Concepts, Perspectives, and Methodological

Frameworks

` Cyberethics is the study of moral, legal, and

social issues involving cybertechnology.
` As a field of applied ethics, it:
¾examines the impact that cybertechnology
has for our social, legal, and moral systems.
¾evaluates the social policies and laws that we
frame in response to issues generated by the
development and use of cybertechnology.

` Cybertechnology : refers to a wide range of

computing and communications devices from
standalone computers, to "connected" or
networked computing and communications
technologies, to the Internet itself.
` Cybertechnology include:
¾digital electronic devices;
¾networked computers (including servers,
desktops, laptops, etc.);
¾stand-alone computers.
` Networked devices can be connected directly
to the Internet.
` They also can be connected to other devices
through one or more privately owned
computer networks.
` Privately owned networks include both:
¾Local Area Networks (LANs),
¾Wide Area Networks (WANs).

` Cyberethics: is a more accurate label than

computer ethics, which can suggest the
study of ethical issues limited either to:
ƒ computing machines,
ƒ computing professionals.
` Cyberethics : is also more accurate than
Internet ethics, which is limited only to
ethical issues affecting (only) networked
computers and devices.

` Information ethics: Refer to the study of

ethical concerns regarding the flow of
information that is restricted computer
technology.
ƒ Ambiguous: It can mean a specific
methodological framework (IE)
ƒ Study ethical concerns that is restricted to
professionals in the field of Library science and
Information science
` Agent ethics, bot ethics, robo-ethics, or
machine ethics:
◦ Machine ethics is a field that expands
upon traditional computer ethics because
it shifts the main area of focus away from
“what people do with computers to
questions about what machines do by
themselves.”

Computer
Ethics

Information Internet
Ethics Ethics

CyberEthics

` Four development phases in cyberTechnology:

Ph
Phase II Ph
Phase III Ph
Phase IV
Phase I (1950s
(19
(1970s (19
(1990s (Pr
(Present-near
and 1960s)
and 1980s)
an -present)
-p future)
fut

` Computer technology emerged in the late 1940s,

when some analysts confidently predicted that no
more than six computers would ever need to be
built.

` The first phase of computing technology (1950s

and 1960s) consisted mainly of huge mainframe
computers that were unconnected (i.e., stand-
alone machines).
 ` 1940s
◦ We start noting the meaning of ‘computer’
` Before World War II
◦ A person who calculated numbers
` After World War II
◦ Calculating Machine
` 1980s
◦ More than a machine!
◦ New kind of medium for communications!
` Computer technology emerged in the late
1940s, when some analysts confidently
predicted that no more than six computers
would ever need to be built.
` Informal noting of related ethical and social
issues

` Phase 1 (1950s and 1960s), One ethical/social

question that arose during Phase 1 dealt with the
impact of computing machines as “giant brains” and
what that meant for being human.
◦ The following kinds of questions were introduced in Phase 1:
x Can machines think? If so,
x should we invent thinking machines?
x If machines can be intelligent entities, what does this mean
for our sense of self?
x What does it mean to be human?
◦ Today, we might associate these kinds of questions with
the field of artificial intelligence (or AI).

` Another question raised during phase I

concerned 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.
` In Phase 2 (1970s and 1980s), computing machines and
communications devices began to converge.
` Mainframe computers and personal computers could be
linked together via privately owned networks, which
generated three kinds of ethical/social issues:
1) privacy concerns (introduced in Phase 1) were exacerbated
because confidential information could easily be exchanged
between networked databases.
2) intellectual property issues emerged because personal
computers could easily be used to duplicate and exchange
proprietary software programs.
3) computer crime emerged because “hackers” could break into
the computers of large organizations.

` During Phase 3 (1990-present), the availability of

Internet access to the general public has increased
significantly.
` This has been facilitated by the phenomenal
growth of the World Wide Web.
` The proliferation of Internet- and Web-based
technologies in this phase has raised ethical and
social concerns affecting:
¾free speech:,
¾anonymity,
¾jurisdiction.
¾trust.

¾ free speech: Can Internet users post any message they wish on
Publicly accessible websites?! Their own personal web pages?!
Will they be protected by free speech or freedom of
expression?
¾ Anonymity: Should Internet users be permitted to Post
anonymous messages on web pages? Be allowed to navigate
the web anonymously or under the cover of a pseudonym?
¾ Jurisdiction: No clear national or geographical boundaries!
Where Internet crime will be prosecuted?
¾ Trust: Doing online business (personal and financial
information). Public vs. private aspects of personal information
that has become increasingly available on the Internet. Social
networking sites. Interactive web-based forums
¾ In Phase 4 (present to near future), “Web 2.0” has made
possible the proliferation of social networking sites (SNSs), such
as Facebook and Twitter.
¾ As cybertechnology continues to evolve in Phase 4, computers
will likely become more and more a part of who or what we are
as human beings.
¾ For example, Moor (2005) notes that computing devices will
soon be a part of our clothing, and even our bodies.
¾ Computers are already becoming ubiquitous, and are beginning
to “pervade” both our work and recreational environments.
¾ Objects in these environments already exhibit what Brey (2005)
calls “ambient intelligence,” which enables “smart objects” to
be connected via wireless technology.

¾ In Phase 4, computers are becoming less visible

as distinct entities, as they:
◦ continue to be miniaturized and integrated
into ordinary objects,
◦ blend unobtrusively into our surroundings.
¾ Cybertechnology is also becoming less
distinguishable from other technologies as
boundaries that have previously separated
them begin to blur because of convergence.

` Additional ethical/social concerns associated with

Phase IV include controversies that are made
possible by the following kinds of technologies:
` autonomous machines and sophisticated robots
(used in warfare, transportation, care for the elderly, etc.);
` nanocomputing and nano-scale devices;
` artificial agents (including “soft bots”) that act on
behalf of humans and corporations;
` AI-induced bionic chip implants (that can cause us
to question what it means to be human vs. cyborg).
Phase Time Period Technological
Features
1 1950s-1960s Stand-alone machines
(large mainframe
computers)
2 1970s-1980s Minicomputers and PCs
interconnected via privately
owned networks
3 1990s-Present Internet and World Wide
Web
4 Present to Convergence of information
and communication
Near Future
technologies with
nanotechnology research
and bioinformatics
research, etc.
Associated Issues
Artificial intelligence (AI), database
privacy ("Big Brother")
Issues from Phase 1 plus concerns
involving intellectual property and
software piracy, computer crime,
privacy and the exchange of
records.
Issues from Phases 1 and 2 plus
concerns about free speech,
anonymity, legal jurisdiction, virtual
communities, etc.
Issues from Phases 1-3 plus
concerns about artificial agents
("bots") with decision-making
capabilities, AI-induced bionic chip
implants, nanocomputing,
pervasive computing, etc.

` There are two points of view on whether

cybertechnology has generated any new or
unique ethical issues:
◦ Traditionalists argue that nothing is new – crime
is crime, and murder is murder.
◦ Uniqueness Proponents argue that
cybertechnology has introduced (at least some)
new and unique ethical issues that could not have
existed before computers.

` Both sides seem correct on some claims, and

both seem to be wrong on others.
` Traditionalists underestimate the role that
issues of scale and scope that apply because of
the impact of computer technology.
¾ For example, cyberbullies can bully multiple
victims simultaneously (scale) and globally
(because of the scope or reach of the Internet).
¾ Cyberbullies can also operate without ever
having to leave the comfort of their homes.
` Those who defend the Uniqueness thesis
tend to overstate the effect that
cybertechnology has on ethics per se.
` Maner (2004) correctly points out that
computers are uniquely fast, uniquely
malleable, uniquely complex”; etc.
` So, there may indeed be some unique aspects
of computer technology.

` Proponents of the uniqueness thesis tend to

confuse unique features of computer technology
with unique ethical issues.
` Their argument is based on a logical fallacy:
Premise. Cybertechnology has some unique
technological features.
Premise. Cybertechnology generates some ethical
issues.
Conclusion. (At least some of the) Ethical issues
generated by cybertechnology must be unique.

` Traditionalists and uniqueness advocates

are each partly correct.
` Traditionalists correctly point out that no
new ethical issues have been introduced by
computers.
` Uniqueness proponents are correct in that
cybertechnology has complicated our
analysis of traditional ethical issues.
` So, in analyzing the issues involved in
this debate, it is useful to distinguish
between any:
` unique technological features;
` (alleged) unique ethical issues.

` Moor (2000) argues that computer

technology generates “new possibilities
for human action” because computers
are logically malleable.
` Logical malleability in computers means
that they can be molded in ways that
allow for many different kinds of uses.
` Some of the unanticipated uses of
computers have introduced policy
vacuums.

` Policy vacuums are “voids” or gaps in our laws

and policies.
` One solution might seem simply to fill the
voids with new or revised policies.
` Some policy vacuums cannot easily be filled
because of conceptual muddles.
` In these cases, conceptual muddles first need
to be elucidated before clear policies can be
formulated and justified.
` In the early 1980s,
1980s there were still no clear
cle
laws regarding the duplication of software
programs, which had been made easy
because of the availability of personal
computers.
` Because there were no clear rules for
copying programs, a policy vacuum arose.
` Before the policy vacuum could be filled, a
conceptual muddle had to be elucidated:
What, exactly, is software?

` Applied ethicss, unlike theoretical ethics,

ethics
examines "practical" ethical issues.
` It analyzes moral issues from the vantage
point of one or more ethical theories.
` Ethicists working in fields of applied ethics
are more interested in applying ethical
theories to the analysis of specific moral
problems than in debating the ethical
theories themselves.

` Three distinct perspectives of applied

ethics (as applied to CyberEthics):
¾ Professional Ethics;
¾ Philosophical Ethics;
¾ Sociological/Descriptive Ethics.

Professional
ssiona Philosophical
sophic Sociological/Descriptive
cal/De
Ethics Ethics Ethics
1. Professional Ethics:
• the purpose of CyberEthics is to identify and
analyze issues of ethical responsibility for
computer/information technology
(IT)professionals.
2. Philosophical Ethics;
• CyberEthics is a field of philosophical analysis
and inquiry that goes beyond professional ethics.
3. Sociological/Descriptive Ethics.
• Descriptive (and sociological) investigations
report about “What is the case.“