Computer ethics

Computer ethics is a branch of technology ethics and correlates with information ethics in the field of applied ethics , which deals with the study and analysis of the effects of computer technologies on society and human life, as well as ethical problems caused, aggravated or modified by computers and computer networks tried to solve.

Demarcation, tasks and methods

In its basic idea, based on Norbert Wiener's efforts to develop cybernetics in the 1940s, computer ethics was given its current name in the 1970s by Walter Maner . In its definition above, it is to be distinguished from the synonymously named term computer ethics , which, as professional ethics, deals with the application, creation and elaboration of rules of conduct for programmers and IT specialists. In principle, it must be distinguished from related disciplines such as internet or cyber ethics , the ethics of mass media or the ethics of library and information sciences . In practice, however, the interdependencies between these areas are very pronounced, and the relationship between two disciplines is not always clear. Internet ethics is sometimes seen as a neighbor and the other time as a sub-discipline of computer ethics.

Computer ethics as an independent discipline is based on the assumption that computer technology has brought about a "fundamental vacuum " (after James H. Moors' English term policy vacuum ), which shows itself in the failure of old patterns of action, principles and rules for action orientation. The central task of computer ethics is to remove this vacuum by developing a new system of principles, rules and practices in which computer technology finds its consideration and integration. The focus of these efforts is the protection and realization of the basic values of human life - self-preservation , health , freedom , security , education , self-development, opportunities etc. - or at least avoiding their impairment. To do this, it requires an examination of the effects of computer technology on such values as well as an analysis of the relationships between facts, concepts, principles of action and values, so that the work of computer ethics beyond the identification, clarification and comparison of ethically relevant cases also includes the application of scientific theories and methods of the most diverse scientific areas and disciplines. Only after the fundamental vacuum has been identified, the associated confusion of terms (according to Moors' English term "conceptual muddle") has been identified and a deeper understanding of the relationship between computer and individual or society has been developed, recognized laws and rules could be used to resolve the cases and practices are revived or, if necessary, new ones formulated.

On the relevance, uniqueness and scope of computer-ethical issues

Does the computer even have a need for its own ethics, i. H. does it actually create a fundamental vacuum and a lack of action orientation? And if so, what is the basis of this ethical relevance of the computer? Considerations concerning the appropriateness of one's own computer ethics usually start from the view that the relationship between computers and people / society would go beyond that of a mere purpose -means relationship. This would mean that the computer not only facilitates old ways of acting or makes it more efficient, but also entails a transformation of human activities and relationships themselves, for example through completely new options for action. Norbert Wiener's prophecy that computer technology would ultimately lead to a "second industrial revolution " leading to an overhaul of society is the background to their efforts for many of today's computer ethicists. In his considerations on the justification of computer ethics, James H. Moor goes beyond a mere statement of this potential and in his considerations on the nature of computer technology offers an answer to the question of why the computer leads to such a transformation of the social order and why Transformation of such ethical explosiveness is: With the invention of the computer as a "logically malleable" technology , which, due to the universal applicability of logic, apparently contains unlimited possibilities for use, people have been given a wealth of possibilities for action that was previously unthinkable. Because humans had not previously had the opportunity to act in this way, they had not given any thought to how these possibilities should be used or whether they should be used at all. Since computer technology has brought with it this lack of guidelines, there must also be a separate branch of ethics in which it is given special consideration.

What kind and how profound the effects of computer technology on individual life and society are and how unique the problems connected with it are, however, is also the subject of discussions, as is the question of the extent to which the investigations and results of computer ethics can be ascribed . Walter Maner and James H. Moor, who advocate the uniqueness of computer ethical problems, oppose Deborah Johnson , for example , who sees in them only the modification of old problems that computer technology has shed new light on, and the localization of the Krystyna Górniak-Kocikowska confronts computer ethics in the category of field or professional ethics with considerations in which computer ethics is believed to have the potential to become a new global ethics, the importance of which can be compared with the great ethical theories of the Enlightenment .

Problem areas

The spread of computer technology opens up a wide range of applications for computer ethics. Her subject areas include:

Code of conduct for programmers and IT specialists
Computer and Security
Computer crime
“ Intellectual Property ” and Ownership of Software
Privacy and anonymity
Computer and responsibility
Networks, Virtual Communities and Globalization
Technology addiction
Distributive justice
Democracy and participation
Computers and education
Automation and work
Hindrance and disability
Bioelectronics
Robot ethics

Institutions, meetings and magazines

Institutions

Institutes

Research Center on Computing and Society (RCCS), Southern Connecticut State University , USA
Oxford University Research Group on the Philosophy of Information , University of Oxford , UK
Center for Digital Ethics and Policy , Loyola University Chicago, USA
The Online Ethics Center , Case Western Reserve University, USA
Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society , Humboldt University Berlin , DE
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School , USA
Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics , Indiana University, USA
Institute of Network Cultures , Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool van Amsterdam), NL
Center for Internet and Society , Stanford Law School, USA

Associations and Centers

Regular meetings

Computer Ethics: Philosophical Inquiry CEPE
Computers, Freedom and Privacy
ETHICOMP

Magazines

Ethics and Information Technology
International Review of Information Ethics
The International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction
The ETHICOMP Journal

Web links

Homepage of the Research Center on Computing and Society at Southern Connecticut State University with freely accessible English-language materials on the subject of computer ethics
Homepage of the journal International Review of Information Ethics with freely accessible material in English

literature

General

T. Bynum: Computer and Information Ethics . In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . (Spring 2011 Edition). Retrieved February 18, 2012
JH Moor: What is Computer Ethics . In: Metaphilosophy. Volume 16, No. 4, 1985, pp. 266-275.
MJ van d. Hoven: Information Technology and Moral Philosophy. Philosophical Explorations in Computer Ethics. Diss., Rotterdam 1995.
T. Forester, P. Morrison: Computer Ethics: Cautionary Tales and Ethical Dilemmas in Computing. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 1990.
B. Friedman (Ed.): Human Values and the Design of Computer Technology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1997.
DG Johnson: Computer Ethics. Englewood Cliffs / New Jersey 1985.
D. Johnson, H. Nissenbaum (Eds.): Computing, Ethics & Social Values, Englewood Cliffs. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River NJ 1995.
A. Kastendiek: Computer and ethics instead of computer ethics. Munster 2003.
JM Kizza: Social and Ethical Effects of the Computer Revolution. McFarland 1996.
W. Maner: Starter Kit in Computer Ethics. Helvetia Press and the National Information and Resource Center for Teaching Philosophy, Hyde Park, NY 1980.
JA Perrolle: Computers and Social Change: Information, Property, and Power. Wadsworth, Belmont, CA 1987.
R. Spinello: Case Studies in Information and Computer Ethics. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ 1997.
J. van den Hoven, J. Weckert: Information Technology and Moral Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2008.
N. Wiener : Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. Technology Press / John Wiley & Sons, New York 1948.
N. Wiener: The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. (Second Edition Revised. Doubleday Anchor, New York, NY 1954).
N. Wiener: God & Golem, Inc .: A Comment on Certain Points Where Cybernetics Impinges on Religion. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 1964.

Computer ethics as professional ethics

TW Bynum, S. Rogerson (Ed.): Computer Ethics and Professional Responsibility. Introductory Text and Readings. Blackwell Publishers, Cambridge, MA 2003, ISBN 1-85554-845-3 .

Computer and responsibility

KG Coleman: Computing and Moral Responsibility. In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Summer 2011 Edition)

Computer networks and globalization

R. Capurro : Ethics on the Net. Stuttgart 2003.
R. Capurro, J. Frühbauer, Th. Hausmanninger (Eds.): Localizing the Internet. Ethical Aspects in Intercultural Perspective. Munich 2005.
R. Capurro, Th. Hausmanninger (Ed.): Netzethik. Fundamental questions of internet ethics. Munich 2002.
R. Spinello: CyberEthics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace. Jones and Bartlett, Sudbury, MA 2000.
R. Spinello, H. Tavani (Ed.): Readings in CyberEthics. 2nd Edition. Jones and Bartlett, Sudbury, MA 2004.

Intellectual property and software ownership

Richard Stallman Why Software Should Be Free.
R. Spinello, H. Tavani (Eds.): Intellectual Property Rights in a Networked World: Theory and Practice. Idea Group / Information Science Publishing, Hershey, PA 2005.

Bibliographies

H. Tavani (Ed.): Computing, Ethics, and Social Responsibility: A Bibliography. Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility Press, Palo Alto, CA 1996.

Other

R. Capurro, P. Grimm (Ed.): Computer games. New challenges for ethics? Stuttgart 2009.

Individual evidence

^ Definition according to Walter Maner and James Moor as presented in Terrell Bynum: Computer and Information Ethics . In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . (Spring 2011 Edition) Retrieved February 18, 2012, Defining Computer Ethics and An Influential Computer Ethics Theory

↑ Terrell Bynum: Computer and Information Ethics . In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Spring 2011 Edition). Retrieved February 18, 2012, Introduction

↑ Terrell Bynum: Computer and Information Ethics. In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Spring 2011 Edition). Retrieved February 18, 2012, Introduction

↑ ^a ^b ^c James H. Moor: What is Computer Ethics . In: Metaphilosophy. Volume 16, No. 4, 1985, pp. 266-275. Retrieved February 18, 2012.

↑ Terrell Bynum: Computer Ethics in the Computer Science Curriculum. In: Terrell Bynum, Walter Maner, John L. Fodor (Eds.): Teaching Computer Ethics. Research Center on Computing & Society, 1993, OCLC 26898733 .

↑ Terrell Bynum: Computer and Information Ethics. In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Spring 2011 Edition). Retrieved February 18, 2012.

↑ Kastendiek, A. Computer and ethics instead of computer ethics , Münster 2003, p. 10.

↑ An example is James H. Moor, cf. James H. Moor: What is Computer Ethics . In: Metaphilosophy. Volume 16, No. 4, 1985, pp. 266-275.

↑ as presented in Terrell Bynum: Computer and Information Ethics. In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Spring 2011 Edition). Retrieved February 18, 2012.

↑ Simon Rogerson, Terrell Ward Bynum: Cyberspace: the ethical frontier. ( Memento of the original from June 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Times Higher Education. Supplement, June 9, 1995. @1@ 2

[1] Definition according to Walter Maner and James Moor as presented in Terrell Bynum: Computer and Information Ethics . In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . (Spring 2011 Edition) Retrieved February 18, 2012, Defining Computer Ethics and An Influential Computer Ethics Theory

[2] Terrell Bynum: Computer and Information Ethics . In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Spring 2011 Edition). Retrieved February 18, 2012, Introduction

[3] Terrell Bynum: Computer and Information Ethics. In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Spring 2011 Edition). Retrieved February 18, 2012, Introduction

[moor-4] James H. Moor: What is Computer Ethics . In: Metaphilosophy. Volume 16, No. 4, 1985, pp. 266-275. Retrieved February 18, 2012.

[5] Terrell Bynum: Computer Ethics in the Computer Science Curriculum. In: Terrell Bynum, Walter Maner, John L. Fodor (Eds.): Teaching Computer Ethics. Research Center on Computing & Society, 1993, OCLC 26898733 .

[6] Terrell Bynum: Computer and Information Ethics. In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Spring 2011 Edition). Retrieved February 18, 2012.

[7] Kastendiek, A. Computer and ethics instead of computer ethics , Münster 2003, p. 10.

[8] An example is James H. Moor, cf. James H. Moor: What is Computer Ethics . In: Metaphilosophy. Volume 16, No. 4, 1985, pp. 266-275.

[9] s presented in Terrell Bynum: Computer and Information Ethics. In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Spring 2011 Edition). Retrieved February 18, 2012.