The Evolving Landscape of Ethical Digital Technology

Simon Rogerson

• Publisher: Auerbach Publications
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000433425
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Informatica
• Subtopic: Aspetti sociali nell'informatica

In a world that is awash in ubiquitous technology, even the least tech-savvy know that we must take care how that technology affects individuals and society. That governments and organizations around the world now focus on these issues, that universities and research institutes in many different languages dedicate significant resources to study the issues, and that international professional organizations have adopted standards and directed resources toward ethical issues in technology is in no small part the result of the work of Simon Rogerson.

– Chuck Huff, Professor of Social Psychology at Saint Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota

In 1995, Apple launched its first WWW server, Quick Time On-line. It was the year Microsoft released Internet Explorer and sold 7 million copies of Windows 95 in just 2 months. In March 1995, the author Simon Rogerson opened the first ETHICOMP conference with these words:

We live in a turbulent society where there is social, political, economic and technological turbulence … it is causing a vast amount of restructuring within all these organisations which impacts on individuals, which impacts on the way departments are set up, organisational hierarchies, job content, span of control, social interaction and so on and so forth. … Information is very much the fuel of modern technological change. Almost anything now can be represented by the technology and transported to somewhere else. It's a situation where the more information a computer can process, the more of the world it can actually turn into information. That may well be very exciting, but it is also very concerning.

That could be describing today. More than 25 years later, these issues are still at the forefront of how ethical digital technology can be developed and utilised.

This book is an anthology of the author's work over the past 25 years of pioneering research in digital ethics. It is structured into five themes: Journey, Process, Product, Future and Education. Each theme commences with an introductory explanation of the papers, their relevance and their interrelationship. The anthology finishes with a concluding chapter which summarises the key messages and suggests what might happen in the future. Included in this chapter are insights from some younger leading academics who are part of the community charged with ensuring that ethical digital technology is realised.

Chapter 1

Introduction

1995 was the year when Apple launched its first WWW server, Quick Time On-line. It was the year Microsoft released Internet Explorer and sold 7 million copies of Windows 95 in just 2 months. On 28 March 1995, I opened the first ETHICOMP conference with these words:

We live in a turbulent society where there is social, political, economic and technological turbulence it is causing a vast amount of restructuring within all these organisations which impacts on individuals, which impacts on the way departments are set up, organisational hierarchies, job content, span of control, social interaction and so on and so forth .… Information is very much the fuel of modern technological change. Almost anything now can be represented by the technology and transported to somewhere else. It’s a situation where the more information a computer can process the more of the world it can actually turn into information. That may well be very exciting but it is also very concerning.

It could be describing today. Little did I realise that 25 years on, these issues would be still at the forefront of how ethical digital technology can be developed and utilised.

The Evolving Landscape of Ethical Digital Technology covers a 25-year period from 1995 to 2020 when the social and ethical issues surrounding digital technology have become increasingly important in a technologically dependent world. This anthology of my work, as illustrated by 25 papers, is interdisciplinary and links theory to practice. The aim is to demonstrate what has evolved over 25 years of technological advances. It is therefore essential that these papers have been included (wherever possible) in their original forms. In many respects, it is the natural follow-on to Computer Ethics and Professional Responsibility which I co-edited alongside Terry Bynum.

Repeating Concepts, Observations and Insights

During this 25-year period, much has changed in terms of both the technology and attitudes towards the technology. However, this has been a challenging time (and continues to be so) because the societal ramifications of digital technological evolution are often unknown, misunderstood, ignored, or dismissed. In addressing this issue, ongoing research findings must be presented in a suitable form to audiences comprising those who can influence the manner in which digital technology is developed and deployed. This could lead to changing attitudes, which will increase the likelihood that ethical digital technology will prevail.

Kroenig, McAdam and Weber (2010) explain that the change of attitude occurs through effective communication which the recipient is persuaded by because of authorship credibility and content of the communicated message. They explain that repetition of a communication enhances comprehension and retention. Miller and Levine (2019) explain that persuasion involves an intentional communicative act that excludes force and achieves acceptance. For the academic researcher who desires to make a positive contribution to society, the successful act of persuasion of influential others is one of the hardest challenges to overcome.

Throughout civilised time, there have been many who have extolled the value of history in looking towards the future. Indeed, Polybius, who was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period and died in c. 118 BC, expressed optimism that practical lessons concerning military technology and strategy could be successfully transmitted through studying history (Moore, 2020). Haddon et al. (2015) explain that history is a source of invaluable knowledge concerning context, concepts, infrastructure, paradigm shifts and different perspectives. In addition, accounts of historical disasters also provide invaluable knowledge. These sources of knowledge hold true for digital technology policy and development.

Within the 25 papers chosen for this anthology, the reader will discover some repetition of parts of previously published papers. This was done, at the time of original publication, for the reasons discussed previously. Thus, sections of papers were repeated to:

• enhance comprehension and retention as well as reach different audiences; and
• emphasise the lessons to be learnt from history and ensure historical contexts are understood.

Chapter 9 was written in 2001. It brought together many different strands of research and practical application to create a comprehensive landscape of ethical digital technology. In this landscape, the reader will find sections from previous chapters repeated as they legitimately create pieces of the whole jigsaw. This approach and indeed some of the materials can be found in later landscape papers such as The Virtual World: A Tension between Global Reach and Local Sensitivity (Chapter 20) written in 2004, and Future Vision (Chapter 21) written in 2015. Some of these repeated concepts, observations and insights suggest there is much work to be undertaken by the partnership of academics, developers and policy makers in addressing longstanding ethical challenges related to digital technology.

Chapter 6 is a clear demonstration of the value of history and how there is much to gain from reviewing the evolving technological landscape rather than restricting the review to only digital technology. Chapter 17 includes a historical thought experiment about the concentration camps. Part of this experiment is repeated in Chapter 26 to demonstrate the value of such thought experiments in digital technology education.

The anthology is structured into five themes: Journey, Process, Product, Future and Education. Each theme commences with an introductory explanation of the papers, their relevance and their interrelationship. The anthology finishes with a concluding chapter that summarises the key messages and suggests what might happen in the future. This chapter includes insights from some younger leading academics who are part of the community charged with ensuring that ethical digital technology is realised.

A synopsis of each chapter now follows. Each chapter heading includes the year of first publication. These synopses provide an overview of the anthology showing how, in total, a landscape has evolved, which has currency as well as historical integrity.

Part I: Journey

The first part of the anthology groups together the papers which provide an overview of ethical digital technology over time. It provides a context for the remaining four parts.

Chapter 2: Cyberspace: The Ethical Frontier [1995]

The information revolution has become a tidal wave that threatens to engulf and change all that humans value. Governments, organisations and individual citizens, therefore, would make a grave mistake if they view the computer revolution as “merely technological.” It is fundamentally social and ethical. This chapter explores this problematic landscape.

Chapter 3: But IS IT Ethical? [1995]

Society and its organisations have undergone, and are undergoing, restructuring through the widespread use of IS/IT. The technological and economic rates of change related to IT are still increasing. This restructuring affects department structures, organisation hierarchies, job contents, span of control, social interaction and so on. Each aspect of this impact has an ethical dimension which cannot and should not be ignored otherwise there will be an unacceptable penalty incurred in applying IS/IT in the wrong place, in the wrong way or at the wrong time. There is a need to develop goals, social objectives and a moral framework within which the technologies can be applied in an acceptable manner. This chapter provides some guidance on how to address such issues for those working in the industry.

Chapter 4: Information Ethics: The Second Generation [1996]

Those responsible for the development and application of computer technology are faced with decisions of increasing complexity which are accompanied by many ethical dilemmas. Such issues have attracted the attention of researchers from many disciplines resulting in a broad body of knowledge albeit quite shallow in places. Given the vital role information systems (IS) professionals have in technology application, IS-focused research, which addresses the ethical dimension, must be undertaken. The pioneering work of the first generation of computer ethics is reviewed. This work has tended to be conceptual and more of a commentary on computer phenomena rather than an attempt to develop strategies to identify and address societal and ethical issues associated with IS and the underpinning information technology. The new era of information ethics is discussed in terms of its conceptual and application dimensions. Illustrations of ethical concerns within project management and systems development are used to demonstrate the dilemmas faced in IS practice due, in the main, to a lack of theoretical ethical underpinning. It is argued that information ethics research will have an impact on many of the ten sub-domains of IS as defined by the UK Academy of Information Systems as well as many of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Thematic Priorities. Effective research is reliant upon the combined knowledge and expertise of disciplines that include IS, philosophy, sociology, law and computer science.

Chapter 5: A Review of Information Ethics [2010]

This chapter focuses on the ethical perspective of information and communication technologies (ICTs) known as information ethics. It discusses the foundation of information ethics focusing on the work of Norbert Wiener which is then followed by an overview of the key definitions of information ethics. This in turn leads to a discussion on the practical relevance of information ethics for the strategists, developers and implementers of ICT. Three key issues of privacy, property and crime are considered from an ethical standpoint.

Chapter 6: Towards a Chronological Taxonomy of Tourism Technology: An Ethical Perspective [2018]

As tourism has evolved, it has continued to utilise technological advances. There appear to be many ethical issues associated with technology usage in tourism evolution. Preliminary analysis of this evolution is undertaken using archival source materials and face-to-face interviews. An illustrative case study is used to investigate tourism links with technological advances and highlighting potential ethical issues related to such links. This initial study demonstrates the existence of a rich tourism technology history hitherto scarcely investigated. A method to structure the associated data is developed linking tourism, technology and ethics. This is an initial study which aims to generate interest in this new area. As such the data collected is limited and the new structure is embryonic. This is a new area of investigation, Tourism Technology Ethics. The outline Chronological Taxonomy is novel and potentially valuable across all empirical research disciplines.

Part II: Process

This part considers the activities involved in delivering digital technology systems. It focuses on the ethical and social issues which surround such activity and how these issues need to be identified and addressed.

Chapter 7: The Ethics of Software Development Project Management [1996]

It appears universally accepted that the most effective way to develop software is through the use of a project-based organisational structure which encourages individuals to participate in teams with the goal of achieving some common objectives. Much has been written about the management of software development projects and no doubt much will be written in the future. The purpose of this chapter is to examine whether project management practice effectively caters for the ethical issues surrounding the software development process. For the sake of clarity, only one project management approach is discussed. The aim is to tease out fundamental issues and not to dwell on the nuances of a particular approach.

Chapter 8: An Ethical Review of Information Systems Development: The Australian Computer Society's Code of Ethics and SSADM [2000]

The rapid advance of computer-based technology has led to social policy vacuums. Most IS development tools concentrate upon technical issues, and offer few, if any, guidelines that address the moral issues inherent in new application possibilities. It is argued that the extension of such tools to include ethical and moral, human and environmental issues is possible. A good starting point is provided by mapping relevant clauses of professional codes of ethics upon each stage of the development methodology. The Australian Computer Society Code of Ethics and the Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method (SSADM) are used as examples.

Chapter 9: A Practical Perspective of Information Ethics [2001]

Information is the new lifeblood of society and its organisations. Our dependence on information grows daily with the advance of ICT and its global application. The integrity of information relies upon the development and operation of computer-based IS. Those who undertake the planning, development and operation of these IS have obligations to assure information integrity and contribute to the public good. This chapter addresses these issues from three practical perspectives within the field of information ethics. First, the manner in which strategy is formulated and the dilemmas that might arise are considered. This is followed by a discussion as to how an ethical dimension might be added to the project management of computing applications. Finally, the methods used for IS development are reviewed from an ethical standpoint. These issues are important to information engineers and software engineers who are now playing a key role in the running of modern organisations.

Chapter 10: Responsible Risk Assessment with Software Development: Creating the Software Development Impact Statement [2005]

Limiting the focus of risk analysis to quantifiable factors and using a narrow understanding of the scope of a software project are major contributors to significant software failures. A Software Development Impact Statement (SoDIS) process is presented which extends the concept of software risk in three ways: (1) it moves beyond the limited approach of schedule, budget and function; (2) it adds qualitative elements; and (3) it recognises project stakeholders beyond those considered in typical risk analysis. As the types of risks increase, the range of stakeholders that need to be considered...