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Risk-based ethics—myth or reality?
1 Sir Zelman Cowen Centre, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
2 School of Law and Justice, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia
Abstract

It is abundantly clear that the digital revolution involves changes in every corner of our lives. It is affecting the economy by increasing efficiency and hence profitability, but these new developments have also affected everyday transactions of the traditional middle class. The changes have given rise to global and multinational shifts which increasingly affect sectors of our domestic economic structure. The technology giants control the digital systems and hence control our personal information, that is the way we live and interact in a social setting. This has changed the very fabric of society. It is important to recognise these changes as the inevitable fact is that the digital revolution is here to stay and indeed it has not run its course yet. New institutional frameworks have emerged and these are untested. We are experiencing changes to our existing social reality but without all the necessary understandings of our new reality. This paper will ask how and importantly whether a risk based ethical construct can protect our personal security and our privacy.

Keywords

digital revolution, ethics, data, security, privacy

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