Computers Reshaping Society :: Technology Computers Essays

Computers Reshaping SocietyThe emergence of computers in our society as a means of the throng and processing of training for the select of it has played a major role in reshaping the society it exists in. After the introduction of computers as a business, and later personal, tool, and the large-scale assimilation of such for twain purposes, the computer proceeded to shape our society by its own needs. This reshaping took the form suiting all business and personal feel of humans around the dim-witted component of the computer -- information. Information has become the one most important entity in our lives, far more important than most other needs, thanks to the efforts of gathering and organizing the vast amount of information that was brought about by the introduction of computers. The next obvious issue is privacy. Privacy is by definition the withholding of certain information which is of some importance to the group or individual exercising this right. It has now become ho wever an active battle with the computers seeking to organize and index all aspects of our life, while we cling to the last bits of this information, to privacy, to the frontier of battle over information. It is not surprising that privacy has become the central issue in todays digital age. The following is an excerpt from the US government report Cryptographys Role in Securing the Information Society by the issue Research Council. Todays information age requires U.S. businesses to competeon a worldwide basis, sharing sensitive information withappropriate parties while protecting that information againstcompetitors, vandals, suppliers, customers, and exoticgovernments. Private law-abiding citizens dislikethe ease with which personal telephone calls can be tapped,especially those carried on cellular or cordless telephones.Elements of the U.S. civilian infrastructure such as thebanking system, the electric power grid, the public switchedtelecommunications network, and the air traff ic control systemare central to so many dimensions of modern life thatprotecting these elements must have a high priority. Thefederal government has an important stake in assuring that itsimportant and sensitive political, economic, law enforcement,and armed forces information, both classified and unclassified, isprotected from foreign governments or other parties whoseinterests are hostile to those of the United States.As you can see, the federal government is showing neat concern over the misuse of information which it hopes to try to protect by enforcing stricter guidelines on the respect of privacy (by methods of encryption). This is a clear reflection of the cultural expectation that was developed by the presence of computers.