Strong arguments can be given as to why encryption tools are needed to safeguard communications in cyberspace, yet these tools can be used by terrorists and criminals to protect their communications in cyberspace. (a) In the wake of September 11, can a case be made for not allowing ordinary users to employ strong encryption tools in Internet communications? (b) Can we still claim to live in a free society if plans for government interception of email communications, as provided for in the Homeland Security Act (http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/hsa2002.pdf), are be implemented? Please elaborate (beyond a yes or no answer) and provide your “theoretical” rationale in support of your responses. (comprehension)In the discussion of Internet anonymity, some forms of anonymous behavior in cyberspace can have profound ethical implications. Imagine that there is a very close political election involving two candidates who are running for a seat in a state legislature. The weekend before citizens will cast their votes, one candidate decides to defame his opponent by using an anonymous remailer service (which strips away the original address of the sender of the email) to send a message of questionable truth to an electronic distribution list of his opponent’s supporters. The information included in this email is so defamatory that it may threaten the outcome of the election by influencing many undecided voters, as well as the libeled candidate’s regular supports, to vote against her. (a) Does the “injured” candidate in this instance have the right to demand that the identity of the person using the anonymous remailer (who she suspects for good reasons to be her opponent in this election) be revealed? (b) Why or why not? Please elaborate (beyond a yes or no answer) and provide your “theoretical” rationale in support of your responses. (comprehension)Is the expression “ethical hacker” an oxymoron? (a) Do you agree that some individuals should be allowed to be “certified” as hackers to work on behalf of industry or for the interest of other organizations? (b) Do the kinds of activities permitted by certified hackers in the CEH program raise any moral issues? Explain. Please elaborate (beyond a yes or no answer) and provide your “theoretical” rationale in support of your responses. |
CSCI 415 Ethics, Law and Cybersecurity
Chapter 6 Quiz
NAME:___________________________
DATE: ____________
Chapter 6 – Quiz 6
Instructions: There are three (3) topic areas listed below that are designed to
measure your knowledge level specific to learning outcome (LO 6) shown in your
course syllabus. You must respond to #1 and select any other one of these topic
areas providing appropriate responses in essay form. In most cases the topic area
has several components. Each must be addressed to properly
satisfy requirements.
State-wide and in most professional industries, there has been a mandate that
college students be more proficient in their writing. While this is not a writing
class, all writing assignments will be graded for grammar, syntax and typographical
correctness to help address this mandate.
Pay attention to what you are being asked to do (see Grading Rubric below). For
example, to describe does not mean to list, but to tell about or illustrate in more
than two or three sentences, providing appropriate arguments for your
responses using theories discussed in our text. Be sure to address all parts of
the topic question as most have multiple parts. A verifiable current event (less
than 4 years old) relevant to at least one of the topics you respond to is a fundamental
component of your quiz as well. You cannot use information from the text book
or any book/article by the author of the text book as a current event. Make
sure that your reference has a date of publication. For each chapter quiz and final
quiz you are required to find and include at least one reference and reference citation to
a current event less than 4 years old (a reference with no date (n.d.) is not acceptable) in
answer to at least one question. This requires a reference citation in the text of your
answer and a reference at the end of the question to which the reference applies. You
must include some information obtained from the reference in your answer. The
references must be found on the internet and you must include a URL in your reference
so that the reference can be verified.
You should type your responses directly under the appropriate question. Be sure to
include your name on your quiz. Only the first two (2) questions with answers will
be graded. Include your name in the document filename. Your completed quiz
must be uploaded into the appropriate eCollege Dropbox, no later than 11:59pm
on the due date. Do well.
1. Strong arguments can be given as to why encryption tools are needed to safeguard
communications in cyberspace, yet these tools can be used by terrorists and criminals to
protect their communications in cyberspace. (a) In the wake of September 11, can a case
be made for not allowing ordinary users to employ strong encryption tools in Internet
communications? (b) Can we still claim to live in a free society if plans for government
interception of email communications, as provided for in the Homeland Security Act
(http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/hsa2002.pdf), are be
implemented? Please elaborate (beyond a yes or no answer) and provide your
“theoretical” rationale in support of your responses. (comprehension)
2. In the discussion of Internet anonymity, some forms of anonymous behavior in cyberspace
can have profound ethical implications. Imagine that there is a very close political election
involving two candidates who are running for a seat in a state legislature. The weekend
before citizens will cast their votes, one candidate decides to defame his opponent by
using an anonymous remailer service (which strips away the original address of th e sender
of the email) to send a message of questionable truth to an electronic distribution list of
his opponent’s supporters. The information included in this email is so defamatory that it
may threaten the outcome of the election by influencing many undecided voters, as well as
the libeled candidate’s regular supports, to vote against her. (a) Does the “injured”
candidate in this instance have the right to demand that the identity of the person using
the anonymous remailer (who she suspects for good reasons to be her opponent in this
election) be revealed? (b) Why or why not? Please elaborate (beyond a yes or no answer)
and provide your “theoretical” rationale in support of your
responses. (comprehension)
3. Is the expression “ethical hacker” an oxymoron? (a) Do you agree that some individuals
should be allowed to be “certified” as hackers to work on behalf of industry or for the
interest of other organizations? (b) Do the kinds of activities permitted by certified
hackers in the CEH program raise any moral issues? Explain. Please elaborate (beyond a
yes or no answer) and provide your “theoretical” rationale in support of your
responses.
For each chapter quiz you are required to find and include at
least one reference and reference citation to a current event less
than 4 years old (a reference with no date (n.d.) is not
acceptable) in answer to at least one question. This requires a
reference citation in the text of your answer and a reference at
the end of the question to which the reference applies. You
must include some information obtained from the reference in
your answer. The references must be found on the internet and
you must include a URL in your reference so that the reference
can be verified. References for the final quiz and term paper
have the same requirement.
Look at the following two web sites for assistance with the
correct use and format for a reference and reference citation.
http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/apa
http://www.citationmachine.net/apa/cite-a-website/manual
For APA format look specifically at the following link
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
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FOURTH EDITION
ETHICS
AND
TECHNOLOGY
Controversies, Questions, and Strategies
for Ethical Computing
HERMAN T. TAVANI
Rivier University
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VP & Executive Publisher:
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tavani, Herman T.
Ethics and technology : controversies, questions, and strategies for ethical
computing / Herman T. Tavani, Rivier University—Fourth edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-28172-7 (pbk.)
1. Computer networks—Moral and ethical aspects. I. Title.
TK5105.5.T385 2013
175—dc23
2012028589
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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In memory of my grandparents,
Leon and Marian (Roberts) Hutton,
and Antonio and Clelia (Giamberardino) Tavani
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CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
PREFACE
xvii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOREWORD
xxvii
xxix
CHAPTER 1.
INTRODUCTION TO CYBERETHICS: CONCEPTS, PERSPECTIVES,
AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORKS 1
CHAPTER 2.
ETHICAL CONCEPTS AND ETHICAL THEORIES: ESTABLISHING
AND JUSTIFYING A MORAL SYSTEM 33
CHAPTER 3.
CRITICAL REASONING SKILLS FOR EVALUATING DISPUTES IN
CYBERETHICS 74
CHAPTER 4.
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS, CODES OF CONDUCT, AND MORAL
RESPONSIBILITY 101
CHAPTER 5.
PRIVACY AND CYBERSPACE
CHAPTER 6.
SECURITY IN CYBERSPACE
CHAPTER 7.
CYBERCRIME AND CYBER-RELATED CRIMES
CHAPTER 8.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTES IN CYBERSPACE
CHAPTER 9.
REGULATING COMMERCE AND SPEECH IN CYBERSPACE
131
174
201
CHAPTER 10. THE DIGITAL DIVIDE, DEMOCRACY, AND WORK
230
269
303
CHAPTER 11. ONLINE COMMUNITIES, CYBER IDENTITIES, AND SOCIAL NETWORKS
CHAPTER 12. ETHICAL ASPECTS OF EMERGING AND CONVERGING TECHNOLOGIES
GLOSSARY
INDEX
337
368
411
417
v
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE xvii
New to the Fourth Edition xviii
Audience and Scope xix
Organization and Structure of the Book xxi
The Web Site for Ethics and Technology xxiii
A Note to Students xxiv
Note to Instructors: A Roadmap for Using This Book
A Note to Computer Science Instructors xxv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOREWORD xxix
xxiv
xxvii
c CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO CYBERETHICS: CONCEPTS, PERSPECTIVES,
AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORKS 1
Scenario 1–1: A Fatal Cyberbullying Incident on MySpace 1
Scenario 1–2: Contesting the Ownership of a Twitter Account 2
Scenario 1–3: “The Washingtonienne” Blogger 2
1.1 Defining Key Terms: Cyberethics and Cybertechnology 3
1.1.1 What Is Cybertechnology? 4
1.1.2 Why the Term Cyberethics? 5
1.2 The Cyberethics Evolution: Four Developmental Phases in Cybertechnology 6
1.3 Are Cyberethics Issues Unique Ethical Issues? 9
Scenario 1–4: Developing the Code for a Computerized Weapon System 10
Scenario 1–5: Digital Piracy 11
1.3.1 Distinguishing between Unique Technological Features and Unique
Ethical Issues 11
1.3.2 An Alternative Strategy for Analyzing the Debate about the Uniqueness
of Cyberethics Issues 12
1.3.3 A Policy Vacuum in Duplicating Computer Software 13
1.4 Cyberethics as a Branch of Applied Ethics: Three Distinct Perspectives 14
1.4.1 Perspective #1: Cyberethics as a Field of Professional Ethics 15
1.4.2 Perspective #2: Cyberethics as a Field of Philosophical Ethics 18
1.4.3 Perspective #3: Cyberethics as a Field of Sociological/ Descriptive Ethics 21
Scenario 1–6: The Impact of Technology X on the Pleasantville Community 21
1.5 A Comprehensive Cyberethics Methodology 24
1.5.1 A “Disclosive” Method for Cyberethics 25
1.5.2 An Interdisciplinary and Multilevel Method for Analyzing
Cyberethics Issues 26
1.6 A Comprehensive Strategy for Approaching Cyberethics Issues 27
1.7 Chapter Summary 28
vii
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Review Questions 28
Discussion Questions 29
Essay/Presentation Questions
Scenarios for Analysis 29
Endnotes 30
References 31
Further Readings 32
Online Resources 32
29
c CHAPTER 2
ETHICAL CONCEPTS AND ETHICAL THEORIES: ESTABLISHING
AND JUSTIFYING A MORAL SYSTEM 33
2.1 Ethics and Morality 33
Scenario 2–1: The “Runaway Trolley”: A Classic Moral Dilemma 34
2.1.1 What Is Morality? 35
2.1.2 Deriving and Justifying the Rules and Principles of a Moral System
2.2 Discussion Stoppers as Roadblocks to Moral Discourse 42
2.2.1 Discussion Stopper #1: People Disagree on Solutions to
Moral Issues 43
2.2.2 Discussion Stopper #2: Who Am I to Judge Others? 45
2.2.3 Discussion Stopper #3: Morality Is Simply a Private Matter 47
2.2.4 Discussion Stopper #4: Morality Is Simply a Matter for Individual
Cultures to Decide 48
Scenario 2–2: The Perils of Moral Relativism 49
2.3 Why Do We Need Ethical Theories? 52
2.4 Consequence-Based Ethical Theories 53
2.4.1 Act Utilitarianism 55
Scenario 2–3: A Controversial Policy in Newmerica 55
2.4.2 Rule Utilitarianism 55
2.5 Duty-Based Ethical Theories 56
2.5.1 Rule Deontology 57
Scenario 2–4: Making an Exception for Oneself 58
2.5.2 Act Deontology 59
Scenario 2–5: A Dilemma Involving Conflicting Duties 60
2.6 Contract-Based Ethical Theories 61
2.6.1 Some Criticisms of Contract-Based Theories 62
2.6.2 Rights-Based Contract Theories 63
2.7 Character-Based Ethical Theories 64
2.7.1 Being a Moral Person vs. Following Moral Rules 64
2.7.2 Acquiring the “Correct” Habits 65
2.8 Integrating Aspects of Classical Ethical Theories into a Single
Comprehensive Theory 66
2.8.1 Moor’s Just-Consequentialist Theory and Its Application to
Cybertechnology 67
2.8.2 Key Elements in Moor’s Just-Consequentialist Framework 69
2.9 Chapter Summary 70
Review Questions 70
Discussion Questions 71
Essay/Presentation Questions 71
Scenarios for Analysis 72
Endnotes 72
38
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References 73
Further Readings
73
c CHAPTER 3
CRITICAL REASONING SKILLS FOR EVALUATING DISPUTES IN CYBERETHICS
3.1 Getting Started 74
Scenario 3–1: Reasoning About Whether to Download a File from “Sharester” 75
3.1.1 Defining Two Key Terms in Critical Reasoning: Claims and Arguments
3.1.2 The Role of Arguments in Defending Claims 76
3.1.3 The Basic Structure of an Argument 76
3.2 Constructing an Argument 78
3.3 Valid Arguments 80
3.4 Sound Arguments 83
3.5 Invalid Arguments 85
3.6 Inductive Arguments 86
3.7 Fallacious Arguments 87
3.8 A Seven-Step Strategy for Evaluating Arguments 89
3.9 Identifying Some Common Fallacies 91
3.9.1 Ad Hominem Argument 92
3.9.2 Slippery Slope Argument 92
3.9.3 Fallacy of Appeal to Authority 93
3.9.4 False Cause Fallacy 93
3.9.5 Begging the Question 94
3.9.6 Fallacy of Composition/ Fallacy of Division 94
3.9.7 Fallacy of Ambiguity/ Equivocation 95
3.9.8 Appeal to the People (Argumentum ad Populum) 95
3.9.9 The Many/ Any Fallacy 96
3.9.10 The Virtuality Fallacy 97
3.10 Chapter Summary 98
Review Questions 98
Discussion Questions 98
Essay/Presentation Questions 99
Scenarios for Analysis 99
Endnotes 99
References 100
Further Readings 100
74
75
c CHAPTER 4
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS, CODES OF CONDUCT, AND MORAL RESPONSIBILITY
4.1
4.2
4.3
101
Professional Ethics 102
4.1.1 What Is a Profession? 103
4.1.2 Who Is a Professional? 103
4.1.3 Who Is a Computer/ IT Professional? 104
Do Computer/IT Professionals Have Any Special Moral Responsibilities? 105
4.2.1 Safety-Critical Software 105
Professional Codes of Ethics and Codes of Conduct 106
4.3.1 The Purpose of Professional Codes 107
4.3.2 Some Criticisms of Professional Codes 108
4.3.3 Defending Professional Codes 109
4.3.4 The IEEE-CS/ ACM Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional
Practice 110
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4.4
Conflicts of Professional Responsibility: Employee Loyalty and Whistle-Blowing 112
4.4.1 Do Employees Have an Obligation of Loyalty to Employers? 112
4.4.2 Whistle-Blowing Issues 114
Scenario 4–1: Whistle-Blowing and the “Star Wars” Controversy 115
4.4.3 An Alternative Strategy for Understanding Professional Responsibility 117
4.5 Moral Responsibility, Legal Liability, and Accountability 117
4.5.1 Distinguishing Responsibility from Liability and Accountability 118
4.5.2 Accountability and the Problem of “Many Hands” 119
Scenario 4–2: The Therac-25 Machine 120
4.5.3 Legal Liability and Moral Accountability 120
4.6 Risk Assessment in the Software Development Process 121
Scenario 4–3: The Aegis Radar System 121
4.7 Do Some Computer Corporations Have Special Moral Obligations? 122
4.7.1 Special Responsibilities for Search Engine Companies 123
4.7.2 Special Responsibilities for Companies that Develop Autonomous Systems 124
4.8 Chapter Summary 125
Review Questions 126
Discussion Questions 126
Essay/Presentation Questions 126
Scenarios for Analysis 127
Endnotes 128
References 128
Further Readings 130
c CHAPTER 5
PRIVACY AND CYBERSPACE
5.1
5.2
131
Are Privacy Concerns Associated with Cybertechnology Unique or Special? 132
What is Personal Privacy? 134
5.2.1 Accessibility Privacy: Freedom from Unwarranted Intrusion 135
5.2.2 Decisional Privacy: Freedom from Interference in One’s
Personal Affairs 135
5.2.3 Informational Privacy: Control over the Flow of Personal
Information 136
5.2.4 A Comprehensive Account of Privacy 136
Scenario 5–1: Descriptive Privacy 137
Scenario 5–2: Normative Privacy 137
5.2.5 Privacy as “Contextual Integrity” 137
Scenario 5–3: Preserving Contextual Integrity in a University Seminar 138
5.3 Why is Privacy Important? 139
5.3.1 Is Privacy an Intrinsic Value? 140
5.3.2 Privacy as a Social Value 141
5.4 Gathering Personal Data: Monitoring, Recording, and Tracking Techniques 141
5.4.1 “Dataveillance” Techniques 141
5.4.2 Internet Cookies 142
5.4.3 RFID Technology 143
5.4.4 Cybertechnology and Government Surveillance 145
5.5 Exchanging Personal Data: Merging and Matching Electronic Records 146
5.5.1 Merging Computerized Records 146
Scenario 5–4: Merging Personal Information in Unrelated Computer Databases 147
5.5.2 Matching Computerized Records 148
Scenario 5–5: Using Biometric Technology at Super Bowl XXXV 149
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5.6
Mining Personal Data 150
5.6.1 How Does Data Mining Threaten Personal Privacy? 150
Scenario 5–6: Data Mining at the XYZ Bank 151
5.6.2 Web Mining 154
Scenario 5–7: The Facebook Beacon Controversy 154
5.7 Protecting Personal Privacy in Public Space 156
Scenario 5–8: Shopping at SuperMart 157
Scenario 5–9: Shopping at Nile.com 157
5.7.1 Search Engines and the Disclosure of Personal Information 158
Scenario 5–10: Tracking Your Search Requests on Google 159
5.7.2 Accessing Online Public Records 160
Scenario 5–11: Accessing Online Public Records in Pleasantville 161
Scenario 5–12: Accessing a State’s Motor Vehicle Records Online 162
5.8 Privacy-Enhancing Technologies 162
5.8.1 Educating Users about PETs 163
5.8.2 PETs and the Principle of Informed Consent 163
5.9 Privacy Legislation and Industry Self-Regulation 164
5.9.1 Industry Self-Regulation Initiatives Regarding Privacy 164
Scenario 5–13: Controversies Involving Google’s Privacy Policy 166
5.9.2 Privacy Laws and Data Protection Principles 166
5.10 Chapter Summary 168
Review Questions 169
Discussion Questions 169
Essay/Presentation Questions 170
Scenarios for Analysis 170
Endnotes 171
References 171
Further Readings 173
c CHAPTER 6
SECURITY IN CYBERSPACE
174
6.1
Security in the Context of Cybertechnology 174
6.1.1 Cybersecurity as Related to Cybercrime 175
6.1.2 Security and Privacy: Some Similarities and Some Differences
6.2 Three Categories of Cybersecurity 176
6.2.1 Data Security: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability
of Information 177
6.2.2 System Security: Viruses, Worms, and Malware 178
Scenario 6–1: The Conficker Worm 178
6.2.3 Network Security: Protecting our Infrastructure 179
Scenario 6–2: The GhostNet Controversy 179
6.3 “Cloud Computing” and Security 180
6.3.1 Deployment and Service/ Delivery Models for the Cloud 181
6.3.2 Securing User Data Residing in the Cloud 182
6.4 Hacking and “The Hacker Ethic” 183
6.4.1 What Is “The Hacker Ethic”? 184
6.4.2 Are Computer Break-ins Ever Ethically Justifiable? 186
6.5 Cyberterrorism 187
6.5.1 Cyberterrorism vs. Hacktivism 188
Scenario 6–3: Anonymous and the “Operation Payback” Attack 189
6.5.2 Cybertechnology and Terrorist Organizations 190
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6.6
Information Warfare (IW) 191
6.6.1 Information Warfare vs. Conventional Warfare 191
Scenario 6–4: The Stuxnet Worm and the “Olympic Games” Operation 192
6.6.2 Potential Consequences for Nations that Engage in IW 192
6.7 Cybersecurity and Risk Analysis 194
6.7.1 The Risk Analysis Methodology 194
6.7.2 The Problem of “De-Perimeterization” of Information Security for
Analyzing Risk 195
6.8 Chapter Summary 196
Review Questions 196
Discussion Questions 197
Essay/Presentation Questions 197
Scenarios for Analysis 197
Endnotes 198
References 198
Further Readings 200
c CHAPTER 7
CYBERCRIME AND CYBER-RELATED CRIMES
7.1
201
Cybercrimes and Cybercriminals 201
7.1.1 Background Events: A Brief Sketch 202
7.1.2 A Typical Cybercriminal 203
7.2 Hacking, Cracking, and Counterhacking 203
7.2.1 Hacking vs. Cracking 204
7.2.2 Active Defense Hacking: Can Acts of “Hacking Back” or Counter
Hacking Ever Be Morally Justified? 204
7.3 Defining Cybercrime 205
7.3.1 Determining the Criteria 206
7.3.2 A Preliminary Definition of Cybercrime 207
Scenario 7–1: Using a Computer to File a Fraudulent Tax Return 207
7.3.3 Framing a Coherent and Comprehensive Definition of Cybercrime 208
7.4 Three Categories of Cybercrime: Piracy, Trespass, and Vandalism in Cyberspace 208
7.5 Cyber-Related Crimes 209
7.5.1 Some Examples of Cyber-Exacerbated vs. Cyber-Assisted Crimes 209
7.5.2 Identity Theft 211
7.6 Technologies and Tools for Combating Cybercrime 213
Scenario 7–2: Intercepting Mail that Enters and Leaves Your Neighborhood 213
7.6.1 Biometric Technologies 214
7.6.2 Keystroke-Monitoring Software and Packet-Sniffing Programs 215
7.7 Programs and Techniques Designed to Combat Cybercrime in the United States 216
7.7.1 Entrapment and “Sting” Operations to Catch Internet Pedophiles 216
Scenario 7–3: Entrapment on the Internet 216
7.7.2 Enhanced Government Surveillance Techniques and the Patriot Act 217
7.8 National and International Laws to Combat Cybercrime 218
7.8.1 The Problem of Jurisdiction in Cyberspace 218
Scenario 7–4: A Virtual Casino 218
Scenario 7–5: Prosecuting a Computer Corporation in Multiple Countries 219
7.8.2 Some International Laws and Conventions Affecting Cybercrime 220
Scenario 7–6: The Pirate Bay Web Site 221
7.9 Cybercrime and the Free Press: The WikiLeaks Controversy 221
7.9.1 Are WikiLeaks’ Practices Ethical? 222
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7.9.2 Are WikiLeaks’ Practices Criminal? 222
7.9.3 WikiLeaks and the Free Press 223
7.10 Chapter Summary 225
Review Questions 225
Discussion Questions 226
Essay/Presentation Questions 226
Scenarios for Analysis 226
Endnotes 227
References 228
Further Readings 229
c CHAPTER 8
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTES IN CYBERSPACE
8.1
230
What is Intellectual Property? 230
8.1.1 Intellectual Objects 231
8.1.2 Why Protect Intellectual Objects? 232
8.1.3 Software as Intellectual Property 232
8.1.4 Evaluating an Argument for Why It is Wrong to Copy
Proprietary Software 233
8.2 Copyright Law and Digital Media 235
8.2.1 The Evolution of Copyright Law in the United States 235
8.2.2 The Fair-Use and First-Sale Provisions of Copyright Law 236
Scenario 8–1: Making Classic Books Available Online 237
Scenario 8–2: Decrypting Security on an e-Book Reader 237
8.2.3 Software Piracy as Copyright Infringement 238
8.2.4 Napster and the Ongoing Battles over Sharing Digital Music 239
Scenario 8–3: The Case of MGM v. Grokster 241
8.3 Patents, Trademarks, and Trade Secrets 242
8.3.1 Patent Protections 242
8.3.2 Trademarks 243
8.3.3 Trade Secrets 243
8.4 Jurisdictional Issues Involving Intellectual Property Laws 244
8.5 Philosophical Foundations for Intellectual Property Rights 245
8.5.1 The Labor Theory of Property 245
Scenario 8–4: DEF Corporation vs. XYZ Inc. 246
8.5.2 The Utilitarian Theory of Property 247
Scenario 8–5: Sam’s e-Book Reader Add-on Device 247
8.5.3 The Personality Theory of Property 248
Scenario 8–6: Angela’s Bþþ Programming Tool 249
8.6 The Free Software and the Open Source Movements 250
8.6.1 GNU and the Free Software Foundation 250
8.6.2 The “Open Source Software” Movement: OSS vs. FSF 251
8.7 The “Common-Good” Approach: An Alternative Framework for Analyzing the
Intellectual Property Debate 252
8.7.1 Information Wants to be Shared vs. Information Wants to be Free 254
8.7.2 Preserving the Information Commons 256
8.7.3 The Fate of the Information Commons: Could the Public Domain of
Ideas Eventually Disappear? 257
8.7.4 The Creative Commons 259
8.8 PIPA, SOPA, and RWA Legislation: Current Battlegrounds in the Intellectual
Property War 260
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8.8.1 The PIPA and SOPA Battles 261
8.8.2 RWA and Public Access to Health-Related Information 261
Scenario 8–7: Elsevier Press and “The Cost of Knowledge” Boycott 262
8.8.3 Intellectual Property Battles in the Near Future 263
8.9 Chapter Summary 264
Review Questions 264
Discussion Questions 265
Essay/Presentation Questions 265
Scenarios for Analysis 265
Endnotes 266
References 267
Further Readings 268
c CHAPTER 9
REGULATING COMMERCE AND SPEECH IN CYBERSPACE
9.1
269
Background Issues and Some Preliminary Distinctions 270
9.1.1 The Ontology of Cyberspace: Is the Internet a Medium or a Place? 270
9.1.2 Two Categories of Cyberspace Regulation 271
9.2 Four Modes of Regulation: The Lessig Model 273
9.3 Digital Rights Management and the Privatization of Information Policy 274
9.3.1 DRM Technology: Implications for Public Debate on Copyright Issues 274
Scenario 9–1: The Sony Rootkit Controversy 275
9.3.2 Privatizing Information Policy: Implications for the Internet 276
9.4 The Use and Misuse of (HTML) Metatags and Web Hyperlinks 278
9.4.1 Issues Surrounding the Use/Abuse of HTML Metatags 278
Scenario 9–2: A Deceptive Use of HTML Metatags 279
9.4.2 Hyperlinking and Deep Linking 279
Scenario 9–3: Deep Linking on the Ticketmaster Web Site 280
9.5 E-Mail Spam 281
9.5.1 Defining Spam 281
9.5.2 Why Is Spam Morally Objectionable? 282
9.6 Free Speech vs. Censorship and Content Control in Cyberspace 284
9.6.1 Protecting Free Speech 284
9.6.2 Defining Censorship 285
9.7 Pornography in Cyberspace 286
9.7.1 Interpreting “Community Standards” in Cyberspace 286
9.7.2 Internet Pornography Laws and Protecting Children Online 287
9.7.3 Virtual Child Pornography 288
Scenario 9–4: A Sexting Incident Involving Greensburg Salem High School 290
9.8 Hate Speech and Speech that can Cause Physical Harm to Others 292
9.8.1 Hate Speech on the Web 292
9.8.2 Online “Speech” that Can Cause Physical Harm to Others 294
9.9 “Network Neutrality” and the Future of Internet Regulation 294
9.9.1 Defining Network Neutrality 295
9.9.2 Some Arguments Advanced by Net Neutrality’s Proponents and Opponents 296
9.9.3 Future Implications for the Net Neutrality Debate 296
9.10 Chapter Summary 297
Review Questions 298
Discussion Questions 298
Essay/Presentation Questions 299
Scenarios for Analysis 299
Endnotes 300
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References 300
Further Readings
301
c CHAPTER 10
THE DIGITAL DIVIDE, DEMOCRACY, AND WORK
303
10.1 The Digital Divide 304
10.1.1 The Global Digital Divide 304
10.1.2 The Digital Divide within Nations 305
Scenario 10–1: Providing In-Home Internet Service for Public School Students 306
10.1.3 Is the Digital Divide an Ethical Issue? 307
10.2 Cybertechnology and the Disabled 309
10.2.1 Disabled Persons and Remote Work 310
10.2.2 Arguments for Continued WAI Support 311
10.3 Cybertechnology and Race 312
10.3.1 Internet Usage Patterns 312
10.3.2 Racism and the Internet 313
10.4 Cybertechnology and Gender 314
10.4.1 Access to High-Technology Jobs 315
10.4.2 Gender Bias in Software Design and Video Games 317
10.5 Cybertechnology, Democracy, and Democratic Ideals 317
10.5.1 Has Cybertechnology Enhanced or Threatened Democracy? 318
10.5.2 How has Cybertechnology Affected Political Elections in
Democratic Nations? 322
10.6 The Transformation and the Quality of Work 324
10.6.1 Job Displacement and the Transformed Workplace 324
10.6.2 The Quality of Work Life in the Digital Era 328
Scenario 10–2: Employee Monitoring and the Case of Ontario v. Quon 329
10.7 Chapter Summary 331
Review Questions 332
Discussion Questions 332
Essay/Presentation Questions 333
Scenarios for Analysis 333
Endnotes 334
References 335
Further Readings 336
c CHAPTER 11
ONLINE COMMUNITIES, CYBER IDENTITIES, AND SOCIAL NETWORKS
337
11.1 Online Communities and Social Networking Services 337
11.1.1 Online Communities vs. Traditional Communities 337
11.1.2 Blogs in the Context of Online Communities 339
11.1.3 Assessing Pros and Cons of Online Communities 339
Scenario 11–1: A Virtual Rape in Cyberspace 342
11.2 Virtual Environments and Virtual Reality 343
11.2.1 What is Virtual Reality (VR)? 344
11.2.2 Ethical Controversies Involving Behavior in VR Applications and Games
11.2.3 Misrepresentation, Bias, and Indecent Representations in VR Applications
11.3 Cyber Identities and Cyber Selves: Personal Identity and Our Sense of Self
in the Cyber Era 351
11.3.1 Cybertechnology as a “Medium of Self-Expression” 352
11.3.2 “MUD Selves” and Distributed Personal Identities 352
11.3.3 The Impact of Cybertechnology on Our Sense of Self 353
11.4 AI and its Implications for What it Means to be Human 355
345
349
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11.4.1 What is AI? A Brief Overview 355
11.4.2 The Turing Test and John Searle’s “Chinese Room” Argument 357
11.4.3 Cyborgs and Human-Machine Relationships 358
Scenario 11–2: Artificial Children 361
11.4.4 Do (At Least Some) AI Entities Warrant Moral Consideration? 361
11.5 Chapter Summary 363
Review Questions 363
Discussion Questions 364
Essay/Presentation Questions 364
Scenarios for Analysis 365
Endnotes 365
References 366
Further Readings 367
c CHAPTER 12
ETHICAL ASPECTS OF EMERGING AND CONVERGING TECHNOLOGIES
368
12.1 Converging Technologies and Technological Convergence 368
12.2 Ambient Intelligence (AmI) and Ubiquitous Computing 369
12.2.1 Pervasive Computing 371
12.2.2 Ubiquitous Communication 371
12.2.3 Intelligent User Interfaces 371
12.2.4 Ethical and Social Issues in AmI 372
Scenario 12–1: E. M. Forster’s Precautionary Tale 373
Scenario 12–2: Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon 375
12.3 Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics 376
12.3.1 Computing and Genetic “Machinery”: Some Conceptual Connections 376
12.3.2 Ethical Issues and Controversies 376
Scenario 12–3: deCODE Genetics Inc. 377
12.3.3 ELSI Guidelines and Genetic-Specific Legislation 380
12.4 Nanotechnology and Nanocomputing 381
12.4.1 Nanotechnology: A Brief Overview 382
12.4.2 Optimistic vs. Pessimistic Views of Nanotechnology 383
12.4.3 Ethical Issues in Nanotechnology and Nanocomputing 386
12.5 Autonomous Machines and Machine Ethics 389
12.5.1 What is an Autonomous Machine (AM)? 390
12.5.2 Some Ethical and Philosophical Questions Involving AMs 393
12.5.3 Machine Ethics and Moral Machines 398
12.6 A “Dynamic” Ethical Framework for Guiding Research in New and Emerging
Technologies 402
12.6.1 Is an ELSI-Like Model Adequate for New/Emerging Technologies? 402
12.6.2 A “Dynamic Ethics” Model 403
12.7 Chapter Summary 404
Review Questions 404
Discussion Questions 405
Essay/Presentation Questions 405
Scenarios for Analysis 405
Endnotes 406
References 407
Further Readings 409
GLOSSARY
INDEX
417
411
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c
PREFACE
As the digital landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, new variations of moral,
legal, and social concerns arise along with it. Not surprisingly, then, an additional cluster
of cyberethics issues has emerged since the publication of the previous edition of
Ethics and Technology in late 2009. Consider, for example, the ways in which Cloudbased storage threatens the privacy and security of our personal data. Also consider the
increasing amount of personal data that social networking sites such as Facebook and
major search engine companies such as Google now collect. Should we worry about how
that information can be subsequently used? Should we also worry about the filtering
techniques that leading search engines now use to tailor or “personalize” the results of
our search queries based on profiles derived from information about our previous search
requests? Some analysts note that the current information-gathering/profiling practices
and techniques used in the commercial sector can also be adopted by governments, and
they point out that these practices could not only support the surveillance initiatives of
totalitarian governments but could also threaten the privacy of citizens in democratic
countries as well.
Also consider the impact that recent cyberwarfare activities, including the clandestine cyberattacks allegedly launched by some nation sates, could have for our
national infrastructure. Additionally, consider the national-security-related concerns
raised by the WikiLeaks controversy, which has also exacerbated an ongoing tension
between free speech on the Internet vs. standards for “responsible reporting” on the
part of investigative journalists. And the recent debate about “network neutrality”
causes us to revisit questions about the extent to which the service providers responsible for delivering online content should also be able to control the content that they
deliver.
Other kinds of concerns now arise because of developments in a relatively new
subfield of cyberethics called “machine ethics” (sometimes referred to as “robo-ethics”).
For example, should we develop autonomous machines that are capable of making
decisions that have moral implications? Some semiautonomous robots, which serve as
companions and caregivers for the elderly and as “babysitters” for young children, are
already available. Recent and continued developments in robotics and autonomous
machines may provide many conveniences and services, but they can also cause us to
question our conventional notions of autonomy, moral agency, and trust. For example,
can/should these machines be fully autonomous? Can they qualify as (artificial) moral
agents? Also, will humans be able to trust machines that they will increasingly rely on to
carry out critical tasks? If we do not yet know the answers to these questions, and if
no clear and explicit policies are in place to guide research in this area, should we
continue to develop autonomous machines? These and related questions in the emerging
xvii
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field of machine ethics are but a few of the many new questions we examine in the fourth
edition of Ethics and Technology.
Although new technologies emerge, and existing technologies continue to mature
and evolve, many of the ethical issues associated with them are basically variations of
existing ethical problems. At bottom, these issues reduce to traditional ethical concerns
having to do with dignity, respect, fairness, obligations to assist others in need, and so
forth. So, we should not infer that the moral landscape itself has been altered because of
behaviors made possible by these technologies. We will see that, for the most part, the
new issues examined in this edition of Ethics and Technology are similar in relevant
respects to the kinds of ethical issues we examined in the book’s previous editions.
However, many emerging technologies present us with challenges that, initially at least,
do not seem to fit easily into our conventional ethical categories. So, a major objective of
this textbook is to show how those controversies can be analyzed from the perspective of
standard ethical concepts and theories.
The purpose of Ethics and Technology, as stated in the prefaces to the three previous
editions of this book, is to introduce students to issues and controversies that comprise
the relatively new field of cyberethics. The term “cyberethics” is used in this textbook to
refer to the field of study that examines moral, legal, and social issues involving
cybertechnology. Cybertechnology, in turn, refers to a broad spectrum of computing/
information and communication technologies that range from stand-alone computers to
the current cluster of networked devices and technologies. Many of these technologies
include devices and applications that are connected to privately owned computer
networks as well as to the Internet itself.
This textbook examines a wide range of cyberethics issues—from specific issues of
moral responsibility that directly affect computer and information technology (IT)
professionals to broader social and ethical concerns that affect each of us in our dayto-day lives. Questions about the roles and responsibilities of computer/IT professionals
in developing safe and reliable computer systems are examined under the category of
professional ethics. Broader social and ethical concerns associated with cybertechnology
are examined under topics such as privacy, security, crime, intellectual property, Internet
regulation, and so forth.
c NEW TO THE FOURTH EDITION
New pedagogical material includes
a newly designed set of end-of-chapter exercises called “Scenarios for Analysis,”
which can be used for either in-class analysis or group projects;
new and/or updated (in-chapter) scenarios, illustrating both actual cases and
hypothetical situations, which enable students to apply methodological concepts/
frameworks and ethical theories covered in Chapters 1 and 2;
new sample arguments in some chapters, which enable students to apply the tools
for argument analysis covered in Chapter 3;
updated “review questions,” “discussion questions,” and “essay/presentation
questions” at the end of chapters;
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b xix
an updated and revised glossary of key terms used in the book;
an updated Ethics and Technology Companion Site with new resources and
materials for students and instructors.
New issues examined and analyzed include
ethical and social aspects of Cloud computing, including concerns about the
privacy and security of users’ data that is increasingly being stored in “the Cloud”;
concerns about the “personalization filters” that search engine companies use to
tailor our search results to conform to their perceptions of what we want.
questions about Google’s (2012) privacy policy vis-a-vis the amount of user data
that can be collected via the search engine company’s suite of applications;
concerns about cyberwarfare activities involving nation states and their alleged
launching of the Stuxnet worm and Flame virus;
controversies surrounding WikiLeaks and the tension it creates between free
speech and responsible journalism, as well as for concerns involving national
security;
concerns affecting “network neutrality” and whether regulation may be required
to ensure that Internet service providers do not gain too much control over the
content they deliver;
controversies in “machine ethics,” including the development of autonomous
machines capable of making decisions that have moral impacts;
questions about whether we can trust artificial agents to act in ways that will
always be in the best interests of humans.
In revising the book, I have also eliminated some older, now out-of-date, material.
Additionally, I have streamlined some of the material that originally appeared in
previous editions of the book but still needs to be carried over into the present edition.
c AUDIENCE AND SCOPE
Because cyberethics is an interdisciplinary field, this textbook aims at reaching several
audiences and thus easily runs the risk of failing to meet the needs of any one audience. I
have nonetheless attempted to compose a textbook that addresses the needs of computer
science, philosophy, social/behavioral science, and library/information science students.
Computer science students need a clear understanding of the ethical challenges they will
face as computer professionals when they enter the workforce. Philosophy students, on
the contrary, should understand how moral issues affecting cybertechnology can be
situated in the field of applied ethics in general and then analyzed from the perspective of
ethical theory. Social science and behavioral science students will likely want to assess the
sociological impact of cybertechnology on our social and political institutions (government, commerce, and education) and sociodemographic groups (affecting gender, race,
ethnicity, and social class). And library science and information science students should
be aware of the complexities and nuances of current intellectual property laws that
threaten unfettered access to electronic information, and should be informed about
recent regulatory schemes that threaten to censor certain forms of electronic speech.
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Students from other academic disciplines should also find many issues covered in this
textbook pertinent to their personal and professional lives; some undergraduates may
elect to take a course in social and ethical aspects of technology to satisfy one of their
general education requirements. Although Ethics and Technology is intended mainly for
undergraduate students, it could be used, in conjunction with other texts, in graduate
courses as well.
We examine ethical controversies using scenarios that include both actual cases and
hypothetical examples, wherever appropriate. In some instances I have deliberately
constructed provocative scenarios and selected controversial cases to convey the
severity of the ethical issues we consider. Some readers may be uncomfortable with,
and possibly even offended by, these scenarios and cases—for example, those illustrating
unethical practices that negatively affect children and minorities. Although it might have
been politically expedient to skip over issues and scenarios that could unintentionally
offend certain individuals, I believe that no textbook in applied ethics would do justice to
its topic if it failed to expose and examine issues that adversely affect vulnerable groups in
society.
Also included in most chapters are sample arguments that are intended to illustrate
some of the rationales that have been put forth by various interest groups to defend
policies and laws affecting privacy, security, property, and so forth, in cyberspace.
Instructors and students can evaluate these arguments via the rules and criteria established in Chapter 3 to see how well, or how poorly, the premises in these arguments
succeed in establishing their conclusions.
Exercise questions are included at the end of each chapter. First, basic “review
questions” quiz the reader’s comprehension of key concepts, themes, issues, and
scenarios covered in that chapter. These are followed by higher level “discussion
questions” designed to encourage students to reflect more deeply on some of the controversial issues examined in the chapter. In addition to “essay/presentation questions” that
are also included in each chapter, a new set of “Scenarios for Analysis” have been added
in response to instructors who requested the addition of some unanalyzed scenarios
for classroom use. Building on the higher level nature of the discussion questions
and essay/presentation questions, these scenarios are intended to provide students
and instructors with additional resources for analyzing important controversies introduced in the various chapters. As such, these scenarios can function as in-class resources
for group projects.
Some essay/presentation questions and end-of-chapter scenarios ask students to
compare and contrast arguments and topics that span multiple chapters; for example,
students are asked to relate arguments used to defend intellectual property rights,
considered in Chapter 8, to arguments for protecting privacy rights, examined in
Chapter 5. Other questions and scenarios ask students to apply foundational concepts
and frameworks, such as ethical theory and critical thinking techniques introduced in
Chapters 2 and 3, to the analysis of specific cyberethics issues examined in subsequent
chapters. In some cases, these end-of-chapter questions and scenarios may generate
lively debate in the classroom; in other cases, they can serve as a point of departure for
various class assignments and group projects. Although no final “solutions” to the issues
and dilemmas raised in these questions and scenarios are provided in the text,
some “strategies” for analyzing them are included in the section of the book’s Web
site (www.wiley.com/college/tavani) entitled “Strategies for Discussion Questions.”
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c ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK
Ethics and Technology is organized into 12 chapters. Chapter 1, “Introduction to
Cyberethics: Concepts, Perspectives, and Methodological Frameworks,” defines key
concepts and terms that will appear throughout the book. For example, definitions of
terms such as cyberethics and cybertechnology are introduced in this chapter. We then
examine whether any ethical issues involving cybertechnology are unique ethical issues.
We also consider how we can approach cyberethics issues from three different perspectives: professional ethics, philosophical ethics, and sociological/descriptive ethics, each of
which represents the approach generally taken by a computer scientist, a philosopher,
and a social/behavioral scientist. Chapter 1 concludes with a proposal for a comprehensive and interdisciplinary methodological scheme for analyzing cyberethics issues from
these perspectives.
In Chapter 2, “Ethical Concepts and Ethical Theories: Establishing and Justifying a
Moral System,” we examine some of the basic concepts that make up a moral system. We
draw a distinction between “ethics” and “morality” by defining ethics as “the study
of morality.” “Morality,” or a moral system, is defined as an informal, public system
comprising rules of conduct and principles for evaluating those rules. We then examine
consequence-based, duty-based, character-based, and contract-based ethical theories.
Chapter 2 concludes with a model that integrates elements of competing ethical theories
into one comprehensive and unified theory.
Chapter 3, “Critical Reasoning Skills for Evaluating Disputes in Cyberethics,”
includes a brief overview of basic concepts and strategies that are essential for debating
moral issues in a structured and rational manner. We begin by describing the structure of
a logical argument and show how arguments can be constructed and analyzed. Next,
we examine a technique for distinguishing between arguments that are valid and invalid,
sound and unsound, and inductive and fallacious. We illustrate examples of each type
with topics affecting cybertechnology and cyberethics. Finally, we identify some strategies for spotting and labeling “informal” logical fallacies that frequently occur in
everyday discourse.
Chapter 4, “Professional Ethics, Codes of Conduct, and Moral Responsibility,”
examines issues related to professional responsibility for computer/IT professionals.
We consider whether there are any special moral responsibilities that computer/IT
professionals have as professionals. We then examine some professional codes of
conducted that have been adopted by computer organizations. We also ask: To what
extent are software engineers responsible for the reliability of the computer systems they
design and develop, especially applications that include “life-critical” and “safetycritical” software? Are computer/IT professionals ever permitted, or perhaps even
required, to “blow the whistle” when they have reasonable evidence to suggest that a
computer system is unreliable? Finally, we examine some schemes for analyzing risks
associated with the development of safety-critical software.
We discuss privacy issues involving cybertechnology in Chapter 5. First, we examine
the concept of privacy as well as some arguments for why privacy is considered an
important human value. We then look at how personal privacy is threatened by the kinds
of surveillance techniques and data-collection schemes made possible by cybertechnology. Specific data-gathering and data-exchanging techniques are examined in detail.
We next consider some challenges that data mining and Web mining pose for protecting
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personal privacy in public space. In Chapter 5, we also consider whether technology itself,
in the form of privacy-enhancing technologies (or PETs), can provide an adequate
solution to some privacy issues generated by cybertechnology.
Chapter 6, “Security in Cyberspace,” examines security threats in the context of
computers and cybertechnology. Initially, we differentiate three distinct senses of
“security”: data security, system security, and network security. We then examine the
concepts of “hacker” and “hacker ethic,” and we ask whether computer break-ins can
ever be morally justified. Next, we differentiate acts of “hacktivism,” cyberterrorism, and
information warfare. Chapter 6 concludes with a brief examination of risk analysis in the
context of cybersecurity.
We begin our analysis of cybercrime, in Chapter 7, by considering whether we
can construct a profile of a “typical” cybercriminal. We then propose a definition
of cybercrime that enables us to distinguish between “cyberspecific” and “cyber-related”
crimes to see whether such a distinction would aid in the formulation of more coherent
cybercrime laws. We also consider the notion of legal jurisdiction in cyberspace,
especially with respect to the prosecution of cybercrimes that involve interstate and
international venues. In addition, we examine technological efforts to combat cybercrime, such as controversial uses of biometric technologies.
Chapters 8 and 9 examine legal issues involving intellectual property and free speech,
respectively, as they relate to cyberspace. One objective of Chapter 8, “Intellectual
Property Disputes in Cyberspace,” is to show why an understanding of the concept of
intellectual property is important in an era of digital information. We consider three
theories of property rights and make important distinctions among legal concepts such as
copyright law, patent protection, and trademarks. Additionally, we consider specific
scenarios involving intellectual property disputes, including the original Napster controversy as well as some recent peer-to-peer (P2P) networks that have been used for file
sharing. We also examine the Free Software and the Open Source Software initiatives.
Finally, we consider a compromise solution that supports and encourages the sharing of
digital information in an era when strong copyright legislation seems to discourage
that practice.
Chapter 9, “Regulating Commerce and Speech in Cyberspace,” looks at additional
legal issues, especially as they involve regulatory concerns in cyberspace. We draw
distinctions between two different senses of “regulation” as it applies to cyberspace, and
we also consider whether the Internet should be understood as a medium or as a “place.”
We also examine controversies surrounding e-mail spam, which some believe can be
viewed as a form of “speech” in cyberspace. We then ask whether all forms of online speech
should be granted legal protection; for example, should child pornography, hate speech,
and speech that can cause physical harm to others be tolerated in online forums?
Chapter 10 examines a wide range of equity-and-access issues from the perspective
of cybertechnology’s impact for sociodemographic groups (affecting class, race, and
gender). The chapter begins with an analysis of global aspects of the “digital divide.” We
then examine specific equity-and-access issues affecting disabled persons, racial minorities, and women. Next, we explore the relationship between cybertechnology and
democracy, and we consider whether the Internet facilitates democracy or threatens
it. We then examine some social and ethical issues affecting employment in the
contemporary workplace, and we ask whether the use of cybertechnology has transformed work and has affected the overall quality of work life.
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In Chapter 11, we examine issues pertaining to online communities, virtual-reality
(VR) environments, and artificial intelligence (AI) developments in terms of two broad
themes: community and personal identity in cyberspace. We begin by analyzing the
impact that cybertechnology has for our traditional understanding of the concept of
community. In particular, we ask whether online communities, such as Facebook and
Twitter, raise any special ethical or social issues. Next, we examine some implications that
behaviors made possible by virtual environments and virtual-reality applications have for
our conventional understanding of personal identity. The final section of Chapter 11
examines the impact that developments in AI have for our sense of self and for what it
means to be human.
Chapter 12, the final chapter of Ethics and Technology, examines some ethical
challenges that arise in connection with emerging and converging technologies. We note
that cybertechnology is converging with noncybertechnologies, including biotechnology
and nanotechnology, generating new fields such as bioinformatics and nanocomputing
that, in turn, introduce ethical concerns. Chapter 12 also includes a brief examination of
some issues in the emerging (sub)field of machine ethics. Among the questions considered are whether we should develop autonomous machines that are capable of making
moral decisions and whether we could trust those machines to always act in our best
interests.
A Glossary that defines terms commonly used in the context of computer ethics and
cyberethics is also included. However, the glossary is by no means intended as an
exhaustive list of such terms. Additional material for this text is available on the book’s
Web site: www.wiley.com/college.tavani.
c THE WEB SITE FOR ETHICS AND TECHNOLOGY
Seven appendices for Ethics and Technology are available only in online format.
Appendices A through E include the full text of five professional codes of ethics: the
ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, the Australian Computer Society Code
of Ethics, the British Computer Society Code of Conduct, the IEEE Code of Ethics, and
the IEEE-CS/ACM Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice,
respectively. Specific sections of these codes are included in hardcopy format as well, in
relevant sections of Chapter 4. Two appendices, F and G, are also available online.
Appendix F contains the section of the IEEE-CS/ ACM Computing Curricula 2001 Final
Report that describes the social, professional, and ethical units of instruction mandated in
their computer science curriculum. Appendix G provides some additional critical
reasoning techniques that expand on the strategies introduced in Chapter 3.
The Web site for Ethics and Technology also contains additional resources for
instructors and students. Presentation slides in PowerPoint format for Chapters 1–12, as
well as graphics (for tables and figures in each chapter), are available in the “Instructor”
and “Student” sections of the site. As noted earlier, a section on “Strategies,” which
includes some techniques for answering the discussion questions and unanalyzed scenarios included at the end of each of the book’s 12 chapters, is also included on this site.
The book’s Web site is intended as an additional resource for both instructors and
students. It also enables me to “update the book,” in between editions, with new issues
and scenarios in cyberethics, as they arise. For example, a section entitled “Recent
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Controversies” is included on the book’s Web site. I invite your feedback as to how this
site can be continually improved.
c A NOTE TO STUDENTS
If you are taking an ethics course for the first time, you might feel uncomfortable with the
prospect of embarking on a study of moral issues and controversial topics that might
initially cause you discomfort because ethics is sometimes perceived to be preachy, and its
subject matter is sometimes viewed as essentially personal and private in nature. Because
these are common concerns, I address them early in the textbook. I draw a distinction
between an ethicist, who studies morality or a “moral system,” and a moralist who may
assume to have the correct answers to all of the questions; note that a primary objective of
this book is to examine and analyze ethical issues, not to presume that any of us already
has the correct answer to any of the questions I consider.
To accomplish this objective, I introduce three types of conceptual frameworks early
in the textbook. In Chapter 1, I provide a methodological scheme that enables you to
identify controversial problems and issues involving cybertechnology as ethical issues.
The conceptual scheme included in Chapter 2, based on ethical theory, provides some
general principles that guide your analysis of specific cases as well as your deliberations
about which kinds of solutions to problems should be proposed. A third, and final,
conceptual framework is introduced in Chapter 3 in the form of critical reasoning
techniques, which provides rules and standards that you can use for evaluating the
strengths of competing arguments and for defending a particular position that you reach
on a certain issue.
This textbook was designed and written for you, the student! Whether or not it
succeeds in helping you to meet the objectives of a course in cyberethics is very important
to me, so I welcome your feedback on this textbook; and I would sincerely appreciate
hearing your ideas on how this textbook could be improved. Please feel free to write to
me with your suggestions, comments, and so forth. My email address is htavani@rivier
.edu. I look forward to hearing from you!
c NOTE TO INSTRUCTORS: A ROADMAP FOR USING THIS BOOK
The chapters that make up Ethics and Technology are sequenced so that readers are
exposed to foundational issues and conceptual frameworks before they examine specific
problems in cyberethics. In some cases, it may not be possible for instructors to cover all
of the material in Chapters 1–3. It is strongly recommended, however, that before
students are assigned material in Chapter 4, they at least read Sections 1.1, 1.4–1.5, 2.4–
2.8, and 3.1. Instructors using this textbook can determine which chapters best accommodate their specific course objectives. Computer science instructors, for example, will
likely want to assign Chapter 4, on professional ethics and responsibility, early in the
term. Social science instructors, on the other hand, will likely examine issues discussed in
Chapters 10 and 11 early in their course. Philosophy instructors may wish to structure
their courses beginning with a thorough examination of the material on ethical concepts
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b xxv
and ethical theory in Chapter 2 and techniques for evaluating logical arguments in
Chapter 3. Issues discussed in Chapter 12 may be of particular interest to CS instructors
teaching advanced undergraduate students.
Many textbooks in applied ethics include a requisite chapter on ethical concepts/
theory at the beginning of the book. Unfortunately, they often treat them in a cursory
manner; furthermore, these ethical concepts and theories are seldom developed and
reinforced in the remaining chapters. Thus, readers often experience a “disconnect”
between the material included in the book’s opening chapter and the content of the
specific cases and issues discussed in subsequent chapters. By incorporating elements of
ethical theory into my discussion and analysis of the specific cyberethics issues I examine,
I have tried to avoid the “disconnect” between theory and practice that is commonplace
in many applied ethics textbooks.
c A NOTE TO COMPUTER SCIENCE INSTRUCTORS
Ethics and Technology can be used as the main text in a course dedicated to ethical and
social issues in computing, or it can be used as a supplementary textbook for computer
science courses in which one or more ethics modules are included. As I suggested in the
preceding section, instructors may find it difficult to cover all of the material included in
this book in the course of a single semester. And as I also previously suggested, computer
science instructors will likely want to ensure that they allocate sufficient course time to
the professional ethical issues discussed in Chapter 4. Also of special interest to computer
science instructors and their students will be the sections on computer security and risk
analysis in Chapter 6; open source code and intellectual property issues in Chapter 8; and
regulatory issues affecting software code in Chapter 9. Because computer science
instructors may need to limit the amount of class time they devote to covering foundational concepts included in the earlier chapters, I recommend covering at least the critical
sections of Chapters 1–3 described previously. This should provide computer science
students with some of the tools they will need as professionals to deliberate on ethical
issues and to justify the positions they reach.
In designing this textbook, I took into account the guidelines on ethical instruction
included in the Computing Curricula 2001 Final Report, issued in December 2001 by the
IEEE-CS/ACM Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula, which recommends the
inclusion of 16 core hours of instruction on social, ethical, and professional topics in
the curriculum for undergraduate computer science students. [See the online Appendix F
at www.wiley.com/college.tavani for detailed information about the social/professional
(SP) units in the Computing Curricula 2001.] Each topic prefaced with an SP designation
defines one “knowledge area” or a CS “body of knowledge.” They are distributed among
the following 10 units:
SP1: History of computing (e.g., history of computer hardware, software, and
networking)
SP2: Social context of computing (e.g., social implications of networked computing,
gender-related issues, and international issues)
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SP3: Methods and tools of analysis (e.g., identifying assumptions and values, making
and evaluating ethical arguments)
SP4: Professional and ethical responsibilities (e.g., the nature of professionalism, codes
of ethics, ethical dissent, and whistle-blowing)
SP5: Risks and liabilities of computer-based systems (e.g., historical examples of
software risks)
SP6: Intellectual property (e.g., foundations of intellectual property, copyrights,
patents, and software piracy)
SP7: Privacy and civil liberties (e.g., ethical and legal basis for privacy protection,
technological strategies for privacy protection)
SP8: Computer crime (e.g., history and examples of computer crime, hacking, viruses,
and crime prevention strategies)
SP9: Economic issues in computing (e.g., monopolies and their economic implications;
effect of skilled labor supply)
SP10: Philosophical frameworks (e.g., ethical theory, utilitarianism, relativism)
All 10 SP units are covered in this textbook. Topics described in SP1 are examined in
Chapters 1 and 10, and topics included in SP2 are discussed in Chapters 1 and 11. The
methods and analytical tools mentioned in SP3 are described at length in Chapters 2 and
3, whereas professional issues involving codes of conduct and professional responsibility
described in SP4 are included in Chapters 4 and 12. Also discussed in Chapter 4, as well as
in Chapter 6, are issues involving risks and liabilities (SP5). Intellectual property issues
(SP6) are discussed in detail in Chapter 8 and in certain sections of Chapter 9, whereas
privacy and civil liberty concerns (SP7) are discussed mainly in Chapters 5 and 12.
Chapters 6 and 7 examine topics described in SP8. Economic issues (SP9) are considered
in Chapters 9 and 10. And philosophical frameworks of ethics, including ethical theory
(SP10), are discussed in Chapters 1 and 2.
Table 1 illustrates the corresponding connection between SP units and the chapters
of this book.
TABLE 1 SP (“Knowledge”) Units and Corresponding Book Chapters
SP unit
Chapter(s)
1
1, 10
2
1, 11
3
2, 3
4
4, 12
5
4, 6
6
8, 9
7
5, 12
8
6, 7
9
9, 10
10
1, 2
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In revising Ethics and Technology for a fourth edition, I have once again drawn from
several of my previously published works. Chapters 1–4, on foundational and professional issues in cyberethics, incorporate material from four articles: “The State of
Computer Ethics as a Philosophical Field of Inquiry,” Ethics and Information Technology
3, no. 2 (2001); “Applying an Interdisciplinary Approach to Teaching Computer Ethics,”
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine 21, no. 3 (2002); “The Uniqueness Debate in
Computer Ethics,” Ethics and Information Technology 4, no. 1 (2002); and “Search
Engines and Ethics,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2012).
Chapter 5, on privacy in cyberspace, also draws from material in four works:
“Computer Matching and Personal Privacy,” Proceedings of the Symposium on Computers and the Quality of Life (ACM Press, 1996); “Informational Privacy, Data Mining,
and the Internet,” Ethics and Information Technology 1, no. 2 (1999); “Privacy Enhancing Technologies as a Panacea for Online Privacy Concerns: Some Ethical Considerations,” Journal of Information Ethics 9, no. 2 (2000); and “Applying the ‘Contextual
Integrity’ Model of Privacy to Personal Blogs in the Blogosphere” (coauthored
with Frances Grodzinsky), International Journal of Internet Research Ethics 3 (2010).
Chapters 6 and 7, on security and crime in cyberspace, draw from material in
three sources: “Privacy and Security” in Duncan Langford’s book Internet Ethics
(Macmillan/St. Martins, 2000); “Defining the Boundaries of Computer Crime: Piracy,
Trespass, and Vandalism in Cyberspace” in Readings in CyberEthics 2nd ed. (Jones and
Bartlett, 2004); and “Privacy in ‘the Cloud’” (coauthored with Frances Grodzinsky),
Computers and Society 41, no. 1 (2011).
In Chapters 8 and 9, on intellectual property and Internet regulation, I drew from
material in “Information Wants to be Shared: An Alternative Approach for Analyzing
Intellectual Property Disputes in the Information Age,” Catholic Library World 73, no. 2
(2002); and two papers coauthored with Frances Grodzinsky: “P2P Networks and the
Verizon v. RIAA Case,” Ethics and Information Technology 7, no. 4 (2005) and “Online
File Sharing: Resolving the Tensions between Privacy and Property” Computers and
Society 38, no. 4 (2008). Chapters 10 and 11, on the digital divide, democracy, and online
communities, draw from material from two papers: “Ethical Reflections on the Digital
Divide,” Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society 1, no. 2 (2003) and
“Online Communities, Democratic Ideals, and the Digital Divide” (coauthored with
Frances Grodzinsky) in Soraj Hongladarom and Charles Ess’s book Information Technology Ethics: Cultural Perspectives (IGI Global, 2007).
Chapter 12, on emerging and converging technologies, incorporates material from
my book Ethics, Computing, and Genomics (Jones and Bartlett, 2006), and from three
recently published papers: “Can We Develop Artificial Agents Capable of Making Good
xxvii
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xxviii c Acknowledgments
Moral Decisions?” Minds and Machines 21, no. 3 (2011); “Trust and Multi-Agent
Systems” (coauthored with Jeff Buechner), Ethics and Information Technology 13,
no. 1 (2011); and “Ethical Aspects of Autonomous Systems” in Michael Decker and
Mathias Gutmann’s book Robo- and Information-Ethics (Berlin: Verlag LIT, 2012).
The fourth edition of Ethics and Technology has benefited from suggestions and
comments I received from many anonymous reviewers, as well as from the following
colleagues: Jeff Buechner, Lloyd Carr, Jerry Dolan, Frances Grodzinsky, Kenneth
Himma, James Moor, Martin Menke, Wayne Pauley, Mark Rosenbaum, Regina Tavani,
and John Weckert. I am especially grateful to Fran Grodzinsky (Sacred Heart University), with whom I have coauthored several papers, for permitting me to incorporate
elements of our joint research into relevant sections of this book. And I am most grateful
to Lloyd Carr (Rivier University) for his invaluable feedback on several chapters and
sections of this edition of the book, which he was willing to review multiple times; his
astute comments and suggestions have helped me to refine many of the positions I defend
in this book.
The new edition of the book has also benefited from some helpful comments that I
received from many students who have used previous editions of the text. I am also
grateful to the numerous reviewers and colleagues who commented on the previous
editions of this book; many of their helpful suggestions have been carried over to the
present edition.
I also wish to thank the editorial and production staffs at Wiley and Thomson Digital,
especially Beth Golub, Elizabeth Mills, Katherine Willis, Jolene Ling, and Sanchari Sil,
for their support during the various stages of the revision process for the fourth edition of
Ethics and Technology.
Finally, I must once again thank the two most important people in my life: my wife
Joanne, and our daughter Regina. Without their continued support and extraordinary
patience, the fourth edition of this book could not have been completed.
This edition of Ethics and Technology is dedicated to the memory of my grandparents: Leon and Marian (Roberts) Hutton, and Antonio and Clelia (Giamberardino)
Tavani.
Herman T. Tavani
Nashua, NH
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FOREWORD
The computer/information revolution is shaping our world in ways it has been difficult to
predict and to appreciate. When mainframe computers were developed in the 1940s and
1950s, some thought only a few computers would ever be needed in society. When
personal computers were introduced in the 1980s, they were considered fascinating toys
for hobbyists but not something serious businesses would ever use. When Web tools were
initially created in the 1990s to enhance the Internet, they were a curiosity. Using the
Web to observe the level of a coffee pot across an ocean was intriguing, at least for a few
moments, but not of much practical use. Today, armed with the wisdom of hindsight, the
impact of such computing advancements seems obvious, if not inevitable, to all of us.
What government claims that it does not need computers? What major business does not
have a Web address? How many people, even in the poorest of countries, are not aware
of the use of cell phones?
The computer/information revolution has changed our lives and has brought with it
significant ethical, social, and professional issues; consider the area of privacy as but one
example. Today, surveillance cameras are abundant, and facial recognition systems are
effective even under less than ideal observing conditions. Information about buying
habits, medical conditions, and human movements can be mined and correlated relentlessly using powerful computers. Individuals’ DNA information can easily be collected,
stored, and transmitted throughout the world in seconds. This computer/information
revolution has brought about unexpected capabilities and possibilities. The revolution is
not only technological but also ethical, social, and professional. Our computerized world
is perhaps not the world we expected, and, even to the extent that we expected it, it is not
a world for which we have well-analyzed policies about how to behave. Now more than
ever we need to take cyberethics seriously.
Herman Tavani has written an excellent introduction to the field of cyberethics. His
text differs from others in at least three important respects: First, the book is extraordinarily comprehensive and up to date in its subject matter. The text covers all of the
standard topics such as codes of conduct, privacy, security, crime, intellectual property,
and free speech, and also discusses sometimes overlooked subjects such as democracy,
employment, access, and the digital divide. Tavani more than anyone else has tracked
and published the bibliographical development of cyberethics over many years, and his
expertise with this vast literature shines through in this volume. Second, the book
approaches the subject matter of cyberethics from diverse points of view. Tavani
examines issues from a social science perspective, from a philosophical perspective,
and from a computing professional perspective, and then he suggests ways to integrate
these diverse approaches. If the task of cyberethics is multidisciplinary, as many of
us believe, then such a diverse but integrated methodology is crucial to accomplishing
xxix
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the task. His book is one of the few that constructs such a methodology. Third, the book is
unusually helpful to students and teachers because it contains an entire chapter discussing
critical thinking skills and is filled with review and discussion questions.
The cyberage is going to evolve. The future details and applications are, as always,
difficult to predict. But it is likely that computing power and bandwidth will continue to
grow while computing devices themselves will shrink in size to the nanometer scale. More
and more information devices will be inserted into our environment, our cars, our houses,
our clothing, and us. Computers will become smarter. They will be made out of new
materials, possibly biological. They will operate in new ways, possibly using quantum
properties. The distinction between the virtual world and the real world will blur more
and more. We need a good book in cyberethics to deal with the present and prepare us for
this uncertain future. Tavani’s Ethics and Technology is such a book.
James H. Moor
Dartmouth College
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CHAPTER
1
Introduction to Cyberethics:
Concepts, Perspectives,
and Methodological Frameworks
Our primary objective in Chapter 1 is to introduce some foundational concepts and
methodological frameworks that will be used in our analysis of specific cyberethics issues
in subsequent chapters of this textbook. To accomplish this objective, we
define key terms such as cyberethics and cybertechnology;
describe key developmental phases in cybertechnology that influenced the
evolution of cyberethics as a distinct field of applied ethics;
consider whether there is anything unique or special about cyberethics issues;
examine three distinct perspectives for identifying and approaching cyberethics
issues;
propose a comprehensive methodological scheme for analyzing cyberethics
issues.
We begin by reflecting briefly on three scenarios, each illustrating a cluster of ethical
issues that will be examined in detail in later chapters of this book.
c SCENARIO 1–1: A Fatal Cyberbullying Incident on MySpace
Megan Meier, a 13-year-old resident of Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, had an account on MySpace
where she received a “friend” request from a user named Josh Evans. Evans, who claimed to be a
16-year-old boy, told Meier that he lived near her and was being home-schooled by his parents. At
first, Evans sent flattering e-mails to Meier, which also suggested that he might be romantically
interested in her. Soon, however, Evans’s remarks turned from compliments to insults, and Evans
informed Meier that he was no longer sure that he wanted to be friends with her because he heard
that she “wasn’t very nice to her friends.” Next, Meier noticed that some highly derogatory posts
about her—e.g., “Megan Meier is a slut” and “Megan Meier is fat”—began to appear on MySpace.
Meier, who was reported to have suffered from low self-esteem and depression, became increasingly distressed by the online harassment (cyberbullying) being directed at her—i.e., from both the
1
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insulting MySpace postings and hurtful e-mail messages she continued to receive from Evans. On
October 17, 2006, Meier decided to end her life by hanging herself in her bedroom. An investigation
of this incident, following Meier’s death, revealed that Josh Evans was not a teenage boy; she was
Lori Drew, the 49-year-old mother of a former friend of Meier’s.1
&
c SCENARIO 1–2: Contesting the Ownership of a Twitter Account
Noah Kravitz was employed by PhoneDog Media, a mobile phone company, for nearly four years.
PhoneDog had two divisions: an e-commerce site (phonedog.com) that sold mobile phones, and a
blog that enabled customers to interact with the company. Kravitz created a blog on Twitter (called
Phonedog_Noah) while employed at PhoneDog, and his blog attracted 17,000 followers by the time
he left the company in October 2010. However, Kravitz informed PhoneDog that he wanted to
keep his Twitter blog, with all of his followers; in return, Kravitz agreed that he would still “tweet”
occasionally on behalf of his former company, under a new (Twitter) “handle,” or account name,
NoahKravitz. Initially, PhoneDog seemed to have no problem with this arrangement. In July 2011,
however, PhoneDog sued Kravitz, arguing that his list of Twitter followers was, in fact, a company
list. PhoneDog also argued that it had invested a substantial amount of money in growing its
customer list, which it considered to be the property of PhoneDog Media. The company (as of early
2012) is seeking $340,000 in damages—the amount that PhoneDog estimated it had lost based on
17,000 customers at $2.50 per customer over an eight-month period (following Kravitz’s departure
from the company).2
&
c SCENARIO 1–3: “The Washingtonienne” Blogger
Jessica Cutler, a former staff assistant to U.S. Senator Michael DeWine (R-Ohio), authored an
online diary (on blogger.com) under the pseudonym “The Washingtonienne.” In May 2004, she
was fired when the contents of her diary appeared in Wonkette: The DC Gossip, a popular blog in
the Washington D.C. area. Until her diary was discovered and published in Wonkette, Cutler
assumed that it had been viewed by only a few of her fellow “staffers” (Washington D.C. staff
assistants) who were interested in reading about the details of her romantic relationships and sexual
encounters. In her diary, Cutler disclosed that she earned an annual salary of only $25,000 as a
staffer and that most of her living expenses were “thankfully subsidized by a few generous older
gentlemen.” She also described some details of her sexual relationships with these men, one of
whom was married and an official in the George W. Bush administration. (Cutler did not use the
real names of these men but instead referred to them via initials that could easily be linked to their
actual identities.) Following her termination as a staffer, in response to the political fallout and the
media attention resulting from the publication of her diary, Cutler was offered a book contract with
a major publisher. She was also subsequently sued by one of the men implicated in her blog.3 &
First, consider some ethical concerns that arise in the Megan Meier cyberbullying
scenario. These include worries affecting anonymity and pseudonymity, deception,
crime, legal liability, and moral responsibility. Should Lori Drew, as well as any other
MySpace user, have been permitted to open an account on that social networking site
(SNS) under an alias or pseudonym that also included a fictitious profile? Should
MySpace, or any SNS, tolerate members who deceive, intimidate, or harass other users?
Should users who create accounts on SNSs with the intention to deceive or harass others
be subject to criminal prosecution? Should MySpace have been held legally liable, at least
in some contributory sense, for Meier’s death? Also, do ordinary users of an SNS who
discover that someone is being bullied in that online forum have a moral responsibility to
inform the SNS? Do they also have a moral responsibility to inform that SNS if they
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1.1 Defining Key Terms: Cyberethics and Cybertechnology b 3
discover that someone has created a fraudulent account on their forum, which could be
used to deceive and harass other members? These and similar questions are examined in
detail in Chapters 7 and 11.
Next, consider the scenario involving Twitter. Here, several important ethical, legal,
and policy issues also arise—especially with respect to intellectual property rights and
ownership of information. For example, can an employer’s customer list constitute a
“trade secret,” as PhoneDog claimed? Should an employee be authorized to create a
single Twitter account in which the followers are simultaneously interested both in the
employer’s product and in the employee’s (private) blog? Should employees be allowed
to post to their private accounts on SNSs, such as Twitter or Facebook, during work hours
or, for that matter, whenever/wherever they are using an employer’s computing
resources? If so, who has legal ownership rights to that information? A different, but
somewhat related, question has to do with whether ordinary users should be able to post
on their private SNS accounts anything they wish to say about their current or former
employers, without first getting explicit permission to do so. Questions pertaining to these
and related issues are examined in Chapters 8 and 9.
Third, consider “The Washingtonienne” scenario, where a wide range of ethical and
legal issues also arise. These include concerns affecting privacy, confidentiality, anonymity, free speech, defamation, and so forth. For example, did Cutler violate the privacy and
confidentiality of her romantic partners through the remarks she made about them in her
online diary? Should she be held liable for defamation because of the nature of her
remarks about these individuals, or was she merely exercising her right to free speech?
Was Cutler’s expectation of anonymity violated when she was eventually “outed” by
Wonkette, or were the circumstances surrounding this incident no different from that of
any author or journalist who writes under a pseudonym but whose real identity is
eventually discovered and made public? Should Cutler’s online diary be considered a
“public document” merely because it was on the Web, or did her diary also deserve some
privacy protection because of the limited scope of its intended audience? Answers to
these and related questions affecting blogs and the “blogosphere” are examined in
Chapters 5, 9, and 11.
The Meier, Twitter, and Washingtonienne scenarios provide us with particular
contexts in which we can begin to think about a cluster of ethical issues affecting the
use of computers and cybertechnology. A number of alternative examples could also
have been used to illustrate many of the moral and legal concerns that arise in connection
with this technology. In fact, examples abound. One has only to read a daily newspaper or
view regular television news programs to be informed about controversial issues
involving computers and the Internet, including questions that pertain to property,
privacy, security, anonymity, crime, and jurisdiction. Ethical aspects of these issues are
examined in the chapters comprising this textbook. In the remainder of Chapter 1, we
identify and examine some key foundational concepts and frameworks in cyberethics.
c 1.1 DEFINING KEY TERMS: CYBERETHICS
AND CYBERTECHNOLOGY
Before we propose a definition of cyberethics, it is important to note that the field of
cyberethics can be viewed as a branch of (applied) ethics. In Chapter 2, where we define
ethics as “the study of morality,” we provide a detailed account of what is meant by
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morality and a moral system, and we also focus on some important aspects of theoretical,
as opposed to, applied ethics. For example, both ethical concepts and ethical theories are
also examined in detail in that chapter. There, we also include a “Getting Started” section
on how to engage in ethical reasoning in general, as well as reasoning in the case of some
specific moral dilemmas. In Chapter 1, however, our main focus is on clarifying some
key cyber and cyber-related terms that will be used throughout the remaining chapters of
this textbook.
For our purpose, cyberethics can be defined as the study of moral, legal, and social
issues involving cybertechnology. Cyberethics examines the impact of cybertechnology
on our social, legal, and moral systems, and it evaluates the social policies and laws that
have been framed in response to issues generated by its development and use. To grasp
the significance of these reciprocal relationships, it is important to understand what is
meant by the term cybertechnology.
1.1.1 What Is Cybertechnology?
Cybertechnology, as used throughout this textbook, refers to a wide range of computing
and communication devices, from stand-alone computers to connected, or networked,
computing and communication technologies. These technologies include, but need not be
limited to, devices such as “smart” phones, iPods, (electronic) “tablets,” personal
computers (desktops and laptops), and large mainframe computers. Networked devices
can be connected directly to the Internet, or they can be connected to other devices
through one or more privately owned computer networks. Privately owned networks, in
turn, include local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs). A LAN is a
privately owned network of computers that span a limited geographical area, such as an
office building or a small college campus. WANs, on the other hand, are privately owned
networks of computers that are interconnected throughout a much broader geographic
region.
How exactly are LANs and WANs different from the Internet? In one sense, the
Internet can be understood as the network of interconnected computer networks. A
synthesis of contemporary information and communications technologies, the Internet
evolved from an earlier United States Defense Department initiative (in the 1960s)
known as the ARPANET. Unlike WANs and LANs, which are privately owned
computer networks, the Internet is generally considered to be a public network, in
the sense that much of the information available on the Internet resides in “public space”
and is thus available to anyone. The Internet, which should be differentiated from the
World Wide Web, includes several applications. The Web, based on hypertext transfer
protocol (HTTP), is one application; other applications include file transfer protocol
(FTP), Telnet, and e-mail. Because many users navigate the Internet by way of the Web,
and because the majority of users conduct their online activities almost exclusively on the
Web portion of the Internet, it is very easy to confuse the Web with the Internet.
The Internet and privately owned computer networks, such as WANs and LANs, are
perhaps the most common and well-known examples of cybertechnology. However,
“cybertechnology” is used in this book to represent the entire range of computing
systems, from stand-alone computers to privately owned networks to the Internet itself.
“Cyberethics” refers to the study of moral, legal, and social issues involving those
technologies.
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1.1 Defining Key Terms: Cyberethics and Cybertechnology b 5
1.1.2 Why the Term Cyberethics?
Many authors have used the term “computer ethics” to describe the field that examines
moral issues pertaining to computing and information technology (see, for example,
Barger 2008; Johnson 2010). Others use the expression “information ethics” (e.g.,
Capurro 2007) to refer to a cluster of ethical concerns regarding the flow of information
that is either enhanced or restricted by computer technology.4 Because of concerns about
ethical issues involving the Internet in particular, some have also used the term “Internet
ethics” (Langford 2000). Ethical issues examined in this textbook, however, are not
limited to the Internet; they also include privately owned computer networks and
interconnected communication technologies—i.e., technologies that we refer to collectively as cybertechnology. Hence, we use “cyberethics” to capture the wide range of moral
issues involving cybertechnology.
For our purposes, “cyberethics” is more accurate than “computer ethics” for two
reasons. First, the term “computer ethics” can connote ethical issues associated with
computing machines, and thus could be construed as pertaining to stand-alone or
“unconnected computers.” Because computing technologies and communication technologies have converged in recent years, resulting in networked systems, a computer
system may now be thought of more accurately as a new kind of medium than as a
machine. Second, the term “computer ethics” might also suggest a field of study that is
concerned exclusively with ethical issues affecting computer professionals. Although
these issues are very important, and are examined in detail in Chapter 4 as well as in
relevant sections of Chapters 6 and 12, we should note that the field of cyberethics is not
limited to an analysis of moral issues that affect only professionals.
“Cyberethics” is also more accurate, for our purposes, than “information ethics.” For
one thing, “information ethics” is ambiguous because it can mean a specific methodological framework—i.e., Information Ethics (or IE)—for analyzing issues in cyberethics
(Floridi 2007).5 Or it can connote a cluster of ethical issues of particular interest to
professionals in the fields of library science and information science (Buchanan and
Henderson 2009). In the latter sense, “information ethics” refers to ethical concerns
affecting the free flow of, and unfettered access to, information, which include issues such
as library censorship and intellectual freedom. (These issues are examined in Chapter 9.)
Our analysis of cyberethics issues in this text, however, is not limited to controversies
often considered under the heading “information ethics.”
Given the wide range of moral issues examined in this book, the term “cyberethics” is
also more comprehensive, and more appropriate, than “Internet ethics.” Although many
of the issues considered under the heading cyberethics often pertain to the Internet, some
issues examined in this textbook do not involve the Internet per se—for example, issues
associated with computerized monitoring in the workplace, with professional responsibility for designing reliable computer hardware and software systems, and with the
implications of cybertechnology for gender and race. We examine ethical issues that cut
across the spectrum of devices and networked communication systems comprising
cybertechnology, from stand-alone computers to networked systems.
Finally, we should note that some issues in the emerging fields of “agent ethics,” “bot
ethics,” “robo-ethics,” or what Wallach and Allen (2009) call “machine ethics,” overlap
with a cluster of concerns examined under the heading of cyberethics. Wallach and Allen
define machine ethics as a field that expands upon traditional computer ethics because it
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shifts the main area of focus away from “what people do with computers to questions
about what machines do by themselves.” It also focuses on questions having to do with
whether computers can be autonomous agents capable of making good moral decisions.
Research in machine ethics overlaps with the work of interdisciplinary researchers in the
field of artificial intelligence (AI).6 We examine some aspects of this emerging field (or
subfield of cyberethics) in Chapters 11 and 12.
c 1.2 THE CYBERETHICS EVOLUTION: FOUR DEVELOPMENTAL
PHASES IN CYBERTECHNOLOGY
In describing the key evolutionary phases of cybertechnology and cyberethics, we begin
by noting that the meaning of “computer” has evolved significantly since the 1940s. If you
were to look up the meaning of that word in a dictionary written before World War II,
you would most likely discover that a computer was defined as a person who calculated
numbers. In the time period immediately following World War II, the term “computer”
came to be identified with a (calculating) machine as opposed to a person (who
calculated).7 By the 1980s, however, computers had shrunk in size considerably and
they were beginning to be understood more in terms of desktop machines (that
manipulated symbols as well as numbers), or as a new kind of medium for communication, rather than simply as machines that crunch numbers. As computers became
increasingly connected to one another, they came to be associated with metaphors
such as the “information superhighway” and cyberspace; today, many ordinary users
tend to think about computers in terms of various Internet- and Web-based applications
made possible by cybertechnology.
In response to some social and ethical issues that were anticipated in connection with
the use of electronic computers, the field that we now call cyberethics had its informal and
humble beginnings in the late 1940s. It is interesting to note that during this period, when
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator)—the first electronic computer, developed at the University of Pennsylvania, became operational in 1946—some
analysts confidently predicted that no more than five or six computers would ever need to
be built. It is also interesting to point out that during this same period, a few insightful
thinkers had already begun to describe some social and ethical concerns that would likely
arise in connection with computing and cybertechnology.8 Although still a relatively
young academic field, cyberethics has now matured to a point where several articles
about its historical development have appeared in books and scholarly journals. For our
purposes, the evolution of cyberethics can be summarized in four distinct technological
phases.9
Phase 1 (1950s and 1960s)
In Phase 1, computing technology consisted mainly of huge mainframe computers, such
as ENIAC, that were “unconnected” and thus existed as stand-alone machines. One set
of ethical and social questions raised during this phase had to do with the impact of
computing machines as “giant brains.” Today, we might associate these kinds of
questions with the field of artificial intelligence (or AI). The following kinds of questions
were introduced in Phase 1: Can machines think? If so, should we invent thinking
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machines? If machines can be intelligent entities, what does this mean for our sense of
self? What does it mean to be human?
Another set of ethical and social concerns that arose during Phase 1 could be
catalogued under the heading of privacy threats and the fear of Big Brother. For
example, some people in the United States feared that the federal government would
set up a national database in which extensive amounts of personal information about its
citizens would be stored as electronic records. A strong centralized government could
then use that information to monitor and control the actions of ordinary citizens.
Although networked computers had not yet come on to the scene, work on the
ARPANET—the Internet’s predecessor, which was funded by an agency in the United
States Defense Department—began during this phase, in the 1960s.
Phase 2 (1970s and 1980s)
In Phase 2, computing machines and communication devices in the commercial sector
began to converge. This convergence, in turn, introduced an era of computer/communications networks. Mainframe computers, minicomputers, microcomputers, and
personal computers could now be linked together by way of one or more privately
owned computer networks such as LANs and WANs (see Section 1.1.1), and information could readily be exchanged between and among databases accessible to
networked computers.
Ethical issues associated with this phase of computing included concerns about
personal privacy, intellectual property, and computer crime. Privacy concerns, which had
emerged during Phase 1 because of worries about the amount of personal information
that could be collected by government agencies and stored in a centralized governmentowned database, were exacerbated because electronic records containing personal and
confidential information could now also easily be exchanged between two or more
commercial databases in the private sector. Concerns affecting intellectual property and
proprietary information also emerged during this phase because personal (desktop)
computers could be used to duplicate proprietary software programs. And concerns
associated with computer crime appeared during this phase because individuals could
now use computing devices, including remote computer terminals, to break into and
disrupt the computer systems of large organizations.
Phase 3 (1990–Present)
During Phase 3, the Internet era, availability of Internet access to the general public has
increased significantly. This was facilitated, in no small part, by the development and
phenomenal growth of the World Wide Web in the 1990s. The proliferation of Internetand Web-based technologies has contributed to some additional ethical concerns
involving computing technology; for example, issues of free speech, anonymity, jurisdiction, and trust have been hotly disputed during this phase. Should Internet users be free
t…