Introduction
Computer and information ethics are related fields of practical philosophy which address the proper use of computing and information technology. This entry provides an overview of their history and major topics of interest, including those germane to emerging technological and social developments.
History
World War II and Cybernetics
The roots of computer ethics can be traced to the 1940s. It is a direct descendant of cybernetics, an interdisciplinary field of study which emerged during the Second World War. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, several notable scholars pursued cybernetics research, including engineer Vannevar Bush (1890–1974), mathematician John von Neumann (1903–1957), physiologist Arturo Rosenblueth (1900–1970), mathematician Claude E. Shannon (1916–2001), and mathematician Norbert Wiener (1894–1964), who is credited as the field’s founder (Bynum 2008; Hamilton 2017). Wiener’s cybernetic theory originated with his work on the design of a new kind of...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
[No author given] ACM releases updated code of Ethics. Association for Computing Machinery. 17 July (2018) Retrieved August 3, 2022, from https://www.acm.org/media-center/2018/july/acm-updates-code-of-ethics
[no author given] (2000) Who’s Controlling Cyberspace? A Harvard professor’s new book warns that the Internet is losing its independence to commercial interests. https://www.computerworld.com/article/2592657/who-s-controlling-cyberspace-.html
[No author given] Timothy B. Lee - Aug 24, 2012 3:30 pm U. T. C (2012) Why bitcoin lives in a “legal gray area”. Ars Technica, 24 August. Retrieved August 3, 2022, from https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/08/why-bitcoin-lives-in-a-legal-gray-area/
Barger RN (2008) Computer ethics: a case-based approach. Cambridge University Press, New York
Baum D, Chodosh S (2017) There are two kinds of A.I., and the difference is important. Popular Science. https://productivityhub.org/2019/07/05/there-are-two-kinds-of-ai-and-the-difference-is-important
Bratton B (2022) The revenge of the real: politics for a post-pandemic world. Verso Books, New York
Buolamwini J, Gebru T (2018) Gender shades: intersectional accuracy disparities in commercial gender classification. Conference on Fairness, accountability, and transparency. In Proceedings of machine learning research 8 1, 1–15
Bynum TW (2000) A very short history of computer ethics. The Newsletter of the American Philosophical Association
Bynum TW (2008) Norbert Wiener and the rise of information ethics. In: van den Hoeven J, Weckert J (eds) Information technology and moral philosophy. Cambridge University Press, Essay
Bynum TW (2011) Creating the journal metaphilosophy. Metaphilosophy 42(3):186–190
Bynum TW, Floridi L (2012) The historical roots of information and computer ethics. In: The Cambridge handbook of information and computer ethics. Cambridge University Press, Essay, pp 20–38
Cocking D, Matthews S (2001) Unreal friends. Ethics Inf Technol 2:223–231
Coleman G (2014) Hackers. Culture Digitally. https://culturedigitally.org/2014/10/hackers-draft-digitalkeywords/
Eubanks V (2019) Automating inequality: how high-tech tools profile, police, and punish the poor. Picador, New York
Floridi L (1999) Information ethics: on the philosophical foundations of computer ethics. Ethics Inf Technol 1:37–56
Froehlich T (2004) A brief history of information ethics. Textos Universitaris de Biblioteconomia i Documentació No. 13. https://bid.ub.edu/13froel2.htm
Gotterbarn D (1991) Computer ethics: responsibility regained. National Forum: The Phi Beta Kappa J 71:26–31
Hamilton S (2017) The charismatic cultural life of cybernetics: Reading Norbert Wiener as visible scientist. Can J Commun 42(3):407–429
Hartmans A (2022) The iphone at 15: how Apple’s iconic smartphone changed the world forever and how it’s evolved since 2007. Business Insider. Retrieved August 3, 2022, from https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-evolution-first-iphone-every-model-2019-12#iphone-3g-2008-2
Hauptmann R (1988) Ethical challenges in librarianship. Oryx Press, Phoenix
Holm EA (2019) In defense of the black box: black box algorithms can be useful in science and engineering. Science. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aax0162
Igo SE (2020) The known citizen: a history of privacy in modern America. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Johnson DG (1994) Computer ethics, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, New York
Johnson DG (2020) Engineering ethics: contemporary and enduring debates. Yale University Press
Leiner BM, Cerf VG, Clark DD, Khan RE, Kleinrock L, Lynch DC, Postel J, Roberts LG, Wolff S (1997) Brief history of the Internet. The Internet Society. https://www.internetsociety.org/internet/history-internet/
Lyon D (2017) Surveillance culture: engagement, exposure, and ethics in digital modernity. Int J Commun 11:824–842
Maner W (1996) Is computer ethics unique? Sci Eng Ethics 2(2):137–154
Markoff J (2008) Joseph Weizenbaum, famed programmer, is dead at 85. The New York Times, 13 March. Retrieved August 3, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/world/europe/13weizenbaum.html
Metzinger T (2013) Two principles for robot ethics. In: Hilgendorf E, Günther J-P (eds) Robotik und Gesetzgebung. Nomos, Baden-Baden, pp 263–302
Miller S, Weckert J (2000) Privacy, the workplace and the internet. J Bus Ethics 28:255–265
Moor JH (1985) What is computer ethics? Metaphilosophy 16:266–275. [Republished in Weckert, Computer Ethics]
Nemorin S (2017) Post-panoptic pedagogies: the changing nature of school surveillance in the digital age. Surveill Soc 15(2):239
Nissenbaum H (1998) Protecting privacy in an information age: the problem of privacy in public. Law Philos 17:559–596
Parker DB (1966) Rules of ethics in information processing. Commun ACM (Assoc Comput Mach) 11(3):198
Schriffert D (2018) Teaching computer ethics. The Research Center on Values in Emerging Technology. https://rcvest.southernct.edu/teaching-computer-ethics/#computer-ethics-in-the-computer-science
Schünemann & Windwehr (2021) Towards a ‘gold standard for the world’? The European General Data Protection Regulation between supranational and national norm entrepreneurship. J Eur Integr 43(7):859–874. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2020.1846032
Shiego H (1996) A code of conduct for robots coexisting with human beings. Robot Auton Syst 18:101–107
Turing AM (1950) Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind 49:433–460
Vallor S (2018) Technology and the virtues: a philosophical guide to a future worth wanting. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
van Deursen A, van Dijk J (2020) The digital divide - an introduction. Blog of the University of Twente Centre for Digital Inclusion. https://www.utwente.nl/en/centrefordigitalinclusion/Blog/02-Digitale_Kloof/
Wallach W, Allen C (2010) Moral machines: teaching robots right from wrong. University Press, Oxford, UK
Weizenbaum J (1972) On the impact of the computer on society: how does one insult a machine? Science 176:609–614. [Republished in Weckert, Computer Ethics]
Weizenbaum J (1991) Computer power and human reason: from judgment to calculation. W.H. Freeman, New York
Wiener N (1950) The human use of human beings. Da Capo Press, New York
Wiener N (1969) Cybernetics: or control and communication in the animal and the machine. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Zuboff S (2020) You are now remotely controlled. The New York Times, 24 January. Retrieved August 3, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/opinion/sunday/surveillance-capitalism.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Science + Business Media B.V., Dordrecht.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Stamm, E. (2023). Computer and Information Ethics. In: Sellers, M., Kirste, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6519-1_404
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6519-1_404
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6518-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6519-1
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences