Emerging Technologies and Ethical Concerns - Essay Example

Home surveillance technologies and smart-home technologies involve paying close and sustained attention to another person. They are designed not only to pay attention to just anyone but also to some entity such as a particular person or group (Birchley et al., 2017). It may also involve watching, listening, or even smelling. These technologies help to deter criminals, aid the police, and check on the family (Al-Rodhan, 2015). However, these technologies have the potential for ethical abuse and conflicts that may affect one’s quality of life.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The ethics of home surveillance and smart-home technologies consider the moral aspect of how they are employed. Are they value-neutral activities that may be used for good or ill purposes? Who is entitled to carry out the surveillance and under which circumstances? Are their situations where one should never be under surveillance?

The potential platform for ethical abuse using such technology is on the threat to privacy, which is of value to any individual and the society at large (Birchley et al., 2017). The technology, therefore, raises various questions concerning privacy, what it is, its extent, and why it is valuable. Home surveillance technologies provide room for one to know more about the person or group being surveilled, jeopardizing their privacy, and hence increasing the chances of ethical abuse. Privacy affords one the space to be themselves and to define them by providing a degree of autonomy and protecting their dignity. Such technologies would, therefore, affect their quality of life as they would act in fear of the stranger viewing the surveillance tapes and what they might do if they knew their vulnerabilities. The same is the case on the ethics of smart homes, with additional concerns on privacy, social isolation, consent, and equity of access (Fieser & Dowden, 2020).

Trust and autonomy is other concerns resulting from the technology that may result in conflicts and affect one’s quality of life. A reflection of diminished trust in a relationship is the use of increased surveillance. The discovery of increased surveillance, especially when the party being surveilled is innocent may lower the levels of trust and enhance conflict (Fieser & Dowden, 2020). Home surveillance technologies also limit one’s opportunity to present oneself in a manner of their choosing. In this way, it limits one’s autonomy and impacts how they interact with the outside world. The surveilled people can become more predictable by acting in ways that do not merit disapproval from the surveillant (Al-Rodhan, 2015). Therefore, if surveillance aims to deter or control people, then the surveillance that the subject is aware of could be effective. However, if its purpose is to assess the character of people as expressed in integrity, then the surveillance will likely give room for ethical abuse, and conflicts which will affect one’s quality of life.

References

Al-Rodhan, N. (2015, March 13). The Many Ethical Implications of Emerging Technologies. Scientificamerican.com. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-many-ethical-implications-of-emerging-technologies/

Birchley, G. et al. (2017). Smart homes, private homes? An empirical study of technology researchers’ perceptions of ethical issues in developing smart-home health technologies. BMC Medical Ethics. https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12910-017-0183-z

Fieser, J. & Dowden, B. (2020). Surveillance Ethics. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://iep.utm.edu/surv-eth/