PART – A – Contemporary digital landscape and human rights

Introduction

unemployment, income gap .

With the digital revolution, the society was profoundly impacted with the availability of
information and communication and connectivity. There are various means by which people can
get access to large amount of information and knowledge with just few clicks. However, as the
digitalization grows, some of the contemporary social issues such as gender gap, unemployment
etc.… rises together with it.

Contemporary digital landscape

Today’s digital landscape isn’t the same as what we saw ten years ago or even two years ago.
However, the passage of time has also shown us which areas change quickly and which are more
reliable for marketing and advertising. The digital landscape is the total collection of hardware,
software, and content that interact with digital advertising. This includes email services, websites,
computers, smartphones, videos, blog posts, and so on. Things that exist on the internet but are
fundamentally irrelevant, such as hobbyist websites that focus on unrelated areas and host no ads,
are not part of the digital landscape.
In many respects, services like Facebook and Google are fundamental aspects of the digital
landscape. Google has an outsized role for one company thanks to its near-total dominance of
digital advertising, but small services using new technologies can also offer value to businesses.
The digital landscape is constantly evolving based on the collective actions of all potential
customers. If some advertisements don’t work, companies create new ways of showing ads. If
content doesn’t reach people, companies make different types of content. In the broad sense, the
digital landscape is a wide-ranging application of iterative marketing.
Companies tend to do more of what works while occasionally trying new things, so the marketing
we have now is considerably more valuable and effective than past strategies. Innovations are
helpful when you can create them, but for most companies, it’s fine to just understand the best
practice for a particular scenario and follow that. The digital landscape is what works, so you don’t
need to reinvent social media or digital marketing from the ground up to get good results. You can
break a digital landscape up into four main components. They’re all part of one landscape, but it’s
often easier to consider each section separately.

Social Media Landscape

The social media landscape includes sites like YouTube and Facebook.
These platforms tend to have broad access to users and distinctive characteristics.
However, each one functions separately, so you can’t always apply the knowledge you’ve gained
from one to any other.

Marketing Landscape
The marketing landscape includes the digital tools and techniques you can use to market to
customers.
This frequently crosses over with the social media landscape but also includes other marketing
tactics like Google’s services, blog posts, and offline content that intersects with or directs people
to your website.

Technology Landscape
The technology landscape includes the tools people use to access the internet, as well as the
hardware and software you have access to.
This is distinct from the marketing landscape but includes the underlying tools you might apply to
marketing.

Media Landscape
Finally, the media landscape is the overall realm of news and information that you’re advertising
in. The media landscape is important because it’s arguably the most challenging part to control, so
you may need to adapt to it instead of trying to direct it.

Human rights

The digital transformation of our society is certainly one of the fastest and most profound
transitions of civilization we have ever experienced. This digital age is leading us to interact more
and more online, for information, entertainment, consumption or work. The Covid-19 pandemic
revealed the potential of digital services which have enabled people to continue to interact and
engage and have made us more resilient. But many questions remain about the consequences of
this transformation and its impact on human rights.

The issue of privacy has long been very topical in our daily lives, but the increased use of the
virtual space and the development of technology such as AI, brings these debates even more into
the limelight. Rather than reducing discrimination or inequality, some algorithmic decision-
making systems can exacerbate it, particularly in the public sphere. With the use of predictive
features in the justice system, even a new source of law seems to be emerging. Facial recognition
tools are bringing back concepts such as physiognomy and the belief that behavioral traits can be
inferred from physical characteristics.

Other paramount issues which cannot be separated from internet are freedom of expression and
access to correct and trustworthy information. Whereas the internet greatly facilitates ways to
express ourselves and the diversity of information available, it is also true that some stakeholders
have the power to ban, remove or distort online content according to their interest. How should we
draw the line between information worth sharing and that to be banned? And who are those entitled
to do so?

Full enjoyment of our rights in cyberspace comes with an adequate protection against the risks in
an online environment. Right to private life, human dignity, safety, integrity of the person, non-
discrimination is at stake under threat from cybercrime. How can the governments fulfill their
positive obligations to protect individuals against crime and safeguard the fundamental rights of
cybercrime victims? This challenge requires careful balancing to provide efficient criminal justice
response with appropriate rule of law safeguards.

Speakers from different legal systems and jurisdictions, experts and governmental representatives
will exchange views, while tackling the complexity of protecting human rights in the digital sphere
in our daily lives activities in a one-day seminar.

The outcomes of the discussions build further on the current debate on a global scale, about the
actions necessary to include in a comprehensive approach in order to address the radical changes
digitalization is bringing to the online and offline environments.
Contemporary social issues

Gender inequality

As per the latest figures published by ITU (International Telecommunication Union), the gender
gap is narrowing globally, however this gap remains huge in poor countries. From the data
collected in 2020, an average of 62% of the men used internet while 57% of the women used
internet. This gap is virtually eliminated in developed countries. However, this gap still remains
huge in LEDC’s (Least Economically Developed Countries) and in LLDC’s (Land Locked
Developing Countries) and actions are needed to be taken urgently to address these issues. This
gap mainly remains due to the barriers such as cultural issues, lack of finance and skills.

In past 3 years, especially during the time of the Covid 19 pandemic, the use of cyber space and
technology increased worldwide. For instance, in education sector, the algorithms of software and
hardware has progressively changed the methodologies utilized while teaching now more than
ever before. This cyber change was not only brought to the education sector but to the professional
and commercial sector as well. However, it should be noted that these changed were brought out
of the necessity and reduced behavioral choices due to the pressure from the pandemic. While
education sector, professional sector and commercial sector of some parts of the world were able
to adapt to the limitations brought by the pandemic, the pandemic further magnified the worldwide
regional gender disparities which caused by limited access to broadband and digital services.
Particularly in LDC’s the rapid movement towards digitalization such as online education,
ecommerce, work and communication became a threat to those who are unconnected and untrained
to be left behind.

This has hindered one of the UN’s 5 sustainable development goals to reduce gender inequality as
females are less likely than males to have digital access, leadership opportunities and skills such
as virtual education and professional spaces. For example, in LEDS’s only 19% of women has
access and use the internet. In addition to this, lack of leadership and employment of women in
the technological sector worsens the gender gap in digital leadership, investment and
entrepreneurship.
A key factor to navigate meaningful and universal connectivity in alignment with the SDGs will
be analyzing gender-disaggregated data on distribution and access to the technology worldwide
and also suggesting an alternative forms of policies and investing on gender specific technological
educational access. The EQUAL research carried out by the EQUAL global partnership gathers
gender disaggregated and gender mainstreamed data and the statistics from these data revealed
that, the recent year were not very optimistic especially during COVID-19 outbreak. This data also
revealed that, women are 25% less likely to have basic knowledge to access digital technology. In
addition to this, women are four times likely to now how to program and 13 times less likely to
file for technology patent. These results are mainly due to whispered stereotypes ranging from lack
of social acceptance for women in male dominated science, technology, Engineering and
mathematics (STEM) career fields due to lack of welcoming learning environments for women
those who want to enter these fields. In developing countries, women outnumber and outperform
buys and young men in STEM education, this does not translate to corresponding narrowing down
of the gap in STEM leadership. Many factors hinder women from gaining equity and progressing
in technical fields. These include: stereotypes, gender norms, as well as lack of necessary
infrastructure, funding, female mentors and role models, capacity building, and training.

Other issues

PART – B - Trust and ethics in cyber space

Introduction

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with what is considered to be right or wrong. Definitions
of ethics have been widely proposed, such as “codes of morals of a particular profession”, “the
standards of conduct of a given profession”, “agreement among people to do the right and to avoid
wrong”. Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines ethics as “the discipline dealing with what is good
and bad and with moral duty and obligation”. In more simple words, it is the study of what is right
to do in a given situation, and what we ought to do. It is important to note that what is unethical is
not necessarily illegal. In our everyday life, many individuals and organizations faced with
common ethical problems. For example, the issue of a company legally monitoring employees’ e-
mail is very controversial issues. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, tens of millions
of computer users are monitored, most without their knowledge, by their employers. Employees
have limited protection against employers’ electronic surveillance. Although several legal
challenges are now underway, the law appears to support employers’ rights to read electronic mail
and other electronic documents of their employees. In this matter, the definitions of “right” and
“wrong” are not clear. Also, the distinction between what is illegal and 2 what is unethical is not
always obvious (Stephan, 2002). With the advanced computer technology, it is important to
understand computer ethics related to security, privacy issues, and major negative impacts of IT
(Information Technology

Importance of trust in cyber space

Trust is the lubricant that keeps trade moving. Everything would come to a halt without it.
Fortunately, the majority of individuals are trustworthy and dependable, both buyers and sellers.
But only a select few ruin it for everyone else. As a result, many types of trust mechanisms have
been incorporated into commerce systems to facilitate transactional processes.

It is commonly accepted that customers turn to well-known and reliable brand names. However,
there are now millions of commercial websites. With the exception of the Fortune 500 and similar
organizations, the majority of the remaining 99.9 percent of companies do not have well-known
brands. Instead, most are small and medium-sized businesses, and many more are sole traders
marketing their products to a worldwide market for the first time.

Although crucial, the legal system is not foolproof, as many customers are aware. Actually, trust
plays a considerably more complex function in business transactions than our confidence in legal
recourse. Lack of confidence when making purchases online is a frequent sentiment among people
who are new to the internet. This is very normal. The honesty of sellers is a concern for buyers:
will the product arrive as promised, will the seller honor the warranty, will there be recourse if they
are not completely satisfied, and will the buyer's financial information be safe and secure? The
legitimacy of the customer and the fact that a legitimate account is being used to pay for the goods
or services delivered must be a concern for sellers.

Nevertheless, in a very short period of time, millions of people have gathered online to purchase
and sell a wide range of goods, big and little, expensive and inexpensive. This is particularly true
with eBay, where daily auctions of countless products are held between actual "strangers"
innumerable times. The fundamental principle of how this is achieved is shared by all commercial
systems: through the conventional process of exchanging experiences between individuals,
trustworthy behavior is rewarded and untrustworthy behavior is punished. Reputation itself
becomes a valuable commodity in e-commerce.

Trusted third parties formalize and enhance reputation. A number of organizations, notably
TRUSTe, have been established to provide a "seal of approval" that will promote customer trust.
These are not ideal answers in and of themselves.

Ethical issues

Information Technology (IT) has a central role in commerce, industry, government, medicine,
education, entertainment and society at large. Its economic and social benefits hardly need
explanation. But like any other technologies, IT also has problematic implications, and some
negative impacts on our society. It poses and creates some problems related to ethics, and contains
in general three main types of ethical issues: personal privacy, access right, and harmful actions.
Let us look more closely at these issues, exploring in each case the ways in which they affect the
public reactions to this technological change. In terms of personal privacy, IT enables data
exchange of information on a large scale from anybody, on any locations or parts of the world, at
any times. In this situation, there is increased potential for disclosing information and violating the
privacy of any individuals and groups of people due to its widespread disseminations worldwide.

It is our challenge and responsibility to maintain the privacy and integrity of data regarding
individuals. This also includes taking precautions to ensure the accuracy of data, as well as
protecting it from unauthorized access or accidental disclosure to inappropriate individuals. The
second aspect of ethical issues in computing systems is access right. Due to the current popularity
of international commerce on the Internet, the topic of computer security and access right has
moved quickly from being a low priority for corporations and government agencies to a high
priority. This interest has been heightened by computer break-ins at places like Los Alamos
National Laboratories and NASA in the US. Many attempts of such illegal access to United States
government and military computers by computer hackers have been widely reported. Without
implementation of proper computer security policies and strategies, network connections on the
Internet can’t be made secure from illegal accesses.
In computer ethics, harmful action means injury or negative consequences, such as undesirable
loss of information, loss of property, property damage, or unwanted environmental impacts. This
principle prohibits use of computing technology in ways that result in harm to any of users, the
general public, employees, and employers. Harmful actions include intentional destruction or
modification of files and programs leading to serious loss of resources or unnecessary expenditure
of human resources such as the time and effort required to purge systems from "computer viruses."
In the following tables, a survey of various activities on Internet indicates that illegal information
nowadays is often reported. The data shows that the percentage of response from Japanese
companies and organizations is quite significant (Kubo, 1999).

Table 1- Illegal information on internet

Type of information Percentage of response

Fraudulent information 79.5%
Violation of privacy 73.1%
Obscene information 59.3%
False rumors 59.0%
Obscene information 55.2%
Civil rights violation 48.5%
Gambling information 10.4%

Table 2- Prejudicial information

Type of information Percentage of response

False rumors 73.1%
Drug information 71.3%
Sex information 66.4%
Violence information 63.4%

So far, there has been relatively little investigation into the privacy and security issues relevant to
these ethical problems in IT and Cyberspace. Beside the false contents of information on Internet,
many people tried to access information that they don’t have rights to do so. For this reason,
computer developers have proposed and used intrusion-detection systems as basis of security
systems designed to protect privacy. Typically, the intrusion detection systems determine if a user
is an intruder or a legitimate user, generally by way of various internal system profiles.

PART – C – Technological regulations and legislations

The 2020s will undoubtedly be characterized by new technology regulation. But while today’s
technologies are global, the rules governing their development and use are not. The resulting policy
fragmentation is often attributed to differing values and political ideologies within key
jurisdictions: The United States, the European Union, and China. In this narrative, the U.S. prefers
digital laissez-faire; Europe opts for digital big-state socialism; and China pursues a politically
motivated strategy of restricting some technologies and scaling up others to maintain social
control.
But while there is evidence to support this narrative, such broad characterizations fail to explain
the stark regulatory differences between countries that fall into the same ideological category. For
example, consider Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S., and the United Kingdom. These
Anglophone liberal democracies with colonial histories have strong ties and belong to a
longstanding security and intelligence-sharing pact (The Five Eyes). But each has a unique
approach to technology policy.
While Australia is charting its own course on everything from encryption laws and extremist
content to power imbalances between digital platforms and older news media organizations, New
Zealand is building international partnerships on many of the same issues, such as through the
Christchurch Call initiative. Meanwhile, Canada is doing more listening than acting, with its most
recent attempt to pass online legislations ensuring that internet-era streaming companies face the
same regulations as traditional broadcasters. The U.S. has placed technology embargoes on China,
but it has dithered on domestic regulation, even in the face of mounting abuses by Big Tech firms.
And the UK is re-aligning with its ex-siblings in the EU.
As these examples show, several factors beyond ideology shape what we think of as the technology
“policy space.” Each jurisdiction has its own limited set of options for guiding the effects of how
new and existing technologies are developed and deployed. And these options, in turn, are
circumscribed by at least three key barriers.

The first is a jurisdiction’s constitutional decision-making authority, legal precedents, and pre-
existing agreements with other states or bodies. These factors create a “hard” boundary of legal
limits that policymakers will find difficult–though not necessarily impossible–to circumvent. And
a related, slightly softer boundary lies in conflicting policy priorities within the same jurisdiction,
particularly where national security “red lines” are concerned.

The second barrier is a lack of political cohesion, public support, and consensus among key
stakeholders, or disagreements between branches of government. Such limits are particularly
common in systems where the legislative and executive branches can be controlled by different
parties, or where different parties control each of two legislative bodies. In the absence of common
ground, little can be done until the mix of decision makers shifts to favor one group or another.
And a softer version of this limit can occur in democracies if the group in power eschews decisive
action because it is worried about an upcoming election.

The third barrier is a government’s lack of capacity for effective policy implementation and
enforcement. The most common reasons for this are budget constraints, shortages of qualified
personnel, a targeted sector’s inability to bear the new compliance burden, or inadequate
infrastructure.

While these potential barriers tend to exclude (or at least render ineffective) many potential policy
proposals, technology policymaking is also shaped–and made more uncertain–by a confluence of
incentives and trade-offs that operate at multiple levels within and across government. Here, we
see five primary factors that can help to explain policy divergences among similar countries.
The first stems from a policy’s impact on and relationship to state power. Regulatory strategies
tend either to centralize government power or devolve power to other bodies and groups.
Centralization is often achieved by increasing revenues and tightening control over the private
sector and the public, whereas devolution usually involves legislating industry standards or de-
regulating a sector entirely. The ability to alter this balance of power is an incentive in itself,
because it entails a redistribution of resources among stakeholders – not least state bureaucracies,
on one hand, and business lobbies, on the other.

The second factor is a policy’s likely potential impact on national output and productivity.
Technology policies often seek to increase national economic power as part of a government’s
broader development strategy, which itself can involve either protectionism or policies to open up
markets.

Policy decisions thus can be motivated either by a desire to bolster domestic activity (to help a
country’s producers or workers) or by a desire to promote activity internationally (to support
domestic exporters). Given that technology policies tend to require compliance systems or create
liability regimes that deter business creation or foreign investment, economic impact also must be
factored into decision makers’ calculus.

Then there is national security, which can be affected by a wide range of technology policies.
While laws authorizing security services to override encryption can enhance these agencies’
capacity to address foreign and domestic threats, laws or judicial rulings upholding free speech
and due process can make their jobs more complicated.

The fourth factor is a policy’s likely impact on consumer rights and protections. Technology
policies often seek to ensure that new technologies expand choice, lower prices, and support
competitive markets. But consumer-protection policies tend to be unevenly enforced, owing to
tensions between national and local powers, uncertainties about what consumers really prefer, and
the difficulty of assessing problems like market concentration (particularly when goods or services
appear “free” to end-users). For example, while some people are happy for tech platforms to track
their behavior in order to improve services, others prefer more privacy.

Finally, there is a policy’s likely effect on the decision maker’s own power. Policymakers will
naturally be biased toward measures that could enhance their own positions, both current and
future; but, by the same token, they will quickly abandon policies that prove to be unpopular with
key stakeholders.

Taken together, these limits and incentives provide insights into the differences in technology
policymaking across countries that otherwise appear similar. With these factors in mind, we can
develop a more nuanced understanding of where technology policy is heading in what is sure to
be a decisive decade.

PART – D- Data analysis and health care

Data can change lives. It is a vital part of daily living, with businesses also relying on data sets to improve
product offerings and customer experience. The growth in data consumption worldwide is proof.
Research suggests the amount of data worldwide grew by 5000% between 2010 and 2020. Such is the
consumption and importance of data that its total amount generated has doubled every three years. And
it is set to increase: the total installed global data storage capacity base could increase to approximately
13.2 zettabytes (2024) from 6.8 zettabytes (2020). The total amount of data in utilized storage will
reach 8.9 zettabytes by 2024. From manufacturing to aviation, every industry relies on data sets
and analytics to derive results. The healthcare sector is no different, using raw data to find better
diagnoses and treatment methods.

Introduction of data in healthcare

Data is invaluable in healthcare. Pharma and healthcare companies use data sets to improve their
financials as well as produce products and solutions to improve healthcare facilities. Health data
collated from health information systems and technological tools help healthcare professionals,
insurance companies, and government organizations understand what troubles people. Data from
diagnosis and surgeries provide a holistic view of patients’ health and is used to find trends, basis
location, socioeconomic status, race, and other factors. Healthcare organizations form datasets and
research ways to address the lingering health problems. Electronic health records (EHRs), Master
Patient Indexes (MPI), and Health-Related Smartphone Apps are tools used to collect, store, and
analyze data. While each step is equally vital to find better health outcomes, data analysis requires
special care.

Data analytics in healthcare

The healthcare industry is always in demand. As a result, public and private companies engaged
in healthcare directly or indirectly generate a tremendous amount of data. It is challenging to
analyze it manually and find trends and solutions. Data analytics in healthcare is a sound solution,
helping organizations overcome obstacles and build solutions that matter. With data analytics,
colleagues and external partners can effectively share data amongst themselves, making it easier
to visualize for public consumption. It can also provide accurate data-driven forecasts in real-time,
ensuring healthcare providers respond quickly to changing healthcare markets and environments.
Thanks to data analytics tools, companies can innovate faster by converting analytics-ready data
into business-ready information.

Key benefits of data in healthcare

Data in healthcare has massive scope. It can improve every aspect of the industry, including
research and improving health outcomes. Still, a few benefits stand out for their impact on
patients, employees, and the industry.

1. Improved Medical research - Data analytics techniques have already revolutionized research
efforts in health-related fields, gathering and analyzing clinical data. Electronic Health Records
(EHRs) are one example. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are one of the most significant
sources of clinical information. They store patients’ X-rays, medical images, diagnoses,
treatment plans, allergies, and test results in standard digital formats.

However, EHRs bring privacy and regulatory compliance requirements that restrict data use.
Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are like EHRs, but they only contain information from
patients’ paper charts created in medical offices, clinics, and hospitals. EMRs are used for
diagnosis and treatment and track patients’ healthcare over many visits and screenings.

Data analytics can also revolutionize personal health records (PHRs). PHRs maintain a patient’s
health treatment history that the patient manages instead of healthcare providers. While PHRs do
not legally replace the medical records maintained by healthcare providers, they assist patients in
managing their health.

Public health records, such as the Cancer Research Data Commons, are promising health data
sources for medical research. They serve as cloud-based data science platforms linking data
analytics tools with data repositories storing genomic, proteomic, comparative oncology, and
other data types.

2.Better health outcomes- Better health outcomes are one of the key goals of healthcare
organizations and personnel. Doctors, surgeons, and nurses aspire to treat patients safely and
effectively while minimizing the trauma that comes with their treatment.

An analytics system can help healthcare professionals collect and analyze patient data in real
time. Examples of patient data used for analysis include blood sugar level, temperature, and
blood test results.

Analyzing these with a system can help professionals better understand complex healthcare
environments, develop systematic approaches to improve patient outcomes, and continuously
enhance healthcare processes. Thanks to health data management systems, professionals see
lower readmission rates, reduce errors, and better identify at-risk populations.

However, challenges exist. Healthcare professionals often struggle with choice as data-backed
systems factor in and monitor several health parameters. One way to avoid the problem is to
focus on key performance measures and collect the minimum data needed to track those
measures.

3. Actionable operational Insights- Healthcare providers directly impact the quality of care
patients receive and the likelihood of positive outcomes through their work processes and
organizational structures. Analyzing healthcare provider data related to these processes in
complex healthcare environments is crucial for measuring the effect of process changes on
outcomes and operational efficiencies.

To improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare, healthcare providers conduct an

organization-wide assessment of current conditions, followed by aligning the institution’s
strategies and goals for improvement. Employee scheduling, charting, emergency preparation,
administration, financial management, and compliance are among the operational areas that
benefit the most from data analytics.

Healthcare providers adopt various approaches to enhance operational efficiencies and maintain
a high standard of care. These include reducing waste, tech integration to reduce costs, increasing
hospital capacity, improving project management, and sustaining outcome improvements.

To cost-effectively implement data analytics, organizations measure and improve those

operations that help the most for improved outcomes.

4. efficient staffing- Staffing is vital in healthcare as employees engage with several patients
daily. Finding the right employees can help healthcare organizations build better connections
with patients and understand their needs deeply.

Many companies rely on data analytics to address staffing issues and facilitate recruitment,
hiring, training, and retention of healthcare workers. Data analytics tools help healthcare
providers balance costs, efficiency, and patient outcomes with the growing scarcity of qualified
medical professionals.

Intelligent data systems help manage labor costs in healthcare settings while boosting the quality
of care patients receive and the efficiency of service delivery.