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The Precautionary Principle as a Framework for a Sustainable Information Society

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Abstract

The precautionary principle (PP) aims to anticipate and minimize potentially serious or irreversible risks under conditions of scientific uncertainty. Thus it preserves the potential for future developments. It has been incorporated into many international treaties and pieces of national legislation for environmental protection and sustainable development. In this article, we outline an interpretation of the PP as a framework of orientation for a sustainable information society. Since the risks induced by future information and communication technologies (ICT) are social risks for the most part, we propose to extend the PP from mainly environmental to social subjects of protection. From an ethical point of view, the PP and sustainability share the principle of intergenerational justice, which can be used as an argument to preserve free space for the decisions of future generations. Applied to technical innovation and to ICT issues in particular, the extended PP can serve as a framework of orientation to avoid socio-economically irreversible developments. We conclude that the PP is a useful approach for: (i) policy makers to reconcile information society and sustainability policies and (ii) ICT companies to formulate sustainability strategies.

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Abbreviations

ACM:

Association for computing machinery

CSR:

Corporate social responsibility

EEA:

European Environmental Agency

EFQM:

European Foundation for Quality Management

EMAS:

Eco-Management and Audit Scheme

ICT:

Information and communication technology

IFIP:

International Federation for Information Processing

ISO:

International Standard Organization

PCs:

Personal computers

PP:

Precautionary principle

SR:

Social responsibility

TC:

Technical Committee

UN:

United Nations

UNEP:

United Nations Environment Programme

UNESCO:

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

WCED:

World Commission on Environment and Development

WSIS:

World Summit on the Information Society

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, Lerchenfeldstr. 5, 9014, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Claudia Som & Lorenz M. Hilty

  2. Delft University of Technology, DfS (Design for sustainability programme), Landbergstraat 15, 2628, CE, Delft, The Netherlands

    Andreas R. Köhler

Authors
  1. Claudia Som
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  2. Lorenz M. Hilty
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  3. Andreas R. Köhler
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Correspondence to Claudia Som.

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Som, C., Hilty, L.M. & Köhler, A.R. The Precautionary Principle as a Framework for a Sustainable Information Society. J Bus Ethics 85 (Suppl 3), 493–505 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0214-x

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