Digital Divide: Donation

Countries with lots of money try loads to donate money to less fortunate countries. One way is through Red Nose Day. This is when people buy red noses and the money goes straight to charity. Also the BBC have funny programmes on etc which encourages people to watch the TV and the money goes to charity.

Another way of raising money is through the "Feed the world" christmas song. Through a sympathetic video sung by popular modern artists, viewers evoke sympathy for the poverty in other less economically developed countries. Therefore people buy the single and the money goes to them for help to get out of their situation. The problem with this is that it has been going on for years with apparently no result. It seems that people buy the single only because it sounds good and they don't donate any extra money to the cause.

Also, aid is given to these countries. This is where voluntarily, MEDC's donate money to poorer countries. The money can be used to develop the country and prevent them from disasters that they get.

Computer aid international is a company which aims to reduce poverty in some countries using IT. They provide high quality, refurbished computers which these countries can use. This gives them access to the internet which, in turn, bridges the digital divide. It claims to have provided over 150,000 PCs to where they are most needed in more than 100 countries across Africa and South America, making them the world's largest and most experienced ICT for Development provider.

Digital Divide: The UK

Within the UK there are differences in how computers and technology are used. The differences can be categorized into:

• Age
• Social Lifestyle
• Location
• Education

Age is an imortant difference. Younger people are educated with computers from a very early age and they can take further technological education at university if they want. Whereas older people are used to doing tasks the old fashioned way which doesn't involve the use of a computer. According to government statistics, 95% of teenagers have used the internet in the last 3 months but only 30% of 65+ year olds used the internet in the past 3 months.

However social lifestyle is an important factor because those who are upper classed have more money to spend on computers which is a luxury. To some people in highly populated areas, £500 for a computer is a lot of money.

Digital Divide: Bridging

The world is going through an ICT revolution, a revolution that has enormous social and economic consequences for the developed and less developed countries of the world. A huge difference already exists between the developed countries in terms of access to ICTs (this includes radio, computers, TV and mobile phones).

In parts of the developing world, less than 1 in every 1,000 people have access to a computer compared to nearly 600 in every 1,000 in the developed world. For this reason, CNET Networks International Media has partnered with UK charity Computer Aid International, to undertake the effort of bridging the digital divide between the developed world and the developing world.

More than 80% of people in the world have never even heard a dial tone, let alone surfed the Web. And the gap between the information haves and have-nots is widening.
In a speech in Switzerland, UN Secretary General Kofi Anan warned of the danger of excluding the world's poor from the information revolution. "People lack many things: jobs, shelter, food, health care and drinkable water. Today, being cut off from basic telecommunications services is a hardship almost as acute as these other deprivations, and may indeed reduce the chances of finding remedies to them," he said. Intel chairman Craig Barrett says "We have a saying in our company: PCs aren't magic, teachers are magic."

Communication in the Information Age

Communication throughout the information age has become much better. Now it is easier to communicate with other people. Communications have changed from letters through to instant messaging, below is a timeline of all the important dates regarding improvements in communicating in the information age.

1836 - First working telegraph to use morse code.
1843 - First ever fax machine invented.
1876 - First telephone invented.
1895 - First radio signal sent.
1929 - First demonstration of television.
1956 - First mobile phone invented.
1971 - First use of Email.
1982 - First ever use of VOIP.
1992 - First SMS message sent.
1994 - Bluetooth invented.
1995 - MSN invented with the release of Windows 95
1995 - Company called WELL, which is the first social networking site.
2004 - Facebook was invented.
2005 - Skype was invented.

Some of the above inventions have stood the test of time whereas others haven't.

Computer Use policy

Different servers have different policies regarding what people can do on computer's in the workplace and they each have a set amount of rules stating what users can and cannot do. Here is some of rules that could be used by a school or a company to make sure that they keep on task for their work:

• No social networking or video streaming sites. Searches are filtered on certain things. There should be a web blocker on IPlayer, Youtube and Pornography.
• No installation of software - Server technitions must intall programs that are needed. No downloads of software from websites like Microsoft.
• Email filtering to recognise offensive or offencive or inappropriate words. Only Accesible to Email others on the system.
• Must contact member of staff to get permission to use USB devices.
• Every Username must have a password that contains at least 6 characters which needs to be renewed at least every 6 weeks.
• Each individual must use their own user account. People are responsible for any actions on their account. People are expected to not share user identity.
• People should not attempt to access material that they do not have permission to access.
• Do not alter data or change any programs which you do not have the right to alter.
• Consequences such as banning for misuse of the systems.
• Do not connect to any other server or network device that operates on a wireless frequency without permission.
• Do not use Email and the internet to send offensive messages.
• No use of disk drives unless it is used for appropriate school work.

Civil Rights

The civil rights act means that people have rights that protect them from the government and state power and assure the ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state. The data protection act was introduced in 1998 and was passed by Parliament to control the way information is handled and to give legal rights to people who have information stored about them. It takes place in other countries as well as the UK. Businesses, organisations and the government began using computers to store information about their customers, clients and staff in databases towards the second half of the 20th century. For example:

• Names
• Addresses
• Contact information
• Employment history
• Medical conditions
• Convictions
• Credit history

With more and more organisations using computers to store personal information there was a danger the information could be misused or get into the wrong hands. A number of concerns arose such as who exactly could access this information? and Could it be easily copied? The 1998 data protection act was made by parliament to control the way information is handled and also to give legal rights to those people who have information stored about them.

Countries now use a fingerprinting system to prove who they are because every person's finger will obviously be different. Also there is face recognition software so it is easier to track down criminals. This links to CCTV cameras which have been installed in a lot of places to monitor the safety of areas. They usually record 24 hours a day and are a good way of seeing what has happened in the area if a crime has taken place. The problem is that lots of people might not want information about themselves stored on a system because of privacy, however it could be said that if they do not want this information about themselves stored, then perhaps they have something to hide which makes them look suspicious regarding certain crimes.

The computer misuse act became law in August 1990. It aims to reduce hacking and the threat from viruses, the act identifies three main procedures:

• Unauthorised access to computer material (hacking). This includes copying software illegally (called software piracy).
• Gaining unauthorised access to a computer to carry out serious crimes like fraud or blackmail.
• Unauthorised changing of computer files, including planting viruses and deleting files.

If u commit any of the above, it can lead to an unlimited fine or 5 years in prison.

Crime and Crime Prevention

Thanks to new technology, it has been easier to prevent crime from happening but has also made more crime.

Techonology can be used to combat crime in a number of ways. For example many CCTV cameras have been installed in a number of places. They record what goes on in an area so that a crime occurs, we can roughly see who the person is so it is easier to track them down. However sometimes the picture is black and white or the system lags which makes it harder to see who the person is. But then again the systems are improving and so this shouldn't be a problem in the near future.

Police cars use hidden digital CCTV cameras which can be installed on the windscreen to track car crimes. According to the police, "up to 80% of crimes involve the use of a vehicle" so this could be a valuable tool to combat against crime. The systems have technology built in them which makes them tamper proof, an essential element if the evidence is going to be acceptable in a court of law. The digital images that are captured by the cameras are 15 times better quality than the traditional VHS tape, which is also good for the evidence because it may allow the police to get a better insight as to who commited the crime.

The police can take note of someone who has committed a crime, this then gives them a criminal record. This means that all of the information is all in one place and it would be easy to see whether someone has committed a crime more than once. People have to say whether they have a criminal record whenever they apply for a job, so this can prevent these types of people being around the public.

There are a few problems with using technology to fight crime. For example the idea that there are loads of CCTV cameras around and so people feel like they are constantly being monitored and they may require more privacy. But then again, if this can prevent crime from happening, people would rather know that they are safe and be bothered that they are being watched as opposed to potentially be at threat from crime butdon't feel that they are being watched. Also, the criminal record system could lose all of it's data which means the police would not have any information about criminals. Also, if someone somehow hacked into the system or it got into the wrong hands, this could be dangerous because information could be changed or records could be removed.

Due to technology, lots of crimes have been made. Fraud is one them. If people are not careful when entering their PIN number and someone see's it, the person would only have to steal the debit/credit card and then they would have the ability to draw out loads of money from a cash machine. However people can see their statement and report that they have not made the cash withdrawels, the account can then be destroyed and they will get their money back. Technology in general has meant that people can commit piracy. They can easily download films, television programmes and music illegally from websites like http://www.limewire.com/, and then sell the content on to people for a profit.

ID cards have been introduced by the government as a way of people proving their identity. They have a passport photograph of the person, it has their name, their fingerprint and even their iris on it to make sure that it is exactly the right person. This means that there would be no confusion or mixing with other people. They are a good way of proving who you are, for example showing your age. They also prove that you are a citizen of the country which is good. The drawback of it is that people again may not like the privacy side of it. People don't want to give out information about themselves so that they can get an ID card.

Because technology improved, businesses and the government began using computers to store information about their customers, clients and staff such as names and addresses. With so many organisations doing this, there was a risk that the information could get into the wrong hands. The 1998 data protection act was made by parliament to control the way information is handled and also to give legal rights to those people who have information stored about them.