Ethical and Social Issues in the Information Age

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Morality and the Law

   • Joseph Migga Kizza

   Pages 1-11

3. Ethics, Technology, and Values

   • Joseph Migga Kizza

   Pages 13-32

4. Ethics and the Professions

   • Joseph Migga Kizza

   Pages 33-50

5. Anonymity, Security, and Privacy

   • Joseph Migga Kizza

   Pages 51-63

6. Intellectual Property Rights and Computer Technology

   • Joseph Migga Kizza

   Pages 65-85

7. Computer-Augmented Environments: The Workplace

   • Joseph Migga Kizza

   Pages 87-107

8. Software Issues

   • Joseph Migga Kizza

   Pages 109-124

9. New Frontiers for Ethical Considerations: Artificial Intelligence, Cyberspace, and Virtual Reality

   • Joseph Migga Kizza

   Pages 125-139

10. Ethical and Social Issues in Cyberspace

    • Joseph Migga Kizza

    Pages 141-166

11. Back Matter

    Pages 167-172

    PDF

Computer technology, barely fifty years old, has enormously transformed human society. The computer revolution, as many have termed it, is quietly but surely affecting every human being on earth in a multitude of ways. Both large and small institutions and indi­ viduals from all walks of life have come to rely on information, more so today than ever before. Although experiences on the whole have been positive thus far, troubling ethical and social issues are coming to our attention. The security of information we all have come to rely on is no longer guaranteed; individual norms of conduct and ethical behavior are changing. Computer technological development is outpacing the ability of our legal sys­ tems. Traditional ethical issues like security, privacy, integrity, responsibility, anonymity, property rights, and related social concerns are also greatly affected by our highly tech­ nological environment. Many ethical questions that used to be answered easily have become more compli­ cated. Like symptoms of a disease, if these concerns are not diagnosed and treated in a timely fashion, they may become untreatable and eventually wreak havoc on human lives. The book analyzes the effects of computer technology on traditional ethical and so­ cial issues. In particular, I explore the consequences of relatively new computer tech­ nologies such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and the Internet. • Chapter 1 defines and examines personal and public morality, the law (both conven­ tional and natural law), and the intertwining of morality and the law.

• Information Technology (IT)
• Internet
• anonymity
• artificial intelligence
• cyberspace
• ethics
• privacy
• security

• Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, USA

  Joseph Migga Kizza

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