The corporate social responsibility movement was started in 1970 and since then a lot of work has gone into making it a fundamental part of the technology industry. This movement has made technology companies much more aware of the impacts that their products and businesses are having on society. The video below does a great job of explaining how the movement came about and the far reaching impacts that it has had on society.
It is “based on the general idea that those with great power have great responsibility, and many starting calling for the business world to be more proactive in (1) ceasing to cause societal problems and (2) starting to participate in solving societal problem” (Barnett). The Corporate Social Responsibility movement has improved the working conditions, environmental impacts, and globalization concerns within the business world, but throughout its history it has had its fair share of problems as well.
As technology has advanced over the years and become a more prevalent aspect of society, so have the privacy concerns that are associated with it. Every day, individuals around the world produce large amounts of data and personally identifiable information through their online interactions with technology businesses. Protecting this data has become one of the biggest problems plaguing technology companies today because they are constantly faced with new threats. Additionally the public is concerned about how the data is being used and the impact that tracking all these personal metrics has on society. According to a report produced by Roger Clarke, “Information privacy has been under increasing threat as a result of the rapid replacement of expensive physical surveillance by ‘dataveillance’: the systematic use of personal data systems in the investigation or monitoring of people’s actions or communications” (Clarke). The public is concerned because they are relatively unaware about the ways that technology companies are using their data. These problems are not new to the technology industry, but as data industry continues to make technological advances it is critical that they begin to address these privacy concerns and focus on the CSR related to data and online privacy.
While technological advances have had a tremendous impact on the world it is important to also keep in mind the negative effects that they have had on society so that they can be addressed. Throughout the history of the technology industry a number of issues have come about relating to the impact that technology has on privacy and the environment. The history of these issues is important to understand so that the technology industry can learn from the past and continue to focus their CSR efforts on improving society while making technological advances.
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