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Digital Evolution and overcoming business
ethical dilemmas
Nii N. Quaynor, Ghana Dot Com, Accra, Ghana At
ACCA Africa Member Convention, Addis Ababa, 6 December 2017
1
Digital Evolution • Computer science has been maturing and
nurturing high impact technologies, notable among them
• Internet and cloud computing
• Blockchain
• Artificial Intelligence (coming fast)
2
Ethical dilemmas • Digital objects are exact when copied
• Identity becoming digital keys (can lose them) in e-business
• Global nature of facilities complicates issues
• How to achieve optimum value, goal and act in public interest in these circumstances
3
As Africa adopted Internet
Foundation Beginning Formation Growth
86-90
Preconditions
91-95
First Connections
96-00
Structures & communities
2000-2005+
Formal Institutions
20+ years4
9/91 Internet Society, country connectivity
5
6/15/97 Internet Society, country connectivity
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Af*, Internet institutions 2001-2005
• Internet on global agenda: WSIS,IGF, national ICT plans
• Community and capacity: NOGs, ccTLDs, a NIC, NRENs, CERTs, registrars,...
• Submarine cables and mobile uptake
• New issues: cyber security and crime, cross border connectivity and adopting bottom up multi stakeholder processes
7
The technology shiftsAxes Foundation
86-90Beginning
91-95Formation
96-00Maturity 01-05+
Policy Centralized Reforms Regulator Competition
Infrastructure National operator Separation Private Private/
Public
Workforce Telco Computersciences Industry Proliferation
Governance QuasiCorporate Corporate Dialog
ForumsMulti
Stakeholder
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blockchain?Last
Document
10
Blockchain as records• Ordered permanent records (immutable and
immortal)
• Records may be: Transactions, data or programs
• Employs computer science techniques: networks, cryptography, consensus, electronic ledger and contracts
• The blockchain may public, private or embedded
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Blockchain as Trust layer of the Internet
Signing : public key hash : consensus
Web : Domain names
Internet : IP addresses
Transmission : interfaces physical
logical
social
Trust
12
9/91 Internet Society, country connectivity 2016 Bitnodes
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Blockchain as Data Structure
• immutable, Txid
• organized, columns
• files, filenames
Blockchain
Databases
Directory Files
14
If Blockchain contains Transactions: Bitcoin is a peer
to peer systemWhen Ama wants to pay Baaba:she broadcast the transaction to all Bitcoin nodes
Pay value <v> from addr <A> to addr <B>
Signed by Ama
Network ofBitcoin nodes
NB: Baaba’s computer is not in the picture
15
In general: Bitcoin blockchain sectors
Mining Wallets Exchanges DevelopersBlockchain
satoshi satoshi, GHS applications
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satoshi
NodeNetwork
+initiate
Merchants
Mining at GDC• Runs hot
• makes noise
• 1.2Kw
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inputs
inputs
outputs
outputs
Each input spends previous output
T0
T1
Each output waits as unspent Tx output (UTXO) until an input spends it
Bitcoin Transactions
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OP_DUP OP_HASH160 address OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG
sig sig sig sig sig
pub pub pub pub pub
pub address address
address
OP_DUP OP_HASH address OP_EQUALVERIFY DONE
OPCODE Execution sequence of pay to public key hash (P2PKH)
=> => => => =>
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Checks if input address is from your public key and if input signature good
What if transaction value is generalized from coin to other
• <input address, value, output address>
• The value can literally be any asset: land, property, other digital assets and maintain rules about addresses and signatures
• May be a new blockchain or application off existing blockchain platforms
20
If transaction is “data” on blockchain
• Use a digest (hash) to increase Integrity
• The data may be interpreted by an external program
• When interpretation is unwieldy use smart contracts
21
If code on blockchain, smart contracts
• Ethereum is favored platform
• Autonomous agents, smart contracts
• Applications that know about money and with wallets
• State changes effected by Transactions and invocation of function in contracts on the blockchain
22
A B
Tx = Send 2 from A to B
nonce:234 balance:10
Code Storage
nonce:158 balance:15
Code Storage
A balance:10
B balance:15
A balance:8
B balance:17
Accounts
Blockchain
EthereumAccounts and Blockchain
S S’
Apply(S,Tx)=S’
23
Blockchain Technology shifts
Axes Internet Asset Registry
Policy Private sector led
recognize digital
currencyopen
Infrastructure cables+data centers nodes+miners nodes+miners
Workforcenet, web, mobile
developmentnew new
Governance MSof/on net
MSof/on
blockchainopen
24
Artificial Intelligence (in the news)
• Forbes, 51 AI predictions site Business Intelligence and Analytics for exponentially paced innovation
• In May 2017, researchers at Google Brain announced the creation of AutoML, an artificial intelligence (AI) that’s capable of generating its own AIs.
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AI impact:McKinsey & Company report https://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/future-of-organizations-and-work/what-the-future-of-
work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages
• It forecasts scenarios in which 3 percent to 14 percent of workers around the world — in 75 million to 375 million jobs — will have to acquire new skills and switch occupations by 2030.
• In 60 percent of jobs worldwide, "at least one-third of the constituent activities could be automated," McKinsey says, which would mean a big change in what people do day-to-day.
• Up to 800 million global workers will lose their jobs by 2030 and be replaced by robotic automation
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Opportunities • H&R Brock and IBM announced a program for filing
income tax returns
• An auditor may mine and analyze large volumes of structured and unstructured data related to a company's financial information and assets management
• Robotic systems could interface with a client's systems to transfer and compile data automatically, something previously done manually by a junior auditor
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Digital evolution in Summary • internet and governance on/off internet
• Blockchain & crypto currencies
• Asset management
• AI and accounting (bots)
• Augmented reality, visualization, data analytics,
• Tax becomes vat
• Public key as identifiers
28
Business Ethics at Play• Multi stakeholder
• public interest
• Accountability and transparency
• Privacy considerations
• Every thing global what are "global" ethical norms. Who knows which sovereign norms applicable
• Traceability getting more difficult vs privacy
• Crossing sovereignty boundaries complicate matters
29
Technology and Ethics
• Man and machine (biases induced in machines)
• New identity as key pairs
• Cyber security concerns
30
Conclusion
• The struggle to evolve technologies while keeping Human values inside
• Involvement and active engagement would ensure corporate value and in public interest
31
Thank you
32
Foundation 86-90• Computer science education
• Monopoly telecom
• Enterprise computer systems
• Email scene
• PCs
33
The beginning 91-95• Adopting TCP/IP over proprietary network
standards
• Access/connectivity issues
• Telecommunication tensions
• Emergence of ccTLDs
• Web experience
34
Formation and self organizing 96-2000
• Secondary cities connectivity
• Telecommunication policy reforms
• ICT 4 development emphasis
• Global internet coordination
• African participation in global, Cotonou convention
• Technology acquisition and sharing, NOGs
• Mobile arrived
35