TANZANIA - SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

The government's Rural Development Division concentrates on community development (including health, labor, and literacy programs) rather than on welfare programs. All public and private employees except domestic workers receive lump-sum pension payments through a provident fund system, to which the employer contributes 10% of payroll and employees contribute 10% of their wages. Old age pensions are paid as a lump sum equal to contributions plus interest. Employers are required to provide workers' compensation through a private carrier and also pay severance indemnity to workers with 3 or more months of continuous employment. Free medical care is provided by public hospitals and clinics. The elderly, widows, and the physically and mentally handicapped normally are provided for by the traditional tribal system. Orphaned and abandoned children usually are cared for similarly, but missions and voluntary agencies also are active in this field. 

The government advocates equal rights and employment opportunities for women. However, discrimination and violence against women are widespread. In the public sector, the largest employer in the country, women are restricted from certain positions. Women in the largely Muslim island of Zanzibar face considerable discrimination. Islamic custom dictates limited inheritance and property rights for women. Courts rulings have upheld discriminatory traditions in the area of inheritance. In Zanzibar, unmarried women under the age of 21 are subject to two years imprisonment if they become pregnant. In response to growing concern about violence toward women, the government passed a law in 1998 mandating life imprisonment for rape and child molestation. 

Although Tanzania became a multi-party state in 1995, its human rights record remained poor. Police abuse of prisoners and detainees is widespread. Prison conditions are poor, and dysentery, malaria, and cholera are common. There are reports that the government has blocked the registration of local human rights organizations.

FUNDAMENTAL SHIFTS IN SOCIAL STRUCTURE

During the Industrial Revolution, the social structure of society changed dramatically. Before the Revolution most people lived in small villages, working either in agriculture or as skilled craftsmen. They lived and often worked as a family, doing everything by hand. In fact, three quarters of Britain's population lived in the countryside, and farming was the predominant occupation (Porter). With the advent of industrialization, however, everything changed. The new enclosure laws—which required that all grazing grounds be fenced in at the owner's expense—had left many poor farmers bankrupt and unemployed, and machines capable of huge outputs made small hand weavers redundant. As a result, there were many people who were forced to work at the new factories. This required them to move to towns and cities so that they could be close to their new jobs. It also meant that they made less money for working longer hours. Add to this the higher living expenses due to urbanization, and one can easily see that many families' resources would be extremely stretched. 

As a result, women and children were sent out to work, making up 75% of early workers (Stearns). Families were forced to do this, since they desperately needed money, while factory owners were happy to employ women and children for a number of reasons. First of all, they could be paid very little, and children could be controlled more easily than adults, generally through violent beatings (Sadler). Children also had smaller hands, which were often needed to reach in among the parts of a machine. Furthermore, employers found that children were more malleable, and adapted to the new methods much better than adults did. Children were also sent to work in mines, being small enough to get more coal and ore from the deep and very often unsafe pits (Stearns). They could also be forced to work as long as eighteen hours each day (Sadler). For these reasons, children as young as eight years old were sent to factories—usually those which manufactured textiles—where they became part of a growing and profitable business.

This unprecedented growth and profit was another social change that occurred during the Industrial Revolution. The laissez-faire approach taken by the government—and advocated by philosopher-economist Adam Smith—allowed capitalism to flourish. There were little or no government regulations imposed upon factory policies, and this allowed the wealthy, middle-class owners to pursue whichever path was most profitable, regardless of the safety and well being of their workers. This relentless pursuit of money caused another important social change: the ultimate breakdown of the family unit. 

Since workers, especially women and children, were labouring for up to eighteen hours each day, there was very little family contact, and the only time that one was at home was spent sleeping. People also had to share housing with other families, which further contributed to the breakdown of the family unit. As a result, children received very little education, had stunted growth, and were sickly. They also grew up quite maladjusted, having never been taught how to behave properly (Sadler). The living conditions were indeed horrible; working families often lived in slums with little sanitation, and infant mortality skyrocketed. During the early Industrial Revolution, 50% of infants died before the age of two (Stearns). 

However, the social changes that took place were not all negative. Most classes eventually benefited in some way from the huge profits that were being made, and by 1820 most workers were making somewhat better wages. The "widespread poverty and constant threat of mass starvation…lessened, [and] overall health and material conditions of the populace clearly improved" (Porter). The government, however, did have to eventually intervene in order to put an end to child labour and other unacceptable practices.

SOCIAL IMPACT CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

Traditionally, courses that deal with computers and society issues focus primarily on enumerating the various ways in which computers impact society. This is done by listing categories of topics such as privacy, computers in medicine, military uses of computers, etc. Classic cases of computer abuse or errant systems are typically described in detail, as a way of simply making students more aware of how computers affect society. These examples are meant to serve as warnings to future professionals, in the hopes that they will practice their profession with greater care.
What is missing from these discussions, however, is why computers have the impact they do on society. What are the characteristics that are the root of this impact? Are there fundamental differences between this technology and others that have transformed our world in the past?
The intent of developing a list of these characteristics is that it could lead to a better understanding of the nature of the social impact of computers. In this way, it might be possible to examine a new computer project at the time of its design (not, as is the usual case, a long time after the project has been implemented and disseminated) to determine its potential impacts as a social change agent.
The characteristics given below are not necessarily unique to computer technology. However, in many instances computers have created situations that were previously impossible to accomplish (such as space flight), were essentially inconceivable until the technology was applied, or at least were very difficult to achieve without the aid of computer technology. Furthermore, even though other technologies may have had impacts similar to computers in many ways, computer technology has greatly amplified their effects to the point of entirely overshadowing any previous technology's impact.
Finally, the term computer technology is meant to be inclusive of any device that is essentially controlled by a basic computer (CPU, program, etc.). This would include, therefore, modern telephones, VCRs, microwave ovens, CAT scanners, supermarket scanners, and the like.
The following are in no particular order. Also, some devices or examples are likely to fit into more than one of the categories below:
(1) Ubiquity -

It is perhaps stating the obvious that computers appear to be everywhere today. Even when we don't encounter them directly in their various forms of modern convenience devices, such as digital watches, microwave ovens, VCRs, and the like, we generate transactions that are processed via computers without actively doing anything: the utility companies are recording our usage, the phone company records incoming calls, our answering machine might be recording a message while we are doing something else, someone is performing a credit check on us, etc.

(2) Magnification -

Computers tend toward magnification in several different ways. First, the explosion of the availability of information is due in large part to the computer's ability to generate, collect, and store an ever increasing amount of raw data. Since the ability to create and collect data is growing exponentially, so too is the generation of information that can be synthesized from this data. Second, the types of negative impacts a single error can have has grown enormously with computer technology. Finally, the number of people directly affected by a system error has also grown enormously, to where a single software system literally can affect millions directly.

(3) Accessibility -

Access to information continues to increase at hard to believe speeds. To begin with, the vast quantities of information available on-line (through, for instance, the Internet) appears to be growing exponentially. In addition, we now have unprecedented accessibility to information and communications from nearly anywhere we happen to be. Next, information is available to an unprecendented number of people. Finally, the promises of the "information superhighway" to open up new lanes of access, including text, voice, graphics, and video increases the types of information to which we have access to include all media.

(4) Reproducibility and Distributability

The major concern of the recording industry regarding the introduction of digital audio tape (DAT) systems was the ability to make exact duplicates of digital material, indistinguishable from the original. The concern, of course, has been that DAT technology would cause unprecedented bootlegging of recordings, to the obvious detriment of the recording industry, composers, and performers. Clearly, any digital file can just as easily be duplicated. Many information resources are available only in digital form, via, for instance, the Internet. As more information is converted to digital form (e.g. voice and video), the ability to duplicate and distribute such information increases enormously. Indeed, there are some forms of publishing that can exist only within the context of a computer system. The concept of hypertext and hypermedia (including audio and video), the ability to create non-linear accessibility to information, was conceived out of the ability to randomly access information via computers. Its increasing success easily shows how important information in a digital form has become already. (Oz, 1994).

(5) Lack of Accountability -

It has become a popular complaint that it is getting more and more difficult to locate a human being who is willing to accept responsibility for an error made by a computerized system. While it is tempting to blame such problems on incompetent employees, in truth the problem may be a poor user interface, lack of training, or an error in the software, none of which can be solved by those providing the front-line service. Another difficulty is finding someone who will, indeed, fix an error in an account. It is often the case that service representatives are reluctant to accept the responsibility for making a necessary change. In addition, it can often be difficult to even find a human being to deal with a problem. Getting lost in a voice-mail system has become a modern urban legend. (Nissenbaum, 1994).

(6) Temporality -

Computers have several effects on time and the timeliness of information. It seems that computer technology is to blame in large part for the "speed up" of modern society - everything has to get done faster, be there sooner, be available immediately. Another form of temporality in computer systems is that information can be retained over long periods of time, even when they appear to have been destroyed (consider the classic case of Col. Oliver North). There is little reason that information should be entirely lost any more, even due to accident. And it is reasonable to suspect that every scrap of information generated today will be available virtually forever. Another temporal shift for which computers have been responsible is that people who work together do not necessarily have to do so at the same time. Finally, services and information are more frequently available on a 24-hour basis. This allows people to request a service or seek information when it fits their schedule, rather than when it fits the service provider's schedule.

(7) Spatiality -

Computers have done more to shorten distances than any previous technology, even the supersonic jet. It is possible to send large amounts of data, messages, video, etc. virtually anywhere in the world via networks such as Internet. Long distance learning, using information databases or video feeds of courses via satellite, is a reality for a growing portion of our modern society. We can now even be on the move when we talk with someone on the phone, or receive a fax.

(8) Surveillability -

Is there any doubt that computers have made surveillance easier than at any time in history? In addition to the usual surveillance equipment such as cameras and microphones, transactional data is increasingly being collected for virtually all types of transactions, even cash purchases and the acquisition of services. There has even been discussion by the government of using a universal health card, which is seen by many as the first step toward finalizing the move (begun with the co-opting of the social security number) in the US toward a national identification card.

(9) Shifting of Relationships/Changes in Intercommunication Protocols -

One of the more difficult characteristics to track is how computer technology has changed communication between people and groups of people. In particular, the use of email has been shown to eliminate a lot of the usual visual and verbal cues we often use in communicating with one another (whch can be viewed as both an advantage and as a disadvantage). In addition to removing such cues, computer-mediated communications mask attributes such as race, gender, age, or physical disability, in addition, perhaps, to the person's social or management status within an organization. (Grudin, 1994; Perrole, 1987).

(10) Illusion of Precision -

It is not difficult to make many (perhaps even most) people who are not in the computer field believe that any numeric result generated by a computer is correct. Those not well versed in the hardware of computers have little understanding of the fact that numbers must be converted back and forth between decimal and binary forms, or that there is a limitation on the accuracy of numbers due to memory constraints. As a result, they willingly accept values generated by a computer as infinitely accurate. (Liffick, 1985).

BUSINESS NAMES AND THE INTERNET

In the beginning, it was easy to start a new business. You would go to your local business registration office in your State and apply for a business name. If it was taken, you would choose another name. Most people do not realize that a business name is only valid for the State that it is registered in and the only way to protect your business name is to incorporate a company. In Australia, you would lodge forms with ASIC to incorporate a company and you then have rights to use your business name exclusively in Australia and its territories.

However, with the birth of the internet, your Australian company name may be the same as the name of a company overseas.

This has resulted in legal action being taken, as companies tussle of business names and the rights to use those names and a court system that is unable to deal effectively with international disputes over business names and has resulted in greater costs to people who want to start a business as they must register multiple domain names, take about international trademarks and find a name that has not already been taken. Even if they contact lawyers to register all the domain names and trademarks to avoid disputes(both local and international), legal action can still be taken against them. And when it comes to justice, money wins almost every time, unless companies want to relocate to safe havens in developing countries where they cannot be pursued in court.

 Technology has allowed man to move from manual labour of the fields to cities and machines. It has allowed huge cities to arise, because of the urban poor that have migrated to cities for improved services and job opportunities. Technology has spawned the growth of modern society but it is also now used to control the population, in a way the Roman Caesars could only have dreamed of.

IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON GOVERNMENT

The legal system is dependent on local jurisdictions under common law. Historically, one has to remember that before the age of the internet, airplanes and telephones, the vast majority of business was done locally. Technology has rapidly changed the way people do business but there has not adapted to the changes. There is no one body that governs international trade.

What are the implications?

If you buy a product from a local supplier in your State, and it turns out that the item is faulty, you can go back to your supplier to work out repair or replacement and if they don't help you, you can take the matter to local Trades office or file legal action in your state. If however, you buy a product outside your jurisdiction, you must file a claim in the State, where the supplier is located. You can only use a lawyer in the State where you file your action, your local llawyer can only act as a consultant and has no authority to represent you in court or to serve papers.

Therefore, we have a world which is governed by local laws and yet the businesses and individuals are now actively trading outside of their local area.

Governments are trying to make laws about content on the internet but have no jurisdiction to enforce those laws. This has created havens in small developing countries, that are happy to accept companies that want to run online gambling websites that may be outlawed in their jurisdiction or companies that wish to reduce their tax liabilities by opening up bank accounts in developing countries.

We see arising now a homogenizing of local laws on issues like SPAM, and even sending a international letter from anywhere in the world involves the completion of almost identical forms, Governments are making agreements, in an attempt to be relevant in a world where people are able to trade more freely and where digital communication has enabled businesses to work, almost without physical boundaries.