Computing Ethics: Intercultural Comparisons

Abstract

Computers are a vehicle for the information age, and are central to the dispersal of descriptive accounts of technology, and to interactive discussion between growing communities. Despite the commitment of all countries to free flow of information and access to knowledge sources based upon social justice there are still ethical problems of the digital divide. The attitudes of respondents towards science and computers in both Japan and Thailand is compared between 1993 and a decades later. There is more positive support towards science and technology in general in Thailand than in Japan, but both countries continue to be positive in attitude. There is a clear social mandate in both countries for their government policies promoting the development of information technology and science and technology in general. The perception of benefits and the worries about computers are discussed, as are some emerging issues.