Information technology and moral philosophy

428 Pages·2008·3.084 MB·English

by  Jeroen van den Hoven, John Weckert

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InformationTechnologyandMoralPhilosophy
Informationtechnologyisanintegralpartofthepracticesandinsti-
tutionsofpostindustrialsociety.Itisalsoasourceofhardmoralques-
tionsandthusisbothaprobingandarelevantareaformoraltheory.
In this volume, an international team of philosophers sheds light
on many of the ethical issues arising from information technology,
includinginformationalprivacy,thedigitaldivideandequalaccess,
e-trust,andteledemocracy.Collectively,theseessaysdemonstratehow
accounts of equality and justice and property and privacy benefit
from taking into account how information technology has shaped
oursocialandepistemicpracticesandourmoralexperiences.Infor-
mation technology changes the way we look at the world and deal
withoneanother.Itcalls,therefore,forare-examinationofnotions
suchasfriendship,care,commitment,andtrust.
JeroenvandenHovenisprofessorofmoralphilosophyatDelftUni-
versity of Technology. He is editor-in-chief of Ethics and Information
Technology, a member of the IST Advisory Group of the European
Community in Brussels, scientific director of the 3TU Centre for
EthicsandTechnologyinTheNetherlands,andcoauthor,withDean
Cocking,ofEvilOnline.
JohnWeckertisaProfessorialFellowattheCentreforAppliedPhilos-
ophyandPublicEthicsatCharlesSturtUniversityinAustralia.Heis
editor-in-chiefofNanoEthics:EthicsforTechnologiesThatConvergeatthe
Nanoscaleandhaspublishedwidelyinthefieldofcomputerethics.
i
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Information Technology and
Moral Philosophy
Edited by
JEROEN VAN DEN HOVEN
DelftUniversityofTechnology,TheNetherlands
JOHN WECKERT
CharlesSturtUniversity,Australia
iii
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
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© Cambridge University Press 2008
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2008
ISBN-13 978-0-511-38795-1 eBook (NetLibrary)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-85549-5 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
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Contents
ListofContributors page vii
Introduction 1
1 NorbertWienerandtheRiseofInformationEthics 8
TerrellWardBynum
2 WhyWeNeedBetterEthicsforEmergingTechnologies 26
JamesH.Moor
3 InformationEthics:ItsNatureandScope 40
LucianoFloridi
4 TheTransformationofthePublicSphere:PoliticalAuthority,
CommunicativeFreedom,andInternetPublics 66
JamesBohman
5 DemocracyandtheInternet 93
CassR.Sunstein
6 TheSocialEpistemologyofBlogging 111
AlvinI.Goldman
7 PluralSelvesandRelationalIdentity:Intimacyand
PrivacyOnline 123
DeanCocking
8 IdentityandInformationTechnology 142
SteveMatthews
9 Trust,Reliance,andtheInternet 161
PhilipPettit
10 Esteem,Identifiability,andtheInternet 175
GeoffreyBrennanandPhilipPettit
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vi Contents
11 CultureandGlobalNetworks:HopeforaGlobalEthics? 195
CharlesEss
12 CollectiveResponsibilityandInformationand
CommunicationTechnology 226
SeumasMiller
13 ComputersasSurrogateAgents 251
DeborahG.JohnsonandThomasM.Powers
14 MoralPhilosophy,InformationTechnology,andCopyright:
TheGroksterCase 270
WendyJ.Gordon
15 InformationTechnology,Privacy,andtheProtectionof
PersonalData 301
JeroenvandenHoven
16 EmbodyingValuesinTechnology:TheoryandPractice 322
MaryFlanagan,DanielC.Howe,andHelenNissenbaum
17 InformationTechnologyResearchEthics 354
DagElgesem
18 DistributiveJusticeandtheValueofInformation:
A(Broadly)RawlsianApproach 376
JeroenvandenHovenandEmmaRooksby
SelectBibliography 397
Index 401
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List of Contributors
JamesBohman isDanforthProfessorofPhilosophyatSaintLouisUniversity
intheUnitedStates.HeistheauthorofPublicDeliberation:Pluralism,Com-
plexity and Democracy (1996) and New Philosophy of Social Science: Problems of
Indeterminacy (1991). He has recently coedited Deliberative Democracy (with
William Rehg) and Perpetual Peace: Essays on Kant’s Cosmopolitan Ideal (with
Matthias Lutz-Bachmann) and has published articles on topics related to
cosmopolitan democracy and the European Union. His most recent book
isDemocracyacrossBorders(2007).
Geoffrey Brennan is professor in the Social and Political Theory Group,
ResearchSchoolofSocialSciences,theAustralianNationalUniversity,Can-
berra,Australia;professorofpoliticalscience,DukeUniversity;andprofes-
sorofphilosophyatUniversityofNorthCarolina–ChapelHillintheUnited
States. Among his most recent publications is The Economy of Esteem, with
PhilipPettit(2004).
Terrell Ward Bynum is professor of philosophy and director, Research Cen-
teronComputingandSociety,SouthernConnecticutStateUniversity,New
Haven.HewasacofounderoftheETHICOMPseriesofinternationalcom-
puter ethics conferences and has chaired the Committee on Philosophy
andComputingfortheAmericanPhilosophicalAssociationandtheCom-
mitteeonProfessionalEthicsfortheAssociationforComputingMachinery.
He is coeditor of the textbook Computer Ethics and Professional Responsibility
(2004).InJune2005,hedeliveredtheGeorgHenrikvonWrightKeynote
LectureonEthicsattheEuropeanComputingandPhilosophyConference
inSweden.
DeanCockingisSeniorResearchFellow/lecturerattheCentreforApplied
PhilosophyandPublicEthics,CharlesSturtUniversity,Canberra,Australia.
HeiscurrentlyworkingonabooktitledIntendingEvilandUsingPeopleand
withJeroenvandenHoven,abookonEvilOnline(forthcoming).
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viii ListofContributors
Dag Elgesem is professor, Department of Information Science and Media
Studies,UniversityofBergen,Norway.Amonghisrecentpublicationsishis
contribution to Trust Management (2006), titled “Normative Structures in
TrustManagement.”
CharlesEssisprofessorofphilosophyandreligionandDistinguishedProfes-
sor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Drury University in Springfield, Missouri,
and Professor II, Programme for Applied Ethics, Norwegian University of
ScienceandTechnology,Trondheim.Esshasreceivedawardsforteaching
excellence and scholarship and has published extensively in comparative
(East–West)philosophy,appliedethics,discourseethics,historyofphiloso-
phy,feministbiblicalstudies,andcomputer-mediatedcommunication.With
FaySudweeks,hecochairsthebiennialCulturalAttitudestowardsTechnol-
ogyandCommunication(CATaC)conferences.Hehasservedasavisiting
professor at IT-University, Copenhagen (2003) and as a Fulbright Senior
ScholaratUniversityofTrier(2004).
Mary Flanagan is associate professor and director of the Tiltfactor Labora-
tory,intheDepartmentofFilmandMediaStudiesatHunterCollege,New
York City. The laboratory researches and develops computer games and
softwaresystemstoteachscience,mathematics,andappliedprogramming
skills to young people, especially girls and minorities. Flanagan, who has
extensiveexperienceinsoftwaredesign,hasdevelopedmethodsofengag-
inggirlsandwomeninscienceandtechnology.Shehasgarneredmorethan
twentyinternationalawardsforthiswork.FlanagancreatedTheAdventuresof
JosieTrue(www.josietrue.com),theaward-winningscienceandmathematics
environmentformiddle-schoolgirlsandisnowcollaboratingonintegrating
humanvaluesinthedesignofsoftware.Sheisthecoeditorofre:skin(2006)
and has recently received an artwork commission from HTTP Gallery in
London.
Luciano Floridi (www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/∼floridi) is Fellow of St Cross Col-
lege, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, where, with Jeff Sanders, he
coordinatestheInformationEthicsResearchGroup,andprofessoroflogic
andepistemology,Universita` degliStudidiBari,Italy.Hisareaofresearch
isthephilosophyofinformation.Hisworksincludemorethanfiftyarticles
and several books on epistemology and the philosophy of computing and
information.HeistheeditorofTheBlackwellGuidetothePhilosophyofCom-
putingandInformation.Heiscurrentlyworkingonaseriesofarticlesthatwill
formthebasisofanewbookonthephilosophyofinformation.Heisvice-
president of the International Association for Philosophy and Computing
(www.iacap.org).
Alvin I. Goldman is Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy and Cog-
nitive Science at Rutgers University, New Jersey. He is best known for his
work in epistemology, especially social epistemology, and interdisciplinary
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ListofContributors ix
philosophy of mind. His three most recent books are Knowledge in a Social
World(1999),PathwaystoKnowledge(2002),andSimulatingMinds:ThePhi-
losophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience of Mindreading (2006). A Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Science, he has served as president of
theAmericanPhilosophicalAssociation(PacificDivision)andoftheSociety
forPhilosophyandPsychology.
WendyJ.GordonisprofessoroflawandPaulJ.LiacosScholarinLaw,Boston
University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts. Professor Gordon has
served as a visiting Senior Research Fellow at St John’s College, Oxford,
andasaFulbrightscholar.Sheistheauthorofnumerousarticles,including
“RenderCopyrightuntoCaesar:OnTakingIncentivesSeriously,”University
ofChicagoLawReview,71(2004)and“APropertyRightinSelf-Expression:
EqualityandIndividualismintheNaturalLawofIntellectualProperty,”Yale
LawJournal,102(1993);sheiscoeditoroftwobooks,including,withLisa
TakeyamaandRuthTowse,DevelopmentsintheEconomicsofCopyright:Research
andAnalysis(2005).
DanielC.HoweisonthestaffoftheMediaResearchLaboratoryatNewYork
University.
DeborahG.JohnsonisAnneShirleyCarterOlssonProfessorofAppliedEthics
and chair of the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at the
UniversityofVirginia.Johnsonistheauthor/editorofsixbooks,including
Computer Ethics, which is now in its third edition. Her work focuses on the
ethical and social implications of technology, especially information tech-
nology.JohnsonreceivedtheJohnBarwisePrizefromtheAmericanPhilo-
sophicalAssociationin2004,theSterlingOlmstedAwardfromtheLiberal
Education Division of the American Society for Engineering Education in
2001,andtheACMSIGCASMakingaDifferenceAwardin2000.
Steve Matthews teaches philosophy at School of Humanities and Social
Sciences and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Applied
Philosophy and Public Ethics (an ARC-funded special research centre)
at Charles Sturt University, New South Wales, Australia. He is a visiting
Fellow at University of Melbourne and Australian National University.
Relevantareasofinterestincludeethicalissuesraisedbycomputer-mediated
communication and ethical questions of identity and agency, especially as
raisedinlegalandpsychiatriccontexts.Recentarticlesinclude“Establishing
Personal Identity in Cases of DID,” Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology, 10
(2003)and“FailedAgencyandtheInsanityDefence,”InternationalJournal
ofLawandPsychiatry,27(2004).
Seumas Miller is professor of philosophy at Charles Sturt University and
at Australian National University and director of the Centre for Applied
Philosophy and Public Ethics (an Australian Research Council–funded