Ethics for a Digital Age

254 Pages·2015·1.331 MB·English

by  Bastiaan Vanacker (editor), Don Heider (editor)

104
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Thematically organized around three of the most pressing ethical issues of
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the digital age (shifting of professional norms, moderating offensive content, H
and privacy), this volume offers a window into some of the hot-button ethical I
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issues facing a society where digital has become the new normal. Straddling S

an applied ethical and theoretical approach, the research represented not only f
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reflects on how our ethical frameworks have been changed and challenged r

by digital technology, but also provides a roadmap to navigate the ethical di- a

lemmas of the digital age. With contributions from established experts and D
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up-and-coming scholars alike, this book cuts across disciplines and will appeal G
to communication scholars, philosophers, and anyone with an interest in ethics I
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and technology. A
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BASTIAAN VANACKER (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is Associate Professor
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in the School of Communication at Loyola University Chicago, where he also

serves as Program Director for the Center for Digital Ethics & Policy.
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DON HEIDER (Ph.D., University of Colorado) is Professor in the School of Com- C
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munication at Loyola University Chicago. He is the founding dean of the school,
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where he also helped found the Center for Digital Ethics & Policy. He is the A
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author and editor of six books and a former journalist who won five Emmy
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awards for his work.
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www.peterlang.com
104
E
Thematically organized around three of the most pressing ethical issues of
T
the digital age (shifting of professional norms, moderating offensive content, H
and privacy), this volume offers a window into some of the hot-button ethical I
C
issues facing a society where digital has become the new normal. Straddling S

an applied ethical and theoretical approach, the research represented not only f
o
reflects on how our ethical frameworks have been changed and challenged r

by digital technology, but also provides a roadmap to navigate the ethical di- a

lemmas of the digital age. With contributions from established experts and D
I
up-and-coming scholars alike, this book cuts across disciplines and will appeal G
to communication scholars, philosophers, and anyone with an interest in ethics I
T
and technology. A
L

A
G
BASTIAAN VANACKER (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is Associate Professor E
in the School of Communication at Loyola University Chicago, where he also

serves as Program Director for the Center for Digital Ethics & Policy.
V
A
N
A
DON HEIDER (Ph.D., University of Colorado) is Professor in the School of Com- C
K
E
munication at Loyola University Chicago. He is the founding dean of the school,
R

where he also helped found the Center for Digital Ethics & Policy. He is the A
N
D
author and editor of six books and a former journalist who won five Emmy
H
E
awards for his work.
I
D
E
R
,
E
D
S
.

P
E
T
E
R
L
A
N
G
www.peterlang.com
ETHICS for a
DIGITAL AGE
Steve Jones
General Editor

Vol. 104

The Digital Formations series is part of the Peter Lang Media and Communication list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
ETHICS for a
DIGITAL AGE

Edited by BASTIAAN VANACKER
and DON HEIDER

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ethics for a digital age / edited by Bastiaan Vanacker, Don Heider.
pages cm. — (Digital formations; vol. 104)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Internet—Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Computer networks—Moral and ethical aspects.
3. Online etiquette. I. Vanacker, Bastiaan, editor. II. Heider, Don, editor.
TK5105.878.E79 175—dc23 2015025403
ISBN 978-1-4331-2959-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4331-2958-2 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4539-1687-2 (e-book)
ISSN 1526-3169

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

Cover image: ©iStock.com/meganeura

© 2016 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
C ontents
Ethics for a Digital Age vii
Part I: Shifting Professional Norms in a Digital Age
1. Emerging Genres of Science Communication and Their Ethical Exigencies 3
Ashley Rose Kelly
2. Constrained Independence: Digital Branded Content in
Sports through the Lens of Journalism Ethics 19
KAthleen BARtzen CulveR And MiChAel MiReR
3. The Emerging Uses of Ethical Principles in Journalist’s Privilege Law 41
JAson M. shepARd
4. Corporate Responsibility in the Videogames Industry:
Mapping the Territory 63
thoRsten BusCh
Part II: Managing Norm Violators in Digital Spaces
5. Opening the Marketplace: A Case for the Protection of Anonymous
Online Comments 85
J. dAvid WolfgAng
6. Considering and Constraining the Power of Content Hosts 105
JonAthAn peteRs
7. Hashtags and Hate Speech: The Legal and Ethical Responsibilities
of Social Media Companies to Manage Content Online 123
CAitlin Ring CARlson
vi Contents
8. When the Inmates Run the Asylum: Grief Play in the
Virtual Panopticon of Second Life 141
BuRCu s. BAKioğlu
Part III: Control, Power and Technology
9. The Ethics of Engagement: Considering Digital Ethics in a Critical
Participatory Action Research Project with Urban Youth 167
lynn sChofield ClARK
10. From Using to Sharing: A Story of Shifting Fault Lines in
Privacy and Data Protection Discourse 189
Annette n. MARKhAM
11. Privacy Rights and Data Brokers: The Ethics of a
Targeted Surveillance Regime 207
JAn feRnBACK
Concluding Remarks 227
BAstiAAn vAnACKeR
Contributors 233
Index 237
Ethics for a Digital Age
Introduction
The chapters in this book represent a selection of research presented at the
2013 and 2014 Annual International Symposium on Digital Ethics organized
by the Center for Digital Ethics and Policy at Loyola University Chicago. By
bringing together scholars from a diverse range of disciplines, this volume
contributes to the growing body of work on digital ethics.
The term “digital ethics” might appear obsolete in an era when the dig-
ital has become ubiquitous. For example, Ad Age’s 2015 Advertising Digital
Conference rebranded itself by crossing out the word “digital” and adding
“it’s all digital now” to the conference poster. As the organizers wrote: “Dig-
ital is no longer the next big thing, it’s everything. Or, is it anything? Does
the word ‘digital’ even deserve a spot in the next agenda for this dynamic
industry?” We could ask the same question: “If ‘digital’ is indeed everything
and everywhere, does the word ‘digital’ even deserve a spot as an area of spe-
cialization on the agenda of applied ethicists?”
Indeed, no applied ethicist can afford to ignore questions raised by digital
technology. Whether one studies ethical issues in journalism, education, health
care, politics, or the environment, questions linked to the recent development
in information and communication technologies will have to be confronted.
As these applied ethicists from various domains are taking on questions of a
digital nature at an increasing rate, is there even a need for a “digital ethics”
proper? Or will only abstract meta-ethical questions remain to challenge the
digital ethicist? Much the same way the natural sciences have subsumed and
answered many of the questions that traditionally had belonged to philoso-
phy, the study of digital ethics might find itself usurped by the other domains
of applied ethics.
The term “digital ethics” also implies that there is an ethical system
informed by digital technology that is different from, for example, “analogue
ethics.” But why would the mere medium of communication require a differ-
ent ethical analysis, let alone a whole new ethic? For example, does it matter
viii BAstiAAn vAnACKeR And don heideR
whether bullying is done in person or via social media in order to determine
it is ethically wrong? In both instances, the intention is to inflict unjustifiable
harm upon another human being, which almost all ethical systems would
agree is wrong. There are, it appears, sufficient reasons to retire the concept
of “digital ethics” and instead deal with ethical questions raised by digital
technologies in their relevant domains.
We acknowledge this criticism towards the term “digital ethics” but nev-
ertheless still maintain that for the time being it merits academic attention.
We believe that, as Luciano Floridi (2014) has argued, the development of
information and communication technologies (ICTs) does indeed necessitate
a revision of our ethics in order to deal with the challenges of this new world.
Moreover, few would deny that for the applied ethicist, digital technologies
have created a new set of dilemmas. Even those challenging the notion that
digital technologies necessitate a radical rethinking of the foundations of our
ethics will admit that the development of these technologies has led to a set
of unique problems. For communication scholars, for example, these issues
are tied to the well-known characteristics of digital media: they allow infor-
mation to be copied and shared more easily, they are accessible to everyone
and therefore global in scope, they are instantaneous, and they allow their
users to conceal their identity to a certain degree. These features have led
to a number of ethical issues emerging in a variety of contexts that provide
the organizational structure of this book. We believe that these overarching
themes identified here tend to return in different emanations wherever digital
technologies are introduced. Therefore, even those who don’t believe that
digital technologies necessitate a rethinking of our ethics will find valuable
insights in this volume.
Part I: Shifting Professional Norms in a Digital Age
The first section of this book groups four essays that question and explore
how digital technologies have challenged and changed professional and insti-
tutional norms. In “Emerging Genres of Science Communication and Their
Ethical Exigencies,” Ashley Rose Kelly explores how hacker scientists use and
transform established modes of science communication. The “amateur” sci-
entists she studies were responsible for successfully collecting radiation con-
tamination readings following the Fukishama nuclear disaster in 2011. Kelly
reveals how new genres of online science communication based on access and
egalitarianism can alter the ethical commitments of the science community.
Kathleen Culver’s and Michael Mirer’s “Constrained Independence: Dig-
ital Branded Content in Sports through the Lens of Journalism Ethics” also