Technology Topics: Privacy, AI, and Social Media

Technology questions in LNAT Section B have become increasingly common as digital technology reshapes every aspect of society. These prompts ask you to engage with the ethical, political, and social implications of technological change — particularly around surveillance, data rights, artificial intelligence, and social media. To write well on these topics, you need current affairs awareness combined with the ability to apply ethical and political principles to novel situations.

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Why Technology Topics Are Distinctive

Technology essays differ from other LNAT topics in one important respect: the landscape changes rapidly. A question about democracy draws on principles debated for 2,500 years; a question about AI regulation draws on developments from the last decade. This means:

• You need up-to-date knowledge. A technology essay that references only pre-2020 examples will feel dated.
• You need to acknowledge uncertainty. The long-term consequences of many technologies are genuinely unknown.
• You need to apply established principles to new contexts. The ethical frameworks (consequentialism, rights-based thinking) still apply — but the application is novel.

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Major Technology Topics and How to Argue Both Sides

1. Surveillance and Data Privacy

The question: How much surveillance should the state (or private companies) be permitted to conduct?

In Favour of Surveillance	In Favour of Strong Privacy
Security: surveillance prevents terrorism and serious crime	Chilling effect: knowing you are watched changes your behaviour, even if you have "nothing to hide"
Accountability: data helps hold individuals and institutions accountable	Power imbalance: surveillance gives the state or corporations enormous power over individuals
Efficiency: targeted surveillance is more effective than random checks	Mission creep: surveillance systems introduced for one purpose are routinely expanded to others
Consent: if you agree to terms of service, you have consented to data collection	Informed consent is a fiction: nobody reads the terms; consent is not freely given

Key examples:

• The Snowden revelations (2013) — mass surveillance by the NSA and GCHQ
• China's social credit system — state surveillance as social control
• The UK's Investigatory Powers Act 2016 ("Snooper's Charter")
• The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — a rights-based approach to data

Essay Tip: The strongest technology essays avoid the false dichotomy of "privacy vs. security". Instead, they explore how to achieve both — through judicial oversight, proportionality, and clear legal frameworks.

2. Artificial Intelligence: Opportunity and Risk

The question: Should AI development be regulated, and if so, how?

In Favour of Minimal Regulation	In Favour of Strong Regulation
Innovation: heavy regulation stifles innovation and puts countries at a competitive disadvantage	Safety: AI systems making decisions about criminal justice, healthcare, and employment must be safe and fair
Premature: we do not yet understand AI well enough to regulate it effectively	Bias: AI systems trained on biased data reproduce and amplify those biases
Self-regulation: the tech industry has strong incentives to develop safe AI	Accountability: when an AI makes a harmful decision, someone must be responsible
Benefits: AI is already saving lives in medical diagnosis, climate modelling, and drug discovery	Power concentration: unregulated AI development concentrates enormous power in a few companies

Key examples:

• The EU AI Act (2024) — the first comprehensive AI regulation
• Algorithmic bias in criminal sentencing (COMPAS system in the US)
• ChatGPT and large language models — the debate over misinformation and intellectual property
• Autonomous vehicles — the "trolley problem" made real

3. Social Media: Connection or Harm?

The question: Has social media done more harm than good, and should it be regulated?