Computer Ethics

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Abstract Computer ethics (or what is now often called the ethics of information and communication technology) is concerned with ethical issues that arise around the use of computers; more specifically, around activities that are enabled by computers. Whether or not it is a distinct field of applied ethics has been debated, but what is more important is that there is a cluster of issues centered on computer technology that demand ethical examination. (For a history of computer ethics, see Bynum 1999.) Problems in computer ethics are not different or new in the sense that they are different in kind from other ethical problems. Moral philosophy has been studied systematically at least from the time of the ancient Greeks and the ethical issues in computing are part of this tradition. For the most part they also arise in other applied ethics ( see Applied Ethics) contexts and overlaps exist between computer ethics and other applied fields, for example bioethics ( see Bioethics) and business ethics ( see Business Ethics) (Weckert and Henschke 2010). Many of the problems, however, become more urgent because of computer technology or occur in new and perhaps even novel ways (Johnson 2001). Intellectual property is a good example. The ease of copying, together with the fact that in most cases the copy is as good as the original, has made the ethical problems (as well as the legal ones) more urgent. Some of the problems are also novel. Computer programs are a bit like text that is normally subject to copyright and a bit like machines, where intellectual property is usually protected by patents.