Advancements in communications, computing, and media technologies have given rise to troubling ethical challenges for practitioners, professionals, media personalities in terms of maintaining privacy. In fact, the paradigm shift has ushered an era where knowledge workers have increased but with renewed judicial and ethical problems related to issues like access to information, protection of rights of privacy, and protection of intellectual property. Currently, every ethical question is related to the right of privacy especially when it is threated by existing information propagation capabilities. Most key issues stem from the nature of information as it is used to achieve particular outcomes.
According to Patterson & Wilkins (2013, p.23), it has been realized that laws are not being followed at the same phase as development of digital technologies hence the reason for instituting policies which adapt to situational dynamics. From the perspective of media practice, industries have become more socialized, pervasive, and powerful where information is constantly becoming globalized despite their scope. In fact, Horner (2014) outlines that”…media has resolved itself in a state of declined standards, biasness, inaccuracies, invasion of privacy, and manipulation.”(p.4) Therefore, the ethical concerns are specific to philosophical study and professional practice of morality in the context of protecting privacy of information.
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Among the crucial ethical concerns is differentiation of morality and legality of information being disseminated. It is legal to access information but it is important to distinguish moral behavior in order to address issues of privacy in current digital age. For instance, filming somebody on the street without consent may not be illegal; however, is not moral to disseminate this information to expose personal data or use it to gain mileage. The problem is formulating moral rules and enact them to ensure that media professionals do not violate privacy laws even if access to information does not violate any legal instruments.
Methods of information access have also founded the need for examining consequent ethical considerations and concerns in the current digital age. The nature of methods for obtaining information have raised concerns especially due to existence of miniaturized recording devices usable in all situations with or without consent. This is of concern particularly when information is obtained without consent from the people it concerns. Most of the time, people find their information over news and other forms of journalistic literatures having no knowledge of engaging in such activities or giving consent to news authors.
Developments in communication technologies have historical perceptions in relation to ethical value systems forcing governing agencies to redefine existing legal frameworks. The society has been faced with notions that technologies are neutral but their fundamental designs have caused pertinent ethical concerns. Media technologies are used to reproduce information at levels which can be manipulated to fit specific circumstances. Therefore, it is a question of defining what is wrong or right and implementing articulated mechanisms to morally manage implications for individuals when their information is used to suffice media objectives. Without such ethical concerns, it is possible to understand ethical concerns and their implications in the current era of fast information gathering and propagation.
Today, there are other privacy concerns questioning management of privacy when automatic systems have been designed to collect personal data and profile individuals to predict next course of action. Technologies are being used conduct surveillance and manipulate masses through profiling of the most private details of target individuals. Such levels of information gathering, analysis, and profiling has generated ethical concerns since it indicates violation of individual privacy when personal details are collected and used for alternate purposes without consent from their owners. For instance, digital platforms like social media are used to collect personal information but it becomes an ethical concern when data is used to profile people for commercial purposes.
The digital age has also provided platforms for integration of data files into centralized databases with enormous ethical implications. The information provides powerful knowledge to make strategic decisions which are helpful to the society. On the other hand, the same information provides avenues for privacy abuses and other forms of abuse justifying the rationale for current resistance on governments and related agencies to implement centralized databanks. Ethical principles dictate that misuse or abuse of information is unethical and should be avoided since personal information in central databases raise concerns.
In addition, current digital era has provide capabilities to manipulate information and present it in ways that satisfy certain objectives. Misinformation is used to foul people and the only way of achieving this objective is using private information to prove authenticity of what is being said. As indicated by Horner (2014, p.13) and Zelezny (2010, p.98), the digital age has come up with genuine dilemmas where moral judgments have to be made irrespective of having media freedoms as key in liberal democratic societies. Despite these freedoms, ethical and moral decisions are required to ensure privacy concerns are addressed accordingly.
In summary, ethics in the digital age are challenging due to inability of laws and professional practice to move in synch with technological advancements. Information access has become global which is good in some aspects, and detrimental in others. In this case, the ethical concerns are about access to information, usage of personal data, emergence of technologies for mass surveillance with personal profiling, and existence of centralized databases where information can be abused or misused with malicious intent. Most ethical concerns and considerations are based on the aforementioned elements hence the need to formulate moral regulations to govern collection, handling, and information dissemination.
- Horner, D. S. (2014). Understanding Media Ethics. New york: Sage Pubns Ltd.
- Patterson, P., & Wilkins, L. (2013). Media Ethics: Issues and Cases. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
- Zelezny, J. D. (2010). Communications Law: Liberties, Restraints, and the Modern Media . Canada: Wadsworth Publishing.
