Actor-Network Theory and Organizing

Question: Describe about the Actor-Network Theory and Organizing? Answer: Introduction In this paper, two different news will be analyzed with respect to context of actor network theory. The two news have been selected from the duration of 1st January 2016 to 15th April 2016. By analyzing these news, it would be determined and concluded that in modern computing, every actant either acts on or being acted upon by at least one other actant in order to satisfy the aims of their respective assemblage. The base of analysis is Actor Network Theory. This theory defines key players in the environment known as actants. They can be human or non-human. Both of them have equal importance. The analysis shows that Actant can be human or non-human and both are of equal importance. The theory does not differentiate between society and nature, true and false, content and context, micro and macro levels, agency and structure, etc. but treats everything as a result of collective activities that are networked together with heterogeneous elements amalgamated together. It identifies these e lements as actors that can be textual, conceptual, social and technical. Actor Network theory Actor Network Theory (or ANT) is a theoretical framework that draws similarities between socio-technological processes as well as scientific work. ANT does not favor any social constructivism or realism views rather believes in juxtaposition of technical, social, conceptual and textual processes that helps brings transformations. Act on Humans ANT gives a symmetrical approach wherein both objects and people are given an an equal weightage. This however does not mean that objects can have intentionality similar to the humans, but they do have the ability to act upon humans. Act on Material environment Groups last as long as their interactions that brings them into existence. For instance, in a musical event the crowd would only last for as long as the event continues within the auditorium and the event itself can be terms as the social assembly Act on cultures ANT depicts the interactions between actor and the associated network which is termed as assemblage. This theory is being used in finding the stability of the network. This results in impacting the quality and complexity of the assemblage i.e. the network. Analysis Using Actor Network Theory (ANT) Computing News Story 1 - Your next car will be hacked. Will autonomous vehicles be worth it? Users feel that self-driving cars enjoy more secure than a driver-accompanied car. However, in todays world that may not happen. This is because self-driving cars are at last computerized system which can be hacked by any hacker or unauthorized person. The mentioned story depicts the impact of the actant Hacker on the functioning of another actant i.e. self-driving cars which has a greater impact on the roads i.e. assemblage. These cars communicate with the roads through their inbuilt technology which uses visual representation of coming other vehicles and blockades. Users are not aware that, during this process considerable size of information is being leaked to the other actants i.e. maps. In one of the events, one hacker has claimed that he had taken full control of the system on board. There the passenger keeps on getting a message - climb command through which the hacker accessed the entertainment system. Here, the actant hacker is gaining complete access of the system by manipulating different components of the self-driving car. In this event, the actant even went very far to gain entire control of planes navigation system and asked the plane to perform a risky and dangerous action. In another event, actant hacker caused a jeep to crash in July 2015 (Kiss, 2016) by gaining access to the control of car through a very weakly protected system. Throughout the event, the hacker kept on collecting the information and data from the jeep. The actant also retrieved the data when the user sat in the car and started the system. At this moment, it is difficult to blame all the actants as they are of different types. Good hackers, who work to find a weakness in the system and t hen improve it; activist hackers who are politically motivated; nation-state agencies; supporters of extremists and criminals. Among them, criminal actant is the most dangerous who steals data just to make some money of it. In various events, they hack the car actant and ask 10 bitcoins to release the control of the car. According to the author, traditional manufacturers which is another actant of this assemblage, used to build the cars for safety but not for security and hence they have started to learn in efficient manner and taken up this matter on a serious note (Wired, 2016). On the scale of culture The story identifies the relation between the criminal activities and corresponding application of law on them. The activities of criminal type hackers are subjected to capital punishment and even imprisonment. This has been done to avoid harassment being caused to the users. According to president of Insurance Information Institute (III), Robert Hartwig (Fenwick Edwards, 2012), the US market which another actant like hacker, is growing rapidly and is expected to reach $7.5 billion by 2020. This is so because in America even a small theft of somebodys personal information may cost more than the cost of the actual cost of the attack. Although self-driving cars are vulnerable to hacking but according to Robert Hartwig, they will reduce the number of road accidents by approximately 80%. This will be done by the increased safety of the self-driving cars. The data policies will play an important role because it will record the driving patterns and hence refrain the system from getting hacked. As a result of this, human-controlled will eventually be forbidden from road as they will not be able to compete with the self-driving cars. This poses a new threat to humankind from electronically controlled cars which is difficult to detect. Computing Story 2 - Samsung and Huawei fingerprint scanners can be fooled using an inkjet printer The story about the fingerprint security of Huawei and Samsung would be explored using actor network theory. The actant Samsung galaxy s6 and Huawei honor 7 were successfully unlocked by another actant i.e., the standard inkjet printer. This actant produced a printout using a fingerprint that using a specialized ink. Researchers who are other actants in the assemblage took several scans on the fingerprints of other human actants. They then printed on a special paper which are used for printing charge carrying systems and electronic circuits. The actants found out that the process can be repeated for several fingers in very little time and with very commonly availably available equipment. Previous attempts were made by modelling a finger and glueing a print on that finger which in itself required specialized equipments and skills. Both of the smartphone actants make use of similar fingerprint scanning technology and are both essentially easily cracked in this fashion. In fact, most other actants in the assemblage make use of similar fingerprinting technology. Some actants in the assemblage h ave more robust anti-spoofing technologies built into them, however the most secured actant i.e., an iPhone 5S was also spoofed using similar techniques back in September 2013. However, an average user may not need to worry about their actants being spoofed using such techniques. This is because it requires the users fingers to be scanned in a perfect and high resolution way and then be printed on the specialized page which is not easily available everywhere although the actant to produce the print is available. Knowledge scale The story depicts that with law enforcement agencies can come up with a way unlocking the suspects smartphone. Although the actant would lock itself out after it has switched off or after having passed a period of 48 hours. However, since the earlier researches demonstrated such an easy way which can happen in less than 5 minutes having all kinds of equipment available, 48 hours may look like an ample amount of time. Culture scale The story has opinions of various users from different backgrounds regarding the unlocking mechanism. One of the actants spokesperson claimed that the fingerprint security is a matter of great concern to them and that they store it securely within the device in an encrypted fashion which cannot be retrieved in any way. As the report has already pointed out, it would take some specialized equipments, a full high quality fingerprint scan and also the actant in working condition to be able to unlock it. Another spokesperson from another actant said that the data integrity is taken very seriously by them and they are always committed to protect their customers privacy using constantly updated new technologies that also includes the latest fingerprint sensor technology. They also claimed that they were aware about different reports which claimed inherent security vulnerabilities present in the fingerprint technologies and that they exist in all actants manufacturers includi ng the actant in question. According to them, it was not a credible issue at the moment and if it becomes a credible vulnerability, they will act accordingly. Also, they claimed that their actant was equipped with a superior technology because the sensor was embedded in a chipset level security wherein their personal data is protected within the hardware. They claim their technology is superior to their competitors actants (Hern, 2016). Enhancement management The stories depict that technologies like driverless cars and fingerprint scanners increases the potential working of humans. In story 2, it was analyzed that how Fingerprint Sensors embedded into the Huawei and Samsungs new phones can be tricked into unlocking the phone using using Inkjet Printers. The fingerprint sensors and the printers are actants in the story in the fingerprint security assemblage. The aim of the story is to present that some of the fingerprint scanners which are deem to be a strong authentication protocol could have dangerous potential loopholes. Also, in essence, in an actor-network theory, an actor is a human or even a non-human entity such as animals, tangible and intangible objects, texts, abstract ideas, concepts, gadgets etc. Issues raised by contemporary computing The technology does impact the behavior of humans. In the two stories, the fingerprint scanners and driverless cars results in the increased dependency of humans on technology hardware and software. The concept of contemporary computing helps in enhancing the communication between both humans and technologies. However, on the negative side, they tend to decrease the thinking capability of humans as it leads to feeding of more information than the actual utility rate. The amount of feedback leads to existence of contemporary computing in our daily lives. Conclusion According to the case analyzed by the actor-network theory, it is clear that the actants are equipped with latest and some of the greatest fingerprint sensor technology that is protected with all kinds of security. Yet it has a huge security loophole that could potentially negate the kind of security that was embedded into the actant. This becomes a larger issue in context because earlier such technology was restricted to only the most high-end actants but now most of the actants and even the entry-level to mid-tier actants are coming up with similar fingerprint sensor technology and would be in hand of hundreds of millions of actants. Hence the specialized resource i.e., a high quality scanner and the specialized paper which is required to print the fingerprint may eventually end up becoming common as well. As a result, manufacturers of these actants need to come up with a solution that will solve such problems in the near future. References Czarniawska-Joerges, B. and Hernes, T. (2005).Actor-network theory and organizing. MalmoÃÅ'ˆ: Liber. Fenwick, T. and Edwards, R. (2010).Actor-network theory in education. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Fenwick, T. and Edwards, R. (2012).Researching Education Through Actor-Network Theory. Hoboken: John Wiley Sons. Hern, A. (2016).Apple co-founder criticises company over Apple Watch. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/17/apple-co-founder-steve-wozniak-criticises-company-over-apple-watch [Accessed 18 Mar. 2016]. Hooper, L. (2014).Actor network theory. [Place of publication not identified]: Grin Verlag Gmbh. Latour, B. (2005).Reassembling the social. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Law, J. and Hassard, J. (1999).Actor network theory and after. Oxford [England]: Blackwell/Sociological Review. 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