Module 9 - Social Justice Issues

According to Justice Jose P. Laurel

Social justice is neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy, but the humanization of laws and the organization of social and economic forces by the State so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated. Social justice means the promotion of the welfare of the people, the adoption by the government of measures calculated to insure economic stability of all the elements of society, through the maintenance of a proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the community, constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extra-constitutionally through the exercise of powers underlying the existence of all governments on the time-honored principle of salus populi est suprema lex. (from the case Calalang vs. William; reference: p. 335, Political Law Reviewer, first edition, Judge Ed Vincent V. Albano)

Social justice is concerned with the promotion of the welfare of the people. This is further reinforced by the Latin maxim, "salus populi est suprema lex," which means that the welfare of the people is the supreme law. In upholding this constitutional dictum, the government as "parent of the people" must maintain proper economic and social stability that would ensure the promotion of the people's welfare.

In computing, social justice would pertain to the promotion of the welfare of computer users and professionals. More specifically, social justice in computing is primarily concerned with equity of access. Digital divide is the term used for "the division of the world into people who have access to ICTs [information and communication technologies, including computers] and those who do not have access to these technologies."

(Soriano, 2003, p. 23) To quote Soriano further: A digital divide can exist between urban dwellers and rural folk, between the educated and the uneducated, between socio-economic classes, between ethnic groups, between men and women. The digital divide also exists between countries and geographical regions. Specifically, in terms of Internet backbones, the US, Canada and European countries are well connected whereas Asia, the Pacific region, Latin America and the Caribbean still have to improve their Internet backbones.

The discussion that follows is taken from Soriano's Nets, Webs and the Information Infrastructure, one of a series of primers on the Information Economy, Society and Polity published in May 2003 by the e-ASEAN Task Force and the United Nations Development Program Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP).

Are women more disadvantaged in the Information Age?

In a research paper titled "Gender, Information Technology, and Developing Countries: An Analytic Study," Nancy Hafkin and Nancy Taggart argue that "Women within developing countries are in the deepest part of the (digital) divide, further removed from the information age than are the men whose poverty they share." Among the obstacles cited to greater women's access to ICTs are literacy and education, language, time, geographical location, and social and cultural norms. Literacy and education are prerequisites in the use of information technologies. However, especially in the developing countries, girls and women are less likely than men to earn the basic education needed to use information technologies. Similarly, women and other marginalized groups are less likely to learn an international language such as English, which limits them to resources written in their native tongue.

Internet Access for those with physical disabilities

Korea is a leader in the effort to build an information environment that encourages persons with disabilities. In December 2000, Korea passed the "Digital Divide Law" to help ensure universal, unlimited access to the telecommunications networks and use of the telecommunications services for low-income earners, rural residents, the disables, the ages, women, etc. who have difficulties in accessing or using the telecommunications services for economic, regional, physical or social reasons... [To] improve the quality of living for these people and thereby contributes to the balances growth of the national economy."

The law set accessibility guidelines for telecommunications services to help the poor. Other provisions would subsidize PC purchases of poor and disabled people; support the development of access technologies for the disabled; and support information providers for the disabled, the elderly, the poor, and the fishing and farming industry.

Are people unable to access the Net because of language?


The digital divide is seen in the languages used on the internet. English is the dominant language used on the internet: 68% of the Web content is written in English and 40.2% of internet users access the Internet in English. But non-English speaking users outnumber English-speaking users of the Internet. The most widely spoken language worldwide is Chinese, with more than 1.2billion speakers (as of 2000). But only 3.9% of Internet users access the internet in Chinese.

Japanese is only the tenth most widely spoken language (126 million people) but Japanese is the second most important language (in terms of content) on the Web. Hindi, Arabic Bengali and Malay are all in the top 9 most widely spoken languages but these languages do not have significant share of web content.

Are the foregoing ethical issues? Opinions will differ. What is clear is that they are development issues. As Soriano asserts, because computers and the Internet are “the enabling technologies in the Information Age, the digital divide is an important concern of the 21 century.”

Other social justice issues relevant in computing

Electronic Monitoring is the system for tracking employee activities in the office. For example, in some software development companies, the user account of their programmers are logged to trace what they have done while in the office. The question is, is this ethical? In come countries this is considered as ethical and legal. In others, however, it is considered unethical and illegal

Repetitive Strain injuries are almost synonymous to back injuries. It is injury you get if you continuously sit in front of your computer during office hours. The issue is whether you are entitled to compensation for this.

Electromagnetic Radiation is a old issue. There is belief that radiation emitted by computer monitors is harmful health. But this has not been proven medically yet.

Occupational Hazards - These are issues in the workplace such as sickness acquired at work is compensable under the law. Hence if a clerk succumbs to an illness that is proven to have been acquired because of prolonged exposure to computer and photocopying machines, she will be compensated.