 The information society
I believe the impact of ICT has gone much deeper than just simply affecting our lives on the surface. The impact is affecting the lives of more and more people everyday and the Internet is being embraced by almost everyone who comes into contact with it.
Civil rights and legislation has also been affected by ICT. For example, the government recently introduced a very controversial bill: biometric identity cards. The government believes that these cards will help deter identity theft and in the process help tackle fraud and illegal immigration. They also say that it will help the security services in the wake of the 7/7 terrorist attacks. However the former head of M15, Dame Stella Rimington, has called the government’s proposal "absolutely useless".
Public security is currently a very big issue in politics and it demonstrates how ICT has affected the very roots of society. People are concerned about the creation of a national database of personal information as part of the national ID cards programme, and the implications this could have for individual privacy. This domestic policy has many critics, including the London School of Economics: a report by them called the governments plans a "technically incompetent piece of work".
People are generally worried about the reliability and security of ICT in general, especially as a lot of personal information is being stored in a digital format. There is already legislation in place (the Data Protection Act and the Computer Misuse Act for example) but there are still areas of misuse that are not currently covered by law. However, people (including some peers at the House of Lords) are worried about new legislation fundamentally changing the relationship between citizens and the state. “What has happened to free speech?” some cry.
Sadly the danger of individuals asserting their rights to ‘free speech’ is shown by web sites that have been setup to promote terrorism or racist views. The internet can be a great tool for many criminals who want to organise and conduct criminal activities. ICT has made great improvements to crime prevention so it’s not all good news for criminals! Databases and police networks have been setup and developed, helping detectives frustrate individuals and groups of people who are set on breaking the law.
Information communication technology has affected all of us in the developed world, directly or indirectly. We are all living in an ‘information society' where the internet is a highly valuable resource which should, in my opinion, be regulated more rigorously. As the digital revolution continues, the internet will also continue to grow and expand, creating new opportunities for more and more people and with the potential to improve the quality of life, if rightly used.
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