Let’s Teach Computer Science Majors to Be Good Citizens. The Whole World Depends on It.
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Illustration: Hurca / Shutterstock. Article by Anne-Marie Núñez, Matthew J. Mayhew, Musbah Shaheen and Laura S. Dahl. EdSurge – March 15, 2021.
Digital technology has become increasingly important in the lives of all Americans, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, which has made many of us even more reliant on computing devices to execute our daily responsibilities.
Yet, many social, political and ethical concerns have emerged as the application of technology has grown in daily life.
For example, in 2020, the first known wrongful arrest through misidentification via facial recognition software occurred when police mistakenly accused a Black man of committing a crime. To address concerns about this kind of excessive citizen surveillance, city governments in some locales have restricted the use of facial recognition software, and a bill has been proposed to ban federal law enforcement agencies from using it. Meanwhile, in the political arena, evidence has emerged that data analytics were applied to deter Black voters from voting in the 2016 election and that similar technology has been applied to affect other countries’ elections as well. […]
