Technology and Society - Ethics, Law and Policy 5 credits

Digital systems shape how societies function, how organisations operate, and how individuals interact. Every digital system encodes decisions about power, value, and harm. Understanding the relationship between technology, governance, and society is essential for anyone working in digital business. In this course you will examine how technology and society co-evolve through regulatory, economic, and ethical dimensions. You will develop the ability to identify structural patterns in technological outcomes, evaluate accountability mechanisms, and assess how innovation narratives relate to actual effects. We will discuss surveillance capitalism's business models, platform governance mechanisms, corporate social responsibility frameworks, and regulatory approaches (with emphasis on the European Union). You will explore how platforms evolve over time, the politics of data protection and AI governance, the gap between corporate responsibility claims and actual practice, why regulatory attempts to govern digital power succeed or fail, and how different stakeholders shape or resist technological systems. You will engage with industry perspectives, policy documents, and critical scholarship to build analytical frameworks for evaluating whose interests technological systems serve. You will trace how business models shape platform behaviour, analyse governance successes and failures, and examine cases where technological change produced unintended consequences. After this course, you will be equipped to critically assess technological systems and their governance, articulate informed positions on digital policy challenges, and navigate ethical complexities in technology work. You will understand the broader implications of decisions made in digital business contexts and your responsibility when participating in them, with frameworks for systematic analysis of technology's societal impact. **Connection to Research ** The course connects to JIBS research in platform governance, media policy and technology, and the renewal/digital transformation of industries. **Connection to Practice** The course will prepare you to be reflective practitioners who take into account ethical risks in strategic decisions concerning technology in firms. This includes knowledge of current regulations, policy trends, ethical risks within firms, and their consequences, as firms increasingly rely on data, global platforms, and automated organisational processes. The coursework includes real-world cases, which prepare you for facing real-world ethical dilemmas in strategic decision-making. **Connection to Ethics, Responsibility, Sustainability (ERS)** The course covers digital ethics, law, and compliance. It links company-level decisions about data and technology to worldwide policy trends. This includes ethical evaluations and an emphasis on the risks at the corporate level related to increasing automation and data-driven decision making. The course also teaches you to consider ethical dilemmas and their impacts, along with responsible management practices.