Advancement in technology has compromised individual and company privacy to a large extent. As the world becomes more digitalized through technology, personal information can now be easily accessed and shared across borders without consent. This poses issues regarding privacy rights and protection of private information. Technology makes it difficult to exclude public access to personal details and enables monitoring of individuals through devices like CCTV. It also allows interception of private email communication and merging of personal databases without user knowledge. While technology provides benefits like efficient information processing, it also threatens privacy, autonomy and human dignity if not properly regulated.

1. Group 27
Advancement in technology has compromised individuals as well as companies privacy. To
what extend do you agree with this statement?
The advancement in technology has driven the world into the so called information age where
most of the business and economic activities are digitalised. As a consequence of the
advancement in technology the world is now open in the sense of communication and
internationalisation of data. That is trans border flow of information. This paradigm shift
brings new ethical and problems which are mainly related to issues such as the right of
access to information, the right of privacy which is threatened by the emphasis on the free
flow of information, and the protection of the economic interest of the owners of intellectual
property. Privacy can be defined as an individual condition of life characterized by exclusion
from publicity. Advancement in technology has made it sometimes impossible to exclude the
public from your own personal information.
Effects of technology on companies and individuals.
Although technology has a major impact on the gathering, storage, retrieval and
dissemination of information its main ethical impact relates to accessibility/inaccessibility
and the manipulation of information. By implication, it becomes easier to access a person's
private information by more people. On the other hand, a person can be excluded from
necessary information in electronic format by means of a variety of security measures such as
passwords.
 The electronic monitoring of people in the workplace through cctv
This relates to personal information as discussed earlier. This is done by so-called
electronic eyes. The justification by companies for the use of such technology is to
increase productivity. This results in some ethical problem pertaining to the use of
these technologies. Peoples' privacy in the workplace are threatened by these devices.
It can also lead to a feeling of fear and of all ways being watched.

2.  The interception and reading of E-mail messages.
This poses an ethical problem which relates to the private communication of an
individual. Companies justify the use of this technology stating that all the technology
including the computer and the email itself is the property that belong to the company
and they in a way check weather the email is used for private purposes or not . That’s
the main reason why companies like Cassava create email addresses for their
employees and do not allow private email addresses to be used. For example when I
was attached to Cassava smartech they created an email address for me
(edmondmugoni@cassavasmartech.co.zw.) This has given them power to intercept
all the massages sent to this email address. This implied that there was no privacy to
the use of this email address.
 The merging of databases which contains personal information.
This is also known as data banking. This refers to the integration of personal
information from a variety of databases into one central database. The problem here
does not in the first place arise from the integration of the information as such. The
main problems include the fact that the individual is not aware of personal
information being integrated into a central database, that the individual does not know
the purpose/s for which the integration is effected, or by whom or for whose benefit
the new database is constructed and whether the information is accurate.
 Hackers and crackers.
Another major threat to privacy is the raise of so called hackers and crackers which
break into computer systems. This is whereby a third party illegally enters into a
private computer systems to perform sordid activities without the consent of the
owners of the system be it companies or individuals. Some criminals often use this to
steal money by transferring the funds from the victim s account to their account

3. through the use of technology. This unethical activity has been accelerated by the
mantra that “information wants to be free”.
 loss of dignity and spontaneity
 threat to freedom and the right to privacy
 trade of person-related information.
 the use of personal information as a commodity
However Technology has come with;
 fast and speedy processing of information
 Information can be protected through strong passwords
 Efficient storage and retrieval of information.
6. CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that the use of technology in the processing of information,
poses important questions with regard to a person's right to privacy. This right is
directly linked to the right to freedom and human autonomy.
These problems relate mainly to the accessibility of information and the
manipulation of private information. Technology can be of adverse effect to the
privacy of both companies and individuals . To a greater extend technology
compromise the privacy of both the companies and individuals. However
technology is very useful in as much as fast and efficient processing of data is
concerned.