GIS and Society - Commentary on GIS&S 2nd Ed. Wiley

As I was reading my assigned chapters in Geographic Information Systems and Science 2nd Ed., I caught onto one theme in the first chapter that caused me to mentally field more questions:

"Although in principle it is possible to use GIS for any purpose, in practice it is often used for purposes that may be ethically questionable or may invade individual privacy, such as surveillance and the gathering of military and industrial intelligence. The technology may appear neutral, but it is always used in a social context. As with debates over the atomic bomb in the 1940s and 1950s, the scientists who develop and promote the use of GIS surely bear some responsibility for how it is eventually used. The idea that a tool can be inherently neutral, and its developers therefore are immune from any ethical debates, is strongly questioned in this literature." pg. 31

Before I became a geography major and a student of GIS, I was already someone who believes that it is normal and even good to have a healthy mistrust of government. In fact it is said by the old timers that it is patriotic to question your government. That's how America came into being.

Does GIS contribute to the 'surveillance society' in that many fear is already in the process of coming into being? Will GIS technology be a part of the infringement of the rights of ordinary citizens?

Now, to give the benefit of a doubt, I will say that maps have been implicated in everything from agriculture to war. Are cartographers bad?

One instance of abuse of personal rights in which GIS might be implicated is the case involving imminent domain that took place in 2004 I think. A group of residents residing within the municipal boundaries of Alabaster, AL were told they had to sell and leave because the municipal government was allowing Wal-Mart to build a supercenter on their land. I remember hearing on a talk radio show that that part of Alabaster where these people lived was the poorest part of the township or city. The uproar was caused by the fact that imminent domain was being used to evict residents from privately owned land to make way for something that was not a public good like a highway or park, but something that would produce public revenue. The residents there had the least financial ability to challenge this action in court and were therefore petitioning for donations from anyone who would help. I heard that the measure failed and that the Wal-Mart store was built.

Was GIS involved in the decision making that lead to these results? Maybe so, but the end-users are probably more likely to blame for what happened. Still I believe that it's the responsibility of those who write software, to consider the effects of the most likely uses of their contribution to GIS technology.

The largest numbers of GIS users are found in government. This discussion will most likely continue because of that very reason.