Why Computer Ethics? Exploring the Ethical Implications of Technology, Schemes and Mind Maps of Computer Science

Download Why Computer Ethics? Exploring the Ethical Implications of Technology and more Schemes and Mind Maps Computer Science in PDF only on Docsity!

Philosophy of ethics

Chapter#

• (^) In the past, it was common to hear people say that technology is neutral— value neutral—and, therefore, ethics doesn’t have anything directly to do with technology.
• (^) Different scenarios illustrate the range and complexity of ethical issues surrounding IT, some might argue that it is not exactly the technology that poses the ethical challenges but rather the uses of the technology, that is, the humans and human behavior around the technology.

• (^) The man’s plans were ruined when everyone in the man’s network was notified of the purchase before the man had a chance to give the ring to his wife. Again users protested and Facebook dismantled Beacon.
• (^) Did Facebook violate the privacy of its members when it introduced changes to the architecture of Facebook?

• (^) IT seems to create many more ethical issues than other kinds of technology such as automobiles, electricity, and bridges. Perhaps there is something in particular about IT that disrupts and challenges prevailing moral norms and principles.

• (^) provides a framework for identifying and understanding the issues
• (^) suggest a methodology for analyzing computer ethics issues
• (^) recommends that we keep an eye on the connection between ethics and technology in general
• (^) the framework —in which computer ethics issues can best be understood

• (^) IT doesn’t just create new possibilities for individuals acting alone; new forms of collective and collaborative action are made possible as well. Interest groups on any topic imaginable can form online and take action collectively; companies can operate globally with a relatively high degree of control and speed of action because of the Internet. Families can stay in close communication (maintaining strong bonds) while members are living in geographically distant places

• (^) Computer ethicists have risen to the challenge of these new possibilities by taking up tough questions. Is data mining morally acceptable? Should software be proprietary? Are Internet domain names being distributed fairly? Should we build robots to take care of the elderly as the Japanese are doing? Should we delegate health decisions to artificially intelligent robot doctors? Should we insert intelligence chips in our brains? Who should be liable for inaccurate or slanderous information that appears in electronic forums? What should we do about child pornography on the Web? Some of these questions have been resolved (or, at least, concern has waned); some have been addressed by law; others continue to be controversial.

• (^) According to Moor, computers create new possibilities, new opportunities for human action.
• (^) The new possibilities take us into uncharted territory, situations in which it is unclear what is at issue or which moral norms are relevant.
• (^) Computer ethicists Moor’s notion of a policy vacuum captures the uncertainty that often surrounds the invention and adoption of new technologies.

• (^) When the first computers were installed, individuals began storing files on them, but there were no institutional or legal policies with regard to access and use. From our perspective today, it may seem obvious that most computer files should be treated as personal or private property, but the status of computer files was initially unclear
• (^) At the time there were no laws explicitly addressing access to computer files.

• (^) In summary, then, according to the standard account of computer ethics:
• (^) (1) ethical issues arise around IT because IT creates new possibilities for human action and there is a vacuum of policies with regard to the new possibilities
• (^) (2) the task of computer ethics is to evaluate the new possibilities and fill the policy vacuums, and
• (^) (3) a significant component of this task is addressing conceptual muddles.

• (^) The focus on newness suggests that computer ethics issues arise when the technology is first introduced
• (^) the issues get resolved when the policy vacuums are filled and the conceptual muddles sorted out. The reality is quite different.
• (^) policy vacuums sometimes go unfilled or they get filled
• (^) Sometimes policy vacuums are resolved with bad policies, policies with negative or undesirable consequences

Reject Technological

Determinism/Think Society and

technology shape each other

• (^) technological determinism fundamentally consists of two claims:
• (^) (1) technology develops independently from society
  • (^) Technological determinists may even think that technological development has a kind of natural evolution with each development building on previous developments.
  • Technological development is understood to be an independent activity, separate from social forces.
  • STS scholars reject this claim. They argue that scientific and technological development is far from isolated and does not follow a predetermined or “natural” order of development
• (^) (2) when a technology is taken up and used in a society, it determines the character of that society.
  • technology has been socially shaped; social factors and forces have influenced the development and design of the technology
  • (^) STS studies show that the technologies we have today are products of highly complex and contingent social processes
  • The character and direction of technological development are influenced by a wide range of social factors including: the decisions a government agency makes to fund certain kinds of research; social incidents such as a war or terrorist attack that spark interest and effort to produce particular kinds of devices

Reject Technological

Determinism/Think Society and

technology shape each other

• (^) Technology develops through a back-and-forth process that involves what is technologically possible and how society responds to the possibilities, pursuing some possibilities, rejecting others, and not even noticing others. So, technological determinism is not wrong insofar as it recognizes technology as a powerful force in shaping society; it is wrong to characterize this as “determining” society. Society and technology shape each other.