Reflection #1
Blog: TechCrunch
Introduction
The chosen article for this reflection comes from the blog TechCrunch and is called “Data Privacy Just Makes Good Business Sense”. This article refers to the popular growing trend which is the use of Big Data. Big Data is referred to as, “The large volume of data which is collected and stored by organizations for further analysis for better strategic business decisions.” (SAS) This definition has shifted quite a bit over the years as organizations are producing all kinds of new innovations with all this data. This article touches on the fact that businesses may be taking advantage of consumers by taking large amounts of data and creating the impression that its okay because consumers will receive
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One must also understand that the organizations which are participating in the use of Big Data, currently do not have secure policies in place to ensure the correct use of data. These policies would regulate the privacy concerns as well as the moral context for which this data is being used. This would refer to for example, organizations using the data for healthcare innovations rather than marketing achievements. …show more content…
The article reflects on the issues relating gender bias in the current technology industry. The article reflects on the issues revolving around the challenges of hiring women and keeping women in the technology industry. Even Facebook is working towards training their employees to maintain diversity and to work against the “unconscious bias” that exists. (Gino, 2015) The article touches on the gender diversity struggle of how women are leaving the technology industry because they feel unfulfilled and unsupported. (Cooper, 2015) It is also pointed out that once women do leave the technology industry they are not coming back. (Synder, 2014) This raises many ethical concerns as women should be treated equal in all fields of work and they should not be given less opportunities strictly due to their
While this book by the COO of Facebook is ostensibly about women in the workplace, it's really about subconscious cognitive biases. A majority of Americans may consider women and men to be equal on the surface, but the fact that women still lag significantly behind men in both pay and leadership positions points to the fact that there is something else going on.
Jerrie Cobb is a brave woman who dreams of becoming an astronaut. She quit her job to participate in astronaut tests in order to achieve her dream. It is hard for a woman pilot to find a job in the male dominated field of aviation and, before taking the test, she was told that women were not allowed take it. With the development of society, men and women should be gradually become equal because we are in a society with laws of equality. However, in some places, women are still seen as inferior. One of the most obvious ways to prove this, is how hard it can be to find a job. Some companies prefer male employees and even though gender discrimination in hiring is illegal, businesses find ways to work around it. Both Stefan Eriksson and Michael Firth argue, “Women may get fewer firm contacts”(Eriksson, and et. all 307, Firth 891). Sometimes, they consider the gender, not the abilities. According to Garber, the author of “Sex bias in hiring”, “requirement of skills that are not evidenced in the application materials is common”(Garber, 308). This is an unfair situation that leads to the unequal status of men and women that needs to be changed. Women should get more opportunities to find a job because they possess qualities that could be beneficial to companies, such as powerful communication, organizational skills and good focus. Most women even can balance the relationship between family and work.
First, our company should understand the importance of gender diversity. In the first article “Why Workplace Gender Diversity Matters”, Anne Marsan pointed out directly that most tech companies lack of gender diversity. Then she explained several reasons why gender diversity matters to companies. Using logos, she mentioned that women in U.S. purchased 50 percent of computers, 50 percent of cars and 80 percent of consumer goods. In other words, organizations with gender diversity are better to connect with
The personal connection Americans have with their phones, tablets, and computers; and the rising popularity of online shopping and social websites due to the massive influence the social media has on Americans, it is clear why this generation is called the Information Age, also known as Digital Age. With the Internet being a huge part of our lives, more and more personal data is being made available, because of our ever-increasing dependence and use of the Internet on our phones, tablets, and computers. Some corporations such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook; governments, and other third parties have been tracking our internet use and acquiring data in order to provide personalized services and advertisements for consumers. Many American such as Nicholas Carr who wrote the article “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty, With Real Dangers,” Anil Dagar who wrote the article “Internet, Economy and Privacy,” and Grace Nasri who wrote the article “Why Consumers are Increasingly Willing to Trade Data for Personalization,” believe that the continuing loss of personal privacy may lead us as a society to devalue the concept of privacy and see privacy as outdated and unimportant. Privacy is dead and corporations, governments, and third parties murdered it for their personal gain not for the interest of the public as they claim. There are more disadvantages than advantages on letting corporations, governments, and third parties track and acquire data to personalized services and advertisements for us.
In a world of Facebook and LinkedIn and YouTube and OKCupid and Google and IPhones and Ipads and Kindles and all the other hundreds of sites and devices designed to garner personal information, data-mine your information, to better advertise, sell, inform, and connect you with the people or the places that you want to experience. The wonderful world of the Internet helps connect millions of people with millions of other people in milliseconds all day, every day. All the swapping and sharing of information create a world of transparency, deception, fraud, and identity confusion. Avatars, aliases, and profiles are the ways most people advertise their goods and services and themselves. With this consideration an erosion of privacy has changed our culture in ways that some predicted years ago and some that are new to our era. This paper will explore some primary regarding how technology causes the changes in privacy and what are the effects brought on by these changes.
Ethical issues are being raised due to the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields and stereotype threats arises which are relevant to evaluating performance. A research report by Hills shows that’s stereotype threat is one compelling explanation for why women remain underrepresented in STEM fields” (Hills, Para. 2). People have implicit biases and they unconsciously believe that women cannot do better in math and science as they underestimate women’s capabilities. People’s negative stereotypes continue to influence their views about women in technology fields. Romano (2016) wrote, “There are several forms of sexism present in the academic setting, such as considering women less competent in mathematics than their male counterparts or considering men lower than their female counterparts in languages (Romano, para. 2). Underrepresentation of women in technology is a complex issue as male colleagues undervalue women, thinking they cannot be good in math and technology which lowers women’s aspirations. According to the researchers at Pew Research Center, K. Parker & C. Funk, a survey conducted in July and August (2017) women in the United States believe gender discrimination is a big problem in tech industries. The survey goes on to state, “The survey comes amid public debate about
Women face discrimination in the workplace. Discrimination is defined as a behavioral activity is exhibited in how people treat members of other groups and in the decisions they make about others. In chapter 3 Race and Ethnicity in the United States discusses how discrimination not only effects positions in companies it also affects pay rates. Income is drastically different when it comes to men and women and only gets worse for women who are minorities. These women have broken through the glass ceiling in their corporations. “In 1991 the Glass Ceiling Commission was formed to help women and minorities, fight their derrepresentation in the workplace”. With this article and with research that is being done women are starting to break the glass ceiling that is holding them down. Women account for only 2.2% of Fortune 500 companies CEO roles. The number is shockingly low, less than 15 companies have women CEO’s in the 500 companies we look at that best fit our country’s
In this week’s engineering community of practice, we had the same attendance of people: David, Shoun, Claire, Esther, and myself. Since we already know each other, there was no need for introductions again, so we hopped right into what we had prepared for this week. We were to watch one Ted Talk about the concept of inspiring the next generation of female engineers then read several online articles concerning racism and sexism in the technology industry, and how they relate to the shortcomings of our field.
The world erupted in outrage following revelations by Edward Snowden regarding the extent of surveillance perform by the National Security Agency. Privacy becomes one of the hottest topic of 2013 and was chosen by the world’s most popular online dictionary, Dictionary.com, as the Word of the Year. However, the government is not the only one that conduct data gathering and surveillance. Employers often monitor their employees, and businesses collect data on theirs customer. The morality of these practices is a topic that generates heated debate.
As society has progressed, there have been many new innovative and unbelievable developments in almost all aspects of life that have ultimately created an impact. More specifically, advancements in technology have rather had a much larger and intense impact on society as it continues to grow. Technology has allowed for many great and useful applications that has made life much easier and convenient. However, many aspects of technology have given a rise to a number of social and ethical issues, causing numerous debates and concerns. One of the more prominent concerns deals with the issue of privacy rights.
Women have to face problems because of their gender. In the article “Sexism a problem in Silicon Valley, critics says,” LA Times, October 24, 2013, Jessica Guynn mentions that discrimination against women exists in the technology companies because of their gender. Some women that work at tech companies have been sexually threatened and death threats. Some technology companies do not have any senior women because women are not as well promoted as men are. Many women decide not to study to become engineers as result women are not as prominent in the technology workplace. Technology companies have problems with gender.
For many decades, women have faced inequalities in the workforce. At one point, they were not allowed to work at all. Although women's rights have improved and are now able to work alongside men, they are still treated unfairly. According to the 2012 U.S. Census, women’s earnings were “76.5 percent of men’s” (1). In 2012, men, on average, earned $47,398 and women earned only $35,791. This is when comparing employees where both gender spend the same amount of time working. Not only do women encounter unfairness in work pay, they also face a “glass ceiling” on a promotional basis. This glass ceiling is a “promotion barrier that prevents woman’s upward ability” (2). For example, if a woman is able to enter a job traditionally for men, she will still not receive the same pay or experience the same increase in occupational ability. Gender typing plays a huge role in the workplace. It is the idea that women tend to hold jobs that are low paid with low status. Women are not highly considered in leadership positions because of social construction of gender. Society has given women the role of “caretakers” and sensitive individuals. Therefore, women are not depicted as authoritative figures, which is apparent with the absence of women in leadership roles in companies. Furthermore, sex segregation leads to occupations with either the emphasis of women in a certain job or men in a certain job. In 2009, occupations with the highest proportion of women included “secretary, child care worker, hair dresser, cashier, bookkeeper, etc.” (3). Male workers typically held job positions as construction workers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, etc. (3). Sex segregation represents inequality because the gender composition for these jobs depends on what ...
However, the same personal data is being compromised and eroding privacy. Companies have been getting bolder in their attempts to gather, share and sell data. The latest trend is outsourcing data to third party companies for data processing, which can be done at a lower cost. One of the main problems with this approach is that a lot of very sensitive data is being sent, which could be harmful in the wrong hands. Most companies require their customers to "opt-out" to prevent their data from being shared with a company's affiliates. This process requires the customer to explicitly tell the company not to share their data, which is usually in the form of a web site or a survey sent in the mail. These surveys are often thrown away by consumers, so they don't even realize that they're giving the companies a green light to sell and share their data.
It can be concluded that women are treated in terms of stereotyped impressions of being the lowest class and greater evidence can be found that there are large disparities between the women and the men 's class. It can be seen that women are more likely to play casual roles as they are most likely to take seasonal and part time work so that they can work according to their needs. They are hampered from progressing upward into the organizations as they face problems like lack of health insurance, sexual harassments, lower wage rates, gender biases and attitudes of negative behavior. However, this wouldn’t have hampered the participation of the women in the work force and they continue to increase their efforts which is highly evident in the occupational and job ratios of females in the industry.
Foxman, E. R., & Kilcoyne, P. (n.d.). Information technology, marketing practice, and consumer privacy: ethical issues. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 12(1), 106-119.