users by country While opportunities to use the Internet are growing quickly, some limitations have appeared, such as in China when the government attempted to convert all identification records to their digital database systems

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Figure 12.2

Top 20 Internet Users by Country (2008)

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Technology as a Powerful Force in Business

E-business
Consists of buying and selling goods and services between businesses, organizations, and individuals electronically via Internet-based systems During the past few years, e-business revenue has increased at a faster pace than that of traditional, or non-electronic, business According to a Nielsen Global Online Survey, more than 875 million people had shopped online by 2008 eBay, Amazon.com etc.

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Technology as a Powerful Force in Business

M-Commerce
Commerce conducted via mobile or cell phones, provides consumers with an electronic wallet when using their mobile phones By the mid-2000s, the trend toward m-commerce via mobile or cell phones had quickly spread across Europe and Asia Critics predicted more unwanted and unsolicited mobile text messages and incidents of malware and spyware

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Social Networking

A system using technology to enable people to connect, explore interests, and share activities around the world Examples of the more popular social networking sites on the Internet include Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Twitter
Each of these popular social networking Internet sites have their ethical challenges

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Blogs and Vlogs

Blogs web based journals or logs maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions, or accounts of events
Over 184 million blogs tracked by Technorati, Inc. in 2008 95 percent of the top 100 U.S. newspapers have reporter blogs Ethical questions about blogs emerged For example, according to a Los Angeles Times report, thousands of bloggers were being paid by marketing firms to promote or attack various products on the market

New generation of blogs, called vlogs, or video Web logs appeared in mid-2000s
All that was needed was access to a digital camera that could capture moving images and high-speed Internet access

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Threats from Technology Spam and Unsolicited Commercial E-mail

Spam refers to unsolicited commercial e-mails (UCE or junk e-mails) sent in bulk to valid e-mail accounts
Has become big business and big headache for business

Organizations and individuals have adopted use of spam blockers, but sometimes difficult to sort out bad emails
Government has attempted to monitor, control and prosecute spammers using Internet for illegal activity U.K. and Italy also has anti-spam legislation

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Threats from Technology Phishing

Practice of duping computer users into revealing their passwords or other private data under false pretenses
The Anti-Phishing Working Group, a U.S. industry association, reported in 2008 an 827 percent increase in password stealing, from 3,362 cases in January 2008 to 31,173 cases in December 2008 In 2009, about 1 in 300 e-mails contained some form of a phishing attack, an increase of more than 30 percent from the previous year

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Threats from Technology Pharming

Domain name system (PNS) poisoning, is a hacking technique that redirects a users computer from a legitimate Web site to another site by altering the users computer or router
Pharming attacks were first reported in the 1990s, but e-mail and wireless computing have provided hackers and criminals with many more opportunities
All the user has to do is click the links or view the message to activate the pharming attack on their computer or router

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Threats from Technology Internet Censorship

Many people believe that information on the Internet should be universally accessible. Some people believe that restrictions should be placed on some categories of information
Some countries have imposed censorship on broad categories of online information The Chinese government operates one of the most sophisticated systems of Internet censorship in the world It requires all China-based Web sites and blogs to register with the government and blocks access to many kinds of information, including material critical of the government

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Socially Beneficial Uses of Technology

Technology and Education
Enables students in poor and remote communities to access the worlds best libraries, instructors, and courses available through the Internet Technology has brought education online By 2007,more than 3.9 million post-secondary students were taking at leas one online course

Medical Information via the Internet

By 2009, the Internet had become the primary source for health information for 70 percent of Americans Another emerging issue focused on digital medical records, or how a patients medical records should be stored and linked to other health care providers

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The Digital Divide

Gap between those that have technology and those that do not Recently, some evidence has suggested that the digital divide in the United States is becoming smaller

Progress in narrowing the digital divide in developing countries has been slower, but still evident
Programs have been developed to narrow the global digital divide University of Michigan and Google One Laptop per Child (OLPC)

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CHAPTER 13 26/11/11

Managing Technology and Innovation

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Copyright 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Protecting Privacy

The potential for breaches of privacy are everywhere Employees have access to new technologies at work and companies may be monitoring usage, raising employee concerns about invasions of privacy
Businesses have adopted privacy policies to explain what use of the companys technology is permissible and how it will monitor employee activities

More aggressive efforts by cyber criminals resulted in a rise of attacks on information security Recent technological advancements have increased the number of ways that privacy violations may occur
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Managing the Protection of Privacy

Platform for Privacy Preference Project (P3P) provides users with software that enables them to define what information they are willing to divulge on the Internet Since 2008, representatives from the United States and 27 European countries have gathered annually for Data Privacy Day The event, which brings together privacy professionals, government leaders, academics and students, and business executives, was designed to raise awareness and generate discussion about data privacy practices and rights
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Managing the Protection of Privacy

The Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) requires commercial Web sites to collect a verifiable form of consent from the parent or guardian of any user below the age of 13

It will be difficult to achieve international government control of privacy, especially as it pertains to the Internet The management of privacy may need too come from the Internet companies themselves

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Management of Information Security

Businesses now acutely aware of maintaining information security
How to best manage information security remains a major challenge for businesses

Theose responsible for creating and spreading computer zombies, viruses, and worms are called a computer hackers Although businesses are spending millions of dollars to protect the information they sore from hackers and other criminals, some organizations have discovered that their own employees can be their worst security leak

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Business Response to Information Security Invasions

Businesses have invested more resources in protecting their information.

Companies now using honeypots, a system used by security professionals to lure hackers to a fabricated website that can track all their movements

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Chief Information Officer (CIO)

Responsible for managing technology, including its many security issues. CIOs must increasingly see the big corporate picture Part of job is enabling or driving business innovation through use of technology

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Internet Pornography

Is one of the most active and lucrative areas of e-commerce

Estimates claimed that there were more than 4 million pornography Web sites, nearly 400 million Web pages, and approximately 2.5 billion daily pornography emails worldwide

Some countries aggressively monitor sites for objectionable material Companies such as Verizon, Sprint, and Time Warner Cable have begun to help parents control their children's access to pornography by agreeing to block access to Internet bulletin boards and Web sites nationwide that disseminate child pornography
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Protecting Intellectual Property

Intellectual property The ideas, concepts, and other symbolic creations of the human mind
Protected in U.S. by copyright, patent and trademark laws

Theft of intellectual property, artistic performance, or copyrighted material exploded with the entrance of the Internet and global connectivity Whether it is computer-based software, musical recordings, video movie productions, or electronic versions of books, piracy is on the rise and victims are retaliating turning to governments for enforcement and protection of their rights, or seeking collaborative solutions to this ethical challenge

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Government and Industry Efforts to Combat Piracy

Companies have sought assistance on the issue of software piracy from governmental agencies and the courts both inside and outside the United States Another approach businesses have tried to protect music copyrights involves streaming

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Managing Scientific Breakthroughs

Nanotechnology
The application of engineering to create materials on a molecular or atomic scale By 2008, almost 800 products that used some form of nanotechnology were on the market So far, at least, the U.S. government has not regulated the use of nanomaterials and nanoparticles in consumer products

Human genome
When Celera Genomics Group announced that it completed the first sequencing of human DNA makeup, the achievement was hailed as the most significant scientific breakthrough since landing on the moon A new era of medicine, as well as great opportunity for biotechnology companies, appeared to be born with the decoding of the human genome

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Managing Scientific Breakthroughs

Biotechnology and Stem Cell Research
Tissue engineering is the growth of tissue in a laboratory dish for experimental research Stem-cell research is research on nonspecialized cells that have the capacity to self-renew and to differentiate into more mature cells

Cloning
Clearly stem cell research leading to the possibility of human cloning and the human consumption of food cloned from animals are important issues and will likely increase in prominence in the near future

Bioterrorism
Terrorist groups see the use of deadly bioengineered diseases and poisons, such as smallpox, anthrax, and bubonic plague, as effective tools

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Managing Scientific Breakthroughs

Genetically engineered foods
Genetic engineering is altering the natural makeup of a living organism, allowing scientists to insert any gene in to a plant
Significant economic implications for agricultural industry

Genetically modified foods is food processed from genetically engineered crops

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