Government_Involvement_in_Technology

Name Instructor's Name – Instructor Your course section goes here March 1, 2011 Government’s Involvement in Technology A technological revolution has been taking place in our world since the discovery of electricity. We are all products of this rapid change by the advent of computers, cellphones, internet, and television. Information can now be sent at lighting speeds across the globe which has caused new advances in medicine, technology, science and everything in our walk of life. However, the government hasn't been as quick to catch up to these technological advances and it has caused the government to lose standing in it's security and effieceny of it's own documents. The world, which used to be run on paper documents has now switched to a electronic format due to convenience, archival purposes, and security. The government has, as of late, used this technology in a positive light and allowed everyday citizens to utilize these services to expedite their own goals. However, what are the consequences of these actions for placing things in a open format on a device' Has the government done the right thing by trying to make everything digital' These things were all major concerns, but technology, at this time, had proved itself more useful than harmful. However, a dark side of this technology came to light due to the unveiling of a service known as “Wiki Leaks” in the past few years. “Wiki leaks” is a non-profit organization which takes classified information from electronic sources and allows anonymous users to post it on their website. Users are encouraged to post files to Wikileaks to allow transparency in the government. Technology has caused the government to become more efficient, however the effects of this could be devastating to national security. Technology has caused positive and negative effects with government business and procedures. The government has used technology to speed up the filing of forms and documents. Many of the fee's and papers can now be efiled. This includes, but not limited to, taxes, immigration documents, military benefits and a slew of other government programs. Veterans are now able to submit their documents to receive healthcare, Americans are allowed to submit their income taxes online or allow other businesses online to take care of them. Immigrants are allowed to pay and file for immigration documents online, and the military is able to backup files to a server which is easily accessible. Another one of the ways that the government has utilized technology is by using cloud computing. Cloud computing in this sense is being used to allow the government to all utilize the same technology amongst each other. A site has recently launched known as Apps.gov that allows any government employee access to software that would take a long time for everyone to be able to use. Utilizing this, everyone can have the same updated software at the same time. Another way that the government is planning to positively use technology is by lowering health care cost by investing in electronic information technology systems. These systems would allow universal electronic medical records that would greatly reduce the cost of government spending and private health care spending. Technology would also be used in the government to modernize Public Safety Networks to allow first responders and emergency response systems to be on the same page. The governments idea of technology is that it should connect and simplify the process of many tasks. Although the government has done well with utilizing technology, it was not until Wiki leaks was founded by Julian Assange that the government began to see the dark side of this new technology. Assange was born in Townsville, Queensland in 1971. His parents ran a major theater company and had moved at least thirty times before he was fourteen. In his spare time, Assange would hack computers and he was charged with more than thirty counts of hacking and other computer crimes. When Assange grew up, he attended the University of Melbourne but dropped out due to personal ideals against the Pentagons Defense Advanced research project. By 1997, Assange had became a talented programmer who developed a cryptographic system for human rights employees. It wasn't until the year of 2006 that Assange realized the correlation of government secrecy and digital technology. When the Pentagon papers were released Assanage unveiled WikiLeaks in December of that year. Within one year, Wikileaks database of classified documents grew to 1.2 million documents with a release of more than 250,000 documents on November 28th. Most of these documents included corruption in government affairs, operational manuals supporting the coverup of Guantanamo Bay, and major corporations such as “Bank of America” practices. These documents contained documents labeled as secret, and possibly compromised the security of many states. During that time, he remained mostly nomadic moving from place to place under paranoia that he was being followed. At the beginning, only a small number of employees worked with him. Also during this time, Assange was charged by two women for rape, sexual molestation, and coercion. Assange still denies these charges, believing it to be Interpol's way of shutting him up. Assange remained quiet for the most part, with governments keeping a eye on him. It wasn't until Bradley Manning, a young twenty two year old whose primary job in the military was a intelligence analyst with the United States Army. During his time in the Army, Bradley Manning was sent out to Baghdad but discovered something while he was working one day. He was able to access two government systems known as SIPHRNet and the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications system. Bradley had discovered that the government had dropped it's protection with the two systems and Bradley passed along the information to a hacker based in California. To keep his superiors or anyone else in the government from finding out, he placed the information on a writable CD labeled “Lady Gaga”. What was on that CD would change the world forever. Manning sent the CD to Wiki leaks, which contained a video from the war in Afghanistan. In the video, a bad call was made by military officials and two Reuters journalists were shot down due to their camera's being confused with RPG's. Manning was turned in by the very hacker he had trusted, and Manning was arrested by the U.S. Military for unauthorized computer downloads. This became Assange's ticket to fame. Governments began to ask what should be considered secret and what should be done with government documents in the 21st century. Americans became shocked at what the saw on the video In conclusion, the government has been positively affected by the use of technology. This technology has gave ordinary citizens to take initiative and to complete difficult tasks with relative ease. In light of this, the government is able to work more efficiently and more effectively in it's goals to provide citizens with the services that they need in their daily lives. However, with the government becoming more transparent with the rise of services like Wiki leaks who allow everyday citizens to also strike against the government for it's wrong doings, it has given power to people who may not be able to make the best call on the handling of sensitive information. A transparent government would allow citizens to truly know what's happening in government but would also slow down the government by having to explain itself for every action that it takes that is questionable. Works Cited Bibliographic Project Homepage. October 30, 2008. CollabNet, Inc. October 31, 2008. Guide to Writing Research Papers: MLA-Style. October 31, 2008. Capital Community College Humanities Department. October 31, 2008. GNU General Public License: Version 3. June 29, 2008. Free Software Foundation. October 31, 2008. MLA Formatting and Style Guide - The OWL at Purdue. October 31, 2008. Purdue University English Department. October 31, 2008.