Emerging Ethical Issues in Telecommunication in Chile. Professor Abraham Santibáñez Diego Portales University Santiago, Chile. 2001

A Latin American Country Chile is a small South American country with 15 million inhabitants. It has a long tradition of innovation: –railroads, steel structures, new technology in mines during the 19 th century. –Social reform: health programs, public education, agrarian reform and housing on the 20 th.

Revolutionary times in Chile The 20 th century was a period of social trouble, specially in its second half. Salvador Allende, a socialist, was elected in 1970 with less than 50 per cent of the votes. His government ended in tragedy.

Mixed feelings... For almost 17 years we suffered Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. We lived with no democracy, no liberties no freedom of the press and under systematic human rights abuses…. …but, at the same time, Chile gave a big step to modernization.

Strong Economy A deep reform gave us one of the strongest economies in Latin America. –The average growth rate between was 6.4. –We doubled the GDP in the last decade. –1999 recession was the first one in 15 years. –Chile grew in year 2000 almost a six percent rate. And we have a very low inflation rate.

On the cyber-road Chile open economy has made it a very atractive country for foreign investment. We have many trade agreements, including the Pacific area. We are negotiating a free trade agreement with the U.S. Private and public sectors agree in the positive effects of globalization.

A new impulse Very recently, President Ricardo Lagos came to the U.S. to visit and sign important technological agreements in Silicon Valley. He met with Bill Gates and other leaders in computer development business.. “Chile, he said, has set itself a goal of becoming a leading country in the digital world by the year 2010”.

Five targets for Chile: Enhancing connectivity Increasing e-commerce Enlarging the contents and number of available links. Atracting venture capital Speeding up e-learning among children and teachers.

A businessman opinion Juan Carlos Macuada, Regional Director of Sun Microsystems: –“Chile is in excellent condition to face the challenges of the Net Economy… It is the Latin American country best prepared to incorporate new technological advances and new ways of working and communicating”.

And also... e-government A government advisor said recently that Chile can become an experimental field in e-government. Eugenio Tironi believes that the chilean Internal Revenue Service is an example to took up very seriously.

But….

Our challenges There are many new non solved problems. In the very first place, there exist the same problems derived from new technology, everywhere… But we have our own problems, as a technological dependent country.

Some troublesome questions Fear of losing our national identity. Globalization forces us to renounce to our values or fight in order to reinforce them. Ethics. Our students are not researching any more. They just “mark, copy and paste”- Loss of our language. We are suffering both from the English invasion and the destruction of our native Spanish.

“On the end of the day”... The main concern for us, both academics and national authorities, is how to take profit of the enormous possibilities of new technology without being exposed to a loss of some important values: i.e. mutual respect, the appreciation of our language and, with it, of our permanent values and traditions.

An academic responsibility I do believe the main responsibility for finding the answers is ours: – People working, thinking and doing research at university level. Thank you.