Meta View of Information Ethics

Abstract

That computing and information systems give rise to specific ethical issues related to the appropriate uses of such technology is a viewpoint that, according to Bynum (2001a), is traceable at least as far back as Norbert Wiener’s seminal work in the 1950s (Wiener, 1954). From this important idea, a field of inquiry emerged that came to be known as “computer ethics” (Maner, 1980). As with many emerging fields, however, scholarly debate arose as to how “computer ethics” should best be defined (cf. Bynum, 2001b). While various distinct positions have been advanced in this regard (e.g., Moor, 1985; Johnson, 2001), a broad characterization of the field is that “computer ethics” deals with the personal and social impacts of information technology, along with the ethical considerations that arise from such impacts (Bynum, 2001b). More recent views localize “computer ethics” within a still broader philosophical domain of “information ethics” (Floridi & Sanders, 2002).