Computer ethics
Encyclopedia
Computer Ethics is a branch of practical philosophy
which deals with how computing professionals should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct.
Margaret Anne Pierce, a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computers at Georgia Southern University has categorized the ethical decisions related to computer technology and usage into 3 primary influences:
Relativism
is the belief that there are no universal moral norms of right and wrong. In the school of relativistic ethical belief, ethicists divide it into two connected but different structures, subject (Moral) and culture (Anthropological). Moral relativism
is the idea that each person decides what is right and wrong for them. Anthropological relativism is the concept of right and wrong is decided by a society’s actual moral belief structure.
Kantianism
is the belief that people’s actions are to be guided by moral laws, and that these moral laws are universal. Kantianism
is the name given to the ethical theory of German philosopher Immanuel Kant
. He believed that in order for any ethical school of thought to apply to all rational beings, they must have a foundation in reason. Kant split this school into two categorical imperatives. The first categorical imperative states to act only from moral rules that you can at the same time will to be universal moral laws. The second categorical imperative states to act so that you always treat both yourself and other people as ends in themselves, and never only as a means to an end.
Utilitarianism
is the belief that if an action is good if it benefits someone and an action is bad if it harms someone. This ethical belief can be broken down into two different schools, Act Utilitarianism
and Rule Utilitarianism
. Act Utilitarianism
is the belief that an action is good if its overall affect is to produce more happiness than unhappiness. Rule Utilitarianism
is the belief that we should adopt a moral rule and if followed by everybody, would lead to a greater level of overall happiness.
Social contract
is the concept that for a society to arise and maintain order, a morality based set of rules must be agreed upon. Social contract theory has influenced modern government and is heavily involved with societal law. Philosophers like John Rawls
, Thomas Hobbes
, John Locke
, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau
helped created the function foundation of social contract
.
The conceptual foundations of computer ethics are investigated by information ethics
, a branch of philosophical ethics
established by Luciano Floridi
. The term computer ethics was first coined by Dr. Walter Maner, a professor at Bowling Green State University
. Since the 1990s the field has started being integrated into professional development programs in academic settings.
, an MIT professor and inventor of an information feedback system called "cybernetics
", published a book called "The Human Use of Human Beings
" which laid out the basic foundations of computer ethics and made Norbert Wiener the father of computer ethics.
Later on, in 1966 another MIT professor by the name of Joseph Weizenbaum
published a simple program called ELIZA
which performed natural language processing. In essence, the program functioned like a psychotherapist where the program only used open ended questions to encourage patients to respond. The program would apply pattern matching pattern rules to human statements to figure out its reply.
A bit later during the same year the world's first computer crime was committed. A programmer was able to use a bit of computer code to stop his banking account from being flagged as overdrawn. However, there were no laws in place at that time to stop him, and as a result he was not charged. To make sure another person did not follow suit, an ethics code for computers was needed.
Sometime further into the 1960s Donn Parker , who was an author on computer crimes, led to the development of the first code of ethics in the field of computer technology.
In 1970, a medical teacher and researcher, by the name of Walter Manner noticed that ethical decisions are much harder to make when computers are added. He noticed a need for a different branch of ethics for when it came to dealing with computers. The term "Computer ethics" was thus invented.
During the same year, the ACM
(Association of Computing Machinery) decided to adopt a professional code of ethics due to which, by the middle of the 1970s new privacy and computer crime laws had been put in place in United States as well as Europe.
In the year 1976 Joseph Weizenbaum
made his second significant addition to the field of computer ethics. He published a book titled "Computer power and Human reason" which talked about how artificial intelligence is good for the world; however it should never be allowed to make the most important decisions as it does not have human qualities such as wisdom. By far the most important point he makes in the book is the distinction between choosing and deciding. He argued that deciding is a computational activity while making choices is not and thus the ability to make choices is what makes us humans.
At a later time during the same year Abbe Mowshowitz
,a professor of Computer Science at the City College of New York, published an article titled "On approaches to the study of social issues in computing". This article identified and analyzed technical and non-technical biases in research on social issues present in computing.
During 1978, the Right to Federal Privacy Act was adopted and this drastically limited the government's ability to search bank records.
During the same year Terrell Ward Bynum
, the professor of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University as well as Director of the Research Center on Computing and Society there, developed the first ever curriculum for a university course on computer ethics. To make sure he kept the interests of students alive in computer ethics, he launched an essay contest where the subject students had to write about was computer ethics. In 1985, he published a journal titled “Entitled Computers and Ethics”, which turned out to be his most famous publication to date.
In 1984, the Small Business Computer Security and Education act was adopted and this act basically informed the congress on matters that were related to computer crimes against small businesses.
In 1985, James Moor , Professor of Philosophy at DartMouth College in New Hampshire, published an essay called "What is Computer Ethics". In this essay Moor states the computer ethics includes the following: "(1) identification of computer-generated policy vacuums, (2) clarification of conceptual muddles, (3) formulation of policies for the use of computer technology, and (4) ethical justification of such policies."
During the same year, Deborah Johnson, Professor of Applied Ethics and Chair of the Department of Science, Technology, and Society in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences of the University of Virginia, got the first major computer ethics textbook published. It didn't just become the standard setting textbook for computer ethics, but also set up the research agenda for the next 10 years.
In 1988, a librarian at St. Cloud University by the name of Robert Hauptman, came up with "information ethics", a term that was used to describe the storage, production, access and dissemination of information. Near the same time, the Computer Matching and Privacy Act was adopted and this act restricted the government to programs and identifying debtors.
The 1990s was the time when computers were reaching their pinnacle and the combination of computers witch telecommunication, the internet, and other media meant that many new ethical issues were raised.
In the year 1992, ACM adopted a new set of ethical rules called "ACM code of Ethics and Professional Conduct" which consisted of 24 statements of personal responsibility.
3 years later in 1995, Gorniak Kocikowska, a Professor of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University, Coordinator of the Religious Studies Program, as well as a Senior Research Associate in the Research Center on Computing and Society, came up with the idea that computer ethics will eventually become a global ethical system and soon after, computer ethics would replace ethics altogether as it would become the standard ethics of the information age.
In 1999, Deborah Johnson revealed her view, which was quite contrary to Kocikowska's belief, and stated that computer ethics will not evolve but rather be the our old ethics with a slight twist.
In other cases, individuals do not expose themselves, but rather the government or large corporations, companies, small businesses on the internet leave personal information of their clients, citizens, or just general people exposed on the internet. One prime example is the use of Google Streetview and its evolution of online photography mapping of urban areas including residences. Although this advanced global mapping is a wondrous technique to aid people find locations, it also exposes everyone on the internet to moderately restricted views of suburbs, military bases, accidents, and just inappropriate content in general. This has raised major concerns all across the world. See Google Streetview Privacy Concerns
for further details.
Another example of privacy issues with concern to Google is tracking searches. There is a feature within searching that allows Google to keep track of searches so that advertisements will match your search criteria, which in turn means using people as products. If you are not paying for a service online, chances are instead of being the consumer, you may very well be the product. See an article called What They Know for further details.
There is an ongoing discussion about what privacy means and if it is still needed. With the increase in social networking sites, more and more people are allowing their private information to be shared publicly. On the surface, this may be seen as someone listing private information about them on a social networking site, but below the surface, it is the site that could be sharing the information (not the individual). This is the idea of an Opt-In versus Opt-Out situation. There are many privacy statements that state whether there is an Opt-In or an Opt-Out policy. Typically an Opt-In privacy policy means that the individual has to tell the company issuing the privacy policy if they want their information shared or not. Opt-Out means that their information will be shared unless the individual tells the company not to share it.
In reference to Computer Ethics, there is a lot to be said about Internet Privacy. For more discussion see also: Internet Privacy
proposed a unique problem-solving method. In Davis's model, the ethical problem is stated, facts are checked, and a list of options is generated by considering relevant factors relating to the problem. The actual action taken is influenced by specific ethical standards.
that are frequently discussed. One set of issues deals with some of the new ethical dilemma
that have emerged, or taken on new form, with the rise of the Internet
and Social Networking.
There are now many ways to gain information about others that were not available, or easily available, before the rise of computers. Thus ethical issues about storage
of personal information are now becoming an ever increasing problem. With more storage of personal data for social networking arises the problem of selling that information for monetary gain. This gives rise to different ethical situations regarding access, security, and the use of hacking in positive and negative situations.
Situations regarding the copyright infringement of software
, music, movies, are widely becoming discussed, with the rise of file sharing programs such as Napster
, Kazaa
, and the BitTorrent (protocol) . The ethical questions that arise from software piracy are : is it immoral or wrong to copy software, music, or movies?
The use of Internet
as a tool for abuse; spreading child porn, harassment of others, and other challenges as a result of kids use of this media for both consumption and producing. A second set of questions pertaining to the Internet
and the societal influence that are becoming more widely discussed are questions relating to the values that some may wish to promote via the Internet
. Some have claimed that the Internet
is a "democratic technology”. Does the Internet
foster democracy
and freedom of speech? What are the ethical implications of this process on the world? Does the digital divide
raise ethical issues that society is morally obligated to change and spread the ability to access different forms of electronic communication?
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
which deals with how computing professionals should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct.
Margaret Anne Pierce, a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computers at Georgia Southern University has categorized the ethical decisions related to computer technology and usage into 3 primary influences:
- 1. The individual's own personal code.
- 2. any informal code of ethical behavior that exists in the work place.
- 3. exposure to formal codes of ethics.
Foundation
To understand the foundation of computer ethics, it is important to look into the different schools of ethical theory. Each school of ethics influences a situation in a certain direction and pushes the final outcome of ethical theory.Relativism
Relativism
Relativism is the concept that points of view have no absolute truth or validity, having only relative, subjective value according to differences in perception and consideration....
is the belief that there are no universal moral norms of right and wrong. In the school of relativistic ethical belief, ethicists divide it into two connected but different structures, subject (Moral) and culture (Anthropological). Moral relativism
Moral relativism
Moral relativism may be any of several descriptive, meta-ethical, or normative positions. Each of them is concerned with the differences in moral judgments across different people and cultures:...
is the idea that each person decides what is right and wrong for them. Anthropological relativism is the concept of right and wrong is decided by a society’s actual moral belief structure.
Kantianism
Kantianism
Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia . The term Kantianism or Kantian is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and ethics.-Ethics:Kantian ethics are deontological, revolving entirely...
is the belief that people’s actions are to be guided by moral laws, and that these moral laws are universal. Kantianism
Kantianism
Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia . The term Kantianism or Kantian is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and ethics.-Ethics:Kantian ethics are deontological, revolving entirely...
is the name given to the ethical theory of German philosopher Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
. He believed that in order for any ethical school of thought to apply to all rational beings, they must have a foundation in reason. Kant split this school into two categorical imperatives. The first categorical imperative states to act only from moral rules that you can at the same time will to be universal moral laws. The second categorical imperative states to act so that you always treat both yourself and other people as ends in themselves, and never only as a means to an end.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...
is the belief that if an action is good if it benefits someone and an action is bad if it harms someone. This ethical belief can be broken down into two different schools, Act Utilitarianism
Act Utilitarianism
Act Utilitarianism is a utilitarian theory of ethics which states that, when faced with a choice, we must first consider the likely consequences of potential actions and, from that, choose to do what we believe will generate the most pleasure....
and Rule Utilitarianism
Rule Utilitarianism
Rule utilitarianism is a form of utilitarianism that says actions are moral when they conform to the rules that lead to the greatest good, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule of which it is an instance." For rule utilitarians, the...
. Act Utilitarianism
Act Utilitarianism
Act Utilitarianism is a utilitarian theory of ethics which states that, when faced with a choice, we must first consider the likely consequences of potential actions and, from that, choose to do what we believe will generate the most pleasure....
is the belief that an action is good if its overall affect is to produce more happiness than unhappiness. Rule Utilitarianism
Rule Utilitarianism
Rule utilitarianism is a form of utilitarianism that says actions are moral when they conform to the rules that lead to the greatest good, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule of which it is an instance." For rule utilitarians, the...
is the belief that we should adopt a moral rule and if followed by everybody, would lead to a greater level of overall happiness.
Social contract
Social contract
The social contract is an intellectual device intended to explain the appropriate relationship between individuals and their governments. Social contract arguments assert that individuals unite into political societies by a process of mutual consent, agreeing to abide by common rules and accept...
is the concept that for a society to arise and maintain order, a morality based set of rules must be agreed upon. Social contract theory has influenced modern government and is heavily involved with societal law. Philosophers like John Rawls
John Rawls
John Bordley Rawls was an American philosopher and a leading figure in moral and political philosophy. He held the James Bryant Conant University Professorship at Harvard University....
, Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...
, John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
helped created the function foundation of social contract
Social contract
The social contract is an intellectual device intended to explain the appropriate relationship between individuals and their governments. Social contract arguments assert that individuals unite into political societies by a process of mutual consent, agreeing to abide by common rules and accept...
.
The conceptual foundations of computer ethics are investigated by information ethics
Information ethics
Information ethics has been defined as "the branch of ethics that focuses on the relationship between the creation, organization, dissemination, and use of information, and the ethical standards and moral codes governing human conduct in society". It provides a critical framework for considering...
, a branch of philosophical ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
established by Luciano Floridi
Luciano Floridi
Luciano Floridi currently holds the Research Chair in philosophy of information and the UNESCO Chair in Information and Computer Ethics, both at the University of Hertfordshire, Department of Philosophy...
. The term computer ethics was first coined by Dr. Walter Maner, a professor at Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University, often referred to as Bowling Green or BGSU, is a public, coeducational research university located in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 by the State of Ohio as part of the Lowry Bill, which also established Kent State...
. Since the 1990s the field has started being integrated into professional development programs in academic settings.
History
The concept of computer ethics originated in 1950 when Norbert WienerNorbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a...
, an MIT professor and inventor of an information feedback system called "cybernetics
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
", published a book called "The Human Use of Human Beings
The Human Use of Human Beings
The Human Use of Human Beings is a book by Norbert Wiener. It was first published in 1950 and revised in 1954.Wiener was the founding thinker of cybernetics theory and an influential advocate of automation. Human Use argues for the benefits of automation to society...
" which laid out the basic foundations of computer ethics and made Norbert Wiener the father of computer ethics.
Later on, in 1966 another MIT professor by the name of Joseph Weizenbaum
Joseph Weizenbaum
Joseph Weizenbaum was a German-American author and professor emeritus of computer science at MIT.-Life and career:...
published a simple program called ELIZA
ELIZA
ELIZA is a computer program and an early example of primitive natural language processing. ELIZA operated by processing users' responses to scripts, the most famous of which was DOCTOR, a simulation of a Rogerian psychotherapist. Using almost no information about human thought or emotion, DOCTOR...
which performed natural language processing. In essence, the program functioned like a psychotherapist where the program only used open ended questions to encourage patients to respond. The program would apply pattern matching pattern rules to human statements to figure out its reply.
A bit later during the same year the world's first computer crime was committed. A programmer was able to use a bit of computer code to stop his banking account from being flagged as overdrawn. However, there were no laws in place at that time to stop him, and as a result he was not charged. To make sure another person did not follow suit, an ethics code for computers was needed.
Sometime further into the 1960s Donn Parker , who was an author on computer crimes, led to the development of the first code of ethics in the field of computer technology.
In 1970, a medical teacher and researcher, by the name of Walter Manner noticed that ethical decisions are much harder to make when computers are added. He noticed a need for a different branch of ethics for when it came to dealing with computers. The term "Computer ethics" was thus invented.
During the same year, the ACM
ACM
ACM is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* Alkyl acrylate copolymer, a type of rubber commonly found in automotive transmissions and hoses* Arnold-Chiari malformation* Asbestos Containing Material* Association for Computing Machinery...
(Association of Computing Machinery) decided to adopt a professional code of ethics due to which, by the middle of the 1970s new privacy and computer crime laws had been put in place in United States as well as Europe.
In the year 1976 Joseph Weizenbaum
Joseph Weizenbaum
Joseph Weizenbaum was a German-American author and professor emeritus of computer science at MIT.-Life and career:...
made his second significant addition to the field of computer ethics. He published a book titled "Computer power and Human reason" which talked about how artificial intelligence is good for the world; however it should never be allowed to make the most important decisions as it does not have human qualities such as wisdom. By far the most important point he makes in the book is the distinction between choosing and deciding. He argued that deciding is a computational activity while making choices is not and thus the ability to make choices is what makes us humans.
At a later time during the same year Abbe Mowshowitz
Abbe Mowshowitz
Abbe Mowshowitz , is an American academic, a professor of computer science at the City College of New York and a member of the who works in the areas of the organization, management, and economics of information systems; social and policy implications of information technology; network science;...
,a professor of Computer Science at the City College of New York, published an article titled "On approaches to the study of social issues in computing". This article identified and analyzed technical and non-technical biases in research on social issues present in computing.
During 1978, the Right to Federal Privacy Act was adopted and this drastically limited the government's ability to search bank records.
During the same year Terrell Ward Bynum
Terrell Ward Bynum
Terrell Ward Bynum is an American philosopher, writer and editor. Bynum is currently Director of the Research Center on Computing and Society at Southern Connecticut State University, where he is also a Professor of Philosophy, and Visiting Professor in the Centre for Computing and Social...
, the professor of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University as well as Director of the Research Center on Computing and Society there, developed the first ever curriculum for a university course on computer ethics. To make sure he kept the interests of students alive in computer ethics, he launched an essay contest where the subject students had to write about was computer ethics. In 1985, he published a journal titled “Entitled Computers and Ethics”, which turned out to be his most famous publication to date.
In 1984, the Small Business Computer Security and Education act was adopted and this act basically informed the congress on matters that were related to computer crimes against small businesses.
In 1985, James Moor , Professor of Philosophy at DartMouth College in New Hampshire, published an essay called "What is Computer Ethics". In this essay Moor states the computer ethics includes the following: "(1) identification of computer-generated policy vacuums, (2) clarification of conceptual muddles, (3) formulation of policies for the use of computer technology, and (4) ethical justification of such policies."
During the same year, Deborah Johnson, Professor of Applied Ethics and Chair of the Department of Science, Technology, and Society in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences of the University of Virginia, got the first major computer ethics textbook published. It didn't just become the standard setting textbook for computer ethics, but also set up the research agenda for the next 10 years.
In 1988, a librarian at St. Cloud University by the name of Robert Hauptman, came up with "information ethics", a term that was used to describe the storage, production, access and dissemination of information. Near the same time, the Computer Matching and Privacy Act was adopted and this act restricted the government to programs and identifying debtors.
The 1990s was the time when computers were reaching their pinnacle and the combination of computers witch telecommunication, the internet, and other media meant that many new ethical issues were raised.
In the year 1992, ACM adopted a new set of ethical rules called "ACM code of Ethics and Professional Conduct" which consisted of 24 statements of personal responsibility.
3 years later in 1995, Gorniak Kocikowska, a Professor of Philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University, Coordinator of the Religious Studies Program, as well as a Senior Research Associate in the Research Center on Computing and Society, came up with the idea that computer ethics will eventually become a global ethical system and soon after, computer ethics would replace ethics altogether as it would become the standard ethics of the information age.
In 1999, Deborah Johnson revealed her view, which was quite contrary to Kocikowska's belief, and stated that computer ethics will not evolve but rather be the our old ethics with a slight twist.
Internet Privacy
Internet Privacy is one of the key issues that has emerged since the evolution of the World Wide Web. Millions of internet users often expose personal information on the internet in order to sign up or register for thousands of different possible things. This act has exposed themselves on the internet in ways some may not realize.In other cases, individuals do not expose themselves, but rather the government or large corporations, companies, small businesses on the internet leave personal information of their clients, citizens, or just general people exposed on the internet. One prime example is the use of Google Streetview and its evolution of online photography mapping of urban areas including residences. Although this advanced global mapping is a wondrous technique to aid people find locations, it also exposes everyone on the internet to moderately restricted views of suburbs, military bases, accidents, and just inappropriate content in general. This has raised major concerns all across the world. See Google Streetview Privacy Concerns
Google Street View privacy concerns
Privacy advocates have objected to the Google Street View feature, pointing to photographs that show men leaving strip clubs, protesters at an abortion clinic, sunbathers in bikinis, cottagers at public parks, people picking up prostitutes and people engaging in activities visible from public...
for further details.
Another example of privacy issues with concern to Google is tracking searches. There is a feature within searching that allows Google to keep track of searches so that advertisements will match your search criteria, which in turn means using people as products. If you are not paying for a service online, chances are instead of being the consumer, you may very well be the product. See an article called What They Know for further details.
There is an ongoing discussion about what privacy means and if it is still needed. With the increase in social networking sites, more and more people are allowing their private information to be shared publicly. On the surface, this may be seen as someone listing private information about them on a social networking site, but below the surface, it is the site that could be sharing the information (not the individual). This is the idea of an Opt-In versus Opt-Out situation. There are many privacy statements that state whether there is an Opt-In or an Opt-Out policy. Typically an Opt-In privacy policy means that the individual has to tell the company issuing the privacy policy if they want their information shared or not. Opt-Out means that their information will be shared unless the individual tells the company not to share it.
In reference to Computer Ethics, there is a lot to be said about Internet Privacy. For more discussion see also: Internet Privacy
Internet privacy
Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storing, repurposing, providing to third-parties, and displaying of information pertaining to oneself via the Internet. Privacy can entail both Personally Identifying Information or non-PII information such as a...
Internet Control
With an explosion internet popularity, the power struggles of the world have easily transferred onto the internet. Independent users, businesses, search engines, any possible source of information is trying to control, manipulate, bias, censor their information on the internet whether they realize it or not. This gives public view to certain issues or events that may be modified or not modified at all, which could easily bend opinion in frightening ways. International news could easily spread across the globe in very little time. Moreover, internet could easily be controlled by companies trying to get the public to buy-in to certain things. This broad topic of internet control is still expanding and showing signs that information spam or censoring has gone from paper and TV to internet and computers.Identifying issues
Identifying ethical issues as they arise, as well as defining how to deal with them, has traditionally been problematic. In solving problems relating to ethical issues, Michael DavisMichael Davis (philosopher)
Michael Davis is a philosopher of law, ethics, and political philosophy, author, and Professor of Philosophy at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and Senior Fellow at IIT's Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions...
proposed a unique problem-solving method. In Davis's model, the ethical problem is stated, facts are checked, and a list of options is generated by considering relevant factors relating to the problem. The actual action taken is influenced by specific ethical standards.
Some questions in computer ethics
There are a number of computers based ethical dilemmaEthical dilemma
An Ethical dilemma is a complex situation that will often involve an apparent mental conflict between moral imperatives, in which to obey one would result in transgressing another....
that are frequently discussed. One set of issues deals with some of the new ethical dilemma
Ethical dilemma
An Ethical dilemma is a complex situation that will often involve an apparent mental conflict between moral imperatives, in which to obey one would result in transgressing another....
that have emerged, or taken on new form, with the rise of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and Social Networking.
There are now many ways to gain information about others that were not available, or easily available, before the rise of computers. Thus ethical issues about storage
Storage
Storage may refer to:-Storage of goods:* Warehouse, a commercial building for storage of goods* Self storage, public storage facility-Containers:* Dry cask storage, storing high-level radioactive waste* Food storage...
of personal information are now becoming an ever increasing problem. With more storage of personal data for social networking arises the problem of selling that information for monetary gain. This gives rise to different ethical situations regarding access, security, and the use of hacking in positive and negative situations.
Situations regarding the copyright infringement of software
Copyright infringement of software
Copyright infringement of software=The copyright infringement of software refers to several practices which involve the unauthorized copying of computer software. Copyright infringement of this kind varies globally...
, music, movies, are widely becoming discussed, with the rise of file sharing programs such as Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
, Kazaa
Kazaa
Kazaa Media Desktop started as a peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol licensed by Joltid Ltd. and operated as Kazaa by Sharman Networks...
, and the BitTorrent (protocol) . The ethical questions that arise from software piracy are : is it immoral or wrong to copy software, music, or movies?
The use of Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
as a tool for abuse; spreading child porn, harassment of others, and other challenges as a result of kids use of this media for both consumption and producing. A second set of questions pertaining to the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and the societal influence that are becoming more widely discussed are questions relating to the values that some may wish to promote via the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Some have claimed that the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
is a "democratic technology”. Does the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
foster democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and freedom of speech? What are the ethical implications of this process on the world? Does the digital divide
Digital divide
The Digital Divide refers to inequalities between individuals, households, business, and geographic areas at different socioeconomic levels in access to information and communication technologies and Internet connectivity and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information...
raise ethical issues that society is morally obligated to change and spread the ability to access different forms of electronic communication?
Ethical standards
Various national and international professional societies and organizations have produced code of ethics documents to give basic behavioral guidelines to computing professionals and users. They include:- Association for Computing MachineryAssociation for Computing MachineryThe Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
: ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct - British Computer SocietyBritish Computer SocietyThe British Computer Society, is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in Information Technology in the United Kingdom and internationally...
: BCS Code of Conduct & Code of Good Practice - IEEE: IEEE Code of Ethics
- Computer Ethics Institute: Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics
See also
- CyberethicsCyberEthicsCyberethics is the study of ethics pertaining to computer networks, encompassing user behavior and what networked computers are programmed to do, and how this affects individuals and society...
- Luciano FloridiLuciano FloridiLuciano Floridi currently holds the Research Chair in philosophy of information and the UNESCO Chair in Information and Computer Ethics, both at the University of Hertfordshire, Department of Philosophy...
. "Computer Ethics: Mapping the Foundationalist Debate", Ethics and Information Technology 2002 (4.1), 1-9. - Donald GotterbarnDonald GotterbarnDonald William Gotterbarn is a leading computer ethics researcher. Gotterbarn received his Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1971 from the University of Rochester. He also earned his M. Div. from the Colgate Rochester Divinity School....
- James H. MoorJames H. MoorJames H. Moor is the Daniel P. Stone Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at Dartmouth College. He earned his Ph.D. in 1972 from Indiana University. Moor's 1985 paper entitled "What is Computer Ethics?" established him as one of the pioneering theoreticians in the field of computer ethics...
What is Computer Ethics? - Ten Commandments of Computer EthicsTen Commandments of Computer EthicsThe Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics were created in 1992 by the Computer Ethics Institute. The commandments were introduced in the paper "In Pursuit of a 'Ten Commandments' for Computer Ethics" by Ramon C...
- social informaticsSocial informaticsSocial informatics is the study of information and communication tools in cultural, or institutional contexts...
- EthicsEthicsEthics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
- PhilosophyPhilosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
- MoralityMoralityMorality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
- Donn Parker
- Joseph WeizenbaumJoseph WeizenbaumJoseph Weizenbaum was a German-American author and professor emeritus of computer science at MIT.-Life and career:...
- Abbe MowshowitzAbbe MowshowitzAbbe Mowshowitz , is an American academic, a professor of computer science at the City College of New York and a member of the who works in the areas of the organization, management, and economics of information systems; social and policy implications of information technology; network science;...
- Internet PrivacyInternet privacyInternet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storing, repurposing, providing to third-parties, and displaying of information pertaining to oneself via the Internet. Privacy can entail both Personally Identifying Information or non-PII information such as a...
- Copyright infringementCopyright infringementCopyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
- Spam (electronic)Spam (electronic)Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
- Who Controls the Internet?Who Controls the Internet?Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World is a 2006 book by Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu that offers an assessment of the struggle to control the Internet. Starting with a discussion of the early vision of a borderless global community, the authors present some of the most prominent...
- Reliability (computer networking)Reliability (computer networking)In computer networking, a reliable protocol is one that provides reliability properties with respect to the delivery of data to the intended recipient, as opposed to an unreliable protocol, which does not provide notifications to the sender as to the delivery of transmitted data.A reliable...
External links
- Ethics in Computing - a list of links to ethical discussions in Computer Science
- IEG, the Information Ethics research Group at Oxford University
- The Research Center on Computing & Society
- The International Journal of Cyber Ethics in Education (IJCEE) www.igi-global.com/ijcee
- http://alumni.sri.com/hofbios/Donn%20Parker%202002.htm - external link to Donn Parker
- http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/360000/358592/p146-mowshowitz.pdf?key1=358592&key2=0685887921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&ip=128.100.32.156&CFID=9113857&CFTOKEN=13049601 - Abbe Mowshowitz's essay
- http://tech.mit.edu/V128/N12/weizenbaum.html - Information about Joseph Weizenbaum
- http://www.manifestation.com/neurotoys/eliza.php3 - An ELIZA emulator