E-Problems

Abstract

In Chapter I, I observed that new uses of IT will be built on four basic features of information technology: • Speed of information processing • Unlimited size of information storage capacity • Availability of information at any location (connectivity) • Easy reproduction of digital information These features combine in many different ways to produce the various applications of IT that give rise both to new benefits and to new ethical problems. But, just as new and unpredictable uses of information technology arise with some regularity, so do new and unpredictable ethical problems. I will define an e-problem as an ethical problem that arises as a result of one of the four features of IT listed above. In this chapter, I will examine five unexpected and difficult e-problems: