Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Technology and Rights

  • Published:
International Journal of Technology and Design Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

What do we know about technology and rights? This article provides a fairly comprehensive overview of current issues regarding this topic. We explore and analyse a wide spectrum of rights that are challenged in this current era of technological convergence. We use the United States Bill of Rights as an example of the vulnerability of legal protections for rights against particular political and technological changes in this post 9-11 climate. New streams of rights acting as a safeguard against further incursions of technology into civil liberties are explored. We also address intellectual property rights and international trends in copyright, patent and trademark laws. We question whether these issues of technology and rights have a place in current technological literacy scenarios.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abel, S.: 2003, Trademark Issues in Cyberspace: The Brave New Frontier, Fenwick and West, LLP, Mountain View, CA, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen, O. E.: 1990, 'The Power of Patents', American Heritage 41(6), 47-59.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Civil Liberties Union.: 2003, 'USA PATRIOT Act', Retrieved November 23, 2003, from: http://www.aclu. org/SafeandFree.

  • American Medical Student Association.: 2003, A Primer on Gene Patents, Author, Reston, VA. USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bacon, F.: 1914, 'The New Atlantis', Volume III, Part 2, In C. Eliot (ed.), The Harvard Classics, Collier, New York.

  • Barlow, J. P.: 1994, 'The Economy of Ideas', Wired 3(2), 1-5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, R. E.: 1993, 'A Ninth Amendment for Today 's Constitution', In D. Bodenhamer & J. W. Ely (eds.), The Bill of Rights in Modern America, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 177-190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Battiste, M., & Henderson, J. S. Y.: 2000, Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage: A Global Challenge, Purich, Saskatoon.

  • Bennett, J.: 1986, 'Orwell 's 1984: Was Orwell Right?, Journal of Historical Review 6(1), 9-15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blank, P. D., & Sandler, L. A.: 2003, 'ADA Title III and the Internet: Technology and Civil Rights', Retrieved December 15, 2003, from.

  • Bohn, D.: 2003, 'Patriot Act Report Documents Civil Rights Complaints', Retrieved November 25, 2003, from http://edition. cnn.com/2003/LAW/07/21/justice. civil. liberties/.

  • Bozovic, M., (Ed.): 1995, Jeremy Bentham: The Panopticon Writings, Verso, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brin, D.: 1998, The Transparent Society, Perseus, Reading, MA, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryson, M., & de Castell, S.: 1996, 'Learning to Make a Difference: Gender, New Technologies, and In/Equity', Mind, Culture and Activity 2(1), 3-21.

    Google Scholar 

  • CBC.: 2003, Canada Commits to Making Generic AIDS Drugs Available, Retrieved October 5, 2003, from http://www.cbc. ca/stories/2003/10/01/aids031001.

  • Cohen, J.: 2000, 'More Censorship or Less Discrimination?Sexual Orientation Hate Propaganda in Multiple Perspectives', McGill Law Journal 46(1), 69-104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole, P.: in press, 'Trick(ster) s of Aboriginal Research: Or how to use Ethical Review Strategies to Perpetuate Cultural Genocide', Native Studies Review.

  • Coleman, J., & Sullivan, B.: 2002, 'Enduring and Empowering: The Bill Of Rights in the Third Millennium', Law and Contemporary Problems 65(3), 1-13.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Berry, J.: 2001, 'Child Soldiers and the Convention of rights of the child', Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 575, 92-105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doppelt, G.: 2001, 'What Sort Of Ethics Does Technology Require?', Journal of Ethics 5(2), 155-175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elshof, L.: 2003, 'Technological Education, Interdisciplinarity and Sustainable Development', Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 3(2), 165-184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, T.: 2001, The Politics of Human Rights: A Global Perspective, Pluto Press, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feenberg, A.: 2001, 'Democratizing Technology: Interests, Codes, Rights', Journal of Ethics, 5(2), 177-195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferre ´, F.: 1988, Philosophy of Technology, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox, J.: 2001, 'Canadian Farmer Found Guilty of Canola Patent Infringement', Nature Biotechnology 19(5), 396-397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freitas, R.: 1985, 'The Legal Rights of Robots', Student Lawyer 13(1), 54-56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fried, I.: 2003, 'SCO Linux Claims-A Legal View', Retrieved September 26, 2003, from http:// zdnet.com.com/2100-1104 2-5082181.html.

  • Gri. or, M.: 2003, 'Hate and Violence in the Virtual World', The South End Online, http:// www.southend.wayne.edu/days/2003/September/9182003/oped/violence/violence.html.

  • Glendon, M. A.: 1991, Rights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political Discourse, Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D.: 1997, Modest Wittness@Second Millennium: Femaleman Meets Oncomouse, Routledge, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hays, M.: 2003, 'Blame Canada', The Advocate, 894, http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/ 894/894_canada. asp.

  • HHMI Bulletin.: 2001, 'Gleevec 's Glory Days', Retrieved October 6, 2003, from http:// www.hhmi. org/bulletin/dec2001/gleevec/gleevec2.html.

  • Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies: 2000, Reproductive Health Bill of Rights For Women of Color, Author, New Orleans.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ives, N.: 2003, 'Iowa Professor Owns Phrase ''Freedom Of Expression '', New York Times, Retrieved November 24, 2003, from: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/23/business/media/ 23ADCO.html.

  • Jonas, H.: 1984, The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of Ethics for the Technological Age, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanellos, M., & Hu, J.: 2003, 'Microsoft Ordered to Pay $521 Million', Retrieved October 7, 2003, from http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-5062409.html.

  • Keirl, S.: 2001, Citizenship Education?Not Without a Quality Technology Education it Isn 't, Paper presented at the Australian Curriculum Studies Association Biennial Conference, Canberra.

  • Kevles, D.: 2002, A History of Patenting Life in The United States with Comparative Attention To Europe And Canada, European Communities, Luxembourg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, S.: 2003, 'TRIPs and Public Health', Retrieved October 7, 2003, from http:// www.di. welfare. net/article_view. asp?articleno= 162&category= focus2.

  • Kitch, E.: 1980, 'The Law and Economics of Rights in Valuable Information', The Journal of Legal Studies 14(4), 683-723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krimsky, S.: 2003, Science in the Private Interest: Has the Lure of Pro ts Corrupted Biomedical Research?, Roman and Littlefield: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B.: 1999, Pandora 's Hope, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Litras, M. F.: 2000, Civil Rights Complaints in US District Courts, 1990-98, US Department of Justice, Washington, DC, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marker, G.: 1987, 'Science, Technology and the Constitution: A Never-Ending Tension', ERIC 292, 710.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mashelkar, R. A.: 2001, 'Intellectual Property Rights and The Third World', Current Science 81(8), 955-965.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGinn, R.: 1994, 'Technology, Demography and the Anachronism of Traditional Rights', Journal of Applied Philosophy 11(1), 57-70.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLeod, K.: 2001, Owning Culture: Authorship, Ownership and Intellectual Property Law, Peter Lang, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mehrabadi, A.: 2003, 'From a Satellite Looking Down at our use of Patents in the Great Planetary Scheme of Things', BioTeach Journal 1(1), 13-17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mill, J. S.: 1859, On Liberty, Longman, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers, W. E.: 2001, 'The Right Rights?Child Labor in a Globalizing World', Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 575(1), 38-55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nickel, J. W.: 2002, 'Is Today 's International Human Rights System A Global Governance Regime?'Journal of Ethics 6(4), 353-371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noble, D.: 1977, America by Design: Science, Technology and the Rise Of Corporate Capitalism, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nufield Council on Bioethics: 2002, The Ethics of Patenting DNA: A Discussion Paper, Author, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Office of Technology Assessment: 1987, Science, Technology and the Constitution, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Office of Technology Assessment: 1988a, Science, Technology and the First Amendment, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Office of Technology Assessment: 1988b, Biology, Medicine, and the Bill Of Rights, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Office of Technology Assessment.: 1988c, Criminal Justice, New Technologies and the Constitution, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Office of Technology Assessment: 1989, New Developments in Biology: Patenting life, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • O 'Riley, P.: 2003, Technology, Culture And Socioeconomics: A Rhizoanalysis of Educational Discourses, Peter Lang, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • O 'Riley, P.: in press, 'Shapeshifting Research on Aboriginal Peoples: From Manifest Manners to Self-Empowerment', Native Studies Review.

  • Orwell, G.: 1948, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Penguin, Harmondsworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pacey, A.: 1983, The Culture of Technology, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrina, S.: 2000, 'The Politics of Technological Literacy', International Journal of Technology and Design Education 10(2), 181-206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrina, S.: 2003a, 'Unbundling Intellectual Property Rights', Faculty Focus: Newsletter of the Faculty Association of UBC 36(7), 7-9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrina, S.: 2003b, 'Human Rights and Politically Incorrect Thinking Versus Technically Speaking', Journal of Technology Education 14(2), 70-74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pogge, T.: 2000, 'The International Signi cance of Human Rights', Journal of Ethics 4(1), 45-69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rollin, B.: 1995, The Frankenstein Syndrome: Ethical And Social Issues in The Genetic Engineering of Animals, Cambridge University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rollin, B.: 1997, 'Send In The Clones ...Don 't Bother, They 're Here', Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 10(1), 25-40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rollin, B.: 1999, 'Keeping Up With the Cloneses: Issues in Human Cloning', Journal of Ethics 3(1), 51-71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saul, J. R.: 1997, The Unconscious Civilization

  • Schurman, R., & Kelso, D. D. T.: 2003, Engineering Trouble: Biotechnology and its Discontents, University of California Press, Berkely.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shelley, M. W.: 1818, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, Penguin, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shiva, V.: 1997, Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge, South End Press, Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shiva, V.: 2001a, Protect or Plunder?Understanding Intellectual Property Rights, Zed Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shiva, V.: 2001b, 'Intellectual Property Protection in The North/South Divide', In C. Heath & A. K. Sanders (eds.), Intellectual Property in The Digital Age: Challenges For Asia, (Kluwer, The Hague, 113-130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M.: 2001, 'Global Information Justice: Rights, Responsibilities and Caring Connections', Library Trends 19(3), 519-537.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sta. W.: 2003, 'Haida Launch Aboriginal Title Case in BC Supreme Court', First Nations Drum, 5 (3), http://www.rstnationsdrum.com/Sum2002.

  • Tatum, J. S.: 1996, 'Technology and Liberty: Enriching the Conversation', Technology in Society 18(1), 41-59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tenner, E.: 1996, Why Things Bite Back: Predicting the Problems of Progress, Fourth estate, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations: 1948, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Author, Geneva.

    Google Scholar 

  • Volk, K.: 1990, 'The Interrelationship Between Political and Technological Systems', Journal of Epsilon Pi Tau 16(1), 47-52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Volk, K.: 1994, 'Technology, You and the Law', Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society 14(4), 203-208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waldron, J.: 2000, 'The Role of Rights in Practical Reasoning: Rights Versus Needs', Journal of Ethics 4(1), 115-135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weeramantry, C. G.: 1993, The Impact of Technology on Human Rights, United Nations Press, Tokyo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinberger, J.: 1976, 'Science and Rule in Bacon 's Utopia: An Introduction to the Reading of the New Atlantis', American Political Science Review 70(3), 865-886.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitney, C.: 1989, 'Francis Bacon 's Instauratio: Domination of and Over Humanity', Journal of the History of Ideas 50(3), 271-391.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whittington, L.: 2003, Cheap-drugs Bill a World First, Retrieved November 7, 2003, from http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename= thestar/Layout/Article_ Type1&call_pageid= 971358637177&c= Article&cid= 1068160209534.

  • Willinsky, J.: 1999. Technologies of Knowing: A Proposal for the Human Sciences, Bacon, Boston.

  • Winner, L.: 1977, Autonomous Technology: Techniques-out-of-Control as a Theme in Political Thought, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, S.: 1986, 'Recombinant DNA Technology and its Social Transformation, 1972-1982', Osiris 2, 303-360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Trade Organization: 2003, Decision Removes Final Patent Obstacle to Cheap Drug Imports, Retrieved November 7, 2003, from http://www.wto. org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/ trips_e.htm.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Curriculum Studies, University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Stephen Petrina

  2. Hong Kong Institute of Education, Canada

    Kenneth Volk

  3. University of British Columbia, Canada

    Soowook Kim

Authors
  1. Stephen Petrina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kenneth Volk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Soowook Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Petrina, S., Volk, K. & Kim, S. Technology and Rights. International Journal of Technology and Design Education 14, 181–204 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-004-0809-6

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-004-0809-6

Search

Navigation