IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2023 - 111

For example, Internet-enabled innovations such as
e-commerce and social media have substantially
altered business models, created new employment
opportunities for people [e.g., gig-work such as
ridesharing (e.g., Uber)], and affected economies
and societies. In fact, the value of online platforms
was brought into focus during the COVID-19 pandemic,
when social distancing was necessary, online
platforms made it possible to remotely shop, receive
educational lessons, and communicate with family
and friends safely.
The diffusion of any innovation occurs in stages
over a period. Rogers [16] proposes five stages for
the diffusion of an innovation in a society: innovators,
early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.
According to Rogers [16], early majority and
late majority segments constitute nearly 70% of the
users. It appears without reaching this threshold, it
would be imprudent to reflect on the societal benefits
and harm caused by the innovation. Furthermore, the
time it takes for innovation to attain a critical level in
a society varies greatly. For example, to reach 50 million
users, it took telephones 50 years, mobile phones
12 years, and the Internet 7 years [17]. Therefore,
each innovation has unique characteristics that also
need consideration. Hence, we argue that in studying
the technological context and its impact on a society,
it is important to consider both the stage at which the
innovation is and the time it takes for the innovation
to diffuse in each society.
Cultural context
Culture is defined as: " the collective programming
of the mind which distinguishes the members
of one human group from another " [18]. In his book
titled Culture's Consequences, Hofstede [19] suggested
four dimensions of culture-power distance,
individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance,
and masculinity-femininity. Later, a fifth dimension
was added-long-term orientation [20].
There is evidence indicating that the most important
of Hofstede's dimensions for distinguishing
among national cultures is individualism-collectivism
[21]. This dimension relates to the way people
live together. Individualism " pertains to societies
in which the ties between individuals are loose:
everyone is expected to look after himself or herself
and his or her immediate family " [18]. On the other
hand, collectivism " pertains to societies in which
people from birth onward are integrated into strong,
September 2023
cohesive groups, which throughout people's lifetime
continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning
loyalty " [18]. Also, cultures with high individualism
value personal time and achievement. Such
societies are more innovative, open to new ideas,
and resist authority. Cultures with high collectivism
are more compliant and accepting of authority.
According to Hofstede [22], some of the countries
that are high on the " individualism " scale include:
the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom,
The Netherlands, and New Zealand. Countries low
on the " individualism " scale (high on the " collectivism "
scale) include China, Singapore, South Korea,
Pakistan, and Venezuela.
Legal context
Good societies require laws and regulations to
protect the well-being of their citizens. Technological
advances require new legal protections, particularly
safeguarding individual privacy, which is critical to
the realization of a good society. Data privacy and
personal privacy are considered as " either necessary
or contingent instrumental values for the support
of well-being and justice " [6, p. 42]. Bellman et al.
[23] found that participants that were from countries
with no privacy regulation were more concerned
about the security of on-line transactions than were
participants from countries with privacy regulation.
As technology usage increases, countries are continually
updating and refining their privacy laws.
For example, the European Union (EU) proposed
one of the first laws globally to regulate the use of AI
for applications like hiring and policing. Also, laws
concerning the use and transfer of data differ from
country to country. In 2016, the EU passed a sweeping
overhaul of its old Data Protection Act (DPA)
of 1998. The new act is known as the General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) and it strengthens the
rights of individuals with respect to a person's access
to data, the right to have personal data erased, and
rights of data portability.
One should not necessarily conclude that countries
with broader and stricter legal protections for privacy
and personal data protection (both by government
and private entities) are less likely to see negative
consequences of data. Overly restrictive privacy regulations
and limits on the use of data and algorithms
often pose problems that could negatively affect society.
For example, implementation of the GDPR by the
EU is shown to have a negative impact on AI startups
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